Day: May 9, 2019

Today at Families Connect we were discussing Number Talk. We learned some numbers in Welsh – this showed us how confusing learning numbers can be for our children. We tried out some games related to numbers – we had to sort buses into ‘teen’ and ‘ty’ garages and then we were given a busy street scene where we had to find lots of hidden numbers; similar to ‘Where’s Wally?’

When the children joined us, we enjoyed snack together and then played the games. Some of us challenged ourselves by timing how long it took us to put all the buses in the garages and find all the numbers in the scene. We were all careful to pronounce the number names clearly, as sometimes children can confuse ‘teen’ and ‘ty’ numbers.

Next week is our last week of Families Connect. We will be sad for Families Connect to end but we are really looking forward to a group trip to Innoflate to celebrate the completion of our programme!

P4 have been developing their skills in athletics in preparation for sport’s day. We have been working on throwing skills with the javelins, (foam ones!), hurdling, mini shot putts and sprinting. We hope to get outside onto the field in the better weather this term. It would be great if pupils could bring in some warmer gym clothes suitable for outdoor wear in a Scottish Summer. Our gym days this term will be Tuesday and Friday.

In maths we are rounding off our focus topic on multiplication by a single digit. Pupils are generally feeling much more confident about it now, but I have emphasised how important it is to practice these skills regularly to maintain them. The same goes for times tables and every opportunity to practice them in a spare 10 or 15 minutes really helps. This term we will be working on division, estimation and rounding, measurement and decimals.

In literacy we have come to the end of our focus on information writing with a final piece about Egyptian pyramids. Pupils report that they feel more confident about what is expected when writing in this genre. In our final term our new focus will be on narrative writing which the pupils are really looking forward to. They have asked to do some pieces of writing in pairs to help share ideas.

Today the pupils had a judo taster session which they really enjoyed. Everyone engaged with great enthusiasm and huge smiles. Topic work this term will have an environmental theme. Pupils have asked to work in mixed groups again and will be moving around classrooms and working with different teachers twice per week. In each session they will be learning about a different aspect of our environment, factors affecting it and how we can look after it.

 

Continuing our topic on Climate Change, we looked at deforestation and it’s affects. We sorted statements about deforestation into ‘for’ and ‘against’ piles. We then debated the issues it caused but also found that there were some reasons that people might think it can’t be fully stopped. Things like toilet roll, paper and a good road network were essentials many of us decided we would not like to live without!

This led to rich discussions around what alternative there may be. One class member suggested we attempt a ‘paperless day’ in our class – watch this space…………………..