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 5. The children have enjoyed a productive fortnight back at school and have made a good start to a term that is sure to be filled with lots of learning as well as plenty of fun.

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.
The children will continue to complete a range of challenging phonics and spelling activities, making use of a variety of strategies that will help them to spell with confidence and accuracy. During this longer term, the children will undertake two novel studies. Titles include ‘The Santa Maria, ‘The Last Wolf’ and ‘The Magic Carpet Slippers’. 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 explore the themes of time, shape, multiplication and division. The children will extend and reinforce their knowledge of all times tables, including the 7 and 9 times tables. I would encourage children make time 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. I will be recommending some free apps in class that can help with this!

RE
This term, we will focus on the themes of Responding to God’s Call, Lent and Holy Week. We will be thinking carefully about the things that God asks of us as Christians and how we can live up this in our everyday choices and lives. The boys and girls will also have the opportunity to lead the Mass as we say a fond farewell to Father Brown on Thursday the 31st of January.

Health & Wellbeing
A wee reminder that PE for Primary 5 will continue to take place on a Wednesday and a Thursday. 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. The children will continue to work with Motherwell College sports coaching students on a Wednesday morning for the remainder of the term. On a Thursday, Miss Cassidy will be working with the class to develop their skills in Badminton. She will also be helping the class to learn more about the importance of eating a healthy diet.

Cross Curricular
This term, our class topic will place a focus on Scotland. We will be learning more about the geographical features of Scotland and the processes that formed the beautiful mountains, rivers, coasts and islands that our country has to offer. We will be using maps to locate important geographical landmarks and thinking about how we can preserve Scotland’s natural beauty. Our science focus will link closely with this theme, as we will be learning about the materials that make up the land around us.

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

Many thanks
E Burns
Class Teacher