Some of our Primary 4 children recently  joined Sr Rose, Sr Mabel and Sr Juliet, to celebrate their feast day.

The children had great fun learning some traditional dances and they were delighted to take part in the offertory procession during the feast day Mass at St. Matthew’s Church.

Well done for your wonderful participation and fantastic dancing!

During the Month of May, our Primary 4 Missio Champions have been continuing on their journey to be friends of Jesus.

We have a beautiful May altar in our classroom and have been reflecting on the life of Our Lady as well as praying the rosary to help us deepen  our appreciation of Mary and learn how she can help us to become missionaries of God’s love too.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel pray for us.

Welcome back! I hope you have all had a restful time over the Easter break. It is lovely to see all the children back in class and ready for our last term of Primary 4! Here is an overview of term 4.

Literacy

For our reading focus, the children will explore a range of text. We will start the term looking at ‘How to Trap A Dragon’ as a basis for our reading and comprehension tasks, this will link with our writing tasks. As the term progresses, we will move on to looking at non-fiction extract that will link to our science topic which is the human body. We will also link literacy to the upcoming summer show, looking at the features of play-scripts and lyrics.

During writing, we will look at instructional and response writing. We will look at the features of these writing genres and use of reading and notetaking skills to link our reading and writing tasks.

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. We will also continue to develop our notetaking skills and look the idea of giving our own opinion and being able to give reasons for this.

Numeracy & Maths

The children will continue with a daily number talk, to develop a range of mental maths strategies. We will be looking at the concept of fractions and will develop understanding of the notation and vocabulary associated with fractions. Through a range of practical activities children will become familiar with ordering fractions, finding equivalent fractions and finding the fraction of an amount.

In beyond number, the children will continue with their money topic, this will link to our IDL topic later in the term. Measure will also be covered during this term.

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 programme with a focus on mindfulness outdoors. During science, we will be looking at the human body and will investigate some of the main body organs. We will also look at how we keep ourselves fit and healthy.

PE

PE is on a Thursday and Friday. This term we will be covering;

• Athletics
• Tennis

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, as well as a range of listening and writing activities, we will learn how to talk about the seasons of the year and will be investigating what school is like in France.

IDL

This term our IDL topic will be related to an enterprise topic, for which we will plan a Spring Tea. We will link this to our social studies and RE learning, looking how we can help others as we are inspired by the life and work of St. Vincent de Paul. We will investigate what roles are needed within an enterprise.

Expressive Arts

This term, primary 4 are very excited to a part of the Summer School show. In preparation for this, we will participate in a range of art, music and drama related activities.

Religious Education

This term we will be working towards First Holy Communion. We will be looking closely at the meaning of the Last Supper, and becoming more familiar with liturgy of the Eucharist during Mass.

During the month of May we will be thinking about Our Lady in a special way, and will have our own Mary altar in the classroom. The children will take part of 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.

As we start preparation for First Communion, there will also be some home tasks sent home in the First Communion Work book for those children preparing to receive their First Communion in May or June.

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.

Keep an eye on your child’s Learning Journal page for updates on the exciting activities that each class have been enjoying over the last few weeks.

P4 enjoyed some book related activities to celebrate World Book Day.

We had fun sharing our favourite stories and characters with our friends. We also put our artistic talents to good use, and whilst enjoying some March sunshine, we drew our favourite characters. There are definitely some budding illustrators in P4!

Welcome back! I hope that you have all had a restful time over the festive period. It is lovely to see all the children back in class and ready for another busy term. Here is an overview of term 3.

Literacy

For our reading focus, the children will explore two class books. In January we will read, ‘The Treasure of the Loch Ness Monster,’ this will tie in with our Scotland theme as we explore Scottish stories and poems. The children will have an opportunity to develop their comprehension skills such as metalinguistics, prediction and summarising.

We will then move on to a non-fiction text,’ Cool Castles’,  which again will be linked to our learning about Scottish Castles. The children will look at the features of this non-fiction text. We will look at the skills of summarising and note taking. Children will continue to be assigned a Bug Club reader as part of their homework tasks.

