Category Archives: P3

Primary 3 Homework – Week from 16^th January

This term our spelling homework will change slightly, focusing on common words. We will still work through sounds in class. In numeracy we will finish probability and move back to addition and subtraction. Around the school Scottish month also continues. The children are making maps of the country and will learn some poems for a school competition.

Best wishes,

Mr Buchan

Numeracy

Learnits – New flashcards came home last week and the old ones are also still relevant.

Sum Dog – This is an online platform for practising maths skills. I am hoping it will be familiar to many of you from last year. Login details will come home today, but if you need a reminder at any point then just let me know.

Each week I will set a challenge on Sum Dog which focusses on relevant skills. The children will have a go in class this week, which should get them back in the way of it.

To access on a computer you login at www.sumdog.com. To access on a tablet or phone you can either go through that site in your web browser or download the Sum Dog app. The new 3D app enables a few more games, but 2D should still work.

Reading

Pages from class books to be read at home will be written down in the grids as usual.

Scottish Poems

The children have all chosen one of three Scottish poems to bring home and learn. We will also practise these in class, with two from our class going forward to represent P3 in a school competition on Thursday 25^th January.

While many of the children will relish this opportunity to perform, others may find it nerve-wracking! In class our practice will be non-threatening. No-one will have to recite in front of the class if they do not feel comfortable. Having said that, being able to memorise and recite something is a useful life skill, and so even if your child is not keen on the competition element of this, please do encourage them to learn and say their poem.

Spelling

really                          swimming

we                               present

Edinburgh                 with

Highlands                  our

For practice: look, say, cover, write and check.

Primary 3 Homework – Week from 9^th January

Happy New Year! I hope you all had fun and restful holidays.

As well as getting straight back into maths and literacy, January is Scottish month at LPS. This will be our focus for the first few weeks of term before we move onto our next big topic.

Best wishes,

Mr Buchan

Numeracy

We are beginning this term by thinking about probability.

To start with the children will be getting used words like “likely” and “unlikely”, and thinking about how we make these kinds of judgements about events in the future.

We will then move on to a more mathematical understanding of probability, thinking about tossing coins and rolling dice.

If you can talk about these ideas at home, that will help the children to become more familiar with the ideas and words.

We will also be starting up our Big Maths this week, with a new set of Learnits. Flashcards for these will be coming home so that children can practice for the weekly Beat That challenges. Remember that the aim of this is instant recall of these basic number facts. If children have to work out the answers that will not be fast enough.

Reading

Pages from class books to be read at home will be written down in the grids like last term. Occasionally I may write a question on these grids for you as a parent, asking for feedback about the reading.

Spelling

Spelling words to practice this week are:

girl                               bird

shirt                             skirt

dirt                              first

holiday                        of

said                              cold

Please could everyone do the usual look, say cover, write and check (twice through the list) and then write sentences using as many of the words as possible.

Primary 3 Homework – Week from 19^th December

Because this is a shorter homework week, I have only put down a couple of things to look at. Homework jotters won’t come home, and we won’t be having new reading books.

I hope you all have great holidays.

Mr Buchan

Numeracy

We’ve been finishing strongly in numeracy, getting the hang of empty number lines. This strategy will provide a strong basis both for written techniques (i.e. chimney sums) and mental calculation. It would be great to cement this before we all head off. (As before, please practise suitable sums based on the examples below.)

23 + 34 =

141 + 26 =

352 + 124 =

228 + 236 =

356 + 244 =

Spelling

Our final dictation (Thursday) will focus on the ‘oa’ sound.

boat                 coat                 road                 groan               loaf

toast                soap                 just                  float

Last week we struggled with the ‘ai’ sound, so a bit of practice on ‘oa’ would be good to help us all to finish on a high note.

Primary 3 Homework – Week from 12^th December

Thanks for all your support with the amazing tombs. I have put a short video on the school website which shows these off a bit!

There are lots of exciting things going on this week with the pantomime and getting ready for our Christmas Concert. There will still be time for writing and maths amongst it all though!

