Primary 3 have had a very busy few months since returning to school so we would like to share some of this learning with you.

In Numeracy and Maths the children have been learning numbers up to 1000 and they know how to estimate and round numbers to the nearest tens and hundreds. They have used concrete materials to explore Place Value and are currently learning a variety of strategies to help with addition. They use Number Talks most days and have been counting on from the highest number, using number lines, 100 squares and making friendly numbers to help with addition. They are learning to explain how they got the answer and this is really helping with their understanding. This will also help as they continue to develop skills in subtraction, multiplication and division.  The children are demonstrating that they are confident individuals as they eagerly share their responses, solutions and justifications.

In Literacy the children continue to work hard on their Spelling, Reading, Writing, Listening and Talking.  The children are working through the Active Literacy Spelling programme and are learning new phonemes and common words each week. They love to look for these sounds and words in their surroundings and get very excited when they spot them. Please encourage them to do this in their home and local environment also. The children are reading a variety of fiction and non-fiction texts each week and are developing their accuracy and fluency. They made their own Alien Masks after reading ‘Aliens Love Underpants’. They have loved listening to stories, sharing stories with each other and choosing books from our class library. Please continue to encourage children to read for pleasure as much as possible as this helps in all areas of Literacy.

I have been impressed with the quality of the stories that the children have written so far. They have recently written some spooky Halloween Stories, which saw them creating their own characters and settings, using some excellent adjectives to add to their story.

With October, being the month of the Holy Rosary the children have been learning how to pray the Rosary and have been learning all about our parish of Holy Family. We have been learning our Mass Responses and hymns to sing at mass. We have been learning all about Creation and Laudato Si. The boys and girls know that they have a responsibility to protect and care for the amazing world that God created for us.

Our IDL topic has been Space and the children have developed a range of skills across many areas of the curriculum, they learned about Neil Armstrong and completed line drawings of astronauts. They used their knowledge of 2D and 3D shape to create rockets and during Maths week, the children collected a series of materials from our local environment and put these together to create rockets in the yard. They have listened to lots of fun stories about Space and even listened to a story told by an astronaut from the International Space Station. They have learned the order of the planets from the Sun and have learned a mnemonic to help them remember. Ask them to tell you? They love to get it right. As we come to the end of this topic they are making a Diorama of our Solar System. I think you will be impressed.

Without doubt the highlight of the month for the children was the Halloween Party. The children were so excited and loved to dress up, play games, dance and have fun with their friends and teachers. It was so good to be able to celebrate this together in the hall.

As you can see, the children have had lots of fun learning activities and experienced many successes as learners over the last few months. Thank you for your continued support. Please see Twitter for any class pictures or updates throughout the month.