Primary 4 have had a brilliant rainbow reward afternoon on their scooters 🛴😁

Primary 4 Term 3 update

It is lovely to see the children all back after the Christmas break. I hope you all had a great time together and that Santa was good to everyone. Now that the children are rested, it’s time to get back to work. Here is an update of what is coming up in the term ahead.

IDL

Our rainforest topic was a great success with lots of rich learning taking place. Our topic this term will be focussed around the work of charities, with a particular focus on the charity Missio. This is the Pope’s charity for world mission and will link in nicely with the Sacrament of Confirmation that some of the children will be celebrating. The class will complete this topic throughout the Lenten period and will be responsible for organising fun Lent activities to raise funds for the charity.

Literacy

Reading – The children are making excellent progress in their reading skills. They are reading with much more expression and fluency as well as beginning to utilise their word attack strategies to help them decode difficult words. This term will continue to look at how we summarise texts, a skill that we can then use in our writing. Another focus for this term will be the children’s opinions on what they are reading. They will learn how to evaluate a text from the author’s point of view. They will share their thoughts and feeling on what they are reading and this in turn will help shape them into the kind of reader they will be.

Writing – This term, the children will continue to look at narrative writing whilst using their description bubbles to aid planning. We introduced free writing as part of our routine which gives the children the opportunity to write about anything that they would like to, whether it be comic books, or short stories. In terms of new skills, the children will be encouraged to develop their awareness of conjunctions and connectives and how these can be used effectively in their writing. The children will also be trained in how to read over their work to ensure they have met their success criteria for that particular piece of writing. The children are continually encouraged to complete neat work and take care of their presentation when completing tasks; however this is something that requires more attention as they progress in their learning.

Listening and Talking – This term, we will continue with listening for instructions and acting appropriately. The children will also be developing their ability to be a ‘good, quality audience’ which means looking eyes, listening ears and proper body language. When presenting, we will be concentrating on speaking clearly as well as good eye contact and relevant information.

Numeracy

I am delighted in the progress made by the class in terms of their numeracy. They can now use several strategies to attack a single calculation. Their number talks strategies are valuable as we continue to explore addition and subtraction within 3 digits. Our prior knowledge of place value will also help us in partitioning these numbers to help us calculate within these operations.

We will spend time looking at word problems within addition and subtraction and how we can extract the relevant information from the problem to enable us to solve it.

The children will also continue to look at and learn our 3, 6, and 9 times tables. We will explore maths within the real world through our enterprise topic in which we will explore the charity ‘Missio’. We will also organise activities to raise funds for the charity which will work towards our understanding of numeracy in our real world.

In terms of our beyond number topics, we will continue to look at time, money, data handling and measurement.

A big focus this term will also be our ability to use mathematical language and solve simple equations.

Health and Wellbeing

As well as our PATHS programme which will run throughout the year, we will be looking at our bodies this term and how we can keep ourselves healthy. We will look at food, allergies and how our bodies gain energy from the foods that we eat. As an ongoing learning input, we will continue to look at how our choices have consequences, both negative and positive and how these choices impact on the relationships we build.

Our physical education inputs will be gymnastics, hockey, basketball and tennis throughout this term with Mrs MacKinnon teaching two of these sports and myself teaching the other two. Our P.E. days will continue to be a Tuesday and a Thursday. PLEASE ENSURE YOUR CHILD HAS INDOOR SHOES FOR THE PURPOSE OF P.E. ON THESE DAYS. THESE SHOULD NOT BE SHOES THAT THEY WEAR TO SCHOOL.

Religious Education

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the children in the class who celebrated their sacrament of reconciliation in December and I would also like to thank the rest of the children for supporting their peers on this journey. We will begin preparation for our sacrament of confirmation after the holidays which will take place on the 22^nd February 2022. As part of this preparation, we will explore the celebration of the Passover and how Jesus celebrated this festival. We will also explore Jesus as our teacher and his teachings.

Expressive Arts

Within Art this term, we will be looking at the work by an artist called Piet Mondrian who was a Dutch painter. We will also hopefully explore the use of clay in modelling.

Our music inputs will focus on the children showing a certain control over certain instruments as well as identifying the main instruments used within pieces of music.

Our drama inputs will take place during our PATHS sessions.

Technologies

Our knowledge of the general use of ICT is definitely improving. Last term we were able to use the ICT suite, laptops, sphero robots, iPads and applications within each of these. The children are much more confident in how this equipment should be used. This term, our focus will be on the safe use of ICT and the internet. We will learn about the safe use of the internet with a specific focus on internet safety day on the 8^th February as well as our digital footprints.

