St. Brendan's Primary School and Nursery

Dear Parent/Guardian,

I hope you had a lovely break over the Christmas period. Here is a brief overview of the learning that will be taking place in our Primary one class during term three.

Literacy

Children will follow North Lanarkshire’s Active Literacy programme for spelling, phonics and reading.

P1 – In phonics we will be consolidating all initial sounds and learning the phonemes sh, th, ch, ng, wh, ph, and ee. Children will be introduced to the phonemes through a multi-sensory approach. One phoneme will be introduced each week alongside three spelling words. Children will be able to recognise and write initial sounds and begin to blend sounds together and read three letter words. We have now covered all initial sounds within the alphabet. Please continue to revise all common words and sounds taught in term one and two regularly with your child so they are able to recall the sounds or words instantly.

We will be co-ordinating our handwriting with the sounds we are learning. Children will use whiteboards in class along with other kinaesthetic and visual materials such as playdough to practise letter formation and early writing patterns. Please encourage your child to practise writing the letters using the correct formation.

Children will receive two reading books each week. (Monday and Wednesday) These books give you an opportunity for you and your child to enjoy reading together. Children should begin to identify the common words within the reading books and use their knowledge of sounds to sound out words. You can help your child by talking about the pictures in the book to help find clues about the story and the characters and also encourage them to make predictions about what may happen next in the story.

P2 – This term in phonics the children will be learning the phonemes igh, y, i-e, o-e, a-e, u-e, e-e, ss and ll. Children will be introduced to the phonemes through a multi-sensory approach. One phoneme will be introduced each week alongside four spelling words. Children will continue to receive one reading book per week.

Numeracy

P1 – In numeracy we will be learning about addition, subtraction and measure. Numeracy is taught actively here at St. Brendan’s through stories, games, number rhymes and songs.

P2 – In numeracy Primary 2 children will be learning about addition and subtraction and measure (weight and capacity). The children will be taught these using a range of active tasks.

Social Studies

This Term, our context for Interdisciplinary Learning is Space. The children will be learning about the vastness of the sky and will be learning about the sun, moon and other planets. They will be responsible for making decisions about their learning, where they work and the resource they will need to complete tasks. There will be lots of opportunities for active learning through role play, creative, construction, writing, playdough and Numeracy.

Health & Wellbeing

PE this term will be on a Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning. The children will be working on gymnastics. They will be practising balancing, moving and controlling their bodies in different ways.

R.E.

In Religious Education the children will be learning about the Easter story and about the meaning and importance of Lent.

Thank you for your continued support. If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me.

Many thanks

Mrs Shaw

Dear Parent/Guardian,

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas break. After the excitement of Christmas we have now settled back into our working routine. This is a brief outline of the work that we will be undertaking within the class during the third term.

Literacy

We will be continuing to follow the North Lanarkshire Active Literacy Programme in phonics and common words. This term we will be using the 5 A Day computer program in class to support the learning of phonics and common words. The children will continue to read one or two books per week with associated writing tasks in class to develop their comprehension skills. It is important that the children continue to bring their books into school daily to ensure they are able to use them to carry out their tasks. In Big Writing this term the children will be given opportunities to write narrative, information and persuasive pieces of writing.

Numeracy

In Primary 3 we will be learning Multiplication and Division (by 2, 5 and 10), Data Analysis (Tally’s, Tables and Pictograms) and Fractions, Decimals and Percentages (1/2, 1/3, 1/4 and 1/5). Within numeracy the concepts are taught and the children are given opportunities to learn as a whole class, with a partner and participating in active maths activities where the children will be given opportunities to put their knowledge into practice.

Religious Education

Our focus in term 3 will be on the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The children will receive a booklet to guide them on their journey up to the Sacrament, this will require some support at home as well as in school. Nearing the end of the third term the children will be learning about New Birth/Baptism and Lent. The teaching and learning will take the structure of a prayer service/circle time, Bible readings and written tasks.

Health and Wellbeing

In P.E. the learning will be focused on Possession, Central Net and Wall Games. The children will practice and improve their skills to develop control and flow. They will learn to follow and understand the rules and procedures of a variety of games. Please ensure your child continues to bring their P.E. kit to school on a Monday and take it home on a Friday.

Interdisciplinary Learning

This term our interdisciplinary learning will be based on the story ‘Fly, Pigeon, Fly!’ by Julia Donaldson. As part of this learning the children will be finding out about our closest city, in particular, the history of the famous Clyde Shipyards. We will also explore the theme of friendship using the story as our stimulus.

Thank you for your continued support, please use your child’s homework diary to communicate any concerns/comments.

Kind Regards,

Mrs O’Donnell

Class Teacher Primary 3