During November we will have a number of dress down days on Fridays.
Friday 10th November – please bring in a donation for the Christmas Fayre tombola or bottle stall
Friday 17th November – Children in Need Dress Down Day. Please follow the link on ParentPay to donate
Friday 24th November – please bring in a donation for the Christmas Fayre tombola or bottle stall
There will be a change to Thursday’s lunch menu (9/11):
The choice will now be: Vegetable soup, Chicken Curry, Vegetarian sausage roll, Gammon and cheese roll.
There will be a change to tomorrow’s lunch menu (7/11):
The choice will now be: Pepperoni pizza, Quorn Chow Mein or Chicken mayo pasta.
Welcome to the P3 curriculum overview for term 2. This will be a busy term with lots of new learning as well as fun and exciting activities to prepare for Advent and Christmas.
Literacy
Our focus in term 1 was using our class novel to create descriptive writing by describing the main character, Horton, and using rhyming words and adjectives to describe what he hears and the things he sees. Through descriptive writing, we also have been using our topic about vertebrates and invertebrates when using descriptive bubbles. During term 2 we will now focus on narrative and report writing. As well as talking and listening games and activities such as Show and Tell.
P3 have been participating in reading and spelling activities and children have been working within groups to revisit previous sounds and texts, ready to use their skills and strategies to tackle new and unfamiliar spelling sounds and reading books. Our writing focus is currently descriptive writing, and these written pieces will come from our class novel and topic of Vertebrates.
Numeracy
Our focus in numeracy has been place value, however, this is something we will regularly revisit with children consolidating previous learning on 2-digit numbers, initially to 99. Then the children moving to three-digit numbers beyond 100. Children were and will continue to partition these numbers and confidently discuss this in terms of (H) hundreds, tens (T) and units (u), whilst building on their understanding of number and number patterns. In term 2 the focus will be using addition with two-digit numbers before moving to three-digit numbers. Word problems will also continue to be a focus to consolidate our strategies within this operation of number. Children have been using their ‘Thinking it through’ jotters as the term progresses to develop problem solving skills, applying knowledge of number to new contexts and develop strategies for number problems.
Beyond number, children have been focusing on measurement and using different equipment to measure in cm and metres. Children have been estimating using rulers and metre sticks before measuring objects to see how close their predictions were. For term 2 the focus will be 2D and 3D shape identifying real life examples, comparing the properties of 2D and 3D objects, and creating their own 3D shapes.
Health & Wellbeing
All children have now had the opportunity to be Pupil of the Day and will start to be chosen for the second time in term 2. Our Pupil of the Day has been receiving lots of compliments. We will continue to explore emotions, and how we recognise these emotions within ourselves and in others and learning how to control them.
In P.E, our sessions will continue to take place on a Tuesday and a Thursday and our focus in term 2 this time will be, Social Dance, Football and Gymnastics. In term 1 children were participating in hockey and badminton. Children will use their transferrable skills when playing in a team.
Our focus during R.E sessions has been Mary in October, moving to Saints and Remembrance, the routines of the church and the celebration of Mass. We will also spend some time reading and discussing bible stories relating to friendship and love, whilst considering how each of us are unique and have our own God given talents.
Topic
The children will be participating in activities in different areas of the curriculum including social studies and will be focusing on climates and weather around the world. Children have been exploring and developing an understanding of living things as this was a focus on our topic Vertebrates topic where children have been sorting and categorising living things into vertebrates and non-vertebrates.
We hope this is the start of a very fun filled successful term and that the children enjoy learning across the curriculum.
Take care,
Miss Grimley
Term 2 is upon us! Primary 6 are making progress in all areas and are showing leadership across the school.
Literacy
Listening and Talking
Listening and Talking will continue to be a focus across the curriculum. Pupils will participate in a range of activities to allow for this.
Reading
The class novel this term is ‘Titanic Detective Agency’ by Lindsay Littleson. The pupils will complete various reading and writing tasks related to this appropriate to their level. This novel study also has links to our Social Studies and Science topic ‘Titanic’.
We will also continue using the ‘Bug Club’ reading resource to aid our comprehension skills.
Spelling
Spelling will be individualised to groups and will form a focus for homework as well as class tasks.
Numeracy
All groups made great progress last term and will continue with addition and subtraction this term, this will be followed by a topic of multiplication and division, so get practising those tables! Outcomes are determined in groups.
Money will be a focus during beyond number lessons again differentiated across the class. Please discuss financial aspects with children at home; topics could include budgeting, credit and debit and savings.