Modern Languages

The class will continue to learn French with Mrs MacKinnon this term. Their knowledge of the French language so far is very impressive.

Science

Last term, the children explored the use of renewable and non-renewable energy within their topic of energy. This term, we will learn all about electricity and what we use it for.

As always, thank you for your ongoing support.

Take care, Mrs McCreadie

Welcome back! I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and managed to get some well-earned rest in between all the excitement of the festive period. It has been great to have Primary 6 back in class and I have loved hearing all about their Christmas holidays. Primary 6 have settled back into their school routine and are ready to take on term 3. Please see below an overview of the teaching and learning for the following term: 

Literacy 

Reading 

Primary 6 will continue to work on Bug Club books both in class as well as the independent texts assigned for children to read at home for enjoyment. Pupils will focus on a chapter each week and engage in good quality discussion with their reading group and teacher then work on tasks based around this chapter independently. This will help to aid and build on our active comprehension skills. Groups will continue to work on using evidence from the text to justify comprehension answers. 

Writing 

Our writing day will continue to be on a Tuesday. The pupils will have the opportunity to discuss and plan their writing the day before and will be encouraged to take time at home as a homework task to think about the content of their writing. Moreover, we will focus as a class on an aspect of grammar/punctuation each week to use in our writing which will hopefully transfer to all literacy areas. This term Primary 6 will be focusing on Narrative writing. We will refer back to using our description bubbles from Term 1 to aid in describing characters and settings while looking at the use of dialogue, figurative language, and plot structures to engage the reader.  

Spelling 

The spelling groups will continue to experience the Active Literacy spelling program, this will introduce common words and focus phonemes pertinent to their level and stage. The pupils will revise the Active Spelling strategies throughout the term. 

Numeracy 

This term P6 will focus on Fractions, Decimals, and Percentages and our Beyond Number topics will be Time and Measure. The pupils will experience activities at their stage and level. Constant revision of multiplication tables will be encouraged across all groups. Sumdog and Topmarks games can help with the rigor of times tables at home. Pupils will continue to engage in daily Number Talks to increase their mental maths agility. This is an area P6 have been working hard on throughout the last 2 terms and I look forward to seeing what they are capable of in term 3! 

Health and Wellbeing 

Last term P6 continued to work through our weekly PATHS lessons which focused on problem solving and making a plan. Moreover, the PATHS Barnardo Buddies programme has been up and running, all children involved have received training and have made a fantastic start on their buddying journey. This has given the Buddies a sense of responsibility and commitment, dedicating part of their lunchtime towards something that has a great benefit to both the school community and their own personal development. Our ‘Pupil of the Day’ continues, which encourages P6 to not only compliment their classmates, but to compliment and be kind to themselves, which can sometimes be trickier than we think. As always, all children in P6 are encouraged to use their ‘feelings jotter’ to share any worries or concerns they may be experiencing. P6 will cover a mini topic this term looking at substance misuse and making the right choices.  

Our PE days this term will return to Thursday and Friday. Our Thursday sessions will have a focus on Netball while our Friday sessions look at Fitness. Pupils are asked to come dressed for PE on these days – school uniform on top but leggings, joggers, trainers can be worn on the bottom. 

IDL 

Last term P6 focused on Titanic which they thoroughly enjoyed, especially making all their wonderful home projects – The Titanic Shoeboxes – which are proudly on display in our open area. This term our topic will be Scotland. Throughout this topic we will look at Literacy while examining Scots language and poetry; Social Studies as we explore Scotland on a map and study the landscape, mountains and rivers Scotland has to offer; as well as Expressive Arts, as we recreate some landscape artwork and study Steven Brown, a famous Scottish artist.  

RE 

Last term P6 began working towards their Pope Francis Faith Award during our RE sessions. So far, we have focused on the gift of Knowledge and completed various activities to support this. Children are encouraged to share this learning at home as part of the award and some homework tasks will focus on areas of this. Furthermore, this term we will study the life of Jesus in Jerusalem and look at key dates in the liturgical calendar such as Shrove Tuesday and the beginning of Lent in preparation for Easter.  

2+1 Languages 

This term, Primary 6 will continue to work on French as their main language with Mrs Mackinnon. In our classroom we have started to immerse ourselves in the French language with labels and displays in French. Each day, we fill in a French calendar with the aim of embedding the language into our classroom routines. 

In Primary 6 we promote hard work and amazing attitudes. Our reward card system allows pupils to gain reward cards for Wonderful Work, Amazing Attitude, and being a ‘Superstar’. When the pupils gain five cards, they can choose an individual reward. They can also choose to go for a class reward once everyone reaches five reward cards; this promotes teamwork within the class. Term 1 and term 2 have seen all children receive individual rewards. Many children have already put their reward towards a class reward, therefore, hopefully term 3 will be the one where we can achieve this and celebrate Primary 6’s combined success together! 

