🌟 Primary 3/4 Weekly Round-Up – Term 4, Week Two

✏️ Literacy

This week in literacy, our spelling focus has been the soft ‘g’ sound. We have also introduced Sumdog spelling, which the children have been using in class and can continue to practise at home as part of their homework.

Our writing this week has continued with our exciting Magical Door theme. The children arrived to find part of the classroom had been turned upside down, with the suggestion that gravity had been switched off when the magical door opened!  Mrs Teale had had a traumatic morning when the gravity had gone off and  great hilarity followed when they saw  the photo Miss Hunter took of her floating around the classroom(and yes, it’s been added to the blog images as per the children’s request!)It has created lots of excitement and curiosity across the school this week.

Using images and discussion prompts, the children wrote imaginative pieces about what might happen if gravity was turned off, describing objects floating and unusual events taking place. Alongside this, they also created fact files about gravity, learning about how it works in real life. This learning has been linked to the Global Goals, particularly thinking about how our world works and how we can care for it.

We also continued developing our comprehension skills using Story Blast, with a focus on understanding and responding to texts.

🌍 Global Learning

This week we also celebrated Earth Day. We read the story Michael Recycle and created some beautiful artwork linked to caring for the environment. This tied in well with our ongoing focus on the Global Goals, encouraging the children to think about how they can help look after our planet.

🔢 Maths

In maths, we have continued our work on fractions. This week we explored fractions of amounts, using practical resources such as pom-poms and counters to help us visualise and understand how to find fractions of a group. The children are developing a good understanding of how fractions apply in real-life contexts.

💻 ICT

In ICT, we continued our research projects using the Kiddle search engine. The children have been developing their skills in safe searching and using key words to find information. They are now working towards turning their research into PowerPoint presentations, which they will present to the class.

🍳 Topic – Building a Business

As part of our topic “Building a Business Together,” we have continued developing our café project. This week, we explored different job roles and responsibilities within a café and discussed what makes a café run successfully. We also looked at the different skills and abilities each job role would require.

🍰 Wider Learning

On Monday afternoons, we have been enjoying baking sessions with Miss Farmer as part of our café topic. This week the children made tiffin, following a recipe and working together in groups.

While some groups were baking, others worked with Mrs Teale on Story Blast comprehension tasks, ensuring everyone had the opportunity to develop both practical and literacy skills.

🥣 Health & Wellbeing

This week we took part in a Healthy Living Breakfast in the hall, where the children had the opportunity to try a range of foods and discuss what makes a healthy breakfast.

We also began our RSHP lessons, with a focus on keeping our bodies clean.  helping to build confidence and understanding in important areas of health and wellbeing.

It has been another busy and exciting week, with lots of creativity, teamwork and curiosity across all areas of learning!

🌟 Primary 3/4 Weekly Round-Up – Term 4, Week One

✏️ Literacy

This week in literacy, we have been focusing on grammar, specifically proper and common nouns, and continuing to build our understanding of how these are used in our writing.

In comprehension, we began using Ninja Comprehension, with a focus on sequencing skills, helping us to order events clearly and understand the structure of texts.

Our writing focus this week has been introduced through a mysterious magical door that appeared in our classroom! The children have been full of excitement, imagining where the door could lead and what might be behind it. We have linked this to the Global Goals, encouraging the children to think about different places in the world and how we can help people and protect our planet. This has led to some very creative ideas and discussions, which we will continue to develop in our writing.

We have also continued working with the Highland Literacy approach to spelling, focusing on syllables, rhyme, parts of speech, prefixes and suffixes. This week we introduced Sumdog spelling practice, as well as more targeted worksheets, to support and challenge the children in their learning. The children can also continue practising their spelling on Sumdog at home as part of their homework, helping to reinforce what we have been learning in class.

🔢 Maths

In maths, we have continued our work on column subtraction, building on our previous learning and developing confidence in setting out our calculations clearly.

We also introduced fractions using practical resources such as pom-poms in bags to explore different parts of a whole. The children learned about numerators and denominators and began to understand where fractions are used in real-life contexts.

💻 ICT

This week in ICT, we learned about safe searching online and how to use key words effectively when researching information. Each child chose a topic to research and used Kiddle to create their own research paper. These will be used to create PowerPoint presentations, which the children will share with the class.