Health and Wellbeing
Our focus this term is Health and Wellbeing Champions, pupils will participate in an authority wide topic via ‘Teams’, this will allow participation from P6 classes across the area where they will collaborate in challenges from the comfort of our classroom!
Primary 6 will continue to be PATHs playground leaders; an important responsibility, and one we are more than ready for!
Children will also continue to follow the PATHs resources, this helps pupils to identify their emotions, act accordingly and build resilience.
‘Do be mindful’ strategies and mindful learning blocks will reinforce all that we do.
Religious Education
Children will examine the initial stages of the ‘Pope Francis Faith Award’ this term, this focusses on the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the unique qualities we all possess. We will look at 3 gifts this term and will continue this journey into primary 7. There will be an occasional homework task related to this.
French
Our French skills are developing and pupils are becoming more confident in this area. We will focus our attention this term on discussing pets and familiarising ourselves with accessing French dictionaries.
Homework
Homework will be issued weekly and at primary 6 level children should be able to complete these tasks individually with limited support. Please check that your child is accessing these tasks and is becoming responsible around this. Homework will always be issued to reinforce learning and children will have been taught the area in class. Homework creates routine and independence and will be an expectation at every stage of school life especially secondary school. In developing good habits in the upper primary this will ease that transition when the time comes.
As always your continued support is appreciated across the school year.
Mrs Crawford and Mrs McIntyre.
Term 2 has arrived and Primary 1 are back on the learning train! We have a busy and fun filled term ahead. We have started the term with some spooky Halloween activities and look forward to celebrating our first Christmas as part of the Mount Carmel school community.
Literacy
This term we will be continuing to practise our letter formation and pencil control skills to ensure we can write the letters we have been learning.
Now that we know some of the sounds the letters of the alphabet make, we will be “blending” these together to make words. These words will help us with our reading and writing tasks.
We are very excited that we are becoming “readers” in Primary 1 and will soon be bringing home our first texts with words in them. We will be answering questions about the stories we read in class, to check our comprehension skills.
During writing activities, we will be describing a range of objects by thinking about their colour, size, texture and shape.
Numeracy
Now that we have explored the numbers to 10 fully, identifying quantities which are “more” and “less”, we will be focusing on the concept of addition. We will begin by combining two quantities and understanding that when you do this, the quantity gets bigger. This will lead us on to learning the addition facts, where we learn the different ways to “make” our numbers. These number stories (or facts) are the building blocks to which all of our calculations are built upon, so we will spend a lot of time on these, ensuring they are well embedded before moving on.
Numbers are tricky to write, so number formation will continue to be reinforced in class and through homework tasks.
Health & Wellbeing
We will continue to welcome our PATHS puppets to help us talk about our emotions and friendships. We have been talking about the kinds of things friends do together and have discussed what makes a good friend.
We have been exploring our emotions and sharing our experiences and we will be looking at ways to help us manage our feelings.
We will also be talking about ways to keep ourselves safe when indoors and outdoors.
Topic
Our topic this term is “Local Superheroes”. We will initially be exploring our community and identifying shops, buildings and our natural environment. We will then consider the “heroes” who work in or serve these areas. Through our discussions and role play opportunities, we will learn more about the world of work and the different types of jobs which we find interesting.
RE
During RE we will continue to give thanks for God’s love.
We will also explore the story of creation, developing our awareness of the natural wonders of the world around us.
As the term progresses, we will celebrate advent together, preparing for the birth of Jesus by showing love and kindness to those around us as much as we possibly can. We will be exploring the story of the nativity through songs, role play and craft activities.
Expressive Arts
The seasonal themes of Autumn, Winter and Christmas will be the focus of our drama, music and art activities this term.
A very exciting and busy time ahead. Now that we are getting into the colder weather, could the zipping/fastening up of coats please be practised at home.
Thank you,
Mrs Duff
Welcome back! What a great first term Primary 4 have had, the children have settled into their new class and routine and are making good progress. We are looking forward to another fun filled term with lots of fabulous learning taking place.
Here is an update on the upcoming term.
Literacy
For our reading focus, we will continue to build on the use of our reading comprehension skills, such as prediction, visualisation, metalinguistic and summarising. The children will engage with a variety of texts including their Bug Club readers and our class book, ‘The Great Kapok Tree’ which is linked to our rainforest topic.
During writing, we will continue to build on the skills developed during our descriptive block, and will focus on narrative writing. The children will explore the features of narrative writing and will create their own narrative pieces.
