Well, we’ve finally made it to the end of what must be the most unusual teaching term ever! I’ve posted a letter to the children in the classroom, however it is you, the most amazing Primary 3 parents, that I want to thank here. I am incredibly grateful for all of the support you have shown me, both before lockdown, and during this strangest of times. I know full well that it cannot have been easy to keep learning going at home, but it has been amazing to see the level of engagement and enjoyment shared by the children in the Google Classroom. They have been a fantastic class and I have really enjoyed learning with them, and watching them grow, this year.

So, a very sincere thank you from me, and a wish for a restful, relaxing, fun and safe summer for you all!

A few parents have been asking about accessing the Google Classrooms over the holidays.

For online safety reasons, I’m afraid, they will close on Thursday.

Please feel free to copy/save any resources you feel will be useful.

There will be an opportunity for parents to collect finished work and named belongings this week.

See details on the main blog here: https://crownprimaryblog.wordpress.com/2020/06/26/collecting-finished-work-and-named-belongings/

Please note that belongings will be passed on to the oldest sibling in the school and this is the time slot which should be adhered to.

The children were fairly diligent in organising their belongings and clearing the cloakroom before the Easter holidays, so I do not anticipate that there will be much left to collect. Please note that any finished work will comprise mainly of loose leaf work as all jotters will be retained and passed on to your child’s new teacher.

I have attached the weekly plan for guidance here:

T4 W12

There are lots of fun activities this week. There is a Disney themed Challenge Grid, which the children can dip in and out of. I have shared the last of my stash of Maths Mysteries, which have proved so popular over the last couple of weeks, and there are some practical hands on STEM activities. I have invited the children to make their own ‘Certificate for a Classmate’ which I will be able to pass on to the recipient on the stream, and have challenged them to create their own personal ‘Bucket List’ for the summer holidays.

I am opening up the Google Meets on Tuesday and Wednesday to everyone, so that the children can just drop in and say hello. They do not have to say for the full duration if they don’t want to. If my connection goes (which happens periodically) the children can stay on as long as there is an adult present, and I will try to rejoin as quickly as I can. If I haven’t rejoined within 5 minutes the children should leave the Meet and I will contact them via the stream.

I am aiming for a whole class ‘Google Party Meet’ on the final Thursday. The children can wear whatever they like; some wanted pyjamas, dress up or rainbow coloured clothes! As it is Jac’s last day at school I will be inviting each of the children to say a little ‘Farewell and Good Luck!’ message. It would be great if the children could have a drink and snack to hand, just to help us get into the party mood.

I will clarify whether you are able to keep accessing the Google Classroom over the holidays by Thursday. I will not be accessing the Google Classroom, or making comments on the stream during this time. I can disable the pupil posts on the stream, but would respectfully request that the children do not post any additional private comments or emails. I have suggested that the children do a quick review of the online resources on Monday and copy/download anything they have not had a chance to look at which they think might be useful to them.

All that remains is to thank you all, most sincerely, for your continued support throughout this term. I think I can safely say it has been the steepest learning curve of my teaching career! I never doubted the children in my class for a minute, but they have continued to astound me with their enthusiasm, engagement and tenacity – skills which will continue to serve them well in Primary 4 and beyond.

Well, here we are at our final full week of learning for this term.

I have attached the outline of our weekly timetable here:

T4 W11

One of my greatest regrets about the way this school year has ended is that the children have not been on a school trip – always one of the highlights of the year for the whole class, including the teacher! This week I have added a daily ‘Virtual Visit’ to a website which I think the children might enjoy exploring. I have added the web address for the whole site, but also picked out specific links for fun activities each day.

You will see that there are no new spelling words this week. In class we would be using this last couple of weeks to review our spelling from the term, so it might be an idea to revisit some of the spelling patterns we have worked on over the course of this term.

The Maths Mystery resources seemed to go down a storm with the children and so I have kept them going for this week. There are also instructions for the children to create their own numeracy board game, if they would like. Our Google Meet group playscript also proved popular, and so this week we will be performing ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’!

There is also a range of transition activities which the children can access. On the whole, the feedback from those children completing the activities last week was that many of them felt ‘ready’ and were excited about starting Primary 4, which was really encouraging for me as their teacher. While these activities are no substitute for the supportive discussions we would be having in class around this time, I am hopeful that they will open up conversations at home with your child around any worries or concerns they might have. There is also an opportunity for them on Monday’s activity to record their ideas for how we can make the end of Primary 3 memorable, and I would really appreciate their input on this. I have included a whole class drop in Google Meet on Friday so that the children can share their ideas – it’s bound to be noisy, but it will be lovely to see as many of them as possible in the one place at one time.

Finally, thanks to Penny’s mum for this link https://summerreadingchallenge.org.uk/ . The Summer Reading Challenge would normally be run through the local library, but the children can participate online this year. This is great way to keep reading going over the holidays!

Here’s to another great week of learning! Thanks, as always, for your continued support from home – it is very much appreciated.

All of a sudden it feels as if the end of term is fast approaching. Just as we would if we were all in class together, we will be taking a little time over the next couple of weeks to look back over our time in Primary 3, and also to look forward to our new school year. It might not be our usual end of term, but I do feel it is important to celebrate the children’s successes and achievements.

Here is our outline timetable for this week.

T4 W10

There is a ‘reflection’ activity for the children to complete each day. They just need to take care to only work on their own slide on Thursday’s ‘Memory Book’ as this is a shared document. Likewise, I have set some children a ‘Top Secret Task’ on a shared document and would appreciate some adult support with the completion of this. There are detailed instructions attached to the activity.

