St. Brendan's Primary School and Nursery

Dear Parent/Guardian,

We hope you all had a wonderful summer!

This letter will provide you with a brief overview of the learning that will take place this term in Primary 7/6. This information provides you with an insight into your child’s learning and we look forward to the year ahead as the Primary 7/6 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 ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’. The text will be read in class with the children to model reading skills. In addition to this, the children will be given a novel to take home and this should be read each night to develop fluency and encourage reading for enjoyment.

The children will write for a variety of purposes across the curriculum. In our weekly Big Writing lesson the pupils will focus on narrative, explanation and procedural genres. This will allow them to develop their written language, experiment with a variety of descriptive and topic specific vocabulary.

Numeracy

This term Primary 7/6 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.

Health and Wellbeing

Health and Wellbeing will be taught across the curriculum. This term in Physical Education the children will develop their skills in possession games through developing ball skills. Pupils will investigate various ways of passing the ball, moving with the ball and how to defend and attack in order to score points.
The children will also explore Growth Mindset through a series of lesson designed to change their mindset and develop their self-belief, resulting in a more positive approach to their learning and well-being.

Interdisciplinary Learning

The children of Primary 7/6 will be exploring ‘Climate Change’ this term. Various elements will be examined such as the cause and effect of climate change, global warming, local and regional impact and how we can help reduce our involvement in climate change. 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

Primary 7/6 will learn about Micro-organisms. This will be done by introducing them to the work of Sir Alexander Fleming. They will then progress to learning about various micro-organisms, where they can be found, how they help or affect us. We will conclude this topic with a practical investigation.

Religious Education

Religious Education will be taught through the ‘This Is Our Faith’ programme. This term Primary 7/6 will explore Prayer with a focus on personal prayer and examine the bible and its structure. The pupils will also look at Justice and Peace and how they use their catholic faith in action through the Church and charity work. Additionally, the children of Primary 7/6 will explore Scottish/Celtic faith heritage and learn about Jesus, teacher and healer, and his influence.

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 Mrs Colton

Dear Parent/Carer,

A big welcome back to all of the children who will be joining us, Mrs Bridge and Miss Peattie, for their time in Primary 3 & Primary 4. The children in Primary 4/3 have come together from two different classes & we have had great fun getting to know one another properly during the first weeks back at school.

As you will be aware, this is a very exciting year for all children in Primary 3 and Primary 4 as they prepare for the Sacraments of First Reconciliation and First Holy Communion.

Literacy

All children will be continuing to follow the North Lanarkshire Active Literacy Programme to support their learning in spelling, phonics, reading and writing.

Monkeys

To develop further their accuracy in writing, children will begin to focus closely on the different representations of phonemes in addition to learning new strategies and rules for spelling. Furthermore, they will undertake a novel study of the text ‘The Invisible Dog’.

Penguins

To develop their phonological knowledge and spelling,, children will be introduced to a new sound and set of common words each week. Words and sounds will be consolidated through work in class and our active/written homework programme. They will continue to build their fluency and comprehension skills in reading by working with banded books in class and at home.

Numeracy

In numeracy, the class will continue to extend their knowledge of number and the four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division). Each week, the children will experience direct teaching, partner/group activities and written tasks to build and consolidate their understanding of concepts.

Over the course of the term children will revisit familiar topics including number and number processes and estimation and rounding. They will develop their knowledge of time and their ability to read and record both analogue and digital displays and order the months of the year; linking months to the appropriate season.

Squares

Children will be working with numbers up to and including one thousand.

Circles

Children will be working with numbers up to and including one hundred.

R.M.E.

This term we will be focusing on Sunday, the Lord’s Day, by learning about the story of creation, the importance of Sunday as a holy day and participation in Mass. Children will revise prayers taught in previous stages and recognise the importance of personal and communal prayer.

Health & Wellbeing

A reminder that PE for Primary 4/3 will take place on a Monday and a Thursday. We would encourage the children to bring their full P.E. kit into school on a Monday and take it home on the Friday. All items of children’s kit should be clearly labeled with their name and class. This term, our focus will be developing fitness through various circuits and possession games. Children will also continue to consider Growth Mindset through a variety of lessons.

Social Studies

This term our interdisciplinary learning will focus on ‘The Rainforest’. The class will be exploring weather, the different layers, living things and deforestation of the rainforest.  The theme of water will be addressed through various practical activities, developing children’s investigative and recording skills.

We are looking forward to working together with both you and your child to help him/her to make the very best of their year in Primary 4/3. Please feel free to communicate any comments or concerns using the behavior diaries.

Many thanks,

Mrs Bridge/Miss Peattie

Class Teachers