Welcome to Ben MacDui

Primary 4/5 and Miss McGowan

Curriculum for Excellence

• Principles – giving children opportunities to; - progress at a rate which meets their needs and abilities - draw different strands of learning together- experience challenging and motivating tasks- see the relevance in their learning• Children will develop skills through the ‘Experiences and Outcomes’• Learning Logs – Experiences and Outcomes are broken down into ‘I can’ statements

Active Learning Approaches

• Opportunities will be provided for children to engage their thinking within tasks• AiFL strategies used:- Lolly sticks- Self Assessment encouraging children to think about their next steps- Whiteboards- Traffic lights - Fist-to-five- Thumbs- Peer Assessment

• Teachers and Classroom Assistants will be available to support independent tasks

Numeracy and Maths

• Work will be set at an appropriate level for each child• Active learning approaches will be used to support written tasks and activities• Addition and Subtraction• Multiplication and Division • Fractions of quantities • Times Tables• Chance and Uncertainty

Literacy

• Writing – blocks of writing – imaginative - VCOP• Comprehension / Grammar and Punctuation tasks • Spelling – active spelling games • Continue to develop Handwriting skills • Tools for Reading and Writing – Broken down in Learning Logs• Literacy lessons will eventually intertwine with our class topics – developing our talking and listening skills, writing skills and organising and using information

Lend Me Your Literacy/Pobble

• Website showcasing children’s writing• P4 – 7• Sense of achievement• Views, Comments and World Map• Inspiring and motivating children to write• Building up vocabulary • https://pobble.it/largs-academy-and-skelmorlie-primary-school-launch-pobble-in-spectacular-fashion/

Topic

• Our class topic in Term 1 will be - Islands• Questions / ideas from the children• Comparisons of local area and chosen Island • Topic will allow opportunities for children to make links between various curricular areas of a Curriculum for Excellence

P.E.

• Tuesday, Thursday and Friday• Health and Safety Rule – if a child has their ears pierced, they should tape up their ears • Re-establishing P.E. Routines, Games/Fitness• Developing various skills and techniques through Games• Netball

Master Classes

• Different format this year• Master Classes will take place once each term – lasting for a day• Dance with Miss McGowan • P.E. kits for Dance

After-School Club

• Street Dance Club will be on each Wednesday • 3pm – 4pm • Primary 4 – 7• Dance competitions (we recently came 1st place before Summer!) • Sign-up sheet on Pupil Notice Board

Science

• Term 1 – Forces, Energy and Waves• Focusing on – Sound• Developing skills – planning simple investigations, predicting what might happen, record, present and explain findings

Community Groups

• Wednesday mornings • FLAG, Road Safety, Eco, Library, Pupil Council, Rights Respecting/Fair Trade, Health and Sports • Children choose their preferred group

Learning to Learn

• Beginning of each week• Individual targets • Reflecting on targets• Numeracy, Literacy and Health & Wellbeing

RME / Health and Wellbeing

• Friday mornings • Miss Graham will take the class for this• PATHs – Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies – how we cope/deal with feelings• RME – Looking at different world religions and comparing them to Christianity, e.g. Hinduism and Judaism

French

• Children will continue to develop and extend their French• Daily routines • Greetings and phrases• Learning more in class

Expressive Arts

• Drama, Music and Art & Design lessons within Topic• Dance within P.E. Blocks / Topic• Art & Design – teaching and developing skills

Homework

• Structured tasks• Spelling • Reading (reading records provided) • Comprehension / Grammar tasks• Numeracy and Maths / Times Tables• Topic related – children will be issued with various homework tasks throughout their topics• Correspondence folders • Homework diaries

Library

• Once a week • Opportunity for children to take out books • Quiet reading time

Quality Contract

• Class Charter discussed, agreed and signed by the children • Focus on the Rights of the Child• Aiming to create a positive working environment• Quality audience• Quality lines• Giving children responsibility for their own learning – iHelp - Class Jobs

Golden Time / Golden Rules

• Traffic Light System – every child starts each day with a Green card• Children can earn up to 30 mins of Golden Time each week• Children who do not follow the rules will be given a warning, followed by a yellow and then a red card • Red card is equal to -5 min• Golden Rules – Children can earn Golden Tickets giving them the opportunity to gain a reward at the end of each term

Class Dojo

• Behaviour / reward system • Recognising positive behaviours• Individual and Group points• Used daily • Reward at the end of each week• Prize Tub and Certificates

General School Information

• Children arriving at the school from 9.05am will be recorded as late• Please notify staff if there are any changes to medical information • Parent Helpers – please let me know if you wish to add your name to the list!• Learning Conversations – Wednesday 2nd September• Class Newsletters provided each term• Weekly Blog – updated by the children

Worries and Concerns

• Each child in the class will be issued with Correspondence folders • These will be sent home daily alongside Homework Diaries with any letters etc. • Homework/letters will be put inside these• Please feel free to add any notes etc. into these folders

If you have any worries or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me -

no matter how small!

Thank you!