For our IDL topic this term, we have been learning about water. We started of our topic by thinking about all we already knew about water and then had a think about what we would like to know. As we have been learning, we have been looking back at our first mind map and adding in all the new facts that we have learned. Here are some of our favourite things about this topic.

“I like that we get to go outside everyday to measure the rainfall. We pour the rain into a cup and then use a ruler to measure it. You need to make sure that the zero on the rules is at the bottom of the cup. You look at where the water is up to on the cup and then look at the number next to that on the ruler.” Jackson

“There are 663 million people in the world who don’t have access to clean water. I can count to 63 but not 663 million, that’s a big number.” Niamh

“It took me 4 seconds to walk to a tap and get water. It was only 13 steps. In some countries, people have to walk for more than an hour to get water. We are very lucky.” Alfie

“We have been learning about the water cycle and we got to make our own water cycle in a bag. The water starts in the sky and then falls down as rain, then it makes puddles and then the sun dries it up and turns it into clouds. In our water cycle bags, some of the water evaporated from the bottom of the bag and then turned into condensation just like the clouds. When we pressed the condensed water at the side of the bag, it started to fall like rain drops.” Ewan

“Water is good for your health and you need it to keep your brain healthy.” Ocean

Primary 1 have been talking about what makes them unique and special. We have been thinking about our different talents and skills and some children have been keen to showcase these to the class. This week, Mia demonstrated her exceptional skills in Irish Dancing.

“Last week I went to Newcastle for an Irish Dancing competition. I won 4 medals and came first twice. I like going to Irish Dancing because I like learning new dances.”

Everyone in Primary 1 has been encouraged to share their talents with the rest of the class.

I can’t wait to see all their different skills!

We have been taking advantage of the nice weather over the last few weeks and have been taking our learning outside! Our focus on maths has been counting and using numbers above 10 : we wrote these numbers outside and then made the numbers using natural resources. One group decided to make a bar graph using chalk, stones, sticks and leaves!

Our focus on literacy has been writing tricky words and stage words – we used chalk to write these in the playground and then played some games using these words.

We hope the weather continues to get nicer so that we can participate in more outdoor learning activities!

“I liked using the chalk to spell the tricky words : I know how to read and spell ‘said’.” Niamh

“I found 17 sticks – I wrote the number 17 and then put a circle round it and in the circle I put all 17 sticks. Alfie checked it to make sure it was 17.” Charlie

“I thought I had 14 leaves but when Jackson counted it I had 15 so that was too many. I put one back.” Joshua G

Primary 1 had a lovely time celebrating World Book Day with Mrs.Conway. They focused on the story “Elmer” and completed lots of exciting activities linked to this book. They also had a visit from a fabulous librarian!

The children were able to develop their creativity when creating a patch for Elmer. They further developed their graph making and interpreting skills through charting how many of each coloured patch Elmer has. One of their favourite activities was re-telling the story of Elmer using the puppet show. “I like pretending to be different people.” Jackson.

“I used the talking tin and I told the story of Elmer.” Daniel

“My favourite thing to do was paint a different pattern on Elmer.” Ocean.

“I wrote my own story that was made up.” Ewan

“Gordon came in to read with me and it was amazing! He read a story to Ewan and I.” Lewis

Everyone made a fantastic effort to dress up and this made the day even more enjoyable!