Welcome to p4/5 with Miss Smith!
Term 4 (April-June)
Welcome back to term 4, our last term of the school year! After our Easter holidays we are ready for another productive term.
Literacy and English – We will be continuing to analyse our group reading books and novels using the Active Literacy comprehension strategies. Our focus for writing this term will be on poetry and will be learning about different types of poems and techniques that authors use before writing our own poems.
Numeracy and Maths – The squares will be finishing off their learning on fractions to begin with, while the circles complete their topic on angles. Both groups will then work on money and financial education, patterns and relationships and shape. We will continue to work on our mental maths daily through our ‘number of the day’ challenges and we will continue our daily word problems to help our understanding of tricky questions.
Health and Wellbeing – We will work on the health and wellbeing indicator ‘healthy’ through a variety of activities. We will continue to use Emotion Works to help us understand our own and others’ emotions, using clips from Literacy Shed to support our learning. We will also be learning about substance misuse and medicine safety this term (carried forward from last term) and will complete a series of sex education lessons. In P.E. we will be completing a block of tennis with Mrs Goodwin and will also be working on athletics and summer team games.
Social Studies/IDL – This term we will be learning all about John Muir for our IDL topic and will be working towards our John Muir award focussing on exploring and conserving natural environments. We will also be planning and organising an enterprise by holding a ‘Marie Curie Tea Party’ near the end of term and will be inviting in parents/carers and elderly members of the community.
Expressive Arts – In art we will be learning about Andy Goldsworthy, an environmental and sculpture artist. A lot of our art will be linked with our IDL topic focussing on outdoor art and using natural materials. Both p4 and p5 will receive music tuition this term and we will also be learning songs for our Scottish Opera performance.
R.M.E. – This term we will be focussing on the Pillars of Islam and Special Books from different religions.
Technologies – We will continue to enhance our research skills this term through our topic and will explore Microsoft office programmes to present and display information. We will be creating models and dens in our IDL topic and will be learning about animations as well.
Term 3 (January-March)
Literacy and English – This term we will have a focus on Scots language in January. We will be looking at different poems and stories written in Scots and learning ‘A Dug A Dug’ for our part in the Scottish Assembly. Our class novel is ‘Sky Hawk’ by Gill Lewis. It links in well with our first block of ‘Talk for Writing’ which is based on writing suspense stories. We will explore how suspense is created in the novel and other short stories, working towards writing our own story. We will be analysing the book using the Active Literacy comprehension strategies as well as using these strategies with our group reading books. There are lots of functional writing opportunities linked with our topic and we will be focussing on reports and newspaper articles this term.
Numeracy and Maths – We will all begin by exploring the topic of time, learning to tell the time on both digital and analogue clocks and working out durations in hours and minutes. The squares will be finishing off multiplication and division and both groups will be exploring fractions, decimals and percentages and measure (carried forward from term 2). Through our IDL Rainforest topic we will explore data analysis, collecting, analysing and displaying data in different ways. Throughout the term we will continue to complete daily word problems and numbers talks and practise our recall of times tables facts and number bonds through speed challenges, games and flashcards.
Health and Wellbeing – We will work on the health and wellbeing indicators ‘achieving’, ‘responsible’ and ‘active’ through a variety of activities. We will continue to use Emotion Works to help us understand our own and others’ emotions, with a new focus on regulation strategies. We will also be learning about substance misuse and medicine safety this term. In P.E. we will be completing a block of gymnastics with Mrs Goodwin and will also be working on ball control and teamwork through football.
Social Studies/IDL – This term we will be learning all about the Rainforest. Our class trip will be in March to Amazonia and will link well with this topic. We will be using world maps to locate rainforests and comparing and contrasting different areas. We will be exploring the purpose and structure of rainforests and will research the wildlife, plants and climate. We will learn about food chains, lifecycles and deforestation too.
Expressive Arts – In drama we will be focussing on adapting different roles and using body language to portray emotions, we will be using these skills when performing in the Scottish assembly at the end of January. In art we will be learning about Gillian Kyle, a Scottish designer, and using inspiration from her designs to create our own artwork. P5 will have tuition from our music specialist this term and p4 will continue to use ABC music to enhance their learning.
Science –
R.M.E. – This term we will be focussing on ideas of wisdom, truth and forgiveness during our values lessons. We will also be learning about Moses and Passover and exploring the Holocaust.
Technologies – We will continue to enhance our research skills this term through our topic and will explore Microsoft office programmes to present and display information. We will have a STEM focus later in the term where we will complete engaging activities to explore science, technologies, engineering and maths.
Term 2 (October-December)
Here’s what we will be learning in term 2!
Literacy and English – This term our class novel is ‘Matilda’ by Roald Dahl. We will be completing some reading activities related to the in class as well as continuing reading in our groups daily. We will continue to use Active Literacy comprehension strategies to help us understand and analyse the book. We will continue ti work hard on adding in ambitious vocabulary and openers in our writing and will be completing imaginative pieces of writing and leaflets and posters this term.
