Friday 19th March

This is my last post! It has felt like a long time since we were in class...However Monday will be like the beginning of a new term or even a school year! Thank you all for working hard and not giving up! Also thank you to all your parents who have helped you!

If you feel anxious about Monday, I will do my best to alleviate any fears. Next week will be about reconnecting with friends and getting used to school routine. 

I look forward to seeing all of you 

Love Mrs M

Monday 15th March

Good morning P6 and P7.  We hope you had a lovely weekend despite the changeable weather. Thank you for all your 'Feel Good' snack photos 📷.  They were great 👍. 

Mrs Whyte and I have just finished marking your work. It takes us a long time because you have worked so hard and produced such a high standard each and every time. I try to challenge you with the difficulty but you always outsmart me! 

Enjoy St Patrick's Day on Wednesday and as it's officially a day off in school, I don't expect you to do home learning, only if you want to...😉

If you are wondering why there are no new tasks in study ladder, it's because I have only a few left for each group and I want to use these for homeworks in term 3 when we are back in school. I have left up previous weeks' tasks and therefore finish any incomplete ones. I also have given quite a full pack to compensate for this.

Finally this Friday, your 'Feel Good'  activity is a scavenger hunt. You have been given a template for things to find around your house 🏠.  If you are in school, I will organise the scavenger hunt for you 😉. 

Have a good week and I'll be in touch.

Love

Mrs M

Friday 12th March

Good morning P6 and 7! I hope you are all well. I've been in school the last couple of days and it feels like a different place when I hear and see children. Mrs Whyte and I miss you all.

We are still marking our way through your work and the standard has remained high 👏 which is brilliant. We are so proud of you all.

There may be fewer study ladder tasks up as I have simply ran out of tasks to give you. 

Monday 8th March

Good morning P6 and P7. I hope you all had a great weekend and wasn't the weather spring-like? I definitely think we've turned a corner from winter.

We have been home learning for just over 2 months, which is longer than your summer holidays. We'll done for sticking to this regime. I know it is tough so ...with that in mind; we are introducing "Feel Good Friday!"

😀. This Friday I have included an activity about making a healthy snack. Please take a photo of it and send it to me. Good food makes you feel good. This is your only set task to complete this Friday. However you may have work incomplete from Monday to Thursday to catch up on.

If you are in school on Friday, you will have a feel good day because I'm on duty...don't laugh! Please bring in your healthy snack as food can't be made in school just yet.

Something which made me feel good was a new maths fact. Well, a maths fact new to me. Did you know 50% of 8 is the same as 8% of 50. That means I can work out 6% of 25 because it's the same as 25% of 6!

Please remind parents to drop off learning pack 4 at school and pick up learning pack 5 between the hours of 9 and 11 am.

Anyway, as I continue to work out pointless percentage sums in my head, I wish you all a great week and a super 'Feel Good Friday's!

Love 

Mrs M

Friday 5th March

Good morning P6 and P7!  I hope you are all keeping well 💗.  Thank you 😊for the amazing 'extreme reading 📚' photos. They were amazing! Some strange, clever and wonderful places you have found to read in! Also, thank you for zooming into our story session yesterday. Did you get to watch the live programme on CBBC? I found it really interesting. 

Stay tuned to find out who has won the prizes for the 'Extreme reading' competition. I'm still thinking about it and am rather conflicted to be honest!

Remember to get those packs finished today and hopefully you will receive your new one on Monday. 

Love

Mrs M

SAINT PATRICK’S 20TH ANNIVERSARY

SCHOOLS ART COMPETITION

 
 
The Saint Patrick Centre is launching an online art competition to celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day this year and to mark our Twentieth Anniversary serving the community at home and abroad.

With public celebrations on hold due to Covid-19 this Saint Patrick’s Day, the Downpatrick-based Centre is offering a chance for children to recreate the Spirit of Patrick through art.

Primary school pupils are invited to take part and win prizes which include Nintendo Switches and an i-PAD mini 

Primary 1-2 will be judged on a Colouring in Competition, whilst P3-P5 are asked to Design a Stained Glass Window. P6-P7 are invited to design and write a cartoon script about the life of Saint Patrick.

