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!

Dear Parent/Guardian,

I hope you had a great October holiday. It was lovely to meet with you before the break to discuss your child’s learning and to set new targets for term 2. This will be a busy term with preparations for the St. Andrew’s Concert, the Christmas Nativity and, of course, the excitement of Christmas parties. We are looking forward to the term ahead and would like to share a brief overview of the learning that will be taking place in our P3/2 class.

Literacy

Children will continue to follow North Lanarkshire’s Active Literacy Programme for spelling and phonics. They will continue to learn new words and a new sound every week and this will be consolidated through class and homework.

In reading, the children will work at their own level and experience a variety of books to challenge their imaginations and comprehension skills. They will continue to take a book home, which they should read for pleasure and to help develop fluency.

Numeracy

Children will begin this term by looking at shape and pattern. Primary 2 will begin to recognise simple 3D objects and 2D shapes in their environment and in pictures. Primary 3 will begin to identify and name 2D shapes and 3D objects. They will learn the vocabulary associated with 2D shapes and 3D objects, for example corner, side, angle.

We will explore tiling and work to copy and continue simple patterns involving more than one object, shape or colour. As we develop this skill the children will use a variety of media to create their own more complex patterns.

We will move on to further develop our skills within subtraction. Primary 2 will work on numbers to 20 with Primary 3 exploring numbers to 100.

Religious Education

For R.E this term we will explore the community of the church and the themes of the liturgical seasons. We will discuss the ways in which people can experience God’s love and care and reflect on how our community celebrates together.

We will explore some of the signs and symbols related to Advent and Christmastide and use this understanding to explore the themes of these celebrations. Throughout advent we will learn about the birth of Jesus at Christmas, Jesus’ life on earth and why honouring Mary is an important part of our faith.

Health and Wellbeing

This term children will look at Road Safety through the educational pack ‘Speeding Ted.’ This will act as a stimulus for discussion and allow us to explore the theme through role play, discussion and group activities.

The focus for P.E this term is dance. Our school delivers 2 hours every week. Although Primary 3/2’s timetabled days for P.E are Tuesday and Thursday this may change due to Christmas show rehearsals. Therefore, we ask that children bring their kits to school on a Monday and take them home on a Friday.

Social Studies

This term we will begin work on our exciting new theme ‘Under the Sea.’ This theme is set to take over the first floor of our school as we will work alongside the other classes to create many exciting learning experiences. We have lots of fun and interesting lessons planned and this theme will influence our work in many curricular areas.  Here are a few examples of the learning that will take place; we will be creating many fantastic pieces of art work, researching the different creatures that can be found under the sea, looking at life cycles of these sea creatures and exploring their habitats, learning the song ‘Under the Sea’ from Disney’s The Little Mermaid, discussing how people affect the sea and much more!

Again I would like to thank you in advance for all your support this term, please continue to use your child’s homework diary to communicate any concerns/ comments.

Many Thanks

Miss Jodi Cassidy

Class Teacher (P3/2)

Dear Parent/Carer,

After a relaxing October break, the class have now settled back into the school routine and are ready for the new learning and challenges this term will bring.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your support in the children’s Scottish Wonders project last term. The children’s research on and models of their own Scottish Wonders were very impressive and have been admired by staff, parents and the children alike as part of our display on the first floor.

With preparations being made for both our St Andrews Day showcase and the festive season, term two is sure to be a busy and exciting time for the boys and girls.

Literacy

As in the previous session, the class will be 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 each week in class and through our homework programme. Children will work with a range of both fiction and non-fiction texts to build their fluency and comprehension skills.

Our Primary 4 children will continue to work closely with myself and one another to build their confidence in the new approach to phonics and spelling which was introduced in the first term. Following a short block of non-fiction work, the children will then undertake a novel study of the text ‘Bullies at School’.

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 explore the themes of subtraction, measure and multiplication, with the children working at their own level. Our Primary 3 children will continue to work with numbers up to and including one hundred and the 2, 4, 5 & 10 times tables. Our Primary 4 children will continue to work with numbers up to and including one thousand and will extend their knowledge of multiplication facts to include the 3 & 6 times tables.

RE

In RE, our class will be learning more about the love, care and celebrations of the Church and Parish communities. We will also reflect on November, the month of the faithful departed. In the lead up to Christmas, the class will revisit the theme of Advent in class as well and will be involved in wider school celebrations of the Holy season.

Health & Wellbeing

Whilst the hall timetable may differ slightly to accommodate practises for our Christmas performances, our focus this term will be on aesthetics, primarily dance. Where access to the gym hall is not possible, it is my intention that the class will make use of resources such as Cyber Coach and other areas within the school including the class, playroom and, weather permitting, outdoors.

Social Studies

During the second term, several of the classes on the first floor will be working to explore the theme ‘Under the Sea’. Our class will be taking a Games Based Learning approach to the theme and will be using the Wii game ‘Endless Ocean’ to inspire our learning across the curriculum. I am sure the children will be very excited about this.

Again, please continue to communicate any queries or concerns using the homework diary.

Many thanks

E Burns

Class Teacher