We have had a very busy month in Primary 3/4 and would like to share some of our learning with you.

In Literacy, we have been looking at Non – Fiction Texts. We have been learning about the different features in non – fiction texts like, a Contents page, an Index page and the Glossary, which we like to call our ‘mini dictionary’. We have learned all about incredible insects and can tell you what an exoskeleton is. We took part in Book Week Scotland and enjoyed a visit to the school library.

We are working through our spelling programme and learning how to spell new and tricky words. We have especially enjoyed our Spelling Bee with the ball. We have been learning how to write instructions and loved watching the video where the boy and girl try to teach their dad how to make a sandwich. This showed us how important it is to keep our instructions short and specific. This really helped us when we wrote our own instructions.  We also learned how important instructions are in ICT. We have been learning coding through Minecraft and it was lots of fun.

In Maths and Numeracy, we have been doing some super subtraction and have learned strategies to subtract from numbers up to 1000. We liked using a blank number line to help us. We have been working hard on our multiplication tables and can use this knowledge to help us answer questions and solve problems in Maths.

We love playing games to learn our tables, like Tables Trains and Around the World. In Number Talks we are becoming really confident at explaining our solutions and using different strategies, our listening skills have also developed as we listen to how others approach the questions.

We have learned all about COP26 and Climate Change. We have explored the impact this has on our earth and on our future. We have thought about ways that we can help as individuals, as a class and as a school to prevent this. We designed posters to encourage others to recycle and we have been collecting crisp packets from around the school and will be sending them away to be recycled. We have also learned about what Pope Francis taught in Laudato Si about protecting God’s earth.

In other areas, we have been learning about bullying, how we can work together to prevent this, we know the importance of respecting others and ourselves and have explored what it means to be a good friend.

We went to mass on All Saints day, and learned about the lives of the Saints. We discussed how we could try to be like them in our thoughts and actions.  We also said the ‘Eternal Rest’ prayer every day during November for all the souls who have passed away.

We enjoyed learning more about our patron Saint today as we celebrated St Andrew’s today. We also enjoyed some Scottish treats of Irn Bru (sugar free), shortbread and Tunnocks Tea Cakes, which we tried to eat without licking our lips……..impossible!

We have changed our class altar for Advent and are learning about the different colours and meaning of the candles, the wreath and other ways we prepare for Jesus’ birth at Christmas.