If you have any queries or questions, please contact the school directly. 

Thank you for your support and I look forward to another wonderful term in Primary 6. 

Miss McKenna 

P1/2 had a super time at their Christmas party today 🎉🎉🎉! They all looked fabulous in their outfits and had lots of fun dancing and playing party games.

Grand Old Duke was a favourite!!

And of course the party snacks provided by the catering staff topped the afternoon off 😋!

Primary 6 Term 2 Blog Post

Welcome to term 2, I hope everyone enjoyed their October week and had a chance to unwind after all of our super hard work during term 1! Term 1 has been a great start for Primary 6, class routines have been established, a positive working environment has been created, and expectations have been set for a successful year ahead.

Below is an overview of the learning and teaching taking place in P6 this term.

Literacy

Reading

In term 2, after finishing off our class novel ‘Wonder’ we will begin to work on Bug club books. Independent books will be assigned for children to read at home for enjoyment and books will be set for each reading group to work on in class. Daily reading tasks will be set for groups to complete independently after a reading input with the teacher and these tasks will be focused around our active literacy skills. In Primary 6 we have begun to quote from the text to back up our opinion, Primary 6 have made an exceptional start at this, and this is something we will continue to master throughout the school year. During our new topic – Titanic – we will begin to focus on reading and gathering information from various different types of texts, for example, biographies, newspaper articles, primary and secondary sources etc. I believe Primary 6 will enjoy this aspect of the topic and will hit the ground running with it.

Writing

Our writing day will be a Tuesday. The pupils will have the opportunity to discuss and plan their writing the day before and will be encouraged to take time at home as a homework task to think about the content of their writing. This term Primary 6 will be focussing on Persuasive writing. The pupils will use the OREO (Opinion, Reason, Example, Opinion) framework to structure their writing. Primary 6 will focus a different aspect of grammar/punctuation each week with the expectation they use this in their formal writing. Some pupils will be expected to up-level their writing by using tools such as thesauri and the VCOP pyramid.

Spelling

The spelling groups will continue to experience the Active Literacy spelling program, this will introduce common words and focus phonemes pertinent to their level and stage. The pupils will work on the Active Spelling strategies, these include diacritical marking, syllabification and words within words as daily spelling tasks and have a spelling test each week on a Friday morning.

Numeracy

This term P6 will focus on The Four Operations (Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division) and our Beyond Number topics will be to continue with Angles and Symmetry and Data Handling. The pupils will experience activities at their stage and level. Constant revision of multiplication tables will be encouraged across all groups. Sumdog and Topmarks games can help with the rigor of times tables at home.

Health and Wellbeing

Last term, through our ‘Wonder’ novel we focused on friendships, changing relationships and choosing kindness. This term, some Primary 6’s will have the opportunity to become Barnardo Buddies, which those who applied have already interviewed for, introducing them to the world of work. This will be a great opportunity and experience and will allow Primary 6 to develop their leadership skills. Moreover, they will be able to put their PATHS control strategies into place, modelling these to the lower school through teaching and playing playground games with them and helping to sort any conflict. We will begin a Health and Wellbeing topic looking at food and a healthy diet, discussing the choices we make. P6 will continue to engage in our weekly PATHS lessons and be encouraged to use their ‘check in’ cards and feeling jotters to report any worries or concerns they may have to the teacher. The ‘Pupil of the Day’ is up and running. This year we are complementing each other based on each other’s skills and talents.

Our PE days this term will be on a Wednesday and a Thursday. Our Wednesday sessions will be led by Kilmarnock Sports College in the morning until the 10th of November. Following on from this, from the 17th of November for the next four weeks PE will be in the form of Sport’s leadership sessions lead by Mark Devlin. Pupils are asked to come dressed for PE on these days – school uniform on top but leggings, joggers, trainers can be worn on the bottom. The focus in PE this term is football on Thursday and gymnastics on a Friday.

Expressive Arts

Through our class topic P6 will have the opportunity to experience a range of activities in Drama and Art pertinent to their level and stage. P6 especially enjoyed ‘Hot seating’ in drama last term which involves putting themselves in the headspace of a character and answering questions from their classmates as that character. This is something we will take forward in term 2, putting ourselves in the shoes of those aboard the Titanic.

