P6 had a fantastic, inspiring trip to the Scottish Parliament last week. We have learned lot about the parliament and how it works, and it has given us plenty to think about for our topic on Scottish Democracy!

We had a lot of fun on World Book Day this year, even though it had to be delayed a week because of the snow. David Walliams has been a favourite author in P6B this year, so Gangsta Granny was the book we chose.

Some of class created dramas based around a chapter in the book where Ben discovers that Granny is not all she seems…

Others created some of Granny’s stolen treasures, from the emerald earrings stolen from a Maharajah’s wife, to the tiara that belonged to the President’s wife!

• We have been looking at different clubs in Peebles and how  some of the needs of the community are met through these groups.

Susan chatted to us all about Rainbows, Brownies and Guides and what happens in these groups.

Alison informed us about all the different clubs that meet in the Library.

Sarah gave us a little taster of exercise to music.  She explained all about the benefits of exercise.

Jillian, a past Kingsland pupil, told us about the groups available for older members of the community and the benefits for these people.

A big thank you to all the adults for coming into class sharing their knowledge with us.

This block we are learning about Energy! We have been thinking about different types of energy, fossil fuels, and renewable energies.

Mr Gray came to talk to us about sustainability and renewable energies – he used to be involved in the design and construction of wind farms and hydro stations. We learnt lots about why these natural sources of energy are so important, and how they work. He even brought in some amazing models to demonstrate how wind and water can be used to produce energy!

We have been using our thinking skills to Problem Solve. Here we are working with a partner to find different ways of sorting 2D and 3D shaped objects. Each of us was able to describe the thinking behind our sorting and share our learning with others.

We have been busy working on a couple of new displays in Kingsland ELC.

One is called “Branches of our Learning through play” – this is in our cloakroom area.

We have also been working on our “Learning Tree” which is how we record child initiated ideas and how we have taken that idea forward.

Our outdoor Learning tree is also new, which gives some example of some of the different types of play that go on outdoors.

We really value and appreciate any feedback you can give us about these new displays. Do you find them informative? Is the information clear? Are they appealing to look at?

Any feedback would be gratefully received!

For World Book day we completed activities based on the Flat Stanley books.

We made 3D Stanleys. They were flattened to make Flat Stanleys. We drew around them on square paper to find out their areas.  Some of us had flatter Stanleys than others.

We used the lovely new library to partner read with P5B. P5B brought some of their favourite books to share with us.

We wrote new Flat Stanley stories, made lists of the pros and cons of being flat and also created visitor’s guides to places Stanley has visited.

Everyone enjoyed themselves on this special day. 

We really enjoyed our World book day activities. We buddied up with P4/3 in P2A and P2B buddied up with P4 to read in our newly refurbished Library and we really enjoyed reading to our buddy and sharing the story together.

P2A explored,” The Day the crayons came home” by Drew Daywalt and Oliver Jeffers and P2B explored,” The Gruffalo’s Child” by Julia Donaldson. Both classes also looked at other books written by the same author.

We made postcards from Duncan and pretended we were crayons in P2A.It was strange to colour in with crayons and write with them again as we usually use coloured pencils to colour in our drawings now we are in P2.

P2B pretended to be the Gruffalo and child and wrote about the story. We enjoyed acting the story out and taking on the roles of the characters.

We enjoyed reading on our own and stopped when the piggy timer rang. Then we had time to chat about what we had read with a partner.

We are really looking forward to seeing the whole school World Book display in the library. It will be interesting to see what everybody did for their day of reading………….

Look out for the photos on our Blog page.

Ever wondered how a flower reproduces?

We have been learning about life cycles and reproduction. We learnt about the parts of a flower and what they are for. We made paper daffodils and practised pollinating them yesterday because the snow meant there were no flowers for us to use in the shops. Isla brought in flowers today so we could see the real thing. We looked at all the parts (petals, sepals, filament, stigma, anther, ovary and ovules) by dissecting the flowers. We also tried out self-pollination when the flower reproduces by passing pollen from its own anther to its own stigma and we tried cross-pollination where the pollen from one flower’s anther is put on the stigma of another flower. By P7A

Topical Science Homework Task
Homework Due for Monday 19th March

In class, we are focussing on scientific news items and considering our opinions on them.
Your homework is to research a scientific news item, decide what your opinion is on the story then create a convincing argument that will persuade others in class to have the same opinion as you. Use the plan below to plan your time over the next few weeks. Ask your teacher if you need to use a computer in school at lunchtime.
Week 1 – week beginning 19th February
Choose your news story. It should be a controversial issue involving science. If you aren’t sure, speak to your teacher or choose one of the issues below.
• Testing medicines on animals
• Cloning animals
• Genetically modified foods

Week 2 – week beginning 26th February
Research – decide what key questions you want to ask and use them to guide your research. Take detailed notes under your headings using a variety of sources. Remember to double check that your information is reliable and believable.

Week 3 – week beginning 5th March
Develop your argument. Consider your own opinion on the subject. How will you use persuasive language to influence your audience? What facts can you find to back up your view? Make sure you have reasons to support each part of your argument.

Week 4 – week beginning 12th March
Write your argument – type it up & print it out or write it out. Remember to follow the structure below:
• Open with a statement of the issue being addressed.
• State your position on the issue.
• Main body of text contains the arguments that are elaborated with reasons and evidence (facts).
• End with a summary
Use the most powerful words possible & remember to include emotive language & rhetorical questions. Hand your homework in on MONDAY 19th MARCH