Dear Parent/Carer,

Happy New Year and welcome back to the start of a new term. I hope you had a lovely break. This is a very busy term with lots of exciting events and opportunities coming up. Miss Hill will be working with the boys and girls on a Thursday and Friday.

Literacy

This term we will be working on a variety of novels including Greyfriar’s Bobby, Horrid Henry, The Best Dog In The World and Through The Cat Flap. It is very important that the pupils are reading the selected chapters of their novel each night and they make sure they bring their novel to school every day. This allows the children to further develop their understanding of the comprehension strategies which we started working on at the beginning of Primary 4.

Maths

The boys and girls have worked very hard on adding and subtracting 3 digit numbers. We will continue to reinforce this throughout the week in class and sometimes as their homework. This term our focus is going to be Multiplication and Division. The children will look at patterns and links within the times tables and they have started learning how to do 2 and 3 digit multiplication sums. Division allows the children to link to their learning of the tables as it is the opposite of multiplication and they can work backwards. With Miss Hill on a Thursday and Friday the children have started looking at Position and Movement, including the vocabulary associated with this.

Interdisciplinary Learning

Well done to the boys and girls on creating wonderful models of a Titanic Cabin. I was very impressed with the hard work they put in and thank you to all the parents for supporting the children with this project. This term we are taking part in “Clyde In The Classroom”. An exciting project which begins with an outing to Glasgow Science Centre. The children will be learning about the River Clyde, environmental issues which affect the river and will be responsible for looking after fish eggs and nurturing them into little fish before we release them into the river.

Health & Wellbeing

The children are going to be learning the skills necessary for playing Badminton. While we are playing badminton the children will further develop their social skills of turn taking, helping one another and playing in friendly, supportive manner. With Miss Hill on a Thursday they will be doing Athletics. We will also continue to work as a team and build relationships within the class.

 R.E.

This term we have started by finding out about the Church, starting with our local parish. We will also be looking at other local parishes, and the work of the church. The children will be introduced to parts of the church such as tabernacle, baptismal font, etc. We will then go on to look at Sunday and why it is such a special and sacred day. This will lead us very nicely into the preparation for First Holy Communion, later in the term. This will include a retreat as part of the First Holy Communion preparation.

This is a very special time in Primary 4 and I am looking for ward to working towards this with all the boys and girls.

Yours sincerely

Miss O’Donnell

Primary 4 (P. T.)

Dear parents/carers,

I can’t quite believe Term 3 is upon us already. Time clearly flies when you are learning and having fun. The children have been enjoying their new roles as Peer Mediators and monitors and should continue with this responsible attitude throughout Term 3.

Literacy

The children will continue with the same North Lanarkshire Active Literacy Programme for Spelling, Reading, Writing and Talking and Listening in Term 3. They will be concentrating on non-fiction to start, moving onto two novels afterwards. We will be continuing with the same comprehension strategies for our reading, gaining confidence in these as the term progresses.

Maths

In Term 3 we will be looking at Multiplication, Measure, Division, Fractions and Decimals, 2D and 3D shape and Angles. Again, we will be using the active approaches suggested in the Pathways planners along with the Teejay programme.

Health and Wellbeing

The children will be continuing on with the Knowing Me Knowing You Programme during Term 3. They will also be introduced to God’s Loving Plan later in the term and this will be related to our RE programme also. During PE the children will be focussing on Central Net and Ball Games and they will also receive lessons on a variety of sports from Motherwell College Sports students.

Social Studies

Our IDL theme for Term 3 is The Scottish Parliament. We have a Bed4 student with us for most of Term 3 and she will be responsible for delivering most of this IDL theme. We are very fortunate to be going a trip to the Scottish Parliament in February and the children are really looking forward to this.

R.E

As you are well aware, the children are making their Confirmation this term. This is such an exciting and important time for them as they prepare to become full members of God’s church. The children should ensure that they complete all Home Sessions within the Confirmation booklet, fully discussing all themes with yourselves. We will also look at ‘Christian Witness’, ‘Pentecost and Trinity Sunday’ and ‘God’s Loving Plan’ throughout this term. The Primary 7 children have now led First Thursday mass twice and showed confidence and maturity when doing so. May this continue throughout Term 3.

