P1M had a lovely afternoon of shared learning with their parents and grandparents.  It was a chance for us to share our learning about play in the past and our experiences with Scotland’s Urban Past at Grant Park.  We gave a small presentation in the class, shared some photos and showed our families some of our work before heading to the hall to share some playground games.  We had great fun playing hopscotch, What’s the time Mr Wolf?, Chinese ropes and skipping games with our parents and grandparents.  Thank you again for coming along to join us!

P1M have been learning about play in the past.  We are interested in learning about what our parents and grandparents played outside and in the playground when they were our age.  We are also trying to find out about what Grant Park was like in the past and compare it to what is there now.

As part of our learning we worked with Scotland’s Urban Past and were visited by Fiona, Danny, Nikki and SUP the ted!  We went to Grant Park and had the opportunity to use cameras and learn how to take photographs correctly.  We also learned about direction, using a compass and we looked at maps of Forres.  We made a human compass showing North, South, East and West.  We spotted our school on the map and some of us even spotted our own houses!  We studied old photos of Grant Park and learned that it has not always looked the way it does now.

We are learning how to play some of the games our parents and grandparents used to play and are having a lot of fun in the process!

We had a great time at the P1/2 Christmas Party! Dancing, games, donuts and ice cream, and even a special visit from Santa!!

P1M have been learning to identify 2D shapes from their properties.  We worked with a partner to make some 2D shapes using different materials and then we checked we had been successful by counting the sides and corners.

We have been out exploring the changing of the seasons and looking for signs of Autumn.  We had great fun playing in the crunchy leaves and throwing and kicking them high in the air.  We used our experience outside for ideas for an Autumn poem and an Autumn story.

In P1 we have lots of fun playing with our friends and learning about the world around us.  Here are some snapshots of us busy at play!

When someone kindly handed in a real birds nest they had found to Applegrove for the children to have a look at, the P1-3 Outdoor Explorers were inspired.  We decided to collect our own natural materials to build our own birds nests.  We worked together to arrange the sticks, twigs, moss, grass and loose flowers to create a cosy and safe home for a family of birds.  We even had a bird castle from one group!

In our Global Citizenship group, Water Works, P1-4 have been learning about how important it is to have clean water to wash your hands.  We learned that in some countries where people don’t wash their hands with clean water there are a lot more illnesses and diseases. To try to solve this problem we learned that ‘Tippy Taps’ are built to provide people with a way to wash their hands if they don’t have running water from a tap.  We had a go at building some of our own too.  They worked really well – even though our feet did get a little wet!

As part of Global Citizenship groups, some children in P1-4 have been learning all about water in different parts of the world.  From water abundance to water shortage, we had to work together to try to solve some of these water problems. It was tricky to say the least!  We found it a real challenge trying to pour the water we had at each station into all the cups equally.  It was even more difficult when we had to carry a heavy bag to the other side of the classroom to collect dirty water for our cups.  The water activities made us think about what it must be like for people living in countries that can’t just turn on their taps to get clean water.