Category: Sharing Practice

June 30, 2017

Real Life IDL at Langlees Primary School

Between 1^st and 29^th June 2017, primary 5 pupils at Langlees Primary School worked with their teacher Ashley Turnbull & Yvonne McBlain, curriculum support teacher, Falkirk Children’s Services to try to solve a real-life problem. Some members of the class had previously worked with Jane Jackson, curriculum support teacher & with Grounds for Learning to have part of their playground landscaped. They launched their wonderful new outdoor play area in spring 2017, but could not then use it because of their local cats!

As you can see from the photo below, the cats were using the gorgeous new sand pit as their toilet! This meant that pupils at Langlees couldn’t use their fantastic new play area. Dylan and Iona from primary 5 have written the following blog post about how the class tried to solve this problem – Jane and staff at the school had previously tried various solutions, and wanted to offer the children themselves the chance to explore possible options.

First we figured out what the problem was and then we had a look at the sand pit. We estimated how long the sand pit was in metres, then we made a decision about how we thought we should solve the problem. We tried to count how many cat droppings there were – about 42 we thought!

We worked in pairs to decide what we thought was the best solution – replacing the sand, making a cage, etc.

Then we made little models of what we thought might help solve the problem. We made these out of pipe cleaners and damp sand.

We also researched and found out about cat sensors and alarms. Then we researched about toxoplasmosis – this is a disease you can get from the cat poo. 4 of us did more detailed research and gave a power point presentation to the class.

Next we had a closer look at the 3 best cat alarms and the class voted for the one they felt was most effective – Alarm A. We also thought about getting a cover for the sand pit. We were worried that the cat alarm wouldn’t stop the cats from doing the toilet – it might take a while to work. So we thought we should get both to help the cat sensor to take its time to work.

We knew our estimated measurements weren’t good enough for ordering our cover. We took a metre stick and some cones outside so that we could measure the sand pit properly. We needed to know how big the sand pit was for our cover and to check how much distance the alarm sensor could cover. We took the measurements back into class and talked about a long jump cover which Mrs McBlain had found online here http://longjumprunway.co.uk/sand-pit-cover/

Then we felt we were ready to go and see our head teacher and the other adults in school who would have to help us look after our sand pit. We planned what to say to them, and chose 3 people to be the voice of the whole class. (Kai, Gregor & Amy).

On the 28/6/17 the meeting happened in the Mrs McGlynn’s office. The next day Mrs McBlain came back to hear what the outcome of the meeting was. Kai, Gregor & Aimee did a speech and told us that the outcome of the meeting was to replace the sandpit with rubber tiles.

We all showed how we felt about the outcome using our thumbs –

Up = 6 Middle = 6 Down = 2

Then we had a think about what we learned throughout the journey of solving our Sandpit Problem. Take a Look below

As can be seen from the Smart doc image above, pupils felt they had progressed well with the project success criteria they set. Ashley and Yvonne had a very brief opportunity to review the impact of this work on the pupils. They agreed that the children had risen to the challenge of working with others as part of a team – enabling the class to listen more effectively to others while they focused on the job in hand. This project linked experiences and outcomes in Health and Wellbeing, as well as developing key listening, talking and reading skills in Literacy across learning. During the project pupils had a chance to apply other skills they had learned in Technology and Numeracy.

June 7, 2016

1 + 2 Languages & the Storyline Approach

Paula O Hare and Caroline Cane teach primary 1 at Nethermains PS in Denny. They are both developing 1 + 2 languages with their pupils – French and Spanish. They made effective use of Storyline methodology to engage their pupils in developing their language skills. Click here to see the plan they used to structure their storyline. You can also click here to see the learning plan they created with their pupils.

Kerry Girdwood teaches primary 1 at Carron Primary School and has also been putting her languages and storyline professional learning to good use in her classroom. Click here to see the imaginative way that Kerry structured her storyline plan for her pupils. Click here, and here to see her Postcode Lottery “initiating events”. Kerry used these to guide her storyline so that pupils learned about the culture of European countries, as well as developing their language skills.

Paula, Kerry and Caroline have all used the storyline approach to “bundle” or connect learning and make it more relevant and coherent for their pupils. They integrated their teaching of languages 1 and 2 within interdisciplinary learning to make it more meaningful, active and engaging. They also made good use of professional dialogue to share and develop their teaching and learning ideas. Hopefully this blog post will continue this process and support others in their teaching of languages within relevant contexts.

