P4/5 Blog Post

Hello Everyone! We are settling in well to our new class, new classroom and becoming familiar with life in P4-5.

Literacy

Primary 4-5 have started a class novel, ‘Saving Finnegan’ with Miss Davie. We are working on our active spelling methods during our soft start in the morning.

This week, the children have been gluing their words in their jotters using newspaper, using scrabble tiles and playing KABOOM, a game with lolly sticks.

We are working on our recount writing and are going to be working on second drafts of our recount writing. We are checking them against our steps to success and making improvements!

Modern Languages

Primary 4-5 have been learning about fruits in French! We have practiced saying ‘I like…’ and writing names of fruits too. We have been singing a song called J’aime Les Fruits – have a look and feel free to practice at home!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ03KjwiIVM

The class have also been playing number games in Spanish with Miss Davie.

Expressive Arts

We are building up knowledge of musical genre, theory and history. The children have listened to some famous compositions by Beethoven and shared their opinions and thoughts. We have been enjoying rocking out to “Nothing Else Matters”.

 

Health and Wellbeing

Primary 4-5 have been doing lots of team building activities now that they are back together as a whole class and are enjoying learning to work well with their peers.

This week, we built Hula Huts in the playground in teams of 3. Each hut had to have a base, walls and a roof. It was tricky, but we managed in the end!

What we have been learning in Nursery

This week in Nursery we introduced a new 10 Frame Registration Board. After finding their name and placing it on the 10 Frame. The staff support the children to subsidise (recognise a quantity without counting) the number of children who are in nursery. They also work out how many children are off. We will be doing lots of noticing and subsidising skills over the year, through activities and games to support the children’s number sense and calculation skills.

In Health and Wellbeing this term, we are focusing on feelings, emotions, being kind, how to be a good friend and similarities, differences and what makes us unique.

This week we also introduced a Feelings Board. The children put their name under Happy, Sad, Tired or Angry Characters and we use this as an opportunity for them to discuss how they are feeling.

On Tuesday, the children enjoyed their first Gym session in the hall. They loved the Animal Magic Game, with a wave of the wand Abracadabra whoosh! They turned into different animals. They had to think of how the animal moved and the noises it made. We were Monkeys, Snakes, Elephants, Butterflies, Sharks and Pigs rolling about in the mud. Great Fun had by all including the teachers!!

On Wednesday we went on a community walk around the village. We spotted the shop, café and the children wanted to go up the hill and see the church. We talked about the different shapes we could see on the church building. We continued through the forest exploring the textures of the tree trunks (rough /smooth and some with ‘knobbly bits’). Mrs Dubber told the story of Goldilocks and the 3 Bears in the Den. Then we walked back to nursery looking at some road signs along the way.

It has been a busy time in Nursery Settling in all the new children and getting them used to the nursery routines.

17.06.21. Fettercairn Nursery News

I can’t believe we are nearly at the end of another academic year. It has been a challenging year, with the covid lockdowns and all the restrictions, but staff have strived to keep things as normal as possible for the children. I just want to thank the staff for all their hard work over the last year.

Our ethos at Fettercairn Nursery is very much to be led by the children’s ideas and interests, we plan both responsively and intentionally a wide range of activities and experiences to meet the children’s needs. We hope you have enjoyed getting a glimpse through the nursery newsletter of just some of the great activities and experiences your child has been involved in.

Woodland Wednesday

This week saw Yellow Group going to the woods. Some of the children decided they wanted to paint pictures of Rainbow Coloured Unicorns to decorate the forest area. After painting their colourful paintings (See some photos of their artwork at the bottom of this newsletter) They decided they wanted to put up their artwork on the surrounding trees. Before we left the woods, we pretended we were in a forest art gallery. We walked around as each artist talked about their painting. Lewis had an idea to build a tent. All the children joined in working as a team to build a tent. The children decided to have snack under the canopy. Last week Joshy asked if we could have a smoothie in the woods this week. Mrs Dubber kindly made some smoothie and the children said they were delicious!!! They had fun guessing what fruit was included.

Red Group wanted to do an obstacle course at Gym. Miss Riley P6/7 teacher brought in a few new pieces of equipment for the children to include in their obstacle course. They had a great time!

On Monday the children were learning a little bit about Scotland and watched a little bit of the football match.

Transition P1

On Wednesday Afternoon, Mrs Keal arranged a Teams Meeting with the current P1 Class and Mrs Smith. This was a great transition activity. The Nursery children had prepared questions, which were given to Mrs Smith beforehand. We started with a tour of the class, where they will sit, hang their coat, tray and the morning routine. We found out what happens at snack, lunch and playtime. What they will learn and many additional questions. It was lovely to see how confident and proud the P1 children were at showing the nursery children around and also sharing what they do and some of their routines.

