Question of the Week – Resolving Conflict

February 23, 2015 Mrs Falconer 9 Comments

We have an important job as Playground Pals to ensure that we help to make sure that Gourock Primary Pupils are engaged in fun and active games during intervals.

That is only one part of our job, as you know. The other very important responsibility we have is to be there for others if they are finding it difficult to resolve a disagreement with a classmate or peer.

We have been looking at how to facilitate restorative conversations.

What are the key things you should remember when you are having a restorative conversation?

What is the role of the facilitator?

Have you found that having been taught these skills that resolving disagreements by yourself is easier? Why?

Blogging, Health and Wellbeing

Winning the GIRFEC Hero mascot

February 20, 2015 User deactivated Leave a comment

The GIRFEC group helps to ensure that the whole school are SHANARRI (Safe, Healthy, Active, Nurtured, Achieving, Respected, Responsible and Included) but they needed a mascot to represent them.

The group decided that they would get the whole school involved and hold a mascot designing competition. Each pupil would get the chance to design a superhero, giving it a name and a special GIRFEC power.

Nearly everyone gave in an entry, which made it even harder for the GIRFEC group to decide on a winner. It was a very hard decision for them to make because everyone’s character was great.

Finally, the group was sure of a winner. They announced that I had won in front of the class and I couldn’t believe it!

At the start, I wasn’t going to enter but I’m glad I did because my design is now going to get spray painted on the gym hall wall along with the Funky 5 characters.

My hero is a friendly robot called GIRFEC GoBot. He has 8 arms, each holding a bottle with every letter of the word SHANARRI on them.

To finish him off I added a red cape to his back. His power is being able to make every child that is not SHANARRI safe and healthy by skooshing them with the magic inside each of the different bottles. I can’t wait to see my character on the wall!

By Grace Thomson, P6

Blogging, bootcamp

We love to blog!

February 17, 2015 Mrs Falconer 3 Comments

Why blog?

Primary 6 had a class discussion about the benefits of blogging. Here are some of our thoughts!

“It’s a good way to share classroom and learning experiences” – Jenna
“We love to share photos and information about class events, topics and trips” – Aimee
“Celebrate our successes and achievement both inside and outside of school” – Elizabeth and Beth
“Keep our parents up to date with what we have been learning but it is also a good opportunity for us to interact with people in the wider community – even other countries! We know we have had lots of people from all over the world look at our blog” – Eve
“When we have had other adults such as Mrs Cannon, Mrs Edwards and Mrs McKay comment on the blog, we have found it very helpful because sometimes they give us tips and advice. They often encourage us to keep up the good work!” – Alexander and Emily
“Question of the Week is good because we get to learn about one another’s opinions and we also discuss these topics in our Talking and Listening Groups on a Tuesday. I like preparing for this because I get a chance to sit with my parents and discuss this week’s topic with them” – Josh
We are developing our literacy skills because when we are commenting on the blog we need to think about our audience and make it interesting and easy to read – Eve
“Many of us spend time on computers and tablets and this is another way to communicate and practise staying safe online” – Isla
“We enjoy discussing the post topics with our peers and asking them questions to further our understanding. We are really interested in what one another has to say. I like sharing my thoughts on what has happened in school”. – Peter
“Recently, we have decided that we will recommend our favourite books to one another and we are looking forward to writing some reviews” – Conor
“One of my favourite things about our class blog is that it gives us the chance to win Blogger of the Week and receive a prize” – Grace
“Going on to the blog regularly allows me to develop my typing skills. I want to get faster!” – Abigail
“I like going on the blog to see what everyone is posting and it makes me proud to see all that we have done this year” – Ross
“Writing a post helps us to reflect on what we have been doing throughout the week” – Grace
“When Mrs Falconer posts pictures, I enjoy showing my family” – Ewan

Question of the Week

Question of the Week – Making the Difference

February 1, 2015 Mrs Falconer 19 Comments

What does this make you think about? What point is the story trying to make?

How can you make a difference?

How might life be different if everyone thought like the man?

