All posts by Miss Caldwell

Term 2

We had another busy term in P6/7 in Term 2.

We continued our WW2 topic until November to coincide with Remembrance Day. A huge well done to Breagh and Tynam who represented the school by laying a wreath at the war memorial on the Remembrance Sunday service.

Due to isolation, we were unable to do a live zoom Remembrance Service, so we adapted and created a Remembrance Service video! This was tricky to organise due to so many children being at home isolating, but we made it work and the pupils make us incredibly proud as always! You can watch our Remembrance Service here: https://youtu.be/Gy-wNDXtOGc

 

 

 

 

 

In maths, we moved on to look at Fractions, Decimals and Percentages. We used lots of real life situations, including shop sales and price increases/decreases to help us understand the importance of F.D.P in our daily lives! We used bar modelling to help us find fractions and percentages of a number and the pupils found this approach really beneficial when faced with these calculations.Fractions of amounts using the bar model - YouTube

In literacy,  we continued with Talk 4 Writing and focused on ‘Wishing Tales’, specifically looking at building characters successfully. We looked at how to incorporate a variety of descriptive techniques including: metaphor, simile, personification, pathetic fallacy, colour theory, show not tell, 5 senses, action, and streams of consciousness. All pupils were able to successfully improve from their cold piece to their hot piece!

In Health & Wellbeing, we have been looking at keeping ourselves safe and well through our choices in life. We looked at drugs and alcohol and the effects these can have on the body. We looked at addiction and how we can be more understanding rather than judgemental to people who struggle with this illness.

We topped the term off with lots of Christmas fun! The children loved their Christmas party and all of the fun Christmassy activities we did on the lead up to the big day! Check out our Christmas advent videos here:

Christmas workout: https://youtu.be/DsGeqOBaURk

Boris Christmas: https://youtu.be/7-0M7AjwEO8

Home Alone: https://youtu.be/2zrIARXcAvY

Thank you Key Workers: https://youtu.be/_6aRp5VulWQ

House Captain’s Bedtime Story: https://youtu.be/3PBag6U6jIY

Whole School Christmas highlights: https://youtu.be/XvyU7_m6cuo

 

Growth Mindset / Maths Mindset


Growth Mindset / Maths Mindset


It is important for all of us to develop our growth mindsets.

How often have you shut down and thought ‘I can’t do this’; ‘I’m not good enough’; ‘this is too hard’?

By shifting our mindset to more positive thinking, we unlock our own potential for success!

EVERYONE can achieve, regardless of what you perceive yourself to be good or bad at.

Whether you think you can or you  think you can’t – you’re right!

We are working with our children to develop growth mindsets and promote resilience. Children are encouraged to challenge themselves and their perceived limitations.

In maths specficially, we teach children lots of different strategies to solve problems. Focusing first on using concrete materials such as counters, hundred squares, tens frames etc. We then move on to pictorial representations such as bar modelling (more information on this will be posted!), before moving on to more abstract mental thinking.

Children are encouraged to try different strategies, challenge themselves through ‘chilli challenges’ and weekly problem solving focuses.

Please see the information below for more ideas on what a growth mindset actually is!

A Growth Mindset can help you be the best - Metrifit Ready to Perform

Classroom Norms

Maths Mindset

Growth Mindset Upper School

Maths Mindset

Term 2

Term 2 has been a great success!

We started the term by continuing to work on our WW2 topic in the run up to Remembrance Day. A huge thank you to Breagh and Tynam who did an amazing job representing our school at the memorial parade and service held at the Golf Course monument.

We then moved on to a science based topic, focusing on energy  and sustainability. We linked this to the on-going climate summit ‘COP26’ which was on-going in Glasgow at the time. We explored a range of different ways we use energy on a daily basis and debated the benefits and risks of renewable energy vs fossil fuels.

Our numeracy focus this term was fractions, decimals and percentages. We linked a lot of this work to real life situations and looked at shop sales, deals and VAT. We have built our numeracy skills to allow us to solve lots of real life problems!

In term 2 we have been working towards leadership awards in PE with our active schools coach – Emma Parker. We developed our own games and worked on our coaching skills to deliver the activities to our peers. We will eventually be delivering these as clubs to the younger pupils in the school.

We had lots of fun completing lots of Christmassy activities including problem solving, STEM challenges and art work.

Find out the rest of what we have been learning in our –

Class Learning Leaflet T2

Term 1

What a busy term 1 we have had in Primary 6/7 C&J!

We kicked off the term with our cross-curricular topic – World War 2 – it was a hit!

We learned all about the timeline of events leading to the war, Allie & Axis countries, important leaders, The Blitz, evacuation, evacuees, gas masks, rations and general life as a child during war times.

Tynam & Breagh represented our school at the Remembrance Parade from the Carrick Centre to the war memorial at the Golf Course and did an amazing job.

Due to ongoing issues with COVID, our planned Zoom Remembrance Service had to be made into a video, we hope you enjoyed it – you can find it on the school facebook page.

We hosted a very successful MacMillan Coffee Morning raising £577 for MacMillan Cancer Support.

Please find attached our curricular flyer to see what else we were learning in Term 1.

Class Learning Leaflet T1

Annual Parental Survey 2020-21

Please can you complete the survey for parents/carers by clicking on the appropriate link below. (Early Years Centre or Primary)

This will help us to celebrate our successes and reflect on any areas where we need to improve. We would really appreciate you taking a few minutes to complete the survey so that we capture the views of the majority of our parents/carers.

***Survey to be completed by Friday 21st May***

 

The link for your parent survey is      

EARLY YEARS CENTRE:       

https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/EYCParents20-21/

 PRIMARY:                                                               

  https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/PrimaryParents20-21/

 

STEM week – Junk Modelling and Civil Engineering 👷‍♀️

Day 2 of STEM week kicked off with learning all about different engineering careers. We looked at mechanical, civil, chemical and military engineers and what their jobs entail 🤔

We then became civil engineers and worked in groups to plan our own cities! There were so many brilliant ideas, including – renewable energy sources, water supplies, essential business/buildings, transportation and even some luxuries such as McDonald’s 😉

In the afternoon, we worked in groups to put our plans into action using junk modelling! Check out the amazing results 🥰 engineers in the making!