Primary 4 News
It has been a busy term so far in Primary 4 and the boys and girls have been working very hard. We recently attended the Royal Northern Spring Show in Thainstone with Mrs Robertson, Mr McFadden and Mrs Simpson. The pupils had a fantastic trip and learned a lot about farming, animals, crops and machinery. It was lovely to hear them speak so enthusiastically about the day when they returned and I am sure they will remember it for years to come. We look forward to our next class trip to The University of Aberdeen for the Pupil Creative Conference on Wednesday 30th March 2016.
In February we loved learning about Chinese New Year and enjoyed watching the Chinese Lion dance with the rest of the school.
Have a look at the picture below of the Chinese Lanterns that we made. We also said goodbye to our classmate Sophie this term, who returned to China. We wish her the best of luck for the future.
In topic we are enjoying learning about the Vikings and will continue to study them more throughout the rest of the term. We are making our own Long Ships in class and will go on to learn about Long Houses, Viking gods and lots more. Pupils have been asked to create a Viking shield or helmet at home and this is due week commencing 14/03/2016.
In maths we have explored the properties of 2D shapes and 3D objects. The pupils enjoyed learning about prisms, pyramids and lines of symmetry and they had the opportunity to build structures using a range of materials. We have also been learning how to add and subtract 2 and 3 digit numbers using a range of strategies and have practised the 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10 times tables with the corresponding division facts. Please encourage the children to continue to practise these at home too and to use aids to help group and count if they need to. We are starting a new topic on telling the time and will also revisit measuring weight and capacity later in the term.
In phonics, we have looked at the ‘oe’ and ‘oo’ phonemes and the representations of these sounds in words. We have practised syllabification and using our knowledge of phonics to help us spell tricky words. We are continuing to engage with a range of texts and have started studying Roald Dahl’s ‘The BFG’ as a class novel. We enjoyed dressing up as our favourite book characters for World Book Day and will donate the money we raised to SCIAF.
In RE, pupils have started to prepare for their First Holy Communion and enjoyed a class visit from Fr Gabor. We are working our way through the ‘I Belong’ book and I kindly ask that you take the time to discuss the contents of the book with your child at home on a regular basis to reinforce the work we are doing in class. We have also started to prepare for Easter and pupils are making a good effort to keep up and reflect on their Lenten Promises.
Our PE days are Monday and Tuesday and I would like to take this opportunity to ask you to ensure that all pupils bring PE kits on these days. For the next few weeks pupils will be getting basketball lessons with students from North East Scotland College on Tuesday afternoon and will continue to work with our PE specialist Mrs Armstrong on Mondays.
Please note that homework is given on Tuesdays and should be returned to school by the next Monday in order to get it marked on time and ready to go out again for the following week. I greatly appreciate the effort you make in ensuring that pupils’ homework is fully complete. Thank you for your continued support and remember to contact me if you need any further assistance.