Category Archives: Primary 4a

Spotty Week in P4a!

November 18, 2016 Miss McMillan Leave a comment

What a spotty week we have had in P4a! We have enjoyed dressing up in spots for Children in Need and helping to raise money for this charity. We had a competition to design either a pair of spotty wellies for Pudsey, a spotty bow for Blush or a spotty t-shirt. At Golden Time we made Pudsey and Blush puppets. We enjoyed the assembly and disco – well done and thank you to P6 for organising. We also spent time finding out about the charity and how it helps children. We discussed why some children might need some help and found out about some of the projects and children the charity has helped.

For Anti-Bullying Week, we watched some films about bullying and reviewed some presentations. We talked about what bullying means, different types of bullying and what to do if you, or someone you know, is being bullied. We also considered why some people might become bullies. We made posters about these issues to display around the classroom.

In Language we have been practising joining sentences together to make longer and more interesting sentences using different joining words (or connectives). We have also continued with our poetry theme and written poems about the “Value of the Month” – Peace. We are looking forward to Book Week next week.

In Maths we have continued investigating and exploring symmetry, especially shapes and patterns with more than one line of symmetry. We have completed an assessment activity for our I-JournALs. We have also continued exploring addition strategies – this week focusing on using number bonds to help us add bigger numbers (e.g. 5+3=8 so 45+3=48) and drawing number line diagrams to help us add numbers that bridge a multiple of 10 (e.g. 78+6).

In Topic we have begun learning about climate zones around the world while developing our skills in listening for information. In Health we are continuing to develop a growth mindset and this week were discussing what effort in our learning means. In P.E. we began playing games of Handball in teams – great fun! We have also been out in the playground and begun a mini-topic on Playground Leadership. We are going to be working in teams to develop new playground games. In Music we are learning about pitch and how to read music.

Primary 4a

Our week in P4a – w.b. 31.10.16

November 4, 2016 Miss McMillan Leave a comment

It’s been a quick week in P4a! Our student teacher Mrs Knowles, has been helping us with our learning a lot.

In Language, we have been writing fireworks poems as not only is it Bonfire Night soon, but it was also Diwali last weekend – both occasions where fireworks are popular! We learned about onomatopoeic words that sound like the sound that they describe. This was very useful for writing about fireworks. We also started a new listening activity to help improve our skills in listening for instructions – hopefully we will get better and better as the weeks go on! Some of us completed character studies on characters from Stanley and the Magic Lamp and these are displayed in our classroom.

In Maths, we have been continuing with our Number Talks – where we discuss calculations and our strategies for finding the answer. We are focusing on addition and subtraction at the moment. We need to know our number bonds to 20 really well – please help us practise these at home with games and quizzes- as these will help us to add and subtract bigger numbers. We have also started a new maths topic on symmetry where we have been investigating shapes, pictures and patterns to find a line of symmetry. We also have made our own symmetrical pictures and patterns. We could look at home and in the environment to see if we can find any symmetrical objects or pictures – we could even take a photo and bring it in to school to show our class.

In RME, we have been finding out about the practices and traditions of the Hindu festival of Diwali. We heard the story of Rama and Sita. We made Diwali cards and a display about the festival. In Health, we discussed how to be safe on Bonfire Night and studied the Firework Safety Code. We then worked in a group to make a poster to tell others how to stay safe. In Music, we have begun to learn how to read and write music notation and had fun clapping out our rhythms.

This term we have a grid to complete as the main part of our homework. Some activities we are to complete weekly as usual – spelling, reading, maths – and the others we can complete in any order and should be returned to school by 9th December.

Primary 4a

Welcome back to P4a

October 28, 2016 Miss McMillan 1 Comment

We all enjoyed our October holidays and we shared our experiences with each other in Check-In and in our personal stories that we wrote this week. We are ready for Term 2 in Primary 4. We are lucky to have an extra teacher this term – Mrs Knowles is a student teacher who will be helping us in our learning for the next 5 weeks.

In Maths this week, we have started revising number bonds to 20 and linking addition and subtraction facts. We should be able to recall these number facts quickly and accurately so it would be great if adults could help us to practise these at home also. We have been taking part in “Number Talk” sessions where we are given a problem to solve and we discuss our strategies for finding the answer.

In our Water Topic we thought about how water is used in our houses and we each made a water drop with one of these uses for our display. We considered what we need water for and what we want water for – we all agreed that the most important use of water was for drinking to keep us healthy and alive!

