Class of 2022d

We have had a very short but busy month in school throughout April. In Numeracy some children have been learning about measure including converting between centimetres, millimetres, metres and kilometres. We have also been learning about the relationship between Speed, Distance and Time and how to calculate each.

In Grammar we have been learning about Standard and Non Standard English and we even managed to translate some Cockney Rhyming Slang into Standard English e.g. apples and pears= stairs.  In writing we have been learning to write a personal recount by setting the scene and engaging the reader through our descriptions.

Happy Easter! We have learned about Jesus throughout Lent and are now celebrating Jesus’ resurrection. We are continuing to prepare for the Sacrament of Confirmation and have been learning about the Seven Sacraments at a more mature level particularly focusing on the Sacraments of Initiation.  We have continued to learn about the gifts and the fruits of the Holy Spirit and had the opportunity to take part in a beautiful service with Canon Eddie on the fruits of the Holy Spirit we had beautiful music to accompany this service and Canon Eddie taught us some Taizé chants. This month we have also learned about Ramadan which is an important part of the Muslim Faith. Some of our children enjoyed sharing their experiences and routines so far throughout Ramadan.

Bike Ability

Many of us have started our Bike Ability training sessions. So far we have learned how perform an M Check on our bikes to make sure they are safe to use. We learned to do a ‘life saver’ look to ensure it is safe to take off and to come to a stop. We also took part in a Slow Race which was useful to demonstrate control and maintain a steady speed.

We are making progress with our preparations for our transitions to high school. Some children have had the opportunity to visit their high school and take part in transition tasks. Both the head teacher Mr O’Neill and the year head for next year’s S1 classes Mr Creighton have visited our classes and spent time getting to know us whilst answering all of our questions.  We also had a visit from Mrs Bastable who is an English teacher and Mrs Baird the school librarian who told us lots more about what to expect and how many books there are available for us to borrow.

Science experiments

This month we had a Steam Week and were able to take part in some interesting experiments. We made our very own lemonade (it did not taste good), we designed an egg carrier and then tested it – one of our group’s eggs survived. We also learned about the Water Cycle.

Holocaust Talk

A pupil in another class organised a visit from their mum to talk about the Holocaust. Her story was fascinating and very educational. She told us about her family’s experience during WW2 and that he Great Grandfather was a prisoner in a Concentration Camp.

Lent

We have been learning about Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday and Lent.  We know that Jesus went into the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights and was tempted by the devil.  Throughout Lent some of us have given something up and some of us are taking more time to pray and get closer to God.

In Numeracy and Mathematics some of us have been learning about the parts of a circle including circumference, radius and diameter. We learned how to use a pair of compasses and used these to create patterns and designs given a specific criteria.  Some children have been learning about fractions, decimals and percentages including simplifying fractions and converting between fractions, to decimals and percentages.

In writing we have been learning to understand the terms ‘setting’ and ‘atmosphere’.  We have been working on developing our use of descriptive techniques to describe a setting and have been learning to identify a range of descriptive techniques in a setting description.  As part of our comprehension lessons we have been focusing on answering and creating different types of questions for example, literal, inferential and evaluative.

In Religious Education we have been continuing our journey of initiation in preparation for the Sacrament of Confirmation. We have been learning about the Gifts of the Holy Spirit and linking these to our everyday lives.

In Physical Education we have been working on possession games and have been learning to work together in teams to play Tag/Touch Rugby. We have been learning to throw, catch, pass, dodge intercept, attack, defend and play competitive games.

In Numeracy and Mathematics we have continued to work on our Number Talk strategies in order to deepen our thinking and explain the processes we used and challenge each other. Some of the areas we have been learning about are parts of a circle including drawing circles using a pair of compasses, fractions e.g. simplifying and finding equivalent fractions and calculating fractions of quantities.

Our Social Studies topic for this term is Mexico (this was chosen by the pupils). So far we have enjoyed learning about the Day of the Dead and have started to find out about Mexico e.g. languages spoken, religions, population numbers, neighbouring countries and much more.

In writing we made use of a graphic novel which tells the story of an immigrant who was forced to leave his home behind in search of a better life. We then used what we had learned to write the words to go with the pictures of the first chapter making use of setting, descriptive vocabulary and emotive language.

