Happy New Year to everyone! We hope you all had a happy holiday together. P3 wanted to start their blog by remembering the fun they had last term.

The P3 children were very lucky to be given the responsibility to lead the enterprise activities with the P4’s.  First, they went to work with all of the classes to make the items to be sold at the Christmas Fayre. Elliot said. ‘I felt like a good leader and seeing everyone have fun was really nice.’

Then the children had to take on even more responsibility when they were asked to sell these items at the fayre and help at all the other stalls too. Tutsi was proud to say, ‘I felt like one day I could be a real leader.’ I think you are right Tutsi, it was such a great experience for you all.

Emma- ‘I felt happy to help the school manage it.’ Great job Emma!

Florence- ‘I felt happy, excited and helpful.’ You were all a great help  and we really couldn’t have managed it without you!

The Christmas party was a great success. Amelia tells us, ‘I liked when we danced together and played all the different games like Pass the Parcel and Musical Statues.’

Wallace agreed and added, ‘Santa gave us all a book and a candy cane. I liked the book but the candy cane was very tasty!’

We even saw a panto…at school!

Before Christmas the children even got the opportunity to learn sign language. The children were very excited to learn how to sign their names and also a Christmas song. Thank you to Ms Barnes for teaching us!

Numeracy

Last term the children did a lot of work on Measurement with Mrs McGarvey. Isla wanted to say that, ‘When we were using rulers and metre sticks we were measuring the length of different things. We measure length using metres, centimetres and millimetres.’

Maisie wanted to add that we also measure height using the same units of measurement. She really enjoyed, ‘measuring each others height and then sharing this learning with each other.’

Emma also adds that, ‘We measure capacity using litres and millilitres. For fun we had a go at measuring using cups and bottles. We were pouring water in to see how much there was. We learned that even though the container might look a different size it can still hold the same amount of liquid.’

Gabs also wanted to say, ‘We measure weight using kilograms and grammes.’

Cameron enjoyed that the class, ‘were using scales to measure the weight of different things like pencils, glue sticks and even shoes!’

Since we came back from our holiday we have been learning about fractions. The children wanted to say that they have been learning about halves, quarters, wholes and also other equal parts of a whole.

Amelia tells us that there are two parts to a fraction. ‘The bottom number is called the denominator and that tells us how many parts there are altogether. There is also a number at the top and that is called the numerator. That tells us how many parts we are working with.’ Well done Amelia, very well explained!

Emma wanted to mention  that, ‘At the start fractions were quite tricky but the more you work with them the easier they get!’ That’s good to know and I think there are plenty of people that would agree with you Emma! Tutsi also wanted to say that she has enjoyed learning about equivalent fractions. She says, ‘It means that sometimes fractions can be equal, like two quarters is the same as one half.’

We also learned a trick for finding out quarter of an amount… Hugo tells us that you, ‘half the number and half it again and that gives you the quarter of the number.’

The class are really enjoying using Sumdog to practise all their numeracy skills. This targets particular areas and reports back to Mrs Gilroy where any difficulties might lie. ‘We have been playing Sumdog on our new iPads. It’s really good and it actually helps alot with my Maths.’ says Jack S.

Jaxyn adds, ‘It’s really fun to play the Maths games and at the end you can see the mistakes you made so you understand where you went wrong.’

Tutsi- ‘Most maths games are difficult but Sumdog is good because you can play at your own level.’

We have sent all the log in details for your child to be able to log in at home too. Normally we wouldn’t encourage screen time but I think on this occasion, and in moderation, it is definitely worthwhile! Please feel free to let us know if you are having any trouble getting on at home.

Literacy

Last term we were learning how to write a piece of Procedure Writing. The children had written sets of instructions for various reasons including writing how to make a ‘Jeely Piece’ inspired by the song the class sung at the retiral assembly for Mrs Gardiner and Mrs Barnes. Wallace tells us that, ‘was really fun because we worked as a team to write a set of instructions for another group and then that group had to follow our instructions. Then they could tell us what we had missed out. The sandwiches we made were really tasty too!’

Writing our instructions for the other groups.

Oskar proudly showing off his jeely piece!

We are now working on how to write a Narrative using the correct features. We are looking forward to reading all those super stories!

This is our first use of an AI tool called Gemini to make a story book based on a story that Elliot had written the plan for called, ‘A Brave Day for Lottie’. The class found this very exciting.

We continue to work hard on  our spelling. All the practice the children do at home really helps when it comes to their writing.

Roman tells us, ‘I like to practise all my spelling words using different strategies in my jotter.’

Tutsi adds that, ‘I find it very good that we get to do partner work all the time when we are learning our spelling words because instead of just working alone you have a partner who can help you when you are stuck.’

There are so many aspects to Literacy. Gabs loves, ‘writing my news because you get to write whatever you want.’

Katie likes, ‘handwriting because I like to learn how to join so that I can write quicker.’

Some of the children have been using an application called IDL. Millie thinks, ‘IDL is fun and I think it is helping me with my spelling.’ Great news Millie, well done!

STEM

IDL

Our new IDL topic is ‘Scotland’. We will be focussing on the cities, towns and rivers in Scotland.