In RME, we are learning about naming ceremonies in different religions. This week, we learned about Christian Baptism and Christening ceremonies. Some of us created a poster to show the important practices and traditions. We have also been thinking more about the Value of the Month – Patience – and talking about how we have been patient in our lives.

We are continuing to read the BFG and have had fun exploring some of the language used by Roald Dahl. We made our own mini-dictionaries to explain what some of his words mean.

Many of us enjoyed attending the Halloween Disco. We loved dressing-up and taking part in the pumpkin competition. Thank you to the PSA parents and staff for organising this event.

Happy Halloween!

Global Citizenship, Primary 4a

This week in P4a – week beg. 10.10.16

October 15, 2016 Miss McMillan Leave a comment

In P4a this week we have been busy with our literacy learning. We read a selection of “blurbs” from our class and group reading books and then created a blurb of our own for a book of our choice. We were careful not to give away the ending! We wrote another imaginative story too. We looked at our self-evaluation sheets on our stories from the previous week and tried to meet our writing targets. We also started learning about different types of words: nouns, adjectives and verbs.

In maths, we have been counting in 1s, 10s, 100s, and 1000s and finding the number 1, 10, 100, or 1000 more or after a given number.We also had an assessment on place value to see what we have understood and what we still need to work on.

In our Water Topic, we learned about how water is treated and cleaned before it comes to our houses. We watched videos to discover more about the different processes involved and we investigated filtration by filtering some dirty, muddy water using filter paper.

We have been learning about The Global Goals as part of The World’s Largest Lesson. There are 17 goals that aim to end poverty, inequality and climate change by 2030. The focus goal for 2016 is Gender Equality. We heard a story about a girl called Malala who campaigns for the right of girls to go to school. We read a comic strip cartoon about gender equality too – Chakra the Invincible – which is set in Mumbai. We all had homework to complete where we had to find out if the important people and leaders in our local area and country are male or female. We are looking forward to studying the results soon. All this links with the UNCRC and our Rights Respecting Schools work – Article 28: You have the right to a good quality education.

We have had a good first term in P4a, but there’s lots more to come after the holidays. Happy holidays!

Primary 4a

Fantastic Times in P4a! Week beginning 3.10.16.

October 10, 2016 Miss McMillan Leave a comment

This week in P4a we have been learning about The Water Cycle. We talked about our evaporation and condensation experiment and then watched some film clips about The Water Cycle. We drew labelled diagrams of it in our jotters and we even made a big poster using collage for the wall.

We took part in money-related activities with our parents and carers during Terrific Tuesday, for example games on the computers and a Fruit Smoothie challenge. These activities will continue next week during Money Week. We have been learning to measure in millilitres and litres and to read scales to the nearest 100ml. It has been fun exploring this at the water tray. We are still working on place value of a number and building our understanding of bigger numbers.

In P.E. we did a Beep Test where we had to run between targets and try to get faster and faster. Also in tennis, we enjoyed practising our skills with a partner outside in the sunshine. We learned backhand and serve this week.

In writing, we have learned to use a vertical plan to plan our stories in three parts. Our imaginative story was about going on an adventure with a giant and was inspired by the BFG. We also read lots of poems with the theme “messages” on National Poetry Day. The poem we studied was “Cracking the Code” by Ciara McLaverty and was about giving a message to squirrels. We enjoyed writing our own poems based on this poem and we tried to add rhyming words and follow the same pattern.

In French we have been revising basic greetings and asking how someone is feeling. We practised these things with a partner. We also located France and Paris on a map and learned more about the city of Paris.

Fantastic times in P4a!

After School Clubs, P1, P3, PE, Primary 1a, Primary 1b, Primary 2/1, Primary 3/2, Primary 3a, Primary 4a, Primary 4b, Primary 5a, Primary 5b, Primary 6a, Primary 6b, Primary 7a, Primary 7b, School information 2016-2017, Sport

Active Schools Holiday Programme

October 10, 2016 Miss Noble Leave a comment

Please click on the link below to find out more about the Active schools holiday programme:

http://www.activewestlothian.com/active-schools/clubs

Primary 4a, Religious and Moral Education

P4a Update – 30.9.16

September 30, 2016 Miss McMillan 1 Comment

This has been a really busy week in P4a as we were working hard to prepare for our class assembly about the value of Thoughtfulness. We had lines to learn and practise at home. We had songs to sing and actions to add. It was great fun making up our drama sketches, taking photos and filming our library video clips. We learned a little about the work of the MacMillan Cancer Support charity and we were proud to link this charity with the value of thoughtfulness. We did a great job presenting the first P4-7 class assembly of the year and we would like to thank our parents and carers who helped us practise at home and also came to watch as part of the audience. (N.B. The green balloons were recovered safely!!!)