Click on the links below to see some of the resources created and used by Kerry, Paula and Caroline:

Travelling to France presentation

Travelling to Spain presentation

Pupil certificates Spain and France

France/Paris presentation

Spain/Barcelona presentation

Smart board document for Madrid

Learning about volcanoes

March 22, 2016

The Oxgang Primary Infinitree Crop

On Friday 18th March, Bartek and Scott in primary 5 at Oxgang School, told Mrs McBlain all about the imaginary Infinitree crop which they invented. This is a very special crop which is a blend of chocolate cane and a tree. The tree has leaves which can be crushed to give chocolate oil and then the leftover leaves can be made into chocolate paper, AND the chocolate canes can be crushed to make chocolate powder!!

The Infinitree crop is grown in the town of Little Market by very special characters. These include:

Rocko Bartson who is the harvester for the village farm. He is 18 years old and gets up at 6 o clock to harvest the Infinitree crop.

Bella Flower checks the fences and she drives the trucks which take the crop to market.

Declan Donald has 5 children, and he has to get up at 1am every morning to start watering the crop. He has to water 5000 plants, 5 times a day!

Miranda Rubber plants the seeds, she has one child and she works five days a week and does housework on the other 2 days. She gets up at 5 in the morning.

Bartek and Scott helped to write this blog post and were very good at explaining how their harvesting machines worked – they chose to make these from Knex instead of making them with their bodies during drama.

As you can see from the photos above and below, Bartek and Scott have had to think hard about farming, farmers and the crops they grow. We hope you enjoy reading about the valuable learning the boys have done with their teacher Mrs Stephen. They would be delighted to read any comments would like to write in the space below.

December 2, 2015

The Water Source Storyline Develops at Head of Muir PS

Pupils and teachers in primary 6 & 7 at Head of Muir PS are enjoying their developing Water Source storylines. The Water Source is a global storyline created by the West of Scotland Development in Education Centre (WOSDEC) and University of Strathclyde, which you can learn more about by clicking here.

Kirsty Bruce is working on the storyline with her primary 7 class as part of her second year of global storyline training. She is also supporting her colleagues in primary 6 and 7, with their delivery of the storyline, including Nicola Harding, a probationer teacher for primary 6. Nicola has very effectively documented what she has done so far, and how it has impacted on her pupils – see a short extract below, and click here for Nicola’s full documentation:

We started our topic by creating a strong foundation of community. Following initial research into what the term means, we set about creating our own fictional community to become our ‘home’ for the next 8 weeks. Learners were fully engaged with the process from the beginning, largely because they had full ownership of the village and sense of community. We discussed the careers and responsibilities needed to support a village and created characters/families based on these ‘needs’.

Here is our village display. We brought in a selection of junk items and were free to create our buildings in our own way using our own ideas for design and materials. We all worked together to create the river, road and houses.

Since we created our ‘families’, they have become very important to us and we do a lot of things together. We update our character diaries on a weekly basis detailing each new and exciting thing we have been involved in.

Global storylines are strong interdisciplinary learning which help practitioners develop skills, knowledge, attitudes and values in a powerful, but naturally connected way for their pupils.

Kirsty explained that: “Initially we got together to plan how we would approach the storyline and I shared information I have gathered from the Global Storyline course. I have been very impressed with how Nicola has taken this on in her class and it is great to hear about how involved the children are.

We have mainly collaborated on ideas for the classroom displays and resources that we have each created. However, frequent discussions about how things are going have been very useful for sharing ideas and talking through the plans and how best to approach the learning at each point.”

For more information about global storyline training in Falkirk schools, contact yvonne.mcblain@falkirk.gov.uk .

November 17, 2015

Primary 4 learn about Law & Order at Bantaskin PS

Yvonne McBlain visited Primary 4 at Bantaskin PS on 16th November, to hear about their Green Street and Friendship Street Storyline work. Mrs Russell’s class helped Yvonne write this blog post, and took some of the photos too. Mr Davidson’s P4D class held their court hearing during the visit – they were all desperate to hear the verdict! 4R will visit Falkirk Sheriff Court on 17th November and then stage their court proceedings back in class.

We have been busy creating a street of houses in our classrooms. Each group in our class created a “typical” Falkirk 8 year old character, then made up a whole family to live with them.