Amelia tells us, ‘we made Scotland flags and I really enjoyed feeling all the different textures of the paper and materials.’

Katie wanted to say that, ‘ we made a map of the major cities in Scotland. It was a bit tricky to work out at first but I feel that I know better where they are all now.’

Emma also wanted to add that she has enjoyed making paper thistles, ‘They are our national flower and I think they are great for our environment. It was also really fun to make paper ones.’

FYI P3’s assembly will be about Scotland and will be on Friday 13th March. The children are looking forward to sharing all their learning and having lots of fun too!

PE

Here is a selection of photos of Outdoor and Indoor PE. There are lots of  different team games, often chosen by the children and examples of gymnastic movements and skills.

These photos taken when the school had workshops run by a visiting Drama and Dance School recently. The children loved it!

We’ve all settled into P3 already and have been very busy. Here’s a taste of what we have been up to… Elliot says ‘it’s been loads of fun so far!’

Maths

The class have been working on number sequence, counting, place value,  data analysis, addition and subtraction and multiplication.

The children have been using different resources to add and subtract.

Numicon is a popular resource, Wallace tells us that, ‘Numicon helps with my learning. It’s really good for adding and subtracting.’  Jack adds, ‘When we are subtracting we put them on top of each other to find the answer by covering the number we are taking away and counting what is left.’

Elliot is proud that he, ‘can do vertical subtraction sums now even into the thousands!’ Tutsi adds that, ‘It’s quite easy to subtract big numbers using vertical subtraction.’ You’re right, it’s a good strategy to learn, Tutsi!

We were looking at Venn diagrams using different criteria and making some for ourselves. ‘A Venn diagram is a way to sort things according to their colour, size, shape or other ways’ Tutsi tells us.

Isla shares that, ‘We were sorting leaves into colours.’

Wallace says, ‘Me, Gabs and Jaxyn were finding leaves and sorting them using the hoops.’

Roman- ‘Me, Hugo, Colton and Jaxon were sorting litter in the playground according to whether it was plastic, paper or a mixture of both. Afterwards we put it all in the bin and washed our hands!’ Glad to hear it Roman, well done!

Literacy

P3 have been learning all their phonemes and common words at school and then even practising them in their jotters at home which has been making such a difference because they are then more able to use them in their work. Well done everyone!

Wallace was keen to say that the class have recently been,  ‘learning about non-fiction books and doing a scavenger hunt to find the different features of a non-fiction book.’

‘A non-fiction books tells you facts and it can have a contents page, a glossary, an index and all these things help you to find the information you need.’ -Lewis

We have been working on the formation of our letters and Florence adds, ‘we have started to join up our letters in our handwriting to make our writing neater. I love to join in my jotter every day!’

We have been working on our recount writing. Tutsi tells us, ‘That’s when you are retelling events in the right order.’

More recently, ‘We have been writing about how to make a model castle and also writing descriptions of our castles. This will help me to be able to make a model castle again one day.’ Euan

We will continue to work on our descriptive writing over the next few weeks.

Outdoor Learning

Look what we found in the back bit! Jack knows a lot about the natural world and was keen to inform us that ‘there are different species of mushrooms, some are poisonous and some are not. The ones you get in the shops are not.’ Glad to hear that Jack!

Here are Tutsi and Isla showing off the natural items they had collected together for the sorting game they were about to play. They thought it was great fun!

Here we are playing Kim’s Game, what a great way to practise our memory and collaborative skills.  Amelia said, ‘ The game was really fun. I liked playing the memory game with my friends. I was really good at it!’

Topic- Ancient Egypt

We have loved learning all about the Ancient Egyptians and the pyramids. Tutsi asks ‘Did you know that the pyramids are the last wonder of the world that is left?’

Hugo was very impressed that the ‘pyramids are about 5000 years old ‘. Roman was very interested to discover that no one really knows how they managed to build them with such precision. ‘They were lined up perfectly to the stars,’ says Jack S.

‘I think the pyramids are a work of art!’ adds Amelia.

Millie mentioned that, ‘learning about pyramids is the best thing I’ve learned about!’

Jack M reminds us that ‘the pyramids were tombs for the dead pharaohs’ so we decided to make our own pyramids, ‘Our pyramids have a chamber inside to hide a sarcophagus,’ Wallace tells us.

After finding out about the lengths the Ancient Egyptians would go to to hide the sarcophagus containing their dead pharaohs  away from grave robbers we made mazes to hide Tutankhamun’s sarcophagus. Katie mentioned that, ‘I liked making a maze outside, it was so much fun. I liked learning about what would be put in the chamber for the pharaohs when they died.’

We also had fun learning about Hieroglyphics. ‘That is how the Ancient Egyptians wrote letters,’ says Emma. This inspired us to make our own cartouches or tablets with our names on.

‘I think Hieroglyphics are cool because they are a different way of writing.’ -Elliot

Learning about the Ancient Egyptians inspired Roman to visit the Tutankhamun Experience in Glasgow. He enjoyed telling us all about it when we came back to school. Thanks Roman, it looked fantastic!

Fire Brigade Visit

The Fire Brigade came to visit to show us how they use their fire appliance to put our fires. We were even allowed to use the hose! We had a great time and learned so much.

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