“Saint Patrick is a fascinating figure with an amazing life story and an important part of the schools curriculum' said Dr Tim Campbell, Director of Saint Patrick Centre, Downpatrick. 

“This is a great way for children - who have had a challenging year with their education disrupted due to Covid-19 -  to have some fun and learn about our rich heritage and culture at the same time.”

“We hope parents and teachers will encourage children to have some fun and participate and have a chance to win some lovely prizes.”

Children wishing to take part can download the information from www.saintpatrickcentre.com. Prizes are a Nintendo switch for the two younger age groups and i-Pad mini for P6-P7.

Submissions can be made online to education@saintpatrickcentre.com until March 12^thand the winners will be announced on St Patrick’s Day. 

Entrants must include contact details such as email or phone number. The winning artwork will be displayed St Patrick’s Website and facebook pages. 

All entrants must work on the sheets provided. Additional material such as glitter and other elements are allowed but the entries will be judged as a 2D art piece.
 

Monday 1st March

Today is the first day of spring, according to the meteorological calendar, which is brilliant!  World Book Day is on the 4th March and when we are in school - we like to mark this day.  Unfortunately, we are not in school but that doesn't stop us from having fun with it!  The school is launching the "Extreme Reading Competition".  To remind you - where is the most extreme, the most adventurous, the oddest, the silliest place you read in??  As it is World Book Day, the school has organised class prizes for the most extreme reading place.  Please send me your photos of your reading place.  You have from today until Thursday (2.45pm) to be in with a shout to win the competition!  Also, later on today I will be emailing your parents with your £1 off World Book Day voucher.  

Finally I hope to give you details on a workshop delivered via zoom, organised by the Newry and Mourne District Council.  The first session is based on Traditional Celebrations and we will looking at Chinese New Year, Diwali - Indian Festival of Light and the Mexican Dia de Muertos.  This should be really interesting and a break from the Numeracy and Literacy.

I look forward to seeing your photos.

Love Mrs M

Friday 26th February

Good morning P6 and P7!  I hope you are all well and isn't it a gorgeous morning outside?  It's funny how quickly the weather changes from Winter to Spring.  Just two weeks ago we had that snow blizzard and now I see snow drops, daffodils and signs of new growth everywhere.  We have come a long way in a year and you have all worked so hard at home.  Hopefully the positive changes outside in nature reflects the positive change to our lives in the near future - primarily going back to school and seeing each other face to face.

Mrs Whyte and I are currently marking your work and, overall, the standard has been fantastic!  Some of the concepts have been challenging but you have dived right in there and submitted very pleasing work.  Obviously, there have been areas of difficulty and we will go through these when we are back in school.

Remember Chris's PE zoom this afternoon and enjoy the sunshine today and over the weekend.  Thinking of you all!

Love

Mrs M

Monday 22nd February 

Good morning P6 and P7. I hope you all had a lovely half term 😊.  Yesterday the weather was just like spring and it definitely lifted my mood. 

This morning your parents will be leaving off your third learning packs and receiving your fourth. I know how hard it is to learn from home but keep going, you are doing great 👍. 

In study ladder this week, I have set tasks which some of you have previously struggled with in your learning packs. However the study ladder activities simplify the concept.

Let me know how you are getting on this week and keep safe.

Love

Mrs M

Friday 12th February 

Good morning P6 and P7. We have made it to half term! Thank you for all the hard work you have put in. It has been noted!  You definitely deserve your break next week.

Please remember to ask mums or dad's to pick up your learning pack on 22nd February and, at the same time, leave off your current pack.

Extra well done to those who have achieved their accelerated reading 📚 certificates and those who have been on RM Easi Maths.

Have a great week!

Love Mrs M

Bird- watching

Anyone taking part in the bird watching activities this week there is a BBC Teach lesson pack in the folder and it goes along with the live lesson linked below.

Monday 8th February 

Good morning P6 and P7. Just a short message to remind you about the Internet Safety Day tomorrow and the special live programme on CBBC at 11 am. Details are in my last post  ( Friday 5th February)

Also if you have any difficulties with your work, please contact me. I'll do all I can to help.  

