As you are aware this is national antibullying week.  At Mount Carmel Primary School we aim to be kind and caring friends.  We know that bullying can happen at school and want to do our best to prevent these instances and provide the appropriate support for children and their adults if it was to occur.  We are currently creating our statement to add to the East Ayrshire Antibullying Policy.  Please take the time to complete this survey and share your views with us.

This survey will close on Sunday 20th November.

Parent/Carer Questionnaire

Primary 6 have had a very successful week. Here is some of the excellent learning that has taken place this week:

P6 listened to the story of the poppies and reminded themselves of the importance of Remembrance Day. P6 created blackout poems based on John McCrae’s ‘In Flander’s Fields’. Then also created a wonderful poppy art piece.

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As part of our Natural Disasters topic P6 designed, built and painted a Stratovolcano in small groups.

In between all of these activities we have been practicing our dances for the Day of Dance next Wednesday. P6 have learned these dances very quickly, I’ve been very impressed!

Mrs Terras

Welcome back to my favourite term – the Winter and Christmas term. We have lots of exciting things coming up in P6. It is going to be a busy one! I am also looking forward to meeting parents and carers at the Parents Evenings in November.  

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

 Literacy  

Reading   

This term our focus is on non-fiction texts. P6 will study non-fiction texts appropriate to their level. They will complete daily reading to writing tasks and work on active comprehension tasks both independently and as a group. Focus comprehension strategies this term are finding the main idea of a text and summarising. All pupils will complete a non-fiction reading assessment at the end of the block of lessons.  

As we move into December, we will be using a Christmas movie as stimuli for our reading lessons. P6 will have the opportunity to work in ‘Literacy Circles’ to analyse the film in groups.  

 Writing  

 At the beginning of this term, P6 will complete their block of lessons on Response Writing by writing a film response on a film of their choice – school appropriate of course! We will then move on to Report Writing, in particular focussing on writing a Newspaper Report. In December, the pupils will have the opportunity to work in pairs or trios to write and illustrate a children’s Christmas story which they will then read to our infant pupils. This has proven popular with previous P6 classes.  

 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 revise the Active Spelling strategies throughout Term 1, these include diacritical marking, syllabification, and words within words.  Some weeks pupils will be given topic-specific vocabulary as part of their topic.  

 Numeracy  

This term P6 will focus on the four operations – Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Subtraction. This will also include decimals for some groups. Our Beyond Number topics are Money and Finance and 2D and 3D Shape. P6 are encouraged to practice multiplication tables using Sumdog and Topmarks games.  

 Health and Wellbeing  

The focus this term is Emergencies and Accidents. P6 will learn what to do in different types of emergency situations which ties in with our Natural Disasters topic.  

 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 Social Dancing in preparation for the Day of Dance at The Grand Hall, Football and Gymnastics.  

 Expressive Arts  

P6 are currently learning traditional Scottish dances for the Day of Dance event in November. Despite inital reservations, I am glad to report that they all are enjoying learning the dances and are giving 100% effort. P6 will have the opportunity to create pieces of artwork over the winter and festive season and create craft items for the school Christmas Fayre. We will also be learning and performing a song at the Christmas concerts.  

  RME   

Throughout Primary 6 the pupils will listen to and engage with stories from the Gospel of Matthew. This term P6 will also reflect on the Saints who shaped our Faith and look in depth at the Nativity story. P6 have also started out on their Pope Francis Faith Award journey and will continue to work on this throughout the school year.   

 Modern Languages  

P6 receive weekly French lessons from Mrs MacKinnon. This term pupils will learn basic greetings, colours, numbers, and basic commands.  

 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. 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  

Our Christmas fayre is fast approaching and we need your help. With only 3 weeks to go, we are looking for donations for our raffle, bottle stall and home baking stall.  We would really appreciate any donations you could make and all proceeds will go directly into the Friends of Mount Carmel fund. This fund helps to pay for different things throughout the year, for example buses for trips or Primary 7 leavers hoodies. Any donations would be greatly appreciated. We can’t wait to see you there!!

Mount Carmel Christmas Fayre

2nd December 6:30pm til 9pm

We are so looking forward to welcoming you all back for our Christmas Fayre this year. This will take place on the 2nd December. We have lots of stalls from local businesses, some home baking, raffles and of course our beautiful Christmas crafts that our children are already busy organising. The tickets for this will be £2.50 for adults and children will gain entry for free. This ticket price includes tea and coffee. There will be a performance from our excellent choir at 6:30pm with doors opening at 6:15pm.  There will be more details to follow in the next couple of weeks so keep your eyes peeled!

