Blog update for 6^th October, 2017

 

Literacy: This week we did some imaginative writing using VCOP and WOW words. Our stories were about ‘The Magic Watch’ which included a watch that took you back in time to World War I or even forward in time to when robots rule the world! Some of our stories invented new places such as Candy Land or turned you into a different person or creature. For reading, we have been continuing to read aloud and read with expression in our voices. We are developing our comprehension skills using the Key Comprehension books.

 

Numeracy: For our maths this week, we learned how to estimate using a number line. We chose which numbers to estimate between, such as 0 and 100, 0 and 10,000 or even higher! We used our outdoor space to create these number lines and threw beanbags to give us a number to estimate. Have a look at some of our number lines.

 

We have also been learning about Roman Numerals as a part of our Romans topic. We know that I is 1, II is 2, V is 5, etc. We will be continuing our Romans topic into the new term as there is so much to learn about these interesting people.

 

In RME we have continued to learn about Buddhism. Outside in our playground, we created our own Buddhist temples using chalk and we also watched a video about the tallest Buddha statues in the world. The largest one was over 120m tall in China!

In French we practised our numbers and colours, as well as thinking about the names of family members using the Simpsons.

P6M Blog Update – Term 4

 

Literacy

 

This term we will be continuing to develop our understanding of reading and comprehension through the use of Bloom’s Buttons questions. These are helpful for learning about different types of questions, such as Understanding, Analysis and Evaluation. We have been discussing these questions through comprehension tasks and our own reading books. We will also be using Reading Detectives to ensure that we are using a wide range of skills as we move on to more advanced and interesting novels!

 

In writing, we will be focusing on writing persuasively through our topic of ‘Charity’. We will be learning how to write a persuasive letter and how this can be applied to a real-life context. We will also be consolidating our understanding and use of VCOP to enhance our writing and make it more interesting for the reader. We are working on more challenging spelling words as well as practising common words to ensure that we have a good understanding of this before we move on to Primary 7!

 

 

 

Numeracy

 

In Term 4, we will be focusing on a variety of Numeracy and Mathematics topics while consolidating our understanding of mental maths. Some of the mental math skills we will be continuing to work on are…

• Finding doubles and halves;
• Adding and subtracting three or more numbers;
• Saying our times tables accurately and quickly;
• Recognising what a square number is;
• Being able to divide mentally.

 

For our other Numeracy work, we will be focusing on all aspects of data handling, including bar, line and pie charts, tally marks, taking surveys and interpreting tables. We will also be working on some algebra problems in the future with a focus on solving simple equations! We have been working on recognising and measuring angles which will also be useful for our enterprise work later in the term for our topic! We used our outdoor space to develop our knowledge of angles.

 

 

 

Topic and Health and Wellbeing

Our topic for this term is ‘Charity’. We will be focusing on five ‘Big Questions’ to help us develop a wide range of skills within the learning context of the topic.

Our Big Questions are…

What is a charity?

Who or what do charities help?

How are charities organised?

How do charities raise awareness for their causes?

What is the impact of funds raised by charities?

We will be learning about this topic through different curricular areas. We will soon be planning an enterprise activity focusing on what we know and are learning about different charities! We will be working together to organise and develop a fundraising activity for our chosen charities. This will allow to make a real difference in the lives of people and animals around the world.

 

Physical Education

 

Primary 6 have recently shown off our great talent for dance to the whole school! We worked with Miss McDonald in PE to create a dance centred on the 2016 Olympics. We used teamwork to create a dance within smaller groups and were able to combine them to perform to the whole school! Our PE days are now Wednesday and Friday.

 

 

We are still working with our Art and Music specialists to develop our skills within the arts further. Some of these aspects of learning will also be linked to our topic.

P6M Newsletter – Term 3, 2015-2016

We can’t believe it is February in P6M already! This term has been very busy so far and we have managed to pack lots into our time at school since the holidays!

 

Literacy

This term, we will be focusing on consolidating various aspects of Literacy within reading, writing, spelling and talking and listening. For reading, we will be working on developing our understanding of different types of questioning. This will mainly be done through our class novel Demon Dentist by David Walliams. We will be looking at literal and inferential questions and how best to find their answers within a text.

 

In writing, we will be revisiting imaginative writing while also focusing on various topic-based writing experiences. This will include writing letters, arguments showing for and against, poetry and instructions. We will also be developing our ICT skills by learning to type our stories using a computer. This will also allow the children to explore more VCOP and WOW words, as well as develop their spelling skills.

