Phonics – Page 3 – Carmondean Primary School Blog

Primary 2/3

We had a fantastic trip to North Berwick to take part in Plundering Pirates and Seashore Explorer. The children learned about local pirates and made real life treasure maps. We got to explore the Old Kirk and had lunch outside. We finished off on the beach exploring the sand and making sandcastles. We all had lots of fun and learned lots!

Today we are walking up Dechmont Law. Children have been learning that pirates always had to be on the look out for other pirates or dangers. We decided to go to the highest point in our local area to see how far we can actually see!! We might even see the sea!!

Recently we have been working hard learning how to tell the time. The boys and girls have been using clocks and digital clocks to tell the time. P2 have also been investigating number patterns and Primary 3 have been finding the fraction of a number.

Primary 2 have now learned all the phonic sounds so we are now revising all of the tricky ones. Primary 3 are still working their way through the Primary 3 programme with new sounds each week.

All children have had a letter inviting the parents to come to school next Friday for a Careers Day. At some point could you discuss with your children about what you do for a job/career? We have lots of activities planned next week and we can show you these on Friday when you visit.

We also have the Beach trip in 2 weeks time (Tuesday 19th June). Could you please fill out the EE2 forms and return to school?

P.E Monday and Thursday

Homework: Spelling, Maths and Reading

Miss Rafferty

Primary 1 30.5.18

Primary 1 are now well into our farming topic. This week the children have enjoyed learning about different animals which live on a farm and the products we get from each animal. Today we will be looking at the life cycle of a chicken and will think about the foods we eat which include chicken meat or eggs. On Monday each child was given some words to learn for our upcoming assembly. Please rehearse these words at home with your child regularly. The children will be encouraged to say these words with no prompting, speaking in a loud, clear and slow voice. The assembly will be performed to the infant children and parents on Tuesday 12th June at 9am. A letter went home with your child yesterday with more details and a tear off slip to be returned to school as soon as possible. There was also a letter sent home with information about our upcoming trip to Craigies farm on the 7th of June. Please return the letter as soon as possible with a £4 payment.
Our phonics sound this week is ‘ck’. We have been thinking about words which contain this sound in class and were able to come up with interesting sentences containing each word.
In maths we are continuing our work on money. The children are learning to make amounts up to 10p using 1p and 2p coins.
Thank you for your continued support.
Primary 1 teachers.

Primary 1 23.5.18

This week primary 1 have been learning the ‘oo’ sound. They are confidently able to think of and write words with the spelling rule. The children have also been able to spot words containing ‘oo’ in their reading books. Please continue to practise these words at home in the time your climb exercises.
In maths, the children have been learning to add coins together to make amounts up to 10p. If you can speak to your child about the coins 1p-£2 when you are out shopping it will greatly help this learning.
As part of our farming topic we have been learning about the different parts of a plant. The children were able to label a picture of a flower. We have also been using the beebots to travel in different directions across a farm map. Tomorrow we will be welcoming a farmer from the Royal Highland Education Trust to school. She will be explaining about life on a farm and her experience as a farmer. The children have been thinking about questions to ask her.
Reminders: PE is on Thursday. Please come to school prepared with a named PE kit.
Homework folders should be in school every day since we read books in class throughout the week.
Thank you
P1 teachers

Primary 1 17.4.18

Last week primary 1 welcomed a visitor into their classrooms. Brambleberry, a forest elf from Perthshire, came to our school to escape his enchanted forest which is being spoiled by littering. The children have enjoyed showing him their work and listening to him talk about his enchanted forest. This afternoon the children enjoyed creating fairy houses for Brambleberry and his friends to live in. The children worked very hard with their buddies to create these houses and the finished products look great! Thank you so much for providing boxes and materials for this project.
In maths we have been learning about data handling. The children have learnt to count using tally marks and this week have interpreted and created their own pictograms. Please continue to practise counting forwards and backwards to 30 and adding and subtracting within 10 at home.
In phonics we are learning the ‘wh’ sound this week. please continue to practise at home and to learn the common words in the blue jotter.
Reminders: PE is on a Thursday for both classes. Please remember to bring a named PE kit to school.
Water bottles should contain only water and should be named.
This week the children have maths homework as well as ‘time your climb’, common words and a reading book.
Thank you for your continued support
Miss Christy, Mrs Oliver and Mrs Harris