Our families needed houses, so we designed homes which were just right for them. We got letters asking us to do different jobs. When an elderly couple from Malawi moved into the empty house on Friendship Street, 4D had to come up with ways to make them feel welcome in their new country. Another letter said that the council had given us a piece of land near our street, and that we had to design and make a community garden on it. Primary 4 used their tiling skills to create a tiled centre-piece for the garden using squared paper. The gardens had to be Eco-friendly – Olivia said that eco-friendly is “putting everything in the right bins”, Caitlin said “eco means don’t waste anything”. We learned how to tile a hexagon shape, and when our gardens were finished, we displayed them and organised a Grand Opening tea party to celebrate. The next day we were “outraged” to discover that our community gardens had been vandalised! Who would do this terrible damage? Why would they do it? The pupils discovered clues – a bottle of black paint, some fingerprints, and apples with bites taken out of them.

Children in both classes learned about Law and Order in our country by investigating the crimes of vandalism which took place in their community gardens (SOC 1-20a). Their storyline included a visit to the local Sherriff Court, and the storyline letters they received, highlighted skills and knowledge they would develop during this interdisciplinary work. The letters helped to engage the children in their learning and made it accessible to them. The pupils also developed their understanding of the impact of vandalism on real people because they experienced it through their make-believe storyline. Storyline is often valuable for this reason in helping children to develop sound values and attitudes which contribute to their development of the four capacities.

Click here to see a version of this storyline plan which was developed by Yvonne and primary 5 teachers at Ladeside Primary School a few years ago. It has proven to be a valuable way to link or bundle, specific Social Studies and Health and Well Being experiences and outcomes with elements of Learning for Sustainability.

November 6, 2015

Primary 6 Learn about RMS Titanic

Kayleigh Docherty and her primary 6 pupils at Carron PS are embarking on an interdisciplinary storyline about RMS Titanic. Kayleigh is a probationer teacher with Falkirk Children’s Services, and is using the Cambridge Education, Joyning the Learning resource “The Unsinkable Ship” as a starting point for her storyline. She provided the description below:

I introduced the topic as a story line involving a secret mission. Letter one was delivered on a Friday afternoon and told the class that they had been chosen to participate in a secret mission. It also asked them to bring old clothes to school on Monday as the mission would involve a lot of paint and glue. As you can imagine, this grabbed the pupils’ interest and excited them beyond belief.

When they arrived on Monday another envelope was waiting, this time containing ‘secret agent’ badges. The next envelope was then delivered which revealed the first mission which was to bring the Titanic back to life in their classroom. The pupils then decided to create a huge replica of the Titanic and worked in groups for the full day to complete this. Over the past two weeks they have added a huge amount of detail and have now completed their task.

The pupils are also studying ‘Kaspar, the prince of cats’ by Michael Murpurgo as the novel links to the titanic theme. I find that they are much more enthusiastic during literacy due to the excitement and engagement from the Titanic being embedded throughout their learning.

This work is still in progress, but Kayleigh reports that “It certainly has engaged the children and having just finished parents’ evening, parents are very pleased with how engaged and enthusiastic the pupils are.” Primary 6 are developing a range of skills through this IDL context, as can be seen from the photos of their work in progress.

November 5, 2015

Falkirk Probationer teachers go Interdisciplinary!

“In early November 2015, Yvonne McBlain, curriculum support officer with Falkirk Children’s Services enjoyed working with primary and secondary probationer teachers as part of their core induction programme. Click here to see the presentation which the primary teachers experienced, and here to see the adapted version for secondary teachers. You will note that much of the content of these training sessions needed to be similar to reflect the generic nature of interdisciplinary learning and its vital role within Curriculum for Excellence.

The culminating task for these sessions was to identify small groups of experiences and outcomes which could develop into effective interdisciplinary learning. Practitioners in most schools are engaged in developing interdisciplinary “bundles” of experiences and outcomes to help build their curriculum framework and enable them to ensure progression across all four context for learning. Probationer teachers were shown exemplar pro formas to model how a “bundle” might look when developed further – click here to see a 4th level example, and here to see an early level version.