Spelling will take the form of active spelling activities and the children will experience phonemes and blends at their working level.
We will continue to build on our knowledge of various elements of grammar, linking this to our reading and writing tasks.
Numeracy & Maths
The children will continue with a daily number talk, to develop a range of mental maths strategies. We have been looking at various strategies for solving addition problems and will move on to subtraction problems.
With Mrs McIntyre, the children will continue their shape work before moving on to looking at time.
Health and Wellbeing
We will be continuing with our PATHs programme focussing on making good choices and working effectively with others.
We have been following the Do Be Mindful programme focussing on mindful attention, we will continue with this as well as our various daily mindful tasks.
This term, P4 are delighted to be taking part in a range of cross generational activities with the residents at Crossgates Care Home.
PE
PE is usually on a Thursday and Friday, during the first 4 weeks of term, this will change to Tuesday and Thursday as the class are excited to be participating in football activities with Kilmarnock Football Club. This term we will be covering;
Children require PE kit for all PE days. Please ensure that all items of uniform and PE kit have your child’s name clearly marked on them. Please make sure your child is not wearing jewellery on these days. If your child cannot take part for any reason, please contact the school.
French
We will be continuing with our French conversational skills, and will be looking at numbers beyond 20. The children will engage in a range of listening, talking and writing tasks. As the term progresses, we will also look at Christmas traditions in France.
IDL
The children have really enjoyed getting started on our comparison study of the rainforest and the Arctic. We will continue this topic, looking at the similarities and differences in the vegetation and animals in both areas. We will consider climate and environmental differences and how these affect living things in each area. We will link this with our writing and art tasks.
Expressive Arts
We will link our artwork this term with our topic. Using the elements of tone, shape and shade the children will enjoy various activities.
As the term progresses, we will learn some Christmas songs. We will also share some of our musical skills during our visits to Crossgates Care Home.
Religious Education
This term we will be reflecting on the lives of various saints including St. Margaret, St. Ignatius, St. Francis and St. Columba. We will also look at the meaning of the Liturgical Calendar and become familiar with the meaning and importance of the various feasts and associated liturgical colours. The children will take part in class prayers and School Masses, and we will continue to build on our knowledge of common prayers and Mass responses.
Homework will continue in the same format as last term, it will be distributed on a Monday to be completed and returned by Friday.
Keep an eye on the School blog and Learning Journals for updates on some of our wonderful activities and learning.
Thank you as always, for your continued support.
Mrs MacKinnon.
Hello again everyone. Christmas is already on the horizon, where does the time go!? Here is a brief update of our learning focus this term.
Literacy
After reading our class novel last term, we now aim to develop Active Literacy strategies through Bug Club guided reading texts, paying particular attention to non-fiction features. There will be a focus on paraphrasing and summarising as well as continuing to explore and develop answering and asking a variety of question types. For writing, we are concentrating on response pieces, giving our opinion and reviewing short videos.
Spelling groups will continue to use Active Spelling strategies and follow on from previous work. The Suns are developing their knowledge of metalinguistics by looking at prefixed words. The Moons and Stars will further enhance their knowledge of different phoneme representations.
Numeracy
This term our numeracy focus is on multiplication and division incorporating decimals. Towards the end of term we will make the link with division and fractions and begin to look at fractions in more detail. We will continue to use Number Talk strategies to develop mental strategies related to multiplication and division. The class are also working on skills beyond number with Mrs McIntyre and will be continuing to develop skills in calculating and naming angles.
Health and Wellbeing
The PATHS focus this term is looking at study skills before moving on to working on resolving conflicts. We will also continue to praise and compliment children through Pupil of the Day. We are also continuing to explore food and dietary requirements of people and factors which influence food choices.
For our PE, Kilmarnock Football Club will be visiting to deliver some football sessions. Our other PE day we will be focussing on gymnastics where we will develop our knowledge and execution of shapes, jumps, turns, balances and rolls. We will also spend a short time looking at traditional Scottish dances.
IDL
Our topic this term is science based and is space and its forces. We will be investigating the planets in our Solar System, famous astronauts, phases of the moon, gravity and magnetism and the importance of the International Space Station. We will also look at how technology has advanced since the moon landings and explore Elon Musk’s Space X programme as well as Virgin Galactic.
