Last week we had a big focus on anti-bullying, what to do in bullying situations and the role and responsibility of a bystander.

The first thing we did was think about what a bully might look like on the outside and wrote our ideas around the outside of the body. After we completed the task in our table groups we realised that a bully can be anyone and is not necessarily who you would expect. We then thought about how a bully might be feeling on the inside and wrote our ideas on the inside of the body outline. We repeated this activity to think about what a victim might look like or how they might be feeling and we realised that a victim can also be anyone around us.

We were given a variety of scenarios that involved bullying and had to discuss these at our table groups and decide how we should react and what we should do in the situations. We all came up with some brilliant answers and showed an understanding of the importance of telling somebody we trust.

In drama we had to create a scenario where bullying was involved and in our play we had to show how the situation was resolved. We had good ideas and worked together to present an interesting play.

In writing we have been working on our note taking skills. We discussed what note taking is and how we should be choosing key words and phrases to write down rather than full detailed sentences. We also discussed the use of bullet points and how we should be putting our findings into our own words rather than just copying them down. Each table group had a different part of Fairtrade to research and take notes and soon each group will be presenting their findings to the rest of the class.

We continued to work on our note taking skills in ICT in preparation for our christmas concert. We are looking at christmas in the United Kingdom so we used the internet to research the history of Christmas in the U.K and facts such as: when was the first christmas tree, who invented crackers etc.

We have been looking at the process of cleaning water and the different steps involved before the water reaches our taps.

We took part in an experiment where we had to taste different samples of water and predict then decide which sample was tap water and which were bottled waters.

Most of us managed to guess correctly and the majority of the class preferred the tap water compared to the bottled waters!

Recently we have been writing kenning poems.

Kenning poems use 2 word phrases to describe an object without giving the answer.

After we had written our kenning poems, we read them aloud to the class and we had to guess what they were describing.

We have also been creating our own pollution posters. We looked at examples of posters and what makes an effective poster before planning and designing our own. They had to try and persuade people not to pollute the sea, air, pavement etc

Primary 5 have been very busy so far this term.

We have all settled into P5 life and are able to follow the daily and weekly routines.

Our topic this term is Titanic! We received a secret mission and we had to create a wall display in our classroom to begin our topic.

We have been learning to compare and contrast life on Titanic to life today. We have looked closely at the different classes and treatment of classes on board the Titanic. We have focussed on famous passengers and the amenities available on board the Titanic. We have also had a look at buoyancy and what makes an object buoyant or sink. In gym we have been playing listening games where we have to follow a variety of instructions. The most popular game seems to be the Titanic where we have had to run to ‘port’ or ‘starboard’ or ‘climb the rigs,’ ‘lifeboats,’ ‘submarine’ etc.

We know about how the Titanic was built and the events that led to its fatal sinking.

In maths we have covered whole number so far. The Pentagons have been looking at divisibility and rounding. The Triangles have been partitioning numbers and consolidating how to read and write large numbers. They have also been revising number bonds and consolidating previous learning. The Squares have been adding and subtracting multiples of 10 and 100 and strategies to do this quickly. All groups have been looking at rounding and have been playing a variety of games (some of which you may have seen at Open Night) to consolidate new concepts.

In Writing we have been describing settings and have been using techniques such as WOW words, similes, metaphors and adjectives.

Miss Dow has been doing some French with us as well as Mrs Shepherd. We have been looking at greetings, colours and days of the week so far. We learn mostly through games and conversation but we also complete some worksheets and listen to videos and use songs.

Finally a big thank you to everyone who was able to attend open night last Wednesday. It was lovely to meet everyone and the children enjoyed showing some of their work and activities that they have been using in class so far this year.

I hope everyone has had a lovely and relaxed long weekend and the children are looking forward to coming back to school tomorrow.