P4A 2021/22

Welcome to the P4A class blog! We cannot wait to share all of our learning with you and hopefully this will give you an insight into our week.

Mr Atkinson’s comment:

I am delighted to announce that we came 2nd in the East Renfrewshire Sumdog competition! The class worked incredibly hard to achieve this position and should be very proud of what they accomplished. A massive thank you to all the parents and guardians for allowing the pupils additional screen time and encouraging them throughout this week, it was very much appreciated! Pupils will be issued with a certificate recognising their efforts!

The pupils also enjoyed the opportunity to take part in Beat the Street on a wonderful sunny day!

Please remember that our Woodland session is on Friday and pupils should bring appropriate clothing.

Literacy and English

Millie – We are continuing with our imaginative writing and this time we based our stories on a picture of a aeroplane. We were challenged to include similes and “ly” openers!

Chenul – During the writing planning stage we drew three pictures; one from the beginning, middle and end.

Numeracy and Maths 

Daniel – My group has starting learning about compasses and directions. One of the lessons involved creating and designing our own compasses which we used outside.

Lauren – My group has been continuing to learn their multiplication tables. This week we have been using different materials to help with multiplying by 4. We use cubes because it makes it easier for us to sperate them into groups of four and visualise the calculation.

Harry – My group has been learning the features of bar graphs and how the data and information can be used to answer questions.

Freya – Some of us have been revising how to find a fraction of a number and linking this with division. We have also been creating fractions such as halves, thirds and quarters by shading in parts of a circle.

Science

Tia – This week was science week and we watched a video about how vets check the health of cows. We then discussed how we can check our own health by counting breathing rate, tracking our pulse and by skin pinching.

Health and Wellbeing

Emma – We have been continuing to track and record our progress in our athletic stations. We have already begun to see improvements in our fitness! 

Outdoor Learning

Charlie – On Friday we surveyed the school grounds to help us plan where we could build our P4 garden. 

Lauren – Mr Atkinson taught us how to draw diagrams from a bird’s-eye view perspective. First we drew what our bedrooms would look like from this view and then we coloured and created a key for it. We are going to use these skills to draw what our P4 garden might look like from a bird’s-eye view. 

Welcome to the P4A class blog! We cannot wait to share all of our learning with you and hopefully this will give you an insight into our week.

Mr Atkinson’s comment:

Crookfur Primary has relaunched the Crookfur Digital Leader Programme. Miss Bishop visited the class and shared with the pupils how to submit an application.

Beat the Street has also started and I would encourage pupils and families to participate if able to do so. Finally, I have entered the class into the East Renfrewshire Maths Sumdog Contest.

Literacy and English

Emily B – This week we have been learning how to apply the different rules about using commas to fix sentences.

Lewis – We had our first imaginative writing lesson this week! We were challenged to include adjectives, commas, capital letters, full stops and to carefully check that we structured our writing into a clear beginning, middle and end.

Daniel – Our imaginative stories were based on the picture prompts that were issued as Talk Homework. A lot of us brought notes to class to help us with planning our writing, this made it easier.

Numeracy and Maths 

Harry – To help identify lines of symmetry my group has been cutting shapes out and folding them equally to create halves.

Yousaf – My group has been using concrete materials to help multiply and divide by 2. We also learned about the links between multiplying and dividing.

Sarah M – Some of us have started learned about fractions. We have been recording and identifying 1/2 and 1/4. We have also begun to find fractions of numbers.

Isla – We have started our new topic – Area! We have been counting 1/2 squares and whole squares to determine the area of shapes. We completed activities which challenged us to draw different shapes that had the same area.

Ruairidh – We have been using online games to create models with certain area.

IDL

Lewis and Freya – We have been learning about past and present space races! We created timelines of major events that have occurred over the years during the space races. To ensure our timelines were in chronological order we used chromebooks and then wrote notes on what we discovered. Afterwards we summarised our information so that we could write them in our topic jotter. Some of us even drew pictures of the events.

Health and Wellbeing

Mason – For our final few weeks in our athletics block we will be recording our scores at different stations. The stations include the long jump, hurdle jumping and shot put throwing. Our aim is to increase on our score each week and improve our fitness.

ICT

Maira – With Mr McMillan we learned how to code characters, animals and backgrounds.

French

Mueez – This week we finished our French profiles about ourselves. We had to read questions that were in French and then write our answers. Some of the questions asked us what our favourite food, movie, colours and books were.

Welcome to the P4A class blog! We cannot wait to share all of our learning with you and hopefully this will give you an insight into our week.

Mr Atkinson’s comment:

What a brilliant and fascinating week we have had in P4A! The pupils have thoroughly enjoyed listening to all the interesting Space Solo Talks. I am incredibly proud of the children for confidently and enthusiastically sharing their facts about their favourite astronauts in various styles of presentations. I would also like to take this opportunity to say a massive thank you to all the parents and guardians for supporting and facilitating this activity. I appreciate all the time, effort and listening to the rehearsals of these presentations.

