We have continued to learn about the Native Americans in Primary 5B. We worked in groups to research and present information about transport, food, shelter and the different environments. Harry, Alfie, Joseph, Fraser, Declan and Finlay were very successful at making the transport poster. They learned a lot about how Native Americans used horses, and how they travelled as nomads and followed the food source.

Abeer found it interesting and fun when learning about dream catchers. We learned that the middle had a web that caught the bad dreams. It would give good dreams which the Native Americans believed would become real. We have skilfully made black line drawings of a traditional head dress and a totem pole inspired bird. As a homework task we designed our own totem poles. Each part of the pole might have a different animal or symbol on it. Rachel S and Leah learned that totem poles represent a tribe and their families and have lots of different meanings. Yousaf enjoyed making a totem pole out of paper and cardboard and he made each part to represent a member of his family.

In PE we have been learning about how to control the ball, throwing and catching. We have also played some games with the ball, such as basketball. One of Maeve’s favourite games was “Hot Potato” where you have to quickly pass the ball around without dropping it. Alzaan prefers “Ice Cube” where you need to work on your balance and keeping still. We have also started gymnastics, working on the box top, floor and spring board.

In RME we have been learning about Advent and the 4 Sundays of Advent. Sometimes churches light a candle on each of the 4 advent Sundays. Edie successfully remembered that the candles represent hope, peace, love and joy. We have been making traditional advent calendars, and Sarah felt everyone showed determination and co-operation in their groups. Fraser realised that traditional advent calendars have a bit of the nativity story with pictures of the main characters behind the doors rather than chocolate.

In Health and Wellbeing we have been learning about dental hygiene. Finlay successfully learned the names of the different teeth – molar, premolar, canine and incisor. We have successfully learned about how to avoid tooth decay and made posters about protecting your teeth. Neve felt she was successful in making her poster as she included a catchy slogan about brushing your teeth. Aleeza and Abby feel they are working hard and are getting better at understanding more about keeping their teeth clean.

In ICT we have successfully finished our coding work. We finished by animating our name on Scratch. We have also being searching the internet more accurately and skilfully. Logan and Lily learned about using speech marks before and after a key word in the search.

Literacy and Numeracy: Our learning in these areas will draw upon the contexts listed above but will differ according to the needs of each class / group. Your support with consolidation of core learning through homework activities will be very beneficial to our children.

Awesome Achievers

November’s awesome achievements included lots of helping out around the home, particularly with putting up Christmas decorations. We have also been learning about weighing ingredients accurately, and even cooking a Sunday roast!

Sport continues to feature in our achievements, this time with some backward shots in badminton, learning choreography, developing football skills in different teams, diving into the swimming pool, swimming an extended distance, gymnastics flips and skiing lessons.

Music talents are being developed, with some learning guitar chords and ongoing instrumental lessons.

Our latest house challenge was an opportunity for a different type of achievement. We had some winning designs within our class – they were very resourceful!

Article 29: You have the right to education which develops your personality, respect for other’s rights and the environment.

Our class assembly focused on team work and co-operation as this is what our RME lessons had been about.  Rachel S learned that TEAM stands for Together Everyone Achieves More.  As it is the centenary of the end of WW1, we were keen to find out a bit more information. Sarah found it interesting how the soldiers in WW1 had to show co-operation to keep their spirits up. We learned that the trenches were awful places where the soldiers lived and fought. Maeve thought this would be a hard place to live. In response to a short video clip, we wrote emotive poems. We used Green Screen technology to create a short film demonstrating team work and co-operation set in WW1. Fraser, Yousaf, Rachel M, Aleeza, Christopher and Aaron took a lead role playing the characters. During Art, we created a sunset using paint, then we drew a silhouette outline of a cross and/or soldier. To complete the art work, we added paper poppies to the picture. Ella enjoyed making poppies out of tissue paper, whereas Abby preferred using the red cupcake cases to make poppies. Well done to everyone for learning their lines and speaking confidently in the assembly.

