Welcome back to all primary 4 children and parents!

This is where our homework will be set each week, starting on Monday the 29th. The homework for the week beginning the 22nd will be more practical.

As we have P.E. on a Tuesday and Friday, can you practise

• tying laces on shoes
• tying ties
• buttons on shirts
• sorting your own bag out?

All of these things will help us, as this year we are changing into our P.E. kit in class.

This will be a busy year for us all and we have lots of exciting things to come. The first is that we, in primary 4, are going to be organising a MacMillan Cancer Coffee Morning , which we hope many of you will be able to attend. It’s on the 21st of September. More details to follow once we have had a chance to prepare.

We have First Communion in May. We have no dates as yet, but will let you know as soon as we do. If you would like your child to make their First Communion and they haven’t been baptised or made their First Confession , please contact as soon as possible so we can advise you on what you need to do. All children making their First Communion must have had these 2 Sacraments first. The best preparation for this important Sacrament is regular attendance at Mass on Saturday night or Sunday.

There will be a school show in June, which primary 4 children will be able to take part in. We are so excited to be able to put on a show again!

Our topic is The Rainforest. We are hoping that we can make Rainforest scenes so would ask you to send in any spare shoe boxes that you may have at home. Whilst children enjoy working with a partner, you can imagine the disappointment that they have when they can’t take home projects like this. A box each would solve this issue.

Our class novel is Charlottes Web and we will be learning all about the Reading Strategies covered in Primary 4 through this novel. A lot of our learning will be through this novel. Until we finish this, we will be getting books home to use as homework. We would also encourage children to read for enjoyment at home. In class we have an Author of the Month. For August and September, that will be Dick King Smith and we will have a selection of his books to borrow. If you have any that you would not mind lending us, we would be very grateful. We are also looking for comics that the children have finished with so that we can have a selection in our cosy corner for children to enjoy. We would be happy to recycle them for you!

Going into a new class can be exciting and a little scary. We are all just getting to know each other, which can take time. We will make up our own class rules to help guide us in making good choices.

Some things to consider-

• Football is allowed for primary 4 at break times but many children can find this overwhelming at first so we would encourage you to talk to the children if they have issues. Between us, we can support them in coping with disappointments brought about through  playing football in school.
• Going to bed at a reasonable time, eating a healthy breakfast and getting to school on time all help children to be better prepared for learning. Being regularly late often means that children have missed vital teaching points.
• As parents , it’s very easy to get emotionally involved in our children’s disputes but they resolve such issues quicker when we stay calm and offer suggestions on how to sort out issues themselves. Please talk to us if this is not helping to resolve disagreements within friendship groups.
• Homework should not take hours and should not cause you and your children more stress. Talk to us if it is becoming a problem so we can find solutions which work better for your family.
• Bringing toys from home can be very distracting in class and we would advise children to leave them at home, unless it’s a special occasion.
• Please label all clothes as children struggle to recognise their jumpers etc.

We are usually at the gates at home time if you have any query you wish to discuss.

We look forward to getting to know you and your children and discovering all of their talents. We look forward to working together to help them overcome disappointments and challenges, as well as celebrating their success.