🌍 Topic – Building a Business

We have started our new topic, “Building a Business Together.” Firstly, we started looking at hygiene and our baking skills by making chocolate crispies. We discussed the difference in making it for ourselves and the extra steps required for making for others or to sell.

 We also discussed what we already know about cafés and shared our ideas as a class. We created a class mind map titled “What do we need for a café?”, thinking about elements such as food, drinks, staff, menus, money, customers and safety.

They all came up with some amazing ideas and I think they are all future business entrepreneurs!

🚢 Wider Learning

As part of our wider learning, Mrs Smith led a session on the anniversary of the Titanic sinking. The children explored Morse code and created detailed drawings of the Titanic, linking history with creativity.

🎨 Play Projects

Our play project this week was inspired by the Titanic, linking to our wider learning. The children showed fantastic creativity, creating:

• Games and quizzes
• PowerPoints and digital images
• Spot the difference activities
• Junk models and block constructions of the Titanic

It was wonderful to see the children working collaboratively, sharing ideas, and applying their learning through play.

🎨 Wider Life of the School

We have also been busy creating a bright and welcoming classroom door display to start the new term. The display is based on crayons, representing a colourful and positive term ahead.

Each child designed their own unique crayon, including a self-portrait and their own personal goals for the term. This has helped set a positive tone for the term and encouraged the children to think about what they would like to achieve.

🌟 Primary 3/4 Weekly Round-Up – Term 3, Week Twelve

Literacy

This week we rounded off our Julia Donaldson focus by writing a letter to Julia Donaldson. In our letters, we shared how much we have enjoyed her books, talked about our favourite stories and characters, and even asked her some thoughtful questions. It was lovely to see the children reflect on their learning and express their ideas in a meaningful way.

 Maths

In maths this week, we revisited column addition and subtraction, building confidence in setting out our work clearly and accurately.

We also created our own Top Trumps cards based on the mix-up animals we designed previously. The children thought carefully about giving fair and reasonable ratings  combining creativity with numeracy skills.

 Topic – People Who Help Us

This week we finished our learning about medical emergency services and medicine safety. The children developed a better understanding of how medicines should be used safely and who helps us when we are unwell.

Class Novel

We finished our class novel, The Wild Robot, and enjoyed watching the movie as an end-of-term treat.

To add to the excitement, we took part in an Easter egg hunt around the school and grounds, collecting treats to enjoy while watching the film.

We continued the theme of robots into this week’s play projects and the children created some brilliant models, pictures, drawings and digital  creations.

We also took a class vote for next terms class novel – The Explorer by Katherine Rundell won!

Wider Life of the School

We ended the term with Big Play, where the children had the opportunity to play across all classrooms with the whole school. It was wonderful to see them interacting with different age groups, building friendships, and showing great behaviour as role models.

They also enjoyed a visit from the P5,6,7 class who were sharing their knowledge their topic with the class including interactive and games and fun.

🌟 Primary 3/4 Weekly Round-Up – Term 3, Week Eleven

✏️ Literacy & Writing

Our spelling sound this week was ‘ie’.

Our writing focus was inspired by Monkey Puzzle by Julia Donaldson. The children took part in a fun animal mix-up art activity, where they created their own imaginary animals using parts from different creatures — from giraffe heads to mermaid tails!

They then wrote a detailed fact file about their new animal, including where it lives, what it looks like, what it eats, and whether it has any special powers. It was fantastic to see their creativity and descriptive writing skills develop.

We also explored opinion and reasoning in writing. The children were asked: “Would you rather be your animal or Mrs Teale’s animal?” They had to clearly state their opinion and give reasons to support their answer, developing their ability to justify their thinking.

🔢 Maths

In maths this week, we focused on consolidating our learning. We:

• Continued practising times tables

• Completed some assessments

🎭 Assembly Preparation

We performed our Maths Spectacular Assembly today and it all went amazingly well! The children showed fantastic confidence and teamwork, and we are incredibly proud of them.

Throughout the week, we focused on developing key performance skills, including:

• Bringing the performance to life through expression and confidence

• Using props effectively

• Understanding how music enhances performance

• Learning about stage positioning and each person’s role

It was wonderful to see all of their hard work come together. A video link will be sent out so you can enjoy the performance too!