If you have any queries don’t hesitate to use your child’s diary as a means of contact with myself.

Thank you again for all of your support so far this year.

Many Thanks

Miss Mitchell

Term 3 in Primary 5

Dear Parent/Guardian,

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year. This letter will provide you with an overview of what the children will be learning during Term 3.

Literacy

The children will be studying a group novel appropriate to their age and stage and will continue to use the six comprehension strategies (prior knowledge, metalinguistics, visualisation, inference, main ideas and summary.) Novels will be part of the homework and should be brought into school every day to be used in class. Please ensure your child keeps up with the reading so they can carry out the tasks in class.

Numeracy

In numeracy this Term we will be working on a variety of topics, which include, multiplication, division and time. The children will continue to carry out written and active activities to further develop their knowledge and understanding of these themes.

R.E.

This Term in R.E the children will be learning about The Life of Jesus, Lent and Holy Week during the lead up to Easter. Primary 5 will also lead First Thursday mass in March and since they did such a good job last time I am confident they will do the same again this Term.

Health and wellbeing

As you know the children have been taking part in a swimming and fitness programme run by Wishaw Sports Centre every Wednesday afternoon. The children have loved every minute so far and I can see clear progression in their swimming ability. During fitness the children have been learning how to play Volleyball and after next week they will move onto Basketball. I would ask that the children continue to bring their P.E. kits into school on a Monday and they will be returned home on a Friday. Also, on a Wednesday the children should bring their swimming kit and a packed lunch.

Interdisciplinary learning

This Term Primary 5 will be looking at the Water Cycle and carrying out a practical investigation on evaporation. We will also be learning all about Spain and the Spanish climate. We will look at different parts of Spain and compare their climate to ours in Scotland. The children will also learn some basic Spanish words and phrases and take part in lots of other purposeful learning activities.

I would like to thank you for all your support so far and would appreciate if you would continue to help your child with their homework.

Kind regards,

Miss Burns

Dear Parent/Guardian,

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year and I would like to wish you all the best for 2015.

Once again this letter will provide you with a brief overview of the learning that will take place this term in Primary 6. This information provides you with an insight into your child’s learning.

Literacy

The children will continue to follow North Lanarkshire’s Active Literacy programme for Spelling, Reading, Writing and Listening and Talking. This programme will help to develop further their literacy skills and provide exciting and new challenges.

The children will take part in a group novel study with a text suitable for their age and stage. This will be an opportunity for the children to apply all of their prior learning from Term 1 and demonstrate their ability and understanding of the Active Literacy Strategies. The novels will be read at home by the children and there will be reading homework on a weekly basis. The children should be encouraged to complete all reading homework on the allocated nights as the classwork will coincide with the reading homework.

Numeracy

This term Primary 6 will explore division, fractions and decimals, 2d shapes and 3d objects, angles and money. The children will have the opportunity to learn these skills and concepts through a mixture of both active and written tasks. This will enable the children to apply their learning across contexts and see a real purpose to their learning. Children should continue to regularly practice their times tables at home to help support ongoing classwork.

Health and Wellbeing

Health and Wellbeing will be taught across the curriculum. This term in Physical Education the children will develop their skills in athletics.

Science

The children of Primary 6 will be exploring planet earth this term. Various elements of this will be examined such as the changing states of matter and the physical and chemical processes which influence Earth’s atmosphere and oceans. Additionally, the children will learn about climate change as a natural process in time as well as the result of human activity.

Religious Education

Religious Education will be taught through the ‘This Is Our Faith’ programme. This term Primary 6 will begin preparation for the Sacrament of Confirmation. The children will complete their confirmation workbooks in school and at home with specific themes to help fully prepare them for the Sacrament. Many themes will be examined such as ‘The Spirit Works In Others’, ‘My Confirmation Saint’, ‘Anointed Priest, Prophet and Kind’ and ‘The Day of Pentecost’. This will be a truly special experience for all of the children as they continue on their faith journey.

Homework

The children’s homework will help to support their on-going classwork and I would appreciate your continued support in ensuring the children keep up with all homework tasks.

