We have been practising our poem A Dug, A Dug by Billy Keys in class. The children have been working on reading with expression, clear voices, and using actions to help bring the poem to life. It has been great to see their confidence grow as they practise performing in front of others.

We enjoyed a fun darts numeracy lesson this week, using our scores to practise mental addition and subtraction. The children worked quickly and confidently to add on and take away points, showing great focus and number skills.

With some impressive scoring and fast calculations, we might just have found the next Luke Littler in our class! 😄 A great lesson full of learning and fun.

Before the Christmas holidays, we took time to reflect on what we are grateful for this festive season. As a class, we created a poster where everyone shared something they are thankful for.

The children’s responses were thoughtful and heart-warming, reminding us that Christmas is about more than presents. It was a lovely way to end the term, encouraging gratitude, kindness, and reflection as we head into the holidays.

 We loved getting creative with Christmas crafts – making colourful paper chains, designing Christmas cards, and creating our very own Christmas trees!

A huge well done to Molly and Harper for being voted in as our class representatives for the Pupil Council!

We held an anonymous class vote, and after Mr Brownlie counted all the ballots, Molly and Harper received the most votes.

Congratulations to both of you — we’re so excited to see the ideas and enthusiasm you’ll bring to Mauchline Primary School! 🎉👏

This numeracy lesson took us outside — and the children absolutely loved it!

We turned our playground into a brilliant Nature Shop, hunting for leaves, sticks, stones and anything else we could find. Each item had its own price, so the children had to use their maths skills to calculate how much money their shop could make.

There was so much excitement as they compared prices, added up totals, and even negotiated what their most valuable items might be! It was fantastic to see teamwork, problem-solving and creativity all happening naturally outdoors.

Scroll down to see some photos of our pupils hard at work in their Nature Shop! 🌱

We had an amazing time at the Maritime Museum!

We started our visit with a lovely read-along of The Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch. The children really enjoyed discussing all the characters and talking about their personalities and roles in the story.

Next, we headed to the education room for a hands-on STEM activity. The class planned how to build a super-tall lighthouse and thought carefully about what makes a structure strong and stable. Once our ideas were ready, everyone used blocks to bring their lighthouse designs to life!

After that, we explored a 1920s flat. The children were fascinated as we compared life then and now—discovering how children kept busy without modern technology, and how families managed washing, cleaning and sleeping in the past.

To finish our trip, we completed a museum trail, where we saw incredible machines used on ships and learned more about the rich history of the shipyards.

It was a fantastic day full of learning, curiosity and creativity!

See below some pictures from the day.

Our class became weather reporters! The children recorded, spoke, and presented their very own weather forecasts, sharing different types of weather we’ve been learning about. ☀️🌧️🌬️❄️

Everyone had the choice to use the Promethean Board for their forecast or choose another space in the classroom to create their video. It was fantastic to see their confidence, creativity, and teamwork shine through! 🎥👏

Some videos had a few sound issues (our classroom can get a bit lively!), so apologies if a clip didn’t make it into the final edit — we’ll be sure to use microphones next time! 🎤

Well done, everyone — we have some future TV weather presenters in the making! 🌦️✨

Curricular Links:

🌍 Social Studies (SOC 1-12a) – I can describe and record the weather and discuss how it affects where and how people live.

🗣️ Literacy (LIT 1-10a / LIT 1-02a) – I can communicate clearly, using expression and structure to share my ideas and information with others.

💻 Technologies (TCH 1-04b) – I can explore and use digital technologies to present information in a creative way.

🎭 Expressive Arts (EXA 1-01a) – I can create and present work that shows my ideas, thoughts and feelings using performance.

What a fantastic time we’ve had celebrating Halloween this year! The children have all been so creative and enthusiastic — it’s been a real treat to see their ideas come to life.

Ghosts and Skeletons!

In the photos below, you’ll see some of our spooky ghosts and dancing skeletons that the children designed and made themselves. We were so impressed by their imagination and effort!

Pumpkins!

We also had a blast decorating our pumpkins, which are now proudly displayed on the Mauchline Walk Trail — make sure to spot ours if you’re out and about! 🎃

Of course, no Halloween celebration would be complete without some traditional fun — we loved dooking for apples, and everyone got to enjoy some bonus prizes too!