Ms Donaldson – Carmondean Primary School Blog

P4 Auchengillan day 2!

Good morning,

Last night we went to an inflatable games barn. We did sumo wrestling, tug of war and The battle zone (see pictures below)

We also went to the tuck shop and bought (annoying) toys that make lots of sound. We then had supper and went to bed.

This morning we have woken up to sunshine. We had coco pops and hot filled rolls. Then we packed our bags and stripped our beds.

We are about to go off and do laser tag, archery and crate climbing. We are excited about the amazing activities today!

From the Primary 4s

Auchengillan p4 day 1

We have had a fantastic start to our day. We have been grass sledging, water walking, team building and go karting. It has been breezy and is now sunny.

The dorms are huge and amazing. We are all happy with the rooms.

Dinner was amazing. Everyone is speechless because the dinner was so good. The best bit was the chocolate cake and cream.

We are now on the grass playing games before we do our night activities. This is the view

We will let you know more details tomorrow!

Thanks for reading,

Amber, Rosie, Anya, Holly and Lilly

Primary 4 week Beginning 16.4.18

Welcome back to the Primary 4 Blog,

We hope you had a lovely Easter holiday and are getting settled back into the school routine.

This week we have been learning the songs and some dances to our school show. Our school show is called Pirates of the Curry Bean. Please look out for any information about the show that is sent home. Some children may receive words home to learn.

This term Primary 4 will also be taking part in futsal sessions. Primary 4M will begin with 4 weeks of futsal on Tuesday afternoons, then it will be Primary 4D’s turn. Indoor P.E for 4D will take place on Monday afternoons and 4M on Tuesday. Outdoor P.E for both classes will be on Wednesday.

We have also started learning about time in Primary 4. The children have been using the class clocks to revise half past, quarter past and quarter to. Primary 4D have also been learning about fractions and made their own pizza fractions in groups. Here are some Pictures:

Homework:

Children will continue to have spelling and reading homework every week they will also receive maths to support learning in class. P4D have big homework which is due on Monday.

Reminders:

P.E is on Monday and Wednesday for P4D.

P.E is on Tuesday and Wednesday for P4M.

Please bring a water bottle to school, especially as the weather is getting warmer.

Label all items of clothing clearly.

Thank you,

The Primary 4 teachers

Primary 4 week 12.3.18

This week it will be our Parent assembly on Friday. We are hoping to see lots of people there. The children have been working hard to learn songs, lines and even some dances, please help your child learn any lines that they may have at home.

We will also be watching the Primary 6/7 dress rehearsal of their show this week. This will be great to see and also very exciting as it will be our show next term.

It is Sports Relief this week and the Primary 6’s have organised different things for the children to do so we will be taking part in some sporty activities.

Reminders:

homework this week will be reading, spelling and assembly words and maths for P4M
Please ensure that all you child’s belongings are clearly labelled
Outdoor Gym is on Tuesday and indoor gym is Wednesday
Our parent assembly is on Friday morning, please return any slips confirming attendance

We look forward to seeing you on Friday,

The Primary 4 teachers

Primary 4 week 5.3.18

Welcome back after our snowy days off.
We hope you had a super time enjoying the snow and are feeling ready to come back to school.

Our parent assembly is coming up in a few weeks so please remember to practise your words. If you have any lines. Not everyone has a role that can be practised at home so please do not worry if you don’t have words.
I have attached the song words for the assembly if you would like to have a go at singing at home. The links on youtube are also below.

Song Lyrics 17.18

There will be homework given out on Tuesday this week as we were not here on Friday to hand it in.

Reminders:

P.E on Wednesday indoor, PE that is planned on Tuesday as outdoor may be inside due to weather conditions.

