Month: November 2023

Mr Atkinson’s comment:

This week I shared with the class that we will be taking part in a Christmas performance. Pupils were asked if they would like to volunteer for a part or play a musical instrument if they felt confident to do so. I plan to issue the script and carol booklet to the children next week to help them with learning their words. Thank you again for the donation of materials to allow the class to build their prototypes over the next two weeks for our STEM the Flow topic.

Literacy and English

In our Writing lesson we wrote formal letters to the organisation Keep Scotland Beautiful. about how we plan to achieve our LEAF award. In our letters we included information about what ideas we would like to do to improve the school grounds and how this will benefit the pupils at our school. We also learned that when writing a formal letter you have to include two addresses and you can end the letter by signing off with yours faithfully or yours sincerely.

We also did a couple more handwriting exercises to improve our letter formation.

A reading skill we are focusing on at the moment is how to identify the main idea of a text. We learned that sometimes by carefully reading the first and last sentence of a paragraph this can reveal the main idea within it and that it is also important to skim and scan as this helps you to get a better understanding of what the text is about.

Numeracy and Maths

We have had a very busy week exploring different Maths concepts! Some of us have been learning how to create number lines by including halves and quarters,  how to create symmetrical patterns with the help of a mirror,  finding the area of shapes and drawing our own shapes with a certain area and using metre sticks and Trundle wheels to measure objects and parts of the school.

Health and Wellbeing

To continue to develop our fitness Mr Atkinson set up an obstacle course, it was so much fun!

Outdoor Learning/STEM the Flow

On Friday we visited Capelrig Burn as part of our topic STEM the Flow. First we explored and surveyed the surrounding areas to see if there was litter nearby or in the burn itself! We discovered some pieces of rubbish and in our groups we discussed how we could stop litter entering and staying in the burn. Next week we are going to build prototypes of a device to prevent litter travelling further down the waterway and make posters to submit for the competition.

IDL – Scotland and Japan

This week we were all very excited to begin to share our group presentations with the rest of the class. We were also each given a friend to assess and provide them with two stars and a wish based on how they presented. This feedback will help us to improve for future presentations!

 

Road Safety

Some primary 6 JRSO came to our class and told us some facts about road safety and what we needed to do for the poster competition which we all took part in.

 

Mr Atkinson’s comment:

As part of our STEM the Flow Engineering Challenge we would welcome any donations of cardboard or materials that can be cut safely to help the pupils to create their prototypes. In addition, next Friday the class will be walking to Capelrig Burn to survey the surrounding area and investigate how litter affects waterways. Please could pupils bring appropriate clothing and footwear to allow them to fully participate in this visit.

Literacy and English

This week was Book Week Scotland so for our Writing lesson we wrote informal letters between two of characters from our favourite novel. We are also becoming more confident with including and using some of the key features in letters.

We also enjoyed writing our spelling words in different colours and reading our new group books.

Numeracy and Maths

In our Maths lessons this week we have been learning how to accurately measure with a ruler, use our knowledge of converting centimetres and metres to find the answers to addition and subtraction calculations, solve word questions that involved multiplying and dividing with remainders, finding and identifying lines of symmetry, drawing symmetrical shapes, dividing shapes into fractions and completing number lines using halves and quarters.

Health and Wellbeing

This week our class and the school have been focusing on Anti-Bullying! First we watched the BBC Anti-Bullying Week 2023 Live Lesson which helped us to understand the difference between Banter and Bullying. Afterwards, we discussed what these might look like at school and then we worked in groups to create anti-bullying themed poems which we shared with the class.

In P.E. on Monday we all took part in the Bleep Test which was challenging, tiring but very fun!

IDL – Scotland and Japan

This week we have begun to research and plan our group presentations on Japan which we will be presenting to the class next week. We have been using all our knowledge, completed worksheets as well as information online to help us create and organise our slides.

Outdoor Learning

We explored the school grounds and went on a leaf survey to see how many different shapes we could find. This helped us to figure out what types of trees were in the Woodland and near to the playground.

