Willowbank School, KilmarnockWe investigated candy canes. We held them in our hands feeling whether they were hard or soft. We hung buckets on the end of our candy canes and then filled the buckets up to see how many objects the candy cane could hold. We then put the items back in the box counting them as we went. It was great fun.
The Transition boys were Successful Learners this week when they used their numeracy skills to complete some Christmas science tasks. The boys looked at snow formation and made some fake snow. They carefully measured the correct mass of ‘snow’ powder then the correct volume of water. Everyone was amazed when the snow fluffed up before their eyes.
In their second task the boys were challenged to create the tallest Christmas Tree using play-doh. The boys had to balance height and width to make sure that it would stand before it was measured. The tallest one (without banned structural support) was 27cm
* SUCCESSFUL LEARNERS, RESPONSIBLE CITIZENS, EFFECTIVE CONTRIBUTORS *
The Bluebells class worked in pairs to create fireworks in a jar. We mixed vegetable oil and food colouring and when this was added to water, we could see fireworks exploding in our glass jar!
We have been exploring different classroom settings from around the world. It was interesting to find out that not all children learn from within a classroom in a school building. Some are taught from inside tents, some outdoors and some from underneath trees which are used for shade. We had good fun completing activities in different learning environments this week.
Theme Story time in a tent (effective contributors/successful learners)
Literacy Skills
In some countries children don’t have pencils and paper to write with. Instead they use chalk and write on their desks or on the ground.
Numeracy Skills Outdoors
Science activities under the shade of the trees
We have been learning about butterflies in the Sunflowers class. Today we watched a video about what happens. The egg hatches into a caterpillar and eats lots of food before building a cocoon and then turned into a butterfly. We then stuck images from “The Hungry Caterpillar” book in order from the egg to the butterfly.
We will get caterpillars in the new year and watch then grow and then finally turn into butterflies and let them free in the playground.
The Stars class made ice cream by shaking a zipped bag of milk, sugar and cocoa powder within a zipped bag of ice and salt. We were amazed how quickly ice cream formed. It tasted delicious.
This week we have been working on making choices – by selecting our favourite characters from the film ‘Inside Out’ using pictures, sensory bottles and the oil mats.
We also been working on our numeracy skills using the Switch IT Games and colourful objects to count. Jacob enjoys the Switch IT games, Reece and Jessica love working together.
We continued with our Cloudy with a chance of meatballs theme this week and made Cheesy Rolls – yummy!!! The dough proved – got REALLY BIG – the Science bit!!! we kneaded it, added the cheese and baked it.
Adam got a great honour in receiving a Head Teachers Award, he was really pleased and we were all really proud – he is just trying to look really cool!!!!
The Sungazers Class have had great fun exploring the class parakite over the last couple of weeks. Everyone has enjoyed taking a turn to get it to fly with some adult support. We have talked about how we need a windy day to get it to fly more effectively and when there is no wind, we need to run fast with it in order for it to fly! After the holiday we will be making and decorating our own kites to fly!
*confident individuals* *successful learners* *effective contributors*
Last Friday we make some lovely seasonal art – two beautiful hedgehogs.
In Science we made a Skittle Rainbow. By placing Skittles round a plate and pouring really warm water on them – step back and watch the magic!!!
The afternoon was spent enjoying the company of the others in secondary and raising some money for McMillan. Jessica also raised money for Jeans for Genes!!!!
This week has been great because Adam is back – and we were all so pleased to see him and he was pleased to see us too!!
In Home Economics we made Jelly Pots – so we counted in some different sweets, watched some rise and some sink and when we saw them later the runny mixture had set!!! Just like the jelly in our story.
Reece enjoyed a bubbly foot spa in Sensory play.
And Shannon impressed us in her lift pants.
While Jessica was in her Standing Frame Jacob kept her entertained with the Switch IT Songs.
Today we walked down the Primary corridor and looked for the pictures for our literacy hunt. And this afternoon enjoyed relaxation and Tac-Pac!!
The Sungazers Class have been growing cress over the last few weeks. We have decorated our pots by using different designs. In our first pot we used cotton wool to put our seeds on and in the second we used kitchen roll. Everyday we checked our seeds to see how they were growing. The cotton wool pots grew best. We have loved watering our seeds and watching them grow over the last few weeks!