We cannot wait to see you all!!

Primary 5 have chosen their rainbow reward for this week. They have asked for a bike and scooter afternoon.  Can you please help your child to bring in their bikes and scooters which will be kept at the middle base before rainbow reward in the afternoon. Can you also please ensure that your child brings in their helmets on this day as they will not be able to ride their bikes and scooters without them. Many thanks. Mrs McCreadie 

Welcome back to term 2. What a great start we have had in Primary 4, the children have settled in well and there has been lots of amazing learning taking place. Here is an update of our learning for this term.

Literacy

For our reading focus this term, we will be continue to develop comprehension strategies such as visualisation and metalinguistics through a range of reading materials, including shared texts in class and our individual reading books. We will be looking at the differences between fact and fiction texts and the features of these. The children will continue to develop their skills of skimming and scanning and text and looking at note taking.

During writing in Term 2, we will continue to focus on building on our skills in creating a report using factual information and an interesting layout. We were introduced to this before the holidays and this will complement our reading for information focus.

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 addition and subtraction problems, this will link to the mental maths strategies that we are looking at during our daily number talks. We will use a range of these strategies to solve number and word problems.

In Beyond Number we will be focussing on 3D shape and its properties for identification. Pupils will have the opportunity to make their own 3D shapes and identify lines of symmetry and right angles.

Health and Wellbeing

We will continue with our PATHs programme, looking at the importance of making good choices, listening to others and why fair play rules are important. 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;

• Hockey (Oct/Nov)
• Rugby (Oct/Nov)
• Social Dancing (Nov/Dec)

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.  Pupils will be asked to remove any watches or jewellery  and if unable to will not be able to take part unfortunately. If your child cannot take part for any reason, please contact the school.

French

In French,  we will build on our number skills for use in active games and look at learning everyday language in topics such as food, our home and school. We will be able to say what we like and dislike. Later in the term we will focus on Christmas in France and learn some French Christmas songs/hymns.

IDL

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

Science

P4 will investigate the forces exerted by magnets on other magnets and magnetic materials, we will look at how magnets are used in everyday life and demonstrate how magnets work through various practical activities.

Religious Education

This term we will be reflecting the life of the saints and how they listened to God’s word and responded to it and, how we can look to their example. As we move into the season of Advent we will reflect on our own Advent journey and will focus on the place of the Magi in the Christmas narrative.

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

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

Mrs McIntyre and Mrs MacKinnon

Curricular update – Primary 5 – Term 2

Primary 5 have worked so hard in term 1. With term 2 about to begin I would like to give you an update. I will be back in the classroom for the most of the week with Mrs MacKinnon taking on other teaching duties throughout the school. I am excited for the term ahead on the run up to Santa coming!

Literacy

The children will continue to develop their word attack strategies through different questioning techniques and comprehension strategies. These strategies will include using their prior knowledge, visualisation and metalinguistics. The children already have experience of using these strategies however will now explore them through different genres of text. We will look at the main purpose of a text as well as what the difference is between fact and opinion. We will also explore persuasive language and how this can be linked to writing persuasive texts. In terms of talking and listening, the children will be asked to prepare a short talk which will have a link to their Victorians topic which they will present to their class.

Numeracy

The class have already made excellent progress in terms of their numeracy. They already have excellent knowledge of the number talks strategies taught. We will continue to look at our multiples of 10 and 100 whilst looking at doubling and halving. (an example of this would be 2×740 = 740+740). We will also focus on the associated language of these calculations such as ‘find the product of’. Our number focus this term will be on multiplication and division with a major focus on times tables. One area of numeracy that children find difficult is the use of word problems. The class will continue to keep this as a focus whilst identifying the appropriate calculations based on the mathematical language of the 4 operations. Whilst learning about multiplication and division, the children will be introduced to decimals and whole numbers as well as negative numbers and why we need these. In terms of beyond number topics, last term saw the children expand their knowledge of time and begin their 3D shape topic. This will continue this term as well as money and how the coronation of our new monarch will change our money.

Health and Wellbeing

The children have a good understanding of what a healthy relationship is. We will continue to expand on this throughout term 2 with a focus on how a healthy relationship has respect and why it should be reciprocated. This term will also have a focus on substance misuse and what the children should do if they found themselves in an emergency.