During writing, we will look at report and explanatory writing. We will look at the features of these writing genres and use of reading and notetaking skills to link our reading and writing tasks.

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 will be looking at various strategies for solving multiplication and division problems.

In beyond number, the children will continue to look at time before moving on to money.

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 programme as well as our various daily mindful tasks.

We will also look at the various ways of staying safe and how to respond to emergency situations. We will link this to the world of work.

PE

PE is on a Thursday and Friday. This term we will be covering;

• Fun fitness
• Basketball

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. We will be looking at the months of the year and will be investigating what school is like in France.

IDL

This term, we will be exploring the topic of Scottish Castles. We will look at the features, location and history of these historic buildings. We will link this learning with our literacy tasks and our expressive art tasks, where we will be looking at line drawings and adding shape, shade and tone.

Expressive Arts 

This term, we will be linking our learning in RE with our drama activities, allowing us to retell the story of the lives of some well-known saints. We will work on our characterisation skills and develop our sense audience and space.

We will link our artwork this term with our topic. Using the elements of tone, shape and shade the children will enjoy various art activities.

Religious Education

This term we will be looking at the importance and meaning of the Sacrament of Confirmation. We will explore the story of Pentecost and look at the Gifts of the Holy Spirit and how we can use these in our daily lives. We will read about the lives of some well-known saints, and reflect on how they are an inspiration to us.

As the term progresses we will look at the meaning of the season of Lent. The children will take part of 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.

As we start preparation for the Sacraments, there will also be some home tasks sent home in the Confirmation Work book for those children preparing to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation in February.

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.

In our role as ‘Missio Champions’, P4 have been spreading some Christmas joy in our school and parish community.

We designed and created beautiful Christmas cards and letters for Fr Jim and the parishioners of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church. We hope that they enjoy reading them, we have had lots of fun making them.

P4  have distributed boxes to each class for collecting donations for the Reverse Advent Calendar. 🎁🎄

We are kindly asking for any donations you can manage, for this wonderful cause. All items collected will be added to St. Matthew’s foodbank to help local families this Christmas.

Items can be brought into school between now and the last week in December. ( Please do not hand in perishable foods)

Thank you.

Primary 4 have been really enjoying their visits to Crossgates.

Today, we presented the residents and staff with an Advent wreath. During a previous visit the children, residents and staff designed handprints, we used these to create a joint Advent Wreath to remind everyone of the lovely friendships that we have built with our new Crossgates friends.  We have one in our classroom and there is now one displayed in Crossgates. 🎄

Today we enjoyed making Christmas themed play-doh creations. We shared stories and had lots of fun and laughter with our new friends.

P4 have been enjoying their role as ‘Missio Champions’ within the school.

As we all get ready for the beginning of Advent, P4 put together and distributed some fun Advent activities for all the classes.

We also gave everyone a Missio Advent Calendar to remind us all of the importance of keeping Jesus at the centre of our Advent Journey.

We hope that everyone has a wonderful and prayerful Advent.

P4

Advent calendar

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;

• Hockey
• Football
• Social Dance

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.

This year, we will be continuing our use of the Learning Journals platform to allow us to share some of your child’s learning with you.

Click on the link below for some further information on the use of Learning Journals.

Learning Journals Information

Thank you.

Welcome back to term 4. We hope you have had a restful time over the Easter break. We are looking forward to a wonderful new term of lots of new learning, fun and new experiences with our fantastic P4 class. 

 Literacy  

For our reading focus this term we will continue to look at building expression and fluency in our reading aloud. We will use the comprehension strategies we have been learning and look at what inferential and evaluative questions are and how we can use the text to help us with this. Please ensure your child accesses their Bug Club weekly to support their reading in these lessons. 

In writing, we will look at persuasive writing, focusing on our use of persuasive language and how to structure a persuasive piece of writing. This term, we will also start to incorporate the use of ICT for re-drafting some of our pieces of writing.  