It was brilliant to speak and see everyone during Parents Evening! We all managed to successfully navigate the new system and it was great to share with you your children’s learning journey and their successes.

Below are photographs of the Space presentations and World Book Day activities. More pictures can also be viewed on the Crookfur Primary Twitter page.

Finally, I am delighted to announce the return to in person assemblies. The class enjoyed attending assembly today with their friends and eagerly participated in singing as well as celebrating some pupils receiving achievement certificates.

Solo Talks

World Book Day Activities

Welcome to the P4A class blog! We cannot wait to share all of our learning with you and hopefully this will give you an insight into our week.

Mr Atkinson’s comment:

The class enjoyed participating in the school snowman competition and I’m delighted to announce that we won it! The pupils also enjoyed learning Italian as part of Mother Tongue Languages Week.

Today jotters and worksheets were sent home with the pupils in their take home folders. Please use this as an opportunity for your child to share their learning with you. In addition, visit the class blog and school Twitter (links below), as they capture some of the more active experiences and activities that are not always evident in jotters.

https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/er/ewhcfp4a202122/

https://twitter.com/crookfurprimary

I am looking forward to seeing all the parents and guardians via video calls next week at Parents Evening!

Snow Day

Darcy – We had so much fun in the snow and we even participated in a build a snowman competition which we won!

Literacy and English

Emma and Emily M – For writing this week we discussed four pictures which showed different settings and characters. Afterwards we created a VCOP list to help with our planning. Then we chose one of the pictures to base a story on. For the next few weeks we will be focusing on imaginative writing.

Daniel – This week we have been learning different strategies with how to find information. Mr Atkinson taught us that if we use a highlighter to colour key words within the questions we can then search for these key words in the text. If we discover these words in sentences then it is likely the answer will be around the same place in the text.

Numeracy and Maths 

Harry – My group has been learning how to use mirrors to help identify symmetry and create coloured patterns.

Yousaf – This week some of us have been learning to double and how this links with multiplying by 2.

Chenul – One of the groups has been applying their knowledge of dividing with remainders to answer a range of problem solving questions. At first it was tricky but if you read the questions carefully you can identify the key information to use in the calculations.

Millie – We have been using concrete materials and patterns to help us multiply by 9. We nearly know all our timetables!

Health and Wellbeing

Charlie – One of our P.E. activities was based on the playground game of land, sea, air but instead we changed the names to Earth, Sun, Moon which linked to our current IDL topic – Space!

IDL – Space

International Mother Tongue Languages Week

Lewis – This week was Mother Tongue Languages Week and we have been learning how to say key words and phrases in Italian. The class all learned the song ‘Il crocodillo come fa’ in Italian! Some of us even got the chance to be recorded singing it which will be shown at assembly.

Ruairidh – We designed labels and wrote the names of rooms in Italian which were then stuck up around the school.

ICT/Technology

Ruairidh – With Mr McMillan we have been learning how to code which is so interesting and fun!

Welcome to the P4A class blog! We cannot wait to share all of our learning with you and hopefully this will give you an insight into our week.

Mr Atkinson’s comment:

This week the class started their new IDL topic, Space! Please check the Google Classroom for the Talk Homework related to the Space topic that has been issued over two weeks.

Due to the unpredictability of the Scottish weather pupils should continue to bring appropriate attire to school.

Literacy and English

Sarah M –  This week we wrote poems based on the seasons. First we created a word bank of vocabulary that would be appropriate for our poems. Then we chose either the AABB or ABAB rhyming patterns. Mr Atkinson also challenged us to include one simile.

Emily B – The reading strategy we have been continuing to learning about is word choice. This week we had to select definitions for words based on the theme of the texts and surrounding sentences.

Numeracy and Maths 

Zach – To reinforce and build upon our times table knowledge we completed multiplication wheels involving the 6,7,8 and 9 times tables.

Emily M – Through practical activities and using concrete materials we have been learning how to multiply by 8. We were then challenged to solve calculations involving multiplication and money.

Harry – This week my group started learning about symmetry. We have been identifying symmetry in various shapes.

Yousaf – Some of us have been comparing two and three digit numbers by using the symbols greater than, less than and equal to.

Isla – My group has been learning to divide two digit numbers involving remainders and exchanging. It has been tricky but we are using our Growth Mindset to help us answer these questions.

Health and Wellbeing

Mason – As a class we discussed challenges that we come across in life and during our learning journeys. We were given a range of situations and discussed what we needed to do to overcome the barriers. Afterwards, we all chose a challenge that we want to succeed in and then drew a mountain and wrote the steps required to achieve the goal. Later in the term we will reflect on our progress.

