Tag Archives: Literacy

-My Achievements, Expressive Arts, Literacy and English

Primary 7 Art Inspiration

March 30, 2016 Gayle Santi

Recently, the pupils in our class each presented a solo talk about a famous person who truly inspired us. It was great to hear the varied individuals that we each chose and why we found them inspirational in the first place.

Afterwards, we thought it would be a good idea if we made collages about our inspirational person, so that the rest of the school could see our work. We were to collect images, words, newspaper and magazine cut-outs all about our inspirational person. Then when we had all the cut-outs that we needed, we stuck them on to coloured board in the shape of something to do with our inspirational person. Later we put PVA glue on them so that they hardened permanently.

Finally, our teacher, Mrs Santi, put them on the wall proudly for the rest of the school to see and as a daily reminder to each of us about those people in the world or the past that inspire us to become better visions of ourselves.

By Josh Zeitlin

Calderwood Book Fair

March 30, 2016 Gayle Santi

Last week, Primary 7 helped to host Calderwood’s annual Book Fair.

Every day, some Primary 7 pupils would help to sell books to each of the younger stages.

On the first day, the book fair was packed! We were very happy to see lots of children thrilled about getting and reading new books.

Personally, I found it quite enjoyable to sell the books while my other friends were helping out as well.

On Parent’s Evening, a few primary 7’s volunteered to help out at the book fair so that any pupils that were there with their parents, still had the chance to buy some books.

As time went by, we realised that we had sold lots of books and plenty of stationary. Mr Robson was extremely happy that the younger pupils were enthusiastic about the Fair again.

Mr Robson and all of Primary 7 were incredibly amazed that we were able to raise over £500! We were delighted.

Vaneeza Ali

Literacy and English, Religious and Moral Education

Rabbi Rubin and Primary 7

February 15, 2016 Gayle Santi

Recently our school’s Rabbi, Rabbi Rubin, visited the Primary Seven class to answer any questions linked to Judaism that we had before leaving for High School.

He answered many of our questions that we were desperate to know the answer to. None of the pupils in Primary Seven will be transferring to a Jewish High School because there is not a High School like that in Scotland. Therefore, we will no longer be taking subjects such as Kodesh and Ivrit.

His visit was very educational and helpful for the Jewish and non-Jewish children in our class. All pupils got something out of the visit, including our class teacher, Mrs Santi. Even if we thought we already knew the answer to a question he expanded our knowledge on it.

We had lots of questions and we didn’t get through all of them. Luckly, we have the advantage of having a monthly visit from Rabbi Rubin where we will be able to ask more questions and receive more answers.

This means, that when it is time for us to go to High School, we will remember all the fascinating facts that Rabbi Rubin told us during these visits in Primary Seven and we hope that this will help us to carry on with our own traditions and faith even once we leave Calderwood Lodge.

By Maddie and Amy

-My Achievements, Latest News, Literacy and English

Class Debate

February 15, 2016 Gayle Santi

In Primary Seven, we have been working on our debating skills. We were challenged by Mrs Santi to think of a debate spontaneously. We were given ten seconds to think of a topic. We voted on which topic we should then debate on and the final decision lay between:

This house believes that there should be more toys for the Calderwood Lodge playground

and

This house believes that animals kept in captivities such as zoos, should be encouraged.

The final verdict was to debate on animals being kept in captivity. We were divided into two sides where we were given fifteen minutes to come up with points and information without any prior research.

It was a challenging activity to think of information and points to persuade people to agree with our thoughts. We felt pressurised but we were developing our confidence levels at the same time. We had to work well together and make sure we were communicating properly to avoid people saying the same things.

In the end, the opposing team won.

It was very fun but quite a challenging activity. It helped us to understand the format of debates and what skills we still need to develop. We would like to do it again so we can continue to improve. Mrs Santi was able to give us constructive criticism and pointers, so next time we will be even more prepared.

By Freddie and Lilah

Literacy and English, Technologies

Class Kindles

January 22, 2016 Gayle Santi

In Primary 7, we have been introduced to kindles, that we are reading our class novel on. We have all been taught how to use them properly and get the most out of them.