Numeracy and Maths – We will finish off our topics on addition and subtraction this term and move onto multiplication and division. We will also be learning about measure and probability. We will continue to practise our mental maths daily using speed tests, number talks and numeracy map games. We will also complete daily word problems to help us understand more complex questions.
Health and Wellbeing – We will be working on the wellbeing indicators included and safe this term through a variety of activities. We will have an anti-bullying week where we will focus on kindness and will complete random acts of kindness throughout the week in school and at home. Emotion Work will continue to be embedded in our lessons throughout the curriculum. In P.E. we will finish netball and benchball and move onto Scottish dance in preparation for our Christmas parties.
Social Studies/IDL – This term we will be learning about Germany. We will be learning about the culture and traditions in Germany, as well as working on our mapping skills throughout the topic to locate cities and landmarks. We will also be learning some German words and phrases as part of the topic.
Expressive Arts – In art we will be studying the German artist Paul Klee and learning about using colour and shape to create our own pictures inspired by his work. We will be learning to mix colours to create different shades to create Remembrance Day artwork and look forward to lots of Christmas themed art too. In music we will be using ABC music online to help us learn about beat and rhythm. In dance we will learn Scottish ceilidh dances to traditional music and more modern songs too.
R.M.E. – Our values focus this term will be on kindness and fairness. We will learn about marriage and comparing marriage ceremonies and traditions from different religions. We will also be focusing on peace and and discussing how to resolve situations peacefully and learning how organisations work to promote peace around the world.
Technologies – We will be using the internet to research information linked to our Germany topic. We will learn rules of internet safety and discuss ways of ensuring we are using the internet appropriately. In writing we will be creating leaflets for a German landmark and we will then use Microsoft Publisher to create digital copies of this. In food technology we will bake Lebkuchen, a German Christmas biscuit.
Term 1 (August-October)
We have all settled back into school well and everyone is working hard. We have a busy term ahead with lots of exciting learning opportunities!
Literacy and English – This term our class novel is ‘Street Child’ by Berlie Doherty. It links in well with our IDL topic as it is based on the life of a Victorian Street Child. It’s a great book with lots of opportunities for discussion based on characters, setting and plot. We will be analysing the book using the Active Literacy comprehension strategies. There are lots of writing opportunities linked with our topic and we will be focussing on functional writing in the form of letters and diary entries.
Numeracy and Maths – This term we will be focussing on place value to begin with. The Circles will be working with 5-digit numbers and the Squares will be exploring 4-digit numbers. We will then move onto estimating and rounding and addition and subtraction. Throughout the term we will be practising our recall of times tables facts and number bonds through speed challenges, games and flashcards.
Health and Wellbeing – We will be learning about road safety and designing posters to encourage others to be safe on the roads. Some of the primary 5 children will also be taking part in Bikeability in September. Throughout the term we will be using ‘Emotion Works’ to help us understand our own and others’ emotions, triggers and behaviours. We will work on the health and wellbeing indicators ‘respected’ and ‘nurtured’ through a variety of activities. In P.E. we will be working on our team work skills through team games and challenges.
Social Studies/IDL – This term we will be learning all about the Victorians. We will be learning about the life of Queen Victoria and the British Empire. We will compare life in the Victorian Era with our own with a focus on schools, jobs and houses. We will study some famous Victorians and discuss their influence on our lives today. We are looking forward to a visit from Lanark and District Archaeological Society who are bringing Victorian artefacts for us to learn from. Our class assembly will be on this topic and our class novel and will take place next term.
Expressive Arts – This term we will be learning about William Morris, a Victorian artist, and using inspiration from his wallpaper designs to create our own. Our drama will be based on Street Child, acting out scenes from the book and hot seating to imagine how characters are feeling.
Science – This term Primary 4 children will be exploring and investigating properties and sources of a range of natural and man-made materials they see in their everyday lives. They will also experiment with materials to investigate their suitability for a specific purposes. The children will also choose appropriate materials to solve practical problems. The children will also investigate forces on toys and other objects and be encouraged to predict the effect on the shape or motion of objects.
Primary 5 children will be exploring and investigating the Earth’s structure and the materials that make up the Earth’s surface. They will then compare some of the characteristics and uses of these materials. The children will also be investigating forces and friction this term.
R.M.E. – During this term we will be focussing on ideas of respect and thankfulness. We will be creating a class charter to show how we can respect each other and everyone else in school and discussing how to show respect out of school as well. We will be learning about Harvest and exploring ways of being thankful.
Technologies – We will be using the internet to research parts of our Victorian topic. In pairs we will create a factfile on a chosen aspect of the Victorian Era on Microsoft Word, learning how to format our document and add shapes and pictures to engage the reader.