February 2023 Newsletter

Childsmile will be visiting the P1-4 pupils in school on Thursday 2nd February from 9.30am-11.30am for a catchup visit to administer fluoride varnish.

Dress to Express – Wednesday 8th February

Children are welcome to come to school in clothing to showcase their personality.

There is no cost for this.

Updated PE days for all classes:

Dear Parent/Carer

As you are no doubt aware, your child is due to transfer from primary to secondary education at the beginning of the new school session (August 2023).

Secondary school hand books are available at: https://eastayrshi.re/SchoolHandbooks

Please complete the online P7 transfer application at http://eastayrshi.re/p7transfer

As part of the cost of living support we are introducing free toast within the school dining hall to pupils for pupils to collect in the morning.  In line with this we will also be temporarily reducing the cost of Breakfast Club food from £1.00 to £0.80.

Please note, this reduction to the charge is only temporary whilst we have Cost of Living funding available, and we will let you know when this reduction is due to end. 

The Killie Community are starting an initiative every Wednesday night from 5pm-7pm at Rugby Park, Kilmarnock, whereby you can come along for a tea/coffee, hot food and some company. It is called

“The Killie Winter Get-Together”

and will run weekly until the end of March. Entry is via the glass door to the left of the Killie Superstore. There is no registration required.

Happy New Year and I hope Santa was good to you all. And so we enter P7’s final year at primary!!  Good to see all the pupils back after the holidays considering so many had been unfortunately unwell shortly before the break.  Here is a brief overview of our learning focus this term.

Literacy

Our focus this term will continue to develop all reading skills through Bug Club guided reading texts.  We will also be reading texts to identify fact and opinion and discuss the reliability of sources of information.   We will also be looking at Scots language and poems.  For writing, we are concentrating on discussion texts (discursive essays) until the February holiday then look at the narrative genre with a particular focus on using dialogue to advance the story.

Numeracy

The emphasis of our numeracy this term is on fractions, decimals and percentages and how they interlink.  Having completed the set Number Talk discussions, we will continue to use Number Talk strategies to develop mental strategies using all four processes.  The class are also working on skills beyond number with Mrs MacKinnon and will be investigating data handling.

Health and Wellbeing

The PATHS focus this term is ­­­­­­­­­looking at respect and how to deal with conflicts and identifying positive steps to de-escalate situations.  We will also continue to praise and compliment children through Pupil of the Day.  We are also exploring risk taking behaviour including substance misuse and practise basic first aid procedures.

Our PE days will now be a Tuesday and Wednesday.  We will be first concentrating on fun fitness, creating personal fitness plans and setting personal goals.  We also aim to develop our team game skills through netball where we will understand different roles within the team.

IDL

The topic this term is Scottish based and is looking at the Highland Clearances.  We will be investigating important historical figures involved in the event, how people lived during that time and the mass emigration from the Highland area.

RE

This term we will be aiming to complete our Pope Francis Faith Award journals, revising all the Gifts of the Holy Spirit and giving evidence of them being used in the school, at home and in the community or Parish.  As well as this, there will be a final reflection on how the Gifts will help support them as they develop and grow.

French

Mrs MacKinnon will continue teaching French with P7.  Through a range of talking, listening, reading and writing tasks, this term the focus will be on describing the weather and looking in to current affairs within France as well as using the verb etre (to be).

Technologies

This term P7 will look at coding and understand its importance within society.  We will use block coding software to program small digital devices and explore various commands to create games and move characters within games.

I look forward to working with P7 in their final year and will enjoy accompanying them on their trip to Lockerbie this term.

Mr Bertoncini

Term 3 P6 Class News

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a relaxing holiday. We are now in Term 3 and we have a busy couple of months of learning ahead of us.