In Religious Education we have been continuing our journey of initiation in preparation for the Sacrament of Confirmation. We were able to take part in a service with Canon Eddie for the rite of enrolment. This was a very special experience.

As part of our celebrations of Other World Religions this week we have learned about the Jewish Faith. Some children in our class also shared some information about their faith with us. We learned about the hijaab, abiya and Al-Meezan.

In Science this term our focus is on the Solar System and we have started to find out more about each of the planets.  We took part in an enterprise afternoon and thought about a product we would like to develop.  Some of our ideas were amazing a football that kept score, led light with built in speakers and hotel to support and help homeless people.

P7d have had another busy and fun filled month.  We thoroughly enjoyed the Christmas Fun Day. The activities were fantastic and it was a day to remember. Throughout Advent we have been learning about and preparing for the birth of Jesus. We have enjoyed creating and performing our P7 Advent Assembly (our singing was wonderful)!

We have completed our Novel Study, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. We enjoyed this novel. It was educational although very emotional. We have written personal reviews about the novel focusing on the author’s style and characterisation.  We have also designed alternative book covers with an alternative title. They were wonderful. You can see some examples below.

In Numeracy and Mathematics we have been learning about compass points, angles and bearings, data handling, fractions and how to solve problems. 2

We hope you enjoy the Advent Performance and have a very happy, holy and healthy Christmas.

P7d

P7d have had another busy month.  Throughout the month of November as part of our preparation for the Sacrament of Confirmation lots of children have been researching the lives of the Saints and have shared a presentation/talk with the class. Some children have research an aspect of their Faith and have shared the information with the class. We have all really enjoyed the presentations and have been blown away by P7d’s excellent talking and listening skills. We had the opportunity to participate in a Remembrance Service with Canon Eddie.  Throughout the month of November we have been remembering All Souls and All Saints and have been learning and saying the Eternal Rest prayer daily.

Over the last few weeks we have taken part in live Mandarin lessons through Microsoft Teams with two teachers currently living in China.  We have learned a bit about the Chinese Culture and have learned greetings, numbers 1-10 and family members. We are enjoying this very much and our teachers are very impressed with our pronunciation and participation. 

In Numeracy some of our groups have been learning about fractions including how to find equivalent fractions, fractions of quantities, adding and subtracting fractions and multiplying fractions. We have also been learning about time in both the 12 and 24 hour clock, planning for events and calculating time durations and classifying and calculating and measuring different types of angles.

In Literacy we are continuing with our novel study, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. We have been talking part in many class discussions focusing on the author’s style of writing, character development and answering different types of questions. In writing we have been learning to write leaflets and have written a letter to Bishop John asking receive the Sacrament of Confirmation and telling Bishop John about the Saints we have chosen to guide us throughout our lives.

We took part in Playzone Training with Kerry, our Active Schools Co-ordinator and had the opportunity to teach the Primary two children various games.  We are looking forward to working with the Primary two children during some of our playtimes.     

We have had another busy month!

In Maths some of our children have been learning to complete long multiplication calculations, patterns and sequences including finding the nth term and identifying the formula for a pattern or sequence. We have also been learning to about place value up to millions and to calculate time duration and reading timetables to plan for events.

Social Studies

Alongside our novel study The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas we have been learning about World War Two. So far we have learned about the outbreak of the war, evacuation, rationing, dig for victory and propaganda.

RE

In RE throughout the month of October we have been learning about the history of the Rosary.  We have learned about the history of the Rosary and have prayed for important people in our lives.

In preparation for the Sacrament of Confirmation we have started to research the lives of many of the saints and are currently working on a presentation about our saint to share with the class.

We had another opportunity to meet with our P2 Buddies and are enjoying getting to know them and are looking forward to working with them throughout the year.

We had the opportunity to join a committee within the school and took part in our first meeting this week. We all enjoyed having the opportunity to share our thoughts and opinions with others and create an action plan for the week ahead.

Hello and welcome to our second blog of P7.  We have worked incredibly hard since we last blogged and are having lots of fun.