 

Numeracy

So far this term we have focused heavily on fractions. This has not only allowed us to gain a greater understanding of various types of fractions but has developed our knowledge of the times tables. We have been looking at finding fractions of a quantity, changing between mixed and improper fractions, and finding equivalent fractions. We will continue to work on these throughout the year, as well as further developing our times table knowledge.

 

Next we will be focusing on percentages, with data handling and time beyond that. Many learning experiences within Numeracy will be gained, as with Literacy, through our class topic. We will also be working on making our mental maths faster and more accurate. This will be focused on addition, subtraction and multiplication.

 

Topic

This term our cross-curricular topic focuses on Italy. We have organised our learning into four Big Questions:

1) What are the most famous landmarks, cities and geographical features of Italy?

2) What are the similarities and differences in the daily life and culture of Italy and Scotland, including going to school?

3) Who are the famous people of Italy and what do/ did they do? What impact have they had on the world?

4) Who were the Romans and what impact did they have on the modern world?

 

Our topic will continue until the Easter holidays. It will cover a broad range of learning opportunities in Literacy and Numeracy, as well as most other curricular areas. We will hopefully be utilising our outdoor space to enhance our topic learning when the weather improves!

 

HWB

This term we have already focused on friendships and relationships. We discussed what it means to be a good friend and created a poster showing rules for a strong friendship. We also worked in our cooperative groups to create a play showing an example of being a good friend.

 

In P.E. we have been developing our badminton skills. We have also been doing our Daily Mile as often as possible to improve our overall fitness.

 

RME

This term will focus on several major world religions. We are focusing on Islam at the moment and have learned about the Five Pillars of Islam and the importance of the Mosque and prayer mats. We will also be learning about two other major world religions, Buddhism and Christianity, later in the term.

 

French

This term we have been learning how to identify various classroom objects in French. We have focused on objects generally found in a pencil case. We will soon be looking at other classroom objects and trying to use these words in spoken sentences.

 

Class Assembly

Our class assembly will take place on Friday 4^th March. We have chosen to share our learning of Robert Burns and his most famous poem, Tam O’ Shanter, as well as talk about our experiences of the Great Art Quest. We will soon be finding out about our parts for the assembly.

 

Primary 6 have been really busy this term! We have successfully performed in the school’s Christmas concert and learned our songs really well. We are currently preparing for our Purple Wing Christmas party (and learning some great Scottish dances!) We wrote our latest blog post as a class. Have a look at some of the things we have been doing…

Literacy

• We have written our assessed writing stories for Term 2 about space. We imagined we were describing a journey through space and we used our knowledge of the solar system and planets to do this. We made our own VCOP wall display using words to make our writing more exciting. We use these as often as we can. Soon we will be focusing on other aspects of writing, such as redrafting a piece of work and writing persuasive arguments.
• We are developing our Reading Detective skills within our groups. Soon we will be able to take on different Reading Detective roles within our groups and ‘become the teacher’ for that task!
• We have also been developing our understanding of Parts of Speech, with a focus on adjectives and adverbs. We are growing more confident at recognising these in a sentence. The adverbs we have discussed can also be used to enhance our writing!
• Mr Smith (who has been helping us on our Great Art Quest!) visited our school again with his wife to perform Tam O’ Shanter, the poem we have been focusing on as we create our clay models. They performed the play in front of the entire Purple Wing and some lucky P6 pupils were chosen to help. Have a look!

Numeracy

• We have really been focusing on decimals as well as developing our mental maths skills. We started by learning how to round decimals to the nearest whole number; then we focused on adding and subtracting decimals to one or two decimal places. We have been multiplying and dividing decimals by 10, 100 and 1000, and have also been working on consolidating our multiplying and dividing skills!
• We used Numeracy as part of our space topic, too. We researched and learned several facts about our solar system, including the sizes and temperatures of the planets and their distances from the Sun. We looked at using scale to put the planets into a more realistic perspective! We worked in our outdoor space to draw the planets to scale.

  

• We have been getting really good at some of our times tables! Our biggest focus was the 8 times table. We will be working on the 6 and 7 soon.
• In the start of the next term we will be continuing to focus on our mental maths skills and further develop our knowledge of fractions.

Topic

• We have been learning about Tim Peake and his journey to the International Space Station. We drew portraits of Tim Peake and looked at some of the equipment used by astronauts.
• We have been learning about the planets in our solar system, finding out about each planet individually and how they compare to the Earth. We developed our note-taking skills to do this and found out some amazing facts!
• We also learned about what astronauts eat and how they stay healthy in space! We worked with Primary 2 for several activities, acting as mentors to the younger pupils. This gave us a great opportunity to set a good example of how to work and behave well. We worked with P2 for astronaut training in PE and we also went to a food workshop with them. We learned how to prepare healthy snacks.
• We have been using ICT to enhance our learning of space. We researched and created a PowerPoint on comets, asteroids, meteors and shooting stars.

