We have been so busy! Here’s what we’ve been up to already and what we will be working on this term:
Health & Wellbeing
We have already looked back at the Rights of the Child to construct our own class charter and have explored the meaning of our school values of Honesty, Determination, Respect, Inclusivity, Friendship and Kindness. We have considered ways in which we can demonstrate these values in school.
In a lesson on how we show kindness and appreciation to others, the children formed a compliments circle, each with a sheet of paper stuck to their back. They wrote kind comments on each other’s sheets and delighted in reading what others had written about them. ‘You didn’t know what they were writing and some comments were really funny. Ruby wrote that I am silly, funny and have cute hair!’ There were smiles and giggles all round J
We will go on to discuss the different relationships that exist in our lives and how they benefit us. A focus will be that we will all encounter difficult times and we need to know what we can to help ourselves and what others we can turn to for support. Personal Safety will also be explored to identify ways to keep safe in a variety of situations and what to do in an emergency. Through our Fairtrade topic we will also look into food journeys, the variety of food eaten around the world and what influences this as well as how food is prepared safely.
Our PE themes this term, in addition to swimming, are fitness, basketball, rugby and dance.
Science
This term’s Science topic revolves around the animal kingdom. We have started to look at the classification groups already and will be learning how keys are used to place animals in a category. This will lead us onto how animals are adapted to survive in their environments and the animal endangerment scale.
Social Studies
Our main focus will be Fairtrade, learning about the working conditions of those involved, the stages of production and planning and running our own Fairtrade stall to raise funds for and awareness of the charity.
Expressive Arts/ICT
The class have already used their research skills to find out more about the artist Romero Britto and are using Sway to present their findings. In doing so, they have also practised putting information into their own words. Chloe says ‘I really like how Britto’s work is really colourful and bold at the same time.’ The artwork they have produced is amazing and really brightens up our classroom! You’ll see some in the next school newsletter.
ICT skills will be further developed by learning about more features that can be used to create effective presentations.
We will go on to use our themes of animals and Fairtrade to create further pieces of artwork, developing our skills in drawing and using other materials to create images/models.
We are currently working on our contribution to the Diversity and Inclusion service to be held in Orchardhill Church at the end of term. We hope to see lots of you there to enjoy some Doggy Drama . . . .
French
Discussing work already undertaken, Scott said ‘I love the numbers song we sing. It’s cringey but fun and good for our age, plus it helps us learn our French numbers.’ Emma has enjoyed the game where one child wears a secret number and the others help them guess what it is. Dougal says playing lotto helps him to figure out what numbers Mrs Downie calls out and Phoebe has enjoyed playing ‘Jacques a dit’ which is the French version of Simon Says. ‘You call out a body part and we have to put our hands on. It helps me remember what they’re called. I try not to look at others and figure it out myself but I can look if I’m not sure.’ We will continue to develop our confidence and vocabulary within numbers to 100 and parts of the body this term.
RME
Our focus this term is Weddings, investigating the different traditions in a range of religions. We will then look at the story of Advent and how Christmas is celebrated around the world. Alongside this we are learning how to be kind and caring citizens, supporting each other as we deal with life’s ups and downs.
Maths
The children have been learning about angle names and measurements and loved taking part in Maths Week Scotland, particularly tackling the Deputy First Minister’s challenges, the cube challenge especially.
Chloe says ‘I liked that we weren’t always sitting down working on paper but we got to play ICT games and make models together to solve problems.’
Hannah has enjoyed playing the game ‘Around the World’ because she likes that you are going against someone. Taha thought the same and said ‘It makes you more excited to work out the answer and get speedy.’
By far the most popular maths activity to date has been Sumdog! This is an online activity which presents maths challenges tailored to suit each child’s ability. It can also be accessed from home. ‘It stops me playing my X-box so much! I can play with friends but learn at the same time,’ said Zara. ‘If you challenge a friend it makes you want to solve the problems fast to beat them,’ added Corey. Dougal agreed ‘Instead of playing video games I play Sumdog and do maths.’
Over this term we will all continue to develop our understanding of angles and compass directions. Within our groups we will focus on themes including estimating and measuring length, reading and recording times, interpreting calendars, linking fractions to division and learning the language of probability. Your support and encouragement with homework will help assist your child’s progression.
Literacy
We have been studying the novel Blob by David Walliams in class. ‘I’ve enjoyed seeing all the amazing and wild characters in Blob’ said Ruby, referring to the unusual creatures that feature in the story. The children have been developing their research and writing skills by finding out about these creatures in class and at home and have created some wonderful presentations. We have also been learning ways to ‘uplevel’ our writing by making effective word choices, including detail and description and using punctuation for effect. Olivia has enjoyed this focus and said ‘I like uplevelling sentences to make them more fun or more exciting.’
We will now be working in groups developing our reading skills including using clues in the text to interpret unknown vocabulary, sequencing events, identifying clues to answer inferential questions, constructing our own questions as well as making and evaluating predictions.
In writing we will be working on our planning skills to give our texts greater structure. We will also keep working on building our vocabulary and making effective word choices to create engaging texts with a non-fiction focus. Most of our writing will be related to our Science and Social Studies work
Awesome Achievers
Recent achievements P5B are proud of include: hill climbing and persevering through this challenge, learning new skills in gymnastics and boxing, completing a 5k run in 30 minutes, developing swimming skills through lessons and coming 4th in a 200m race for Mickey Mouse himself!
Article 13: You have the right to find out things and say what you think, through making art, speaking and writing unless it breaks the rights of others.
Article 29: You have the right to education which develops your personality, respect for other’s rights and the environment.
