On Monday 11th February primary 2/3 showcased what they have learnt so far on Scottish Islands at their assembly. Miss Gill was very proud of the confidence and enthusiasm that all children showed and the children were very proud of their performance too! We have been continuing our topic and have been taking our learning outside to look at our school and local context and compare this to the primary school on the Isle of Coll (where our Katie Morag stories are based on). We used art to draw what we seen when we looked outside of our playground and then used google maps and images to compare what the children on the Isle of Coll primary school might see. Our next steps are to then widen this and compare the features of Craigshill with other Islands around Scotland.

In numeracy we have been looking at fractions. We have been placing fractions on a number line and have also been using fractions to half quantities and numbers.

We are continuing to use a range of strategies in reading to help us when we come across words that we do not know. We have also been looking at making connections between what we are reading and our experiences. In writing we have moved onto persuasive writing and have been looking at different techniques for persuasive writing such as positive words, rhetorical questions and bossy verbs.

In art we have been looking at the work of Steven Brown. We looked at examples of his work and spoke about their features using art vocabulary and discussed our opinions of his work. We then created our own McCoo’s using a range of different colours and lines.

Primary 2/3 have had yet another busy week! On Monday we began our investigation into our new topic, Scottish Islands. Prior to this we all had a discussion as a class about what we thought we already knew about islands, what we wanted to find out and how we could learn it. Some of the most common answers were that children wanted to find out about how islands are formed and about life on an island. Children are also keen to research this information through using technologies as well as atlases and information programmes. We have also been enjoying the Katie Morag stories which tell us all about a little girl who lives on the Isle of Struay. We are going to be sharing some of this information that we have learnt at our assembly on February 11th!

In numeracy we have been looking at telling the time. We have been making our own paper clocks and had a discussion about the different vocabulary associated with time. We also spoke about what we do at different time intervals during the day and the importance of time in our everyday lives.

In literacy we are moving onto the new reading skill of making connections. Making connections while we read enables us to make better sense of what we are reading as we can connect with the text. It also encourages us to draw on our prior knowledge and become more engaged in our reading.

This week in primary 3 we have been learning how to tell the time and enjoyed taking our learning outside. We used hoops, chalk and sticks to make our very own clocks in the playground. We then got to practice showing different times on our clocks and testing our partners.

As part of literacy we have all chosen a Scottish poem to learn for our upcoming poetry competition to celebrate Robert Burns. We enjoyed looking at each poem and highlighting any Scottish words. We made guesses as to what we thought the words might mean in English and then looked them up in a Scottish dictionary. We made lots of fantastic guesses!

Also this week we attended a multi-sports festival at Craigswood Sport Centre where we participated in a range of exciting sports. The football station was voted the favourite in our class!

This week in primary 3 we were very lucky to have our first outdoor learning lesson with Mrs McCool. These lessons will focus on numeracy and maths and will involve taking our learning outside into the playground and garden area. We all thoroughly enjoyed playing games and going on a shape hunt, we managed to find all 12 shapes! Please note that our outdoor learning takes place every Tuesday and children should come to school dressed appropriately for the weather.

In literacy we have been learning how to summarise a text. We discussed what is meant by the key points in a text and learned how to identify them. We understand that a summary involves only the key points of a text and should be said or written using our own words. As a class we have made an anchor chart to remind us of the strategies involved in making a summary.

In science this week we learned about food chains and the flow of energy. We learned what the words ‘consumer’ and ‘producer’ meant and enjoyed sorting animals and plants into these headings. We liked getting to make up our own food chains and recognise that each chain must begin with a producer.