Primary 1 w.b. 5.3.18

Welcome back! It has been great seeing the children again after our few snow days last week.
This week there will be no homework folders going home. The children still have a reading book though and we appreciate all the work you are doing at home with it. If you are looking for anything else to do, please continue practising sounding out words and counting forwards and backwards to 30.
This week our maths focus will be numbers to 30. The children will be writing these numbers and counting out values up to 30. We are also working on telling the time to both o’clock and half past on analogue clocks.
In phonics we are learning some blended sounds (sh, ch and th). This week our focus is ch. The children have come up with lots of words containing ch and are making great progress reading and writing these words by themselves.
This week we are beginning our new interdisciplinary topic; ‘The enchanted forest’. We will be using different art techniques over the next few days to create our very own class forest in the classroom. We will be learning about woodland animals in our interdisciplinary lessons and this week will find out facts about badgers.
Reminders: PE is on Thursday mornings, please remember to bring a PE kit this day.
Children should have indoor shoes to wear around the classroom. This is especially important with the weather just now.
Your child has received home a letter for the PSA Easter Egg hunt. If you want your child to attend please bring in the return form and £1 as soon as possible.
Thank you
Miss Christy, Mrs Oliver and Mrs Harris

Primary 1 w.b. 29.1.18

Primary 1 have been having another busy week. We are enjoying our Dinosaur topic so far. The children are playing well in the dinosaur areas in the classroom pretending to be paleontologists searching for dinosaur bones. This week we have also acted out different dinosaurs in drama and made a sound map of a dinosaur land. Today we will be investigating dinosaur footprints.
In phonics, we have come to the end of our single letter sounds. The children are growing in confidence reading and writing short words. We will continue to practise this in the coming weeks before moving onto reading diagraphs (sh, ch, th etc). Thank you for all your help supporting your children with this learning at home.
This week you will have noticed that your child brought a non-fiction book home with them. Please read this book with you child and talk about how a non-fiction book is different from fiction. We will be doing work on this in class in the coming weeks.
In maths we are learning how to take away from numbers up to 5 and how to tell the time on analogue clocks. Thank you for practising at home.
Reminders:
– Please send your child to school with a named water bottle. This should only contain water.
– Homework folders should come to school every day so that we can read throughout the week.
Thank you
Miss Christy, Mrs Oliver and Mrs Harris

Primary 3

The frost has started already! So a quick reminder to make sure your child is coming to school wrapped up warm in suitable footwear and clothing. Please, please, please make sure all hats, gloves and scarves are labelled clearly with your child’s name as it is very easy to misplace these items. Also please make sure your child has appropriate clothing for outdoor PE. Tracksuit bottoms and jumpers rather than shorts and t shirts.

We have handed out our new phonic focus for the week, lots of different sounds for your child to learn as well as some recommended common words too.

Last week the children enjoyed their Halloween party, the costumes were fantastic and a lot of fun was had!

Don’t forget on Friday this week we will be having our ‘Weather Party’ to celebrate the end of our topic. The children can bring in their party clothes and we will be providing some snacks and drinks along with a weather film.

Have a good week and if you’re out and about tonight, ‘Happy Trick or Treating’!

Miss Smith, Mrs Smith & Miss Brown

Primary 3 24.10.17

Hello all!

We hope you had a lovely half term break and feel fully rested for the busy term ahead! We have started the week as we mean to go on with our phonic focus and our common words selection. You will notice that the children will have slightly more words to learn using make and break strategies or look, say, cover, write and check. We have also included four common words to practice each week in whichever way you choose. This can be done verbally, in the car, in the supermarket or it can be done using colour on scrap paper in rainbow writing, or opposite handed. The more repetition the children experience the more they will remember when they write in class.

Reading will also be set individually, this will either be stuck in the front of the diary or in the relevant week indicating which pages or chapters to focus on.

PE remains the same with P3S on a Tuesday and Thursday and P3A on a Tuesday and Wednesday.

Our Halloween Disco will be taking place this Thursday at 5pm and the children are already excited about dressing up for this.

We will also be busy planning and rehearsing our P2/3 Nativity and more details of this will follow, don’t want to mention ‘Xmas’ just yet!!!!

It was lovely to see those of you that could attend parent’s evening before half term and as always, our door is open if you have any queries or concerns.

Have a great week!

Mrs Smith, Miss Smith and Miss Brown

P2/1 3rd October 2017

This week in Maths the P1s are consolidating work done with numbers 0-10. We will be practising writing these numbers, making sets of these numbers, ordering them and looking for numbers before after and between. The P2s are beginning to add by combining sets with a range of numbers. In topic maths we will be continuing to work with organising and displaying data.