Homework is spelling, reading and assembly words/songs

Please make sure all clothing is clearly labelled

Thank you,

The Primary 4 teachers

Primary 4 snow day 3

Good morning everyone. It is to be another day of snow and keeping warm.
There have been plenty ideas of activities and things to do while you are not at school but incase you are looking for more here some ideas:

1) Continue to complete spelling and reading homework.
2) Using the snow outside make an igloo and take a picture for our blog.
3) Continuing to practice your times tables and division facts for the 6 and 8 times tables using number fact families.

fact families

4) Use an Atlas to find out where the water horse if taking Euan MacGregors father next. Remember it will be travelling from Dundee, here are some clues:

*I am going somewhere South of Dundee
*I am going to need to cross a bridge
*This City has a castle that is built on top of an extinct volcano
*It is South East of Oban

Can you use these clues to figure out where they will be next?

Enjoy your day and have a lovely weekend. Remember to stay safe and warm in this winter weather.
Miss Donaldson and Ms Matheson

P4D snow update

Good morning everyone!
We hope you have had enjoyed the snow and staying safe in this weather. Happy world book day!!

We put up quite a few activities yesterday to be completed but if you are looking for more or for something different here are some more ideas:

1) As it is world book day can you use what you have in the house to create a costume from one of your favourite books? Please post any pictures in the comments. If you have access to the internet here is the link to website for some more ideas:

World book day homepage

2) Practice your 6 and 8 times table using the links from yesterday and studyladder. You can also use the song for counting in 8s.

counting in 8s

3) Practice your spelling words in the snow.

4) In maths we have been learning about Venn diagrams. Can you create your own Venn diagram using your own criteria and information to display in the diagram. You could draw your diagram in the snow.

5) In our topic we have been learning about Dundee and Glasgow. Can you find out about another major city in Scotland such as Stirling, Edinburgh, Aberdeen or Perth? You can research these cities and display what you have found on a poster, leaflet or Powerpoint. Remember you can access to Microsoft Powerpoint through your glow page.

6) Complete your Morag and the Water Horse pictures for our Sway project.

I hope you have a super day. Remember to stay safe and keep warm. Please feel free to ask any questions if you need help or post pictures of what you have been doing while you have been off.
Enjoy your day in the snow!

Miss Donaldson and Ms Matheson

P4 snow day update

Hello!
I hope everyone is having a great day and managing to enjoy the snow. We would love to see any pictures or hear from anyone who has tried any of the activities or who has been doing something fun!
Remember if you have any questions or need any advice please feel free to comment and we will reply to you.
Looking forward to hearing all about what you have been up to. Stay safe and enjoy the rest of your day.

The Primary 4 teachers

Primary 4D Snow day!!

Good morning Primary 4!
We hope you have a lovely day in the snow and are remembering to stay safe.
Here are some activities that you can do today:

1.In maths we have been learning our times tables so you could make arrays for the 6 and 8 times tables using snowballs and take pictures of them to show us in class.
2.In spelling you have been learning strategies for spelling tricky words, see if you can make up some winter themed mnemonics for your homework words.
3.In our topic we have been learning all about Dundee. You could make a poster displaying all the information you have learned about Dundee. See if you can find any new facts that we have not discussed yet.
4.Since we have been learning about Dundee and D.C Thomson can you create your own comic book story about your day in the snow? Remember to draw out the comic strip boxes and include pictures and captions. We can display these in the classroom.
5.Choose your favourite book at home to read and make a poster or a book review to share with the class for World book day.
6.If you have access to the internet remember that you can logon to studdyladder and complete some of the times tables activities set for you. You can also go onto topmarks and play hit the button or coconut multiples.

coconut multiples

Remember that you do not need to complete all these activities today, these are just some ideas for what you could be doing. Mr Shanks has also posted work books on the blog with more ideas that are suited for each stage. If you have any questions or you want to share what you are doing today please feel free to leave a comment.
Have a super day in snow! We can’t wait to hear all about it when we are back and remember to stay safe in the snow. Wrap up warm and enjoy!!!

Miss Donaldson and Ms Matheson

Primary 4 week Beginning 19.2.18

This week in primary 4 we have been continuing to learn about Scotland. We recieved another letter from Euan MacDonald asking us for more help to find the water horse and his father. Using some clues he gave us we were able to use our Atlas skills to find out that they were in Dundee.

We then used our note taking skills to record facts about Dundee. We have been focusing on Jute, Jam, Journalism and the RRS Discovery.