RME

Throughout Primary 6 the pupils will listen to and engage with stories from the Gospel of Matthew. This term P6 will look at special dates in the liturgical calendar such as All Saints and All Souls Day. P6 will choose a Saint to research and present to the class. Moreover, we will enjoy 2-3 weekly visits from The Sisters to work with the children on mass responses and prayer.

2+1 Languages

This term, Primary 6 will be working on French as their main language and also some Spanish. So far in term 2, Primary 6 enjoyed working on a group task where they identified which countries spoke French around the world using maps. Moreover, pupils learned about the origin, meaning and typical traditions of Mexican celebration ‘El Dia de los Muertos’ (Day of the Dead) and produced some wonderful art work based on their learning.

In Primary 6 we promote hard work and amazing attitudes. Our reward card system allows pupils to gain reward cards for Wonderful Work, Amazing Attitude, and being a ‘Superstar’. When the pupils gain five cards, they can choose an individual reward. They can also choose to go for a class reward once everyone reaches five reward cards; this promotes teamwork within the class. Throughout term 1 many children achieved five reward cards and enjoyed an individual reward as a result of this, I have no doubt this will continue in Term 2 and we can hopefully work towards a class reward together.

If you have any queries or questions, please contact the school directly.

Thank you for your support and I look forward to a wonderful year in Primary 6.

Miss McKenna

Primary 4 – Term 2

Primary 4 have worked extremely hard last term with lots of excellent learning taking place. They have settled well into their new classroom and routines. I am very proud of how they have adapted to the changes that they have experienced since P3. Here is an update of what is coming in the term ahead.

IDL

We will continue with our interdisciplinary topic of the rainforest. The children are really engaged in this topic and due to the excellent questions that they have had regarding this topic, we will continue learning about the rainforest (with a particular focus on the Amazon Rainforest) until the end of December. This term our learning will focus more on the climate change occurring as a result of deforestation and how this is affecting everything from the animals who live in the rainforest, to the melting ice caps in the arctic.

Literacy

The children are now excellent at accessing their reading texts both with a hard copy of their book as well as bug club when we get the opportunity in the ICT suite. We will continue to use our word attack strategies to help us decode new words, which will help build our confidence when presented with unfamiliar words. There will also be a focus on reading with expression and fluency. This can be encouraged at home when the children are reading anything at all. It’s all about confidence!

Through our writing activities, it has become apparent that the children need lots more practise in their tools for writing. This includes the use of capital letters and full stops as well as neat handwriting. The children will also be encouraged to use their spelling helpers to help them in writing words that they are unsure of. Encourage your child to ‘have a go’ when it comes to spelling. We know in Primary 4 that mistakes help us to learn.

We have also started using description bubbles when we are completing a piece of writing and some of the vocabulary that the children are coming up with is excellent. This ability to describe things in detail will help them in our new focus for this term of narrative writing. We will be looking at the structure of a story and what our criteria is to achieve success.

Our listening and talking focus will continue to be following instructions within school. We will also look at what an appropriate level of noise is for the classroom, playground and gym hall. The children will be encouraged to develop positive body language and eye contact whilst having discussions with their peers. This has not changed from last term as I do not feel that the children are fully achieving this target quite yet. That being said, their ability to discuss and explain different things is definitely improving. It is evident in our discussions during PATHS time as well as their explanations during number talks time that they are maturing and this is a skill that will develop with practise.

Numeracy

I am so impressed with the class in terms of numeracy. We have had a visiting teacher from the Scottish Attainment Challenge in our class 3 times per week for a few weeks and the children have completely engaged with her in terms of their learning. This term, we will be looking at estimating and rounding of numbers whilst using our knowledge of place value. In terms of our number operations, we will be concentrating on addition and subtraction whilst continuing to practise our time tables.

Another concept that has been introduced to the children is number talks. This concept teaches children how to solve calculations using different strategies. This enables children to have ownership of their own learning by using the strategies that suit them best to solve calculations. This will be something that benefits the children as they make their way through the school.

In terms of our beyond number topics, Mrs MacKinnon will be teaching the children about money and how they should be using this. They will be concentrating on recognising and using money up to the value of £20 and the vocabulary that accompanies this topic. Mrs McCreadie will continue to look at time with the children. We will focus on o’clock, half past, quarter to and quarter past in both digital and analogue time.

Health and Wellbeing

Our P.E days are currently a Tuesday and a Thursday. The children can wear comfortable bottoms on these days but should bring indoor shoes into school on these days.

The children will be learning the skills required to play football and badminton this term, as well as looking at dance nearer to the Christmas term.

Primary 4 already partake in mindfulness every day. This allows the children to find a 5 minute quiet time in the middle of a very busy day. The children have been introduced to the massage in schools programme and all said it made them feel calmer and more relaxed. Different strategies will be developed throughout the year which will empower children to deal with stresses that they encounter in their day to day lives.

