Hi P7B readers, I wanted to update you on what we have been doing in our Learning Journeys since our last entry.

After finishing the STAT Wars Learning Journey, P7B started exploring how communicating and collaborating are life skills and the pupils were encouraged to reflect on how they use them everyday. The class recognised that they had utilised these two META Skills during their project work when we respectfully listened to each other, compromised and took turns. We have also learned about the importance of communicating our emotions which we did through expressing our thanks to Mrs Rasul for her wonderful teaching! We also applied our communication skills by writing an article about ourselves being local heroes in the future and we included a section about how we gave back to the community.

During our final Learning Journey exploring how batteries have evolved, we investigated what the components in batteries are and how devices are powered by them. We then created a timeline showing how batteries have developed over the years! We also learned about how modern items have inbuilt features to make them more energy efficient and we discovered the ways in which people can be wasteful with batteries. After discussing the impact batteries can have on the environment we created a diagram of the life cycle of batteries and discovered they can be recycled for many purposes including reusing the materials for grass fertiliser! Inspired from all of our research, Mr Atkinson challenged us to redesign devices that use batteries and to creatively replace them with alternative power sources.  We also had a heated debate with groups arguing for and against if we can live in a world without batteries. In our final weeks, P7B discovered how to dispose of batteries correctly and made persuasive leaflets about why not to purchase single-use batteries.

Mr Atkinson

This week we have been linking maths to real life contexts.

K’Nex Money Challenge

We looked at budgeting and had to create a track for a ball with a budget of £5. Each piece had a cost and they had to monitor their spending using addition and subtraction as well as problem solving skills!

Playdough recipe

For technology we looked at a playdough recipe and made our own. We had to measure out the right amount of flour, salt, oil and water. We then created different bread shapes.

Wow! What a day! We have had a jam packed day of fun Eid celebrations. In the morning we had a lesson on food hygiene then made pakoras with Mrs Nasar. They were so yummy!

We had our Eid party after break. Musical chairs managed to get a little competitive though!

We came in wearing our own cultural clothes and had a chance to showcase our culture and heritage.

What a fun way to end the week!

It has been an exciting day as the Primary 7s got their leavers hoodies today (and we finish up for the Spring break).

It has been a wonderful term and now we are all looking forward to the next term, our last term in primary school. See you back on the 22nd of April!

This week we have been exploring how to measure angles in maths. We first started by estimating what size they might be checking if it was an acute angle or an obtuse angle. Then we learned how to use a protractor accurately to measure it to the closest degree. We then made some angle art!

Easter Code

Today we visited the Newton Mearns Baptist Church to take part in the Easter Code. This was lots of fun and we had the chance to learn about the Easter story as well as taking part in quizzes and arts and crafts!

This week we have been writing setting descriptions based on a forest. We watched a little clip from Literacy Shed called, ‘Marshmallows’.  Then used our amazing vocabulary, figurative language, adverbs and prepositional language to describe what we could see, hear, feel, smell and taste.

Hello to all the P7B blog readers, it’s Mr Atkinson here! As you will know this year I am doing NCCT for primary P7B with a focus on developing Crookfur’s Inquiry Based Learning approach so I wanted to give you an update of what we have been doing.

In our first Learning Journey – Plant Growth and Farming, 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. We also studied some labels on fertilisers and discussed the importance of how to use them safely and we looked at the percentages of the chemicals in them.  The pupils then created farming maps of Scotland and made a key to label arable, dairy and mixed farming areas. We then had a heated debate about land use with pupils eagerly defending and arguing against who should get priority with developing land and who damages environments the most.  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 recorded the growth progress of the plants over a few days and at the end of the experiment we took them out the soil. The pupils observed 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.

Afterwards, the META Skills of Creativity and Curiosity were introduced to the class through a series of lessons and activities. We also discussed how these skills are relevant in everyday life and how they can be further developed.

Our next Learning Journey involved investigating what a Carbon Footprint is through the STAT WARS competition. First the class explored some of the sources of CO2. Then the pupils organised themselves  into groups and by using Excel recorded their individual carbon footprints which identified a shared common problem. The pupils displayed excellent teamwork and collaborative skills whilst designing their campaign posters using Adobe Express, summarising the project in a blog entry  and producing presentations with graphs and charts that they created. Throughout this I was incredibly impressed with their enthusiasm, resourcefulness and dedication. The final task for each group was to write a letter to the local MSP about the importance of reducing the different issues that cause carbon footprints and the children are awaiting a response.

We have just started our new Learning Journey – the evolution of batteries. Mr McCormick from the science department at Eastwood High School came across this week and showed some of us how to create a fruit/vegetable battery! The pupils then recorded the meter readings of lemons, limes, oranges, apples and potatoes and discussed why the results may differ.

Mr Atkinson

This week we finally finished our children’s books for World Book Day. We had the opportunity to read our story books to P1B. on World Book day. This was so nice as the P1s really enjoyed our stories and gave us positive feedback. We are currently in the process of creating digital front covers which will have QR codes linked to videos of us reading them. We have enjoyed being mini authors and illustrators.

Little Authors

In preparation for World Book Day next week, we have been working in pairs to plan, write and illustrate our very own children’s books. A few weeks ago we had the chance to go to the Newton Mearns local library where we met an illustrator and author. They spoke about the process of writing your own book. We have brought their tips into the classroom to create our very own stories too! Who knows, we might have the next Julia Donaldson amongst us!

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

We have started reading our class novel with Mrs Syme. We are really enjoying it so far! We have created sketches of the witch based on the authors description, as well as our own setting descriptions linked to the story setting.

This week we have the lovely Mrs Syme joining our classroom. She will be working with us for a few weeks and we are so excited to have her.

Maths – Weight and problem solving

We have been looking at grams and kilograms and had a go at weighing different objects. Mrs Syme brought in different types of weighing scales and we weighed different items.

We also looked at problem solving and using Guess, Check and Improve as a strategy. We then created similar problems for a partner to solve.

Gymnastics

For gymnastics this week we looked at different balances and then had a go at creating partner balances too! Next week we will be looking at  trio and group balances.