Road Safety

Mrs Keal also read a story ‘Ziggy Starts School’ to all the children. It is all about road safety, covering walking to school and wearing seatbelts. When Yellow Group walked to the woods on Wednesday, we talked about crossing the road safely STOP, WAIT, LOOK and LISTEN and make sure you can be seen by traffic. We will continue to focus on road safety in Nursery next term.

 

Reminders for Parents

Graduation – Wednesday 23rd June 2-3pm  Pre-schoolers Only

As a nursery staff, we would like to dedicate the above date for our graduates.   We would like to invite you to return to the nursery setting between 2.00 and 3.00 to watch your child’s graduation.

Due to recent guidance provided by the Care Inspectorate this week, this will take place on a smaller scale.  You will be provided with a 15-minute window of time to attend the graduation and will be given an opportunity to take a photograph of your child as they receive their scroll and a warm send off from the nursery staff.  Two invites per family remains in place.

Graduation Times

2.00-2.15

Kayla Wood, Layla Wood, Hamish Strowger, Blaire Currie

2.15-2.30

McGregor Archibald, Isobel Gascoigne, Sophie Regnier, Isla Stevenson, Lewis Ruthven

2.30-2.45

Maddie Simpson, Euan Argo, Lucy Pickup, Cecelia Marsh, Doogie McRobert-Carnie

2.45-3.00

Cole Gavin, Jamie Donaldson, Glen Moore, Sam Anderson, Joshy Leon, Jacob Whitelaw

Parents will be collected by a member of staff from the main school gate

We look forward to seeing you at the Graduation.

 

This will be the last Nursery News for this term. I want to thank all the parents for your continued support. We wish all the nursery children, who are moving onto P1 all the very best for the future and hope they have many fond memories of being part of the Fettercairn Nursery Family. We look forward to seeing the returning and new children in August. We wish Mrs Rae all the best as she goes on Maternity Leave.

Have a lovely summer break.

Mrs Keal, and all the staff team Mrs Rae, Mrs Wheat, Mrs Dubber, Mrs Lloyd, Mrs Fraser and Mrs Craig

 

Artwork from the Forest

P3/4 – June 2021

In Literacy last week we learned to write Haiku poems. We learned that the poems have 3 lines and follow a pattern based on the number of syllables in each line. The children worked hard to be creative!

We have been focusing on comprehension skills and have been answering questions about our reading books and non-fiction texts.

This week we linked our writing to our Vikings topic. The children became Estate Agents for the morning and wrote a great descriptive piece to try to sell a Viking Longhouse!

 

In maths, we learned about 12- and 24-hour time. We applied our learning to real-life contexts by converting time on TV schedules and train timetables.

This week we are revisiting Information Handling and are currently revising Bar Charts and Venn Diagrams.

We have been working to improve our speed on mental recall of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts. The children are enjoying challenging themselves in their learning by trying to beat their previous scores.

 

This week we introduced a Worry Box in class. The children can write down anything they feel worried about – we discussed how talking about our worries can help up feel better. The notes are anonymous, and the children can indicate whether they want to discuss the issue as a class or have a private conversation with the teacher.

This week we started our Living and Growing topic in Health and Wellbeing. So far, we have discussed growing up. The children had great discussion about the way our bodies grow, as well as our skills and capabilities as we get older.

Over the last 2 weeks we started our new Vikings topic. So far, we have learned about Viking longhouses and longships. The children are working hard to create a Viking longship model with a partner using recycled materials.

P4/5 – Blog 11-6-21

In our last few weeks of term, we have been learning about different styles and types of poetry.  The children have particularly enjoyed listening to Michael Rosen and have written a Haiku with Miss Riley.  In maths we will be completing data handling this week and will be moving on to revising all topic areas for the second last week of term.

The last week of term is going to be children’s choice week!  I have asked all the children what they would like to learn about and I will create lessons based on these choices. The children have come up with some brilliant ideas about what they would like to learn and their ideas range from gaming to oceanography and space to the periodic table.

We will be making some more perspective drawings this week to add to our classroom display as seen below.

 

 

Our sports day event went very well and the children really enjoyed planning and designing the obstacle course.

P1/2 Post- June 2021

P1‘s sound of the week is ‘oa’, and to illustrate the word ‘boat’, the whole class had fun making origami boats. This was a great exercise in listening for instructions and we learned how important it is to fold carefully and accurately in this craft.

P2 have been learning about questions and when to use question marks.

In maths, P1 have been continuing to learn about money by using coins to find different ways of making amounts. They have become very good at adding and subtracting numbers in Numeracy recently, so have found it an extra challenge  to work within the limitations of the coin values. Any hands on experience with real money at home such as emptying out a piggy bank and counting the coins would be really helpful. Next we will be working on measuring capacity.

P2 have been learning about the concept of area and have been measuring area with non-standard units.

In maths we have also learnt about clockwise and anti-clockwise direction and practised making half and quarter turns. P2 learnt how to interpret grid references.

