May Blog

Hello parents and carers of P6a 🙂

The children have been working really hard throughout the month of May and maintained an excellent level of effort during their isolation period earlier in the month. Mrs. Glancey was very impressed with their efforts and delighted with the level of enthusiasm and commitment that the children demonstrated while temporarily learning at home. Well done, everyone!

Numeracy

The children are still enjoying playing Maths games regularly to develop their mental agility. They learned a new game this term called ‘Giants’, in which two children go head to head and the triumphant of the two takes on another classmate. This has been a great addition to other games such as Corners, Killer 11 and Champions Chair.

Over the last four weeks, the children have covered a variety of topics in Maths. The Circles worked specifically with decimal fractions, with a focus on numbers with up to three decimal places. They have developed a number of skills, including: explaining the link between a digit and its place value; converting decimals to fractions; ordering and sequencing decimals; adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing decimals to three decimal places; and using a rule to multiply and divide decimal numbers by 10, 100 or 1000 mentally. The children have only this week moved on to looking at percentages and understanding the link between fractions, decimals and percentages.

The Squares recently completed a block on algebra, during which they were challenged on how to solve algebraic equations with one variable. They now understand that letters and symbols can represent numbers and can explain the process that must be followed to simplify algebraic expressions. We drew comparisons between algebra being similar to function machines and that sometimes, we have to work out way backwards through a problem to solve it. They did some really excellent work, so well done, boys and girls! The Squares have moved onto studying angle, symmetry and formation, looking specifically at co-ordinates and how to locate and plot these on a grid.

The Triangles have just completed a block on number processes, carrying out revision of the four operations using large numbers up to ten thousands. They worked really hard on this and demonstrated that they have made excellent progress in this area over the course of the year. The children will now be moving on to looking at time, starting with 12 hour and moving onto both 12 and 24 hour notation. Other skills that they will develop will be converting between 12 and 24 hour time, calculating durations and reading timetables.

Literacy

The children have been enjoying their new school reading books and have kept up with their reading even during our time in self-isolation. The Comets are almost finished a book called ‘Space Holidays and Other Freaky Futures’, learning about some interesting inventions and predictions for the future. The Cores have been reading a book called ‘Animal Conflicts’, which looks closely at different animals and ways in which they protect themselves against predators. Even Mrs. Glancey has learned some new fun facts! The Satellites have been reading a book called ‘Stage Fright’, which is all about performing. We have still been going to the library each week and the children have been enjoying selecting texts of their choice for private reading.

For writing, the children have been working on a mixture of reflective, creative, personal and informative pieces of writing. One week, they were given a stimulus and asked to create their own imaginative stories, which Mrs. Glancey really enjoyed reading. Another week, the children completed diary entries from the perspective of a child survivor from the Chernobyl disaster. We learned a little bit about Chernobyl as part of our study on sustainability and so this was a popular lesson. The children came up with some excellent ideas! Another task that the children completed was information posters about a non-violent resistance activist to tie in with their focus on Rights Respecting Schools this term. They could choose between Malala Yousafzai, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Ghandi or Greta Thunberg. There were some really wonderful pieces of work generated from this task!

RE

We have now finished our study of Counsel, the sixth gift of the Holy Spirit that features within our Pope Francis Faith Award and focuses on knowing the difference between right and wrong. Throughout Primary 6 so far, the children have also reflected upon Knowledge, Piety, Wisdom, Fortitude and Fear of the Lord, identifying ways that they have used these gifts in scenarios at home, school or their place of worship. Before the end of term, we will be moving on to the last of the gifts, which is Understanding. In addition to the Pope Francis Faith Award, we have been learning about the Feast of Pentecost this week.

PE

In PE, we have continued our block of tennis, practising skills like forehand, backhand, agility, balance and co-ordination. We have also been developing our team work skills by playing rounders once a week and have come to realise the importance of communication in team sports!

The children also thoroughly enjoyed taking part in Sports Day and brought their best competitive spirit! They took part in a sprint race, hurdles, sack race and egg and spoon. The sack race certainly gave Mrs. Glancey a good giggle!

Art

As part of Art & Design, the children have been working in groups to paint scenes from around Glasgow using watercolour. This task ties in with The Heartstone Odyssey and Sailvoyage’s journey to the UK from India.

Outdoor Learning

The children took on a challenge to create a mini-beast hotel in groups at Muddy Movers and produced some amazing ideas! Have a look for yourself:

Topic

The class have been learning about some influential figures from around the world who campaign for peace. They have been particularly interested in young activists, seeing the impact that a person can make regardless of their age. The next focus will be on sustainable cities.

We look forward to bringing you more updates next month with what we’ve been getting up to in our final term. Thank you for your ongoing support! Have a lovely bank holiday weekend with your families…fingers crossed we see some sunshine! 🙂

Mrs. Glancey and P6a