It has been a very rainy month but there has still been plenty to smile about in P4a….

We started November with a change to our outdoor learning day, now Wednesday, and to our class seats. We are loving getting to know our new neighbours while working and playing together to earn group jewels each week. This month we also revisited our class charter and created a friendship chain where we all committed to good behaviours in the playground and treating each other as we would like to be treated.

This month there have been many ‘celebrations’ in addition to our normal work, a welcome diversion from division you might say!

On International Children’s Day we wore blue and created posters illustrating the impact of climate change on polar animals. These were displayed in the school hall exhibition and enjoyed by all pupils and staff.

In this month of the Holy Souls we have learned about the Saints who are now in Heaven, including St Martin of Tours, St Elizabeth of Hungary, St Margaret of Scotland and, with a touch of tartan, St Andrew. Even more importantly we have prayed every day for our own loved ones who have died. Although losing them is sad for us we know that they are always with us and that our prayers are with them and for them. We created a Remembrance Tree where every leaf bore their names and made this the focus of our daily prayer including the Eternal Rest prayer which we have learned for this special month. We have continued to meet at lunchtime on a Friday to pray together as we prepare for our Sacraments in this very special year. As a school community we participated in a two minute silence at the eleventh hour, of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month remembering those who have died in conflict. We made poppies to ensure we never forget those who have given their lives to save ours.

During interfaith week we enjoyed learning about other world religions including Judaism and Buddhism.  We were particularly impressed when members of our class prepared presentations to improve our knowledge of their religions. As well as the Muslim faith we learned about Hinduism and enjoyed creating lanterns to celebrate the festival of Diwali.            

From the Feast of St Margaret of Scotland to the Feast of St Andrew we celebrated Catholic Education Fortnight. The theme for this year is ‘Jesus is the way, the truth and the life’. We discussed how we can follow the example of Jesus everyday in how we treat others and strive to be the best version of ourselves. We were delighted when Canon Eddie celebrated Holy Mass for us in our classroom. During this mass we led the liturgy and the enrolment of our school as a Laudato Si School. We will learn much more about this in the coming months but in short Laudato Si challenges us all to live the wish of Pope Francis and that we should do all we can to take care of the beautiful world God has given us. While we are missing singing together, we are still enjoying listening and appreciating music together. In particular, we loved the song ‘The way, the truth and the life’ and added our own personal touch to it. You will find it on twitter and we hope that it makes you smile.

During the month we have read our new class novel ‘The Pugs of the Frozen North’. The book has brought lots of fun and laughter as we have followed the adventures of Sika, Shen and their 66 pugs on their journey to the top of the world. Amongst many activities we have learned to draw pugs, create comic stories and focused on how we can make informed decisions and do the right thing. To illustrate this, and mark Scottish Book Week, we created our very own book covers and discussed how we as authors and illustrators could make them eye catching and attractive. We also successfully read in silence for 30 minutes as part of the Readathon raising money for school funds.

With the Feast of the Christ the King concluding the church year we are now beginning to get ready for the season of Advent. After reading the Laudato Si letter from Pope Francis we have decided to decorate our class Christmas tree with nature. During our trip to the forest we made beautiful stars using branches from the trees and we have collected lots of leaves and acorns too.

We are also preparing a special treat for our families which we will be sharing very soon……..