Primary 4

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

Gymnastics

I am delighted with the effort our chosen gymnasts have been putting in to get ready for the gymnastics showcase next week. Just a reminder that there will be a practice for all on Thursday lunchtime in the big hall so please make sure you have your PE kit with you and you are ready with your routine. If you have any questions then please come and see me when I am back in school on Wednesday. We have such talented gymnasts that I’ll bet they are finding it hard to select their favourite 6 or 8 skills. Could the Rhythmic and partner sequence gymnasts also come at playtime on Wednesday.

Many thanks

Mrs Ferguson

Primary 4 – Update 15 January

Happy New Year!

Everyone is back at school after the festive season fully rested and ready to learn! Last week we wrote stories and drew pictures about our Christmas holiday. Miss Donaldson and Ms Matheson were surprised how busy some of the children had been.

On Monday this week we had a visit from Craig who is a real Polar Explorer. He told us about his trips to the North and South Poles. On his trips he has to pull a sledge with everything he would need for the entire 2 month journey. We were able to see photograhs of his sledge and skis and to try on some of warm clothing. He also told us that he does not need to wash on his trips as it is too cold for bacteria to survive. Some of us got to taste the special food he takes and Ms Matheson got to taste some dried seal meat. It tasted just like old shoes, chewy and salty!

We will be learning more about the Polar regions in science this week. One of the activities planned, for example, is to design and make a boat looking at the relationship between the shape of boat and the number of passengers it holds.

All the children have now chosen their Scots poem to learn. Your help in learning them would be greatly appreciated.

Indoor gym is now on Wednesday. Outdoor gym will be on Monday, weather permitting. Please could children bring suitable gym kit on these days.

Have a great week.

Ms Matheson and Miss Donaldson

Gymnastics afterschool club

A wee reminder for those attending the gymnastics afterschool club tomorrow (Thursday) that you need to bring your PE kit or leotard and the completed skills sequence sheet. There is only 3 weeks until the schools competition so it is important that we can practice and perfect your sequence.

Many thanks

Mrs Ferguson

Primary 4 Update 5 November

Last week was another busy week for primary 4.

On Tuesday it was Halloween. We all wrote spooky stories in our writing lesson. The stories had a variety of scary adjectives in them, which frightened our friends and teachers. Also on Tuesday, Karen from the Youth Choir of Scotland taught us some scary Halloween songs and rhythms.

On Wednesday morning we went to Craigswood Sports Centre for a handball festival. There were teams from four other Livingston schools. We were divided into teams and played 4 matches against them. A lot of fun was had by all.

We have now finished our Viking topic. This has proved to be a highly enjoyable topic. A lot of learning took place about Viking travel, weapons, homes and clothing. Our ‘real’ Viking visitors that came in October were a particular highlight. Our Viking homework is due on Monday. We can’t wait to see the fantastic models and pictures!

This week we will be beginning to learn about electricity. As part of this topic we intend to make a room of a house that includes a light switch. To make this we will need boxes, about the size of a shoe box. It would be great if the children bring these in.

Have a great week.

Ms Matheson and Miss Donaldson

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!

The children have now all settled into their new classes after the summer holiday.

Both classes have recently made up Class Charters that we have all agreed to follow. These will be coming home soon for you to see. We would appreciate it if you could discuss them with your child before signing and returning them.

Spelling homework was given out on Monday. As you will have seen, the sheet has 4 weeks work on it and lists the activity to be completed each night. Please try to complete this, wherever possible, each night. This term Reading homework will largely consist of the children reading a library book of their choice. We would ask you to hear and discuss at least 10 pages of the book with your child every week. These books will be changed weekly.

Due to timetabling issues outdoor gym will take place on Monday and not Tuesday as was stated in the newsletter. Indoor gym will continue to be on Thursday. Please could the children bring appropriate clothing and footwear for this.

We have just begun our Viking topic by writing a description of a Viking and tomorrow we will be drawing and painting Vikings to make a large Viking freize. The children are already very enthusiastic about the topic.