We had the opportunity to meet our P2 Buddies. This was great. We were all very excited and we are looking forward to spending more time with them and supporting them throughout the year.  We wrote our buddies a letter to tell them a bit about ourselves and ask them some questions.  We will share our letters with them the next time we see them.

In literacy we have started our Novel study The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and we are currently learning about what life was like in the past during World War Two and the Holocaust.  So far we have been introduced to the main character in the book, a 9 year old boy called Bruno who has moved away from his lovely home in Berlin with his family because of his father’s job. Bruno doesn’t know where he is and doesn’t like the place very much and doesn’t seem to know that there is a war going on.  We have started to learn about characterisations and are gathering evidence on how the author, John Boyne develops his characters.

In Numeracy we have further developed our understanding of fractions, decimals and percentages, data handling, rounding numbers, properties of 2D and 3D shapes, calculating the volume of shapes and we have been learning to solve problems using the Act if Out stratgegy.

As part of our Rights Repecting Schools topic and have been learning about equality and equity and about Global Goals.  We have been thinking about the issues we face and are aiming to make small changes in our lives in order to make a difference.

We took part in the sponsored cycle to Bangalore and our class managed an impressive 481 laps in just 30 minutes!

Cannon Eddie came into school and we had a lovely service with him together as a year group.  This was the first time we have been able to get together as a year group for over a year and a half and is was very special. We were all able to go to Confession with Cannon Eddie afterwards.

Last Thursday we were delighted to be able to walk to St.Cadoc’s Church to celebrate Mass for the feast of St.Cadoc. We had a fantastic day of celebration which ended with a talent show. Mrs Costello was very impressed with all of our unique talents.

Hello and welcome to our first class blog in Primary 7!  We have all settled in nicely back into school and are looking forward to a great year ahead. We are delighted to tell you that our class was chosen to be the first Star Class as a result of our hard work and great behaviour in class and our fantastic lines outside. Our reward was an additional lunchtime slot in the Muga and an extra playtime! Our cheer could be heard throughout the school as it was announced at our first ever live assembly on Friday!

In Grammar we have revised nouns, verbs, adjectives, subjects and objects. We also wrote a letter to ourselves and we are currently working on our imaginative writing skills. We have been doing lots of revision in Maths and have now moved on to learn about fractions, decimals and percentages, rounding numbers up to hundreds of thousands and data handling.

We are currently enjoying developing our fitness in PE, learning about the life and artwork of Charles Rennie Mackintosh in Art and Design and we are learning about density through experiments in Science.

We worked together to create a Class Charter and are going to be learning about our rights throughout Primary 7. We look forward to sharing more with you next month.

P7d

Hello Parents and Carers!

We have been very lucky during the month of May as we have been joined by Miss Thompson. We have made her feel very welcome and have enjoyed learning lots of new things from her.

Maths

Over the last month we have been covering new topics in Maths. The Triangles have been learning about angles and have been developing our understanding of multiplication and division. The Squares have been working on algebra and coordinates and The Circles have been learning about time and measuring angles using protractors.

Literacy

During writing lessons we have been learning how to write persuasive texts. We carried out a debate on the subject ‘Should All Children Have Mobile Phones?’ We then had to pick if we agreed or disagreed with this statement and then wrote our reasons why. Following on from this, we then used what we had learned about persuasive writing and  picked our own topic to write about.

Social Studies

As part of our Rights Respecting School topic we have been learning about the power of peaceful protesting. We had to choose an influential figure to research during ICT and then created posters showing what we had learned. We have also been discussing how we can work out any problems we have in the playground by coming up with peaceful solutions.

Outdoor Learning

This month we have loved being back in the forest. We worked in groups to make a raft to float down the stream. We had to use teamwork, communication and problem solving skills to make sure our raft was sturdy enough to travel in the water.

RE

During the month of May, we have been learning about Our Lady, Ascension Day and Pentecost. We have also been continuing with our Pope Francis Faith award and are coming to the end of the gathering point ‘Fear of the Lord’. We will be moving on to learn about ‘Counsel’ in the coming weeks.

We are looking forward to our final month in Primary 6 and can’t wait to share some more updates at the end of June. We hope you all have a lovely bank holiday!

Miss Igoe and Primary 6d x