Hi P7a readers, I wanted to update you on what we have been doing in our most recent Learning Journey since my last entry.

As part of our Countryside versus Concrete Jungle Learning Journey we revisited parts of plants and what they require to survive. Once having been explained how fertilisers affect the development of plants the pupils then researched different types organic and inorganic fertilisers. The class then created farming maps of Scotland and made a key to label arable, dairy and mixed farming areas.  We have also partnered with the University of Glasgow and taken part in their educational programme Sci-Seedlets. In this project we did a science experiment to test and compare how maize seeds grow when given water or salty water. This was to check whether sea water would make a good alternative option to watering plants as droughts are increasing in parts of the world. We observed the growth progress of the plants over a couple of weeks and at the end of the experiment we took them out the soil to study. The pupils noticed that the roots were smaller in the salt water container and concluded that salt water could be used to feed plants but their growth would be delayed. P7A have also investigated how land is used and visited the National Museum of Rural Life.  Whilst at the museum the pupils learned about how farming technology has evolved over the years, how maths is used to run a farm and even had a chance to ride a tractor! Inspired from this trip, the pupils have been looking at local maps and commenting on how the area around the school has changed due to the construction of commercial, residential and recreational buildings and with the development of transport links. They also used Venn diagrams to compare the differences between a Scottish clan settlement with a modern day town.  P7A then evaluated sources of differing opinions on how land should be used which involved identifying the purpose, main ideas and highlighting the supporting evidence. Equipped with this information the pupils were then challenged to collaborate in groups and create presentations on their chosen stance about whether Rouken Glen Park should be replaced with homes or not.

This week in PE we designed our own fitness routines and then lead other groups through them. We tried to work all our muscles and to be encouraging.

This week we have been focusing on teamwork and cooperation. We have completed a number of tasks to work on these skills and discussed what we need to do, and be, to be good members of a team.

This week the class worked on creating adverts for their Apprentice project inventions.

They filmed and then edited with iMovie and created fantastic, creative adverts.

As always I ask children for permission to post their photo so some people may be missing from the blog!

This week we went a fantastic trip to the National Museum of Rural Life. We took part in a maths workshop, toured the farm and then found about how farm machinery has changed in the museum. Thanks to our parent helpers who made the trip possible and Mr Atkinson for organising.

This week we focussed on instructional writing in literacy. We explored recipe books to see good example and discuss the features, we took notes from an online recipe, then we wrote instructions.

Some of the class enthusiastically wrote down the names of some recipe books; I’m sure all the adults can look forward to being served some delicious meals.

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This week we started our new learning journey focused on businesses and launching new products. The class have been split into companies and in true Apprentice style, their first job was to pick a team name and create logos. Watch out for Valco, Gold Platinum, Sibbles and Co., Alferds, LOCMA, and Perfectly Toxic.

We’ve been doing P.E at Eastwood with the S6s coaching us in different sports. It’s a great opportunity to visit the high school, meet some of the P.E staff and improve our skills in different sports.

We’ve been focusing on art this week. We experimented with shade and highlights using charcoal and chalk to create Tim Burton style portraits. We then looked at the abstract work on Kandinsky and created our own art using shapes and colours to convey emotions.

It’s showtime!

Continuing our focus on drama, this week the class have been learning about how body language, posture and proximity to one another can help with indicating the relationship between characters. The pupils tested this by posing and recreating family portraits in front of the class. There was a lot of hilarity trying to identify the members of each family!  Another activity involved  pupils randomly selecting two words which they had to use as the name of their character and then decide why their new persona was famous. In groups, they then improvised and acted out a chat show scene where the pupils had to stay in character whilst taking part in a short conversations between themselves and the host. Following this, each group sent their main character to the ‘green room’ where all of the personalities had to introduce themselves to each other. At the end of the week the pupils were set the challenge to independently create a short performance of a TV show for a specific audience. I was impressed with the fantastic effort that went into writing creative scripts and application of drama skills to bring their characters to life! Finally, the children used the iPads and iMovie to edit their videos and insert additional features into their recordings including sound, text and images.

It has been a pleasure teaching P7a the last two weeks and I hope everyone has a great holiday – Mr Atkinson