rock bottom – Carmondean Primary School Blog

Primary 4 14.6.19

Hello everyone

It has been a hectic but enormously fun week in Primary 4! Yesterday we performed our show “Rock Bottom” to friends and family and the children did an absolutely fantastic job! Every single child worked so hard to make this show such a success and they shone yesterday during both performances. Miss Donaldson and I were extremely proud teachers and would like to thank the children for their dedication to this show. We would also like to thank all the parents and carers for supporting the children with learning lines, songs, dances and for providing costumes. We really appreciate all of your help.

In numeracy this week we began learning about time. We have been exploring analogue clocks and revising o’clock, half past, quarter past and quarter to. We also made our own analogue clocks which we will use to play games with a partner to test our knowledge. Next week we will link our knowledge of time to the digital clock and explore time in some five minute intervals. Please encourage your child to look at clocks to tell the time at home.

Also in numeracy the children finished their work on fractions by completing a “Pizza Party Challenge”. Each child worked with a partner to create their own pizza collage. The catch? The children had to interpret a series of fractions to work out how many slices should have each ingredient. The children were able to work out that 4/6 of the pizza meant 8 slices must have mushrooms and that 1/4 meant that 3 slices of the pizza should have pepperoni. The children then presented their finished pizza creations to the class. Watching the presentations made us all feel very hungry!

This week the children began to create their own booklets about their time in Primary 4. They will write and illustrate their achievements, favourite subjects, things they have learned and their hopes for Primary 5. You will be able to read your child’s completed booklet and explore the rest of their Primary 4 work during our Open Morning which will take place next Friday 21st June from 9:15-10:15. A letter will be sent home with more details about this shortly.

Calum from “Cool Creatures” will be visiting Primary 4 next Tuesday afternoon to round off our mini beast topic. He will be bringing a variety of mini beasts and other animals for the children to look at and possibly interact with if they would like. We would like to thank the PSA for funding this visit, it is much appreciated and we know the children are going to love it!

Reminders –
Sports day next Thursday (9:30 start on the field). Children will be competing in their houses and if they could wear their house colour that would be helpful. If this is not possible then coloured bibs will be provided.
Deer Park – blue
Raeburn – green
Sutherland – yellow
Waverley – red
No more homework to be handed out in Primary 4. Reading books are to be returned to school once they have been completed. Thank you.

Have a lovely weekend!

Miss Clark & Miss Donaldson

Primary 4 7.6.19

Hello everyone

What an amazing week it has been in Primary 4. Yesterday Primary 4 and 5 performed the show “Rock Bottom” to the rest of the school and to say that they did an amazing job is an understatement! So many teachers and pupils have spoken to myself, Miss Donaldson and the P5 teachers about how phenomenal the performance was and we are very proud teachers. We can’t wait for families and friends to see the final performances on Thursday 13th June at 1:30pm and 6:30pm. The children have now received letters home about how to purchase tickets for these events. Thank you for all your support throughout the term, the show wouldn’t be possible without you.

This week was also very exciting as 3 butterflies entered the world in our classrooms! The butterflies drank the juice of oranges and strawberries while they grew stronger and then on Tuesday we released them out of their net and into the wild! The children have loved watching the caterpillars grow and develop into beautiful butterflies and have learned so much about mini beasts through watching this transformation in action.

Our monthly homework challenge has now been completed and it was very successful. We loved seeing the different types of homework that the children wanted to share with us and the rest of the class and we feel that it has been a valuable experience for all. There will be no more homework handed out in Primary 4. However, if your child has not finished their reading book then this should be completed at home and the book returned to school upon completion before the end of term. Thank you, as always, for supporting your child with their homework.

The Carmondean Summer Fair is tomorrow from 11am-1pm and will take place in both school halls due to the weather forecast. Entrance to the school will be via the fire exit next to the large hall. Tickets can be purchased at the event. We are sure this will be a very fun event.

Thank you for all your help and support.
Have a lovely weekend.

Miss Clark & Miss Donaldson

Primary 4 30.5.19

Hello everyone

We have had a very busy week in Primary 4 so far. In P4C our learning of minibeasts continued with the story of “The Cautious Caterpillar”. This caterpillar was afraid to change into a butterfly because he loved being a caterpillar so much. However he was brave, made the transformation and was so pleased that he did. We discussed how we could apply that to our own lives and discussed times that we had been brave and tried something new and how this was important. All of the children are about to “transform” into Primary 5 children and some decided to write down information about themselves to share with their future P5 teacher. We will continue to discuss this and learn more about the life cycles of minibeasts through our topic.

We have been working extremely hard on the “Rock Bottom” Primary 4/5 show this week. Our dress rehearsal in front of the whole school and staff is next Thursday 6th June. You should have received costume letters home detailing what your child needs to bring in to wear during the performances. Almost all children should provide a plain but brightly coloured t-shirt and leggings/trousers that we are allowed to cut into zig zags at the bottom for a prehistoric feel! Please let us know if there are any problems with providing parts of your child’s costume and we will work hard to solve any problems. Thank you for your support with this. The final show performances to friends and families are on Thursday 13th June 2019 with a performance at 1:30pm and another at 6:30pm. All children are expected to attend both performances. If your child cannot attend for any reason then please let us know as soon as possible. Tickets will go on sale for this event soon.

This week Primary 4 were involved in the whole school spring clean litter pick. Our area was the perfect playground area and the left hand side and back fence on the field. We found lots of litter and we were happy that we could help Mrs Muir and her Eco Warriors along with the rest of the school to help make our playground beautiful. Well done Primary 4! Even the rain didn’t dampen our spirits! See some photos of us working hard below! 🙂

We were visited today by Mr Canning, the chanter/pipes tutor that visits the school weekly. All children were treated to him playing the chanter and the pipes for us! Today children will receive letters home to ask whether they would be interested in chanter/brass tuition beginning in Primary 5. Please fill in these forms and return them to school if your child is interested in taking part in a trial lesson next week.

Reminders –
PE days – Tuesday and Thursday
Homework (reading, spelling activity and one other activity due on Fridays)

Thank you for your continued support.
Have a lovely weekend when it comes.

Miss Clark & Miss Donaldson

Primary 4 3.4.19

Hello everyone

Primary 4 are having a lovely last week of term so far. We have been learning about the Easter story this week in RME. We have been learning about which countries traditionally celebrate Easter and why. We have also been learning how every country has different Easter traditions. Today we are making Easter crafts and practising our cutting, sticking and colouring skills. We also used paper fasteners to bring our craft to life 🙂 In class we have been learning Easter songs to sing at the church on Friday morning.

In maths we have been consolidating our learning of different multiplication and division strategies that we have learned this term. The children designed posters that showed their knowledge of multiplication and division facts, shared strategies that help them to solve problems and created their own word problems! P4D shared their posters with the class and Mr Shanks made a surprise visit to P4C to see all their hard work. Well done to both classes!

Last week we had the pleasure of watching the dress rehearsal of the P6/7 show. It was spectacular and we all loved it – especially the amazing dance moves! We wish P6/7 good luck as they perform this show to their families tomorrow.

We have begun to learn the songs and now the dances for the P4/5 show “Rock Bottom”. The dances are very energetic and we look forward to getting to know them better. Some children have been given lines to learn over the Easter Holidays. Other children will be told more about their parts after the holidays.

This will be our last blog post before the Easter Holidays. We look forward to welcoming the children back on Tuesday 23rd April and hope you all have a restful and enjoyable Easter break!

Thank you for all your support.

Miss Clark & Miss Donaldson