🏊 Wider Learning

We enjoyed another swimming session this week, with just one week left to go. The children continue to show great enthusiasm and confidence in the water.

🌍 Topic – People Who Help Us

This week we had several exciting visitors linked to our topic.

We learned about germs and hygiene with a visit from Environmental Health. The children used special Glow Bug handwashing kits to see which areas they had missed when washing their hands, helping them understand the importance of effective handwashing.

We also welcomed paramedics, who spoke about their role and what their job involves. The children asked thoughtful and interesting questions, showing great engagement with the topic.

Our class roadmap display is now up on the wall, showcasing the different emergency services and the important roles they play in helping others.

🧪 STEM Learning

As part of St Patrick’s Day, we took part in a STEM challenge based on the story How to Catch a Leprechaun.

Working in small groups, the children designed and built their own leprechaun traps, developing skills in:

• Problem-solving

• Teamwork and communication

• Measuring and building

• Creative thinking

🎨 Play Projects

Our play project this week, led by Miss Farmer, was based on the rainforest, linking to our Monkey Puzzle learning.

The children showed fantastic creativity, building:

• Rainforest homes and habitats

• Digital creations and presentations

• Large construction models

One particularly impressive creation was a forest scene complete with a flowing waterfall. It was wonderful to see the children working collaboratively, using imagination, and applying their learning through play.

🌟 Primary 3/4 Weekly Round-Up – Term 3, Week Ten

✏️ Literacy & Writing

Our spelling sound this week was ‘ai’. Our writing was inspired by The Scarecrow’s Wedding by Julia Donaldson. We zoomed in on the crows in the story, imagining what they might have been up to and using adjectives, adverbs, and punctuation to make our writing more descriptive.

We also looked at a non-fiction fact file about scarecrows, learning about the difference between fiction and non-fiction texts.

On Friday we used Play-Doh to explore sentence structure and punctuation in a hands-on way. The children created punctuation marks and used them to build sentences while listening to a short story about a Viking who liked icing, which made the activity both creative and memorable.

🔢 Maths

In maths we continued developing our understanding of the jump strategy, this time applying it to subtraction. The children practised moving along number lines and explaining their thinking as they solved problems.

We also continued exploring ordinal numbers and introduced fractions, using Play-Doh to model and divide shapes into equal parts. This practical approach helped the children visualise halves and quarters more clearly.

🌍 Topic – People Who Help Us

Our topic work continued this week with a focus on emergency services. The children learned about how to make a 999 call and took part in role play activities where they practised being both the caller and the call handler. This helped them understand what information is important in an emergency situation.

🎭 Assembly Preparation

We are nearly ready for our Maths Spectacular Assembly next week. This week we finished creating our props, tried on costumes, and continued rehearsing our lines and drama scenes. The children are working very hard and are excited to perform.

🐉 Wider Learning

On Friday we had a special visit from the SMUHA Vikings, who were in great voice and brought lots of energy and excitement to the morning. In the afternoon we held our own galley burning ceremony, linking to the local traditions.

🎨 Play Provision

This week’s play included;

• Large construction play using giant Lego blocks

• Viking-themed play with the galley returning to the classroom

• Creative craft activities where the children made kindness cards and Mother’s Day cards to share with others and take home

These activities encouraged creativity, collaboration, and kindness.

🌟 Primary 3/4 Weekly Round-Up – Term 3, Week Nine

✏️ Literacy & Spelling

This week in spelling we focused on the suffix “able.” We continued building our understanding of prefixes and suffixes and how they can change both the structure of a word and its meaning. The children have really enjoyed exploring new vocabulary and thinking carefully about how words are formed.

Our new traffic light spelling system has also been introduced. This allows children to identify words they feel confident with, words they are still practising, and words they want to research further. It has been fantastic to see the children taking ownership of their learning by investigating unfamiliar words and expanding their vocabulary.

In writing, our work was inspired by The Highway Rat by Julia Donaldson. The children wrote news reports about the capture of the Highway Rat, creating exciting alliterative headlines to hook the reader.

