Hi P5A readers, I wanted to update you on what we have been doing in our Learning Journeys since our last entry.

I am delighted to share that the pupils produced wonderful models and sculptures illustrating the issue of marine littering and their efforts were recognised with Keep Scotland Beautiful awarding the class with participation certificates.

Afterwards the class explored the qualities of collaborating and communicating, building on their experiences of using these META Skills in the Upstream Battle project. Some of the activities that helped to develop these further included; discussing the different methods of how emotions are expressed, analysing what makes a good team player,  learning from the past but focusing on the future, participating in scenarios that explored social situations such as arriving late to a meeting and being mindful of how we interact with peers.

P5a are currently enjoying the Wildlife Conservation Learning Journey! First the children revisited food chains by exploring the school grounds to identify an example of one. They then created a diagram of what they had found and we discussed food webs and some related terminology such as producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer, tertiary consumers, ecosystems and decomposers.  The class has also learned that not all energy is transferred to the next stage in the food chain and they completed some calculations to determine how much is lost. P5a were fascinated with discovering which creatures are extinct or endangered and made some insightful comments as to why some physical features help animals to thrive and survive. After this, the children then started to categorise them into carnivores, herbivores and omnivores which led to interesting debates and some surprises. To mark Earth Day everyone created their own upcycled and sustainable plant pots using plastic bottles that were kindly donated. Each pupil decorated them with patterns or themes, went on to plant a sunflower into the pots and have now taken them home. Over the next couple of weeks some learning will take place outdoors if the good weather continues!

Mr Atkinson

Eid Celebrations

Cultural Dress

I liked having the opportunity to express my culture in school.  I wore a shirval kamiz.  Aaniyah

Henna Art

We painted our background with watercolours, then we got a piece of paper and traced around our hand, then we drew Henna patterns on it.  Henna patterns are often painted on ladies hands for special celebrations in the Muslim faith.  Isla

Islamic Art

We created symmetrical Islamic patterns using a template and two lines of symmetry.  Islamic patterns are found in in many Islamic buildings in decorative floor and wall displays.  The shapes in the patterns all have different meanings.  The star symbolises the spread of the Muslim faith.

   PE

This week in cricket we we learning how to do an overarm bowl with increasing accuracy.

Cricket was really fun, we had to use an over arm bowl, then the batting team had to try to bat it. It was tricky, but fun. Theo

Eid

The girls in the class who celebrated Eid enjoyed showing the class the Mhendi they had done for their celebrations.

Spring Art

Easter

Today we done an Easter egg hunt during our mental maths and after lunch.  In maths the eggs contained mental maths questions and after lunch, they contained jigsaw puzzles.  We worked as teams to find the eggs, then complete the jigsaw.

After lunch it was good fun to work as a team to find the eggs.  My team had to find six green eggs and I managed to find one.  Our team was first to finish.  Ava

‘Computers and Gaming Through the Decades’ 

We have started our ‘Computing and Gaming Through the Decades’ topic.  We begun by learning about where computer games were first used and how basic the first games were.  We had a go at playing ‘Pong’ and Space Invaders.’  Although they were old and simple games, we really enjoyed them and we were quite competitive with one another when playing.  Our favourite was ‘Pong.’  Next week we’ll be learning about Arcade Games.

Personal Talks

We have spent a few afternoons listening to one another’s personal talks.  We have learnt about our friends hobbies and topics of interest to them.  Some of our presentations have enabled us to learn about our friend’s family history and experience living in different countries.  We have all worked hard on our presentations and have demonstrated our confidence speaking in front of an audience.

Neurodiversity Week

Mindfulness

It has been a fun week with tons of relaxation moments with the Kitbags.  I have enjoyed visiting classes and explaining how the Kitbags work, so has Emily.  It has been good to watch some videos to understand how different neurodiverse traits affect different people. Finlay R

World Down Syndrome Day – Odd Sock Day!

For World Down Syndrome Day we were allowed to wear odd socks to recognise and show people’s differences.  Cameron

PE

Cricket

This week we completed skills practises where we had to pass the ball and aim at a target to help us in a full game.  We played Caterpillar Cricket where if your teammate hit the ball we all had to follow them like a caterpillar around a circuit.  The fielding team all had to pass the ball to one another before hitting the wicket.  Ava

Athletics

This week we were doing some relay races learning how to pass the baton and hurdle during a race.  It was fun and exciting working as part of a team.  Noelle

Ramadan Club

Since it’s Ramadan there has been a lunch club where the Muslims’ that are fasting get to do lots of crafts in a quiet space.  In the first two pictures there is an Aganogram of  mosques at  Fajr and Maghrib time.  Farouk

Through the Decades

2000’s – 2010’s

This week we made leaflets about 2000 to 2010 events or significant buildings.  We could do the Commonwealth Games, the Scottish Smoking Ban, the Scottish Parliament, the Kelpies or the Falkirk Wheel.  We had to make notes about the topic, then present key facts in a leaflet.  Jack J

World Book Day

Bookmarks

We made origami bookmarks.