Within our P.E. curriculum, the main focus will be on gymnastics with social dancing being introduced as we near Christmas. Although many of the children bring their P.E. kits into school, there is still around half of the class that consistently forget their kits of P.E. days. Although I have been fairly lenient with this so far, gymnastics is such a practical sport in terms of the movements involved, that it is essential for the children to be wearing their full P.E. kit to ensure their safety. Please ensure that your child has their kit in school on P.E. days. They are invited to leave these kits in school at all times.

Religious Education

This term is a very important period in our liturgical calendar with celebrations like All Saints Day and advent. As well as learning about these celebrations, we will be exploring our relationships with God.

Expressive Arts

Art – We will look at the colours that we can use to create mood, atmosphere and emotion. We will learn about artists such as Van Gogh and Piet Mondrian which will help us to enhance our observational skills.

Dance – Linked with P.E. for social dancing at Christmas.

Drama – During our drama sessions, we will look at characterisation as well as looking at how costumes can help us get into character. (We will link our drama to our topic)

IDL/Topic

Our topic this term will focus on the Victorians. This topic will have literacy, ICT, Art, R.E and numeracy tasks throughout it as we explore the world during Victorian times. We will compare our lives today to the lives of children during this time as well as having a particular focus on Queen Victoria as the monarch.

Technology

The children have a good understanding of how sway works and this has helped them develop their research skills. This term will focus on the functionality of GLOW. The children are already able to send emails to each other, but now they will learn how to attach files and create hyperlinks to access websites.

We have a very busy term ahead and lots of fun and learning too. I thoroughly enjoyed my time as Acting Depute Head Teacher but feel I am more than ready to get back into class with my children. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support.

Mrs McCreadie x

Primary 2 Curricular Update – Term 2

Hello and welcome back to the Primary 2 blog! I hope you all had a relaxing October break and are ready for the upcoming Halloween and festive celebrations in what will be another hardworking and exciting term for primary 2.

Term 2 curricular update:

Literacy

Phonics- 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 will help develop our independent writing skills.

Writing – This term our writing will continue to develop our writing skills focusing on description, this will be supported with individual description bubbles. We will also continue to focus on our writing targets of capital letters, finger spaces and full stops.

Reading – We will be developing our understanding of texts by using literal questions and we will focus on our word attack strategies as we develop our reading and writing. In class we are working our way through bug club texts which are appropriate to our stage of learning, these are also assigned for homework which you can access online. We will continue to work on our comprehension and decoding skills within our reading groups

Numeracy and Mathematics

This term we will be continuing with our counting on and back from any number, this will help with mental addition and subtraction. We will be looking at addition and subtraction calculations and how these are linked which create ‘fact families’. Within addition we will think about the mental strategies we can use to answer calculations such as doubles, near doubles and counting on. During this term we will explore pattern including shapes and numbers to 100, this will link in with our frozen IDL topic perfectly! Towards the end of the term, we will begin to develop some aspects of time, each morning we complete our daily calendar looking at dates and seasons, we will also start to tell the time using digital and analogue clocks as the topic progresses.

Health and Wellbeing

In term 2 we will continue our whole school PATHS programme to build on our social and emotional skills. We will learn ‘how to do turtle’ to manage emotions and Twiggle the turtle will help us with this. Our ‘pupil of the day’ will still run during this term which allows children to gift and receive compliments from others. We continue to complete our emotion check in each day and we still have a focus on friendships.

P.E.

During this term we will develop our small ball skills which consist of bouncing, throwing, rolling and catching. We will then work on our jumping, rolling and travelling skills during our first block of gymnastics. Towards the end of the term children will be learning social dancing.

.P.E. days will be Tuesday and Thursday.  (please remember to remove any earrings on gym days)

Religious Education

We will be learning about the importance of the Bible during our RE time and reading the story of creation. Throughout the month of November, we will look at our theme on remembrance. For the month of December, we will celebrate advent and the birth of Jesus by learning the nativity and exploring various other activities during this exciting time.

Inter-disciplinary Learning (Topic)

Our topic for term 2 is frozen. The main area we will be learning about is the processes of the planet by investigating how water can change from one form to another and relating this to everyday experiences. We will be describing changes of water, looking at freezing, melting points and temperatures. We will be experimenting with the use of materials and their properties to develop our understanding of which materials would be practical for certain situations. We will consider ways in which materials would increase/decrease the melting process and temperatures.

Our topic will make several cross curricular links which will include science, expressive arts, technologies, literacy and numeracy.

Expressive Arts

Our art, music and drama learning and work this term will be centred around the Christmas Nativity.

Thank you for visiting our Primary 2 blog on what we have been learning this term!

Miss Maitland