All posts by Mrs Johnston

P2 ~ A Snapshot of our First Term



We are reading The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark in class. Today we made clay owls. We will paint them when they are dry and then we will bring them home to show you.


 


This afternoon we learned about different vegetables that are grown on a farm. We learnt how carrots get from farm to the shop and how crisps are made.
Later we cleaned our hands then followed safety instructions to peel or grate a carrot using kitchen tools. Primary 2 were responsible and listened well – well done!!🥕🥕🥕

P2 have been challenged to have a chat with you about how another food is made and tell you where bread, carrots or crisps come from to share some of their learning! Please support this & encourage pupils to share



Primary 2 first Stay and play of the new term was a success……children were all excited to share what  activity they liked best.
There will be other opportunities throughout this term. Thanks to all.



Primary 2 learned about where bread came from and how it is turned from wheat to bread.

Then we made a healthy sandwich with lettuce, cucumber and tomato!



Yesterday’s photographs of our time working with Jenny in the woods. We learnt about animal habitats, listened to a fantastic story about a hedgehog that was looking for somewhere to live and made hedgehog homes for hedgehogs to hibernate in! A great morning with amazing listening skills from P2.


 


We are learning all about Farms and how they work! We started offtoday by looking at how the farms in Sauchie look and painting apicture of the fields. Some people told me they even have cowsbehind their house!


 


A very successful first day in P2! Lots of hard work, good listening and smiling faces!


 

P4 ~ A Snapshot of our First Term


SCIENCE:
A few photos from our experiment today where we learned a bit about stratification (where liquids don’t mix because of their properties).

The children had really interesting ideas as to why the colours didn’t mix when water was added.

All groups had the chance to change one variable in their experiment. Some chose to add hot water, some added more coldwater, some just changed the number or arrangement of the skittles. What they realised was that hot water evoked a quicker recruit where the colour left the skittles ‘like when you wash mud off yourself in the shower’



We took our numeracy learning outside this morning. We used chalk to practise a variety of number sequences.

 


Primary 4 made fruit kebabs and fruit smoothies today as part of our Fit for Life topic.

They all worked very well in making sure everything was properly cleaned before we started and they also worked very safely when chopping the fruit. A great time was had by all !



 


Today’s maths session focused on introducing compass points.This is useful as this topic really focuses on direction andpositional language.

We covered the 4 cardinal points (North, East, South and West)and briefly looked at North East, South East, South West and NorthWest.


 


Today the children worked on Fairy Tale STEM during science. They worked collaboratively to plan and implement a design for a raft, which would allow the goats to bypass the troll by avoiding the bridge.



The only items they could use were straws and pipe cleaners, but after learning beforehand about their properties the children were able to make decisions about how best to use them.



Some interesting ideas and good thinking today – with great examples of resilience in an activity where the solution wasn’t obvious.

Well done Primary 4!


P5/6 ~ A Snapshot of our First Term


We’ve been working in teams this term in PE.



As part of a new Health and Wellbeing programme (RSHPScotland), we have been revisiting ‘friendship’.
This week we looked at ‘fall outs’.
Before discussing this topic, we played a game of human bingo. We had to find different people in the class that matched to each of the 12 statements on our cards. It was a fun way to warm up our thinking and talking/listening skills.



Earlier in the week P.C. Laura Robertson came into to talk to us about wildlife crime.
She spoke to us about some of the crimes that are committed,involving Scottish wildlife, ways to make sure our actions don’t harm wildlife or get us into bother and what to do if we discover a wildlife crime has been committed.
We had lots of questions for Laura and enjoyed seeing all the different resources she brought with her.
She was impressed with how much we knew already!




Today we had visitors, Catherine and Nick, from the Scottish Wildlife Trust come in to talk to us about local animals.
They set up 4 stations for us to explore:
1) feely boxes
2) matching skulls to the animal
3) beaver dam building
4) wild cat vs domestic cat
We all really enjoyed ourselves.
The charity are going to send Mrs Robertson info to let us set up a wildlife group in the school too!



