Suspension Bridge Testing

As part of our Bridges topic, we were experimenting with building suspension bridges.  We first built a beam bridge and tested how much weight it could stand and then we converted it into a suspension bridge.  We discovered that the bridge supports much more weight due to the extra support and the balancing of the forces, namely tension and compression.

 

Transition Morning at Blairgowrie High School

On Thursday 29th November, the P7s went to the High School for a morning of activities as part of their transition.   It was based on Health and Wellbeing.  One session was linked to resilience and perseverance, another was in the Home Economics Department where P7s were finding out what HE would involve in their first year and the other session was PE where the pupils played a great game of longball.

The P7s really enjoyed the morning and they are looking forward to High School very much.

 

Les videos français

P7C had great fun learning the vocabulary for classroom furniture and prepositions and adding this to their previously learned knowledge of numbers, they produced, in teams, some great video tours of the classroom.  Their pronunciation has come on in leaps and bounds.  Well done P7C.

Videos to follow (once I can change the size of them!!).

 

P4 and P7 collaboration

This week the P4s came to visit the P7s who shared their learning within ICT.   The P7s were showing off their core programming language skills through the creation of computer games.  The P4s played the games and gave feedback based on 2 stars and a wish.  The ‘wish’ was then incorporated into the game and the new improved games were played.  It was a very enjoyable experience for all and we look forward to working with the P4s again.

 

Judo is fun!

The Perth Judo Club visited the school to give all the pupils a taster session.  The P7C and P6/7 pupils decided that it was great fun and some have started at the local club here at the campus.   The instructors were very good and taught us some really good moves and we had fun practising them.

 

Queensferry Crossing School Trip

On Tuesday 13th November, P7C and P6/7 visited the Forth Bridges Resource and Education Centre as part of their topic on bridges.  In the morning, we talked about what engineers do and decided we are basically all engineers because engineering is problem solving.   We then were put into groups where we all had an individual role to build the tallest tower possible out of a certain number of blocks.  We decided the best design to use and then went for it.  It was great fun and the tallest tower was 152 cm!!

After lunch, in a sunny but windy day, we all walked across the Forth Road Bridge and it was lovely to see all 3 bridges up close.  We were surprised that the Forth Road Bridge moved when we walked on it but it is a suspension bridge after all.   We also couldn’t believe how high the towers were.

On the way home we had a sing song on the bus which the teachers really enjoyed !?  A great day.

 

Symmetry in nature

We used the wooded area of the playground to identify symmetry in nature and create symmetrical patterns.

Learning objective:

  • I am learning to create a symmetrical picture with 2 lines of symmetry.
  • I am learning to create a symmetrical picture with 1 line of symmetry

Success Criteria:

  • I understand which materials have their own lines of symmetry.
  • I can use a mirror to check for lines of symmetry.
  • I have taken account of shape, colour and pattern in my symmetrical design.
  • I can identify ways to make my design more complex.
  • I understand the difference between reflective and rotational symmetry.

Outdoor Learning

We have been making use of the local environment as part of our Wolf Brother topic. The pupils took part in a range of activities including den building, plant identification and trail making. Below is an example of what we were learning and what the pupils were working on to make sure that learning took place:

We are learning how people in the Stone Age would have survived by using the local environment.

Creating a clan campsite and map.

We can:

  • Use natural materials.
  • Make good use of our ‘animal skin’
  • Include our own clan identity (for example: Torak would include a wolf)
  • Include at least 3 clan locations on our map.
  • Include the 4 main compass points on our map.
  • Include important landmarks on our map