Today we had a little think about what makes a safe, happy and healthy classroom. We worked together to begin establishing our very own Code of Conduct. We filmed our ideas using the iPad so we can look back and reflect on them.

P6 have been spoiling me recently with all the yummy cakes baked at home for homework!

Here are some pictures of their handiwork…

We started our new topic this week. We will be working in mixed P6 topic groups to run our very own businesses. We were inspired by the recent Numeracy Week £1 challenge and are aiming to raise even more money. We are reinvesting the £30 raised between the 3 P6 classes to get our businesses off the ground.

This week we have discussed the skills needed to run a successful business and have considered the roles we would like to apply for. CV writing and interviews will take place next week.

Good luck everyone!

Jenny and Louise from Nationwide came along to talk to us about budgeting and keeping our money safe. A highlight of the talk was comparing a well known brand of chocolate with a cheaper alternative.

Jenny and Louise also showed us a great website: www.nationwideeducation.co.uk

We are working on a ‘Lunar Theme Park’ challenge as part of Numeracy Week. For this task we have to work cooperatively, work to timescales, plan, organise and work to a budget. We are considering the daily running costs, maintenance costs and staffing costs of running our theme park. We are using all of this information to decide on entrance fees so that we make a profit, even on quiet days!

Some of our parents got to join in at the planning stage during the Numeracy Week workshop.

We used our topic as a stimulus for our Maths lesson today. We investigated scale in order to draw a visual representation of the planets in our solar system and their distance from the sun.

We were very lucky to have a talk from Bob and Colin, from The Jacobite Society, on Tuesday. They brought lots of interesting artefacts with them and came fully dressed in plaid.

The children listened really well and some even got a chance to join in.

Here are some photos of our Jacobite afternoon…

Learning focus this term:

This term the children will be learning about Enterprise and Fundraising. Through this topic we will be learning about/to:

• working cooperatively with a younger class to plan and run a fundraising event
• rights and responsibilities
• investigate profit and loss
• work to time scales.

Also this term, there will be a focus on Space. Through this mini topic we will be learning about/to:

• features of the solar system
• creating simple models to show understanding of size, scale, time and relative motion.
• an appreciation of the contribution that individuals are making to scientific discovery and invention.

Core Literacy:

We will be using our topic as a stimulus for writing in a variety of different styles.

• We will continue to use VCOP strategies to develop our writing.
• We will develop our Functional Writing to share the information we have researched through a variety of genres (reports, fact files, posters etc)
• Children will be given opportunities to develop their listening and talking skills through a variety of class based activities, including cooperative group work.
• The children will read a novel during class reading lessons and will use Blooms Buttons and Book Detective strategies to check their comprehension
• The children will read our class novel ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’.

Core Numeracy:

• Pupils will consolidate their multiplication skills – practise at home would be greatly appreciated
• Pupils will work with place value of whole numbers
• Pupils will be using mental and written strategies to solve mathematical problems
• Pupils will investigate the link between fractions, decimals and percentages.

General Information:

• Our PE days will be Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
• We will continue to have Art, Music and Spanish on a three week cycle.
• Homework will be issued on a Monday and should be returned on Friday morning.
• Reading homework will be issued on a Friday and should be completed for the following Friday.

We started a Gymnastics block in PE today. We were given the task of creating a routine that included 5 balances. We could choose whether they were individual or partner balances but we had to hold each balance for 3 seconds without losing our balance.

There was some really great teamwork going on…

We had a very busy week in P6B! We were continuing to learn about time and we began to apply our knowledge by reading timetables and learning how important this is for catching buses and for understanding our timetable at secondary school!

P6B were also an audience for P7 at their fantastic show ‘The Great Alloa Story’. Bobbing John was featured so we discovered more about him during our topic lesson and his importance in the Jacobite Rebellions. We used our new information to create a fact file.

We wrote creative stories using a baboon who lived on the moon for inspiration. We discussed inference and deduction to help us answer some questions about the baboon and why he was on the moon while we watched a short video and then let our imaginations run wild!