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

Literacy

Reading 

P6 start the term by focussing on Scots Language.  We will be reading Roald Dahls ‘The Eejits’ in order to experience the Scots Language being read out loud. P6 will learn and discuss different Scots poems. They will choose a Scots poem to learn and then recite in class. In February P6 will listen to and learn to interpret different genres of poetry. In March focus will return to fiction reading comprehension through Literacy circles, again appropriate to their level. Focus comprehension strategies this term are fact and opinion and to identify the theme of different text types.

Writing

Through January, P6 will complete a block of lessons on Descriptive writing – writing in Scots Language. A Scots Kist (dictionary) will support the children during these lessons. Focus will then turn to Response Writing – in particular responding to different types of poems. Lastly P6 will learn the features of a discursive piece of writing and how to write a discursive piece appropriate to their level.

Spelling

The spelling groups will continue to experience the Active Literacy spelling program, this will introduce familiar words and focus on phonemes pertinent to their level and stage. The pupils will continue to experience the Active Spelling strategies throughout Term 3, these include diacritical marking, syllabification, and words within words.  Some weeks pupils will be given topic-specific vocabulary as part of their topic. Grammar lessons will focus on speech marks, prefixes and suffixes.

 Numeracy

This term P6 will focus on decimals, percentages and fractions appropriate to their CfE level. This is a key topic in P6 and will be taught in depth. Our Beyond Number topics are 2D and 3D Shape and Information Handling. Through daily Mental Maths tasks P6 will continue to consolidate the four operations. P6 are encouraged to practice multiplication tables using Sumdog and Topmarks games.

Health and Wellbeing

The focus this term is Physical Health. P6 will learn about the importance of sleep, exercise and healthy eating.

Our PE days are Monday and Wednesday. Pupils are asked to bring FULL PE kit on these days. If pupils are without PE kit the school will be able to provide pupils with required items of clothing. The focus in PE this term is Fitness, Netball and Block 2 of Gymnastics.

Expressive Arts

In January, P6 will have opportunity to learn and experience traditional Scottish songs. They will learn about tone, expression and volume through learning about poetry. P6 will have the opportunity to create pieces of Scottish and Spring art.

RME 

Throughout Primary 6 the pupils will listen to and engage with stories from the Gospel of Matthew. This term P6 will continue to work on their Pope Francis Faith Award, reflecting of how they use the different gifts in their wider world. During Lent P6 will focus on the importance of the Easter Story.

Modern Languages

This term P6 have the opportunity to take part in weekly virtual French lessons with the aim to increase their confidence in reading, writing and talking in French.

Homework

Homework this term will include Spelling, Reading, Mental Maths, and one other curricular area (RME, topic, etc). Homework is issued on a Monday and is due back on a Friday. I appreciate and wholeheartedly support wider achievement outside of school. If there are any reasons why pupils cannot complete the homework, due to activities out with school please contact the school.

In Primary 6 we promote hard work and amazing attitudes. P6 are aware of the high expectations I have of them. 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.

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

Thank you for all your support.

Mrs. Terras

Toast will now be available to any child that may require this. This is provided by East Ayrshire due to the cost of living. This provision will be available daily in the dinner hall from 8.45am. Children can enter the hall via the middle door.

This is in addition to the current Breakfast Club. Our Breakfast Club will remain in place for named daily list of pupils that have requested a space.  Currently we have no additional Breakfast Club spaces, however, a waiting list is in place.

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.

Primary 2 Curricular Update – Term 3

Hello and a very happy New Year to you all, I hope you had a lovely break spending time with family over the festive period. Primary 2 are ready for term 3 and a new year full of learning and fun.

Please see an outline of what we will be focusing on for each subject below:

Literacy

Phonics- During term 3 we will continue to learn our joined phonemes and grow our confidence in reading and writing these. Spelling will continue to be a focus as we learn new common words which can be tricky, these will help develop our independent writing skills.

Writing – We will continue to develop our writing skills focusing on description using individual description bubbles, we will be writing about characters and settings. Handwriting will still be a focus this term, ensuring we are correctly forming our letters and taking care with their position and size on our lined pages.

