P5A have been learning about Scottish history during the Wars of Independence. We learnt about significant events such as King Alexander III’s death, the Successional Crisis and the Auld Alliance.

Dan says, “I can confidently explain the key events of the Scottish Wars of Independence we have learnt so far.”

We made links through our Social Studies learning with Art and Drama. We have been learning the skill of drawing in proportion through the creation of proportional Lion Rampant flags.

Cameron M says, “Quite often with some support, I can successfully draw in proportion.”

In addition, we learnt how to use simple 2D shapes to guide the drawing of more complex shapes. We used rectangles and triangles to help us draw horses which resembled King Alexanders III horse.

In Drama we have been performing and improvising plays based on the key events leading up to King Alexander III’s death. We used a variety of different skills in undertaking this such as, acting in front of an audience, interpreting scripts and using props in our acting.

Molly says, “I am becoming more confident at  performing in front of an audience.”

 

In RME, P5A have been learning the Jewish story of Passover, or Pesach. We used research skills to gather key facts to increase our knowledge of the 15 stages of Seder.

Cameron D  says, “I can regularly explain the story of Passover successfully with no support!”

 

In ICT, P5A are using a variety of presentation formats to share our information on a chosen key figure from Scottish history during the Wars of Independence. We selected the most appropriate digital software for this and have utilised the skills of using search engines to retrieve information, selecting and using appropriate information and creating and modifying text.

We are currently learning to explore online communities while demonstrating responsible digital behaviour. The skills we are learning to do this include the use of Creative Commons for ensuring safe images, giving examples of and advice on appropriate online behaviour through safe online research. We are looking forward to learning more during Internet Safety Day on Tuesday 6^th February.

Nathan says, “ I am developing my understanding of appropriate digital behaviour and can access and use safe images very successfully through my understanding of Creative Commons.”

 

In P.E. we have been learning about body tension and how this helps us to balance and how we can move across the floor in different ways. We have been practicing a variety of balances and movements using different parts of our bodies. Gymnastics is helping us to become more aware of our muscles and we are confident and knowledgeable when explaning how to stretch each of our main ones (our favourite is ‘hugging the tree’ which stretches our back).

Harris says, “I think I have been very successful in completing my stretches and I am becoming more successful in the skills of moving on the mat in different ways.”

 

We have been learning about worries and how to manage them in HWB. We read “What To Do When You Worry Too Much”, which compared our worries to planting a tomato seed.  If you tend to the tomato seed every day, it grows. In the same way, if you think about a worry everyday, it can also grow. As such, we know that talking to someone and sharing your worry will help. As part of this, we produced calming bottles with glitter inside.  These remind us that that worries eventually calm down and bad times don’t last.

 

This term, we are learning about  chemical reactions in Science. Through undertaking a “Self-Inflating Balloon” experiment, we learnt that when two substances are combined, other substances can be produced.

Elliot said, “When bicarbonate of soda and vinegar (an acid) mix, the chemical reaction releases carbon dioxide gas and that is what inflated our balloons.”

Using this knowledge, we successfully made accurate predictions of similar chemical reaction in different experiments (Foaming Lemon, Exploding Bags and Dancing Raisins).

 

Awesome Achievers

We have celebrated a variety of class and individual achievements. Pupils have developed a wide range of different skills such as, learning new languages, reading books at record speed, keeping bedrooms tidy and helping with chores, playing tennis in regional competitions and helping with D.I.Y. around the house. As a class, we are becoming more skilful at recalling the times tables, especially the X7, X8 and X9 through daily quick practice.

 

Article 29: You have the right to education which develops your personality, respect for other’s rights and the environment.

Welcome to P5As Christmas class blog. We have been a very holly jolly class this month, getting ready for Christmas.

 

In Art, we have been making Christmas decorations out of clay and paper. We were working hard on developing the accuracy of our tracing and cutting.

Charlotte says, “I feel very confident tracing around my hand and I was even able to make my fingers a bit thicker to make my decoration sturdier.”

We also learnt to use pointillism to create images of Fairtrade products.

Moya feels, “confident in that she could regularly mix primary colours to make secondary colours and create tones with dots.”

 

In Social Studies we have been learning about Fairtrade. Following our visit from Rainbow Turtle, we learnt about the production lines of Fairtrade products such as cotton and bananas. As a result of our learning, we ran a Fairtrade stall to raise money for Fairtrade farmers selling lots of Fairtrade products such as chocolate, bangles, rings and duck collars.

Oliver says “I didn’t know where cotton came from and I didn’t know that much about Fairtrade, but now I can confidently explain about these processes.”

Having calculated our profit from the stall, Primary 5 are proud to announce that we made £264.79 which will be donated to Rainbow Turtle to help support Fairtrade farmers.

 

Our focus in RME has been weddings from different religions. We have been making information posters and presenting our posters to the class.

Ethan feels like he “regularly tries hard at presenting information to the class,” and feels as though he “has expert knowledge on Buddhist weddings.”

 

In ICT, we explored online coding through Hour of Code. In addition, we have been using Microsoft Word to create posters for our stall.

Cameron D says, “I feel skilful at coding and word processing all the time.”

We experimented with headers, footers and tables to present our work. Nathan thinks he will now “always be successful at these skills.”

 

In P.E., P5A have just finished learning hockey ball skills and can now successfully play tournaments in class. We are beginning to develop our skills in touch rugby and are becoming more successful.

Alix feels “confident in tackling and passing.”