 

HWB

• Before we started practising our social dancing, we were developing our gymnastics skills. We used a huge range of equipment and learned the importance of safety when working on these activities. Have a look at some of the pictures of our achievements…

 

RME

• We have been learning about the celebration of Diwali. It is part of the religion of Hinduism. We made a play in our cooperative learning groups about the story of Diwali. It is known as the festival of lights. We watched videos to show us the story of Diwali and how people celebrate this holiday around the world.

 

Welcome!

Welcome to our blog and online newsletter for Term 2! We have been incredibly busy in P6M this term so far. We have started our new whole-school cross-curricular topic of Space. We will be learning about various aspects of space, including astronauts, space travel and the Space Race, as well as the planets in our solar system, comets, meteors, asteroids and shooting stars. We have been learning about the first British astronaut, Tim Peake, and we will be following his journey as he prepares to visit the International Space Station (ISS). We will be learning about this topic through different curricular areas, including Literacy, Numeracy, Technology, Heath and Wellbeing and, of course, Science.

Primary 6 will be teaming up with Primary 2 to explore how astronauts stay healthy and what they eat. We will find out more about this soon.

 

Numeracy

In Numeracy, we are mainly focusing on addition, subtraction and multiplication of thousands, hundreds, tens and units. We are practising and improving our 9 times table. We have been working on developing our skills of using numbers in the millions and recognising the values of these numbers. We are also working on multiplying thousands, hundreds, tens and units by a one-digit number. We often use Education City as a resource for learning a new concept or developing our skills within a familiar one. We will be using Numeracy in our Space topic, too! This will involve using our knowledge of weight, scale and measure, as well as learning about the extreme temperatures in our solar system by using negative numbers. We will also be developing our knowledge of decimals soon as we strengthen our understanding of using whole numbers in different contexts.

Literacy

In Literacy, we are learning about and developing different reading, writing and listening and talking skills. We are reading group novels by authors such as Michael Morpurgo and Philip Pullman. Eventually we will rotate these novels so that we all get a chance to read them! We have been developing our comprehension skills by using Reading Detectives activities. Some of our reading, especially non-fiction texts, is found through our cross-curricular topic of Space. We have been focusing on various writing skills this term and have been particularly focused on up-levelling our writing by using VCOP to make it more interesting. This helps especially with creative and imaginative writing as we have been talking about creating suspense and atmosphere to grip your reader’s attention. We will be using our Space topic in writing, too: we will be writing letters, imaginative stories, poems and persuasive arguments soon which focus around our topic.

  

Health and Wellbeing

P6M have been developing their gymnastics skills this term. We have also been going on our ‘Daily Mile’ as part of Physical Education: we attempt to walk one mile each day (weather permitting!) to improve our fitness levels and stamina. We set personal goals before the October holidays and many of us have achieved this already! One mile is about six laps of the school’s Trim Trail and we can choose is we walk, skip or jog this.

 

Art and Music

P6M continues to work with our specialist Art and Music teachers, Mrs Barron and Mrs Pennie, on a Tuesday. We will also be working on Art and Music activities within class which relate to our class topic. We will also be starting to rehearse our Christmas concert songs with P6T!

We will be keeping this blog as up to date as possible, so please keep checking back for more information about what we are doing in P6M!

Welcome to our first blog post of Term 2! Here are some of the things we have been doing…

Not that long ago, P6M got to go to the Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum.

We saw lots of pictures by different artists. Many of the artists were Scottish.

We also got to see the oldest football in the world. It was owned by Mary, Queen of Scots, who enjoyed playing football, basketball, tennis and golf.

We wrote about our favourite and least favourite paintings. We got to draw pictures of our favourite paintings.

We heard a story about Robert Burns. He wrote a poem on a glass window with a diamond-tipped pen. He wrote mean things about the people of Stirling. He was rejected from a job interview and then, when he went back to the hotel (The Golden Lion), he smashed the window!

 

 

P6M have been really busy over the past few weeks as we continue our cross-curricular Titanic topic. We got a chance to show off our amazing Titanic models which we brought in as a homework task. We were able to present these to the class confidently, explaining how we made them, what materials we used and what we found most challenging to make! Have a look at some of our designs…

 

 

 

 

Check again soon for more updates about what we have been doing in class!

Welcome to Primary 6M’s class blog for 2015-2016!

We have been learning all about the Titanic for our topic this term. So far we have discovered how and where it was built, who the passengers were, and what was happening on the ship when it crashed. We will soon be learning more about what happened when it hit the iceberg!

 

Check back for more updates on what we have been doing!

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