Carmondean Primary School Blog

September 2021

Carmondean Primary are delighted to announce we have achieved gold standard in the Rights Respecting Schools Award.

In March the children showcased the work we have been doing the last 3 years to ensure that Rights are embedded in the life of the school and help guide children and adults in the choices they make. The assessors had been so impressed with the children and their knowledge of Rights and how important they are.

In June we then heard the good news that we had achieved the Gold level award.

We had a grand unveiling of the banner on Monday 6th September 2021. It is next to the main entrance so everyone who visits can see what we have achieved!

We are very proud of this award!

Primary 6 7.9.21

Hello everyone and happy Tuesday!

Primary 6 have been busy bees already this week. In Spanish and French we have been learning to count forwards and back. In Spanish we have been learning to count from 1-31 and we played some very competitive games of bingo to consolidate our knowledge. In French we have been learning the numbers from 1-100 with the help of this song: French Numbers 1-100 Song
Feel free to practice at home P6! 🙂

In Technologies we have been exploring coding. We know that an algorithms are instructions for computers. We also know that algorithms need to be very accurate in order for a computer to follow our instructions exactly. We have been playing coding games on: Coding Games
These games have been helping us to learn how to “debug” our algorithms if we’ve not quite given the computer the correct instructions. Primary 6 have shown a lot of resilience today often having to try several times to debug an algorithm.

If you would like to see more updates from Primary 6 then please follow our school twitter page. You will find us at @carmondean_ps. Mrs Scott and Mr Drysdale also have their own twitter pages @Mrs_ScottCPS and @MrDrysdale4 if you wish to follow us there to see more P6 updates.

Reminders
Homework is due in on Friday. This can be submitted on Teams or be brought into school as a paper copy.
PE days are Tuesday and Wednesday. Please remember PE uniform means that non uniform hoddies/jumpers should only be worn during outdoor PE sessions themselves and not throughout the school day.
Please send your child to school with a full water bottle each day. This can be refilled when required.
If you have not yet seen our “Meet the Teacher” videos then please have a look at the P6A and P6B Teams pages to learn more about us and the year ahead in Primary 6.

Thank you very much for your support.

Mrs Scott & Mr Drysdale

Primary 3 wb 6/9/21

Primary 3 have been very busy! We hope you all enjoyed our meet the teacher video which went live on Seesaw at the end of last week. It gave you an insight to what our classrooms look like, how they are run and what might be happening in the beginning of this academic year. Homework has also been posted on Seesaw today giving you and your children to complete tasks in Literacy, Numeracy, French and Interdisciplinary (Weather).

In Numeracy we have been practising skip counting forwards and backwards in 2s,5s and 10s. In Maths we have revising our 2D and 3D shape names and properties. The children have demonstrated a good understanding of their shapes!

In Literacy the children have been working on their reading aloud skills such as decoding and fluency. We have also been making predictions about what might happen in a book and why. Mrs Smith has been in supporting our writing. Our focus this term is recount which the children have been working very hard on. We have been using our core and genre targets to help!

In our topic of the weather the children have been identifying the different types of weather, what they look like and sound like. We have also been looking at the weather symbols and determining what they mean. We are looking forward to creating our very own weather forecasts this week.

Remember our P.E days are Monday and Thursday- kits must be worn to school.

You can keep updated on our class activities on Twitter @MissRafferty4 and @MissBonar_

Miss Rafferty and Miss Bonar

Primary 2 6.9.21

Primary 2 have had another great week!
Last week we started our phonics program. For the first few weeks we will be revising the diagraphs learnt in Primary 1. The children’s confidence in their ability to sound out and read words with these letter patterns is improving greatly and we are very proud of their hard work. This week we are learning ‘wh’, ‘ph’, ‘ee’ and ‘oo’. We are also going to be continuing our reading work. Please bring your reading book in the homework folder to school every day since we are planning to read most days.
In maths we are continuing to work on recognising and writing numbers. We are having a particular focus on the teen numbers since many children are finding these tricky.
We are having a week long book focus on ‘Kindness is my superpower’ by Alicia Ortego, We are looking at ways that we can be kind in class and at home. If you would like to read the story at home, here is a video clip you can watch:

