Author: G Atkinson

Mr Atkinson’s comment:

Thank you to everyone for donating materials, these will be used to finish the model dragons that the pupils are designing in class. Just a reminder that we will be visiting the woodland on Monday so please can children bring appropriate clothing.

Literacy and English

John – We have started a new series of lessons on imaginative writing. This week we used a picture prompt to help and inspire us to create a story.

Archie – In our Grammar lesson this week we learned about the differences between questions, statements and commands. We were challenged to to include some of these in our writing as well as use the correct punctuation.

Alfie and Maya – We have been continuing to learn about how to recognise the sequence of events in a range of texts. To help us practise time openers and connectives we applied our knowledge to create a list of clear instructions for a secret handshake. We had to carefully think about the order of actions and how we could list these using time related vocabulary.

Harley – We watched the Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone movie trailer and discussed the sequence of events that were shown.

Numeracy and Maths 

Emma – This we have been solving division questions involving remainders.

Finlay – Mr Atkinson challenged my group to create shapes with either the same perimeters or same areas.

French 

Sara – With Mr McMillan we were learning how to speak politely in French, for example “merci beaucoup.”

IDL

Isla – This week we started designing our dragon profiles. We included information such as their powers and personalities.

Expressive Art

Mehr – The primary 6 pupils worked with Mrs Hutchison to draw 3d cones by blending pastels.

Mr Atkinson’s comment:

Homework has been issued this week to be returned by the 03/10/22. On our Google Classroom, under the classwork section, there are dated instructions explaining what the tasks are and where answers should be written. A list of spelling words to December has been provided to all the pupils and these have been glued into the front of their Literacy Homework jotters. If there is any difficultly accessing the homework information on Google Classroom please let me know.

Next week we are going to be creating model dragons as part of exploring the magical world of Harry Potter. If you have any materials such as cardboard or plastic it would appreciated if these could be brought to class.

Woodland dates are: October 10th, October 31st, November 14th, November 28th and December 12th.

Literacy and English

Ruairidh – In writing this week we wrote letters of complaint! We pretended to be Hogwarts students who had been sold a faulty wand or broom stick by a shop in Diagon Alley. First we had to write both our and the shop address in the correct place.

Lewis – Our success criteria in our complaint letters included using question marks, exclamation marks, emotive language and powerful vocabulary to make our opinions clear.

Chloe – We also read chapter 11 and 12 of our class novel this week!

Numeracy and Maths 

Finlay – This week was Maths Week Scotland! The theme this year was exploring how Maths is all around us. We decided to get creative and plan dance routines that involved different shapes, symmetry, compass directions and counting the beats.

Isla – We wrote out our dance moves and used the correct Maths terms in the instructions.

Retal – We all took part in a Maths quiz near the end of the week! First we separated ourselves into our house and then we joined up with the other P6 pupils from the other classes.

Harley – Mr Atkinson also spoke to us about our upcoming Maths homework and how we should write our calculations and answers.

Sophia – One of our starter tasks this week was to identify symmetry in famous landmarks like the Eiffel Tower.

Tia – We felt inspired after doing this activity so we drew our own symmetrical patterns.

Sara – Later in the week we were challenged to solve problem solving questions involving some of the operations.

French

Alfie – With Mr McMillan we were learning how to say foods that you would find in a café and begin to order in French.

Health and Wellbeing

Emma – This week in hockey we played matches with Mr McMillan! We were challenged to use the skills we have been develop over the last couple of weeks.

Mehr – As part of our Growth Mindset lesson, we have been learning about different parts of the brain and what it looks like when connections are made when we are challenged.

Science

Aarohi – This week with Mrs Lamont we created posters which encouraged people to use less fossil fuel.

Mr Atkinson’s comment:

I hope everyone enjoys the upcoming September holiday weekend! Homework will be starting the following week and I will explain to the class what this will involve on Tuesday. Instructions will also be uploaded onto Google Classroom.

Literacy and English

Eva – The class read chapter 10 of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and then we drew a sequence of the main events.

Harley –  This week we worked in our spelling groups to complete work on our different sounds.

Numeracy and Maths 

John – This week my group moved onto subtracting involving 4 digit numbers and exchanging.

Lewis – My group used our understanding of multiplying 4 and 5 digits numbers to find the answers to problem solving questions.

Archie – My group has been learning how to calculate the perimeter of different shapes. Some of the calculations involved adding decimals.

French

Kyler – With Mr McMillan we were learning how to say different types of clothes in French.

Health and Wellbeing

Ruairidh – In our Growth Mindset lesson, some of us created Top Trump cards based on our class novel characters. We then gave them scores out of one hundred based on how effective leaners they were. Qualities of an effective leaner are  challenging yourself, perseverance, embracing mistakes and trying your best. Another task was separating the Growth Mindset and Fixed Mindset phrases and writing them around a bouncing ball or a burst ball.

Aarohi – We also discussed what “doom words” were and how we can overcome them.

Science

Retal – The P5 pupils worked with Mrs Lamont and discovered how the rotation of gears creates energy.

Harley – With Mr Atkinson, the P6 children created definitions for physical and chemical changes which helped them to identify real life examples.

Mr Atkinson’s comment:

Thank you to all the pupils who have brought in Harry Potter themed items to class to show and present to their peers! Also well done to Lewis and Retal for participating in a local football festival.

Literacy and English

Chloe – In our writing lesson this week we pretended to write letters home to our families as actual Hogwarts students. As this was an informal letter we were challenged to use contractions and to have written address in the correct layout.

