1. Welcome to Ben MacDui Primary 4/5 and Miss McGowan

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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/ https://pobble.it/largs-academy-and-skelmorlie- primary-school-launch-pobble-in-spectacular-fashion/

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

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

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

13. Learning to Learn Beginning of each week Individual targets Reflecting on targets Numeracy, Literacy and Health & Wellbeing

14. 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

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

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

17. 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

18. Library Once a week Opportunity for children to take out books Quiet reading time

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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 2 nd September Class Newsletters provided each term Weekly Blog – updated by the children

23. 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!

24. Thank you!