Homework is now being issued each week on SEESAW, passwords were given out last week to help you access this work. If you have any issues accessing or completing this work please let us know.
A reminder that children should have inside shoes to wear in class each day. It is also important that they have a water bottle for when it is hot.
Thank you for your continued support
Miss Belleza and Miss Christy

Primary 7

“When given the choice between being right or being kind, choose kind. ”

( Wonder by R.J.Palacio)

We created some thought provoking Wonder displays this week. We have a question for you …what do you wonder about? Ask your primary 7 about their act of kindness they are planning to do at home, you may be in for treat!

We were practising our serving skills during our badminton sessions this week …an odd shuttlecock may have ended up in the rafters! We are focusing on direction next week.

The tension was palpable on Friday morning as we completed our numeracy mental maths challenges. Keep practising primary 7, you will be amazed at how quickly you improve.

Within our writing lesson this week we counted to focus on recount, we shared different time connectives to include in our pieces.

Our Primary 7’s were officially introduced to their buddies this week. We have been working hard to create superhero personas for our buddies and we are hoping to use these in stories for them.

REMINDERS –

ALL PUPILS SHOULD HAVE INDOOR SHOES.

PE – Outdoor Kit Mondays

Indoor – Wednesday

Thank for your continued support.

Mrs Wylie and Miss Kane

Primary 5: 03.09.21

Happy Friday! It has been a busy couple of weeks in Primary 51 We are beginning to settle into our routine and we have completed lots of excellent tasks so far!

In reading, we have been enjoying our class novel The Boy at the Back of the Classroom. We are learning about Ahmet and his tough journey from Syria to London. This has linked into our Topic where we are learning about Refugees. The classes have held some excellent discussions around their thoughts and feelings of being uprooted and forced to travel to foreign countries. We are following the journey of Little Amal, a 3.5metre puppet, who is walking from Turkey to Manchester, a route many refugees take across Europe. You can keep up to date with her at https://www.walkwithamal.org/about-us/little-amal/.

Last Thursday, we had lots of fun completing a very sticky STEM Challenge in which the class had to create a free-standing tower made out of marshmallows and spaghetti! The hot weather made this challenge extra tricky as the marshmallows very quickly melted and the learners had to adapt many of their plans.

In Maths, we have been working hard learning the names and properties of different angles. The children found lots of examples angles in their classroom and had lots of fun playing interactive games. Try them at home: https://www.mathplayground.com/alienangles.html .

This week, we began our Spanish lessons and had lots of fun learning to greet and introduce ourselves in the new language. We have some natural linguists in our classrooms!

Our PE days this term are Wednesday and Thursday. We will need outdoor kit for Wednesday and indoor for Thursday. We would be grateful if your child could come to school dressed in black or navy kit with a white t -shirt on these days. Children can wear shorts under their trousers on Thursday if they wish.

Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Jamieson and Miss Munro

Primary 4 3.9.21

This week in Primary 4 we’ve started our Scotland topic and the pupils were very excited to share what they want to learn about the country they live in! We had the Kelpies, why the unicorn is Scotland’s national animal, the cities, the history, the landscape, the languages, and much more! We began by trying to draw Scotland, which is difficult enough when you can see a picture but the pupils drew it picture-less and did a fantastic job! Linking back to our ‘The Dot’ artwork, we had lots of Scotland-ish drawings! We have also introduced climbing Munroes as our PE warm-ups; hopefully as a year group we can climb all 282!

We have been developing our typing skills this week now that pupils are very confident logging onto Teams. The pupils played typing games to improve accuracy and then played ‘Beat the Teacher’ to see who could get a higher score! While Miss Morris remained unbeaten, Mr Woodward didn’t fare so well, losing to P4B in spectacular fashion!

