St. Brendan's Primary School and Nursery

Dear parents/carers,

After a well-earned October break the Primary 2 children are working hard and looking forward to a busy and productive term ahead. Here is a brief overview of some of the learning experiences planned for this term:

Literacy

We will continue to work on North Lanarkshire’s Active Literacy programme for spelling and phonics. Children will learn new sounds and words each week and this will be consolidated through class work and homework. The new phonemes for this term include: ue, aw, oi, au, ew, ow and ou. For reading, the children will continue to read one or two books per week. I would be grateful if you would continue to support reading at home and ensure that your child brings their book into school each day. In taught writing the children will be working with Mrs. McLauchlan.

Numeracy

This term we will be focusing on the following key areas of numeracy: addition and subtraction of numbers 0 to 20, properties of 2D and 3D shapes and measure focusing on length and area. The children will experience a variety of active lessons as well as written tasks in order to develop their skills in each of these subject areas. We will also continue to work on addition and subtraction as well as mental calculation skills.

Health and Wellbeing

In P.E. the children will be taking part in striking and fielding and target games which will develop a co-operative spirit within a competitive setting. P.E. days are currently Thursday and Friday, but these may change as we draw closer to the festive season. Children should bring their P.E. kit to school on Mondays and take them home each Friday.

This term we will also be exploring the theme of ‘Nurtured’. This aims to help children become familiar with different nutritional needs that people require throughout their lives. The children will learn the importance of a healthy diet as they grow and develop which will tie in nicely with our Science topic on the ‘Human Body’.

Science

Our Science topic for this term is the Human Body through which the children will explore the human skeleton and the major organs. The children will learn what the purpose and function of these are and why they are important. Through this topic the children will also develop an understanding of our senses and their reliability and limitations through some fun practical experiments.

Religious Education

This term we will be focusing on the themes ‘Jesus’ Family and Ours’ and ‘Advent’. If you have any family pictures you would like to share with us, please send them in and they can be added to a special display (photographs will be returned).

Interdisciplinary Learning

Our topic this term is ‘When Santa Comes to Town’. For this, we will be learning about our different types of houses and who might live in them around the world through a Christmas theme about Santa visiting different houses. As part of our topic we will also look at the weather in different parts of the world during winter and compare it with the weather here in Motherwell. The children are excited about our new role play area that will shortly be set up in the classroom which will run alongside our topic.

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

Kind regards,

Miss Degnan.

P2 Class Teacher

Dear Parent/Carer,

Primary 4/3 have had a wonderful start to the year and are looking forward to our busy, fun filled term ahead.

Here is a brief overview of the learning that will be taking place within Primary 4/3 this term.

Literacy

We will continue to follow the North Lanarkshire Active Literacy Programme to support learning in spelling, phonics, reading and writing.

Monkeys

Children will continue to work on the Stage 4 Active Literacy Programme; exploring units 3 and 4 which will include phoneme representations ‘ie’ and ‘oe’.  Furthermore, they will continue to apply a range of spelling strategies and rules to support their spelling of taught and unfamiliar words.

Penguins

Children will continue to develop their phonological knowledge and spelling whilst focusing on the phonemes ‘wa, th, ie, ve and g’ and their weekly common words.

Green Group 

Children are currently reading ‘Bullies at School’ and will move on to read ‘The Owl Who is Afraid of the Dark’ later in the term.  They will continue to utilise comprehension strategies whilst exploring each text.

Red and Blue Groups

Children will continue to develop their fluency and comprehension skills whilst exploring a range of banded books both in class and at home.

Writing

This term we will focus on the genres of recount and narrative and children will apply their knowledge about national disasters from our interdisciplinary topic.

Numeracy

In numeracy, children will continue to extend their knowledge of number with a specific focus on addition and subtraction.  Squares will work with numbers to 1000 and circles will work with numbers to 100.  The children will develop their mental agility through Number Talks and will be given opportunities to work collaboratively.

Furthermore, children will develop their knowledge of shape whilst exploring a range of 2D and 3D shapes and observing and comparing their properties.

R.M.E.

During the month of November children will learn about eternal life and will remember and pray for those who have died.  They will extend their knowledge of Advent and the Christmas story, identifying signs and symbols linked to the liturgical season.

Health & Wellbeing

This term we will develop our dance skills by observing different styles of dance and creating our own dance sequences.  We will also improve our balance and flexibility through participation in yoga sessions.   In addition, we will explore our mental and emotional wellbeing, considering ways in which our emotions can impact our behavior and how we can manage these.

A reminder that our P.E. days are Mondays and Thursdays and we would appreciate if children could bring their full P.E. kit into school on a Monday and take it home on Friday.

Science

This term we will explore topical science focusing on news relating to natural disasters.  Children will identify the impact of natural disasters and develop an awareness of their own impact on the world.

Social Studies

This term our interdisciplinary learning will focus on ‘Natural Disasters’. The children will examine the layers of the earth, earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis. The children will apply their learning through the curriculum with a particular focus on Expressive Arts and Technologies.

Please feel free to communicate any comments or concerns using the behavior diaries and keep up to date with our learning through twitter.

Many thanks,

Mrs Bridge/Miss Peattie

Class Teachers