Our class think that the kindles are a new great way to read because some people prefer reading on a kindle because it is easier to find out what a word means when you aren’t familiar with it. All you need to do is select it, and it tells you what that means. We can also change the font size and the way the writing sits. This allows us to enjoy the reading a bit more.

Some of my classmates have told me a few of their opinions on the kindles,

“I think the kindles are a more fun way of reading.”
Lilah Cowan

“The kindles are much lighter than a book to carry around”.
Amy Quigley

I also think that the kindles are great because when we use them, we have the responsibility of looking after them and this responsibility helps prepare us for our future.

By Susie Tenby

-My Achievements, festival, Literacy and English, Social Studies

Robert Burns

January 18, 2016 Gayle Santi

Recently in Primary Seven, we have been learning about Scotland’s national poet, Robert Burns.

Burns was a man with ideas and took his ideas and made poems and songs. We have been listening to some of his poems and analysing them, finding out what they mean, and what they are based on.

Burns’ birthday is not long away, the 25th January. We have decided to create a Robert Burns wall, allowing our school to see what Primary Seven have been learning about and who Robert Burns was.

For homework, Mrs Santi, has given each pupil in class the choice to find out what Burns’ poems mean and re-writing his poems. Robert Burns was voted as the Greatest Scot by the Scottish public and is widely respected worldwide. He wrote his poems in different ways. Some he wrote in Scots and some in Standard English. Although he is popular and respected by people today, he was never treated this way when he was actually alive.

He lived in poverty and was very poor, however, this did not stop him from resuming poetry writing. He taught us resilience and showed his personal feelings. He is a very important person to the Scottish public and people in other countries across the world and is an iconic figure in music history. He influenced people and music in many, many ways.

Freddie Hyman

Literacy and English

Spelling Homework

November 27, 2015 Gayle Santi

New Spelling Homework

Primary Seven have been working on different spelling strategies this term and we have been learning a lot of new vocabulary. When it came to our assessment at the end of the term, we were a bit disappointed to see that we had not all remembered the spelling of the words that we had learned, which also meant that we had forgotten some of the strategies. We decided as a class that we would continue with the regular section of the homework where we wrote out our words three times, using the LOOK, SAY, COVER WRITE, CHECK method, but we would also do some extra or extension work from the spelling book to help us with our learning. I think this will help us to remember the strategies, help us with their meaning and then how to spell and use them in real life. I will come back on and update you on how we get on next term!

Elliot Line

Class Trip, Literacy and English

Edinburgh Book Festival

September 11, 2015 Gayle Santi

Edinburgh International Book Festival 2015

In August, Primary Three, Five and Seven were lucky enough to visit the Edinburgh International Book Festival. The book festival is now a key event in the Edinburgh festival season, celebrated annually in Scotland’s capital city.

Each year writers and illustrators from all over the world come to the book festival and incorporate amazing workshops for schools and visitors.

This year Primary Seven met Nick Sharratt and Vivian French. We were even lucky enough to be able to work with the two of them in an extremely detailed and enjoyable workshop. They helped us to learn new skills that would help us all to improve our illustrating and writing. We learned about the start of Nick Sharratt’s career and the fact that he drew a market square at the age of nine and took it into school to show to his teacher and she thought it was good enough to be put up in the school hall! That was the day he became determined to, one day, become a professional artist.

After we had completed our workshop we continued to explore the book festival and discovered the bookshop. Most of the class had brought money to buy a book. We were fortunate enough to be given a discount voucher for three pounds off the price of any book of our choice.

At the festival there were ‘book doctors’. These were people that gave advice on books and helped you make the right choice before buying one or even a series of books. Not everyone used the book doctors which is understandable because some people prefer to choose books themselves. I used the book doctor and found them really helpful.

Before we headed home, the last thing we did was spend time walking around taking pictures and meeting actors and actresses who were playing a variety of characters from all sorts of books. They were extremely good at playing their chosen roles.

Overall, everyone enjoyed the day and I hope that we can go back again, if not as a class, I will definitely go back with friends some day.

By Madeline Friel

Primary Seven