Reading – We will be developing our comprehension skills during reading by answering inferential questions, using clues in the story and our previous knowledge to help us. Discussions and sequencing main events of stories will be a focus too as well as our word attack strategies as we develop our reading skills. We continue to read our bug club texts in class alongside homework.

Numeracy and Mathematics

Following on from Term 2 we will continue learning time using digital and analogue clocks and revisiting numbers to 100. During term 3 we will be transferring our addition and subtraction skills into the topic of Money. Identifying coins up to £2, when we are familiar with the coins, we will be able to combine these and create amounts to pay for items in our class shop. Some children will be expected to give change and use the correct signs for money. As part of our mapping topic, we will also be looking at position and movement. We will be exploring the use of grid references and using everyday language to describe position, movement and direction. Towards the end of the term, we will start looking at measure initially focusing on comparative language of measure (shorter, longer) then we will progress onto non-standard units of measure (cubes, hand spans).

Health & Well-Being (HWB)

In term 3 we will be helping Twiggle and his friends overcome some difficult friendship scenarios in our PATHS programme now we have learned how to do Turtle when things become a little stressful. In other areas of our HWB we will be considering the impact of physical activity on our bodies and identifying the physical changes we feel after a period of exercise. The importance of personal hygiene, tooth brushing and handwashing techniques will also be discussed. As well as completing our emotion check in each morning we will continue to gift and receive compliments through our pupil of the day.

P.E.

During our PE sessions in term 3 we will be completing our block of gymnastics, developing out skills in travelling, jumping and rolling. We will then incorporate these into sequenced movements. Another area of PE we will cover is fun fitness, this will develop personal level of speed, agility, strength and stamina through various fun activities and exercises. Towards the end of term we will be practicing our racquet skills and how to hold and use a racquet, we will then introduce ball control.

(PE days continue to be on Tuesday and Thursday.)

RE

At the start of term 3 we will look at how life would have been for Jesus as he grew up, discussing how he went to the Synagogue to worship compared to how we go to church to pray. We will look at Baptism and compare it to the naming ceremony which is held in the Jewish tradition. As we approach the start of lent and Ash Wednesday we will talk about the meaning of this special time. We will take time during Lent to prepare ourselves for the special celebration of Easter.

 IDL (Topic)

Our first topic this term will be germs (micro-organisms). We will be carrying out predictions and experiments which will emphasise the importance of handwashing and how germs are passed on. We will be looking at some common illness definitions and how we can have good and bad germs. Mapping will be our other topic this term which will include looking at our local community area but also Scotland and famous attractions/landmarks. We will look at a bit about Scotland’s history through Robert Burns and we will try some Scottish foods as well as reciting and listening to poems before writing our own poem together.

 Expressive Arts

Our art, music and drama in term 3 will again link in with our topics this term.

Thank you for visiting our Primary 2 blog on what we will be learning this term!

Miss Maitland

Primary 3 Blog Post (Term 3 Update)

Welcome to our curriculum update for term 3. It is sure to be a busy term as we begin to prepare for the Sacrament of Reconciliation as well as our whole school activities in the run up to Easter.

Literacy

During term 2 our focus was summarising skills and we will continue to revisit this skill regularly alongside our usual spelling and common word activities that help pupils retain and recognise their spelling sounds/phonemes and words in texts. Throughout term 3 we will develop our understanding of literal and inferential comprehension using the ‘Find It, Prove It, Talk About It’ strategies.

As part of our term 3 topic of Romans, children will be asked to find specific information, we will also be working on recognising different parts of texts (pictures, diagrams, charts and headings) and how to scan for and locate key words or topic related facts in texts. Pupils will be focussing on punctuation and the use of commas and the impact this has on texts for the reader, as well as beginning to use different punctuation in their own writing.

In writing, we will be focussing more on narrative story writing and report writing through our mini science topic on dissolving. We will also partake in some listening and talking games and activities to help children develop the key skills needed when in whole class or group discussions or when sharing information in a topic presentation activity.