We’ve been continuing to read Yours Sincerely, Giraffe, putting on some fantastic character voices and learning about the importance of connecting with each other. We have also learned through about character and looked closely at Professor Whale. We talked about his characteristics and what kind of character he is using some fantastic adjectives to describe him!

If you would like to follow the year group on Twitter you can follow us @CarmondeanP4

Reminders:

PE: Mondays and Thursdays

Please ensure your child comes dressed in school PE colours on these days: black/ navy bottoms and a white t-shirt. As PE is outdoor this week, please ensure your child also has a black/ navy jumper as the weather is growing colder.

Homework has been posted on Teams and pupils can have paper copies if needed.

Thank you for your continued support,

Miss Morris and Mr Woodward

Primary 6 2.9.21

Hello everyone!

We have had a busy but fun week in Primary 6 so far. Work has begun in each of the curricular areas and the children are working extremely hard so far 🙂 Homework has been posted on Teams. The children have 2 weeks to complete the tasks and only the tasks with a star are mandatory, the rest are optional. More information can be found on our class Teams page. Some children have also received a paper copy of the homework. Please encourage your child to ask their class teacher for a paper copy if they require it.

As our annual Meet the Teacher event is unable to take place this year Mr Drysdale and I have created a short presentation each so that you can “meet” us and hear more about our plans in Primary 6 this year. You will find these videos on the P6A and P6B Teams pages. Please have a look 🙂

In Numeracy we have been continuing with work on place value looking at building and partitioning numbers up to 7 digits. The children have also been exploring the place values of decimal numbers using tenths and hundredths.

This term our focus in writing is recount. This week the children are recounting the events of their weekend. Yesterday the children planned out their writing and today they will using their plan to produce their first full piece of writing in Primary 6. The children will also self assess their work using “Green for Go” and “Pink for Think”. We can’t wait to see their fabulous work!

Reminders
– Indoor shoes should be worn in class and around the school. Please ensure your child has a pair of indoor shoes in school that they can change into.
– PE days are Tuesday (outdoor) and Wednesday (indoor). This week we are having a one off PE session on Friday 3rd September too. Children can therefore wear their PE uniform to school this Friday too.
– Homework is due in next Friday 10th September

Thank you for your support.

Mr Drysdale and Mrs Scott

Primary 2 30.8.21

Primary 2 had a great week last week! They continued to settle back into school routines and enjoyed working and playing with their friends in the new play areas.
This week we are finishing our work on ‘In our hearts’, a book all about feelings. The children will be exploring the feeling of ‘shyness’ and will be putting their feelings books together to bring home. They will also be learning about the final SHANARRI buddy and will finish their buddy diary.
This week we are beginning our structured phonics and maths work. We will be revising the sounds sh, ch, th and ng from Primary 1 in phonics and will be looking at the numbers 1-30 in maths. Please look out for a reading book coming home today in homework folders. This book is to come to school every day so that we can read regularly in class. We will be assigning one SEESAW task for homework this week. A password for SEESAW has been sent home today in homework folders. Please let us know if you have any trouble accessing your child’s homework and we would be happy to help.
A reminder that all children need indoor shoes to wear in class. PE days are Wednesday and Thursday, please come to school prepared for PE on these days. PE kit consists of a white T-shirt, navy/ black trousers or shorts and a school jumper.
Thank you for your continued support
Miss Christy and Miss Belleza

Primary 7

We must congratulate our Primary Sevens on their very positive start to the year . Our P7 bubble is working well and our pupils are setting a good example to the rest of the school. We are delighted to announce that we will be running our buddy programme this year and our P7s will be partnered with their buddies imminently. We will be discussing the qualities and attributes our pupils will need to be competent buddies, we are sure they will rise to the challenge !

Our first term newsletter has now been distributed and it provides a brief overview of what we will be working on.

“When given the choice between being right or being kind, choose kind”

We are currently reading Wonder by R.J.Palacio . Kindness and inclusion are the main themes of the novel and they complement our class charters, which our P7’s created. We will be continuing with the novel over the coming weeks. Linked with our theme of inclusion, we have been working on a display for our small hall, which demonstrates how we all work together in school.