The class have been particularly interested in finding out about Dundee’s own D.C Thompson and the comics he has published. We will be creating our comics in class.

In maths we have been continuing to learn multiplication facts and create links with division. We have also been learning about Venn diagrams.

Next week we will be beginning to identify parts for our parent assembly. Please keep an eye out for words that your child may have to practise.

Reminders:

Homework: spelling, reading and maths
P.E. outdoor on Tuesday and indoor on Wednesday
Please make sure all items of clothing are clearly labelled
World book day is next Thursday (1.3.18) we will not be dressing up as we have already dressed up for our own reading event.

Thank you,
The Primary 4 teachers.

Primary 4 Week beg 29.1.18

In Primary 4 this week we have been continuing to learn about our Scotland topic. We have recieved a letter from Euan MacDonald who is looking for our help to find out more about Kelpies. We have also been learning about some of the major cities in Scotland and where they are on the map.
The classes have been using co-ordinates and grid references to find different locations on maps and make our own maps. The children will also be learning about Scottish traditions and symbols such as the thistle and tartan. They will be beginning to study Charles Rennie MacIntosh and how his designs and artwork are created.

The children have also been revising and learning their times tables. We will be continuing to develop our knowledge of the times tables and how to recall facts quickly. If you could help your child to practise their times tables at home that would be greatly appreciated.

The children have recieved new spelling sheets this week as we will be focusing on the different ways of making the ‘igh’ sound and when we should use them.

Reminders:

It is Shoe Share week at school. The pupil council are collecting any old shoes you may have that you do not use anymore so that they can donate them to Clarks and Unicef.

P.E days are a Monday and Wednesday for P4M and Tuesday and Wednesday for P4D

Please make sure all clothes are labelled with your child’s name

Please provide a water bottle

Any spelling and reading homework will be due on Friday.

Thank you for reading,
The Primary 4 teachers

Primary 4 Week beg 22.1.18

In Primary 4 this week we have been learning our Scottish poems for our Burns assembly. The children have had the poems home to practise and have also been learning them in the classroom.

This has come at a perfect time as we have just started our Scotland topic. This will be our topic for the whole term and we are excited to learn all about Scotland and its traditions.

Last week was our Polar explorer week and we enjoyed taking part in various science experiments and challenges such as making glaciers, dissolving shells and making boats for a voyage.

In spelling we have been focusing on strategies for spelling tricky words. We have been learning about mnemonics (because – Big Elephants Can Always Understand Small Elephants), words within a word and syllabification. We are using these strategies as the words the children have been learning cannot always be sounded out.

Reminders:

Please bring a water bottle

Outdoor PE on Tuesday

Indoor PE on Wednesday (with Mrs Ferguson)

Scottish Poem due for Thursday

Thank you,

The Primary 4 teachers

Primary 4 week 2.10.17

Last week we had our assessment week. This meant that we completed various tasks and assessments.

One of the challenges we had to do was to work in teams to design and build our very own Viking Long ship. We had to work in teams to use junk to make a model and make sure that we were including 4 of the main features of a Viking ship. Here are some examples of what we made:

We also had to draw a Birdseye view of a Viking Long house and include the different areas and furniture they would have had in their homes.

This week we have started to practise for our Harvest assembly. This is not a parent assembly, it is only for the school. Please keep a look out for any words or songs your child may have to practise at home.

Parents evenings will take place next Wednesday and Thursday evening, we look forward to seeing you there.

Reminders:

please make sure your child has a water bottle

Label all items of clothing

P.E days are Monday and Thursday (indoor)

Homework is due on Fridays

Thank you,

The Primary 4s

Primary 4 15.9.17

Welcome back to the Primary 4 blog!

We hope everyone is looking forward to the holiday weekend. This week we have had a focused week on ‘Inspirational maths’. We have been working on challenges that help us to develop our skills in solving problems, being resilient and finding strategies to work through problems.

We have also been continuing to learn about the Vikings and have started to use an atlas to find out more about where the Vikings came from and why they came to Scotland.