As part of our PATHS lessons, we will also be encouraging and nurturing positive relationships within the class and school. This is with peers and adults alike. Manners are a must as well as respect. We will explore what makes a good friend and what strategies we can build upon to help us with our resilience and help us regulate our emotions. The children explore the emotions that they feel and there is a focus on all emotions being ok, it is their behaviour that is sometimes unacceptable.

R.E

This term is extremely important in terms of the children’s faith journey. Many of our children will be making their Sacrament of Reconciliation during Advent. If your child is making this Sacrament then keep a look out for information and work to be completed at home. If your child is not making the Sacrament, then it is important that they come along on our journey and learn about why different religions have different ceremonies.

Expressive Arts

Art – Our focus within art will be tone, shape and shade of colours. The children have already been introduced to the word ‘texture’ during our description time at writing but they will explore this during art too.

Music – Primary 4 will be introduced to different instruments that are used to create different moods and genres of music.

Drama – Drama will continue to be looked at through our PATHS lessons in the form of role play.

Dance – Dance will be a focus during our P.E. time closer to Christmas.

I.C.T

As our independence continues to develop in Primary 4, so does our ability to use IT equipment. Our focus in Primary 4 this term will be to continue using our skills we have so far (practise at logging in etc) as this encourages independence. The children are also at an age now where some of them are going online without adult supervision (playing with their friends online etc) and it is therefore important that they know how to keep themselves safe whilst they are online. A focus on internet safety for the foreseeable will allow discussion and scenarios to be used in teaching the children how to keep themselves and their information safe while they use the internet.

Modern Languages

Primary 4 will continue their French this term with Mrs MacKinnon. To begin with, the children will  revise previous learning to refresh their memory on greetings, counting etc before they move onto new learning.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all. I am thoroughly enjoying being the Primary 4 teacher this year and I am loving getting to know your children. They are all wonderful. Speak to you all soon in our telephone appointments.

Take care and stay safe,

Mrs McCreadie

Primary 4 – Term 1

 Primary 4 are already working hard! There is a lot to cover in the term ahead but also lots of fun to be had! Here is an update on the upcoming term.

IDL

Our interdisciplinary topic this term is the rainforest. We have already started this and the children are really enjoying learning about it’s different aspects, for example the layers of the rainforest and the animals who live there. A lot of our learning will be done though this topic with poems, graphs, drawings and much more being explored.

Literacy

Our reading focus this term will focus on the skill of comprehension and how the children can understand, analyse and evaluate fiction and non-fiction texts. We will be introducing the use of our find it, prove it and talk about it strategies to investigate our texts. Our class novel ‘The Giants and the Joneses’’ has already began and the children are loving the interdisciplinary approach to learning within this novel. This will be our focus for literacy tasks this term and our bug club be reintroduced shortly for our personal reading and homework texts.

Through our writing activities, the children will be focussing on their tools for writing. Handwriting will also be completed at least once per week and neat presentation will be encouraged in homework jotters too.

Our listening and talking focus will be on following instructions within school. We will also look at what an appropriate level of noise is for the classroom, playground and gym hall. The children will be encouraged to develop positive body language and eye contact whilst having discussions with their peers.

Numeracy

The class will be focussing their 2 and 4 times tables. We have already began on working on our understanding of Place Value and what value each digit holds within the columns (Thousands, Hundreds, Tens and units).

In terms of beyond number, the class have already begun exploring the properties of 2D and 3D shape. We have already investigated edges, faces and vertices of 2D and 3D shape. Time seems to be an area that the children lack confidence in. With that, we will be learning about time for a long period of time over the next couple of terms. Long term exposure to this should help with retention of this subject.

Another concept that will be taught throughout this year will be number talks. This concept teaches children how to solve calculations using different strategies. This enables children to have ownership of their own learning by using the strategies that suit them best to solve calculations.

Health and Wellbeing

Our P.E days are currently a Tuesday and a Thursday. We are currently learning about our fitness and how we can develop our stamina, agility, accuracy, balance and co-ordination. We will shortly be moving onto ball skills.

The children already have a good understanding of how being active will help them to stay healthy. We will soon be looking at how sleep and rest are also required to stay healthy.

Primary 4 already partake in mindfulness every day. This allows the children to find a 5 minute quiet time in the middle of a very busy day. We will soon be embarking on the massage in schools programme. Different strategies will be developed throughout the year which will empower children to deal with stresses that they encounter in their day to day lives.

