It was great to welcome P5 back this week, and everyone was chatting enthusiastically about the holidays.

We have started lots of new learning:

Maths – fractions of shapes. We are also continuing to link multiplication and division and see how they link to fractions.

Writing – poetry. We are collecting words! Firstly we used thesauri to find words for the verb ‘moving’. We are also looking at Scots words as we read and write Scots poems.

Scots – we have two poems to learn – Oor Wullie and To a Mouse. We have read Oor Wullie and split into 4 groups to learn a verse each as a group. We can also learn the whole poem to recite if we want to.

Rocks and Minerals – our topic is about rocks, the surface of the Earth and natural disasters. We have learned that there are many minerals and that there are three types of rock defined by the way they are formed. We are excited about becoming geologists and collecting our own rocks to study!

Health and Wellbeing – we are learning about emotions and how they can be categorized in zones. We talked about ways to get ourselves out of some zones so that we are in the best place to learn.

We are poets and we know it!

We have been writing rhyming couplets this week where we had to come up with lots of rhyming words, but also had to think about the pattern and number of syllables in each line.  We enjoyed writing about colours but found getting the right number of syllables quite tricky. Here is one by Allan and Harris:

Colours

I really like the colour pink

Because it always makes me blink.

And if I try to rhyme with red,

It always makes me think of bed.

I often use the colour blue,

It always makes me think of you.

My favourite is the colour orange,

The only thing that rhymes is SPORANGE!

We are looking at 2 poems in primary 5, Oor Wullie and Tae a Moose.  Choose the one you prefer and try and learn it off by heart.

Oor Wullie

Fair fa’ your rosy-cheekit face,
Your muckle buits, wi’ broken lace,
Although you’re always in disgrace,
An’ get your spanks,
In all our hearts ye have your place,
Despite your pranks.

Your towsy heid, your dungarees,
Your wee snub nose, your dirty knees,
Your knack o’ seeming tae displease
Your Ma an’ Pa.
We dinna care a tuppenny sneeze
We think you’re braw.

You’re wee, an’ nae twa ways aboot it,
You’re wise, wi’ very few tae doot it,
You’re wild, there’s nane that wad dispute it,
Around the toon. But maist o a’ ye are reputit
A lauchin’ loon.

Weel-kent, weel-liked, you’re aye the same,
Tae Scots abroad and Scots at hame.
North, south, east, west, your weel-won fame
Shall never sully.
We’ll aye salute that couthie name:
Oor Wullie.

To a Mouse,

on Turning Her Up in Her Nest With the Plough, November, 1785

by Robert Burns

Wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim’rous beastie,
O, what a panic’s in thy breastie!
Thou need na start awa sae hasty,
Wi’ bickering brattle!
I wad be laith to rin an’ chase thee,
Wi’ murd’ring pattle!

I’m truly sorry man’s dominion,
Has broken nature’s social union,
An’ justifies that ill opinion,
Which makes thee startle
At me, thy poor, earth-born companion,
An’ fellow-mortal!

I doubt na, whiles, but thou may thieve;
What then? Poor beastie, thou maun live!
A daimen icker in a thrave
‘S a sma’ request;
I’ll get a blessin wi’ the lave,
An’ never miss’t!

Thy wee bit housie, too, in ruin!
It’s silly wa’s the win’s are strewin!
An’ naething, now, to big a new ane,
O’ foggage green!
An’ bleak December’s winds ensuin,
Baith snell an’ keen!

Thou saw the fields laid bare an’ waste,
An’ weary winter comin fast,
An’ cozie here, beneath the blast,
Thou thought to dwell-
Till crash! the cruel coulter past
Out thro’ thy cell.

Thy wee bit heap o’ leaves an’ stibble,
Has cost thee mony a weary nibble!
Now thou’s turn’d out, for a’ thy trouble,
But house or hald,
To thole the winter’s sleety dribble,
An’ cranreuch cauld!

But, Mousie, thou art no thy-lane,
In proving foresight may be vain;
The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men
Gang aft agley,
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promis’d joy!

Still thou art blest, compar’d wi’ me
The present only toucheth thee:
But, Och! I backward cast my e’e.
On prospects drear!
An’ forward, tho’ I canna see,
I guess an’ fear!

We are learning about types of rocks and how they are formed. Today we watched as different foods were put together just like rock formation.

1. Sedimentary rocks are formed when sediment – pieces of rocks, minerals or dead plants, animals or shells gather together in layers on the sea or river bed. Layers are pressed together by water and sedimentary rocks are formed.

2. Igneous rock is formed when magma inside the earth or lava from a volcano cools. Sometimes other rocks and minerals are trapped inside.

3. Metamorphic rock is formed when rocks or minerals are pressed by heat or other pressure.

You can try this at home with an adult’s help!