Big Writing – Big Talk Homework 

Hi Parents/ Carers,

This week for Big Writing we will be looking at different examples of newspaper articles and will be writing our own reports in class.  Before we write our own, we will need to know more about this style of writing and identify the key features of newspaper reports.  The Big Writing approach suggests sending home ‘Big Talk’ homework, the night before, to prepare (mentally) for what they will be writing about the next day. The advice is to find a quiet time to have a discussion about the writing topic/ style etc with your child as this will then give them a starting point of familiarity/ personal experience for their writing.

We have sent home a slip with The Big Talk focus, but have given pupils a couple of nights to try and fit this in before they have their writing sessions in school.

This week’s talk homework task is to talk to an adult/ older sibling about the different features of the newspaper reports (You may need to borrow a newspaper from a family member or friend.)  Ask your child the following types of questions:

• Do you notice anything different from the way stories are presented?
• Look at newspapers and talk about how they differ from other types of writing such as, postcards, letters, poems etc?
• How are the paragraphs organised, is the layout of a newspaper report the same as a page in a fictional book?
• Have you noticed anything interesting about the type of language that is being used throughout the report?

We look forward to hearing the children’s contributions and key findings about newspaper report writing and will use their knowledge to help create our own checklists and success criteria for the writing that will take place in school.

Mrs Bowman, Mrs Mackie and Mrs Waugh (whoops nearly wrote Buchanan!)

The class started their Romans topic with Mrs Mackie this week and have been sharing some of their learning with me. They were keen to show me the information books they will be using to help research the topic and were telling me about how the Romans made mosaics, which are pictures and patterns created by arranging little tiles together.

The children have also been introduced to Roman Numerals and will be learning more about how to recognise, read and order them and about how these are still used in modern day.

In science, we will be continuing with our forces work for the next couple of weeks and will be looking at the effect of these on the shape and motion of objects.

Boys and girls, your science challenge this week, should you choose to accept it, is to find out what the term ‘friction’ means for Thursday.

In writing, we have been looking at the traditional form of Japanese poetry known as ‘Haiku.’ While working with Mrs Millar, the class learned that Haiku poems consist of 3 lines. The first and last lines of a Haiku have 5 syllables and the middle line has 7 syllables. They also learned that the lines rarely rhyme and that Haiku poetry is often based on nature.

This session we have created our Winter Haiku word banks and are in the process of creating our poems. Here are a couple of completed examples:

                   Snow is falling down.

                   Ice skating children and friends.

                   Icicles shining                    

                                      Zoe McMillan

    I see snow outside.

   All the trees are icy now.

   Snow covering cars.

                      Warren Robinson

Finally, in class maths we are learning about money and have been familiarising ourselves with coins from 1p – £2. Mrs Mackie even showed the class the new 12-sided £1 coins which will enter circulation in March 2017. We will be working with and using a range of coins and developing our knowledge of the symbols (£ and p) associated with money. We will also be investigating different combinations of coins and money equivalences and looking at strategies and mental methods of calculating costs and change in problem solving.

You can help out your child by exploring coins at home together, e.g. look at their values, sort out different ways of making the same amounts, ordering from lowest to largest values etc. Homework for this will be issued next week related to work taking place in class. It will be issued on the Thursday, to be returned by the following Thursday.

Here are a couple of links for games that will support you and your child at home:

http://www.topmarks.co.uk/money/toy-shop-money

Instructions:

• Select ‘Mixed Coins’
• Then select from the column that is headed ‘Exact Money’
• Start by selecting the ‘Up to 20p’ box. If your child appears confident with this, then they can challenge themselves and move onto the next box ‘Up to £1’

http://resources.hwb.wales.gov.uk/VTC/working_with_coins/eng/Introduction/MainSessionPart1.htm

Instructions:

This link should take you straight to the correct game and level. Follow the instructions on the screen and work through the 20 examples together, helping your child to combine totals where necessary.

We will be covering lots of this in class, so don’t worry if your child is not ready to move on too quickly. We will also be doing lots of work on addition and subtraction and the strategies that can be used to help us combine/ subtract numbers more easily. We will update the blog with some of these strategies in a few weeks time, so that you can see how we work things out in class.

Happy Weekend!

Happy New Year Everyone!

We  have had a good holiday and have come back refreshed and ready to learn…especially now that we are now technically Primary 3G and a 1/2!!!  We are looking forward to the next 6 months of Primary 3 and all the new and exciting things we are going to learn.

We hope you have all had a lovey holiday and that you enjoy reading all about what we have been up to this week.

We found out on Wednesday that our new topic is ‘The Romans’ and we have already completed sections of our KWL (what we already Know, What we would like to find out and how we are going to Learn about it/what we have Learned) grid which will help inform Mrs Mackie and Mrs Waugh’s planning.

We are all very excited and have even started reading some of the topic books in the classroom already!

We are going to continue with our science topic from last term, which is looking at Forces and Magnets. We have already been learning lots about the push and pull forces.  Please test us out at home by asking us to explain what these are.

From P3G, Mrs Mackie and Mrs Waugh

P.S  Thank you to everyone who has already supplied new indoor/gym shoes, where necessary, for the new session.  Great to see everyone wrapped up in warm coats, hats, scarves etc too!

Thank you, from Mrs Mackie and Mrs Waugh

Hi all,

We will be drawing the winners of the ‘Children in Need’ raffles, for both the children and the adults, at the assembly on Friday 25th November as we are still waiting on a couple of prize items being delivered!  Tickets will still be available to buy next week at a cost of 50p for children and £1 for adults per strip.

Our fundraising bake sale has been rescheduled for Wednesday 23rd November. There will be a range of cakes and goodies on offer from as little as 10p.  Pupils will be able to buy one or two items when they visit the bake sale with their classes and then if we have any goodies left, pupils with additional money will be able to purchase extra items.

Thank you in advance from P3G for all your support with this fundraising event.  Looking forward to seeing everyone dressed in their spots etc. at the assembly on Friday.

Mrs Waugh and P3G