Many thanks,

Mrs Williamson

As part of our Interdisciplinary work the boys and girls of Primary 3/2 have been exploring the theme ‘Under the sea.’

During Purposeful Play we have been involved in many exciting activities.

In the construction area, the children have been using junk, brought in from home, to build submarines. They have also used Lego to make models of their favourite sea creatures.

In the Imaginative Area the children have become waiters or waitresses in their very own Seaside Sweetie Shop. The shop sells yummy cupcakes, ice cream cones and ice lollies, perfect after a day swimming in sea. The children have enjoyed taking orders, writing menus and using their maths skills to work out their customers’ bills.

At the water area the children have enjoyed searching through colourful Jelly to find different sea creatures. They enjoyed playing in the water beads and growing their own sea creatures.

At the creative corner the children have been using a variety of media to create lots of different sea creature pictures. We have used paper plates to make crabs and tissue paper to make fish.

The children have been showing of their fabulous singing voices when learning ‘Under the Sea’ from Disney’s Little Mermaid.

We look forward to finding out our new Interdisciplinary theme in the New Year.

Here is a clip of our fabulous choir performing ‘Highland Cathedral’ at our St Andrew’s Day performance.

Highland Cathedral

Please remember to vote for them in the Regent Shopping Centre competition here!

We have been very busy so far this term. We have dived right into our topic ‘Under the Sea’ and are having a whale of a time learning about a wide variety of sea creatures and their habitats. We have also been exploring food chains, researching and writing about Jaques Cousteau and we are looking forward to carrying out scientific experiments on water. We have also created some beautiful pieces of artwork, which we are proud to display.

As well as our busy classwork we have recently started our preparation for our Christmas Nativity performance and our St. Andrew’s day show. We will be reciting Margaret Hamiltons ‘Lament for a lost dinner ticket’. We are all very excited about performing it on stage.

The children in Primary 5 have all been working very hard. We have started our new novels, which the children are all thoroughly enjoying. We have also started our new topic The Victorians and so far the children love learning all about the Victorian era. We have looked at the life of Queen Victoria, the clothing worn during Victorian times and the jobs that children had to carry out. The class and Miss Hill have been working on creating their own Victorian clothing through drawing and will decorate these with a variety of different resources for our Victorian wall display. We have an exciting trip planned which is linked to our Victorian topic, I will provide you with more information on this nearer the time.

Primary 5 led the First Thursday mass last week and I was very proud of them. They showed how responsible and confident they are as they were exceptionally well behaved and those taking part in readings and offertory did so with enthusiasm!

Here are some photos of Primary 5 researching Victorian Children at work!

Keep checking the Twitter feeds for regular updates on Primary 5.

Kind Regards

Miss Burns

Primary 4 are very excited this term about their new IDL Topic. We have just started working on “The Unsinkable Ship”. During this topic we will be learning all about the famous Titanic. To start off the topic all the boys and girls got their selves rolled up and worked together to create their very own Titanic ship for display. This involved lots of messy fun and we are going to unveil the finished Titanic on our Twitter feed next week.

Also we have started reading some new novels including “The Invisible Dog” and “Alex The Walking Accident”. All the boys and girls are enjoying these books and are motivated and excited to read. We have a busy term ahead to prepare for St. Andrew’s Day and Christmas celebrations.

Keep an eye on Twitter and this blog for more updates about Primary 4.

A big hello from Primary 4/3 and Miss Burns!

Since returning to school in August, the class have had great fun in learning and getting to know one another. We spent our first term learning all about the Ancient and New Wonders of the World. We learned to locate each Wonder on a map and in time by creating a timeline in class.  We worked hard at home to create models of the fantastic places around us that we felt should be Wonders of Scotland and were even able to visit one of these special places – The Kelpies in Falkirk.

This term, our class topic is Under the Sea. We have been exploring different underwater environments and the creatures that live there through the Wii game ‘Endless Ocean’.  The class have really enjoyed learning to control our virtual diver and can’t wait to do some more exploring over the course of the next few weeks. We have been working hard to record our underwater experiences in our Diver’s Logs and are looking forward to creating some fabulous underwater arts and crafts soon.

Here are some photos of the great things we have been doing!