In phonics this week the P1s will be focusing on the sounds ‘r’ and ‘m’. You might want to discuss the sounds that the children have learned so far at home and do some discussion about things that start with these sounds. We have also been working on blending sounds to make words and we will be continuing this in the coming weeks.
The P2s will be spending this week looking at -ay words. Again, this is a good opportunity to discuss words that have this sound with your child at home. The P2s will be getting a Time Your Climb spelling homework after the October break.

Reminders-
Mon- Indoor Gym
Tues- New reading book
Thurs- Please return library book so your child can choose a new one.
Please remember that the Parent Consultations are next week- you can book a slot online. The children are looking forward to you coming to see the fantastic work they have done so far in P2/1.
Thank you
Mrs Steel

Primary 1 w.b. 2/10/17

Last week, primary 1 had a week of consolidation in their phonics learning. We spent a lot of time reading, writing and blending together the sounds we have learnt so far (a, t, p, i, n and s). The children are making good progress learning their sounds, thank you for your support at home with this. We have also be practising the common words (a, at, the, in, I, it, and, an and is). Please continue to practise these at home so that the children can read and write the words quickly and accurately.
In maths we have been learning our numbers to 10. We have been saying number sequences forwards and backwards to 20. We have also been practising making these numbers and writing them neatly.
This week your child has been given a few websites with maths games on them to play with at home. Here are the links:
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/learning-to-count/gingerbread-man-game
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/learning-to-count/ladybird-spots
Please also continue to practise saying the sounds and blending them together to make short words.
Reminders:
Water bottles should only contain water and should be named.
Please ensure your child comes to school with a PE kit on Mondays. These clothes should be named.
We look forward to meeting with you next Wednesday or Thursday evening for parents consultations. If you have not signed up for a slot please do this as soon as possible.
Thank you
Miss Christy, Mrs Harris and Mrs Oliver

P2/1 27th September 2017

We have had another busy week in P2/1 this week. Both the P1s and the P2s have been working with numbers, looking at numbers before, after and between and starting to count from different numbers. The P1s have been doing this with numbers 0-10 and the P2s have been looking at numbers up to 50 and some of us have been investigating numbers to 100! We are enjoying playing lots of different games to help us with this.

In language the P1’s have looked at the sounds ‘p’ and ‘n’ to go along with s,a,t and i. We have been looking at how we can blend some of these sounds together to make words. Some of us have been doing really well with this-please continue to play the homework game we sent home to support this.
The P2’s have been continuing to revise some sounds including -oy, ph, oa, -ck. You can discuss these with your children at home and see how many words they can remember with these sounds in. Nest week the P2s will be beginning to focus on one sound a week and after October break will be getting a Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check style homework to go along with this.

Reminders-
Monday- Common words/ sound cards (P1)
Gym Kit
Tuesday- Maths (every other week for P2)
Reading book
Thursday- Please bring library book back to change

Thank you for your support.
Mrs Steel

Primary 1 w.b. 25/9/17

Primary 1 have had a busy couple of weeks. The children are now settled well into school life and routines and are enjoying learning lots of new things in our lessons. In phonics, we have now learnt the sounds a, t, s, p, i and n. This week we are revising these sounds and are beginning to blend them together to make short 2 and 3 letter words (sat, pan, sip etc). Any work you do at home practising to read, say and write these sounds is hugely beneficial for your child.
In maths we are continuing to learn our numbers to 10. The children have been making the quantities in different ways including fingers, with cubes and cutting out pictures. We have also been practising writing the numbers and ordering forwards and backwards 1-10.
In science the children have been learning about their 5 senses. Last week we focused on the sense of hearing and made musical instruments. We spoke about how to make a loud and quiet sound.
In your child’s homework folder this week you will find an A4 sheet of card with a variety of sounds on it. Please cut out the cards of the sounds taught so far (a,t,s,p,i and n) and help your child to make short words. There is a list of possible activities to try in the homework folder. We are also asking for every child to bring in a photo of them self as a baby tomorrow (Wednesday 27th Sep). The children will be talking about how they have changed and the different needs a baby has to an older child.
Reminders:
-Please provide your child with a named water bottle every day.
-PE is on a Monday. Please can you ensure that all clothes are named in case they get misplaced.
-It is really helpful if your child can write their name confidently and clearly. Please practise this as part of your homework.
Thank you for your continued support, please contact us if you have any questions.
Miss Christy. Mrs Harris and Mrs Oliver

P2/1 13th September 2017

This week we have been continuing our work on phonics in Literacy. The P2s have been revising some of the sounds that we already know like ‘th;, ‘sh’, ‘ch’ and ‘wh’. The P1s have already learned ‘a’, ‘t’, ‘s’ and ‘i’. See if you can test your child at home to see if they can tell you anything with these sounds in it from around the house.