Best wishes,

Mr Buchan

Numeracy

This week we are hoping to consolidate addition with two digit numbers. Please could you ask the children to show you solutions using our empty number line strategy? (There’s no need to do all of these. Please just pick three at a suitable level.)

20 + 17 =

34 + 25 =

38 + 44 =

132 + 24 =

247 + 36 =

173 + 237 =

Reading

Pages to read at home will be written down in the grids as usual.

Spelling

Spelling words to practice this week are:

boat                 coat

road                 groan

loaf                  float

toast                soap

just                  used

Please could everyone do the usual look, say cover, write and check (twice through the list) and then write sentences using as many of the words as possible.

Christmas Jokes

We thought it would be fun for everyone in P3 to find or make up a Christmas joke. The children can then practice telling their jokes to an audience.

Primary 3 Homework – Week from 5^th December

This week we’re excited about our museum trip. After we have written reports on this visit, that will be the end of our Egypt topic.

Thank you to all who have paid £1 towards the Christmas party on Tuesday 19^th. There is still plenty of time to hand this in.

Best wishes,

Mr Buchan

Numeracy (images missing from online version – please see printed sheet – apologies!)

We are adding two digit numbers, building up difficulty in steps:

– Adding two tens numbers together (e.g. 30 + 50)

– Adding a tens number to another two digit number (e.g. 30 + 54)

– Adding two digit numbers without bridging over 10 (e.g. 33 + 54)

– Adding two digit numbers bridging over 10 (e.g. 38 + 54)

– Adding two digit numbers bridging over 10 and 100 (e.g. 48 + 54)

To solve these additions (in the end we want to be doing this mentally) we are learning how to use two different strategies.

The first involves breaking down the numbers into parts that are easier to work with. For example: 33 + 54  =  30 + 50 + 3 + 4

The second strategy involves using an empty number line.

+4        +10          +10             +10                    +10              +10

33  37             47                57                         67              77             87

Please ask the children to show you how these strategies work. You could get them to demonstrate on 33 + 54 and 38 + 54.

As confidence grows, have a go at the Topmarks speed challenge:

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/Flash.aspx?f=SpeedChallenge

Under “Addition and Subtraction”, I would start with 15 or 20 seconds per question, building up from TU + TU without crossing 10s.

Reading

Pages to read at home will be written down in the grids as usual.

Spelling

Spelling words to practice this week are:

rain                  paint

tail                   wait

train                rail

snail                 picture

people             thing

Please could everyone do the usual look, say cover, write and check (twice through the list) and then write sentences using as many of the words as possible.

Primary 3 Homework – Week from 28^th November

Thanks for sending back forms for the museum trip next week. If possible we need two more parent helpers. If you think you might be able to come on Thursday 7^th then please get in touch.

We are grateful to AOC Archeaology in Loanhead for a fantastic visit last week. It was amazing to learn how these historic treasures are uncovered, and also to handle axe-heads from Ancient Egypt and a Viking bracelet!

Best wishes,

Mr Buchan

Numeracy

We are finishing off money this and moving back onto addition and subtraction. Our aim is to finish the term by extending this into higher numbers than we have worked with so far.

To support this, we are going to look again at place value. Having learned about hundreds, tens and units before we will now include thousands. A valuable game to cement this would be:

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/place-value/place-value-charts

It will also be helpful to play + / – again, like we did at the beginning of term. This is where one player says a number while holding up a card that says, “+10” or “-10”, “+100” or “–100” and then the other player has to say the right number in response. To play with 10, 20 and 100 would be a good challenge.

Reading

We are moving back onto fiction books for the next few weeks. Pages to read at home will be written down in the grids as usual.

Egyptian Tombs

It’s been great having children showing their tombs in class – some fabulous work! Do let me know if you need resources. A reminder that it’d be great to have these for 5^th December (next Tuesday) and that full details are up online tagged for P3.

Spelling

Spelling words to practice this week are:

blue                 June

tube                 tune

rude                 called

people             light

different          Egyptian

Please could everyone do the usual look, say cover, write and check (twice through the list) and then write sentences using as many of the words as possible.