Dear Parent/Guardian,

We hope you all had a wonderful summer! Primary 7 will be a year filled with lots of excitement and opportunity as the children begin their transition to secondary school, enjoy the adventure of Kilbowie and take on various opportunities for responsibility.

This letter will provide you with a brief overview of the learning that will take place this term in Primary 7 and provide you with an insight into your child’s learning journey. We look forward to the year ahead as the Primary 7 teachers.

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 whole class novel study to reintroduce them to the Active Literacy Reading Strategies. The novel this term will be ‘Carrie’s War’. The text will be read in class with the children to model reading skills. In addition to this, the children will have a home reader of their choice and this should be read each night to develop fluency and encourage reading for enjoyment.

Numeracy

This term Primary 7 will explore place value, addition and subtraction, measurement (length and area) and angles, symmetry and transformation. 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.

The children will also continue to take part in ‘Number Talks’. ‘Number Talks’ encourage children to talk about their learning and the strategies the children have used to solve problems mentally. This helps to develop the children’s mental math and computation strategies. This will not only help serve as a system of checks and balances for accuracy but also help the children to develop and maintain flexibility in thinking about numbers.

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. They will challenge themselves to increase their stamina, develop their spatial awareness and improve their overall fitness levels. The children will also explore Growth Mind-set through a series of lessons designed to challenge their mind-set and develop their self-belief, resulting in a more positive approach to their learning and well-being.

Interdisciplinary Learning

The children of Primary 7 will be exploring the theme of ‘Slavery’ with a focus on the Transatlantic Slave Trade this term. Various elements will be examined such as the Atlantic Passage, Life as a Slave, Impact on Britain and the Abolition Movement. The children will apply their learning across the curriculum with a particular focus within the curriculum areas of Social Studies, Expressive Arts and Technologies.

Science

This term, the children of Primary 7 will examine Biodiversity and Interdependence. They will explore this theme through the classification of living things and animals through the knowledge of their characteristics. The children will also begin to construct and use simple branch keys to identify particular plants and animals, and describe how some plants and animals have adapted to their environment.

Religious Education

Religious Education will be taught through the ‘This Is Our Faith’ programme. This term Primary 7 will explore Scottish/Celtic faith heritage with a focus on their Christian heritage and communities care for the world. The children will also explore Creation and Science and begin to examine the link between these and the stories of creation taken from the bible. Additionally, the children will examine Paul and Pilgrimage through the journey of St. Paul’s life before and after his conversion.

Homework

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

Many thanks,

Mrs Williamson and Miss McShane