Spelling will take the form of active spelling activities and the children will experience phonemes and blends at their working level. 

Numeracy & Maths  

This term we will continue to build on our work with the four operations and will explore how fractions are related to division. We will look at the meaning of the numerator and denominator and will be able to order and compare fractions.  

In Beyond Number we will finish looking at time, children explore digital and analogue time as well as solving time duration problems.  

Health and Wellbeing  

We will continue with our PATHs programme, looking at problem solving and the idea of fair/unfair and accident and on purpose. We will continue with our Pupil of the Day, so keep a look out for your children coming home with their compliment sheet! 

The class are also engaging in a mindful activity each day. Through our Do Be Mindful programme and other class activities, we are learning about building and developing life enhancing skills, tools and habits that will foster emotional and mental wellbeing.  

PE 

PE is on a Wednesday and Friday. This term we will be covering; 

Athletics 

Tennis /Badminton 

PE kit must be brought in and left at the start of each term. Before the holiday, the kit was sent home for washing to be freshened up and should now be returned for the current term. Lessons may be outdoors if weather permits.   

French

This term along with developing our basic conversational vocabulary, we will look at ‘Sports’, ‘Our home’ and ‘Famous French People and Landmarks’. 

IDL 

P4 will be continue from our fairtrade topic last term to look at Food production. We will complete a comparison study between food production in Scotland and in another country. In May, we are very excited to visit Dumfries House to participate in their ‘Spring Festival of Farming.’ We are really excited for this visit and it will be a lovely ending to our topic.   

We will then move on to our new topic, Charities. We will look at a range of charities both at home and further afield and the work that they do in supporting and helping those in need. We will also look at how we can give back to our community in different ways. 

Religious Education  

This term we will be focusing on the importance of the Eucharist, linking to the Last Supper. We will also focus on the Mass as the source and summit of our Christian life and will continue to become familiar with the part of The Mass, including the various prayers and responses. We are all very excited to support our P4 children who will celebrate their First Holy Communion later this term.  

In May, we will focus on Our Lady, we will learn about the Rosary and become familiar with this beautiful prayer.  

Homework will be distributed on a Monday to be completed, signed and returned by Friday. Keep an eye on the class blog for regular updates to what is happening in class, recent learning and relevant upcoming events.  

Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to a wonderful term with P4! 

Mrs MacKinnon and Mrs McIntyre. 

Some of our fabulous Primary 6 children, who are working on their ‘ Pope Francis Faith Award’,  spent some time with the Primary 3 children who are preparing for the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

They shared their memories of their First Reconciliation and also wrote a special prayer for their Primary 3 prayer buddy.

Thank you Primary 6, it was a lovely morning together.

Welcome back to term 3. We hope you have had a restful time over the festive period. We are looking forward to a wonderful new term of lots of new learning, fun and new experiences with our fantastic P4 class.

Literacy

For our reading focus this term, we will continue to focus on developing our comprehension strategies using our class readers as well as non-fiction resources to link with our topics this term. These will incorporate reading for information, visualisation tasks, metalinguistics and using our prediction skills.

In writing, we will spend a few weeks on descriptive writing tasks, and we will then move on to response writing.

During the month of January, we will look at Scots language, and some well-known Scots poems. We will link this with a mini Scotland topic.

Spelling will take the form of active spelling activities and the children will experience phonemes and blends at their working level.

Numeracy & Maths.

This term we will look at strategies for solving multiplication and division problems. We will continue with our number talk and mental maths activities to further develop our use of mathematical language and confidence in solving a range of problems.

In Beyond Number, we will conclude our money focus in January leading into our next topic of measure until Easter.

Health and Wellbeing

We will continue with our PATHs programme, with a focus on relationships; how we develop and grow our friendships and the importance of a good manners and having a sense of responsibility.

We will also link our Health and Well-being with our topic work, looking at food choices, and how our diet can help us to stay healthy.

We will continue with our Pupil of the Day, so keep a look out for your children coming home with their compliment sheet!

