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

Hello to all the P5A blog readers, it’s Mr Atkinson here! As you will know this year I am doing NCCT for primary P5A with a focus on developing Crookfurs Inquiry Based Learning approach so I wanted to give you an update of what we have been doing.

In our first Learning Journey – Energy Sources and Sustainability, we revisited the definitions of renewable and non-renewable energy sources and discussed examples in our lives of when we may use them. The class researched and plotted locations onto maps of Scotland of where a variety of energy sites are. We also participated in heated debates about the advantages and disadvantages of different energy sources which allowed the children to demonstrate their understanding and it led to them constructing compelling arguments. Amongst all of this we visited the Glasgow Science Centre to attend an energy workshop and Mrs Dowse, a parent of P5, spoke to the class about her experience of working in this sector which led to lots of questions! We also briefly explored the different types of energy stores and transfers by completing chains and diagrams of real-life examples. Finally, as part of our end of Learning Journey showcase, the pupils worked in groups to build sustainable cities and they drew and labelled a picture of Crookfur Primary being powered by renewable energy sources for the Renewables Challenge.

We then moved onto learning about some of the META Skills and explored how these can be used both in school and at home. The META Skills lessons helped the pupils to recognise what Creativity and Curiosity may look like!

Our current Learning Journey – Upstream Battle, is being supported by the organisation Keep Scotland Beautiful. We watched a live lesson from Arrochar where the presenters shared with the class the journey of litter from land to sea and how it can affect the environment. To help illustrate the problem we visited Capelrig Burn where we found litter and a trolley in it. The children also created a map and tracked the journey of 28,000 plastic bath toys that fell overboard from a ship to show how items move across the sea. We have also been learning about which items are biodegradable and the class were shocked to read about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The pupils are now working in groups and preparing for the Keep Scotland Beautiful marine litter art competition by researching which rivers in Scotland have been polluted and making presentations of incidents that have damaged marine life. The showcase for this Learning Journey will be marine litter themed models that the pupils will soon be creating. Again, thank you for the donations of materials!

Mr Atkinson