Within our writing lessons last week we used Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes as inspiration to create our own twist on traditional tales, our pupils’ imaginations made it a rather surreal experience! We will now be focusing on the genre of recount.

We have shown our P7’s timestables games that are easy to play at home , please ask them to show you .

REMINDERS –

PE – Outdoor Kit Mondays

Indoor Kit Wednesdays

Thank for your continued support.

Mrs Wylie and Miss Kane

Welcome to Primary 6!

Hello everyone!

Primary 6 have made an excellent start to the year. Mr Drysdale and I are very impressed with the children’s hard work and effort during the first week. P6 have made fantastic first impressions showing themselves to be kind, caring and helpful – well done everyone!

In the first week the children have made a fabulous start in several curricular areas. In Numeracy P6 have shared their knowledge of place value. In Reading they have shared their thoughts on our new novel “You are Awesome!” by Matthew Syed and made informed predictions on what this non-fiction text is going to be about. In PE the children helped to create a PE charter with Mrs Ferguson. In Topic the children shared what they would like to learn and how they would like to learn about our new topic of “The Industrial Revolution and Inventions”. P6 have also began learning about how to be a member of a connected, compassionate classroom through the creation of our class charter.

This week the children will take part in football activities in PE, create a wall display all about the SHANARRI indicator – responsibility and will create other fabulous pieces of art work for our classroom walls.

A newsletter will be sent home this week detailing this terms learning and events in more detail. In the meantime here are some helpful reminders –

– Please can you ensure that your child has a pair of indoor shoes to wear in the classroom.
– PE days are Tuesday and Wednesday. This term PE on a Tuesday will be outdoors and on a Wednesday will be indoors with Mrs Ferguson. Please ensure your child attends school in the school’s PE uniform on these days. A non-uniform jumper/hoodie can be brought in your child’s school bag to put on later when taking part in Outdoor PE on a Tuesday.
– Please also ensure that your child brings a full water bottle to school each day. This can be refilled in school when required.

Thank you very much for your support. If you have any questions please leave a comment below or contact us via the school office.

Mr Drysdale and Mrs Scott

Welcome Back Primary 4!

Hello everyone!

We have all had a lovely first week back and have enjoyed getting to know all of our new Primary 4’s! The children have settled in really well to the routines of their new classrooms.

We have read a couple of great stories this week. On Tuesday, we looked at a book called ‘The Dot’ which was all about trying new things and “making your mark”. Then on Wednesday, we read ‘Ish’ which focussed on being kind to others and that it ok to not be right all the time. The children made their own dot and ish pictures and they were brilliant!

Over the next few weeks, our Health and Wellbeing topic work will be based on the story ‘Yours Sincerely, Giraffe’. The children made excellent predictions by looking at the front cover and blurb. After reading the first Chapter, we discovered two of the main characters were feeling nervous for different reasons. We thought about the times we have also felt nervous and suggested some top tips that may help us whenever we feel this way.

Our PE days will be a Monday (outside) and a Thursday (inside) this term. We appreciate your efforts in ensuring the children come to school wearing their PE kits (white T-shirt, navy or black shorts/ trousers and a school jumper) on these days. The children can wear shorts under their trousers if they wish to for indoor PE on the Thursday as it can get quite warm in the hall.

A newsletter will be coming home next week with more information about what we will be learning this term.

Here are what some of our Primary 4’s had to say about their first week back:

“I enjoyed P.E. this week.” – AH

“I enjoyed making the birthday cards.” – XC

“I enjoyed making the hot air balloons.” – MB

“I enjoyed starting to read our book.” – ZB

“I enjoyed art.” – JR

Have a lovely weekend!

Miss Morris and Mr Woodward

Primary 5 20.8.21

Primary 5 have settled back into school and enjoyed their first week. We have spent the week getting to know each other and establishing our new classroom routines. We have already completed some displays and completed writing to introduce ourselves.