This week is Inspirational Maths week throughout West Lothian. The P2/1 class have had great fun completing some problem solving activities and we are hoping that if the weather is kind tomorrow we will manage some outdoor problem solving in the playground.

Last week we went on a walk around the school building and took some pictures of different areas of the school. In Writing we wrote some lovely stories about Mrs Steel and the things we like to learn about in school.

Reminders-
Monday- new common words (P1 and P2) and sound cards (P1 only) come out. Gym kit for indoor gym.
Tuesday- New Reading book. Maths (usually every other week)
Can you please remember to send your child’s homework pack back every day as they love getting their medals to show how good a day they have had.
Thank you for your support
Mrs Steel

Primary 2/3 13.09.17

Primary 2/3 have been looking at different types of puppets, such as string, finger, hand and shadow. We have been learning about how they are made and how they are controlled. Primary 2/3 worked in pairs to make stick puppets and practised performing with them. They had lots of fun!

It is numeracy week this week so we have been very active in maths, working in pairs, solving problems and sharing strategies. Primary 2/3 have enjoyed working with different partners every day and discussing how they have solved the problems.

New reading books were given out on Tuesday and they should be read regularly over the next week. Primary 2 and Primary 3 all have common words to practise at home.

In phonics, Primary 3 are focusing on the sound “ph” and Primary 2 are revising “wh” “ee” and “oo”. We have been working with partners spelling words with these sounds, completing activity sheets and trying to write sentences with words that contain the sound. Primary 2/3 have been working very hard!

P.E is on a Monday and Tuesday. Could all children bring a P.E kit and water bottle.

Miss Rafferty

Primary 1 w.b. 4.9.17

The primary 1s are settling in well to school. The children have been learning school routines and are beginning to work independently in their daily tasks. The children are coping well with full days are are enjoying getting stuck in with their learning.
This week we are beginning our work on phonics. We will be teaching the ‘a’ and ‘t’ sounds throughout the week and will be learning the words ‘a’, ‘at’ and ‘the’ to recognise and read by sight. The children will receive a reading book home with them this week to read with an adult. The book will have no words so please see the accompanying letter for suggested activities to do with the book.
In maths, we have been learning the numbers 1-6. We are concentrating on correct formation of these numbers and counting out sets accurately.
We are also beginning our interdisciplinary topic about myself and my family this week. The children will talk about their family and will investigate their 5 senses, especially the sense of hearing.
This is the first week of homework. Homework will be given out on a Tuesday to be handed back in on a Friday. This week the children have a reading book to read, a library book to be read to them and discussed, words in a yellow jotter to learn and a maths worksheet (writing 0-5).
Reminders:
-PE is on a Monday, please come prepared with a PE kit.
-Please only bring water in water bottles for drinking during the day. It is helpful if these bottles are named.
-Please ensure that all clothes are named clearly.
Thank you for your continued support. Please contact us if you have any queries.
Miss Christy, Mrs Harris and Mrs Oliver

Primary 1 w.b.31/10/16

We hope that you all had a good October Break. It now seems like a long time ago! We have had a busy first week back. The children have begun practising for the Nativity and have learnt some of the songs and read through the script. We will begin casting in the next few weeks and appreciate any help you can give your children learning songs and lines at home.
Last week we spent some time consolidating learning on the sounds learnt so far and blending these together to make short words. We will continue to learn new sounds this week and appreciate all your help at home with this.
This week we will also be sending home key words boxes with the first 5 words we have introduced. Please help your children to practise these. New words will be added throughout the term.
In maths we are beginning to work on the concept of addition this week using concrete materials and resources.
Thank you for your continued support.

Primary 1 w.b. 26/9/16

We hope that you enjoyed your September break last week. Last week we focused on revision of all sounds learnt so far. The children are working hard at both saying and writing these letters. We hope you can continue to support your children to recognise these sounds in everyday words.
The children have been practising their number formations up to 10 and will be continuing to focus on the language of number (e.g. more than, less than).
A photographer from the Courier was at school on Wednesday morning, so look out for our primary 1 stars in the newspaper!
Thank you for your continuing support.
Miss Christy, Mrs Oliver and Mrs Muir