The whole school enjoyed Stuart Reid’s presentation this morning.
They learned a lot about what inspires his stories and about techniques that they can use in their own story writing (onomatopoeia, alliteration, ellipsis, visualisation).
Everyone was engrossed from start to finish.



After the school event, the class enjoyed a workshop lead by Stuart.
He talked to them about how to be successful in writing.
The class will hopefully put some of his ideas and suggestions in to practise.



Following the workshop, the children had a go at writing their own character descriptions, using Stuart’s suggestions.
The characters they developed will hopefully feature in some future stories.
During daily mile time, some boys who purchased Stuart’s books couldn’t put them down, so asked to read instead! 📖

 




We enjoyed our talk from Liz from the Bat Conservation Trust today.
Lots of things to consider when thinking about caring for local wildlife. 🦇



Loose Parts Play



Reading buddies 📚 📖



We were involved in both indoor and outdoor learning experiences today to help us understand and discuss natural vs manmade and biodegradable vs non-biodegradable materials.



Thursday morning active spelling before art. Lots of different activities going on.
Some of us opted to practise this week’s spelling words but others, who felt confident in the spelling rules, challenged themselves with spelling different words.



The upstairs reading buddies group in action



Today’s Loose Parts Play.
We had Kadi’s nans soup in the mud kitchen, crate building (and crashing), a new tyre swing, trucks, jumping, a tyre tutu and lots more!
Imagination, risk taking, teamwork and fun!



Two pupils asked to share their homework about polar bears this afternoon. The class enjoyed listening to their facts.




Using our own methods to complete a range of addition questions.



Numeracy- sharing strategies for a variety of addition sums.



ICT- practising computer skills (opening/saving/editing).



 Active spelling this morning.
Children took responsibility for their own learning by deciding how to practise their groups’ spelling rules.

 

 Practising place value outdoors.



Some P5-6 pupils representing the school at cross country this afternoon! Well done everyone for your fantastic efforts! 🏃‍♂️ 🏃‍♀️


Hard at work during Numeracy Ninjas this morning. Lots of different techniques and strategies on display for solving problems.



 Today’s Loose Parts Play experience. Lots of creativity and communication going on.


 


Today we enjoyed an outdoor learning experience with the loca lcountryside ranger.
We looked at which species had their habitat in the local woods and then looked at the habitat of the school playing field. We also tried to lure some worms up from their underground habitat.



Author Visit – Stuart Reid

The whole school enjoyed Stuart Reid’s very energetic and engaging book reading assembly last week.

Stuart Reid Assembly

They learned a lot about what inspires his stories and about techniques that they can use in their own story writing (onomatopoeia, alliteration, ellipsis, visualisation).
Everyone was engrossed from start to finish.

After the school event, both P5/6 and P6/7 enjoyed workshops lead by Stuart.


He talked to them about how to be successful in writing.
Both classes will hopefully put some of his ideas and suggestions into practise.

 

 

Merit Award Assembly

 

This was our first merit award assembly this year. We invited family and friends of award winners to our assembly and they stayed to celebrate with their children with some refreshments. Thanks to everyone who supported this.

Ceejay and Layton shared their current favourite books and we all sang ‘Wake Up!’.

Our merit award winners are

Resilience – Harry
Fun – Finley & BillieRose
Safe – Ted
Tolerance – Leah
Respect – Ruaridh, Hannah, Ross , Aimee  & Rhys
Nurturing – Hannah , Chloe F, Layton  & Kadie
Effort – Olivia , Dylan B, Harry, Leah B, Mia, Daniel, Ceejay , Chloe P , Dylan P, Rhys, Skye , Chloe S, Charlie, Layton, Kadi, Leah C , Ciaran , Antosia, Dominic, Lennon , David  & Keir !

Well done. We are very proud of you all.

Have a happy and safe weekend.

PE Kit

 

PE kit which consists of 1 pair of shorts, 1 t-shirt and 1 gym bag is available to order from the school office at a cost of £9.50.

Please contact Mrs Panton for more information on this and ordering of school uniform.