Charlie – We had a brilliant discussion about when we are faced with obstacles in video games we keep trying so that we can progress in the story or level. We also discovered we do not get as frustrated if an activity in a video game is very challenging but instead we look for other solutions. Mr Atkinson linked this to Growth Mindset by teaching us that similar to obstacles in games, if we make a mistake in school then all we need to do is try to use a different strategy and keeping persevering until we successfully make the correction. As a fun activity we pretended to be video game designers and in groups created learning games based on something we find challenging like multiplication.

IDL – Space

Tia – This week we started our new topic, Space! First Mr Atkinson introduced us to all the different planets, then we created mnemonics, with the aid of dictionaries, to help us remember the order of the planets. Afterwards, we used the Chromebooks to research and record one fact for each planet.

Welcome to the P4A class blog! We cannot wait to share all of our learning with you and hopefully this will give you an insight into our week.

Mr Atkinson’s comment:

I have outlined several changes that are occurring in P4A in this blog. The arrangements have changed for P.E, the Thursday sessions have now moved to Friday. My NCCT is now Friday morning and Mr McMillan will continue to teach during these periods. Mr Gray will also be joining the class every Thursday for the next few weeks.

Literacy and English

Emma – The new reading skill we have been developing is understanding word choice both in short extracts and in poems. An important technique to help answer these types of questions is highlighting key words in the questions and searching for them in the texts. 

Ruairidh – We have been continuing to improve our handwriting but completing joined up exercises involving “ee,” “eg” and “em.”

Ben – This week we revisited our spelling words and sounds that we learned in January. We worked in groups and with partners to do active spelling tasks, it was great!

Freya – As a class we have been attempting the Wordle challenges everyday, they can be tricky sometimes!

Numeracy and Maths 

Mason – My group has been learning to multiply by 7 by using concrete materials and solving word based problems.

Steven – My group has been continuing to build our confidence with multiplying 2 digits numbers with 1 digits involving carrying.

Yousaf – Some of us have been rounding numbers to the nearest 10.

Harry – My group has been improving the accuracy of drawing the correct levels of measurement.

Health and Wellbeing

Chenul – In P.E. with Mr McMillan we have been playing tennis matches! They have been very fun and competitive.

Maira – One of the activities we took part in for Children’s Mental Health Week was a circle time activity whereby we all choose a piece of paper from the middle of the floor which had a positive word written on it. We then used this word in a sentence about ourselves.

Expressive Arts

Sarah M and Isla –  During our Growth Mindset lesson we learned about the value of mistakes and how they are part of our learning journey. We then researched famous mistakes that led to success such as the creation of the Frisbee and Slinky. This inspired us to crumble or tear a piece of paper and then use the “mistake” as the focus in our artwork. You can see some examples below.

ICT

Sara – With Mr McMillan we have designed Jamboards about our favourite places to visit. This involved using the Google Jamboard programme and uploading images.

Science

Emily B – Last week we finished our Human Body topic by working in groups to create posters, fact files, pictures of our allocated bone and organ and a Google Slide presentation which we later shared with our classmates. We then created a human body skeleton by drawing around one of our friends. Afterwards, we stuck our drawings and facts around the skeleton to create a class display.

Welcome to the P4A class blog! We cannot wait to share all of our learning with you and hopefully this will give you an insight into our week.

Mr Atkinson’s comment:

I have been so impressed with the class this week! They have enthusiastically participated in all our Scottish themed activities and worked brilliantly in group tasks!

A couple of reminders, we will continue not to visit the Woodland area due to the conditions and weather. Homework should be handed in on a Monday so that it can be reviewed and marked to be reissued on Tuesday morning.

Literacy and English

Tia – This week we have been learning about the Scots language. After doing some research we then created acrostic poems and were challenged to include 5 Scots words in them. A few of us performed our finished poems to the rest of the class.

Emma and Darcy – Before creating our poems we created a Scots language display. First we designed a tartan background and then selected a Scots word to outline in black pen. You can see our brilliant display below!

Charlie – To help write our poems we used an online Scots dictionary to translate some tricky words.

Harry and Yousaf – This week we have been learning how to peer-assess our writing by carefully checking the success criteria. We based our two stars and a wish on the criteria.

Daniel – We created fact files on Robert Burns which we shared with the class.

Numeracy and Maths 

Zak – Some of us have been learning how to solve calculations  involving the 6 timestable.

Emily –  My group have been learning to multiply 2 digit numbers by 1 digit.

Harry – We have been converting ml and L. There are 1000ml in 1 L.

Yousaf – Our group have been exploring place value with two and three digit numbers.

Health and Wellbeing

Charlie – We have started learning the Gay Gordons which is a transitional Scottish dance.