As part of our PATHS lessons, we will also be encouraging and nurturing positive relationships within the class and school. This is with peers and adults alike. Manners are a must as well as respect. We will explore what makes a good friend and what strategies we can build upon to help us with our resilience and help us regulate our emotions.

R.E

R.E. this term will look at one of God’s greatest gifts – free will. The children will look at the idea of choices and what makes a good choice. There will also be a focus on baptism, looking at the children’s baptism as well as the story of Jesus’ baptism. This will begin the children’s journey of their sacraments that will take place this session. We will be learning different hymns and prayers throughout the session whilst also taking an in-depth look at what the rosary is used for.

Expressive Arts

Art – Our focus within art this term is drawing and printing. We will explore line, shape and tones of colour.

Music – Primary 4 will continue to work on our appreciation of different genres of music, whilst using our online Charanga music resource.

I.C.T

As our independence develops in Primary 4, so does our ability to use IT equipment. Our focus this term will simply be on the use of the ICT equipment. Logging on and off of the laptops and accounts will encourage independent learning. Typing skills and mouse control are also skills that will be focussed on throughout this term.

Modern Languages

Primary 4 are very lucky to be learning all about the Spanish language with Mrs Fergusson this term. They have already looked at greetings, questions and will soon be moving onto the days of the week etc. I am very impressed!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continuing support. We have a very busy year ahead but it a year that will be filled with fun and learning.

Take care and stay safe,

Mrs McCreadie

Firstly thank you for the very generous gift I received today. I was overwhelmed and I promise I’ll treat myself and not just Baby T.

Tomorrow is the last day of Primary 6 and I think we’re all in the mood for a party, so that’s exactly what we’re going to do!

I’ve had a wonderful year in Primary 6. You have all worked hard and have been excellent learners. I am proud of each and every one of you for the resilience you’ve shown despite the difficult year.

Well done to the P6 who will be our House and Vice Captains next school year. I am proud of all the children who put themselves forward for a Captain position. There will be plenty of other responsibility roles in P7.

The P6 wrote wonderful stories for their P1 buddies which went home in the new P1 gift bags. I know you’ll be excellent buddies when the time comes.

Have an amazing holiday and I’ll see you when you’re back as the new P7.

Miss Mudge

Continue reading A huge Thank You! →

Primary 4 had a wonderful time this morning at our special celebration to mark the 1st Holy communions that have recently taken place throughout June. It was lovely to celebrate all together in school and have some snacks and dancing in our big hall!!

And a big thank you to Mrs McConville for organising our beautiful cake and Mrs Fergusson for sorting the music!! 🎉🎉🎉

The Primary 7s  enjoyed this fun week. All the activities were great and everyone loved them. Firstly we got to do bubble football then had the Dean Park visit, bowling+movie, yearbook+ leavers assembly video and of course pizza, a special Mount Carmel Funday and lastly we got to go to Crawfordland Estate. Also thanks to Mrs McConville and FOMC for organising. These pictures document what we have done during our fun week:by: May and Evie

Primary 1 had a great day on Friday. We bounced, we played and we even got an ice cream or a slush puppy for our little treat.  Have a look at our photos.

Primary 3 had a great fun day on Friday. We wanted to share some of our photos with you. Mrs Fergusson and Father Martin joined in on the fun too!!

We were lucky enough to spend the day at the beautiful Dean Park and wanted to share some of our photos with you. Enjoy!

Primary 6 had a great day on Friday at our fun day. We even had a VIP. See if you can spot who it was…

During our sports day, we were lucky enough to have a shot at long jumping, javelin, target practise, speed bouncing and many more activities. It was great fun. A great big thank you to our primary 6 and 7s for helping us as well as  Mark Devlin, our active schools co-ordinator.

Primary 5 had a brilliant time at the fun day. We bounced, we zorbed, we danced and we ate. Have a look at some of our pictures.

We had a BRILLIANT day!!

Primary 4 had an absolutely fantastic fun day on Friday. The highlight of their day was the bouncy castles and inflatable fun runs, although they did enjoy the ice cream cones too!!

A reminder that all children will attend Mass next week and will require face masks to be brought to school for this.

Monday – Primary 1-3 and Primary 4-5

Tuesday – Primary 6 and Primary 6/7

Primary 4 had a wonderful day at Dean Park.  We saw the animals, had fun at two of the park’s swing parks, had a lovely lunch and had some time for games too.

A great day was had by all!!

As a special treat for our pupils who have recently had, or are about to take part in their 1st Holy Communion, Primary 4 will have an extra special party on the morning of Wednesday 23rd June to mark this special occasion.  All children can wear party clothes and we will have some treats, music and dancing in our big hall in school.  It will be a lovely way to mark the end of their primary 4 year too!