In maths, we have been measuring capacity and volume in litres and millilitres. We all got to investigate this at the water tray. We should now have a look at home to see what items we can find that have been measured in litres and millilitres, e.g. fruit juice or shampoo. We have also been working with bigger numbers including thousands, hundreds, tens and units. Some of us even worked with numbers including tens of thousands!

P4a have begun NYCOS music lessons with Mrs Poynter. She will be helping us to learn more about rhythm and keeping the beat, as well as reading and writing music. This will all be done through fun games and songs and the course will run up to the Christmas holidays.

In language, we have been continuing our study of Fantastic Mr Fox and have explored the setting for this story. We also wrote an imaginative story about what might happen next to Mr Fox and his friends. This was an assessment piece of writing to help identify our next steps in writing. We started our spelling homework properly and we had our first spelling patterns and tricky words to practise.

In P.E., we have continued to work on our tennis skills with the tennis coach Eoin. Mr Muldoon has also been helping us to develop our fitness further through partner activities. We enjoyed welcoming parents and carers into class for our first Terrific Tuesday. There was lots of fun to be had with the games and activities. We dressed up in green to support the MacMillan Cancer Support charity and we took part in the coffee morning by singing one of our assembly songs.

What a busy week we have had!

Primary 4a

P4a News 21.9.16-23.9.16

September 23, 2016 Miss McMillan 2 Comments

In P4a we have continued to learn about water as part of our topic. We checked our water tubs that we set up in an experiment last week. We found that in the tub without a cover, the water level had gone down and in the tub with a cover, the water level was the same and there were droplets of water on the side. We will be learning more about evaporation and condensation and the water cycle soon.

We are busy learning about the value of Thoughtfulness in preparation for our assembly next week. Stephanie, the new minister, came into help us with this. Ms MacDonald has also helped by teaching us two songs. We are looking forward to our assembly next Friday, 30th September, at 9.05am. P4a parents and carers are invited to attend.

Other News: In P.E., we are developing our fitness as we take part in circuits with Mr Muldoon. We have been revising correct letter formation to improve our handwriting. We have been comparing two characters and finding similarities and differences between them. Our new novel is the BFG in preparation for Book Week Scotland and a drama workshop in November. We have been learning about the Global Goals – there are 17 goals to achieve by 2030, when we are 22 years old. They aim to respect the planet, end poverty and fight inequality. We have been thinking about our learning targets for the term and setting ourselves new challenges. We enjoyed the House Captain campaigns and we all got a chance to vote for two candidates.

Primary 4a, Uncategorised

P4a Learning Experiences

September 16, 2016 Miss McMillan Leave a comment

This week in P4a, we have learned lots about Roald Dahl as it is the 100 year anniversary of his birth. We watched some film clips and read a factfile to find lots of interesting things about his life. We practised writing in sentences to show what we had learned. We also chose characters from Fantastic Mr Fox to draw and write about. We tried to use “wow” words – interesting adjectives – to describe them. The most popular character in our class was Farmer Bean.

In topic maths, we have been measuring capacity and volume using the water tray. We discovered that cups are different sizes so they are not the best thing to measure with! Next week we will instead be using litres and millilitres. In number maths we have been revising numbers and place value using tens and units. Next week, we will be moving on to bigger numbers including hundreds and thousands. To improve our mental maths and quick recall of facts, we have started Big Maths Beat That tests. We have also begun practising setting out our maths work neatly in our jotters.

As part of our Wonderful Water topic, we have set up a science experiment. We have put water into two tubs and covered one with clingfilm. We were careful to make sure this was a fair test so we used the same size of tubs and amount of water. We have made predictions about what will happen to the water in the tubs and we will find out next week!

Our Class Charter is now finished with UNCRC articles and friendship pictures. We have said what we think we need to do and what adults need to do to make sure all children have their rights. We have been learning more about the Paralympics and Team GB. The Paralympic values are: courage, equality, inspiration and determination. We love the Paralympic mascot Tom! We enjoyed watching Stephen Clegg competing in the swimming finals as we remember when he came into school to visit last session.