In reading both classes have been focusing on a novel and have been exploring ideas of setting, genre and the authors’ use of language to convey this. The children have been taking part in various activities and group discussions.

In writing we have been developing our use of descriptive language including the use of adjectives and similes when writing imaginative descriptions.

This week the school photographer has been in and photographs have been handed out if you would like to purchase any.

Reminders:

Monday is our outdoor gym day

Thursday is indoor gym

Please make sure all children’s belongings are clearly labelled to avoid loss of property.

We would also appreciate if children could bring water with them to school.

Thank you for reading our blog. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to speak to us or write a note in the homework diaries.

The Primary 4 teachers!

Primary 4 week beginning 12.6.17

Wow! What a fantastic week we have had in Primary 4. We were so pleased with how well our show went, we had 2 very successful performances. We were very happy to see so many people turn up to watch the show. We would like to extend a massive thank you to all the parents/carers who turned up and helped their child to learn lines, songs or dances. We (the teachers) thought that the children were amazing! The acting was brilliant, the dancing was superb and the singing was beautiful.

We hope that having now experienced school shows first hand and be seeing what is involved in them, we will have many more children who feel confident enough to put themselves forward for roles. We know this stage are very talented in dancing, acting and singing so we are hoping to see lots more of our stars centre stage next year!

This week will also be our organised event which is Day for change. This will happen on Friday and the children are invited to school to take part in opposite day. This means that they can come dressed as teachers, in pj, in wet weather gear (if it is sunny) etc. We will also be collecting any change you have lying around throughout the week and will use the money collected from the whole school to spell out day for change in the hall.

You may have noticed that new homework tasks have been issued. We would like you to use the rest of term and the longer evenings to make the most of the experiences (rather than written tasks). Spelling tests will still be taking place however we have handed over ownership to the children of how they would like to practice spelling their words. Please also be aware that we will be collecting in reading books shortly so if you see any please send them in.

Thank you,

The Primary 4 teachers

reminders:

Friday 16th – Day for Change

Wednesday 21st – Sports day (upper in the morning)

Friday 23rd – collect in reading books

Friday 23rd – Erasmus open morning

week beginning 17.4.17

Welcome back to the Primary 4 blog!

We hope you have all had a lovely holiday and are looking forward to our final term of Primary 4.

This term our topic will be mini-beasts and our community. We will be learning about vertebrates, invertebrates, food chains, insects and lots more. We will be studying a wormery and also be observing the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly.

In language we will be focusing on the writing of Enid Blyton. This year celebrates her 75th anniversary so we shall be looking at her style of writing, her characters and how she develops her stories to keep the reader’s interest. We will be creating our own famous five novels throughout the term. If you have any of her Famous Five books that you would be happy to lend us, please send them in.

We are keen for parents / carers to hear children reading aloud when completing reading homework. Children will come home with a reading book within the next week. This will be given alongside a letter with the assigned pages for each week and some ideas for discussions and questions to ask your child during and after reading.

This term is very exciting as it is also the term where we will prepare and perform a show along with the Primary 5s. There are lots of different roles in the show like acting, singing, dancing, instruments and sound effects. Please keep an eye out for any lines or costumes that your child has to prepare for.

We are happy to see you all back from your holidays and hope you are excited to start all these new topics!

The Primary 4 teachers

Reminders:

homework this term will be spelling, reading and optional maths activities (these will not be sent weekly and instead be completed online using a username and password. These will be sent home next week). Also your child may or may not have lines to learn for the assembly.

Indoor P.E is on Monday

outdoor P.E is Tuesday

please ensure all clothing is named

Multisport festival is on the 28.4.17 – please look out for letter

Primary 4 week beginning 6.3.17

This week we enjoyed World Book Day. We were excited to share our favourite stories and pair read with the Primary 2’s.

This week we are beginning to practise our assembly for parents and carers. We are going to have lots of different roles in the assembly and we hope to see you there. Please keep a look out for any lines your child may have and help them to learn them. The parent assembly is on the 17th March. More information to follow nearer the time.

