Category: Primary 3

This week we have been writing an exciting story based around the adventures of Mr Benn to improve our imaginative writing techniques.  For this week’s challenge we all had to choose a job for Mr Benn that he had not done before.  We had to decide which outfit he would need to wear which would be suitable for the job we had chosen.  When Mr Benn changed into his outfit and walked through the door we had to tell the reader all about the adventure he went on.  We then had to decide how he would get back to the clothes shop and what object he would bring back to remind him about his amazing adventure.  We are looking forward to reading and sharing our stories with each other in class.

In Maths we have been learning about multiplication.  We have been using arrays to help us with this and have made fantastic “array houses” showing different multiplication calculations.  Using the array we learned for example that 2 x 3 is the same as 3 x 2 as the array pattern still has the same amount of symbols within it.  We also used a coat hanger to show this as well by spinning it around to show for example that 4 x 3 is the same as 3 x 4.  We then used our new Numicon number resource to make different array patterns and solve the multiplication sums.

In non-number maths, we have been learning how to read timetables for trains and buses. We found this very tricky especially when Mrs Fleming was asking us to calculate how long between stops. This would be a great thing to practise the next time we get a bus or train with an adult.

In Health and Wellbeing, following on from learning where food comes from, we have been learning about the 5 main food groups. Ask us to name them and see if we can remember! Answers at the end of this post 😁. We cut out pictures from food magazines and had to sort them into the correct food groups.

In French, we have started learning common weather phrases. Mrs Fleming will be asking us to describe the weather in French when she is in class.

Mr Ritchie, Mrs Fleming and the Tiggerrific P3B’s

ANSWER – 5 main food groups are: Fruit+Veg, Carbohydrates, Proteins, Dairy and Oils+Spreads.

In Maths we have been continuing our work on number talks and subtraction.  We are now able to subtract a two-digit number from a two-digit number using both written and mental strategies.  We will be finishing off our subtraction work by looking at subtraction written problems set in a context.  Once we have completed this we will be moving on to multiplication!

In writing we all went to the library to select a book of our choice.  We read the books and then wrote up a book review.  We had to write down our opinions about the book giving reasons why we liked or disliked the characters, story plot and setting.  We then had to write up a recommendation for the book and give it a star rating.

Mrs Manlove our school librarian set us a competition to design a new book cover for our favourite book.  We discussed the importance of using colour, text size and making sure our overall design was in proportion to make the cover look attractive and encourage people to pick the book up to see what it was about.  We also looked at a range of different book covers created by different illustrators to see how they used different sizes of texts in different positions to create attractive and eye-catching effects.  We are looking forward to finding out the winner of the competition.

We also had a visit from P7 who did an art lesson and showed us how to make and design a bookmark.  They also told us about the new book club that will be starting in the library and also the book swap that is happening this week as part of World Book Day.

Thursday was World Book Day and Mrs Fleming was teaching us. We dressed up in some brilliantly creative costumes and took part in lots of fun learning activities.  In PE, we went on a bear hunt just like the popular storybook and learned how to move our bodies in different ways. We read “The Disgusting Sandwich” by Gareth Edwards and completed some fun reflective reading tasks based on this.  We even got to recreate the disgusting sandwich using real, squelchy, squishy ingredients! YUCK!!  We had 2 special visitors who read us stories throughout the day – Mrs Manlove from school and the author Lynne Rickards. Lynne read us one of her own books called Willow the Wildcat and we got the chance to ask her lots of questions about her job. We also got to watch P1b perform their World Book Day themed assembly which was hilarious! It was an action packed fun day for us all!

Today we invited our parents into the classroom to take part in our “BEAR” event.  We read and discussed the story “Wanted! Ralfy Rabbit, Book Burglar and then completed our Reflective Reading activity stations – Textplorers, Picture It, Find the silly words and Jigsaw Jumble.  We all had great fun working with our parents and completing the tasks at the different activity stations.

