Author: Mr Cormack

P5/6/7 – Term 1, Week 2

Welcome back to the new school year. It certainly is lovely to be back.

Health & Wellbeing

As we settle back into the new school term, we have been discussing what we would like our classroom to look like and feel like, to make sure that everyone gets the most out of their learning.  Together we created a Class Charter that looks at our rights and how we would like to approach our learning.

 

Class Project

This term we are going to be looking at The Polar Lands.  Together we created a project plan of what we would like to learn and some activities we would like to do.  As there is so much to explore in the topic, we also selected Personal Projects that we are going to work on throughout the term.  We started to create our mini booklets this week.

Literacy

To tie in with our new project on Polar Lands, we are going to be looking at non-fiction writing.  We are going to be using the Talk 4 Writing resources to help us think about the language, the structure and layout of non-fiction texts.  Then we will create some of our own non-fiction texts.

Primary 1 – 5

To begin the new school year Primary 1 – 5 have been looking at all our different talents. We looked at the story ‘The Dot.’ Then we all drew our own pictures that began with one simple blank dot.

   

 

In literacy we are beginning to look at new sounds.

 

Within number work some children have been collecting materials to match the number. We’ve been learning how to write the numbers correctly and what comes before and after a number. We’ve also been playing number games to match the numbers we are working with.

Final Blog Post of 2020/2021 😮😎 P5/6/7 – June 2021  

Just like that, we are now two weeks away from the end of the school year.  It certainly has been another unique year, but it has flown by so quickly!  Mrs Hutton, Mrs Bird and I would like to thank each and every one of you for your patience, support, hard work and good spirits throughout this year.  We are really proud of you all!

We are exceptionally proud of how you have adapted between in school learning, home learning and then back to in school learning again.  You have been amazing and having you back in school this term has been so much fun.  We’ve certainly had a few giggles along the way.  Normally to do with my reading of our class novel.

We will be starting to send home the children’s work from this year.  It would be greatly appreciated if you could put some carrier bags inside your child’s school bag for them to take home their work and belongings.  You can then leave the items in the carrier bags for 72 hours before looking at it.

 

Topic

To finish off our project, we are going to be looking at the flags of the Caribbean countries.  We will be exploring their designs to establish where they came from and what they represent.  We will also be concluding our own personal research questions.

 

French

Over the next two weeks, we will be using the sports and hobbies vocabulary that we have been learning to create short conversations.  These will focus on saying which sports we like, we really enjoy and those we don’t like as much.

 

Maths

Our final maths topic is 3D shape.  We will be looking at 3D nets, naming shapes and thinking about how they are constructed.  There will be a design challenge coming where we need to use the shape nets that we have been learning about.

Art

Throughout this session, Mrs Gatherum has been working with the class every Tuesday, focusing on Art.  Below is a selection of what they have been doing this term.  The artwork has centred around our Oceans and Caribbean project.

Caribbean Islands

The children used sharpies, pastels and gold foil paper to create a scene of a Caribbean island.

 

View Finder Activity

The children used a view finder to select part of a given picture.  They then created a black and white frame to go around their picture.

 

In the Ocean

The children had to pick something that lives in the ocean and create it using black and white patterns.  For the background, they created patterns in white pastels before putting a wash paint on top to create a moving Ocean.

We still have two weeks to go, which, I’m sure, will fly in.   We hope that you have a fantastic holiday, when it comes.  To our P7’s, we are going to miss you next year!  We wish you all the best at Mearns Academy and we can’t wait to hear all about your 3 day visit, next week.

Take care and stay safe,

Mrs Hutton, Mrs Bird and Mrs Fish

 

 

P1-4 Update – June 2021

P1-4 had a fantastic afternoon on Thursday for our Sports Challenge! Our class chose Disney as our theme and it was lovely to see everyone dressed the part. The children had worked hard on designing the sports course, using methods of travel that we have covered in PE and improving our hula hoop and skipping skills! It was great to see and hear the children cheering each other on and supporting one another as their teams attempted the course. As well as this, it was great to see the family and friends that were able to come and watch all whilst keeping safe during these times.

 

In our Protecting the Planet topic we have been learning about Ocean Habitats and sea life. The children have looked at the different kinds of sea creatures and the habitats they live in. We have discussed Coral Reefs, Rock Pools, and the Deep Sea. When learning about the habitats we have looked at how plastic pollution has affected each one and the sea life that inhabit them. Pupils have discussed how we can switch from single use plastic to reusable items to help reduce the plastic in the oceans.

 

Lastly, as we approach the final few weeks of this term, I would like to thank everyone for their hard work during this school session. In what has been a difficult and uncertain year, I am so proud of all the children for their efforts both during home learning and in school. They have adapted to each obstacle this year has thrown, from being in and out of school, navigating google classroom (I think we have all improved technologically this year) to ensuring everyone’s safety by following the school rules and guidelines. We have had a lot of fun, laughs and ‘air high 5’s’ along the way!

P1-4 Blog Post

P1-4 have been continuing to learn about pollution and the effects on our planet during our Topic! The pupils have enjoyed researching and learning about plastic pollution in the ocean and what we can do to help. Our focus of recent has been recycling and single-use plastic alternatives! P1-4 created some great posters on recycling with Mrs Cheyne!

 

In literacy we have been focusing on our writing skills using traditional tales. The Robins have been creating detailed drawings and story maps for the Three Billy Goats Gruff and the Three Little Pigs. The Bees have focused on sentence structure whilst rewriting the story with a clear beginning, middle and end. The Ladybirds and Spiders have looked at rewriting the stories and changing the ending, making sure to use correct punctuation and sentence structure, and will look to see how we can up-level our writing next!

