We have loved reading Tom Fletcher’s novel The Christmasaurus. We were even more delighted when we found out that Miss Mitchell had treated us to the musical edition! It is a story about a boy named William Trundle, and a dinosaur, the Christmasaurus. It’s about how they meet one Christmas Eve and have a magical adventure. It’s about friendship and families, sleigh bells and Santa, singing elves and flying reindeer, music and magic. It’s about discovering your heart’s true desire, and learning that the impossible might just be possible . . .

Oliver said, “I really enjoyed the songs because they make you feel really good! They make it easier to sense the mood of the story because there will be upbeat music when the story is happy and slow when the story is sad.”

By looking at meals we enjoy eating and creating a healthy eating pyramid, we have been able to discuss and identify where we could be making better choices to have a healthier diet.

Ben shared, “I found out that some foods that I enjoy eating all of the time, like crisps, are unhealthy and should only be eaten every now and again.”

Innes realised, “Some of the foods I enjoy eating are unhealthy and I will stop eating them, for example cheese and biscuits. They are fine as a treat!”

We have discussed the important part that numbers play in the world and explored a number system that was used by civilisations in history to record numbers.

Alice said, “I used to have a clock that said the Roman Numerals on them. It was fun to learn about different numbers.”

In French lessons we have been learning about the alphabet and have started to speak about different types of weather. We can spell out our name in French.

Ella – uh, el, el, ah

Bryony – beh, er, ee-grek, oh, en, ee-grek

Aaron – ah, ah, er, oh, en

We are becoming more confident when answering the question Quel temps fait-il?

Lucy said, “Il fait chaud means it is hot.”

Murray explained that, “Il neige means it is snowing.”

We also took part in the Hour of Code and worked through some short Star Wars activities. These taught us to write simple code to programme characters in a maze game. We had to think about clear and concise instructions, possible variables and interesting ideas.

Achievements in November and December

We have been developing our drawing skills. Two of our pupils were very impressed with how realistic their self-portraits were. Pupils have performed well in dancing exams and have moved up a belt colour in martial arts.

In Science we have been exploring food chains and webs. The pupils were able to use scientific vocabulary to describe different animals in a food chain. We learned about Carnivores, Omnivores and Herbivores. The pupils can create their own food chains and webs and identify the Producers, Primary Consumers, Secondary Consumers and even the Tertiary Consumers.

Eshan created a food chain showing the transfer of energy:

Leaves à grasshopper à spider à frog à snake à hawk à fox

We then moved on to investigating Vibrations and Sounds. We explored how sound vibrations are carried by waves through air. In groups, the pupils created a short television show script and PowerPoint to teach the other class about sound waves.

Rosie, Katie and Amelia created a fantastic show called “The Science of Sound”. In their episode they explained that loud sounds create large vibrations and quieter sounds create smaller vibrations. The size of the vibrations is called the amplitude.

Escher patterns will provided a stimulus for our expressive arts study this term. Through Maths, we discussed and explored the properties of 2D shapes and identified those that tiled.

Emma explained, “First we looked mosaics made from lots of little squares. These helped us to think about shapes fitting into each other without leaving any spaces.”

We then practised making repeating patterns using shape and colour.

Cameron shared, “I found drawing the repeating shapes patterns on the dotty maths paper quite difficult at first but it showed me that I had to slow down and concentrate on making sure the shapes were the same and no spaces were left between them.”

Next we created own fish and ghost stencils to use to create our Escher patterns.

Eva said, “To make our stencils we had to cut a shape out of one side of a rectangular piece of paper, and then stick it to the other side. This meant that the stencil fit into itself easily.”

Finally, we all worked together to make a huge class lizard pattern.

Laaibah explains, “Everyone had a piece of the big picture. We had to make sure we all used the same colour pattern. We then worked together to join all of the lizards together.”

Achievements in October

Our sporty Primary 4’s have been developing their skills in a range of activities including skate boarding, tennis, karate and swimming. Cricket club and coding club have inspired some pupils to further their skills at home and practise batting and creating their own computer games.

 

Primary 4a’s first weeks back at school were action packed! We were entrusted with presenting the first class assembly of the year. This allowed us to show off our knowledge of the school values and encourage everyone to be their own hero.

 

Amelia said, “I loved my part in the assembly. Everyone had a role to play and that is why it was so successful.”

 

In Science we have been using our knowledge of the interactions and energy flow between plants and animals in ecosystems to explore food chains and webs.

 

Evan really enjoyed using the flash cards to categorise animals and plants. “I can now match up producers and consumers in a food chain. I can also explain the words predators and prey.”

 

Our next Science study will be based on Vibrations and Sounds. Through research on how animals communicate, we will explore how sound vibrations are carried by waves through air, water and other media.

 

Logan thinks that we will be talking about how sound travels. “I would like to learn about how animals talk to each other.”

 

Social Studies this term will have a geography focus. By comparing our local area with a contrasting area out with Britain, we will investigate the main features of weather and climate, discussing the impact on living things. 

 

Wardah hopes we do lots of experiments in the playground. “We could see how much it rains and how strong the wind is.”

 

Escher patterns will provide a stimulus for our expressive arts study this term. Through Maths, we will discuss and explore the properties of 2D shapes and identify those that tile. Using this knowledge we will design our own tiling patterns based on the style of Escher.

 

In ICT we will be developing our knowledge and use of safe and acceptable conduct while using different technologies to interact and share experiences, ideas and information with others. We are very lucky at Giffnock to have a range of equipment that we can access and use to enhance our learning and it is important that we all understand how to stay safe.

 

“To stay safe online you have to be careful what you are saying in comments and posts. Don’t share any personal information with someone you don’t know,” explained Sophie.

 

We have been developing our fitness levels over the past couple of weeks and are looking forward to experiencing rugby, basketball and dance sessions in term one.

 

Lewis said, “I like PE and enjoy playing games. The Daily Mile is fun and keeps me fit and healthy.”

 

Linked to our work on the SHANARRI Wheel, this term’s Health and Wellbeing focus will be on staying Safe, keeping Healthy and staying Achieving. Our first lessons have looked at people who help us at school, home and in the community. We were lucky to meet the new Campus Cop and can’t wait for our first library visit.

 

Alex said, “The lollipop lady helps us cross the road. She makes sure we cross at a safe place. The police make sure everyone follows the rules. The doctors and nurses take care of us when we are unwell.”

 

Through RME and Bounceback we have been developing our understanding of the values of respect and honesty. We will also be studying Judiasm and how different religions celebrate Christmas Around the World.

 

Literacy and Numeracy

 

Our learning in these areas will draw upon the contexts listed above but will differ according to the needs of each class / group. Your support with consolidation of core learning through homework activities will be very beneficial to our children.

 

Achievements in August and September

 

Now that we are in Primary 4 we have been learning to be more independent. We have challenged ourselves by remembering our 4 and 6 times tables and we are learning to tie our own ties. Many of our pupils have become more experienced at a sport by taking part in after school clubs and activities; some have even won awards or moved up a grade.

 

Article 29: You have the right to education which develops your personality, respect for other’s rights and the environment.