We have finished our swimming lessons and our PE focus is now ball skills. As part of this we are excited to have a specialist visiting to teach us cricket. Leah has enjoyed playing a game called Jail Break as part of this input. We have been learning dribbling and passing skills with basketballs.

During ICT, we have started to look at coding using the programme Scratch. We have been following instructions to guide us through a whole module, with the aim of creating a memory game. Alfie said it was enjoyable but it was hard to make sure you didn’t make a simple mistake that means the code doesn’t work properly. We’ll need to go back and check some of the code really carefully! Neve and Raymah said they enjoyed the coding because it was a challenge but it was complicated at the end. However they are happy because they finished the module. Aleeza and Hannah said that it got easier with each session because they were more familiar with the programme.

In Social Studies we have continued to learn about Native Americans. We were able to successfully write a short story using picture symbols, and we are now familiar with some of the tribal names. Next, we will research similarities and differences between the different tribal areas in North America.

Literacy and Numeracy  Our learning in these areas will draw upon the contexts listed above but will differ according to the needs of each class / group. Your support with consolidation of core learning through homework activities will be very beneficial to our children.

Awesome Achievers

Primary 5b continue to work hard in various sporting clubs – climbing, gymnastics, football tournament, running, swimming, cricket and karate! Some of us have become a bit more adventurous, trying go-karting, tree trekking and cross country. With the more autumnal weather, there have been delicious pancakes and cookies being baked, as well as opportunities to help around the house and take the time to practise our musical instruments.

Article 29: You have the right to education which develops your personality, respect for other’s rights and the environment.

Welcome to Primary 5B

Our Social Studies topic for this term is the Native Americans. Our mapping skills have already improved by studying world maps, and will further develop by identifying the geographical features that had an impact and influence on their society. We will then study the impact the European settlers had on the Native American people. Through this context, we will have lots of opportunities for art and music work.

In Science, Miss Convery has started teaching us about mixing and separating mixtures. We will be learning about dissolving, filtration and creating a hypothesis before carrying out experiments. We have already had fun timing how quickly four different types of sugars took to dissolve.

As part of our Health and Wellbeing focus, Mrs Campbell is looking at Food and Nutrition with us. So far we have learned what a balanced diet looks like and have looked at the Eatwell Plate diagram. We look forward to finding out a bit more detail about the nutritional values of foods we eat regularly.

Our PE focus this term is on fitness and we have already had lots of sore legs from doing lots of workouts and stretches! We have watched a video of Joe Wicks to help us see how stretches and exercise should be done properly. We look forward to creating our own fitness workouts based on what we learn. We are also partway through our swimming block where we are learning different techniques and developing our swimming. It is lots of fun!

In Digital Technologies this term, we will be studying how to stay safe online, using the CEOP resources online.  As part of maths week we also started to look at our computer science coding work on Hour of Code.  Throughout the term we will continue to use digital technologies to support other curricular areas.

As part of our RME context, we are using BounceBack to explore team work and co-operation. As this topic develops, we hope to link this to our upcoming assembly in November. Similarly, we are excited to lead part of the Inclusion Service at Orchardhill Parish Church in October. Later on in the term, we will be looking at how different religions celebrate weddings.

Literacy and Numeracy

Our learning in these areas will draw upon the contexts listed above but will differ according to the needs of each class/group. Your support with consolidation of core learning through homework activities will be very beneficial to our children.

Awesome Achievers

We have been very busy achieving lots of different things inside and outside of school.  Several of us have joined new teams and clubs for football, gymnastics, cheer competition and art class. As well as this, we continue to develop our skills in existing clubs and have learned how to do an illusion in gymnastics, tumbling in swimming, roulette turn in football and shuffle hop step in dance. Our love of the outdoors continues, as some of us successfully climbed some Munro mountains. We were proud to see several Blue Peter badges being awarded within our class, including a diamond badge. At home, our baking skills are coming on nicely with lots of cakes, scones, brownies, biscuits and fudge being baked.

Article 29: You have the right to education which develops your personality, respect for other’s rights and the environment.