PE

PE is on a Wednesday and Friday. This term we will be covering;

• Gymnastics
• Developmental play (Parachute games/Team-building challenges)

PE kit must be brought in and left at the start of each term. Before each holiday, the kit will be sent home for washing to be freshened up and returned on the first day back.

Expressive Arts

After lots of fantastic work in art before Christmas including 3D modelling and craft work, P4 will continue to develop their artistic skills focusing on colour, tone, line drawings and using varied materials. We will be looking at famous artists and imitating their unique styles in our own way.

In Class, we will undertake drama lessons each week looking at various conventions such as improvisation, mime, hot seating, freeze- frame as well as building confidence in our presentation skills for any shared learning within school.

French

In French we will look at using everyday language in different conversational situations e.g., buying food, ordering in a café, school life (subjects/classroom objects) and finally sports and hobbies. We will also learn topic specific vocabulary nearing Easter and a French prayer during Lent.

IDL

Our topics this term will include a mini-Scottish focus in January.

In February and March, we will then look at ‘Fairtrade and Food Production’ as our topic focus with links to science (food chains / food webs). We will be having a “Sharing the learning session” for parents and carers on 24^th March during which the children will showcase some of their learning. Further details will follow, we hope that you can join us!

 Religious Education

This term we will looking at some of the political, historical, social and religious elements of first century Palestine to help us gain an understanding of Jesus’ life on earth.

As we journey towards Lent, we will reflect on the signs and symbols of the season and relate these to our own personal journey.

In preparation for the celebration of the Sacrament of Confirmation, we will be looking at the meaning of the sacrament and learn more about the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Homework will be distributed on a Monday to be completed, signed and returned by Friday. For the children who will be celebrating the Sacraments of Confirmation and Holy Communion, there will be some tasks sent home to complete, please assist your child with these tasks as they prepare for an important step in their faith journey.

Keep an eye on the class blog for regular updates to what is happening in class, recent learning and relevant upcoming events.

Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to a fabulous term with P4!

Mrs McIntyre and Mrs MacKinnon.

Welcome back! We hope you have all had an enjoyable summer. It has been fantastic to see P4 settle into their new classroom and routines.

We have had a great start to the term, and look forward to a fun filled term with lots of fabulous learning taking place.

Here is an update on the upcoming term.

Literacy

For our reading focus this term, we will be developing our comprehension strategies such as visualisation and metalinguistics through our class novel ‘Venus Peter saves the Whale’. This will also incorporate themes such as science, the environment, animals and friendship.

During writing, we will focus on building our characterisation through descriptive skills and language in our narrative writing. We will then progress our note taking skills using headings and paragraphs to present different types of information in a report.   Writing activities will also be based around a mini novel study on the ‘Mr Gum’ series of books.

Spelling will take the form of active spelling activities and the children will experience phonemes and blends at their working level.

Numeracy & Maths

The class will review Place Value knowledge and will use this to build on their sense of number. We will look at 3 and 4 digit numbers and we will read, write order and recite these numbers. Through our place value work, we will be able to identify the value of each digit.

We will then progress to looking at our addition strategies. The class will participate in a daily number talk, to develop of mental maths strategies.

In Beyond Number, the class will start with information handling, looking at data, surveys and creating charts, graphs and tables.

Health and Wellbeing

This term we will be begin our PATHS programme for P4. Lessons will include setting up our class rules, looking at individual emotions, building friendships and community within the school, Self-Control and Anger Management.

PE

PE is on a Wednesday and Friday. This term we will be covering;

• Games
• Basketball
• Football

PE kit must be brought in and left at the start of each term. Before each holiday, the kit will be sent home for washing to be freshened up and returned on the first day back.  Please make sure your child is not wearing jewellery on these days as they will be unable to participate in the lesson for health and safety reasons. If your child cannot take part for any reason, please contact the school.

French

We will be revising the alphabet, basic French phrases and numbers this term through, songs, activities and games.

IDL

P4 will be learning about the Vikings. We will be looking at the Vikings in Scotland and life at the time. Writing, ICT and expressive arts lessons will link to our Vikings topic.