Mr Ritchie, Mrs Fleming and the tiggerrific P3B’s

This week we had a very interesting visit from Mrs Jess Findlay, a retired farmer who works for the Royal Highland Education Trust.  She gave us a presentation all about her life on the farm and the crops that she grew.  We learned about wheat, barley and oats.  She brought samples of the actual crops so that we could touch and smell them.  We also saw what happened to them once they had been cut and processed through the combine harvester and discussed what the resulting grains could be made into.  She then showed us a poster about the different breeds of cows and explained that some are reared for producing milk and others are reared for producing meat.   She also brought in a huge carrot from her farm and explained that it would keep much longer than one bought from the supermarket as it was covered in earth.  The earth keeps the carrot cool so it lasts much longer than the washed ones we can buy in the supermarket.

In grammar we have been learning about past, present and future verbs. We learned that we could use “Uncle Ed” to help us write or identify a verb in the past tense.  The verb would end in “ed”.

In writing we used our class novel to help us write an imaginative story.  The story had to have a character who was sad at the start of the story and then something had to happen to them to make them happy at the end.  We worked with our learning partners to brainstorm lots of different ideas of what might make our character happy and added this to our writing plan.

To coincide with the school show “Fame” we all dressed up in costumes from the 80’s.  It was tiggerrific seeing everyone all dressed up during the school fashion parade in the hall.  Each class took a turn of walking the “catwalk” to model their costumes.  We then all took part in a “Jane Fonda” workout which involved us completing a dance exercise routine.  She was very fast, so we all had to move very quickly.  We were all tired out at the end and needed a rest before returning back to the classroom.  We then learned about what it was like to live in the 80’s by looking at the different types of clothing people wore, the music and bands they listened to, what cars and technology looked like. We also looked at the different TV shows and toys children played with.  We were amazed that we still play with some of the toys today and also the size of a mobile phone.  It was ginormous compared to the phones we have today and could only be used to answer calls.  The phone battery only lasted a few hours and the phone could not take pictures, play music or send text messages etc.  We loved watching some of the TV shows and cartoons from the 80’s.  Our favourite one is the adventures of Mr Ben.  To complete our day, we also learned some dances from the 80’s with our favourite being “Push pineapple” by the band Agadoo!

Mr Ritchie and the tiggerrific P3B’s

We had a fantastic visit from one of our parents; Mrs Schofield, who is a kilt maker to trade.  She brought in samples of tartan and explained how the cloth was made into a kilt.  To demonstrate this she brought in a sample kilt and also a length of material, 5 meters long which was the amount needed to make a kilt for a child or a lady.  To make a kilt for a man you would need 7 meters.  It was so big that we all had to go outside the classroom into the corridor so we could lay it flat.  Mrs Schofield demonstrated how the kilt is folded to make pleats for the back of the kilt.  It is very important that the tartan is folded in the correct place so the pattern of the kilt looks correct.   We then went back in time to learn about the “great kilt” which was used by the highlanders.  It consisted of a large piece of material which was wrapped around the wearer and held in place with a belt and a clasp.  Mrs Schofield used Mr Ritchie as a model to demonstrate the different way the great kilt could be used to carry things, as a raincoat and a blanket.  The great kilt was made from wool so was very hard wearing, very warm and also waterproof as long as it did not get too wet.  We all really enjoyed our visit.

We have also been looking at the history of tartan and how it is woven on big looms.  Traditionally you can use up to eight different colours to make the design linked to the different Scottish clans.  Using this information we then designed our own tartan and have modelled the kilts in the classroom using our “kilted tatties”.  Our display looks as if the tatties are all dancing in their amazing tartan kilts!

In Science we have been looking at how glass is made.  We learned about the manufacturing process and the different things glass can be used for.  We then designed information posters to explain the process for display in the classroom.

In Maths we have started to look at subtraction using the column or “chimney” method.  We have learned that sometimes we need to exchange or borrow a 10 from the 10s place value column and add it to the units column to enable the number to be subtracted.  We have found it quite tricky but Mr Ritchie has given us a catchy saying to help us remember about knocking on the door of the “bank of tens and asking if we borrow any, and if we can we are not greedy as we only want to borrow one ten”.

