The children in Primary 3/4 have had a very busy few months since returning to school so we would like to share some of their learning with you. 

In Maths the children have been learning a variety of approaches and strategies to aid them in their learning. In Number Talks they are developing secure mental strategies that they can draw upon when faced with any calculation. Through this the children demonstrate that they are confident individuals as they eagerly share their responses, solutions and justifications. The children know how to estimate and round numbers to the nearest tens, hundreds and thousands. They have used concrete materials to explore Place Value and this has really helped with Addition so far and will help as they continue to develop skills in subtraction, multiplication and division. 

In Literacy the children continue to work hard on their Spelling, Reading and Writing.  The Green Group have been learning all about phoneme families and are learning to use spelling strategies such as ‘word within a word’, ‘compound words’ and ‘syllabification’. Ask them to demonstrate how these help them work out tricky or new words.

The Red Group are working through the Active Literacy programme and are learning new phonemes and common words each. The children love to look for these sounds and words in their surroundings and get very excited when they spot them.

In addition to their various Home Reading Books, the boys and girls have been reading ‘Poppet’, a story about a baby African Elephant who becomes friends with a little mouse. The children have used this to develop their comprehension skills and are working hard to produce answers in full sentences.

In Health and Wellbeing the children have been learning about staying safe and healthy. They take every opportunity to get outdoors for PE and have been effective contributors to our school community by participating in Beat the Street. Friday afternoons are spent with their friends in Primary 2/3 at Hope Street Park as a fun way to end their hardworking week.

With October being the month of the Holy Rosary the children have learned how to pray the Rosary and have visited Holy Family Church every Tuesday with primary 2/3 to pray in the gardens. This has been a really lovely experience for us all and it is wonderful to see the children enjoying being in the Church again. Please try and provide this opportunity for children by attending Sunday Mass, especially if the children are making their sacraments this year.

The boys and girls also participated in their Class STEM challenge ‘Spaghetti Towers’ where they used Spaghetti and Marshmallows to design and build a freestanding tower. They loved this and look forward to doing more challenges throughout the year.

Our IDL topic has been the Vikings and the children have developed a range of skills across many areas of the curriculum, they made 3D Longships and explored symmetry when designing their own Viking shields. They also used the knowledge that they have gained to create posters giving others information all about the Vikings, their lifestyles and their beliefs.

The children have recently began to learn all about Climate Change and what is happening during COP26. They have been learning about what Pope Francis said in Laudato Si and are eager to demonstrate that they are responsible citizens by contributing individually, as a class, and as part of the whole school to help tackle the impact of Climate Change on their World.

As you can see the children have experienced many successes as learners over the last few months so what better way to celebrate this than a fun filled Halloween Party which they are so excited about.

Welcome to Primary 2/3’s final reflective Friday post for 2020.

Well done to all the boys and girls in Primary 2/3 on a successful Term 1 back at school.

The children have had a very different December than usual but as always have risen to the challenges admirably.

The children have managed to achieve excellent progress in Literacy and Numeracy and their ICT skills are developing very well. Today they managed to write and type their very own Elf Riddles inspired by the characters from our novel, The Christmassaurus. This week also saw the end of our Primary 2/3 games which the children have been competing in over the last few weeks. Teams Mario and Yoshi worked together to acquire points for their team. The children enjoyed this very much and learned lots of skills including how to be a supportive and encouraging team member. In the end there was only 1 point in it which saw both teams being awarded a Gold Certificate and medal.

The children have been learning about Advent and preparing for the birth of Jesus, we have been thinking of others and trying to be kind. The children have also demonstrated their artistic and creative talents with all their Christmas arts and crafts.

This month we wish to share our best wishes and love to you all over the holidays, thanking you once again for all your support this term. May you all have a safe, happy and healthy break. I look forward to all the exciting learning opportunities that await us in January.

Merry Christmas from Mrs Preston and Primary 2/3.

Welcome to Primary 2/3’s Reflective Friday post for November.

Another busy and hardworking month in primary 2/3. This week we have been reflecting on and discussing our achievements over the last few weeks and the children have all worked really well and I am delighted with their progression.

Our target this month was to try really hard to stay in our seats in order to keep everyone safe. The children all try really hard to stay in their class bubble.

This month we have agreed to look at Maths and how we could improve in this area. This month the children have all identified a personal target that they are going to work towards and I am sure that they will as always work really hard to achieve success in this.

In Maths we have spent a great deal of time working on addition and subtraction and I feel that the children are really confident in applying strategies to solve both written and mental calculations. We will continue to do this throughout the year through our Number Talks. This week we will be applying our skills and moving on to look at multiplication. The children will be looking at 2, 4, 5 and 10 times tables.

In Literacy the children have been learning trickier words and applying word attack strategies when reading and writing in class. They have been listening to popular fairy tales and are developing the ability to pick out the important parts of the story. We are now practising our letter writing skills with our first letter sent to Santa asking very nicely for a class elf. I hope he has heard our plea! We will continue to develop our skills in letter writing over the next few weeks. Please continue to support your children with handwriting and letter formation during any written homework tasks. I can see a real improvement in their handwriting.

In addition to our Christmas preparations and celebrations we are continuing to remember the real meaning of Christmas and the children will be learning about Advent as a time of preparation. We will be discussing ways that we can make a difference through our acts of kindness. We are still also looking at our Knights and Castles topic and the children really are very enthusiastic when discussing this. I have asked them to complete a personal project over the next few weeks, researching Scottish Castles. Choosing their favourite and explaining why? They should be able to share with us who lived there and when, battles or important dates and should also be able to identify the features of the castle.

I hope that the next few weeks will bring some well-deserved, fun, festive cheer for the children who have all adapted remarkably and worked incredibly hard during this first term.

This month we had reflective Thursday as Friday saw our class celebration for Halloween. Slightly different than usual but no less fun. The children looked fantastic all dressed up and I hope that you enjoyed seeing the art work that they created last week.

This month we have been extremely busy in class. The children have been working hard and it is great to see the progress that they have made. I hope that you enjoyed looking at all the wonderful work in their jotters?

In Literacy the children have been writing instructions and recounts and have been developing their comprehension skills through activities linked to their reading book. I have enjoyed listening to the children read and can definitely see an improvement in their fluency and accuracy so thank you for your support at home.

In Numeracy the children are moving on to subtraction, followed by multiplication and division. The children work very hard during class time and again I can really see how well they are doing. The children also very much enjoy Sumdog, which is a great resource tailored to the specific development needs of each child. In addition to this I select topics to support and consolidate the work that we are doing in class, so I really appreciate you encouraging your child to log in and spend some time this as part of their homework.

Health and Wellbeing/R.E and Topic

The children have been competing in the Primary 2/3 Class Games during P.E. They are either in Team Mario or Team Yoshi and are enjoying some healthy team competition by completing a variety of races, obstacles and developing skills in communication, timing, balance and footwork.

Throughout the month of October the children took part in praying the Rosary and the children loved bringing in their Rosary Beads to use during this time. In November we will be praying for all our loved ones who have passed and again thank you to those who have returned their list.

Finally in addition to the seasonal celebrations such as Halloween, Bonfire Night and Christmas, the children have been exploring the topic of Knights and Castles and can describe all the special roles of a knight and explain why their armour is so important and can even name some parts of this. Keep your eyes peeled for some fabulous artwork and your ears at the ready for some interesting facts.

Well done boys and girls on another successful month at school.