Building a reading culture – St Ninian's Primary School

P3 Weekly Round Up!

Another whirlwind week in P3!

In writing, Mrs Scott was so impressed with the quality of work that we didn’t just have one star writer… we had three!! Our three star writers wowed the class with their amazing news reports about Flat Stanley. Using connectives, ambitious vocabulary and understanding that newspapers need headlines – these are all the skills we built on this week. We can wait to show you at Ninian’s Natter next week!

Our reading groups are up and running now that we have settled into the swing of things 🙂 the boys and girls are using their decoding strategies to build fluency as they read. We plan to change the reading books on a Wednesday, though when children begin to read novels it happens as and when the book ends. We hear reading on a Wednesday, Thursday, Friday in small groups where we use various questioning skills to challenge the children’s understanding of what they have read.

As we are continuing to build a reading culture in our class – boys and girls are encouraged to bring a book from home that they might read for enjoyment in class. We have some avid readers in P3 – Roald Dahl and Diary of a Wimpy Kid books have made an appearance this week 🙂

In maths we are continuing to build on our knowledge of number as we practice skip counting in 2s, 5s and 10s. We LOVED the whack a mole game and will continue to use it as we practice counting in 3s, 4s.. etc. Have a go at home – some of us got up to 1000 today!

http://www.ictgames.com/mobilePage/whackAMole/

During Word Boost we read together a picture book throughout the week, focussing on chosen ‘boost’ words to help us develop a broad ranging vocabulary. This weeks boost words were; local, popular, repeat, mumble and vast. Every time you hear any of these words with your child pop your finger on your nose to indicate a ‘boost word’! Can your child use these words in a sentence?

Ninian’s Natter information is on the school’s weekly update – Mrs Scott and I would love to meet the parents/caters of all of our children! Please do come along to meet us, discuss what learning looks like in the P3 classroom and ask questions about the year ahead! 🙂 looking forward to seeing you all then!

P4 & P4/5 attend Author’s Live event

Here are a few pictures of the event taken by the BBC photographer, Alan Peebles.

Nursery News

This week has been wonderful in St Ninian’s Nursery! We welcomed the arrival of our kindness elves on Monday! They are going to be looking out for boys and girls who can do wonderful things – this might be involved with learning, sharing, confidence or even having super ideas! They are always on the lookout for ‘I can..’ moments but are also really interested in the I Can moments that come from home! Please share any achievements your child has at home with us so we can let the elves know 😉

Welly Wednesday was interesting this week as we discussed the changing weather! Mrs Conway couldn’t see out of her car window and we realised it was because Jack Frost had been out! We talked about the changing seasons and that we are expecting Winter very soon. We watched a lovely clip about birds in winter and learned that it can be hard for them to find food – we decided to make them food to take with us to the woods! The boys and girls enjoyed threading cheerios onto straw and mixing lard with bird seed to make feeders. We seen so many creatures this week! Including squirrels and even a rat!!! How interesting! We are going to go back next week to collect our little pots used for food so we don’t litter the woods.

Thursday brought our Children In Need celebration! We looked great in our spots and stripes – Mrs G and Miss Burns even had a Pudsey eye patch painted on their face! The boys and girls enjoyed talking about how they were lucky to have things that they needed and how their pennies could help Pudsey help other children who need him. We raised over £60! Fantastic!

Thursday PM and Friday AM brought a little bit of a different snack… The boys and girls, along with P1 have been going to the library to listen to the stories up for the Book Bug Picture Book award! We chose Gorilla Loves Vanilla as our favourite and one of the AM group asked if we could have ice cream cones! We joined the P1 group to discuss our favourite flavours which Mrs Martinek ordered – chocolate was the most oooular flavour! The boys and girls enjoyed their wee spoonful of ice cream and the chance to talk about ice cream flavours they might not like – such as worms! As in the story! We look forward to working with P1 on Monday to kick of Road Safety week 🙂

Remember Stay and Play and Come Back and Play next week! We look forward to seeing you all 💜

First Minister’s Reading Challenge

What is the First Minister’s Reading Challenge?

The First Minister’s Reading Challenge is a programme for Primary 1 – 7 pupils in Scotland, providing opportunities and resources to help them develop a love of reading.

There are a range of challenges to encourage children to go on their own reading journeys, explore different types of books and celebrate personal reading achievements. The Reading Challenge aims to support schools and communities to develop reading cultures and for these to be embedded and go on to benefit your children in the long-term.

The First Minister’s Reading Challenge will run from September 2017 until May 2018 and there will be a celebration event in June 2018, where good practice from across the country will be showcased and prizes awarded.

Why is it Important?

The importance of developing a life-long love for reading cannot be underestimated for children and the impact it has on all aspects of education – the curriculum and beyond – is immeasurable. Allowing children to enjoy the fun and pleasure of reading by developing a reading culture in schools, communities and families is therefore incredibly worth-while and something which lies at the heart of the First Minister’s Reading Challenge.

What can you do to help?

Your child has now received a Reading Passport (P1-P3 have a class poster) where they will be able to record books they have read throughout the Challenge and what they think of them. Talk to them about the books and reading materials they enjoyed and the ones they didn’t. You might want to discuss challenges they and you face as readers, and that it’s ok to start a book and realise it’s not for them. They could also take their Reading Passport along to their local library and record recommendations inside.

One of the most important things you can do with your children is make time to talk about books, stories, and words. Let them develop their own interests and, above all, help them to value reading and the world it opens up to them

https://www.readingchallenge.scot/

Mrs Roy

Principal Teacher