During PE we are practicing our Sports Challenge! The class worked together to come up with different ways to travel around the course and a different challenge for at each station! P1-4 have really enjoyed creating this challenge and supporting each other as they go through the course!

 

 

 

 

 

P5/6/7 – 28.5.21

Maths – Area

We have been exploring area in maths.  Last week, we were exploring how to calculate the area of rectangles and squares using the formula A = l x b.  This week, we have exploring how to find the area of triangles.  Firstly, we looked at right angled triangles and realised that the formula was A = ½ (l x b).  Then we carried out a practical experiment to see if the same formula could be used for all types of triangles and we discovered that it can.

 

French

To tie in with the Olympic Games, we are looking at sports and hobbies in French.  This week we have been looking at how to pronounce some sports in French.  We played a game of Connect 4 using some of the sporting events.

Over the next few weeks, we will be looking at some of our other hobbies and we will use these to start building oral sentences in French.  Feel free to ask us which sports we know.

P1-4 Blog Post (May 2021)

In Numeracy, we have started looking at Data and Analysis! We have discussed why we learn about data and how this may be used in real life situations! Shortly, we will look at carrying out class surveys and use the data collected to create bar graphs and pictograms! In addition to this, we are continuing to work on our times tables knowledge through fun activities like times tables bingo!

In literacy, we are continuing to learn new sounds and spelling patterns! P1-4 continue to work on their tools for writing and how we can use different punctuation in texts. Pupils have been making sure to self-assess their work and discussed what they can do next time to make it even better!

P1-4 have been learning how to introduce ourselves in French! We have started to learn the basics for conversations and discussed why it is useful to learn another language!

During art with Mrs Gatherum, we have looked at designing posters for our Topic using mixed media. Everyone put a lot of effort into their work and produced some fantastic artwork!

In PE we have been working on our ball skills through throwing and catching! Pupils have taken great care when working in the open space and making sure everyone is safe!

 

P5-6-7 May 2021

Over the past three weeks, P5-6-7 have taken part in their class elections.  After forming their own Political Parties, they researched parties standing in the General Election and became knowledgeable about issues affecting us locally, nationally and internationally.  They used this knowledge as a basis for writing their own manifestos.  Once they had agreed upon their party promises, they created a party manifesto leaflet and wrote persuasive speeches.  Yesterday, they delivered their speeches to the class, paying particular attention to the structure of their speech and the emphasis with which they delivered it.  They were very enthusiastic to take part in our secret vote and congratulations goes to the RPTP party who won the election by one vote!

 

As part of our topic, “The Ocean and the Caribbean,” we took part in a Tech Fest event on ‘Marine Plastics.’  We heard some shocking information about the state of our oceans and used these facts to help us write a persuasive piece to try and educate people on why we should ban the sale of single-use plastics.  Ask us at home about our learning!

 

P5/6/7 – April 2021

The start of the term has been exciting as we plan our new project and get our new reading books and novels.  As a class, we are excited about our new class novel, The Nowhere Emporium.  So excited, that we are up to chapter 10 already!

As part of our literacy work, we have been looking at the descriptive language in the book. We have been picking out the words to help us build images of the settings and characters.  We then used Microsoft Excel to build images of the characters.  You can see some examples at the bottom.  We will continue to finish these next week.

Our new project is based upon The Caribbean and Oceans.  This week we have been learning how many islands make up the Caribbean.  We have been using Online Atlases to learn some of the names as there over 700 islands.  We also looked at part of David Attenborough’s Blue Planet video clip, which we found really interesting.

In maths, we have started a topic on measurement and length.  This week we have been looking at different units of measure and how to convert between them.  We will be moving onto Perimeter next week.

I hope everyone enjoys the long weekend!

P1-4 Blog Post – April 2021

Protecting Our Planet!

This our topic is Protecting Our Planet! P1-4 have taken a great interest in plastic pollution, recycling and climate change which has inspired our topic for this term. We have discussed as a class what we already know, what we would like to find out and ways in which we can do this! Having brainstormed ideas together we have a lot of fun learning ahead!

This week we started looking at plastic pollution, what this means for our planet and how we can help! P1-4 enjoyed taking part in a Kahoot Quiz to test our knowledge on what we had learned throughout the week, have a go at home through this link! https://create.kahoot.it/share/plastic-pollution/f60cc91f-a8a2-4e5f-a800-7e18a5754a1f

P1-4 Blog Post

 

Numeracy

In numeracy the Rectangles having been working on number bonds to 10! They have investigated ways to make 10 by playing a number bonds game with hula hoops and bean bags and writing the number sentence to go with them.

The Circles and Squares have been learning about comparing numbers using the correct symbols for greater than and less than. Using crocodiles to help us remember which symbol to use, remember the crocodile always eats the bigger number!

The Triangles have continued to develop their understanding of number, as well as investigating different strategies for addition and subtraction. They have looked at using partitioning, bar model and number line as strategies. This then helped us to display what we had learned in a ThinkBoard showing how each strategy can be used to solve a calculation.

We will be moving onto looking at Data and Analysis, tying in with our topic and carrying out class and whole school surveys.

Health and Wellbeing

This week we have been discussing Growth and Fixed mindsets! We discussed each mindset and gave examples. The pupils engaged well in conversation and were able to give their own examples of Growth and Fixed mindsets, as well as explaining the reasoning behind their answer. We will continue to look at this next week and further our understanding of how we can develop and promote a Growth Mindset.

In PE we have developed our rolling skills and applying them in game settings outside. We will look at Throwing and Catching over the next few weeks and how we can use these skills in a team setting.