It was great to meet so many of you at our recent ‘Meet the Teacher’ session. If you have any questions or queries do not hesitate to contact us.

Ms Matheson and Miss Donaldson

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

Primary 4 24.5.17

Wowee, what a brilliant week for us to be going to Auchengillan! The sun is shining and it looks like it will be a great two days!

We have been busy whilst the others are away planning Day for Change. This is a UNICEF charity occasion which Primary 4 are in charge of leading.

We had lots of ideas of what we could change for the day and have decided on “Opposites Day” which will take place on the 16th June.

We will be gathering spare change in the bottles in the classroom and hope to have enough coins gathered to spell out “Day for Change,” in our new hall. More information will follow.

CATERPILLAR UPDATE: Our caterpillars have transformed into chrysalis and are now hanging upside down in our net, ready for the big transformation.

Reminders:

Please bring in show costumes.

Summer Fair is on 3rd June. Please get in touch with Parent Council if you are able to help out at all.

Homework Due Friday 2nd:

Reading

Spelling

Maths – New activities uploaded to Studyladder to work on at your discretion. We are now measuring length and capacity.

Primary 4 16.5.17

We have been learning about measure and used measuring tapes, ramps and cars to measure length and distance. We tried to get the furthest distance possible from our toy cars and recorded our results on a class table. We had 2 teams as joint winners getting 2 metres!

We have been looking forward to our bug hunt today. We will be out in the woodland looking for bugs and using our pooters and magnifying glasses to investigate our mini-beasts further. We hope we can catch a few to have a race and see where they travel to in 2 minutes. We will then measure the distance they have traveled. Thank you very much to the parents who have volunteered to help us today. Without you, our visit wouldn’t be possible!

Keep watching on here for updates of our photos from the investigation.

We also met our baby caterpillars this week. They arrived in our class and have been very hungry, busily working their way through their food to get strong enough for their transition to a butterfly. We are very excited to see them turn into their very own chrysalis and watch the transformation happen before our very eyes!

Reminders:

Auchengillan is coming up and we will be going in two weeks time!

Monday – Indoor PE Kit

Tuesday – Outdoor PE Kit

Homework:

measure and time practice on Studyladder at your discretion

Due Friday: Reading week 5, Spelling week 3

Thank you for your continued support

Miss Smith and Miss Donaldson

Primary 4 5.5.17

We hope you had a nice couple of days holiday this week. Although short, it has been a very productive week here in Primary 4. We have been busy writing letters to pen friends in France telling them all about us. These will travel with the teachers visiting France as part of our Erasmus project and they will bring some back for us. We were very impressed with their English when we read their letters to us and now have a target to be able to write a letter in French to them by the end of Primary 4.

We have been learning all about time in Maths and have used timetables. We were able to think of lots of occasions in life where we would need these skills. We worked out the duration of programmes and transferred digital times into analogue and back again. We will move on to doing measure next week and hopefully will get outside now that the weather is nicer.

We hope also next Thursday to go on a mini-beast hunt in groups. If there are any parents who would be willing and free to come on our mini-beast hunt as a helper at 1:30pm, please call the office to arrange.

We are in the midst of writing a story in the style of the Famous Five books in order to enter a competition. The competition involves using ‘Sway’ on Microsoft to produce their story in an interactive way. The children wrote their openers this week and attempted to hook the reader into their story through use of exciting vocabulary and ideas. Watch this space! We have some budding authors in our midst.

Reminders:

Monday – Indoor PE Kit

Tuesday – Outdoor PE Kit

Thursday – suitable outdoor wear and footwear for going to the woods.

Homework:

Spelling

Reading

Maths if appropriate (new measure activities added)

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 10.3.17

In P4S last week we used our knowledge of fractions to play fun games online. We have enjoyed learning about fractions and in our number talks, we are becoming more confident in explaining our strategies.

We have been busy practising for our Scotland assembly. We have songs, acting, poems, power points, dancing and history included. Our assembly is on Friday 17th at 11.30 in our brand new hall. We hope to see you there.

