Category Archives: Social Subjects

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

 

Social Subjects

Homefront Histories

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Today we were visited by Dean Bowen from Homefront Histories. He had organised a whole day for us to learn about the Homefront during World War 2 and experience what it might have been like to live in that time. We were Privates in his army and we were told that we needed to complete his mission for the day.

We spent the day working at different tables, looking at original artifacts from the 1940s including lots of weapons, armour, gas masks and even food tins and soap powder boxes. As we were doing this, we were answering various questions about The Blitz, Weaponary, Rations and more.

We got to dress up in original military jackets, hats and helmets and the best part was that we got to hold real, original guns which were deactivated. We each had our photo taken beside Winston Churchill.

In the afternoon we went outside to practice extinguishing an incendiary bomb. We had to pump the water and use the hose to put the bomb out. We were then given the chance to sound the air raid siren which was very noisy so we knew that it was definitely loud enough for small villages to hear back in war times.

We had a fantastic day learning about lots of different aspects of the Homefront and were delighted to be able to see and touch real World War 2 artifacts up close. As this was our introduction to our new Social Studies topic, we are very excited to learn even more about the Homefront.

 

 

Social Subjects

Victorian Classroom Visit

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On Tuesday 24th January, Primary 6a and Primary 6b visited Scotland Street School Museum. We visited a Victorian classroom because we are learning about the Victorians in Social Studies.

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There was a Victorian teacher that gave us a lesson doing our times tables and teaching us to spell and write. He was very strict and quite scary!dscf2487

Elise reciting spelling words

We wrote on a blackboard slate with a piece of chalk then we wrote on a piece of paper using a pen with a nib and an inkwell, it was fun! The Victorian classroom was very dull, with no colours and no windows to look out of.dscf2469

We really enjoyed the Victorian classroom but we definitely prefer our own colourful and active classroom!

Global Citizenship, Numeracy and Maths, Social Subjects

Community- Needs & Wants

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We explored what community means to us.  First we compared our community with a community within Morija.

We looked at a map of Barrhead and a map of Morija. We identified features on the maps

James & Ryan's Community
James & Ryan’s Community

and were surprised at how many similarities there were. We discussed how important it was for communities to have certain features such as a school, shops and health centres.

We agreed that communities are more than just a place you live in with a variety of amenities but that it was also a place where people had shared values such as respect and responsibility.

A community is a place people share and respect each other and their area. A community looks after everyone, keeps them safe and happy. Everyone is responsible for their community.  Joseph and Harley

In pairs we then created our own ‘ideal community’ using our mapping skills and based on our discussions. We then discussed the difference between wants and needs. We looked at  a variety of different resources such as water, mobile phones, toys and  classified then as  a need or a want using   a venn diagram.

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We then identified and ranked the most important ‘needs’, we all identified water as being the most important resource humans need to survive.

We are going to be  learning  about water and exploring  issues such as sustainability throughout the term.

Social Subjects

Scottish Parliament Visit

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Debating Chamber

On Wednesday 2nd November, the Primary 6 classes visited the Scottish Parliament building in Edinburgh. We went on a tour around the building and visited the Debating Chamber.  We stood in the same spot as Nicola Sturgeon, we saw the lights and cameras and loved the design inside the chamber. We spent time learning about the history of the Scottish Parliament and got to dress up and use props.  James even caught a glimpse of the First Minister herself! After we went on the tour, we received a special visit from the Presiding Officer, Ken Macintosh. We were very lucky to get to ask him some questions about his job.

Ken Macintosh

 

Social Subjects

Introducing the Scottish Parliament

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Primary 6b have been learning about the Scottish Parliament this week.  We went on the internet using our school laptops and visited the Scottish Parliament website. We used the website to find out information on the Scottish Parliament and how it works, by taking notes in our jotters.  We learnt many interesting facts about the Scottish Parliament, for example; there is an election every five years and golf and football were banned by the Scottish Government in 1471, in favour of archery.

This week we have also written a letter to our constituency MSP, Tom Arthur. We hope that he is able to come and visit our school and tell us more about the life of a MSP.

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.