Welcome to Primary 3

We hope you had a lovely summer! We know that the children will be looking forward to seeing their friends again. We will be doing lots of activities which will help your child settle back into routine again. We will regularly publish information and pictures via Seesaw, so remember to keep looking out for these updates. It’s a good way of keeping in touch with your child’s learning and progress.

We also welcome our new team members Miss McPeake (P3CM), Mrs Blaney and Miss Campbell (P3CMC).

Please ensure that your child has everything they need for their school day.

• Healthy break in a disposable bag (name on the bag)
• 2 sharpened HB pencils
• 1 Pritt stick (white)
• 1 rubber
• 1 sharpener
• Pencil case
• A 12 pack of colouring pencils
• Box of tissues

Homework

On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights the children will have:

• Reading
• Spellings
• Tables

Written Homeworks:

Monday: Literacy homework (game or written activity)

Wednesday: Numeracy homework (game or written activity)

Thursday: Make a special effort to revise tables and spellings for the Friday Test the next day.

We thought you might appreciate these Homework Hints.

Preparation

Your child will need:

• A quiet place
• A flat surface
• A sharp pencil, a rubber
• Time-don’t leave homework until it’s late

Once your child has completed his/her homework, please make sure you sign it.

Tips for learning spellings

1. Look at the words
2. Say them
3. Cover them
4. Write them
5. Check them

Have your child spend some time learning spellings for him/herself. Teach them to use these steps.

Ask your child to write down the words as you call them out.

Make sure they have completed the spellings section in their Spelling Booklets.

Learning Tables

• Have your child say or write tables at least 3 times
• Jumble up the order of the tables
• Ask some ‘quick fire’ questions to develop good mental maths skills

Reading

It is important to practise reading aloud. Choose a few pages to read aloud, focusing on fluency and expression.

Discuss what your child has read and sign the reading log book.

November/December

Christmas is coming!!!!

World Around Us

This term we continue with our theme on Home Sweet Home and for the next few weeks we will study homes from long ago. This will involve looking at features of a castle and what it was like to live in a castle. If your child has anything related to this theme, perhaps they could bring it in for display purposes. On the run up to Christmas it is also a time to be thankful for everything we have. In PDMU we will discuss homelessness both in our own country and the wider world.

Numeracy - Problem Solving

The children will continue to investigate how they might solve problems with money, number, map skills and pattern. This will incorporate a lot of fun activities whilst making maths relevant and meaningful to the children.

Keep learning table facts at home with your child as this will help them with their mental maths and work with number bonds.

Time: Revise over o'clock and half past times with your child. In class we will introduce quarter past the hour and eventually quarter to the hour.

Literacy

Phonics - Continue to learn the weekly sounds for Friday tests and to encourage improved spelling and writing in class.

Writing - We are encouraging the children to use and develop their creativity to write good stories and to use their knowledge of grammar to add detail and good description.

Grammar - The children will be working on alphabetical order and using a children's dictionary...a good idea for a Christmas pressie!

P3 Nativity

Our Nativity this year is called ‘Boogie Woogie Nativity.’ As always it involves lots of singing and dancing. So set the date in your diary for our “grand performance” on Thursday 12^th December! More details to follow.

Another date for your diary- On Monday 16^th December, it is the P1-P3 Christmas Party so the children will wear their own party clothes and will finish at 3pm that day.