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Learning Journeys with Mr Atkinson

Hi P6b readers, I wanted to update you on what we have been doing in our Learning Journeys since my last entry.

The pupils have been fascinated with learning about AI and they have effectively used the Meta-Skills of critical thinking and curiosity to investigate the impact of this technological development in our lives. P6B displayed excellent collaboration, leadership, communication, initiative and adapting skills when working in groups for the Sky Up Academy Studios project. This challenged each group to research and summarise facts about an aspect of AI and use their extensive notes to create a script for their team’s news reporters. They then selected media clips, music and green screen backgrounds before recording their news reel. The class has also been discovering how the internet works and have learned about the different hardware pieces in computer that make it function. In addition, we discussed the limitations of AI and then the class attempted to create their own AI programmes to solve maths questions by giving it accurate and clear prompts. P6B also participated in an online workshop as part of Maths Week Scotland called “Defend the Rhino with Maths and AI” which taught the pupils how AI is being used to help assist organisations with protecting endangered species. This involved pupils applying their knowledge of maths, numeracy, and data science skills to analyse CCTV data from across a South African national park. Then they used a machine learning model to recognise images of poachers. The pupils also spent some time investigating how AI is used by companies and created mind maps recording notes of how AI is impacting the planet. To finish the Learning Journey, P6B took part in an art contest using Adobe Express to test who was more creative, humans or the  AI programme. The pupils also were challenged to see if they could identify AI generated music or music produced by real life artists.

Our new Learning Journey, Roads of the Future, has encouraged the pupils to explore the Sustainable Development Goals. They have been investigating how the SDGs could be incorporated into designing a new road which has challenged the class to use their critical-thinking, initiative and adapting Meta Skills. They have also been learning about the properties of a variety of materials and used atlases to locate different roads in Scotland. They then worked in teams to research and record the history of some of roads that they had sketched onto their roadmaps of Scotland. P6B have also been comparing different types of road crossings and we discussed some examples that exist in the local area. The final experience of this Learning Journey is working in teams to successfully construct a sustainably designed road for the Transport Scotland – Academy9 Sustainable Solutions Challenge which is linked to the A9 road project. The groups are in the middle of their planning process having just finished their Tinkercad prototypes which they will refer to next week when they start building them. Thank you for the donation of materials and resources, it is very much appreciated!

Engineering Project

Over the last few weeks, we have been designing a stadium for the 2026 Commonwealth Games with a retractable roof as part of our Engineering project. We have created our firms with logos and slogans and assigned different roles in our groups.

We first had to research the different types of retractable roofs and decide which one would best suit our design. We created sketches of our design and used these to build a prototype using K’Nex. We presented our designs to each other. Have a look at the amazing designs below!

 

Glockenspiel

Over the past couple of weeks we have been introduced to the Glockenspiel. We have learned that it is a member of the tuned percussion family. We have been practising playing various songs. It has been really fun trying something new and learning some musical terms!

Engineer Visit

This week on Thursday we have a visit from Jamie, a civil engineer, who told us about his job. We learned lots of interesting information about the role of a civil engineer and project manager. Lots of P6 had very interesting questions! Jamie set us our challenge of building a stadium with a moving roof for the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow using K’Nex. We can’t wait to get started and Jamie will be back to judge our prototypes at the end of the project!

 

Bible Alive

This week we had our third and final ‘Bible Alive’ session delivered by members of Newton Mearns Baptist Church. This year our learning focussed on the New Testament of the Bible. We learned lots of the stories and lessons. The sessions have been a fabulous way for us to learn more about Christianity with lots of us being able to get involved and show off our acting skills!

We are really grateful to the members of NMBC for their engaging sessions. 🙂

 

Interior Designers!

This week in Maths, we have been learning about area and perimeter. We have been thinking about how maths could help us in the real world and discussing all the different types of jobs needed to build a house.

We created blueprints of a house using tape marked out on the carpet. We had to use rulers to measure accurately and then we calculated the area of each room. We added the totals of each room to find the area of the whole house.  Some rooms had unusual shapes as we discussed houses are not always perfect squares and rectangles!

Goodbye 2025!

This week a highlight was definitely our P6 Christmas Party. On Monday we had fun in the hall with lots of dancing, some games and a snack to cool off. Some lucky winners even won a prize!

We have enjoyed the festivities this week in class and across the school.

I hope everyone has a fantastic Christmas if you’re celebrating and a wonderful holiday. Many thanks for all the lovely cards and Christmas gifts I have received, they are all very much appreciated.

Have a happy new year when it comes and see you in 2026!

Miss Ross 🙂

Sense-making with Lego

With Mr Atkinson we were learning about the meta-skill sense-making. When we use our sense-making skills, we’re trying to process large amounts of information. This helps us to solve problems.

We had to make a Lego model of somewhere we wanted to visit or a future career we are interested in.

Caledonia Gladiators

P6 were extremely lucky to be visited by 2 members of the Caledonia Gladiators basketball team. They told us about their journey to playing professionally and answered lots of our questions.

We learned lots about the importance of team work and growth mindset.

Wonderful Weaving

We created our own tartan patterns by weaving with yarn. We used our fingers and developed our dexterity as we fed the yarn through over and under, over and under.

We had some frequent reminders to use our growth mindset to keep going!

They turned out great and we hope lots of parents and carers will get to see them on display at the Open Afternoons next week 🙂