Maths

In term 2, our focus was multiplication, with pupils mentally counting on in 2, 5 and 10, then using this repeated addition strategy to apply to the other times tables. As we move in to term 3 we will focus on division and the link between multiplication and division through fact families. We will regularly revisit the 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10 times tables to retain our knowledge of these facts and use this understanding to look at the inverse calculation for division. We will also look at fractions, using knowledge of halving to help us understand how to find a fraction of an object or a number.

In beyond number, the focus in term 3 will be money, recognising coins and notes in pounds and pence and using addition and subtraction skills to add up the cost of several items bought at a shop or work out how much change to give. Children will regularly use their ‘Thinking It Through’ jotters as the term progresses to develop problem solving skills, applying knowledge of number to new contexts and develop strategies for any number problems.

Health & Wellbeing

All children will have the opportunity to be pupil of the day again in term 3 and will continue to explore emotions, comfortable and uncomfortable and how we recognise these emotions within ourselves and in others. We will look at strategies for helping us when we are with others in playground or in small group activities, where we can find ways to manage conflict or resolve disagreements.

In P.E, our sessions will happen on a Monday and a Wednesday and our focus in term 3 will be fitness, gymnastics block 2, and ball skills.  Children will have the opportunity to partake in some fun activities which support teamwork whilst focusing on developing their knowledge of how we keep our body healthy with fitness and nutrition.

R.E

Our focus during R.E sessions will be on the Sacrament of Reconciliation during January and February, with focus being on the Life of Jesus and Lent as we move into March.

Topic

In term 3 the focus of topic will be social studies and looking at The Romans and their impact in Scotland.  The children will have the opportunity to look at different aspects of Roman Society, Roman Gods and the Roman invasion in Britain. We will look at Roman inventions considered ahead of their time, such as bath houses, under floor pipes for water supplies, heating and sanitation. Pupils will also research and make predictions about substances that dissolve in water in our mini science topic, looking at how water can impact on substances and change their appearance/state.

We hope this is the start of another very successful term and that the pupils enjoyed the Christmas break and some well-earned rest over the festive period.

Take care,

Mrs Travers

Happy New Year to you all! I hope you had a very enjoyable festive break with your families.

In Primary 1 we are ready for a new year of learning!! Please have a look at the information below to see what we will be focusing on in each subject.

Literacy

Phonics – We will learn the remaining letter sounds of the alphabet this term while improving our word building skills.

Spelling – Now that we can read and write our sounds, we will be writing as many words as we can! Some of our common words cannot be sounded out so we have to practise the spelling of these in lots of different ways to help us remember the letter order.

Writing – We are continuing to develop our skills in describing this term as well as having a go at writing some words and sentences by ourselves.

Letter formation and hand writing will continue to be a focus to allow us to showcase our spelling skills with ease.

Reading – Now that we are starting to use worded texts, we will be developing our word attack skills, remembering to use our letter sounds to help us with unfamiliar words, while looking for our common words too.

We will also be developing our comprehension skills by answering questions about our texts. This term we will be looking at Traditional Tales, discussing character traits and sequencing the main events of the stories.

Numeracy

During our Mental Maths sessions, we will continue to practise counting forwards and backwards. We will also be seeing how quickly we can respond to more and less questions.

We will continue to focus on our addition skills, partitioning the quantities to 10 and learning the different ways to make each number. We will also be learning about the doubling and halving of quantities.

Towards the end of term, we will be exploring “Money”, initially brainstorming our ideas about when and how we use it. We will be introduced to all the coins up to £2, ensuring we can correctly identify these and as our addition skills develop, we will combine these coins to “pay” for goods in our class shop.

Through our topic work, we will also be exploring Data Handling; sorting a variety of objects into groups and recording and displaying the information that we have gathered.

Health & Well-Being (HWB)

Now that we have learned how to “Do Turtle” when things are becoming stressful, we are going to be problem solving for Twiggle and his friends by helping them overcome difficult friendship scenarios. We are confident we have the necessary knowledge and strategies to help them!