In RME we learned about the Hindu festival of Holi, and enjoyed making pictures with powder paint. In Health and Wellbeing we will be learning about ‘my body belongs to me’ and ‘differences and similarities’. We made some super line drawings of insects in Art.

P1/2 enjoyed sunny weather recently. We were looking at plant parts and made some bunting using mallets and things we found in our school garden. We also learnt some birds names and their calls, and went on a “caterpillar” hunt which helped us understand the importance of camouflage in nature.

We practised our warm-up for sports day. We were very excited to welcome parents and friends to support us in our sports challenge. Thank you to all.

 

P6-7 Last Term 4 Blog Update!

Literacy – The class have been practicing researching, note taking, planning and writing discursive pieces or balanced arguments. We have discussed a lot of current affairs in class in line with our topic and have argued points such as ‘should we try to cut down on single use plastic?’ and ‘are zoo’s ethical?’ The children have enjoyed doing the research into the topics and writing arguments both for and against each, to try to engage the reader. The children have been self and peer assessing their writing against our steps to success and using this feedback to improve their pieces.

Numeracy – The class have been revising different topics in Maths during the last few weeks we have gone back over operations, money, and time to name a few! The children said they are benefitting from a little refresh of the things we’ve covered across the year (some as far back as term 1).

Topic – P6-7 Had an in-school election last week. Our candidates were:
Roisin Brown – Representing Children’s Party
Findlay Armstrong – Scottish Health and Environmental Education Party
Ryan Mears – The Thistle Party
Sophia Leon – Scottish Children’s Voices Party
Rose Greengrass – Scottish School Party

The rest of the school cast their votes on our ballot papers and posted them in the ballot box on Friday 4th June.

Congratulations to Sophia, who won the election and is now our class ‘First Minister’ and her party are in power for the rest of the term!

Well done to all the candidates who took part, your manifestos were all fantastic!

Sports Challenge – The sheer grit and determination the children put into choreographing and learning their dance and the creativity they showed in designing their obstacle course was just fantastic. Miss Davie and I are so proud of all the children, as I’m sure those of you who made it along to watch will agree!

Thank you to all of P6-7 for all your hard work this year. I know it’s been a crazy one, but I have loved every minute of being back in the classroom with you all and I feel very lucky to have been your teacher this year.

I hope everyone has a relaxing summer break and we have lots of sunny days during the holidays!

P1/2 Update – May 2021

For the last two weeks P1/2 have been working on fractions. We have been dividing shapes into halves and quarters. We linked this with doubling and halving numbers. We have also been working on money, P1 working on subtraction within 10p and £10 and P2 using the 50p coin.

P1 have been learning ‘ck’ and ‘ai’ words and writing capital letters. P2 have begun to work on their own imaginative stories. So far we decided on characters and wrote the opening part. We will continue to work on this for the next couple of weeks. We have also been learning about speech marks and thinking of different words to use instead of ‘said’.

We have been working through the list of common words and using movement and paired dictation to help us with quick recollection.

Outside we worked with a partner to create art inspired by Andy Goldsworthy, but sadly, nobody else can see it, as we put everything back where we found it, following our 4th rule!

P4/5 Update

The weather has finally started to improve and we have been able to get outside to practice for our sports day event.  The children have been working very hard and voted as a class to have the theme of ‘historical characters’ for their sports day event.  We have also been making crowns and helmets in class to represent some of these times.

This is our final week of fractions, decimals and percentages in maths.  We have been looking at equivalents between fractions, decimals and percentages and playing equivalent bingo to consolidate the learning!

 

 

 

In literacy, we have been finishing our work on note taking and we will be moving on to poetry writing next week.

Last week we introduced a worry box in the class.  The children are able to put in either an anonymous note and we talk about it as a class or a private note and I will talk to that child individually.  The children like to discuss their worry’s and have been supportive of each other.

P3-4 Update

In Literacy, we have been working hard to write our persuasive letters on plastic pollution. We will type our letters for display. The children have been learning about past and present tense in Grammar, as well as revisiting using Speech Marks appropriately.

Next week in Literacy, we will be learning about different types of poetry.

In Maths, we have completed our topic on Fractions. The children enjoyed learning about halves, quarters, thirds, and tenths. We are now going to revisit our Time topic in maths for consolidation. We will learn about 12/24-hour time. We will be doing lots of practical activities to embed our learning.

We have been focusing on hygiene in Health and Wellbeing over the last 2 weeks. The children created posters showing how to wash our hands correctly. We also talked about dental hygiene, and we had lots of great discussion about how to keep our teeth and mouths healthy. In PE, the children have been working very hard with Miss Davie to create an obstacle course to showcase to you all on the day of our Sports Challenge.

For our topic, we did a science experiment to explore sinking and floating. The children enjoyed finding objects, predicting whether they would float or sink, then testing this out in water! We also created some wonderful iceberg themed artwork – we focussed on using the best materials to make the water as life-like as possible. Next week we will move on to our new topic.