Blogging, Question of the Week

Question of the Week – Learning opens doors.

January 18, 2015 Mrs Falconer 13 Comments

In our school, we are developing our skills for learning, life and work.

Of all the things you are learning, what do you think will be the most useful when you are an adult?

Question of the Week

Question of the Week – The World’s Your Oyster

January 11, 2015 Mrs Falconer 49 Comments

If you could visit anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?

Blogging, Health and Wellbeing

Everybody likes a compliment ✨

January 7, 2015 Mrs Falconer 6 Comments

One of the most meaningful things you can say to someone is to offer a compliment. A compliment about something they’ve done, or created can make a person’s day. We have lots of caring young people in our class.

One of the things we have been focusing on since starting in Primary 6 has been to spot others giving genuine compliments for no other reason than to be kind.

Giving a compliment not only makes you feel good, it makes the person receiving the compliment feel great! You usually receive a smile or thanks in return or a conversation is started and the person leaves thinking you are a pretty nice person! Not bad for such a small effort.

Each time we spot someone giving a compliment, we get to add a paperclip to our compliment chain. The aim is to have it reach the floor! When it does, a class treat is coming our way!

Question of the Week

Question(s) of the Week – New Year, New You?

January 5, 2015 Mrs Falconer 50 Comments

A) What New Year’s Resolutions have you made?
B) Are you good at keeping New Year’s resolutions?
C) What is special about the New Year period?
D) How do you celebrate New Year?
E) What one thing would you like to change about last year?
F) Why do people have a hard time sticking to New Year’s Resolutions?
G) How do you plan on making 2015 a great year for you?

Literacy

An Unwelcome Visitor

December 17, 2014 Mrs Falconer 11 Comments

Primary 6 have been hard at work…

We are about to become published authors! Our Book Launch day is planned and we can’t wait to share our successes with a wider audience, including our proud families.

Creating a Character
Someone you can be scared of…
We planned out a descriptive paragraph, identifying this dangerous character. We looked at adjectives and descriptive phrases. We considered what our character might look like, sound like, what they might wear, why they are wicked and what their likes and dislikes could be.

After reading our class novel ‘Street Child’ and finding lots of good similes and metaphors, we decided that one way to make this paragraph really successful would be to include a simile about the eyes. We spoke of the popular saying ‘eyes are the window to the soul’ and thought of different ways to write about a person’s eyes that would suggest that not all was well with them, that they shouldn’t be trusted…

Here are a selection:

Eve – ‘Her eyes were brewing like a storm and a crooked smile was plastered over her face.’

Libby – ‘His eyes were as dark as a cold, winter’s night.’

There’s only one way to really bring a character to life…

CREATE!

After deciding on our character, we concentrated on good story openings. We looked at ways in which authors ‘pull their readers in’ to their story. Our imaginative story had to have two good beginnings as it featured a parallel universe.

Here are just a couple of our wonderful examples:

Illustrations
We’ve been really enjoying our time with our P2 shared reading buddies. Looking at different types of picture books has made us appreciate how valuable an illustration can be to enhance a story. So we set to work…

Editing and Redrafting
We were quick to find out that one of the trickiest things about being an author is perseverance – having the patience to edit and redraft, making the story the very best it could be.

The Blurb
The back of the book description.
The dust-cover copy.
Whatever you call your summary of the story, it’s an important element of your book – everyone needs a blurb!

Dedications
The most special part of this whole experience was deciding who to gift our book to.

Part of the writing process was adding our dedication. We have each chosen a younger child (for some it is a family member, for others a close friend or our reading buddy) and we have written them into our stories as one of the main characters!

We think this personal element will really make our books a gift to treasure and we can’t wait to wrap them and put them under a Christmas tree, ready for opening on Christmas morning!

****BOOK LAUNCH UPDATE ****
What a lovely morning we had! Lots of our families turned up to enjoy a hot cup of tea/coffee and enjoy our books.

After some very confident introductions from a selection of classmates; parents, grandparents, friends and members of Gourock Primary read, appreciated and commented on our fabulous stories!