We also completed a joint ICT and writing activity, where the children worked in pairs to design comic strips retelling the story in sequence. This task helped develop their understanding of narrative structure while building digital creativity and teamwork skills.

🔢 Maths

In maths this week we continued developing our understanding of the jump strategy for addition, helping the children strengthen their confidence when solving addition problems using number lines and mental strategies.

We also consolidated our understanding of odd and even numbers, as well as greater than and less than, reinforcing number sense and comparison skills.

This week we also explored ordinal numbers. To help make this concept practical and engaging, the children held races using wind-up toys, observing which toy came first, second, third, and so on. This helped them understand that ordinal numbers describe position in a sequence rather than quantity.

💻 ICT

We continued developing our ICT skills this week. As part of our writing work, the children created comic strips on the computer retelling The Highway Rat.

We also used Story Blast to work on comprehension activities such as word sorting and sentence building, helping to strengthen reading and grammar skills.

🌍 Topic – People Who Help Us

This week we began our new topic: People Who Help Us, focusing particularly on emergency services.

The class worked together to create a large roadmap display for our classroom wall. Each child created:

• A building where a helper might work (for example, a police station, fire station or hospital)

• A picture of the person who works there

• A short explanation describing what they do and how they help others

We will continue adding to this roadmap over the coming weeks as we learn more about different roles in our community.

🎭 Assembly Preparation

We are continuing to work hard preparing for our upcoming Maths Spectacular Assembly. Scripts have now gone home so the children can practise their lines, and we have begun creating some fantastic props for the performance.

So far the class has created:

• Number cards

• Angle cards

• A large opening display sign

The children also have some exciting ideas for a large prop, which we hope to begin creating next week.

🐶 Visitors and Wider Learning

On Friday we had a visit from Dogs Against Drugs, where the children learned about the important work these dogs do and how they help support communities. It was a very interesting session and the children asked some excellent questions.

Our Primary 4 pupils also took part in a STEM activity day, where they explored coding and robotics. They worked with small programmable robots, learning how to code them to move and complete tasks while thinking about accuracy, measurement, and problem-solving.

🎨 Play Provision

This week’s play provision included Barbies, dolls and doll’s houses, which were voted for by the class. The children engaged in imaginative role play, storytelling and collaborative play.

There has also been a big interest in jigsaws and board games, with children working together to solve puzzles and play cooperatively, developing patience, teamwork and problem-solving skills.

Alongside this, we continued exploring construction activities and times tables challenges, allowing the children to practise both creativity and numeracy skills during play.

🌟 Primary 3/4 Weekly Round-Up – Term 3, Week Eight

✏️ Literacy & Spelling

This week our literacy focus was inspired by Stick Man by Julia Donaldson. The children imagined that Stick Man was something special — perhaps a magic wand, a sword, or another powerful object — and wrote creatively about what it could become. It was fantastic to see their imagination and descriptive writing skills shine.

Our grammar focus this week was on capital letters and full stops. We even learned a little dance to help us remember when and how to use them correctly! The children then applied this knowledge carefully in their writing.

We also wrote our own newspaper reports, focusing on using alliteration in our headlines. The task was to create catchy titles using repeated initial sounds, and the children produced some fantastic, eye-catching examples.

In spelling, all of our spelling words this week contained the suffixes “less” and “ness.” We explored how these suffixes change the meaning of root words and practised using them accurately in our writing.

🔢 Maths

In maths, we introduced the jump strategy for addition, using practical and visual approaches to help us understand how numbers move along a number line. The children showed growing confidence in applying this strategy independently.

We continued consolidating our understanding of place value with another lively round of Place Value Bingo, and we extended our shape work with Mrs Smith.

This week we also explored odd and even numbers, learning how to look at the last digit of a number to decide whether it is odd or even. We read a fun story about Monster Odd and Fairy Even, and played games to help embed our understanding.

💻 ICT

We continued developing our coding skills using Code.org, building on our sequencing and problem-solving skills. The children are becoming increasingly confident at debugging when something doesn’t work the first time and understanding the importance of giving clear and precise instructions.

🏊 Wider Learning

We enjoyed another visit to Sandwick Library before heading to swimming. The children continue to show great enthusiasm and responsibility during these outings.

