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

Primary 4 have had a very busy week with all the exciting activities that have been on offer during health week.  We had lots of fun on Tuesday and Wednesday  with football,  basketball, rugby,  meditation, yoga,  making fruit kebabs, discussing the dangers of smoking and a special visit from PC Dempster about the necessity to keep yourself safe online.

Today, Friday, we were busy boxing with the coach from North West club, building outdoor houses for small wildlife with the staff from Dumfries House and had an input from the staff from the local Tae Kwon Do club.  We also discussed the different drugs we may need to help us feel better and those which are illegal and dangerous. We finished the day with reward play, where the children chose to use their new skills outdoors in the afternoon.

It has been a fabulous week and we would like to thank Mrs McGowan and P5 for all the hard work that went in to organising this fabulous health week.  Enjoy your weekend!

Our Primary 1/2 and Primary 5 classes are excited to be having their rescheduled visit to the Dean Park next Wednesday, 5th May. The children will be leaving the school at approx. 9.15am and walking to the park. They will be back at school in time for lunch. 

Children should wear appropriate footwear, a waterproof jacket and bring a snack with them to have at the park.

Permission forms were given to the children yesterday and should be returned as soon as possible.

Thank you.

Primary 4 have had a great first week back.  The children have started a new topic all about magnets and have enjoyed some of the experiments we have carried out so far.

I have made a change to PE days.  These will be on a Monday and Thursday so children should come dressed for PE on these days.

Homework is now being attached to our TEAMS page so be sure to check for updated homework tasks/activities for the week on a Monday.  Reading books will be attached on Bug Club.  There will be no hard copy of the text being sent home.

Have a great weekend!

Mrs Travers

The primary 4 children had a vote in class today, for the movie they would like to watch tomorrow during our movie/PJ day and have chosen the live action version of Aladdin!  This is a PG, so if any parent would not like their child to watch the above movie, contact the school and we can make other arrangements for your child during our movie time.

Check back later for some photos from Dean Park today

If your child/children would prefer not to wear a costume or they do not have a costume tomorrow for WBD, please do not go to the expense of buying one or the stress of making one as there is the option for them to simply “Dress Down” and bring their favourite book to school. 

Morning,

There seems to be an issue with Teams as I can’t upload your literacy work today.  So, I will upload it here.  Click the link below to access today’s literacy tasks.

P67 Literacy Tasks 21st Jan

If there is still problems accessing it from here, can you let me know.  Thanks,

Mr B

Hello Boys and Girls,

Please find attached below your HWB tasks and PowerPoint for this week. Please complete these tasks whenever you have time to do so, there is no set day for these tasks to be completed. Once completed, email your hard work to your teacher.

Primary 1 & 2 HWB PPT

HWB P1and P2 tasks 18.1.21

PE 18.1.21

Keep up the great work!

Missing you all lots,

Mrs Dunsmore and Mrs Duff x

P3 – Home Learning 13.1.21

This is the work for primary 3.  It will also be uploaded onto the  Teams page.

To listen to the audio instructions please make sure you put the Powerpoint onto presentation mode.

Thanks,

Mrs Strachan

Hello Primary 6,

Happy New Year! It’s not the start to the school year we expected but hopefully, we’ll all be safely back in school soon. Until then I have created home learning tasks for Monday and Tuesday. I have posted the tasks below but I will also post them on Microsoft TEAMS. Going forward TEAMS will be the place where all home learning tasks will be posted. I’ll also be able to communicate with you via the chat feature on TEAMS throughout the school day.

I’ll also post ‘a beginning of the week check-in’ form on TEAMS which will replace our class feelings books and feelings box whilst at home. There’s no obligation to fill this in (just like in class) but it’s there if you do want to share how you’re feeling during this strange time.

If you need to contact me you can email or go onto the TEAMS chat page during school hours.

Hopefully, this won’t be for too long and we’ll be back in our class soon. Until then stay safe and I’ll speak to you soon.

Miss Mudge

Monday and Tuesday Home Learning Grid – wb 11th January P6

Spelling Words

Circles Mental Maths Grid

Rectangles Mental Maths Grid

Triangles Mental Maths grid 

P6/7 had great fun at their Christmas party yesterday.  Lots of joy was had playing games, dancing and stuffing faces with Domino’s pizza!!  We’ve also had our Panto and craft activities this week too.

It has been a very difficult and unusual year but the class have worked very hard and deserve their well earned break.  Well done everyone.  Relax, switch off the alarm clocks and enjoy the Christmas holidays.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and I will see you all raring to go in the new year.

Mr Bertoncini

On Friday primary 3 enjoyed Christmas Jumper Day and our surprise visit from Santa! Today we loved our walk to Crossgates Care Home, we showed the residents some of our sign language songs that we have learned and posted some of our fabulous letters and handmade cards.

You will now find Home Learning Tasks available online for children that are working from home for a short period of time.

These are available from the Main Menu of the website or by clicking on this link.

