As part of Book Week Scotland, Mrs Duncan read a selection of stories to Primary 1-3 pupils. The stories were selected from this years Read, Write, Count bags part of a national campaign to support and encourage parents to become more involved in their children’s learning. We hope all P1-3 pupils had fun and enjoyed sharing the contents of their bags with parents and cares.
We have been learning about our bodies in nursery over the last few weeks. We all knew lots about the parts of the body we could see and could name many of these parts. Our questions,and what we really wanted to find out more about, were all related to what happened inside our body, so that has been our focus. We borrowed a skeleton from the primary and then asked the Science Department if they had something which showed our insides. The secondary teachers were worried the model was a bit gruesome for us – but we have found it fascinating and have remembered so much of what we have been talking about. We have looked at the skeleton, the internal organs, muscles and blood and completed various activities in relation to these.
On Wednesday 15th November, Group 1 attended their first HE transition session.
The children thoroughly enjoyed their morning baking some very yummy chocolate puddings and followed the safety rules of the HE department very well – even tidying up after themselves!!
Group 2 are very excited for their visit!
Last week we all brought in a favourite toy to share with the class as part of our new topic. We were all very keen to present our toys and were very good listeners. We also enjoyed playing with all our toys (so did Mrs Fitzsimmons) and the next day we produced some super paintings.
P6G looked at why we remember the fallen soldiers from WW1 and beyond, and the importance of the poppy. We then created some fantastic sunset silhouette paintings with poppies along the bottom. Some children chose to do soldiers with horses and some did crosses.
Did you know that there are not just red poppies nowadays? White ones and worn to remember those who died but to promote peace and the end of war. Purple poppies are to remember all of the animals that died to help us, for example horses in WW1.
Last term P2/3 were learning about transport and as part of their topic the children asked if they could learn about the role of the Blood Bikes. Yesterday, Dave Hook from D&G Blood Bikes kindly visited our class to tell the children all about the important job they do, the different forms of transport used by them and how the service is run.
The children thoroughly enjoyed their insight into the vital role that the Blood Bike volunteers provide for our region and asked some great questions. Dave even let each child sit on ‘June’, the Blood Bike he brought with him, and everyone was given a wristband, badge and information leaflet to take home. 
Primary 2-7 have been learning to use maps and improve their co-operation and fitness around the school, park and forest, orienteering in PE this term. Some successful learners in P4-7 won medals for being the fastest in the competition, and others for being star improvers, or effective contributors, who help others to have more success. Many were bursting with pride for their excellent effort and progress getting faster, fitter and having lots of fun too. It’s been great to make the most of the different environments around our school. Huge thanks to our amazingly generous volunteers who helped us out!
Mrs Gray
Mrs Dyson was delighted that Mrs Van Zwanenberg (a member of Kirkcudbright Fairtrade group) once again, was able to visit our school and work with pupils discussing issues around Fairtrade. Primary 5 pupils shared their knowledge with our guest speaker and Mrs Dyson was very impressed with the quality of questions they asked. Pupils learned more about how communities use the Fairtrade Premium. They also explored packaging of Fairtrade goods to identify what percentage of the product is made from Fairtrade ingredients. We would like to say a massive thank you to Mrs Van Zwanenberg for her support and input with our Fairtrade work at Dalbeattie Primary School.
Primary 5 pupils organised and ran a very successful Fairtrade Games Event. They had been learning about Fairtrade in class and wanted to continue to raise awareness throughout the school. They worked in teams to design and create their own game based around Fairtrade. Games included a Fairtrade Obstacle Race, Fairtrade Throw, Pin the Fairtrade product on the Fairtrade Mark while blindfolded, running games and a Fairtrade Quiz. The whole school were invited to play their games. For 50p, pupils were allocated a 15 minute slot to play all the games. Mrs Dyson and Primary 5 pupils would like to say a big thank you to all who supported our event. 160 people came to play our games. We even had family members join in the fun. Primary 5 pupils have decided to spend the £80 raised to buy Fairtrade footballs for use by all pupils within our school. The school has kindly agreed to match our amount raised so that double the number of balls can be bought. We look forward to introducing Fairtrade footballs into Dalbeattie Primary School.
(Please click on each photo to enlarge and see everyone)
