We are so lucky that for the next four Thursdays we have Emma McGowan from East Renfrewshire Council Sensory Service Support to teach us British Sign Language (BSL). This week we learned the alphabet and numbers 0-20. Why not ask your child at home if they can remember how to sign ‘Happy Halloween’?

We acknowledged the finale of our light learning journey, by sharing our learning with Primary 1. We demonstrated some of the experiments we undertook as well as performed our shadow puppet shows. The teachers were very impressed with our effective communication, kindness and the responsibility we demonstrated.

We have begun our new learning journey “How are textiles used in different cultures” which led us to research some materials from around the world and how cultures use the fabrics (tartan, african wax print, kimono, canvas and cotton to name a few) We even got to try some of them on.  

This week we have been developing the meta-skill of collaborating as we worked together in groups to design, create and solve problems during various lessons. Once complete, we nominated one person from each group to talk about our creations with the whole class.

Using a range of skills, we created a track with the K’Nex, working together to calculate monetary values while solving design problems.  We had to ensure we had clear communication as we delegated roles, shared our ideas and built the model.

While planning and designing a shadow puppet show, we shared our ideas with each other, discussing pros and cons and also had to reason and justify as we made decisions.

Linking our learning journey of light, to the theme of Wild Maths, we have taken our learning into the woodlands this week.

We collaborated in pairs and trios to identify symmetry and collected materials that could be used to create a piece of art, incorporating light – shadows and reflection, as well as symmetry.

Look at our amazing art, inspired by the artist Olafur Eliasson

This week we have been learning about  Isaac Newton and his theory of light. We discovered  white light is made out of 7 colours: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet and indigo.

We used crystal prisms and torches to split white light into coloured wavelengths, seeing rainbows as we looked through, proving Newton’s theory correct.

Extending our learning and understanding further, we created Newton’s colour wheel. We learned how to use a compass to draw a circle and used our knowledge of fractions to create segments. We had fun experimenting with dispersion of white light.

Hello to all the P6A blog readers, it’s Mr Atkinson here! As you will know this year I am doing NCCT for P6A with a focus on developing Crookfurs Enquiry Based Learning approach so I wanted to give you an update of what we have been doing.

Building on our knowledge from the P5 Learning Journeys, the class have explored  what can be constructed on land and investigated the pros and cons. They also applied their curiosity by finding out the impact the different land uses have on the environment. Equipped with this information, the pupils utilised their Meta-Skills of collaborating and communicating to prepare for their debates on this issue. I was highly impressed with their thorough research and well-structured arguments resulting in some compelling points being made. In pairs the pupils have also written fact files about how specific flowers have benefited modern society, such as how they are used for medicine and textile, they are used for medicine and textile which they presented and shared to their peers.

Another busy week in P6a 

K’Nex

“This week we made K’Nex cubes and triangles. We learnt that triangles are really important when you are doing K’Nex because they help keep things stable.” This will support us when building various models.

Writing

“We were doing writing with Miss Lamb on Thursday, focussing on imaginative writing. We got inspiration from a movie called ‘A Night at the Museum’ and were pretending that we were a night guard in a museum.” We used our knowledge and understanding of VCOP (Vocabulary, Connectives, Openers and Punctuation) to support and development our writing skills.

Maths

We were introduced to a resource called “Cuisenaire Rods” and were tasked with finding ways in which they could support and enhance our understanding of different maths concepts. We discovered we could use them for addition, subtraction, measurement, fractions and multiplication and division. 

What a busy start to the year it has been already! Here’s a glimpse of  what we’ve been upto.

Our Class Charter

Working independently, in pairs and small groups, we sorted, categorised and listed what we believe are the most important rights, linking them to the wellbeing indicators from GIRFEC.  We then created and voted for 6 promises, that we as a class will hold ourselves to throughout the year.

K’Nex Challenge

Our K’nex challenge this week was to create a tent structure, working in pairs, developing our collaboration and critical thinking. Each tent was different and unique, showcasing our creativity.

Place Value Art

Taking inspiration from Pier Mondrian, we created abstract art by using our knowledge of place value. After completing the art work on the tables, we calculated the total value of each material used; hundreds, tens and unit blocks. We then challenged our classmates to see if they could correctly identify and write the correct value.