We are also beginning to focus our learning on Edinburgh in our Scotland topic and will be learning about some of Edinburgh’s most infamous characters. In reading we will be continuing to learn about the features of non-fiction texts and using the information to answer questions.

In ICT we will be continuing to create our own comics using the Comic Life software. This will involve a variety of ICT skills including use of the web cam to capture images of ourselves acting, following our story lines. We will include some of these in the blog in a few weeks when these are finished.

A date for your diaries is Fri 24th March, where we will be dressing in bright coloured clothes for Earth Hour.

Reminders:

Spring Disco – Thursday 9th March

Earth hour 24th March – bright clothes

PE Kit – Tuesday and Wednesday indoor for P4S

Tuesday indoor and Wednesday Outdoor for P4D

Homework:

Due Friday 10th:

Maths homework

Reading – one chapter and an activity

Spelling as normal

Learn assembly songs and words

Class talk if it is your turn

Primary 4 week beg 27.2.17

Welcome back to the Primary 4 blog!

We have had a very busy week with lots of visitors to the classrooms. The children were super at sharing their learning, giving tours and taking part in discussion groups.

We have been continuing with our Scotland topic. Using our topic mind maps the children chose questions to research in more depth. They have been working in groups to become experts and will teach the other children about what they have learned.

We were also very lucky to have a visitor from Morrison’s, she brought in traditional foods from Scotland for us to taste and find out where they were produced.

In P.E this week our children took part in a Wimbeldon Tennis tournament. The children all had different roles and jobs to take on during the tournament.The children really enjoyed showing off their tennis skills!

Next week is world book day! This is on Thursday. The children will be taking part in a variety of reading tasks then. They will also be pairing up with the Primary 2’s to do some shared reading.

Reminders:

Please bring in your favourite book and a cushion on Thursday for world book day!
Spring disco letters

Homework:
spelling
Reading
Class talks

P.E kits:
Tuesday and Wednesday

Primary 4 week beginning 20.2.17

Welcome back after our short February break. We hope you a had a lovely time.

We would like to thank all the parents and carers who attended parents evening. We would like to remind anyone who could not make it to feel free to make an appointment at another time that is more convenient.

This week we have started to look more closely at the features of non-fiction texts. We will be continuing to learn about them and use them in various lessons across the curriculum. If you have access to any books at home, please ask your child to teach you about their features.

We have continued to learn about electricity in science and have been experimenting with conductors and insulators this week. Next week we will be planning to build our own homes with working circuits in them.

Next week we will also be learning about comic life in I.C.T. We are hoping eventually, to create our own comics we made when we were learning about D.C Thompson and Dundee using the Comic Life software.

We are looking forward to having lots of visitors in our school next week and showing them all of our hard work.

Reminders for 20.2.17

Homework –
Spelling
Reading
Maths sheet
class talks (if applicable)

P.E Kit
P4S – Tuesday and Wednesday
P4D – Wednesday and Friday this week

please ensure your child has a label on all items of clothing.

Thank you for your continued support, Miss Donaldson and Miss Smith.

Primary 4 week beginning 16.1.17

Hello welcome to the Primary 4 blog,

We have started our Scotland topic and have been working hard using online maps and Atlases to become more familiar with the United Kingdom. We have also focused on major cities with Scotland and are becoming more confident with our place within Scotland.
This week we will begin to focus on the cities and their features. We will also be researching Charles Rennie MackIntosh and will begin to create our own artwork inspired by this famous artist.

On Monday the 16th Google Expeditions will be taking place across the whole school. We will be exploring the day in the life of a mini-beast, as mini-beasts is one of our topics this year.

On Thursday all children will be performing their Burn Poems. Children do not have to put themselves forward for the competition however, they must still learn their poem as it is part of our curriculum.

Reminders:

P.E kits on Wednesday (Indoor) and Thursday (outdoor)
Reading – pages + 1 task from the homework sheet
Spelling
Burns Poem – Must be learned for Thursday
Ms Fox has requested that children bring cereal boxes for art on Wednesday

Due to Poems and class talks maths homework will not be this week. It will resume in the following week.

Thank you for visiting our blog,
The Primary 4 teachers