P5 update

Good afternoon,

It has been lovely to chat with more of you this week during our parent contact sessions, and to discuss with you how your children are settling into primary 5. This week we have been engaging in lots of learning through practical activities and having lots of fun in the process. 
In numeracy we have been investigating the properties of 3D shapes and using our knowledge of their properties to identify and name them. We had lots of fun building our own 3D models using straws and pipe cleaners. This involved a lot of careful measuring and a good bit of problem solving too. I was very impressed at how well the children worked together in their pairs to complete the challlenge. We have also been revisiting our 2, 3, 4 and 5 times tables through the traffic light game which is helping us focus on particular tables and sums we need to practise.

In literacy we have been learning to use carefully chosen adjectives. In our writing we put this learning into practise when we were writing senses poems, describing smells, sounds etc. that evoke good memories or positive emotions. I was very impressed at how well the children responded to these and we are going to enter our poems into the annual 'Young Writer's' competition.

In social studies we have been learning about food chains and food webs and creating our own ocean food webs. In learning about these we have been thinking about the impact the removal of something from a food web has on a whole range of living things. This tied in well with us finishing our class novel 'This Morning I Met A Whale'. Although the children felt it had a sad ending, they recognised that the message within it was a very powerful one, about our role in looking after our environment.

I know it seems very early, but this week we have designed our Christmas cards. These came home with your child yesterday in a poly pocket. If you would like to place an order, the instructions for doing so are all on the sheet. Please return all designs to school next week. The company have also emphasised that it is important to keep them as crease and crumple free as possible.

Next week in art we will be engaging in some slightly 'messy' art. In order to protect school uniforms it would be really helpful if all childen could bring a painting shirt in to school. This could be an old oversized t shirt, shirt or similar that they can put on over their school clothes. These can be left in their trays for any future messy art.

I hope you have a lovely weekend

Mrs Haddow