RE
In the month of November P7’s will be looking at the lives of Saints and understand that this month is dedicated to remembering the dead. We will also investigate the notion of Heaven, Hell and Purgatory. We will also look at the period of Advent focussing on the story from different Gospels and how Jews were waiting for a saviour. During this term we will also complete activities related to our Pope Francis Faith Award.
Technologies
This term P7 will access 3D graphics programme and use Tinkercad to create a variety of 3D designs. We will also use this to create things for our Christmas Fayre so keep your eyes peeled for our designs ready for sale!
Mr Bertoncini
Curricular update term 2 – Primary 5
The children have been working very hard in term 1 and are ready to begin term 2.
IDL
Our interdisciplinary topic for the term ahead is Knights and Castles. We have already began learning about castles and their purpose throughout time (with a particular interest in Scottish castles). We will look at the different parts of a castle and what purpose they serve. In terms of a Knight, we will learn all about their lifestyle, their job and how they ended up in such a position.
Literacy
They thoroughly enjoyed our class novel “The Butterfly Lion” and the tasks that complimented this text. Moving forward into term 2, our reading tasks will come from our bug club books. We will be looking at lots of comprehension strategies including visualisation and metalinguistics as well as different styles of questioning which will allow the children to explore their understanding of literal, evaluative and inferential questions and how each of these should be answered correctly. Our writing genres that we are learning about this term are narrative writing and response writing. The learning that took place last term (descriptive writing) will compliment these genres and allow the children to up-level their writing using the knowledge already gained. The tools for writing will also extend to speech marks, commas as well as the children’s opinions on what they are writing about.
Numeracy
The children will be learning about addition and subtraction up to 4 digit numbers whilst exploring carrying and exchanging. We will look at decimal numbers and their place within number and link this to our money topic (this will then be represented by pence). Throughout the year, we will be learning how to tackle word problems. This means using our existing knowledge, taking apart the question and only using the information that we need to solve the calculation. During their learning, the children will also be developing their ability and understanding of using the correct mathematical language when discussing their number work and learning. The class will be working with Mrs McIntyre for part of the week and will be looking at time and angles in particular this term.
Health and Well-being
This term will focus on food health and what makes us healthy. We will be learning about portions of food whilst examining what a good portion size is for each of the food groups. We will be looking at current healthy eating messages from the Scottish government (i.e. lowering salt and sugar or how to avoid obesity)
Our P.E. days remain a Monday and a Wednesday for now; however this ay change as the term progresses. Our topics for P.E. this term are gymnastics, football and social dancing in preparation for our Christmas party.
R.E.
Our R.E. focus for this term will consist of Saints during November and Advent during December. During P5 there is a constant theme throughout all religious lessons linked to the Gospel of Mark and the class know that it is this gospel that provides us with our learning this year.
Expressive Arts
Art – We will be painting from observation using a range of materials and techniques. We will also be building a castle as a homework task which will link to our class topic of Knights and castles. There will have to be a design brief prior to building this.
Music – All music for the term ahead will have a focus on the Christmas show and party.
Drama – Our learning through drama will revolve around our topic (knights and castles) as well as PATHS when the children act out specific situations.
Dance – Social dancing in preparation for our Christmas party.
Science
We will be learning about water during science this term. Within this topic, we will be exploring how water is collected, cleaned and transferred to our houses for us to use. We will also link this to the different ways a family uses water as well as how we can conserve it.
Technology
The children are now much more confident in accessing their own school accounts as well as their online accounts (such as GLOW, bug club and sumdog). We will continue to work on this as the year progresses as well as practising our word processing skills. We will be practising how to save and retrieve documents as well as editing their work before printing.
I am thoroughly enjoying teaching Primary 5 and look forward to the term ahead. As always, I would like to take the opportunity to thank you for your continuing support. I hope to see you all in November at our pupil progress meetings.
Take care,
Mrs McCreadie
We will be visiting all classes starting tomorrow offering poppies in return for a donation to The Scottish Poppy Appeal. Donations will be cash donations in school via a registered charity tin.
Thank you for your support.
Below is the link to send your donations directly to Children In Need this year:
https://app.parentpay.com/ParentPayShop/Foc/Default.aspx?shopid=12634
Donations are to be made only through this link . These donations will not show up on your Parentpay account.
There is payment item on Parentpay called “BBC Children in Need 2023” however, please do not use this as it is set up solely for Children in Need bank account purposes.
We are delighted to introduce the newest member of our Mount Carmel family – Penelope Terras.
Huge congratulations to Mrs Terras, her husband and big sister Phoebe who welcomed Penelope on 19th October.
