Term 2 Update
Literacy
Primary 6 impressed Mrs McVey and Mrs Miller greatly with the sequels they chose to write to
last term’s novel, ‘The Eleventh Orphan.’ If you want a look at this, some of it is currently
displayed on the Wonderful Work Wall. The girls came up with lots of turns and twists to their
stories, as well as investigating the historical accuracy of events at the time.
This term we have begun to read in Literature Circles where everyone is responsible for a
particular job in the reading group. Primary 5 are reading, ‘Stormbreaker,’ by Anthony Horowitz
and Primary 6 are reading, ‘Holes,’ by Louis Sacher. When we are finished reading the texts
we will compare them with the films.
We are making a concentrated effort to improve our handwriting this term and have brand
new Nelson textbooks to help us. Everyone realises the importance of forming letters correctly,
making sure that letters are the correct height and that every single join is made properly. We
hope that lots of practise will improve our handwriting overall.
Numeracy
In Maths we are continuing to use different methods to reinforce our Times Tables. We do this in
the old fashioned way of reciting the Times Tables but also in lots of interactive ways. Mr
Osborne takes a maths lesson on a Thursday and introduces us to lots of fun and active maths.
The Cylinders have been investigating 24 hour time problems, interpreting timetables and
working out durations of time, as well as consolidating all work to date.
The Hexagons and Triangles have been using their knowledge of addition, subtraction and
multiplication to solve word problems. We have also been working with co-ordinates and number
patterns.
Health and Wellbeing
In P.E. we are lucky that John has come back to continue coaching hockey. Our hockey skills
are getting a lot better and we can control and defend the ball much better now. Each lesson
consists of a warm-up, practising a particular skill and then some sort of game. It is always great
fun and we love going to hockey.
We have also been learning Scottish Dance. Everyone is thoroughly enjoying doing The
Dashing White Sergeant, The St. Bernard’s Waltz and The Military Two Step. Mrs McVey was
so impressed with our dancing that she thought we could even try Strip The Willow, which is
quite a complicated dance. Dancing is great fun and really keeps us fit! We are now looking
forward to putting all the dances together and holding a ceilidh with R.8.
Interdisciplinary Learning
This term we have begun to study People In The Past by looking at the lives of people in
Scotland Through the Decades Since 1950. First of all we made a timeline of periods in history
so that we could understand the chronology of events. Then we considered how we can find out
about the past by classifying evidence into primary and secondary sources. Soon we will get
ourselves organised into groups and decide which decade we want to study. We want to
investigate similarities and differences between the past and the present day. We know that
parents and grandparents may be a great help to us, so be prepared for us coming home and
asking you questions. At the end of our topic we will invite parents into class to showcase our
work. We will let you know the date for this a.s.a.p.
As part of our R.M.E. programme Primary 5 visited Park Church to investigate, ‘ A Sense Of
Jesus.’ We had a fun filled morning learning Bible stories, with lots of activities designed to make
us think about the life of Jesus. We came away thinking about small ways in which we could
show kindness, to make the lives of others better.
As is usual in January, we have been learning about Scottish culture. Primary 5 learned to
recite, ‘The Sair Finger,’ by Walter Wingate and Primary 6 learned, ‘The Ballad Of Janitor
Mackay,’ by Margaret Green. We are looking forward to hearing other poems at the special
assembly on Friday.
Important dates/notifications
This term we shall be inviting parents to a showcase event for our topic. We will let you know the
date for this a.s.a.p.
Swimming lessons for P.5. will start on Wednesday 22 March 2017.