Welcome to P6c’s blog about November! We have had YET ANOTHER very busy month full of learning and fun! The festive excitement arrived in our class earlier this week as we prepared our enterprise crafts, which were SOLD OUT at St Cadoc’s Christmas Extravaganza, which turned out to be the event of the century!!
In order to build excitement for this amazing event, we created persuasive texts encouraging people to attend. We included techniques such as rhetorical questions and exaggeration to grab our readers’ attention. Some of us even incorporated some humour to entertain our readers too!
When the day finally came, we were thrilled to sell out of our Christmas crafts completely, raising lots of money for school funds. Thank you to our wonderful parents and families for supporting us! As well as attending the Enterprise stall, we also had the opportunity to visit Santa and a couple of his REAL reindeer IN THE FLESH! Although some of us were a little startled at first, it was fantastic to get so close to them in real life! We also enjoyed some delicious hot chocolate and some wonderful activities including a silent disco, crafting station where we made our own Christmas crackers, temporary tattoos AND a bouncy castle! We are so lucky to have such an amazing Parent Staff Association who provide all these amazing experiences for us!
Throughout the month of November, we have had many other worthwhile learning experiences. For example, our Active Schools Co-ordinator – Mrs Comerford – has visited us in school to help us with our new buddying responsibilities. She taught us some games that we could play with Primary Ones when monitoring their playground, including reminding us of some aspects to focus on when teaching games to younger children. We can’t wait to play these games with our buddies when the opportunity arises.
Within Literacy and English, we have been developing different reading strategies to help us gain a greater understanding of the text before, during and after reading. We have practised skimming the text before reading to help identify the main ideas, using details such as the front cover and blurb to make predictions about the content of a text, and scanning the text after reading to find specific information when answering questions. Practising these strategies has helped us become much more confident in reading, particularly when completing comprehension activities.
In Numeracy and Mathematics, we have been developing confidence in lots of different areas, including converting length between different units of measurement, calculating the volume of 3D shapes and reading scales that display lots of different intervals. We have also practised using problem solving strategies to solve increasingly complex Maths challenges. Some of us have even practised solving Sudoku puzzles, ensuring that every row and column contains the appropriate digits.
Saturday 20th November was World Children’s Day. At this time, we examined some of the rights contained within the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. We discussed why each of these rights are vitally important and identified how and when we access our rights on a daily basis. We even created posters, comic strips and extended pieces of writing to raise awareness of the importance of respecting children’s rights.
At home, we have been carrying out research on an Asian country of our choice and created presentations to share with our peers. This week, we have begun presenting them and have really enjoyed sharing our findings and learning from others. Even Miss O’Hara has learned new things too!
Throughout the month of November, we have taken time on various occasions to remember those who have died. On All Saints Day, we selected a saint of our own choice and investigated their lives, including the reasons they were awarded a Sainthood. We created informative displays to teach others about our chosen Saint. On All Souls Day, we prayed for the souls of the people who have died. We created our own remembrance book, honouring our family and friends who have died. Canon Eddie also led us in a service of remembrance, during which we prayed for people who have died, as well as their families who may be feeling pain and grief.
We have already begun learning about the significance of the season of Advent, including how and why it is celebrated. We are looking forward to preparing a festive treat for our families to watch and enjoy at home.
Thank you for taking the time to read about our learning!
P6c and Miss O’Hara