We helped Mr Atkinson to decide which themes and activities we could do for our LEAF Action Plan which he is going to send to the organisation.

Spanish

With Miss Campbell we learned how to say different greetings in Spanish!

Expressive Art

We have now started our music topic and Miss Campbell helped us to create sounds using our bodies.

 

 

Mr Atkinson’s comment:

It was great seeing everyone at Parents Evening and I also hope you enjoyed looking at your child’s jotters and their work that was on the P5B wall display.

Literacy and English

For comprehension we worked in groups and read different texts. We then used our skills, such as highlighting parts of the text and looking for key words, and knowledge of predicting to help answer the questions.

In our writing lesson we learned about the differences between formal and informal letters and some of their features such as addresses and contractions. We then put different types of writing into either the informal or formal category and we discovered that some genres of writing can be both! Afterwards, we discussed what a pen-pal was and then we wrote a letter to a pretend friend from Japan. This gave us a chance to use our knowledge of Japan and ask our pen-pals questions about their country such as have they visited the famous landmark Tokyo Tower or been to the Sapporo Snow Festival.

We have also been continuing to improve our joined up handwriting by focusing on joining two “t” letters together this week!

Numeracy and Maths

This week some of us have been learning about how to convert centimetres and metres, the different ways adding and subtracting can be written and said, continuing to focus and build our understanding of multiplication Mental Maths phrases such as seven fives or five groups of four.

Health and Wellbeing

During our gym hall sessions we have started to develop our fitness levels by taking part in circuits. Some of the stations included running, step ups, push ups and jumping. Soon we will be recording and tracking our weekly progress to see if we improve!

Spanish 

With Miss Campbell we have started learning about Spanish and the country of Spain!

Expressive Art

As we are nearly at the end of our Scotland and Japan comparison study, Miss Campbell thought it would be fun learning how to draw and write the numbers one to ten in Japanese!

IDL – Scotland and Japan

We discussed and compared the differences between Samurai and Scottish clan warriors. We noticed that they shared some similarities such as both representing clans and having a leader to follow. Afterwards, we watched a video about Samurai and took notes on their lives and then we drew their weapons and labelled them in Japanese.

Science

On Friday we went to the Glasgow Science Centre with P5A and P4/5. We had a brilliant time exploring all the different floors and watching all the exciting experiments in the Climate Change show!

 

Mr Atkinson’s comment:

I am looking forward to seeing parents and guardians next week at Parents Evening and the pupils are excited about their upcoming trip to the Glasgow Science Centre on Friday. Some of the children also enjoyed attending their committees this week. I have reminded the class that if they wish to submit their Christmas card designs that were in the Home Learning Packs then these must be handed in early next week.

Literacy and English

For our final fact file writing lesson we used all our knowledge of Japan and Scotland as well as our Talk Homework to create country fact files/brochures. First we chose a layout and then decided which headings and titles to use. Afterwards, we wrote our information in the different sections and drew some pictures to match with our facts. Finally, we designed a front cover to encourage people to open and read our brochures.

We have also started reading our new group books!

Numeracy and Maths

In Maths some of us have started learning about symmetry, features of BODMAS, doubling, fact families and how to use pictorial methods to help with dividing by 2,3,4 and 5 involving remainders.

Health and Wellbeing

On our P.E. MUGA day we are going to continue to develop the skills linked to possession games but we are going to move on from hockey to football.

Science

We started to create gears using the donated cardboard and we will use these to help us with learning about energy.

IDL – Scotland and Japan

We have learned a lot this week about Japan and Scotland! We were inspired after making sushi rolls with the catering team to research different types of starters, main courses and dessert dishes that are popular in Japan and we used this information to create our own menus. We wrote descriptions of the dishes, drew pictures of the different types of foods and even recorded the price of them in Yen which is the Japanese currency.

We also compared different celebrations between Scotland and Japan and in partners we typed our notes onto a Google Slide. Next week we are going to work in groups to present some of these festivals to the class.

All of the work we did on comparing the two countries was very helpful for our travel brochure writing lesson this week!