Term 2 Update

It’s hard to believe Christmas is here already and we’re half way through Primary 7! Read on to hear all about our activities this busy term!

Topic- FemEng

Most of our learning this term has been focused around our FemEng topic and the children have worked so hard on it throughout the term. FemEng is a student-led organisation aimed at connecting females in the School of Engineering at the University of Glasgow. FemEng has multiple areas of focus that range from outreach work with nursery, primary and secondary schools, to organising social events and networking events with industry professionals and International collaborations. The FemEng project enables engineering students at the University of Glasgow to volunteer and give back to local schools around the Glasgow area and beyond online

The class found this topic really interesting and it really opened their eyes to the different career opportunities within STEM. It was split into different sections, focussing on different areas of engineering. The class learned so much in each different part of the topic.

We started off with an introduction to FemEng – what the society is and what they aim to do. We looked at different areas of STEM and how they were related to engineering. We were very lucky to have two different Teams calls, one with an environmental engineer called Vikki and one with members of the FemEng society. The children were able to ask some really interesting questions and found out lots of information about what a degree and job within engineering look like.

The first area of engineering we looked at was aeronautical engineering. The children learned about air resistance and how engineers have to take this into account when they are designing aircraft. They created their own gliders using paper, tape and blue tac, following along to a video from a member of FemEng. They wrote procedural texts on how to make their gliders and recapped on their knowledge of speed, distance and time to calculate how fast their gliders travelled!

The next area they learned about was biomedical engineering. After a short introduction to what DNA is and how it makes us who we are, the children got to work on creating their own model DNA. They used wine gums and toothpicks to create the different strands of DNA which make us unique – including our hair colour, eye colour, height, dominant hand and our nose shape! Although it was very tempting to eat the wine gums, the children managed to do this successfully! We then completed explanation texts to show exactly what DNA is and took tally marks of the class’ features and used it to make pie charts showing that data of the class.

Following this, we turned to civil engineering. This was a very interesting week which had a lot of real-life context to it. We created our own inclusive playgrounds using a design website called Tinkercad, and had to look at a real-life engineer’s log book for a similar project. It was very interesting to see how engineers plan out a project like this! We then made suspension bridges using bottles, paper, tape, string and lots of concentration and patience! This was very fiddly work, but the children worked together to help each other create some fantastic bridges.

The last area that we looked at was mechanical engineering. We completed a case study about a fictional island that were looking to place some wind turbines. The children had to decide where to place them based on the space on the island. Then they had to consider the residents’ and fellow engineers’ opinions and decide whether they were going to change location or not. They looked at different types of renewable energy and their advantages and disadvantages. The children were able to link this to prior learning they had from previous years.

This was a very unique and interesting topic that the children enjoyed. It was great to see the different things they were able to make as part of the workshops, and hopefully will inspire some of them to pursue a career in engineering!

Numeracy

Most of our numeracy was covered during FemEng, but we also worked on word problems, rounding decimals, multiplication and division. They learned to do long multiplication using different methods such as the formal algorithm (upstairs downstairs), factors and the grid method. They were able justify which method they preferred in different situations.

Literacy

FemEng was very literacy heavy, covering lots of genres of writing, debate, research, definitions and more. Outwith the topic, we started learning about Explanation writing, continued making and answering HOTS questions and writing summaries. In grammar, the children looked at how to write cohesively. They worked on how to make their writing flow, using connectives and linking their paragraphs. This will help them when we come to writing our essays for the high school next term!

HWB

Our Jigsaw learning this term has been focused on equalities and discrimination. The children handled this topic in a very mature and sensible way and were able to relate it back to the learning they did in term one with Declan from Sense Over Sectarianism. We looked at the difference between discrimination and prejudice, and how they can present in different scenarios. We explored the protected characteristics from the Equalities Act 2010 and were able to explain situations where people faced discrimination based on these characteristics. The children then produced some fantastic presentations about a famous person of their choice who has experienced discrimination within their life and how they overcame it. It was very inspirational to see that these people have not allowed the hatred they have faced to hold them back.

During Anti-Bullying Week, our class worked with our infant Respect Me committee to present at assembly. We made posters to give to each class to let everyone know what was going to be happening. The class also produced some anti bullying podcasts. In PE, the children have been working on dance with Mrs McLaughlin. We were so sad to see her move on to a new school, but excited to have Mrs Wylie to take the children for PE towards the end of this term and into next term.  A special well done to the children who competed in Cross Country this term! We also enjoyed learning about health and wellbeing with Alejandro from Celtic this term.

RE

This term, our Jigsaw work was closely linked with RE as it related equalities and discrimination to the Catholic teachings from the Bible. We were able to discuss how we should all accept each other and love each other for who we are, celebrating differences. We made some headway on our preparation for Confirmation – looking at different Saints and how they lived their lives in such an inspirational way. We look forward to choosing a Saint for our Confirmation name. We have also looked at different aspects of Advent, and how we can show kindness throughout this time.

Music

Unfortunately, we haven’t had as many opportunities as we would like to practise our tin whistle this term. Hopefully next term we will have more and continue to build our repertoire of songs and our confidence! I hope the children don’t practise too much over Christmas and give your ears some rest! A special well done to the choir members in our class who performed in Silverburn, Nazareth House and at our school carol concert with very little practise. Now we have our group up and running, I’m sure it will go from strength to strength!

A big part of this term’s excitement was our first visit to the high school. The children behaved excellently and enjoyed learning social studies and literacy. Well done to the children who volunteered to help out at the Christmas Fayre. The whole school cinema trip was a wonderful surprise and best of all, we got a whole screen just to ourselves to relax! It has been a whirlwind of a term and flown past. I hope you all have a lovely time over the Christmas and New Year period and enjoy celebrating with your loved ones. I look forward to welcoming the children back in the new year, ready to start another term with lots of learning and exciting opportunities!

Best wishes,

Mrs Travers