🎭 Assembly Preparation

We have begun preparing for our upcoming Maths Spectacular Assembly. The children will be sharing their maths learning with the rest of the school through drama. This week we enjoyed drama sessions to begin rehearsing, developing ideas, and working collaboratively on our performance.

We also attended the P1-2 assembly, where we listened respectfully and enjoyed learning about what they have been working on in their class.

🧠 Dough Discovery Session

We ended our week with a busy and creative Dough Discovery session, which included a range of mini challenges linked to our recent learning. The children:

• Measured and compared lengths

• Created 3D shapes to consolidate our shape work

• Formed punctuation marks out of dough

• Built a bridge strong enough to hold counters

• Designed an animal habitat

The session ended with a lively Dough Disco, where children took turns leading dance moves using their dough along to music — a brilliant mix of creativity, teamwork and fun.

🎨 Play Provision

Our play provision this week was inspired by Chinese New Year. The children explored:

• Noodles and tongs for sorting and fine motor challenges

• Chinese New Year crafts

• Large traffic light signs

Our Play Project focus this week was vehicles, which linked perfectly with the traffic lights and cones. The children created detailed digital vehicle pictures using Paint, built vehicles with blocks, designed car washes, and tested imaginative transport creations. It was fantastic to see such creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving in action.

🌟 Primary 3/4 Weekly Round-Up – Term 3, Week Seven

🔢 Maths

This week we became Angle Detectives! As trainee detectives, the children completed three case files, each exploring angles in a different way. They investigated angles hidden within letters, linked angles to their knowledge of compass points, and identified angles on a clock face. The class showed excellent reasoning skills and attention to detail while solving their cases.

We also continued developing our mental maths skills through our One Minute Whizzers and introduced a new Speedy Multiplication booklet. The children timed themselves completing times tables questions, aiming to improve both their accuracy and speed, and showing great determination to beat their previous scores.

We also created place value monsters, using different digits to build and represent numbers, helping us to continue strengthening our understanding of place value and how the position of a digit changes its value.

✏️ Literacy & Spelling

Our spelling sound this week was ‘ze’.

We began a new focus on punctuation, reading The Full Stop That Got Away. This helped us think carefully about the importance of full stops and capital letters in making our writing clear and meaningful. The children then wrote imaginative pieces exploring what would happen if all the full stops disappeared, leading to some wonderfully creative ideas.

As part of our IDL learning, we enjoyed a fun pancake-themed afternoon. The children absolutely loved the imaginative role play, wearing chef hats and aprons as they created their own recipes. They worked collaboratively to design, discuss, and write clear instructional recipes, developing important writing, sequencing, and organisational skills.

We also read a story about a pancake thief who stole Mrs Teale’s pancakes. The children created detailed Wanted posters and designed digital images of the thief using Paint software. It was fantastic to see their creativity and engagement throughout the afternoon.

💻 ICT

This week we began learning to code using Code.org. The children worked through a series of modules, starting with an Angry Birds coding challenge.

Through this, they developed skills in:

• Sequencing instructions

• Logical thinking

• Problem-solving

• Debugging (finding and correcting mistakes)

• Perseverance when tasks became more challenging

They showed great resilience and focus as they worked through each stage.

🏊 Wider Learning

Swimming started this week, and the children were very excited about their journey to the pool. They also enjoyed visiting Sandwick Library, showing responsibility and maturity while out in the community.

🌍 Topic – Vikings

We concluded our Vikings topic this week. The children learned about Viking gods and created their own imaginative Viking god characters. We also explored Viking settlement maps, helping us understand where Vikings travelled and lived.

It has been wonderful to see the creativity and depth of understanding the class has developed throughout this topic.

🧘 PE – Teacher Led

In PE this week, we played games such as Traffic Lights, Corners, and Islands. These activities developed listening skills, quick reactions, spatial awareness, cooperation, and teamwork, all while keeping the children active and engaged.

🎨 Play Provision – Pancake Day Focus

Our play provision this week centred around Pancake Day. The children explored:

• A pancake role-play station with flour, fake eggs, measuring spoons, scales, aprons, and chef hats

• A pancake shape station, adding shapes they have been learning about as creative “toppings”

• A rice weighing challenge, comparing and measuring weights using scales

These activities supported learning in measurement, shape recognition, comparison, collaboration, communication, and imaginative play, while reinforcing literacy and maths skills in a hands-on way.