There was no time during these sessions for proper sharing of the bundles created by each co-operative group of teachers. Consequently, it was agreed that this blog post would be used as a sharing tool, where teachers involved could have a look at some of the bundles, reflect on their IDL value, then leave any comments and observations they have. Yvonne looks forward to hearing your thoughts on the bundles below – some have contexts, and others are simple lists of experiences and outcomes.

MNU 2-09a, 09b, -9c, 10c & TCH 2-22a,03a &01a – Enterprise

SOC 2-07b, SCN 2-16a, 18a, TCH 2-12a & 14a Natural Disasters

HWB 2-08a, 09a, RME 2-09c, 09d, SOC 2-16b, 16c, 17a

SOC 1-16a, 17a, 18a, HWB 1-01a, 02a, 03a, 04a, 05a, 06a, LIT 1-02a, 10a, EXA 1-13a Developing understanding of differences

SOC 1-07a, 08a, 14a, RME 1-03a, 02a, 03b, SCN 1-17a/SOC1-08a Maps/Local Area

RME 2-04c, 06a, 09d, HWB 2-34a, 30a How do beliefs affect diet?

SOC 2-01a,04a, 09a, 14a, EXA 2-03a, 04a, 05a, 13a, TCH 2-04a, 14a, Titanic

MNU 1-20b, MTH 1-21a, HWB 1-50a, SCN 1-02a, SOC 1-13b Living things & environment

LIT 3-23a, & geography, RMPS & Maths outcomes to study potential support of local charities and campaigners using the big questions “Can people make a difference?”

HWB 4-29a, 30a, 32a, SOC 4-22b, 21a & MNU Cupcake Challenge enterprise

TCH, SOC & SCN at 3/4th level – Understanding physical, social and technological developments in society

Click here for booklet versions of the experiences and outcomes, and here for a document which collates the connections between subjects as described in each principles and practice paper.

October 26, 2015

World War I Project at Laurieston Primary School

Interdisciplinary information about this project in a nutshell-

What happened: In 2014, primary 6 pupils at Laurieston PS developed their research skills by discovering how previous Laurieston pupils contributed to World War 1. With the support of Louise Tierney and Laura McDonald from the heritage learning team at Callendar House, they discovered wonderful, sad and heart-rending stories during their “Our Area in the First World War project”(click here to visit the heritage learning team blog). Pupils were able to work with a range of people during this project, including: relatives of the people they learned about, a reporter from the Glasgow Herald, ( click here for more detail of the stories uncovered in his article about their work), and a television researcher. They also worked with a storyteller and artist, who helped them to interpret the stories they uncovered in a creative and informative way. The resulting “memory box” exhibits were part of a travelling exhibition which was launched in the Hippodrome Cinema, Bo’ness, visited Callendar House, and local libraries throughout the Falkirk area.

The pupils continued their involvement into primary 7, and their representatives shared their work with HRH Prince Edward, on 2nd July 2015.

How does this work relate to Curriculum for Excellence?

These pupils applied their literacy skills within the “People, past events & society” organiser of social studies, to research the legacy of the first World War on their local area. Discrete subject skills were developed within and across literacy, social studies and expressive arts. The project blended the four contexts for learning – the transferable skills used across the curriculum progressed learning in a discrete and connected way. The project enhanced the positive life and ethos of the school in its local community, and offered pupils opportunities for wider achievement.

As a result of this project pupils:

Developed and applied transferable skills such as: analysing information (primary & secondary sources), working with others, planning and organising, creating & presenting information
Explored their own thoughts about conflict, and their values and attitudes towards their school and community
Deepened their understanding and appreciation of the impact of war on real people & society
Experienced active and engaging learning
Benefitted from working with a diverse range of partners including the Heritage Learning Team

Sarah Black said “I feel that the WW1 project let me do fun and exciting things. Not only did I learn a lot but I am sure it will help me in the future. It was really special getting to meet Prince Edward. I really enjoyed meeting him as he was really nice and it was a once and a lifetime opportunity.

The most important thing I learned was that thousands risked their lives and many were killed to save my generation. I am very glad I learned about WW1 and the opportunity I got to be on television with it.”

Falkirk Community Trust’s Heritage Learning Team received a small grant for from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) of £9,900 from their First World War – Then and Now programme.The project had an intergenerational focus with a group of adult participants from the local community also working with the Heritage Learning Team and artist Jan Bee Brown and Storyteller Allison Galbraith to create a further 6 memory box exhibits to complement those created by the children and to provide a current cross-generational perspective on the impact of the War on the local area. Both generations came together to present their exhibits at the Hippodrome in Bo’ness to the wider community.

