Primary 3a loved taking part in the ZooLab workshop last Thursday. We learnt all about different African animals. The children had the opportunity to meet and hold some exotic animals including a Giant African Snail, a Hissing cockroach, a Corn Snake and a Tree Frog. Everybody was fascinated with these wonderful creatures.

This week we have been focused on our Ancient Egypt topic. The children worked in groups to create these 3 dimensional maps of Egypt using salt dough and paint.

In our play area we had a go at making papyrus paper, created our own Tutankhamun portraits, and followed rhythm patters with instruments.

Last week we celebrated Scots Language week, the children took part in a wide range of learning experiences which celebrated the Scottish language.

As a class we read ‘Neeps and Tatties’ a wonderful book written by Carey Morning and Anna York. The children discussed all of the different Scots words from the text we translated these and discussed their meanings. The class then created their own tartans to display our new learned Scots vocabulary. What a bonnie display they have made.

As a class we discussed the meaning behind the text and used our after reading skills to summarise the story. The children then took on the role of illustrators and designed and created their own front cover for the book.

Finally we ended the week learning about traditional Waulking Songs. The children used their imagination to simulate waulking (working) the fabric as they sang the tradition Gaelic song ‘Hè Mo Leannan’.

This week we have been working very hard in all areas of our learning. The children were building their phonological awareness of the ‘wa’ sound using Elkonin boxes, games on the iPads, and active spelling strategies.

The whole class worked so hard in both numeracy and maths this week. We had a 2D shape treasure hut to solidify our learning, and we explored multiplication by creating equal groups and using repeated addition, we loved spotting the links between the different strategies.

In our literacy lessons we read Chapter 2 of Flat Stanley together, the children then answered reading comprehension questions about the chapter using an interactive quiz on the iPads. They loved being able to see the live scoreboard.