Reading River

Some of us did online Reading River and some of us made paper versions.  It was fun and we remembered books we liked when we were younger, like ‘Dear Zoo.’  Michael

Chrome Music

We used Chrome Music to make 1990 inspired music.

PE

Cricket

Cricket was really fun.  One of my friends almost hit the ball 150 metres!  He was able to hit it really far! Beau

Gymnastics

We have been learning how to apply our skills on a range of apparatus.  Most of us can now do a straddle jump over the horse.

Meta Skills Moments

Yesterday we met Allan Potter who was an artist and he showed us the types of things he made.  He made models, sculptures and he even showed us how he made a giant horse statue.  He was very inspiring.  We also met a BBC News reporter, a lawyer and an influencer.  They told us about different meta-skills they use in their jobs such as communication, collaborating , curiosity and creativity.  Farouk

Ramadan Club

This year we have had Ramadan Club again.  If you are fasting, at lunchtime we can go there and do lots of different activities related to Ramadan.  It is enjoyable.  Aaniyah and Menaal brought in a Qur’an in both English and Arabic.  They both took turns reading in Arabic and English.  They read a surah called ‘Surah An Nas,’ meaning human kind. Menaal

Sea Life Centre

The highlight of this week has been our trip to the Sea Life Centre.  We loved seeing the otters and turtles!  We learnt about the impact plastic pollution has on sea animals and seen first hand how harmful it can be.

1990’s

This week we started researching the 1990’s as part of our ‘Through the Decades’ topic. We worked in groups to research Fashion, TV, Music, Toys and Technology. We started making a group piece of installation art too, which we will complete next Friday.

Indoor PE 

As it was very wet on Wednesday morning we created an indoor skill game whereby we had to get different types of balls or beans bags into or onto given surface to earn a range of different points.  We had to be tactical in ur decision and accurate with our throws to earn the most points.  We also had to be good at totally up all our scores.  In order to make it more challenging we adapted our games and found we got lower scores in the second round.

Open Afternoon

Guess the Teacher

On the ‘Open Afternoon’ we were trying to guess which teacher was who from when they were younger.  Some of them were easy and some of them were hard.  It was good fun!  Some Mum’s and Dad’s were able to help us with our guesses. – Ava

Royal Weddings

We were learning about the two royal weddings in the 1980’s.  We measured out the length of Princess Diana’s train and marked it on the floor; it was really long!

We were dressing people up in toilet paper dresses/gowns.  It was lots of fun!   We had to be strategic as we only had one roll of toilet paper to make our dress and train. Farouk

Live Aid

We made ‘Live Aid’ stadiums out of Kapla. We worked in teams to make a Wembley Stadium or JFK Stadium.  We had to be careful so that we didn’t knock it over.  Anna W

1980’s Board Games

We played board games that were made in the 1980’s i.e. Twister, Battleship, Guess Who and Kerplunk.  I had played Frustration and Twister before, but all the rest were new to me.  Achintya

Gymnastics

On Monday we were doing gymnastics.  We were learning how to do partner balances.  It was quite tricky, but we learned how to do four different balances. it was fun. – Menaal

Viridor – Sustainability

On Monday we had a parent visitor who works for Viridor speak to us about her job.  She told us all about how our litter is recycled.  She told us how machines sort our rubbish and how it is recycled into lots of new products.  I had a chance to try on all of her safety clothes for the Viridor site. – Leiyaa

IDL – 1970’s

This week we have been learning about the 1970’s.  We learnt that the first microwave was invented in the 1970’s.  Margaret Thatcher was the first female Prime Minister.  Our money became decimalised in the 1970’s and Glam Rock, Punk and Disco became popular in this decade. We also watched short clips of the ‘Wombles’ and ‘Basil Brush’ which were children’s cartoons in addition to making some paper dolls.  At the end of the day we had a practise of ‘The Hustle’ which was a popular 1970’s dance.  Theo, Oliver & Michael

    STEAM

With Mr Atkinson we carried out an experiment about ocean acidification i.e. pollution in the sea.  We put shells into jars with water, salt and  pure vinegar.   We found the shell in the pure vinegar jar dissolved.  The shell in the salt water jar was just the same and the one with salt water and vinegar was ok, but had changed colour i.e. it was bleached.  This tells us that pollution is destroying the seabed.

PE

Through the Decades

We worked as experts last week learning about different aspects of the 1950’s.  We learnt about the ‘Space Race’, ‘Windrush’, the ‘Queen’s Coronation’, ‘Cars’ and ‘Sir Edmund Hilary.’  We shared our expert knowledge with our groups.

This week we started learning about the 1960’s.  We have been learning about The Beatles and we listened to and watched the ‘Yellow Submarine’ song.  We realised that we do actually know a lot of Beatles songs too.

Tests!

This week we were surprised with some literacy and maths tests.  We worked hard and did our best, so we have earned a rest this weekend!