Primary 4 have had a fantastic ‘World of Work’ day and had lots of fun throughout the day doing work related activities.

We started the day writing about what we’d like to be when we are older, thinking about the skills we have that would make us the perfect candidate for the job!  We also had some fun creating some poetry, again discussing the fun we’d have being able to do our ‘dream job’.

We enjoyed watching the videos that were sent in from parents and staff around the school, talking about their occupations and discussing their jobs!

Later we had the opportunity to be an ‘engineer’ and design model playground equipment we thought children would enjoy using.  We also had the opportunity to be an ‘artist’ and create some ‘doodles’, getting creative with our ideas.

We finished the day with Magic Mount Carmel games and activities this afternoon.  The children have enjoyed their day and the costumes were fantastic.  I enjoyed learning about what pupils aspire to be.

I am having some issues uploading photos but have posted a link to a collage of some of the fun activities we had going on today.

P4 collage World of Work

Just a wee reminder that primary 4 will be attending a church service on Monday afternoon.  Could children come with a face mask as this will be required to be worn in church.

Have a great weekend!

Mrs Travers

Welcome back to the P1 blog where you can read all about the learning taking place this term!

Literacy

Reading and Phonics –

P1 are becoming more and more confident when using their initial sounds to word build. This term we will further develop our word building skills, including CVCC and CCVC words (e.g. park, drum). We will continue to use the Active Literacy strategy “say, make, break, read and write” to support this new learning. We will also continue to learn new ‘look and say’ common words every week.

In class, we are using our guided Bug Club texts to develop our skills in prediction, reading aloud and reading for understanding. At home, we are enjoying a range of independent texts on Bug Club at the same level.

Writing –

We will focus during this last term on using our knowledge of word building and common words to build sentences independently. The children will have many opportunities to develop their independent writing skills through weekly news, free writing and sentence tasks linked to their spelling sounds and reading books.

In addition to this, P1 will be developing their description writing skills. We will focus on describing number, colour, texture and size for familiar people and objects.

Letter formation will be developed through regular handwriting lesson and fine motor skill activities.

Talking and Listening –

Through a range of activities across the curriculum, P1 will continue to develop their talking and listening skills; understanding when to listen and when to respond, taking turns and communicating with others.

Numeracy

This term, P1 will consolidate their understanding of the concept of addition within 10. They will focus on increasing their mental accuracy of number bonds to 10. The children will have many opportunities to develop their mental accuracy through our daily Fast 10 and Big Maths Beat That. We will also be applying our knowledge of addition within 10 when working on missing number calculations using the ‘Lock in and Count On’ strategy.

When P1 are confident in their addition skills they will begin to focus on subtraction within 10. The children will transfer their skills to answer subtraction calculations and word problems. In addition to this we will consolidate our knowledge of numbers to 20 and beyond, including recognising number names.

Beyond Number

We will continue to develop our knowledge of measure, using familiar objects in our environment both at school and at home. We will explore mathematical language such as tallest/smallest, heavier/lighter to compare items. We will also use different non-standard units of measure (e.g cubes, hands) to estimate and then measure the length and weight of items.

We will also have a focus on money. P1 will learn to recognise and identify coins up to £2. They will also learn to differentiate between and use the language “pence” and “pound”. The children will use their knowledge of addition and subtraction to add to find totals within 10p as well as subtract to find change.

Health and Wellbeing

P1 will continue to develop their social and emotional skills through our whole school PATHS programme. The children continue to enjoy engaging with the puppets and love it when they visit our classroom. P1 love giving and receiving compliments each day as part of “Pupil of the Day”.

We will continue to develop our knowledge of ways to keep our bodies and minds healthy with a focus on making healthy choice every day and exploring mindfulness techniques.

Physical Education

This term P1 will focus on Athletics. The children will practice running, jumping, and throwing both independently as well as part of a team. Once we have developed our running, jumping, and throwing skills we will compete against each other in friendly relay races. Later in the term, P1 will also have a weekly session of Fun Fitness with our Active Schools co-ordinator Mark Devlin.

P.E. days will be Monday and Thursday. Please ensure your child comes to school dressed appropriately with either joggers or leggings and trainers. Your child must continue to wear their school jumper as part of their uniform on PE days.

 Religious Education

This term P1 will think about Our Lady. The children will reflect on Mary as the mother of Jesus and the mother of all of us.  We will create a special altar to Mary in our classroom and learn to pray the “Hail Mary”.

Through the use of God’s Loving Plan, we will explore the beauty of God’s creation and how we recognise this in others and ourselves. We will talk about our own skills and talents, focusing on how God has made us all individual and unique.