June 24, 2015

Developing Interdisciplinary Learning at Head of Muir PS

Key information about this Head of Muir PS practice at a glance –

staff building their interdisciplinary learning framework together
creating related groups or “bundles” of E & Os
enabling pupils and teachers to be creative with contexts for learning
collaborating at the start of each school year to define their annual curriculum overview at each stage
trialling innovative pupil-led planning

More Detail…

Fiona Anderson, head teacher at Head of Muir Primary School continues to develop interdisciplinary learning with staff as part of school self-evaluation and improvement planning. Together they defined a framework of related groups of experiences and outcomes which practitioners use to structure learning for pupils. These bundles ensure that there is breadth of coverage, and poster sized overviews of the E & Os are used as simple, visual tracking tools in each classroom to enable pupils to share their progress.

Staff can choose which contexts for learning they use to deliver these bundles, and are currently trialling a pupil-led planning format which enables pupils to be as proactive as possible in planning their own learning. Click here to see an example of one of these plans in progress and here for a blank copy. Fiona had A2 sized versions of these printed so that these could also be displayed in classrooms and continually updated with pupils.

These plans therefore support high levels of responsiveness to pupil prior learning and enable the principles of personalisation and choice, relevance, challenge and enjoyment to be strongly addressed.

These trials are ongoing and have resulted in topics such as Dinosaurs, ” 1960, 70s, 80s”. Yvonne McBlain captured photos of wall displays (learning walls) in a selection of classrooms and these are shared throughout this post.

In August 2015 Fiona will lead staff through the following next steps in building their curriculum and their IDL framework:

Review bundles against the significant aspects of learning (click here to view Fiona’s trail pro forma for capturing the bundle and which HOTs it addresses)
Define skills being developed by each bundle
Define how each bundle progresses these significant aspects of learning
Explore how these significant aspects of learning can be assessed

May 11, 2015

Denny PS makes BBC 10 Pieces into Powerful IDL

Catherine Cybulska, primary 5 teacher, and Susanne Bell, Youth Music Tutor, at Denny Primary School used the BBC 10 pieces project to truly enrich and link their curriculum for pupils. Primary 5 were among many Falkirk classes who attended the premier of 10 pieces at Falkirk Town Hall last autumn, but went on to become one of only 4 Scottish winners. Their “prize” was to host a Scottish Symphony Orchestra-led BBC 10 Pieces music takeover day which happened on 23rd March 2015. Mrs Cybulska and her pupils are also learning how to the play the violin from scratch and are enjoying their lessons from Mr Atkinson, their music tutor.

These musical experiences have naturally linked learning and skills development across the curriculum and made a very positive difference to the life and ethos of Denny PS. The SSO/BBC visit was a truly transformative experience for everyone involved. Pupils applied to take part in stop motion animation workshops linked to the pieces of music and got to work with a BBC film crew. Catherine said “There are no words to explain how good it was…just amazing…I would advise anybody to do it” The people in Denny PS also made an impact on BBC staff involved, who wrote a lovely thank you letter with the following extract “Denny is a truly wonderful school…staff/pupil interaction we witnessed were both humbling and inspiring”.

Catherine and Susanne felt that BBC 10 pieces helped them bring CfE to life for pupils by linking their analysis, interpretation and evaluation skills across music, ICT, media studies and literacy. The project has also developed pupil confidence, motivation, enthusiasm and creativity and contributed to a more positive attitude towards learning which pervades the classroom and certainly extended across the school on the 10 pieces day. Pupils model the 4 capacities better in their contributions to all areas of learning, and in their increased attention to detail, behaviour and ability to persevere with tasks. Use this link to hear some of the primary 5 pupils being interviewed about their experience by Radio Scotland.

Catherine and Susanne have succeeded in involving others very effectively in the project in order to create a lasting legacy from the project. Click here to listen to the pupils’ composition, and here to read their song lyrics. The PR video P 5 made to inform other classes about the upcoming takeover day can be viewed by clicking here. The photos below show one of the banners each class made to interpret one of the pieces of music. P5 invited 2 pupils from each of the other cluster schools to join in on the day. Look out for 10 Pieces 2 which will begin in session 2015-16 for primary 7 – S2 classes.