Category Archives: Social Studies

Literacy, Social Studies

Debating at East Renfrewshire Headquarters

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The children of Primary 7 were invited by Provost Carmichael to hold a debate in the council chambers on Monday 10th October.

The pupils took on different roles. Some were councillors, some were members of the media and others were members of the public sitting in the gallery.

The motion that: “All children living in East Renfrewshire and in fulltime education should have free access to sports facilities in East Renfrewshire ” generated a lively debate and Councillor Robertson helped us to keep the debate moving.

At the end of the debate Provost Carmichael held a vote which was very close with the motion being defeated by 18 votes to 17 votes. We had a brilliant time and managed to use many of the persuasive literacy techniques that we have been developing in class.

Well done, everyone!

Expressive Arts, Social Studies

William Morris Artwork

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We have been learning about the Victorian designer William Morris. Our Learning Intention was to replicate the style of William Morris.

We looked at examples of William Morris’ wallpaper and identified the key features

The key features are:

  • Nature focus e.g.  birds and flowers
  • Natural and muted colours
  • Simple but ornate design
  • Create a sense of movement

We decided to go outside and take photographs of nature which we then used to help us create effective designs.

We worked in team to take striking photographs of nature.

 I enjoyed taking photographs outside

Julia

I like our photo because the flower is about to blossom and there are raindrops on the leaves

Emma F

We all discovered that we enjoy being outside and exploring nature.

We are going to create a printing tile to allow us to create our wallpaper.

ICT, Numeracy, Social Studies

Victorian Population Study & Graph

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Copy of Breanne Scatter Graph Blackpool

 

This week in ICT Primary 6 researched the rise of the population within Blackpool during the Victorian period.  The rise of the population was due to the invention of the steam train  and the construction of railway lines and other transport methods such as the tram.

We decided to display our information using a line graph. We learned how to utilise Microsoft Excel to display the data. Our graph shows that improvements to the railway and other amenities resulted in a substantial rise in the population of Blackpool.

I enjoyed creating the graph because I  am more confident in using  Excel and I liked making it colourful   Breanne

I was successful at creating my graph because I included a title and labelled my x and y axis.  Olivia

We plan to carry out a survey about transport in the modern day  and compare  with transport utilised in the Victorian period. This will develop our understanding of data handling and the past.

 

 

 

Health & Wellbeing, Literacy, Social Studies

Diary of a Victorian Child

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mines3

In Primary 6  we are learning how to  write a diary recount. We watched a variety of videos about Victorian children and the difficult jobs they had to do.  We took notes to help  us support and structure our writing.

In order to create a successful recount we had  to write using:

  • First person
  • Past tense
  • Include self reflections
  • Write in character
  • Use the correct format
  • Proper sentences

We also enhanced our writing by using Victorian vocabulary for example:

Pea soupers- fog

Daddles- hands

Door knockers- beard

Collie shangles- quarrel/fight

Chukkaboo- friends

 

My recount was successful because  I used  first person, past tense and imagery to describe what my character was feeling.

Adam

My recount was successful because I got into character and included feeling sentences

Emma B

 

I was successful because I now know what it would be like to be a Victorian child.

Codi Leigh

We will use these writing techniques to enhance our  writing.

This research and writing process made us realise how different life was for children during the Victorian period and  makes us realize how lucky we are.   We are very happy that laws were put in place to improve everyones life and health and wellbeing ( we wouldn’t be writing a recount  if we were in Victorian times instead  we would be in the mines , factories or the workhouse.)

 

October 24th 1865

Dear Diary

I live in a small flat in Glasgow. I live with my family. I have nine brothers and five sisters. My name is Tobi, I am 10 years old and we are very poor.  I have to work to help my family.

My job is working in the coal mines and it is a very hard job. Everyday I wake up 3 o clock in the morning and walk to work which starts at 4 o’clock. I get paid only 5 shillings a day which isn’t a lot.  My master’s name is John Stevens and he is a horrible bully.  I am a putter which means you have to push heavy trucks of coal in the mines. It is very hard working in the mines. once I  feel asleep in the mines and  got caught by the master. I did not mean to but because it was so dark it just happened. The master whipped me until I bled. Another time I ate my lunch in the mines and again I got caught. This time I got whipped even more. My lunch was only a slice of bread. I hate my master. He has a huge door knocker which is as dark as demons.

Being a putter  is such a hard job for a nine year old like me. I am sad and angry and I get scared in the mines being all alone I want a better education and that’s were school comes in handy. I am getting more lonely and depressed. Now when I get up for work my back feels like it is going to break and I need something to help me get up in the morning.  I have scratches all over my body and I feel like I am dying. My mum died two days ago and I am distraught about the death.  My brothers and sisters tried to help her but it was too late she was only 39 years old when she died. I want to be free of this pain.      

Yours faithfully

Tobi

By Lewis

 

 

 

Expressive Arts, Social Studies

Life of a Victorian Child

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Primary 6 have been learning about life in the Victorian period. We have been researching about  what life was like for Victorian children.  Poor children were not allowed to go to school instead they had to work in a variety of jobs.  One of the jobs poor children had to do was sweep the chimneys. Often orphans had to do this job because they were sold to chimney sweeps. They were able to do this job because they were small and thin and could  climb up the chimneys.

We imagined how the children must feel doing such a difficult job and agreed that it must have been a very hard and lonely life.

Using our art skills we created pictures to reflect the emotions felt by a lonely chimney sweep. We used shape analysis to create effective silhouettes and  then drew them onto a background we had painted using watercolours. We chose to do a night sky to show how lonely and hard the job must be.

I chose to use pastels to create the silhouette of the chimney sweep on top of the watercolour background. I drew only one chimney sweep to show how lonely he is.

 Olivia

We all successfully created art which reflects the feelings of a Victorian working child.

We are going to use our research to create a diary and a poem about Victorian life.

Click on the link below to watch us create our pictures

HDV_0465

 

Health & Wellbeing, Literacy, Social Studies

MP Visit

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DSC00510 (2)

Our local MP Kirsten Oswald, who represents East Renfrewshire Council, visited our class  on Wednesday the 23rd of September.

First we wrote a formal letter to  Mrs Oswald inviting her to visit the class. We used persuasive  and formal language  within our letters.

Next we created open ended questions to ask Mrs Oswald to  help us learn  more information about her role as an MP.

Mrs Oswald  informed us about the history of the Scottish Parliament and told us about the election process. We then asked Mrs Oswald  our questions  whilst we took notes.

Using our notes  and the key information we created a 3 paragraph personal profile.

We  will be able to apply these skills in our future working life.

Throughout the visit we ensured that we showed Mrs Oswald respect and  that we are responsible for our learning.