Have a great last week before half term, we're nearly there 😀. 

Love 

Mrs M

Friday 5th February 

Good morning P6/7.  I hope you are well and keeping safe ❤ As always, I've enjoyed looking at your photos.

I don't know about you but I am so grateful that it's nearly the weekend!

I'm looking forward to seeing your work as it was a pleasure to mark your first learning pack. 

This Tuesday is ' Internet Safety Day' and it would be good to mark it as we are on our devices much more now! On Tuesday CBBC will be showing a special programme on Internet safety at 11 am. If you can, try to watch it. It will also be available on BBC iplayer. I've included the website for more details: 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/live-lessons/safer-internet-day-live-lesson/zdh2wnb. There's a lesson activity and a parents' guide also. See below.

Please don't forget about Chris' zoom PE at 210pm. I've emailed your parents regarding the login details. 

Finally, P7 Mrs Blackwood has emailed details to your parents about ordering your leavers' hoodies. Can you believe that we are at this time already? Also I had a visit from Mr Magaw when I was in school yesterday. He delivered the school prospectus and I have put one in each of your packs.

Have a lovely weekend. 

Mrs M

You may remember Julieanne from our mindfulness sessions.  As part of Children's Mental Health week, she has sent us this video.

 Please note: the video can only be opened if you have a chrome browser

Blue Peter is now on You Tube

Blue Peter is the longest running kids TV show in the world and we are uploading videos to it that are suitable for 5-11 year olds. We have world record breaking challenges, arts and crafts, environmental videos, cooking and baking how tos, inspirational films, gaming, celebrity appearances, dance routines and music performances. We also feature ways of getting a Blue Peter badge, behind the scenes footage and extra content about our incredible presenters Adam, Lindsey, Mwaksy, Richie and Henry the Blue Peter dog.

Children's Mental Health Week

Since the UK went into lockdown, project worker Jess has been keeping everyone at Me2 Club connected with a series of online sessions, the most recent of which are Monster Games!

Now, you and your family can join Jess for a Monster Games session, to help improve creativity and communication skills whilst keeping everyone entertained.  Watch the video in the Me 2 website (underneath) or scroll on down for instructions.

What you’ll need:

• At least 3 players
• Some plain paper
• Dark coloured pen(s) or pencil(s)

How to play:

1. Each person draws a monster without showing it to their friends or talking about what it looks like at this stage (tip – keep it simple as each person will be describing their monster to the group.)
2. When the drawings are done, take it in turns to describe what your monster looks like, so each person can try and copy your monster without having seen it.
3. At the end of each round, everyone holds up their own picture of their monster and the original drawer votes whose is the closest to their monster or the best one.
4. Repeat so everyone in the group has a turn at describing and judging the winner!

We’d love to see how you get on! Share your monster drawings with us on twitter via @bbccin

Monday 1st February 

Just a short message to encourage you all to keep going. In our house, we find home learning hard and I'm sure some of you feel the same way. Work efficiently and set an end time to learning each day. Then do something that you 

On Friday morning or Thursday, when you've finished learning, take out work which you haven't completed in your folder and send the finished work in folder this Friday. I will provide a new folder with spellings and spelling activities for you to do next week.

I really enjoyed PE with Chris on Friday but I've got to admit- he worked us hard! Loved seeing you all who zoomed in. Thank you again for your photos and videos.

Just a reminder to take a quick look at the maths and literacy links which I put up last week.

Have a good week ahead 😊

Mrs M

Friday 29th January 

Why do geography teachers find mountains funny?

Because they're hill areas

Good morning P6 and P7. I have so loved your photos and videos you have sent in. 💗 They make me feel that we are all still connecting. Talking about connecting,  hopefully you will zoom in for 215pm to participate in Chris's PE lesson.  I know how much you have missed Chris's sessions in school! If your parent did not receive a zoom code then let me know ASAP. 

Please don't overlook your reading. I'm still regularly checking who's quizzing on the AR site.