 IDL

Growing Up – We have explored the timeline of human life from baby through to adult and particularly focused on the needs of babies. We looked at photographs of ourselves as babies and explored how we had changed since then identifying how many different skills we learned at nursery and in P1.

My Senses – Through a variety of sensory experiences, indoors and outdoors, P1 will learn about each of the five senses and their uses to explore our surroundings. We will also develop our knowledge of parts of the body and what they do, showing an understanding of our own health and wellbeing.

As you will be aware, our P7’s unfortunately missed out on their residential trip this year due to Covid . With the recent changes in the Covid tier system, it is now possible for the children to take part in a school based activity week!

Here is the proposed itinerary for the activity week commencing 14th June:

• Monday 14th – Team games and outdoor activities
• Tuesday 15th – Dean Park visit/picnic lunch/Ranger led activities
• Wednesday 16th- Cinema trip
• Thursday 17th- Year Book/Video Assembly/Pizza party/Baking
• Friday 18th – Magic Mount Carmel Fun day
• Monday 21st – Tree Tops adventure day

As a school we would be able to provide some of the funding for the activities- £300 and FOMC have offered to make a donation too. In order to  help finance these activities we are asking for a parental contribution of £40.  This has been set up on Parentpay.

Hello and welcome to our blog post for term 4.  Primary 4 have had a busy time since our return to school following lockdown restrictions. We have started our new topic and have settled back into our class working groups ready to move on to our new topics within each curricular area.

Literacy

Our reading and spelling activities will continue with children focusing on their Bug Club reading texts, recognising spelling sounds and phonics within these texts and using their awareness and strategies to tackle unfamiliar words.  We will also be focusing on inferential questioning during comprehension activities, to gain a deeper understanding of what has been read.  We will access Giglets texts to support this, as well as our usual Bug Club books.

In writing, the focus for this term will be scientific enquiry, writing scientific reports based on hypothesis then carrying out these experiments and writing up their findings.  We will also look at persuasive writing during our topic of ‘charities’ and asking children to think about why people should donate money to charity and creating persuasive arguments on why people should support charities.

Maths

Our focus in maths is number and number processes, with money and angles being a focus during some maths sessions too.  Those working within the circle and rectangle maths groups will be focusing on 4-digit numbers and the four number processes of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. The children should now be familiar with formal notation in all 4 number operations. Those in the square group will continue to develop an understanding of 3-digit numbers, using their knowledge of place value to tackle addition and subtraction of larger numbers.

Children will regularly use their ‘Thinking It Through’ jotters to develop problem solving skills, applying knowledge of number to new contexts and developing strategies for any number problems.  We will also encourage these skills through our daily number challenges and number target board! Please encourage your children to continue to work on the times tables to help children quickly recall facts.

 Health & Wellbeing

All children have had the opportunity to be pupil of the day and enjoy the privileges that come with this.  We will continue with this so as each child have the opportunity again in term 4. We have been exploring emotions, comfortable and uncomfortable and how we recognise these emotions within ourselves and in others.  We now have a bank of strategies to support us when we feel uncomfortable, and these emotions will continue to be explored as we reach a deeper understanding of how these feelings can impact on us and how to seek help or support.  We are also looking at conflict resolution and how to manage conflicts in the playground to ensure fair play.

In P.E, our sessions will continue to take place outside where possible, on a Monday and Thursday afternoon.  Our focus will be on developing athletic skills, competing in hurdles, running, relay and a variety of activities to promote coordination and power skills using the javelin. We will also have a 4-week block of football to further develop our ball control skills.

R.E

Our focus during R.E sessions will be the sacraments as children prepare for their Confirmation and First Holy Communion.  We have completed our booklets for Confirmation and will now focus on preparation for First Communion which will be taking place in June. For those pupils who are not participating in the Sacraments, there will be activities completed in class for all children.  Parents should continue to work on the at home activities from the booklet, to help further prepare children for the upcoming celebrations.

Topic

Our topics for term 4 will be ‘Magnets’ in science and ‘Charities’.  The focus in our magnets topic will be to understand the forces of not only magnets but the bigger picture of the magnetic field which surrounds our planet.  Children will participate in several experiments to explore materials that magnets are attracted to and those which are repelled or have no effect when placed close to a magnet. In charities, children will look at national and local charities and the help and support they can offer people who may be in need.

We hope this is the start of another successful term as we navigate the continued impact of the pandemic on our lives.  Please be assured we will continue to keep things as normal as possible for our children, despite the different restrictions still in place.

Take care,

Mrs Travers