Mueez –In our Growth Mindset lesson we debated the question – are people born with talent.

Chenul – On Thursday we planned Highland Game activities and started writing instructions for them. Next week we are going to teach the rest of the class our games.

Expressive Arts

Welcome to the P4A class blog! We cannot wait to share all of our learning with you and hopefully this will give you an insight into our week.

Mr Atkinson’s comment:

Well done to everyone for your excellent efforts and hard work! Next week there will be a Scottish theme throughout the lessons.

Literacy and English

Mason – This was our last week of writing a recount. First we all chose a memorable event to write about and then we put our events in chronological order. Throughout our pieces we had to write in first person and in past tense. We were also challenged to include verbs and the 5 Ws and 1 H.

Numeracy and Maths 

Steven – We have been using greater than, less than and equal to symbols to compare different numbers.

Harry – My group has started a new topic and this has involved learning about ml and L and measuring volume with jugs.

Lauren – Our last lesson on the time topic involved researching and learning about different time devices such as egg timers, alarms and sundials.

Emily – Some groups have been rounding three digit numbers to 10 and 100.

Health and Wellbeing

Emma – With Mr McMillan we played a whole class tennis match – it was so exciting!

Expressive Arts

Ruairidh – Continuing our line focus in Art, we sketched cubes and then shaded them based on the position of where we drew our suns. This was tricky because we had to think about the shadow the sun would cast on parts of the cube.

French

Zak – We have started creating profiles about ourselves! This week we learned how to write our ages and birthday months in French.

Welcome to the P4A class blog! We cannot wait to share all of our learning with you and hopefully this will give you an insight into our week.

Mr Atkinson’s comment:

I have been so impressed with the enthusiasm and hard work the pupils have displayed over the course of this week. Once again thank you to those that donated some materials to the children to create a rib cage! You can see some photographs below and on the school Twitter page. Homework was issued this week and should be returned on the following Monday so that it can be checked over.

Literacy and English

Freya – This week we wrote a recount about our favourite birthday. Mr Atkinson encouraged us to use descriptive vocabulary, time openers and the 5 Ws.

Ruairidh – We have been learning about sequencing and the importance of ordering events. We have also been identifying time openers from our group novels.

Numeracy and Maths 

Mason –  Some of us created a hundred square which we are going to display on our Maths display.

Tia – In our maths groups we created information posters based on our recent topics.

Emily B and Maira – Our groups have been rounding three digit numbers to the nearest 10.

Yousaf – We have continued learning about about our time topic. This week we were matching analogue and digital times involving quarter to and quarter past.

Harry – My group has been learning how to recognise, record and write 3/4s.

Science 

Harry – We watched some videos about the rib cage and then we used resources and materials to create models of rib cages. These have been displayed in the science corner!

Health and Wellbeing

Charlie and Chenul – In P.E. we have been learning about the correct techniques and skills needed to throw a javelin and shot put as part of our athletics topic.

Expressive Arts

Daniel – This week in Art we have been creating famous buildings from around the world using lines and different patterns.

Sarah McCreadie – After drawing our buildings we used the Chromebooks to research and create fact files about our chosen building. Some facts we included were the locations of them, how long they took to build and their unique designs.

Emma – Whilst some of us researched famous buildings my team drew and coloured in a picture of the Earth. We then connected our drawings and fact files to their locations on the Earth display.

Welcome to the P4A class blog! We cannot wait to share all of our learning with you and hopefully this will give you an insight into our week.

Mr Atkinson’s comment:

It has been great listening to all the festive stories from the children this week! The pupils also had the opportunity to enjoy the sudden snow in the Muga. Throughout January we will not be visiting the outdoor areas around the school.

Literacy and English

Daniel –  For our writing this week we wrote a recount of our Christmas holidays. We focused on including punctuation and the 5 Ws as well as the 1 H.

Maira –  For a change we typed our recounts on the laptops. We used the listening function on the laptops to check whether our sentences were correctly structured.

Numeracy and Maths 

Mason –  My group has started learning about coordinates and how to plot use grid references.

Tia – We have been exploring place value in HTUs.

Lauren – Some of us have revisited the time topic and begun to learn about quarter to and quarter past. 

Harry – My group has been learning about halves and quarters and how to create and recognise them in shapes.

Health and Wellbeing

Isla – When we returned to school we investigated how different countries celebrate the New Year and what resolutions are. Afterwards, we created targets about what we wanted to improve upon this term, we called them ‘Rockin resolutions.’ We also designed our very own guitars to display our targets on.

Science 

Millie – The class have been learning about the different bones in the human body such as the rib cage and skull. We discovered that there are usually 206 bones in the adult human skeleton and that skeletons change overtime from when we are born.

Ruairidh – We spent some time identifying different types of bones in our bodies and then we used a Word bank to complete sentences about the skeleton.