Mehr – Using our knowledge of the most recent Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone chapter we created our very own potions. We achieved this by using descriptive vocabulary, listing the ingredients, quantity need of each item and the effect they will have on someone. Finally, we designed a potion bottle by drawing and then colouring them in.

Harley – We have now started learning the 3rd and 4th joins in our handwriting lessons.

Ruairidh – This week in spelling we used dictionaries to help us to learn the definitions of some of the science related words we have been using with Mr Atkinson and Mrs Lamont.

Numeracy and Maths 

Emma – My group have been challenged this week to use our knowledge of the timestables to solve 4 and 5 digit multiplication calculations. They got trickery over the week as some of them involved carrying.

Harley – My group has been adding 4 digits together involving carrying and then we used this knowledge to answer problem solving questions.

Alfie – My group has been learning about area. First we counted the full and half squares to find the area of shapes but later in the week we used the formula L x B which made it quicker.

Retal – We have also been using our mental maths skills to add in chunks.

Health and Wellbeing

Ruairidh – This week we have been testing our passing skills by aiming at hoops to complete bounce passes to our friends.

Isla – Some of us have been comparing phrases and vocabulary linked to Growth Mindset and Fixed Mindset. We all agreed that Growth Mindset is about challenging ourselves and learning from mistakes.

French

Kyler – With Mr McMillan we were learning how to name and say kitchen items in French.

Outdoor Learning

Aarohi – We have started our journey towards earning our John Muir Award which we will be updating you about over the year. This week we learned about who John Muir was and his life story.

Expressive Art

John – In Music we listened to different orchestra performances and then learned about all the different instruments that are used to create the sounds. One of the follow-up tasks involved using our knowledge of the sounds to figure out which soundtrack matched the scenes from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

 

 

 

Mr Atkinson’s comment:

It was great meeting all the parents and guardians that attended the “Meet the Teacher” session on Wednesday!

Our Outdoor Learning Day will take place fortnightly starting on the 12th September. Pupils should bring appropriate clothing for the unpredictable Scottish weather to ensure that they can engage and participate in all the activities.

Literacy and English

Retal – After reading the most recent chapter in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone we had our very own Sorting Ceremony. Isla had brought in her Sorting Hat so we used this to put us into the different houses. Afterwards, we all created House ties!

Emma – This week in writing we have been learning the importance and value of success criteria and how it can be used to improve our writing. After working together to review different examples of writing we created success criteria. Then Mr Atkinson challenged us to select one paragraph from our writing last week and uplevel the vocabulary and check if it met our success criteria. We all noticed how much more engaging and interesting our new drafts were!

Numeracy and Maths 

Archie – We have been learning all the timetables before starting our new topics!

Aarohi – In pairs we created number fact posters and a 100 square which we put on our Maths display to help us with our future work.

Health and Wellbeing

Alfie – In our Growth Mindset lesson we discussed what makes a good teacher and what qualities they should have.

Harley – This week in basketball we were developing our dribbling skills! After becoming confident with this we worked in groups to create obstacle courses as stations. Everyone had a brilliant time testing these out!

Expressive Arts

Sophie B – I collected sticks from outside which we decorated to create wands for our class novel display.

Chloe – In groups we drew and painted shields of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin.

Ruairidh – In Art we recreated the Great Hall and Hogwarts by using a range of pastels and the blending technique.

Science

Tia – The primary 5 pupils with Mrs Lamont learned about energy and created gears.

Sara – With Mr Atkinson some of us learned more about chemical reactions. We did an experiment involving vinegar, fairy liquid and baking soda. Before doing the experiment we created a list of all the equipment and made a prediction as to what might happened when all of these were poured into the cup. When we did the experiment the items reacted and created foam and bubbles, it was fantastic!

Mr Atkinson’s comment:

I have been so impressed with everyone’s excellent effort this week! Thank you to all the parents and guardians for allowing pupils to bring in copies of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. 

Literacy and English

John – This week in writing we explored and discussed different pictures and and were challenged to imagine ourselves in these settings. Afterwards, we created a vocabulary list which we used to help us to create a story based on one of the pictures. Our goal was to use as many of the senses as possible to create a clear setting.

Sara – We have been learning how to use dictionaries to discover the definitions of words we were unfamiliar with from the class novel.

Aarohi – We finished our VCOP wall which we are going to regularly update so that we can use it to help with our writing.

Emma and Finlay – We all did comprehension and spelling check-ups.

Chloe – In our French lesson with Mr McMillan we learned about landmarks in Paris.

Numeracy and Maths 

Ruairidh – We did a couple of check-ups to revise some of the work we have learned in previous years.

Health and Wellbeing

Retal – With Mr McMillan we learned how to defend and tackle safely in hockey.

Lewis – As part of our Growth Mindset topic some of us discussed what success and failure looked like. We shared with our friends when we have used our Growth Mindset strategies to overcome something challenging.

Kate – Some of us created Growth Mindset passports. Inside them we wrote what we found challenging at school, what strategies we use to overcome them and how we feel when we experience successes and failures.

Isla – Working in partners we created motivational messages which we will use in class when we find something challenging.

Alfie – In P.E. with Mr Atkinson we played a version of bucketball, it was great!

Expressive Arts

Ruairidh – One of our tasks after reading a chapter from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was to work in groups and re-enact the main events in front of our friends.

Science 

Emma – With Mrs Lamont some of us learned about why rats are important. 

Harley – With Mr Atkinson we learned about chemical reactions. Afterwards, we used the Chromebooks to research everyday chemical reactions and recorded our information in a Google Slide.