🌟 Primary 3 Week 6

🔢 Maths

In maths this week, we have been developing our mental maths strategies, continuing our work on adding in tens and then applying that knowledge to help us add 9 and 11 efficiently. The children worked hard to explain how they could adjust numbers using what they already knew about place value and number patterns.

We also revisited place value, consolidating our understanding in a fun and engaging way through a lively game of Place Value Bingo, which proved to be a big hit with the class!

Throughout our play we used Mrs Teale’s valentines petals to explore measurement in a fun and hands-on way, setting ourselves challenges like how many petals long the room is, a metre stick, or even a person — all discovered naturally through our play.

✏️ Writing & Health and Wellbeing

This week, we took a short break from our usual writing focus and centred our learning around the theme of love and kindness. The children wrote thoughtful pieces about:

• Things they love about themselves

• Things they appreciate about their classmates

This led to meaningful discussions about what it feels like to be kind, to say positive things about others, and also how important it is to receive kindness and value ourselves.

The children created a beautiful piece of artwork to take home, celebrating positivity and self-worth. We also read Love Monster, which linked beautifully with our discussions, and designed colourful Love Monster posters to brighten our classroom door.

🌍 Topic – Vikings

We continued and completed our Vikings topic this week. The children finished writing their Viking sagas and completed their accompanying Viking artwork.

As part of our final topic assessment, we also learned how to write our Viking names in runes, bringing together creativity and historical learning in a fun and memorable way.

💻 ICT

In ICT, we continued developing our mouse control skills and worked on Story Blast, a comprehension platform where the children practised word sorting and sentence building. This supported both reading and grammar skills in an interactive way.

🎨 Play Projects

Our play project theme this week was Under the Sea, and the classroom was filled with creativity. The children designed and built impressive underwater settings, created fact files, and even incorporated imaginative ideas such as underwater vehicles and structures. It was fantastic to see such creativity and teamwork on display.

🌟 Primary 3/4 Weekly Round-Up – Term 3, Week Five

✏️ Literacy & Writing

Our spelling sound this week was ‘dge’.

Our literacy learning was inspired by another Julia Donaldson story, The Snail and the Whale. We continued developing our use of adjectives and adverbs, while also introducing similes and encouraging the children to use their senses to add detail to their writing.

The children wrote a beautiful sensory description of the sea, using sight, sound, smell, and movement to bring their writing to life. They also created rainbow simile poems, which were imaginative and expressive. We loved them so much we got them up on our WOW wall.

🔢 Maths

In maths, we worked on adding 1, 10, and 100 to numbers, building confidence with place value. We continued our work on number bonds to 100 and practised quick recall through our One Minute Whizzers, helping to improve mental maths speed and accuracy.

We also explored right angles, using a right-angle fish to find and identify right angles around the classroom and school environment.

📖 Comprehension

Due to its success previously, we revisited I’ll Read to You, You Read to Me. Working in pairs, the children took turns reading parts of the script aloud to each other before answering questions, building fluency, confidence, and comprehension skills.

💻 ICT

This week we continued developing our typing skills and completed a Sumdog assessment, allowing the children to demonstrate their maths knowledge using digital tools.

🌍 Topic – Vikings

As part of our Vikings topic, the children followed a drawing tutorial to create a Viking, which will form part of a final piece of work when we create our own Viking sagas.

We were very lucky to welcome a visit from Dougie and Neil Grant, who shared his knowledge of sagas and explained how he creates them for Up Helly Aa. This visit gave the children lots of inspiration and ideas for creating their own sagas, which we will be working on next week to accompany our Viking artwork.

🧘 PE – Teacher Led

In PE, the children took part in a session using Lummi sticks, learning about rhythm and beat through movement. The session encouraged coordination, timing, and teamwork in a fun and energetic way.

🎨 Play

This week we have enjoyed the knitting needles and wool, learning to knit and be creative with the wool in other ways. We also had the dinosaurs back out with the sand as they are a big favourite. Other play opportunities that arose this week came when some of the children wanted to create catapults and targets which was great fun with lots of measuring, distance and meta skills(adapting, collaboration and communication) coming into play.