Expressive Arts 

This term, we look at the illustrations from our class novel and use these as inspiration to create our own artwork using a variety of materials.

As we move on to our Vikings topic, we will create Viking art and models.

Religious Education

This term we will be reflecting on our uniqueness and thinking about our God given talents. We will reflect on the importance of friendship and link this with various stories from the Bible. The children will take part of class prayers and School Masses, and we will continue to build on our knowledge of common prayers and Mass responses.

Homework will be distributed on a Monday to be completed, signed and returned by Friday. Keep an eye on the class blog for regular updates to what is happening in class, recent learning and relevant upcoming events.

Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to a fabulous term with P4!

Mrs McIntyre and Mrs MacKinnon

Welcome back!  We hope you had a lovely Easter break with your families and are ready for a fun packed and hopefully sunny last term. Fingers crossed!!

Primary 5 have now established themselves in our upper school and continue to strive to be good role models for their peers and build on their increasing independence. During term 4 our focus will be:

Literacy

This term P5 will be focussing on Narrative writing, we will be developing literary devices and linking this to our topic. In reading, we will continue our progress within Bug Club further developing our AL comprehension strategies as described in our latest ‘Sharing the Learning’ video. We will focus on listening and talking throughout our topic lessons, expressing our opinions and justifying these with good reasoning in debate/ lesson presentations. Some groups will continue to work on literal comprehension and prediction skills, whilst others will continue their work on inferential and evaluative questions. Spelling and phoneme work will be consolidated this term and pupils will use ‘Active Spelling’ resources and activities to support this.

Numeracy

This term, P5 will be focussing on Division, as well as Fractions and Decimals. The circles and rectangles groups will complete division with remainders. The squares and triangles will also focus on these areas at their level. In Beyond Number, pupils will look at 2D and 3D shape recognition and properties, making links to angles and symmetry. Later in the term, we will also be exploring ‘Measurement’. (volume, mass, length, area)

Health and Well-being / PE

We will be focussing on completing our PATHS lessons and moving onto explore further areas such as healthy food, hygiene, bodies (God’s Loving Plan) as well as keeping ourselves safe. We will also look at substances that can damage our physical and emotional health, appropriate to our age.  Pupils will have the opportunity to visit many of these concepts during our whole school  ‘Health week’.

PE days will now be on Wednesday and Friday mornings. We will participate in independent and teamwork for Athletics during April/May moving onto Orienteering in June. Pupils will complete these lessons outdoors as much as possible so please make sure your child is prepared for the weather that day. It is essential that your child comes to school prepared for outdoor learning in appropriate clothing as we hopefully plan to be outside more as the summer nears and weather improves. Make sure they have plenty of water with them for very hot periods and sun cream.

Science

This term in Science we will be investigating water. We will be developing our knowledge and understanding of the water cycle and also exploring and investigating the methods for purifying water. We will look at the many uses of water and why it is important to conserve water.

RE 

As Eastertide passes, we will be mainly focusing on Mary, Our Lady.  Celebrating her example and significance through the Gospel of Mark as well as revisiting the feast of the Ascension and Pentecost. In June, we will look at God’s Loving Plan resources as part our This Is Our Faith programme. This will look closely at friendships, relationships as well as the role of being a parent /carer.

IDL

Our enterprise topic this term is ‘A Night at the Movies’. Pupils will look at the evolution of the film industry from the silent movies, introduction of sound, colour, animation, from Drive-Thru to 3D/4D currently. This will include developing our Talking and Listening and also writing skills (scripts/movie reviews, Gogglebox), also ICT  skills ( Green screen/ ipad) to make our own movie trailers which will incorporate set design, production and directing and expressive arts lessons to create our sets. These will be ‘premiered’ at our own Oscars ceremony/Party where we will dress up in our best and have the opportunity to culminate all our learning, have fun and raise some funds for school.

Thank you again for your continual support this year for our pupils and class.

Mrs McIntyre & Mrs MacKinnon