In other areas of HWB, we are considering the impact of physical activity on our bodies and identifying the physical changes we feel after a period of exercise.

We will also be discussing the importance of personal hygiene; reinforcing our tooth brushing and handwashing techniques.

As part of our “Shops and Shopping” topic, we will be looking at the range of food that can be bought in our local shops and investigating where it comes from. We will also have some taster sessions, ensuring we are mindful of food hygiene and safety when preparing our snacks.

During our PE sessions we will be completing a block of gymnastics, reinforcing the skills from last term while incorporating these into sequenced movements.

We will then introduce racquet skills, looking at how we hold and use a racquet before introducing ball control.

Fun fitness will be our final topic, developing each child’s personal level of speed, agility, stamina and strength through fun activities and exercises.

THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN FOR TAKING ALL EARRINGS OUT FOR GYM DAYS ON MONDAYS AND THURSDAYS.

RE

The first half of the term will focus on the Holy Family and how life would have been for Jesus as He grew up in Nazareth with Mary and Joseph. We will talk about the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist and revisit our own

As we move towards Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent, we will talk about the meaning of this special time. During Lent we will take part in special prayer and reflection times to prepare ourselves for the special celebration of Easter.

IDL (Topic)

Our first topic this term will be “Materials”. We will be exploring and identifying a range of materials, thinking about what they could best be used for and why. We will be investigating which materials float and sink then using our findings to help us build a boat.

Shops and Shopping will be our other topic this term. We will investigate the shops and businesses in our local community and consider the different jobs and roles that people can do. This will help inform our aspirations about the types of jobs we would like to do which we will express through a variety of role play activities.

Our shopping baskets will be FULL in our class shop as we become familiar with the act of exchanging money for an item.

Expressive Arts

Our art, music and drama will be linked in with our topics once again this term. Art and music will have an appreciation element with the children giving their responses to specific artwork and pieces of music.

Within music the children will be identifying various percussion instruments and using these to keep a steady beat.

We cannot wait to get started!

Mrs Duff and Mrs Strachan

It’s the time of year when our kids have lots of small slips and trips and enjoy sliding in the mud, and they often need a change of clothing to keep them comfortable for the rest of the day.

We are looking for some donations of childrens underwear (tights/socks etc) used or new to be handed in to the school, if you have any of these items spare, we would be very grateful if you could kindly hand these into the school office.

Thankyou

Aswell as the normal school lunch menu choices on the 25th of January, children will also have the opportunity to choose the traditional Scottish favourite of Haggis, Neeps & Tatties for lunch that day.

Shortbread will be available as the choice of pudding that day and the soup choice will be Potato & Leek.

We were delighted to invite Diane Campbell from Ayrshire Sports Ability to the school yesterday to present a cheque to us for £200 which we will use to purchase a Boccia Set (similar to bowls), which will be able to be accessed by all classes. Initially, Primary 2 will be piloting this. We will also be having a demonstration visit from Gary Seymour from Active Schools.

Well done to our amazing Eco Committee applicants who had to submit an application form and be interviewed as part of the selection process.

The successful applicants are: 

• Charlie and Eddie P4
• Vivienne and Myaa P5
• Sophie, Hannah and Carrie-Ann P6

Here is a reminder of individual class PE days:

• Primary 1- Monday/Thursday
• Primary 2 – Tuesday/Thursday
• Primary 3 – Monday/Wednesday
• Primary 4 – Wednesday/Friday
• Primary 5 – Tuesday/Thursday
• Primary 6 – Monday/Wednesday
• Primary 7 – Tuesday/Wednesday

A reminder that homework will resume again today.

Homework will resume again on Monday 16th January.

Registration week – Monday 9th January – Friday 9th January

For full information and application forms for the enrolment of Primary 1 children starting primary school in August this year please see the link below:

School admissions · East Ayrshire Council (east-ayrshire.gov.uk)

Please find our January 2023 Newsletter attached.