This month we were able to return back to Borestone Primary School and have begun to settle into our new classroom. It has been great having a bigger classroom and decorating it to make it our own. As part of our move to a new classroom we have created a new class charter which we have called 'Our Game Plan'. This is a shared agreement that we created together which was guided by the Rights of the Child.

Following on from our division topic we have started to learn about fractions. To start our topic we have used a grid method to help us find a fraction of an amount. This has required us to draw upon our learning of division and multiplication.  Following on from this we will start to look at a wider variety of topics that involve fractions.

After learning about Scottish mythical monsters we started to create our own mythical monster which we have written about in a factual style. We have focused on using a wider range of connectives, using more complex punctuation and enhancing our variety of adjectives. We have worked really hard on our writing and we are super proud of our writing.

The first few weeks of Term 3 we have been focussing on Scots language texts.  As part of our listening and talking we have been challenged to recite a poem written by Robert Burns.  We had a choice of 2 texts - "Up in the Morning Early" or an extract from "Tam O'Shanter".  We are focusing on recall of text, audience engagement, pace, expression and diction of Scots words.

We have also been learning more about Scottish myths and legends.  We were familiar with the Loch Ness Monster but had not heard of the Stoor Worm.  

By looking at the Stoor Worm and other creatures it will help prepare us for writing our own texts on an imagined mythical creature.

In preparation for our work on fractions, we have been further consolidating our knowledge of division strategies.  We have been using a bar method to help us visualise the links between division and fractions.

We are also working to improve the speed and accuracy of our mental calculations.

We have been busy learning all the different Christmas songs ready for the up coming concert in December.

We have spent time reading and learning new songs that we are not so confident. P7 have been great role models and leaders for younger pupils in the school.

Some of us also have speaking parts and have been busy practising and memorising our lines.

We look forward to seeing you at the concert!

We have been very lucky this term to have had some mandarin lessons. The whole class has enjoyed being able to learn a new language. During our weekly sessions we have learnt a range of basic Mandarin phrases such as hello, goodbye and some numbers.

We have also enjoyed alongside our mandarin lessons, also learning a bit more about a China and comparing it to our lives living in Scotland.

P7BE in literacy have been creating their own books. We have used the model text 'The pirate, the parrot and the cupboard' as our model text and from this we have learnt new language, story and sentence structures and literary devices.

Once becoming familiar with the model text we began to create our own Christmas story using a new learning. Alongside this we have been creating illustrations and front covers for our book. 

We are very proud of the work we have produced and can't wait to show them off at the share the learning event on the 13 December.

Our class novel this term is Once by Morris Gleitzman. The story follows a young Jewish boy named Felix fleeing Nazi-occupied Poland in search of his parents. This has linked to our new topic on Judaism and has drawn on our prior knowledge of World War 2.

Our IDL topic this term is Judaism. We are going to learn about what Jewish people believe and some history around this religion. We hope to develop our growing understanding of our own values and beliefs by improving our understanding of different religions.

We are proud to have finished our news report on an earthquake that happened in Christchurch. We have worked really hard by engaging in the writing process to ensure our reports include key facts, quotations and a wide range of specialist vocabulary and punctuation. We now look forward to starting our creative writing project. 

In PE we have been developing skils needed in invasion games.  We have focussed on attacking and defending and used football as our context.  Mr Shearer, the PE specialist, has been supporting us with our learning on a Friday afternoon.  Hopefully we will be able to apply these skills to other team sport.

In writing we are learning about journalistic reports.  We are identifying key features and boxing up the format in preparation for us writing our own reports.  We will apply our knowledge of natural disasters and aim to inform our readers about an earthquake.

This term we have enjoyed listening to Cogheart by Peter Bunzl.  Like Oliver Twist it is set in Victorian times, however the characters have a very different life to Oliver.  The story is about Lily, whose life is in mortal peril, and how her friends help her when faced with menacing characters! 

Our Bug Club text this term is an adaptation of Oliver Twist. We have been focusing on key reading comprehension strategies such as clarifying unknown vocabulary using dictionary and thesaurus tools,  reading between the lines when faced with an inferential question and including relevant evidence from the text to further support our oral and written answers. 

In numeracy we have focused on place value. We have been learning how to represent, partition, write and describe numbers with a variety of digits. Some of us have been challenging ourselves to work with 7 and 8 digit numbers. Our next step would be to look at estimation and rounding.

We have also been looking at probability and chance.  We carried out fun investigations using coins. dice and playing cards.  We quickly learned that whilst probability says one thing, chance can always play a part!  

Our social studies focus this term will be natural disasters and how they impact the people living nearby.  This links closely with our science learning about planet Earth and how tectonic plate movement results in a variety of natural disasters.  We hope to share our learning by using our literacy skills to create a newspaper report on a specific natural disaster.