I have added more tasks on study ladder under the title of week 4.  But  please do complete unfinished tasks from week 1 - 3. Also, remember these tasks are an extension to your learning packs. I want you to concentrate on your second pack in the same way as you did your first.

Finally, I want to thank all of you for completing your first learning pack. The work you submitted was of a great standard  👏. 

Mrs M

Monday 25th January

Who had fun in the snow over the weekend?  Also, Mrs Whyte and I loved looking at your amazing and intricate snowflakes.  I just loved the different twists you did by making them out of different materials!

By now, you have your new learning pack.  Don't panic - I am cracking on with what I am planning to teach but I am giving you 3 weeks to complete this pack instead of 2 so pace yourselves.

Remember, what I wrote about on Friday's post - use the bbc bitesize and Corbett maths to help you - websites are posted on Friday's post.  Also remember - it is normal to make mistakes, particularly in Maths, mistakes are part of the process.  Even frustration is part of it but the reward is when you finally can do the concept.

As we had snow yesterday and I'm sure some of you were building snowman; could you write ✍about the following. "Being a snowman ⛄ for a day." Write about your experience as if you were the actual snowman you made. It could be as long or as short as you want, just fill it with great adjectives, alliteration etc... Or send a picture. A picture can paint 🎨 1000 words.

Friday will be exciting as hockey and Chris's PE begins again.  More details on that will follow.  I loved how we had PE on a Friday, particularly after our Friday test.  We had worked so hard all week and we could let off steam and energy on the hockey pitch or in the sports hall.  I know, by Friday, in my house we are exhausted.  Therefore, we are really looking forward to wind down the weeks work with Christine and Chris!

Keep in touch

Mrs M

Hi Kids

Who's up for a PE zoom session with Chris this Friday afternoon (29 January)?  Our slot is from 2.15 to 2.45 pm.   More details to follow!

Friday 22nd January

How do you comfort an English grammar teacher?  There, their, they're.  Well... I found it funny

Good Morning P6/7.  I am thinking of every single one of you.  I have to say I miss being in school, particularly on a Friday.  There was always the same question asked,  "Did we have to learn the meanings to our spellings?"  I miss the early morning chatter, a sea of smiling, fresh faces and your boundless energy exploding into the room.

I am looking forward to marking your first learning packs.  I have your second one prepared and hopefully they will be picked up today.  The second learning pack really concentrates on Numeracy and Literacy, a lot of what I was planning to teach during these next two weeks.  However don't worry, Mrs Whyte has prepared lots of topic based activities for the third learning pack.

It is important for me to recognise and understand that we all work at different rates.  All of you have the same amount of work but some will finish by the end of week 4 but others may still be finishing off in week 5.  This is totally fine!  Also some days might be good learning days and some may not be so good.  Again, this is understandable.  You are not on your own.

P7, I have included quite a few Maths activities, knowledge that we have already covered, but now you must apply this knowledge in mathematical questions.  I have included a fractions booklet.  Read the fractions help sheets and also look at a few videos.  For example you will be expected to simplify fractions.  Therefore look at the following video to refresh your memory: 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zhdwxnb/articles/zcdgxfr

Also remember when we did 5 a day every morning.  They were questions thought up by a Maths teacher called John Corbett who originally comes from County Antrim.  He teaches in a secondary school but he loves Maths so much....(how strange!) that he made up loads of videos to make Maths easier to understand.  Look up:  https://corbettmathsprimary.com/content/  To revise equivalent fractions look up video 26.  To revise what factors are, look up video 22.  The Maths concepts are all in alphabetical order.

P6 - You have Maths revision as well.  You will be multiplying, dividing, adding subtracting.  Working with fractions and money.  We will also be looking at perimeter, volume and time.  Therefore, for example, video 47 will help with perimeter.  You have some questions on line graphs so look up video 33.  We haven't covered cube numbers but you may have heard me talk to the P7s about them.  Why don't you look up video 14 to help you answer that question.  Basically, if you're stuck  look up a video in the above website or ask mum to email me. 

