Dear Parent/Carer,
I hope that everyone enjoyed a fun and relaxing Christmas holidays and would like to welcome all of the boys and girls back for our third term in Primary 4/3. The children have enjoyed a very productive, albeit blustery and frosty, two weeks back at school and, with preparations being made for Sacraments for both stages, this term will be a very special time for the children.
Literacy
As always, the class will continue to follow the North Lanarkshire Active Literacy Programme to support their learning in spelling, phonics, reading and writing.
Primary 3 children will continue to explore new sounds and common words in addition to consolidating sounds they have already covered. Many of our children have begun to work with longer texts and are enjoying working with skinny novels in class and at home. Again, children will work with both fiction and non-fiction texts to build fluency and comprehension.
With the experience gained during the first two terms, our Primary 4 children are now able to complete a range of challenging phonics and spelling activities with independence and this is something that will be encouraged this term. During this longer term, the children will undertake two novel studies, the first being ‘The Best Dog in the World’ and the second ‘The Butterfly Lion’. Ensuring that the children complete all assigned reading at home is important as this means they will be prepared for the activities they will be given in class.
Numeracy
In numeracy, the class will continue to experience a mix of direct teaching, partner/group activities and written tasks to build and consolidate their understanding of concepts.
Over the course of the term, the class will continue to explore the theme of multiplication, looking towards division later in the term. Our Primary 3 children will continue to work with the 2, 4, 5 & 10 times tables. Our Primary 4 children will continue to work with the 3 & 6 times tables. I would encourage children to practice their times tables at home as being able to recall multiplication facts quickly and accurately is an important skill that we will be working on in class. Other topics that will be covered during the course of the term include money and position & movement.
RE
This term, children of both stages will commence making preparations for their respective Sacraments. Primary 3 will be preparing for and making the Sacrament of Reconciliation and Primary 4 will begin to prepare for First Communion, making the Sacrament itself in the last term. The children will be working with Miss Cassidy, Miss O’Donnell and myself as they get ready for these important events.
Health & Wellbeing
A wee reminder that PE for Primary 4/3 will continue to take place on a Monday and a Wednesday. We would encourage children to bring their PE kit into school on a Monday and take it home on the Friday to ensure that they have it whenever needed. This term, our focus will be on Games.
Cross Curricular
During the third term, our class topic will focus on the design and creation of a ‘Class Newspaper’. The children will be exploring the media, developing their skills in the use of multimedia technology and working to a given budget. All children will contribute to the running of this enterprise project. Later in the term, class will also undertake a short Science investigation into how exercise affects our breathing rate.
Again, please continue to communicate any queries or concerns using the homework diary.
Many thanks
Miss Burns
Class Teacher
