Author: G Atkinson

Mr Atkinson’s comment:

We hope everyone who was able to attend the P5 Christmas Carols performance enjoyed it on Friday! The pupils had a great time and as mentioned in previous blogs I am very grateful for the support you have provided in the lead-up to this. They all did brilliantly and I am so proud of them!

Literacy and English

We have been learning about the differences between facts and opinions and how to recognise them in texts. We discovered that it is very important to look for key vocabulary such as “I think” as this helps us to identify that a sentence with this phrase in it is likely to be an opinion.

Numeracy and Maths

We have been working incredibly hard in Maths this week by learning about different Mental Maths strategies to help us with adding and subtracting, converting grams and kilograms, surveying classes and inputting the results into Google Sheets to help us to create bar graphs, using right angles and directions to record instructions which we tested on each other and deciding if particular objects could be measured using millilitres or litres.

Health and Wellbeing

With the hall being used for rehearsals we decided to put our fitness levels to the test by competing in races using the tracks outside! 

STEM the Flow

We have done a lot of research to help us finish our science posters that included a detailed explanation of our creations strengths and weakness, instructions of how it operates and recounting what ideas inspired us when planning the prototypes. Each group also presented their models and drawings to the class and now Mr Atkinson needs to review our projects and select one to submit to the competition.

Mr Atkinson’s comment:

The pupils had a great time wearing their Christmas outfits and visiting the present room on Friday. They are also very excited about the P5 Christmas Carols performance which is next week! Thank you for supporting your child with learning their roles, parts and songs. Also unfortunately due to the wet weather aspects of P.E. and Outdoor Learning may take place in class for the time being.

Literacy and English

This week Mr Atkinson challenged us to apply everything we have learned about letters to write an informal letter to a relative that we haven’t seen in a while recounting all the highlights of P5 so far. We organised our writing into paragraphs, structured our letter in the correct format, used connectives to create more detailed sentences and included some contractions.

Numeracy and Maths

In Maths we have been adding four digit numbers together involving carrying, learning about directions and how to read a compass, writing times in the digital format and using our multiplication skills in word problems.

Health and Wellbeing

We enjoyed doing timed stations in the hall and because of they wet weather we also did a workout in class to keep building our fitness levels. Then we did Pokémon yoga for a cooldown which was great!

STEM the Flow

This week we build our prototypes and compared our creations with our Tinkercad designs and drawings. We made some changes to improve our models and we have now started to plan our project posters which we will present and vote on to be the P5B entry for the competition.

Science

In our science lesson we discussed some examples of renewable energy such as solar, tidal and wind power that inhabitants of an island could use instead of fossil fuel. We also applied our knowledge of bar graphs to record energy usage at different times of the day. We then debated as to why more energy was used between certain hours. Some reasons included that more energy is needed from 5:00pm to 9:00pm as it is dark so lights are turned on in houses.

Expressive Art

For our P5 Christmas show we designed tickets and some them will be used to send to parents and guardians inviting them to the performance.

Mr Atkinson’s comment:

Rehearsals are well underway for the Christmas performance! The lyrics and video links to some of the songs can be found on our Google Classroom to help learn at home. As mentioned in the homework guidance no more homework will be issued for this term and it will resume in January.  Also some of the pupils in the class who have been attending recorder club performed at the assemblies – well done to them all!

Literacy and English

In our Writing lesson we discussed that you can write a formal and informal thank you letter depending on who you are sending it to. Afterwards, we wrote thank you letters to the Glasgow Science Centre and we focused on including connectives so that we could create more detailed sentences explaining what our highlights of the trip were.

We have been learning how to summarise paragraphs and texts by identifying what are the important parts that the reader needs to know and then reword the information in our summaries.

Numeracy and Maths

In Maths some of us have been investigating different multiplication and division links involving the 6, 7, 8 and 9 timetables.  We have also been ordering numbers, learning about place value, answering questions based on bar graphs and organising daily events in to AM and PM.

Health and Wellbeing

In our fitness session we competed in group races – it was very tiring!

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!

Mr Atkinson’s comment:

I hope everyone enjoyed the October holiday! It has been a very busy week in P5B including the pupils getting their individual and sibling photographs.

Literacy and English

Working in groups we created a story mountain for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. First we drew a mountain, as it represents the story because just like a story climbing a mountain has a starting point, peak and an end. We organised information about settings and characters as well as main events into different categories such as the build-up events, problem, resolution and conclusion.

For our final class novel task Mr Atkinson challenged us to write a new ending to the story. We illustrated some of the events that we had changed and many of us added new thrilling plot twists!

We also created a VCOP wall display that we will use in our writing lessons. Each of us wrote either helpful vocabulary, connectives and openers and drew the different types of punctuation we can use in our sentences. Then we stuck them to our display.

Numeracy and Maths

We have been learning to divide and multiply by 10 and 100, created and checked our very own square and triangle numbers and we made timestables posters for our Maths display that we can use if we are unsure.

