Category Archives: Literacy and English

Literacy across learning, Literacy and English, Social Subjects

Goodnight Mr Tom- Analysis

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We have been reading the novel Goodnight Mr Tom by Michelle Magorian as part of our I.D.L topic, World War 2. The book is about a young boy called Willie who is evacuated from London and sent to a small town called Little Weirwold. He is taken in by Tom Oakley who, at first, seems to be a grumpy old man but he gradually becomes more caring and very fond of Willie. Willie did not have a good life in London because his mother told him lies and continually beat him. However, his life in Little Weirwold is much better as Tom does not beat him and buys him lots of treats and essentials.

We did some character analysis on our chosen character and wrote quotes from the book to back up our ideas. We then wrote a character description using our characterisation notes. Finally we drew our character and annotated it using our notes.

Cameron’s illustration of Willie
Ewan’s illustration of Tom

 

Next we took notes from the text about the setting (Little Weirwold) and used these notes to draw a map of Little Weirwold so far.

Chloe’s setting analysis and map
Joseph’s setting map

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then looked at life as an evacuee by watching videos and compared it to our own lives using a Venn diagram.

Elise’s Venn diagram

 

Literacy and English

Provost’s Debate

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P7 entering East Renfrewshire Council Headquarters

Today P7a & P7b visited East Renfrewshire Council Headquarters to take part in the Provost’s debate. The motion for discussion was ‘This house believes that people over 60 continue to receive free bus travel?’

We had proposers who were for the motion and opposers who were against the motion. The debating team members from our class were: Jamie, Aimee, Sophie, Cameron, Emma, Jordan and Chloe. Cameron gave the first opposing point about perhaps raising the age for free travel to 67 in line with the retirement age.

Proposers waiting for the debate to begin

We had an excellent debate, with lots of reasons for and against the motion. We came up with many rebuttals when we heard something that we did not think was correct.

We used emotive language and rhetorical questions throughout to try and persuade the people in the public gallery. The public were also given the opportunity to put forward their own arguments.

We had a fantastic morning in the Debating Chamber and were so grateful to be able to take part in a debate with Provost Jim Fletcher.

The debate in progress
Literacy and English

Reading Skills

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We have been using the read to learn approach to further develop our reading skills. We have been:

  • skimming and scanning
  • identifying the main idea
  • answering different question types
  • summarising key information

owl-fact-file

I created an  informative fact file  all about owls. In class we used scanning techniques to highlight key information about owls.  We learned that owls can rotate their heads 270 degrees and they can’t swallow their food so they regurgitate it back up in pellet form. I  was successful because I   included all of the facts and I used subheadings.  Chloe

 

 

 

 

Literacy and English

Creature Teacher

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We have just finished listening to another book read to us by Mrs McCulloch. This book was called ‘Creature Teacher’. The author’s name is Sam Watkins and the illustrator is David O’Connell.

The book tells the story of a boy called Jake Jones who joins a new school on the same day as his new teacher, who has a dreadful secret! There are lots of fun and games along the way!

We especially liked this book because Jake joined Primary 5b and that’s our class too!

Literacy and English

Nowhere Emporium

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We have recently finished listening to Mrs McCulloch read the Nowhere Emporium to us. The book was written by Ross MacKenzie, who is a local author.

The book tells the story of an orphan called Daniel Holmes, who finds a new shop in the centre of Glasgow. Once he enters, his life changes forever!

Look out for Sharpe, Silver and other characters!

We really recommend this wonderful book!

Literacy and English, Social Subjects

The Abolition of The Slave Trade

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Last term we were learning about the abolition of the slave trade. We were surprised to learn that slavery has gone on throughout mankind’s history and has happened all over the world.

We learned more about the slave trade, in which Britain was heavily involved, by watching clips from the movie “Amazing Grace”. Britain did not have slaves, but many people in Britain became rich because of the trading of slaves.

We learned about William Wilberforce, who because of his Christian beliefs, campaigned against the slave trade. For over twenty years, he worked tirelessly to abolish it.

Wilberforce was one of the founders of the RSPCA. He also campaigned to improve prisoners’ rights, education for children and better health care. These were all because of the teachings of Jesus.

Although he was successful in abolishing the slave trade, we were very surprised to discover that slavery still exists today! The campaign to stop slavery continues.

Literacy across learning, Literacy and English

P5b Assembly

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On the 11 September 2015, our class delivered an assembly to the whole school and our parents. The title of our assembly was ‘Literacy’.

Together in class we had to decide what our assembly was going to be like and we each had to write out own parts. We described what literacy means to us: to be able to write, read, talk and listen well.

We also showed how we can use literacy in all our curricular areas and in everything we do every day.

Below is a link to our power point, which will give you a flavour of our assembly.

Primary 5bAssembly