We have really enjoyed our aerobics warm ups and have loved Mr Connell’s enthusiasm.

 

In HWB, we have been exploring diet and we learnt how much of each of the food groups we need to eat to be healthy. We represented our understanding through the creation of food meal plates.

Kate M says “I can name each of the food groups, carbohydrates, fruit and vegetables, proteins, dairy and oils and spreads and can confidently identify foods within these groups.”

We have also taken part in weekly circle time, where we give each other compliments, work together to solve shared problems and developing our talking and listening skills.

 

Awesome Achievers

P5A have had a very awesome month of achievements ranging from:- cooking and cleaning for parents, gaining new belts in Tae Kwon Do, joining new football teams, being successful at using factors to multiply, coming third in the school talent show and being a good friend and helping others when they are hurt.

 

 

Article 29: You have the right to education which develops your personality, respect for other’s rights and the environment.

Primary 5A have just finished classifying animals and researching endangered and extinct species.

Cameron M says, “I can classify vertebrates into mammals, reptiles, fish, amphibians and birds.”

Kate C says, “I feel very confident using a classification key independently.”

In addition, taking notes from online research and turning these into fact-files helped us become more knowledgeable about the adaptations animals have which help them survive in their environment. In pairs, we shared what we had learned to the class. Now we know about a wide variety of animals such as meerkats, thorny devils, penguins, polar bears and artic foxes!

In PE we have been working on core strength and stamina. We have used aerobic dance and circuit training to enhance these and have been keeping a record of our improvement over the 6 weeks. We have now moved onto possession games which will include hockey, rugby, basketball and football.

We have just kick-started our Fairtrade topic! Josh from the Paisley based charity, Rainbow Turtle came to visit us. He told us about the production cycle of cocoa and we discussed the number of people involved at each stage of this process. We even designed our own chocolate factory and considered how we would run our company. Some of us had to think about how we would run these to make the most money and others considered how they could run theirs to make the workers happy.

James recognises, “the logo shows a farmer with his hand up, saying ‘Don’t forget about me!’”

We are very excited to explore more about Fairtrade and develop new skills.

In HWB, we have been learning about emotions and stranger awareness. We now feel confident that we can explain verbal and non-verbal communication and know which actions are appropriate and inappropriate with strangers and acquaintances.

Moya says, “I feel confident that I could act appropriately with strangers.”

We have now moved on to exploring healthy diets and food groups.

 

Owais enjoyed learning about Sway, he says, “I can create a Sway on my own most of the time.” Now we have created our Sway based on Giffnock’s School Values, we are moving on to learning to word process tables, headers and footers.

In Art we have been blending tones. With a little bit of support, we have all created wonderful pieces of art. Hannah really enjoyed making bright Halloween monsters with oil pastels. She feels confident that she could mix lighter tones with darker tones to make more natural blends between colours.

Awesome Achievements

P5A have had a very successful term outside school so far. We have had a variety of achievements such as: becoming a professional kid coder; throwing successful parties; learning to toast pop tarts and make noodles on the stove; being brave by doing things that scared us such as, going on high rollercoasters and walking across the glass floor in Blackpool Tower; coming first at a long jumping competition; and learning to safely light sparklers on Bonfire night.

 

Article 31: You have the right to play and relax by doing things like sport, music and drama.

In August we started our mini-topic of the novel Blob by David Walliams.
Cameron D said, “It was fun reading Blob!”
We focussed strongly on the Health and Wellbeing links present throughout. Walliams’ writing reflected Giffnock’s school values of: respect, inclusivity, friendship, honesty, kindness and determination.
Owais says he “enjoys respecting others” and Harris enjoyed representing these in dramas and presentations.
As such, we have been exploring how to promote positive relationships with others through both verbal and non-verbal communication. We are now experts in the qualities and actions which make a good friend!

We are really enjoying learning new editing and presentation skills in ICT lessons through Sway. Sway was a new tool for us and so we are experimenting with it to create our own unique presentations based on the school values.

In Music, we have been writing our own school values song with Mr Connell. We have loved using our understanding of beats and syllables to do this and can’t wait to finish it off.
Harris said, “I love writing the 500 miles values song.”

In Science we have started to look at classifying living things. We have been sorting animals into vertebrate and invertebrate groups. Our main focus will be on mammals, amphibians, reptiles, birds and fish but we will also look at the 6 groups that invertebrates can be categorised into. Next, we will be learning about using classification keys.

Our Art focus this term is Brazilian artist, Romero Britto and we have worked hard to create unique pieces in his distinct style.
Ethan said, “I think my Romero Britto looks so good!”
In addition, we channelled his love of bright colours and our superb measuring and geometry skills to make “Collapsing Squares.”

Charlotte has really enjoyed learning new skills in P.E. especially, “the dance routines and aerobics dances.” Amir said he really “liked building up my stamina”, something which has been a large focus for the first term of P.E.

Through singing songs and playing games in French, we are learning how to pronounce and recognise numbers up to 69. C’est magnifique!

Our learning in Literacy and Numeracy will draw upon the contexts listed above but will differ according to the needs of each class / group. Your support with consolidation of core learning through homework activities will be very beneficial to our children.

Awesome Achievers

Recent achievements that P5A are very proud of include: learning to do front flips and handsprings, learning to white water raft, advancing in karate lessons, starting YouTube channels, learning to walk home safely by ourselves and learning new languages like Japanese.

Article 29: You have the right to education which develops your personality, respect for other’s rights and the environment.