Health and Wellbeing

Our final Bounce Back lesson involved discussing what is perfection and how being perfect can sometimes lead to us worrying and experiencing problems. Instead we all agreed that trying our best and having a go at something is a better method of learning and living.

French

In French with Miss Campbell we finished drawing our Harry Potter characters and then we labelled parts of their appearance by writing what they were in French such as the type of clothing being worn or the colour of them.

IDL – Scotland and Japan

We have been continuing to learn about Japan and make comparisons with Scotland. Using the Chromebooks we researched facts and took notes on famous people from both countries and further explored landmarks by learning about what some of them are made from, where they are located, why they were built, how much it is to visit them and how old they are.

Expressive Art

After leaving our clay models of characters from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone to dry we then painted them and most of us have taken them home this week.

With Miss Campbell we made butterflies by using origami which is a Japanese art of folding paper and then we decorated them.

 

Mr Atkinson’s comment:

Thank you to all the parents and guardians for providing a plastic container for the pupils to take home their sushi rolls that they made on Monday with the catering team as part of their Japan topic. I hope you got a chance to taste and enjoy them! Have a great October holiday everyone and I look forward to hearing how you spent it.

Literacy and English

This week we finished our Harry Potter class novel and created who, what, where, when, why and how questions for a friend to answer! We really enjoyed it and some of us are going to read the next book in the series called Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

We summarised the book by choosing main events that happened to help us retell the story in our own words.

On Wednesday we spent the morning researching more facts about our chosen Scottish inventor that we had been investigating at home as part of our Talk Homework. When we felt we had enough facts we then organised them into groups using different titles and headings. We then created a fact file about the inventors and drew pictures of their inventions.

Numeracy and Maths

This week in Maths we looked at the rules and strategies for making square and triangle numbers, finishing our work on the timetables and dividing and continuing to solve vertical calculations.

Mr Fleeson visited our class and told us how he uses Maths in his job.  We got to see how a microscope works and were fascinated when he used it to explore some of our hair, shrimp eggs, a t-shirt and even Mr Atkinson’s beard!

Health and Wellbeing

This week in hockey we played matches and combined all the skills we have been learning this term such as passing, dribbling, shooting and our knowledge of the rules. In our next lesson we are going to evaluate our performances by discussing what we would like to improve and think about how we could use attacking and defensive strategies.

IDL – Scotland and Japan

We compared the life of a Japanese pupil with our own experiences of school in Scotland. First, we watched a video of a child going to a Japanese school and then we did some research on the Chromebooks and made some notes. Afterwards, we drew a table and separated sections into different time slots throughout the day. Then we wrote down what a Japanese student would be doing at those times and on the other side we wrote what we do.

Expressive Art

With Miss Campbell we finished designing, sketching and colouring our kimonos for our Japan topic. The shapes and lines on some of them are so interesting!

Outdoor Learning

This week Mr Atkinson had P5A and P4/5 in his class and he explained what we will be doing for outdoor learning this year.  We were told that we are all going to be participating in the LEAF programme which stands for Learning About Forests. First we shared our experiences of the outdoors, then we took part in a survey about nature and we discussed some lessons ideas and activities we could do to improve nearby ecosystems and outdoor areas on the school grounds. Our P5 stage is going to be forming a forest committee and to become a member we had to present three reasons as to why we think we should be on it. We also have started to create an action plan for the year.

 

 

Mr Atkinson’s comment:

P5B has had a brilliant time participating in Maths Weeks Scotland activities and we hope that you enjoy viewing what the pupils have been up to both in the blog and on the schools Twitter account.  Next week the class, with help from the catering team, will be creating sushi balls as part of their study into Japan. An email has been sent by the office kindly requesting for pupils to please bring some sort of container for Monday to allow them to bring home what they create.  In addition, any cardboard donations would be appreciated for our upcoming Science lessons.

Maths Week Scotland

This week in Maths we were learning about function machines and the strategies needed to work them out. We have also been improving our knowledge of divisions involving two digit numbers and remainders.

For Maths Week Scotland we created our very own step counters by coding and programming the Microbits.  We programmed them to recognise movement such as as shake or step.  We then tested them out by walking around the school a checking who got the most steps. Mr Atkinson also took part as he was doing the staff steps challenge!

Literacy and English

This week we read the second last chapter of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. We also looked through the book and wrote down some WOW words that we did not know the meanings of. Afterwards, we used the strategy of reading the sentences around the words to make sensible guesses and then we used dictionaries to get the exact definitions of them.

In our Spelling lesson this some of us were looking at how to make words plural.

We each created a fact file about ourselves for our Writing lesson. We were challenged to organise our information and draw pictures that matched some of our facts.

French

During French with Miss Campbell we learned how to say what we are wearing.

IDL

Over a couple of lessons we worked in groups and pretended to be travel agents! We created information posters on Japan which had key facts that linked to Maths Week Scotland, such as the time difference between Tokyo and Glasgow, how many kilometres it takes to get from Scotland to Japan, we used holiday booking websites to find the cheapest and most expensive flights to Tokyo from Glasgow and we determined the difference in price between them. We then presented our travel posters to the upper school assembly!