We celebrated Halloween by writing spooky stories. We have been learning how to structure a story with a clear beginning, middle and end. We focused on developing characters and setting using interesting WOW words. In our spooky stories we developed a storyline using chapters and then typed up our books using Google Classroom.

Our books were then published into our class library. Then we shared our books with our Primary 1 buddies and our classmates.

We also practiced our skills using a French dictionary. We completed a crossword to learn some new French Halloween themed words.

We have been learning how sound can travel through different materials – solids, liquids and gases. We completed different experiments, making predictions then observed and listened to the results.

We learned that sound is an energy and travels in sound waves through vibrating molecules. As the molecules vibrate they carry the sound and pass to other molecules. We discovered that molecules in gases are spread out, molecules are closer together in liquids so sound travels faster. But molecules are the closest in solids so sound travels the fastest through solids.

We made our own gongs using string and spoons to listen to sound travelling through a solid (string).

We also created a hydrophone (plastic bottle) to listen to sounds under the water.

Finally we explored sound travelling through the air. We used rice to represent our air molecules so we could see the vibrations. We clapped, played a drum, played a triangle and played a speaker. We were amazed at how the rice moved around, especially when the speaker played – it jumped off the cup and danced around!

We have been developing our communication and teamwork skills through supporting out P1 buddies at Muddy Movers. We helped to make an obstacle course that we would be able to climb over and under. As well as exploring imaginative play in the mud kitchen. We supported primary one very well.

Today, as part of Digital Literacy Week, Primary 5 have been developing their coding skills. First the children explored the role of coding through role play by creating a list of instructions or a code for each other in order to navigate an obstacle course. The pupils then used chromebooks and the computers in the ICT suite to practise making codes to complete a Minecraft game. Mastering this involves precision as well as a lot of problem solving and all of the pupils tried very hard, well done Primary 5!

We have been learning about life in the 13th century and how the Scottish Wars of Independence started after the death of Scotland’s King, leaving Scotland without an heir to the throne. We used drama to act out the Scottish people being made to sign the Ragman’s Roll to pledge their allegiance to The English King.

We have been using maths to enhance our understanding in Health and Wellbeing. We investigated how much sugar was in popular food and drinks by measuring the amount of sugar using scales.

Then we used the data we gathered to compare the information and display it in a bar graph. We really had to think about a suitable scale for our graph. We learned to interpret the information and draw conclusions. We were absolutely shocked at the amount of sugar we eat each day!

But we also noticed that food labels sometimes show two different types of information. The nutritional label tells you what is in the full bottle/packet and also what is in a smaller amount (100ml). We thought this can sometimes be misleading and people may think they are eating less sugar than they are!

We welcomed parents into our classroom to see some of our work. We loved giving them a tour of our classroom and telling them all about our IDL focus on Scottish Wars of Independence.

Our parents also helped us to create a wallpaper design inspired by the artist William Morris. We used the colours and his focus on nature to crave our own design into a polystyrene tile. Then we used the technique of printing to create a pattern using symmetry. We know our parents enjoyed this art activity as much as we did 😀

We have had a busy start of term. We have been discussing our school routines and what we want to learn in P5.

HWB– Class Charter

We created our class charter and selected the 6 most relevant articles. We thought about what children and adults need to do to ensure we all respect these rights everyday in our classroom and throughout the school.

Art – Marbling

We have been learning a new art technique –  Japanese Suminagashi – paper marbling. The word Suminagashi translates to ‘floating ink.’ We mixed a range of inks with water to create our own marbling designs. We then used this to write our names with a cool background.

Art – Colour Mixing

We have been learning about the colour wheel. We enjoyed mixing the primary colours to create the secondary colours.

Maths

We have been learning how to use measuring equipment to share facts about ourselves including our height, hand span and head circumference.

We also thought about how angles can affect design to create our own optical illusion – a parabolic curve. We discussed how these key skills help people get jobs as architects and engineers and that we have seen it in real life bridges.

Literacy – reading cafe

We enjoyed ‘tasting’ a variety of books through our reading cafe. We explored different genres and discussed our favourite books. We wrote some recommendations for our library.

HWB – Leading our Learning

We have started to think about what we want to learn in P5 this term.

Ready for another year in Cross Arthurlie.