St. Brendan's Primary School and Nursery

September 2018

Dear Parent/Guardian,

I hope everyone had a lovey summer break. I am delighted to welcome the children back to the new school year and I look forward to the exciting year ahead. This is a brief outline of the work which we will be undertaking within the class during Term 1.

 Literacy

The children will continue to follow the North Lanarkshire Active Literacy Programme in spelling and phonics. They will learn a new sound and a different set of common words every week and this will be consolidated through class work and homework. As part of the reading programme the children will read one or two books per week with associated writing tasks in class to develop their comprehension skills. It is important that the children bring their books into school daily to ensure they are able to use them to carry out their tasks. Within Big Writing the children will be writing narrative and instructional genres.

Numeracy

In Primary 3 we have been focusing our learning on planning the year. The children have shown a good understanding of the days of the week and months of the year.  The children will also develop their understanding of place value, estimating and rounding and addition and subtraction in this first term. Numeracy work will consist of numerous active tasks along with jotter and textbook work.

Religious Education

During the first term the children will be learning about the Bible being the inspired Word of God and that they should treat it with reverence. Through God’s Beautiful Creation the children will explore God’s natural world and begin to see the wonder and awe in the world around them. We will be learning about the community of the Church and some symbols and rituals in worship.

Health and Wellbeing

In P.E. the learning will be focused on Aesthetics. The children will explore and engage in different experiences; individually, with a partner and in a group situation. Please ensure your child brings their P.E. kit to school on a Monday and takes it home on a Friday.

At St Brendan’s instilling all our pupils with a growth mindset has become a key priority therefore we intend to teach the children through a range of resources as part of this term’s Health and Wellbeing.. We wish for all of our pupils to relish challenges, embrace their mistakes as part of the learning process, value the importance of effort, respond carefully to feedback and take inspiration from others. This will help them to achieve, not only with us, but also in their future lives as adults.

 Social Subjects

In term 1 the children will be exploring the IDL of Scotland, within their learning they will explore famous Scottish Landmarks and local landscapes’. In the classroom play corner the children will have a tourist office where they will have regular opportunities for purposeful play. This IDL will allow for research through ICT and the use of IPad’s and computers in school, as well as opportunities to learn some Scottish music and dancing.

 Thank you in advance for your support this term, please use your child’s behaviour diary to communicate any concerns/comments.

Kind Regards,

Mrs O’Donnell

Class Teacher Primary 3

Now that term 4 is well underway, I’m writing to update you on what Primary 6 have been doing in class over the past few weeks.

Religious Education

In the lead up to Easter, Primary 6 finalised their Passion Scene project. We are very proud of the hard work and symbolism that we put into our creation. We based our colour symbolism on traditions during Holy Week in Spain (Semana Santa) and incorporated the Stations of the Cross into our design. We also used lots of recycled materials to create houses, market areas and the tomb. Primary 6 also came up with the idea of making a Prayer Jar for our class altar. During this term, we will continue to dedicate prayers to those in need. Take a look at our pictures!

Ice Age

Primary 6 have shown great enthusiasm for their new topic-Ice Age- which we picked as a class for their final term. We have been busy researching exciting facts on the animals which lived on Earth during this time and we are working with real scientific evidence to write a hypothesis on why we think the Woolly Mammoth became extinct! Primary 6 will complete a research homework task on the discovery of the Ice Man this term – I am looking forward to hearing their findings! Last week, we recreated an image of the Woolly Mammoth using tissue paper – we hope you like them!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your continued support throughout the year and to wish Primary 6 every success as they approach their final year at St Brendan’s! Thank you Primary 6 for all of your hard work this year and the best of luck for Primary 7!