Inevitably, you will get stuck at some point.  Your work should challenge you but should never stress you.  If the teaching videos don't help and you can't do the question, leave it out and we will return to it when we come back to school. 

Work hard, relax and get outside when you can.  Be kind to yourself and to others.  These times are hard and I  am looking forward to when I can see you face to face.

Final Note

Keep an eye out for the CBBC programmes, particularly BBC Bitesize 9 - 11 and Celebrity Supply Teacher.  Time zones are on tomorrow ( Tues) and Tez Ilyas is presenting science in Celebrity Supply Teacher.  On Wednesday there is science at 9 40 and Nikki Lilli is covering Information Technology at 10.05. On Thursday, one of my favourite singers, Ricky Wilson is teaching art at 10.05 and Kelis is doing cookery on Friday!!  If only school was like this in real life!

Monday 18th January

Hi P6/7.

I hope you all had a great weekend!  Please remind Mums or Dads that you first learning pack should be left into school on Friday.

If you can, try to get outside.  I have been going on lots of walks as I find being in the house all day hard.  I definitely feel the benefits of being outside because my mood lifts and I also sleep better.

Also, send me photos of you being outside having fun!  You could be on a walk, on the trampoline, biking, farming - the list is endless.

Friday 15th January

Good morning boys and girls!  I hope you are all well.  How was your first full week of remote learning?  I know it has been busy in our house but we still found the time to relax by going on (muddy) walks and, when the weather was really miserable, play lots of board games.  Monopoly is the favourite and, yes, I lose all of the time!  What activities, apart from work, have you been getting up to? 

I am pleased to announce the first certificates:

P7 : Sophie Warnock

P6: Will Moorcroft.

Keep up the great work and I will be in touch soon.

Lockdown 2.0 - More Remote Learning!

Hi P6/7. 

Not the best start to our new year.  I would much rather see you and teach you in school.  I miss your stories and your smiles.  However this period at home will not be as long as the first!

There is a big difference between this period of home learning and last period of home learning.  This time - your learning packs should be your priority to complete.  These packs will be collected on Friday 22nd January and another one will be issued. The study ladder tasks are there as a back up in case you want a break from your pack or you have finished your pack.  Please don't worry if you haven't completed your pack.  The worst thing you could do is to stress over it and spend far too much time over the activities.  Also remember to keep up with your reading.  The more you read, the more you know.

Please send your pictures etc... and I will endeavour to post them on the website for us all to see.

Our Friday Certificates of the Week are back!  So login on Friday to find out the first two recipients!!

We will get through this because you have shown how great you all are at keeping up with your learning away from school.

Thinking of you all!!

Mrs M

Monday 11th January

Just a wee note about your learning packs.  Inside your folder you will find:

 - 2 weeks of spellings and spelling activities ( I think we are up to week 10 and 11)

 - Grammar activities

 - Comprehension activities

- A place value and number booklet.  (If you have 2, it's not a mistake - you pick the one you are most comfortable doing.)

 - Times Tables activities

- Some of you have problem solving questions

- A topic booklet

 Grace Johnston wrote a lovely Christmas poem.

It’s Christmas time,

The time when we celebrate Jesus’ birth,

The time we are joyful,

And the time when Santa comes.

I can see the robin sitting on the fence,

To see if you’re being good,

And if you’re not good,

You’ll soon find out,

Because there will be nothing but a bag of coal in your stocking.

I’m so happy Christmas is finally here,

I’ve been waiting all year round,

It’s Christmas time.

By Grace Johnston

Autumn Walk 2020

It was a lovely morning and we started off by walking down to the Glenn Road. On the way we saw a baby bat. It flew around above our heads and we couldn't believe that it was out during the day, when it should be sleeping. On the Glenn Road our task was to spot the different leaves from the trees. Then we went for an adventure in the field behind our school. We followed the river and picked some blackberries. There were a few wet feet but memories were made and we will never forget it. Who knew we could have so much fun right on our doorstep! 

Christmas Tree Craft

It's never too early for Christmas craft!

Today we used nature to create some beautiful Christmas art, we went outside and collected some twigs and decorated them back inside the classroom.