Yesterday, P5/6 took part in a Kanzen Karate taster session. Pupils were taught how to defend themselves from being struck by a pool noodle.  We even had one brave volunteer take part in a demonstration.  Mrs Robertson was glad that she wasn’t chosen this time 🙂

This term, P5/6 are learning about S.T.E.M Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.

Pupils will research real social, economic and environmental problems and seek solutions.  They will gain insight into cause and effect by carrying out practical investigations.  

They will work in small groups using S.T.E.M Challenge Cards to define problems, conduct research, develop ideas for solutions, create a prototype and then test, evaluate and redesign them.  P5/6 will be encouraged to take different approaches, make mistakes, accept and learn from them and try again.  

P5/6 are excited to be taking part in S.T.E.M activities to help gain skills which may be important for life and work.  Some of the children have even started building their own models at home.

This term, P5/6 pupil T has taken part in 2 large competitions.  The first one was held at the Olympia in Dundee, where she was required to swim 4 lengths butterfly, 8 lengths back and front stroke and 4 lengths back or front stroke.  She was very successful at this competition and won 1 Gold, 2 Bronze and 1 Silver medal.

On Wednesday 22nd November 2017, T took part in the SDS National Junior Championships at Tollcross International Aquatics Centre in Glasgow.  Here she won 4 Bronze medals for: 100 IM (Butterfly, Backstroke, Breaststroke and Front Crawl), 100 Freestyle, 50 Butterfly and 50 Backstroke.  T swims in Class 1 which is the fastest group and she had to swim against 15 and 16 year old girls!

T attends the Menzieshill and Whitehall Swimming and Water Polo Club in Dundee.  We are so impressed with her fantastic achievements and wish her every success in future competitions.  Well done T!

On Thursday 23rd November, P5/6 took part in lots of fitness activities during “Fit Thursday”.  Pupils played a game of football, then they had Boxercise, Botcha, danced along to Go Noodle and Just Dance, played cricket outside and then tennis in the gym hall.

P5/6 realise the importance of physical exercise to help keep their hearts, minds and bodies healthy.  It was lovely to see everyone having fun too.  Please take a look at some of the activities P5/6 were involved in.

P5/6 have been making the most of the lovely Autumn sunshine recently.  We have been going for daily walks around our school grounds, collecting leaves and branches for our Autumn wall display and observing the various shades of colour around us.

P5/6 have created pencil sketches of different shaped leaves, paying close attention to detail.  They will also use their leaves to create prints with autumn-coloured paints.

P5/6 love these fresh air walks as it gives us the opportunity to chat and share personal stories about ourselves.

Healthy bodies – Healthy minds.

This term, we are reading The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.

We are comparing and contrasting the character traits of each of the 4 children in the story, using dictionaries and a thesaurus to find wintery words and using these words to describe the story setting (Narnia).  Mrs Robertson was very impressed with John’s opening sentence:

“A bitter, frosty, frozen frontier”.  John was inspired by his computer game, “Guild Wars 2”.

P5/6 are also working in small groups to act out different scenes of the story, using tone, exaggeration, emphasis and body language to read parts appropriately.  This role-play will be recorded on the class i pad and pupils will have the opportunity to watch their performances back and be invited to discuss any areas for improvement for next time.

At the end of term, P5/6 will then write their own short playscript for chapter 1 of a sequel to this story.  They will be asked to include the title of their playscript, cast list, stage directions, character and dialogue.

Pupils have created their own lion images, by carefully sketching a lion’s face, using oil pastels to colour, then cutting strips of newspaper to decorate the lion’s mane.

This term, P5/6 are learning how to calculate totals on receipts using mental maths strategies (i.e. addition and subtraction of number bonds to 10, 20).  They will then work out the change which should be given and money combinations for various amounts.    Last term, we learned about Place Value of whole numbers to a million.  This term, we shall look at the value of a digit to the right hand side of a decimal point (tenths and hundredths).

At the start of December, we shall set up a Christmas Shop in our classroom, selling Christmas stationery and Christmas cards.  P5/6 pupils will be responsible for calculating a “fair price” to sell goods, ensuring we make a small profit but not over-charging.  For example, we will look at the price of a pack of 4 pens, e.g £1.50 for 4 pens = cost price 38p each.  Pupils will decide how much they would be willing to pay for the pen and decide on a fair selling price – 50p per pen.

Pupils will take on various roles in our shop such as:  stock controller, pricing assistants, shop assistant, cashier, advertising managers etc.  We will use any profits made to buy a class DVD to watch at the end of term.

In Numeracy this term, we have focused on Place Value of numbers to one million.  P5/6 were taught how to partition BIG numbers and how to explain the value of each digit.  We learned how to round numbers to the nearest 10, 100 and 1000.

We learned that often numeracy involves patterns or relationships.  P5/6 discovered that Pythagoras was a Greek mathematician who lived before the birth of Christ.  He and His followers believed that the whole universe could be explained by numbers.  They experimented with them and became fascinated by the geometrical shapes that they could make using numbers of pebbles or dots drawn in the sand.  They called these square number and triangular numbers and found interesting relationships between them.

P5/6 used counters as manipulatives to allow them to physically make these square and triangular numbers to allow them to deepen their understanding.  They recorded their findings.

Please take a look at some of the images of P5/6 working with counters below.

This term, P5/6 will focus on various ball games such as football, tennis, basketball and rounders to help develop and enhance their ball skills.

Pupils also enjoy playing relay games such as “Over and Under” and “Tunnel Ball”.  These games help pupils to learn how to work well in a team by using effective communication.

Basketball

P5/6 have returned to school after the holidays, revived, refreshed and ready to learn.  Pupils have chosen their own Literacy, Numeracy and Social Skills Targets (please refer to these regularly to check your progress).

There has been lots of fantastic learning taking place this term.  Pupils voted on their preferred I.D.L. (Interdisciplinary Learning) and the majority vote went to the RMS Titanic’s doomed maiden voyage.  We have listened to Kaspar Prince of Cats by Michael Morpurgo.  The blurb on the back of the book reads:

“They say cats have nine lives, and that’s certainly true of Kaspar.  From the glamorous suites of the Savoy Hotel to the servants’ quarters in the attic, and from a crowded lifeboat to the hustle and bustle of New York City, Kaspar proves that no cat is too small for big adventures”.

P5/6 predicted what they thought was going to happen next at various stages in the text.  Pupils will also complete a Book Review expressing their thoughts and opinions on this novel before the end of term.

Mrs Robertson has been delighted with the effort and good attitude that pupils have shown towards their Titanic homework tasks and class activities.

Please take a look at some of the models our pupils have made.