Home Learning Tasks

This week is Book Week Scotland and children in Primary 1, 2 and 3 are gifted a bag from the Scottish Government.

Primary 2 and 3 will receive a Read, Write and Count bag today.  There are instructions in this, please take some time to look at this with your child.

Primary 1 will receive a Book Bug bag, they will receive this on Friday.

Term 2 already!  Won’t be long before the first door of the advent calendar is opened! Here’s an overview of our learning that will take place in our second term (Oct – Dec).

Literacy

Our literacy focus this term will be on recount writing, using notes to create a plan and inform our writing.  In conjunction with our Digital Literacy topic, we will be doing lots of vlogging and blogging.  So watch this space for updates of what we have been up to.  We will be continuing to work our way through Bug Club books and short novels paying particular attention to non-fiction features.

Spelling groups will continue to use Active Spelling strategies and follow on from previous work. The Suns and Moons spelling groups are developing their knowledge of metalinguistics by looking at prefixed words.  The Stars will further enhance their knowledge of phoneme representations.

Numeracy

The class are enjoying problem solving game day where we have been playing a variety of games aimed at enhance lateral thinking and utilising cognitive thinking.  The introduction of a Daily Riddle has also got many minds whirring.  Mental games such as Countdown and Sink the Ship remain popular!

The Circles numeracy group have progressed onto adding and subtracting decimals and shortly will be tackling multiplication and division including decimalised numbers and fractions.  Similarly, the Rectangles are reinforcing their skills in addition and subtraction to include working with decimals before moving onto fractions.

The Squares have been working on estimating on a given number line and will be investigating different addition and subtraction strategies.

The Triangles will be continuing to work on numbers to 1000.

The class are also working on skills beyond number with Mrs McIntyre and are currently developing their knowledge of coordinates and angles, then focussing on symmetry.

Health and Wellbeing

We will continue with the Pupil of the Day and the PATHS Programme where we look in closer detail at the problem solving steps to resolve conflict.  In addition to our PATHS, as part of our Digital Literacy topic, we will be looking at online abuse, using Social Media safely and knowing how to report content.

We will also be investigating the main nutrient groups and how they benefit our bodies.

A quick reminder that we will be going outside often, therefore, children should bring in appropriate clothes such as wellies or old boots, waterproof jacket and warmer clothes (hat, scarf, gloves) as we move into the winter.

Mr Bertoncini

Last week Primary 1 dressed up for our Hallowe’en theme day and had the chance to visit the local Pumpkin trail.  Great fun was had by all and our fabulous pumpkin crafts helped to set the spooky scene. 👻👻Thanks to all who were involved in setting up the trail👍.

Curriculum Update Primary 5                         October – December 2020

The children have been wonderful settling back into school life. They have adapted well to the new rules and handwashing throughout the day.

Here is an update on our learning that will take place in term 2.

Literacy

The class will be focusing on report and personal writing as part of our literacy tasks. Key features of the genre are categorising, note-taking and formal presentation.

Children will continue to access Bug Club as our school reading resource using texts to enhance their comprehension.

Numeracy

This term the children will experience measurement as their beyond number topics. This will involve length, volume and mass. We will be working outdoors for this so please ensure suitable clothing for outdoor learning is worn daily.

Our number process topics will be estimating and rounding and place value for the circles, rectangles and squares groups and addition and subtraction for the triangle group.

At home children will benefit from timetables revision and everyday life measuring e.g. time taken for filling a bath, weighing food items etc.

Health & Well-being

The PATHS programme will continue to shape our HWB learning. P5 have been picking a ‘pupil of the day’ since we returned in August giving compliments to their classmates daily. We have had excellent discussions about feelings and emotions and how we can manage them. P5 will look at friendship as well as mental and emotional wellbeing appropriate to their age and stage.

PE

Our focus on PE this term will be rugby the children will participate in this non-contact sport outside. We will also participate in outdoor games.

RE

We have worked as a class to support the children who are making their First Holy Communion. (Some having already made it) Booklets should be almost finished with the final task completed after the child has made their First Holy Communion. As a class we found this a special time for all the children as we have celebrated this Sacrament as a class.

This term the class will focus on Mary and Her significance within the Catholic tradition. There will also be a focus on Advent as the term continues.

Interdisciplinary Learning

Our topic for this term will be The Victorians in Scotland. We will look at many areas within this including Queen Victoria, Alexander Graham Bell and Industry. The children will use their ICT skills throughout to improve their research and presentation skills. We will read ‘The Lottie Project’ by Jaqueline Wilson together in class as a shared text.

Homework will continue to be issued every Monday and returned every Thursday. Please contact us if you require any support with this.

As always, thank you for your ongoing support.

Mrs McGowan and Mrs Crawford.

Primary 5 have been working hard! We have been participating in the Depute First Minister’s daily challenge. We are also part of the Sumdog Competition. We are giving our brains a number workout!

Today we looked at associated number facts to solve tricky problems.