Please note the timing of group Meets has changed to 11.00am this week. I have already posted a short playscript for ‘The Gingerbread Man’ which I thought we could have some fun with at our Google Meets this week. The children have each been allocated two parts to practise, but can read from the scripts on the day. Costumes are entirely optional – this is just for fun!

The Gingerbread Man Cast

I have also included a Visualising task for reading on Wednesday.

We will be having a bit of a refresher on Multiplication/Division and Times Tables this week. I have provided a host of ideas and links to online games to practise.

I have also posted some fun ‘Mystery Maths’ activities which I think the children will enjoy. They require the children to use a whole range of Numeracy and Maths applications, at an appropriate level, in order to solve a mystery. Unfortunately I have no way of detaching the answers from the end of the documents, so if you are following the instructions on screen you might want to watch out that there is no sneaky peeking going on!

There will be no more spelling words issued after this week. In class we would normally take some time to review the spelling patterns, so feel free to go back over the previous weeks and pull out some words at random to check for retention.

Please just do what you can, there is absolutely no pressure to complete every activity. By this point in a regular school year we would normally be dealing with some very tired children; there would be a lot of outdoor, fun activities and social time together. So, while I will keep posting activities, please do not be surprised if your child appears to be ‘running out of steam’ – I am quite frankly amazed and delighted that they have sustained their level of engagement for as long as they have. Thank you again for your continued support from home, it is much appreciated.

Are we really just about to enter into Week 9 of this term?

I know I say it regularly, but I am continually amazed by the positivity and commitment shown by your children towards their online learning. The virtual classroom would just not have been the same without their continued engagement and enthusiasm, so a very genuine thank you for your continued support from home.

T4 W9

‘Talk for Writing’ have released some great new resources which I have adapted for this week. The ‘Elves’ topic is suitable for everyone, although some children may require support with the activities. I have also released ‘Stone Trolls’ to some children who I feel could cope with a little more challenge. I am happy for these children to work with whichever resource they feel most comfortable with.

We are following up last week’s Information Handling with some work on Carroll Diagrams, Venn Diagrams and Pictograms. The information document should provide all of the details you need.

Reading, Spelling and Basic Facts are all there as usual.

There are lots of fun ideas for indoor health and wellbeing activities this week, so the children can pick and choose from them.

Here is the Google Meet timetable for the coming week too. I’ve got everything crossed that these will run a little bit more smoothly this week, after the problems with my internet connection. If I am cut off I always try to rejoin immediately, although this can take some time as I have to log out completely and log back in again! If I disappear and haven’t come back within 5 minutes I would suggest that the children just abandon the Meet and I will contact them via the stream to rearrange another. The joys of modern technology! It would be great if the children could have something ready to show/share with their classmates.

Google Meet Groups w/c 08.06.20

Thank you!

I can’t quite believe that we are beginning Week 8 of this term!

I know the timetable looks really busy, but it is more about making sure you can find all of the resources you need. Please just do what you can; I really appreciate all the support and effort which is coming from home.

T4 W8

It’s an INSET day on Monday and so I won’t be about online, however, I will release all of the activities this evening if the children want to access them tomorrow.

Spelling and Basic Facts are there as usual, and I have included another couple of prediction activities which the children seem to enjoy.

Our IDL habitat work is taking us to Polar environments this week – looking in particular at animal adaptations. Maths is moving on to Information Handling starting with Tally Charts and Bar Graphs.

The main focus for Health and Wellbeing this week is ‘giving back’, as we try to raise awareness for the Highland Hospice. I know that we are a week behind with our ‘Wear Yellow Day’ but we thought it better not to clash with the Upper School plans. The ‘Virtual Sunshine Cafe’ is in essence all about raising awareness through sharing a little baking happiness. The children can keep this completely within the home or, if you are making regular deliveries to neighbours/family they could be included. Everyone’s safety is the priority. So, dress up, bake, eat cake, dance, design a T-shirt for Bobby the Bee and have fun! Feel free to post all ‘Wear Yellow Day’ activities on the Classroom stream. There is absolutely no obligation to donate to the Hospice unless you wish to do so, it is all about raising awareness and showing support for a local charity.

Here are the Google Meet groups for this week. If your family is busy doing something else on the day, but your child is keen to participate in a Meet, just let me know and I will do my best to fit them into another group. It’s easier to have a maximum of 10, but I don’t want anyone missing out.

Google Meet Groups w/c 01.06.20

Many thanks, as always, for your continued support.

Today is the final day to submit forms for our virtual whole class photo.

Miss Earnshaw is working incredibly hard to make this happen, so if you want you child to be included please complete and submit this form today.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfeyB30SuLJkNloe9KVbVkE4WKOOeOdMOnoSV7s98DbTesSSg/viewform?usp=sf_link

Thank you!

We have had limited response to the suggestion for a virtual whole class photo. If you would like your child to be included please upload your photos to the form below by Wednesday at the latest.

Original Post

We would usually have year group photos during term 4 and we would love to recreate this.
Our plan is to create 2 photo collages for each year group:

• 1 where pupils are wearing school uniform and smiling (as they would for a normal school photo)
• 1 where pupils are wearing whatever they want (casual clothes or a costume) and holding a sign with a message to their class.

We thought this would be a lovely memento for everyone to have as well as keeping our classes as connected as possible during this difficult time.

If you would like your child to be included in their class collage then please upload your photos to this Google Form before 27.05.2020 and we will get started on the collage creations ASAP!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfeyB30SuLJkNloe9KVbVkE4WKOOeOdMOnoSV7s98DbTesSSg/viewform?usp=sf_link