It was our last week with the students from West Lothian College teaching us a variety of skills in P.E. We want to say a big thank you for their time and input.

We learned about Burke and Hare in our topic time. We learned about medical instruments used by people during this time. We also learned a poem:

Burke and Hare they were a pair

Killed a wife and didnae care

Then they put her in a box

and sent her off to Dr. Knox

Burke’s the butcher, Hare’s the thief

Knox the boy who buys the beef.

Reminders:

Outdoor PE – Tuesday

Red noses on sale all week £1

Remember to learn song words and script words

Friday – Assembly at 11.30 for parents

Thursday 23rd – Earth hour – come to school in bright clothes, glow sticks on sale.

Friday 24th – Comic relief – dress up as a red nose or wear red, black and white. (more info to follow)

Homework:

Spelling

Reading plus a task

Learning words for class assembly

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 3.2.17

This week we have been working hard in our assessment jotters to show our abilities across the curriculum. These will be in pupil trays this week at Parents’ Evening, and hopefully you will be able to see the progress your child has made between October and January.

We have started to look at electricity in Science. We are looking forward to building our own circuits and making different components work using batteries and wires. This week, we began by looking at electrical safety. The children’s knowledge on this was good and we had an excellent discussion. One thing we need to investigate is how birds can touch electricity wires without being electrocuted.

Next Monday, you will see your child’s spelling words and format changing. Children will still receive spelling words to be studied at home, however these will be based on a different sound each week.

This sound should be learned, and words should be written out across the page in look, cover, write and check format as normal. Activities will be expected to be completed alongside twice a week. This will show the children’s ability to transfer their understanding of the words, and knowledge of the spelling rule.

As of next Tuesday for four weeks, P4S will have another session of indoor PE on a Tuesday. Please ensure children have kit on this day. Reminders will be written in homework jotters.

Reminders:

Parents’ Evenings take place on Tuesday and Wednesday. Both primary 4 classes currently have student teachers. The student teachers will be in the room during the parent consultations in order to learn from them. If this is an issue, please do not hesitate to make us aware beforehand by contacting the office.

Tuesday 7th – Indoor PE kit P4S

Wednesday 8th – Indoor PE kit both classes

Thursday 9th – Outdoor PE kit P4D

Dress Down Day run by P.S.A – Please come dressed in love hearts, pink or red, or even just your best outfit on Thursday and bring 50 pence as a donation. All money raised will go towards providing resources for the school.

Friday 10th – Holiday

Homework due Thursday:

Children with their class talk information sheets due this day.

Spelling homework.

Reading homework plus one activity.

Primary 4 27.1.17

Well done to all children who made a great effort with learning their Burn’s poem. The poems this year were very difficult as we are now competing in a Burn’s competition. We had two overall winners from P4, well done to Ryan McKie and Joe Johnstone. A super effort, however, was shown by all participants. Thank you for your hard work!

We have been looking at the work of Glaswegian artist, Charles Rennie MacIntosh, and the children have impressively recreated his famous rose smbol.

We have started our Health topic on how to look after our body through sensible food choices, and drawing attention to the energy we receive from the foods we eat. The pupils have found this extremely interesting and prepared a healthy snack using their knowledge.

Next week is Assessment Week, whereby all of our work will be completed in one jotter to give a snapshot of our capabilities across the curriculum. This will be in the trays for you to have a look at during Parent’s night.

Please remember to book appointments for Parent’s night via the online system.

We have had instances lately whereby pupils have taken home clothing in error. Please ensure children’s names are on clothing for PE and for school in general.

Could you look at home for a pair of blue joggers which have the child’s name on them. Also a pair of black 9-10 or 11-12 joggers from George and Age 9 white T-shirt from Tu at Sainsbury’s.

Reminders/Homework:

Wednesday: Indoor PE kit.

Thursday: Outdoor PE kit.

Friday: Class talks for those who have been given the guidance sheet.

Spelling as normal.

Reading – 1 chapter plus chosen activity.

Maths – Activity for both classes.

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