We are continuing to read our class novel “Flash the Sheep Dog” by Kathleen Fidler and we have just learned that Tom has received his new sheep dog puppy called Flash.  We are all looking forward to hearing about what happens next!

Mr Ritchie and the tiggerrific P3B’s

A blog about last week and this week!

We had a great start to the week last week when M’s mum came to visit us.  She is a kiltmaker, she brought us an example of a kilt she would make today and explained just how she makes it.  She also brought a piece of tartan material needed to make a kilt for a lady or a child – it was 5 meters long, it just fitted in the classroom – for a man’s kilt she would need a piece about 7 meters long!  We helped to make pleats int he kilt folding it at just the right place so that the pattern on the tartan is correct.  We also learned about the ‘Great Kilt’ which was one of the first kilts worn.  It was a large piece of material wrapped around the wearer, it was made from wool and so was warm and waterproof (for a while).  It also had many other uses such as carrying things in and could even be made into a shelter or tent!  It was a great visit and we learned a lot – thank you very much Mrs Scholfield 🙂

Following our visit from Mrs Schofield we have been learning about the history of tartan,  how it is made and have been busy designing our own.  We had to be patient and take our time to be accurate in cutting strips carefully and when weaving our patterns.  Lots of great designs and they are all different.

With Mrs Begarnie in Science  last week, we made bridges.  We had blocks and paper and we had to make it strong enough to hold some pebbles on top – as many as the bridge would take!  We have been investigating materials and we were having a go at working our which materials work best for bridge building.

It has been a short but busy week this week, carrying on with our craft topic we have been using wool to make bracelets.  P3 picked it up really quickly and have been teaching the younger children how to do it too.

In numeracy we are really getting good at telling the time.  Digital clocks are still a little tricky for some so if you see one when you are out or have one in the house maybe you could have a little practise.  We have also been learning about timetables, how to use one and why they are important.  We have been thinking about our school day and what happens at certain times during the day.  We made our own timetables too.

We have also been learning column subtraction with borrowing, where we have to borrow 10 from the 10s number and add it to the units to allow us to solve our sum.  We will continue with this next week, using larger numbers as we become more familiar with the method.  Here is a picture of how we are doing it if you want to practise at home.

Next week, on Wednesday we are looking froward to welcoming a visitor from the Royal Highland Education Trust to tell us about food and farming.

Have a good weekend, from P3A and Mrs Kennedy

In writing this week we have been working on imaginative writing using a story starter.  The story starter was based around a small door that we found in a large oak tree in the middle of the woods.  We listened to a soundtrack of the door opening.  The door was very creaky as it began to open slowly…….   Working with our learning partners we brainstormed lots of different ideas of who might be behind or coming out of the door.  We then used this information to help us structure our story so that it had a beginning, a middle and an ending.  We all came up with lots of interesting characters for our story and we are looking forward to reading and listening to them.

In maths we have been continuing to develop our subtraction strategies and also using our number bonds to help us with our Big Maths challenge.  With Mrs Doran we have been working on using the clock to tell the time using the stations of the clock.

We have also started using the new play area outdoors and had great fun at the start of the week playing in all the snow with Mrs Stapleton and some of our classmates.

In PE we are continuing to learn how to pass and dribble the ball.  We have then been playing mini five-a-side football games to try out our new skills.  Our mini teams are very competitive!

In Health & Well Being we have been using our Circle Time to learn how to improve our listening, teamworking and social skills.  As a group we decided what we needed to work on and then used “Talking Ted” to help us take turns to discuss ideas of how we could improve our skills in the areas selected for discussion.  We then played a communications game where we had to listen to our partner and recreate the picture, they had drawn by listening and following their instructions.  This was a lot of fun and proved to be trickier than we originally thought it would be!

Mr Ritchie and the Tiggerrific P3B’s