1. St Michael’s Primary School September Newsletter Primary 4 with Miss Lothian and Mrs Thomson Language At the moment we are revising some of our spelling words and continuing with our reading programme. The class have enjoyed participating in multi-sensory spelling activities! These activities help us to focus on the shapes of each letter and this helps us to remember how to spell the words. We have recently completed a piece of writing entitled “All about me” and we are working to improve our speaking and listening skills within a group. Maths We are revising our times tables at the moment using patting and clapping to help us to remember. Many of us find it helpful to use movement when learning our tables. We will soon be moving on to working with hundreds, tens and units as well as revising mathematical language. Our mental maths starter activities keep us on our toes and we find some of them – such as Wild West and Bingo – quite exciting! Mini Topic Our mini topic is “The Twits” by Roald Dahl. We have really enjoyed finding out about Mr Twit’s disgusting beard and hearing about all of the horrible tricks Mr and Mrs Twit play on each other. We are investigating the characters in the Twits by creating character webs and portraits. We are also using a story cube to investigate the characters, setting, main events and issues in the novel. R.E. We have been looking at ways in which we are all connected to each other. We have also been considering how we are connected to the earth and what our responsibilities are for looking after the earth. We have been making sure that we join our hands correctly and that we pay close attention and show appropriate respect during prayers, hymn practices and Mass. This has really paid off as Miss Lothian and Mrs Thomson noticed how well we sang hymns and said responses during our recent First Friday Mass. Father Brian has come in to visit the class and is greatly looking forward to working closely with us this year.

2. Rights Respecting Schools As St Michaels is working towards Rights Respecting School status, we are working hard to improve our own knowledge and awareness of Children’s Rights – this comes from the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989). We have set up a classroom charter and discussed our rights and responsibilities as a class. We had a very interesting visit from Gerry McMurtrie who explained in more detail why we has certain rights. Our work on rights respecting schools will continue as we strive to gain Rights Respecting School status in St Michaels. Our Rights Respecting Schools representative for this class is Gabriel. Eco As St Michaels is an Eco school, we have elected Justin as our Eco representative. He attends short meetings with the Eco group to discuss Eco issues in the school. Luke and Connie have volunteered to help to keep our school tidy by being litter pickers. This is a great help in maintaining our beautiful playground. P.E. Our P.E. days are Tuesdays and Thursdays. Miss Lothian works us during our Tuesday session and Mrs Thomson works with us during our Thursday session. This term we are working on game skills during our Tuesday sessions. We have been learning how to dribble and pass using a hockey stick. Working on our game skills is very useful as it reminds us to respect the rights of others by taking turns and following rules to allow a fair game. Pupil Council Our pupil council gives pupils a voice within the school and demonstrates the importance of children’s rights. Our pupil council member is Sophie. She attends regular meetings where issues which pupils have raised will be discussed. Science During term 1 the children have been learning about living/non living things on our planet with Mrs Thomson and how the process of living things effect us in our environment. ICT The children have ICT on a Friday morning where they will be developing further their knowledge and understanding of a variety of software such as Glow to enhance their learning across the curriculum.