We have talked about our Class Charter, agreed on the rights we would like to work on this year and created a display.

We have started reading a new novel called The Boy at the Back of the Classroom and this week we have started talking about the main characters and making predictions about the main events in the story.

Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Jamieson and Miss Munro

Welcome back Primary 2!

It has been lovely welcoming the children back to school this week. We hope that you all had a lovely summer holiday and are well rested and ready for a new year.
We are spending the first few weeks working on the children’s health and wellbeing as they settle back into school routines. We have created a new class charter for each class looking at how we can make sure that our right to play, safety and learning are met in school.

We have also been reading the book ‘In my heart’. This story focuses on 10 of the most common emotions we experience. This week we have looked at happiness, anger, bravery and calmness. For each emotion the children have described a situation where they have felt that way. They are creating their very own books illustrating these experiences and are looking forward to sharing them with you once they are finished.

Structured maths and literacy teaching will begin in a couple of weeks and homework will be start at this time. Until then we will revise some key concepts from Primary 1 learning, helping the children to get back into the routine of learning.
P.E. will be on a Wednesday and Thursday this year. Please send your child to school in a PE kit on these days. A reminder that PE kit consists of a white T-shirt, navy or black shorts/ trousers and a school jumper.
Please also ensure that your child has inside gym rubbers to keep in school and comes to school each day with a water bottle.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or concerns.
Miss Christy and Miss Belleza

Primary 7 Leavers’ Assembly

Primary 7W Leavers

sketch 2021

Primary 7 Carnival

Teamwork

Below is an example of what can be achieved when a group of people with their own individual skills work together to produce something magical. Raigan Young is a Primary 7 pupil who is skilled in art of any kind, but particularly in digital images. Mr Shanks had an idea for a project to teach Health and wellbeing to younger children, and Miss Smith wanted to create a programme of study about the wellbeing indicators called ‘The SHANARRI Buddies’. Matching the skills of these three individuals resulted in a project that ticks all of the boxes for content and outstanding presentation.

Raigan came up with digital images of ‘The SHANARRI Buddies’ that we could use in the print materials for teaching and learning that Miss Smith created. Here is a sample of what he came up with (and what he can do):

If your child will be in Primary 1-3 at Carmondean PS next session, they will get to know the ‘Buddies’ really well. A huge ‘thank you’ to Raigan and to Miss Smith for their creative genius and an outstanding partnership. We are certainly going to miss both of their skills when Raigan goes off to High School and Miss Smith heads off for maternity leave at the end of the session – but WHAT a legacy to leave behind!

Carmondean Flash Mob, 2021

Primary 5 18.06.21

Hello,

Second last week in Primary Five completed!

This week in Writing, the class wrote their own end of year report! The children identified what they had done well, what they enjoyed and any improvements they were going to make in P6. It was very interesting reading what the children thought of their progress. Please find these sheets in with their teacher written end of year report that the children will bring home.

In Numeracy both classes are continuing to work on decimals. This week we looked at hundredths–how to write them, order them and their connection to tenths. We are pleased to report that the children completed these activities very well.

In Reading, the children are finishing off their non-fiction book on the Scottish Wars of Independence. We are very impressed with the detail contained in the books and there are some fantastic pictures and diagrams. The children will bring the finished books home next week for you to look at. We hope you are impressed as we are!

On Friday we were able to watch the P7 parade. The children had made flags and banners to wish the P7s good luck at High School. The children were very excited to see the P7s dancing and the music was very danceable!

The children had been working on a secret mission to thank Mr Shanks for all he has done for them and the school. P5 created a cloak with good luck messages on it which Mr Shanks was presented with when he visited the classroom. The children had also written acrostic poems listing all the things he does. We all agreed that it was a lot!

PE- Tuesday and Thursday – Please remember to provide your child with a water bottle on these days J

Next week the children will be watching a pantomime, Alice in Wonderland, on Wednesday. If the children want to bring a snack to eat while watching this they can. We are all very excited to see this.

Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Gilmour, Ms Munro, Mrs Muir and Miss Herd