Number Visuals

To kick start each maths lesson we have been watching interesting  and inspiring YOUCUBE (a maths website) videos.  So far we have learned that when you learn new things the hippocampus (part of your brain) grows bigger.  If you stop using your brain the hippocampus can shrink!

London taxi drivers have to learn thousands of road and street names – they call it ‘The Knowledge’.  When they retire, their hippocampus shrinks because they don’t think about the roads or work anymore!  Mia

Today we learned to think visually about maths.  When we think about numbers as symbols we are crossing our brains and using different pathways.  This helps us to deepen our understanding and learning in maths!

We noticed that the prime numbers didn’t have any obvious patterns and they were mostly circular.

The prime numbers are round. Beth

We are looking forward to watching the rest of the videos in the series and trying out more interesting maths challenges!

Primary 5 were very lucky to receive a visit from Ailsa McInnes, South Ayrshire’s Children’s Services Librarian

Today’s visit was the first of three sessions that will promote reading for pleasure through a variety of games and activities, which all link into the First Minister’s Reading Challenge. 

Ailsa spoke to us about becoming members at Ayr Carnegie Library.  We discovered how exciting it could be to visit the library and borrow interesting books.  We learned that children’s fiction books all have red labels – these would be the best ones for us to read!  Books with blue stickers are suited to early readers and white are for young adults.

Ailsa showed us a selection of books by several authors including Michael Morpurgo, Janis Mackay, Sarah Lean and David Walliams.   It was fascinating to discover that some authors have different jobs during the day and write stories in their spare time.   We explored the many characters and interesting story lines  across the variety of books brought to our class. We learned that some books are printed on cream coloured paper with unjustified margins  (which make them easier to read), these are called dyslexic friendly books.

We were all allowed to borrow a  book to read before next Wednesday’s visit!  A huge thank you to Ailsa for coming into our class 

It was inspiring to hear about the books we can enjoy! Ben

Learning about all the books was phenomenal!  Very interesting!  Heather

One of the best classes I have visited in a long time.  What a lot of great comments!  Ailsa

Primary 5 have just returned from a fantastic day at Stirling Castle.

After arriving we explored in our small groups – thanks MIss Bell and to all our parent helpers!  A few of us were taken to look out over the site of the Battle of Stirling Bridge and the Wallace Monument.  It was fascinating to look out and visualise the battles that would have taken place on the fields below!

After lunch we met with ‘Sir Philip Mowbry’.  He took us on a fascinating journey through the castle walls, igniting our imaginations with gruesome tales of defence, battle and attack!

We gathered in the education room to find out about the armoury and weapons used during the battles in the 13th and 14th century.  A few of us even got to dress up as the King, Princess, servant and Jester!

It was an excellent day full of adventure and learning!  Well done to all in P5 for taking part enthusiastically and asking so many interesting questions!

Have a great long weekend!

Welcome to our Primary 5 class blog. It is nice to be back at school after our long summer holiday. We have two lovely (says Poppy, thank you) teachers this year – Mrs Shanta and Mrs Taylor. We have a very busy term ahead full of plenty of learning and fun!

Numeracy and Mathematics

We have been learning about the properties of 3D objects. This was challenging at first but we became more confident as we continued to try our best.  Getting a chance to create our own 3D objects by experimenting with 2D shapes really helped to build our understanding of faces, vertices and edges!   We are now learning about identifying the lines of symmetry on 2D shapes. During Numeracy we have been working hard to deepen our understanding when adding and subtracting 2-digit numbers – exploring the different strategies we can use to find the answers.

Spelling

We are doing so well working through our spelling words on a four week block. We have a two week focus on a particular ‘sound’ and the following two weeks are spent using spelling strategies to practise our tricky words.

Reading

Everyone is enjoying Charlotte’s Web! Mrs Shanta has been introducing the reading strategies that will be used during term 2 to explore our own novels.

Social Studies

The Scottish Wars of Independence has proven to be a very interesting and engaging topic for all in our class!   We are excited to embark on our adventure to Stirling Castle on the 21^st of September. This is an excellence chance for us to continue our learning surrounding Scottish history.

Note from Mrs Shanta and Mrs Taylor

We are thrilled to tell you that all the pupils have settled in very well to our routines and learning in Primary 5. We are excited to continue working with such wonderful pupils who are so keen to learn!