P7 2023-24

On Friday P7a worked with some of the service users at Taing House to plant daffodils and tulips. Pupils enjoyed meeting the service users and learned lots about how to plant a bulb so that it will grow successfully in the Spring.  It was good to meet members of our local community and to work together to make improvements to the area, which will be enjoyed by all in the Spring.

We have been working on different strategies for addition and subtraction.  Today we were learning how to use a number line and partitioning to add and subtract 5 digit numbers.

To finish the term in PE, we are Skipping.  We discussed the benefits, including stamina, rhythm, timing, coordination, perseverance and motivation.  We also highlighted that it was a cheap form of exercise that could be done in a small space anywhere in the world.

I have been so impressed with the effort, determination and progress in this block.

We have been exploring how plants have benefitted us in society.  We learned how people in Shetland used to use plants for dye.  We extracted different pigments, from plants, to make pictures.

This week we have been out on our first outdoor education days.  We had fun scrambling on rocks and exploring the outdoors.

This week we have been putting our coding skills to the test. We programmed Microbits to make soil moisture monitors.  We had to calibrate and test our monitors and we could see they worked well. We learned how to create new variables.

We were treated to a performance by the Shetland Youth Orchestra last week in the Sound Hall. The orchestra is made up of children from all over Shetland including both primary and secondary, and their musical talents are amazing!

We were introduced to all the different instrument families including brass, woodwind, strings and percussion. We listened to a mixture of music including classical, swing and even a theme tune or too. We particularly liked the Wallace and Grommit theme tune which they played as we were leaving the hall.

What a very enjoyable way to spend a Friday afternoon!

P7 have been doing rugby in PE.  The pupils have been getting used to all the differences from the other games we have played.  This includes the shape of the ball, the type of pass, the direction of pass, the team formation, running with the ball, tackling and how to score.  By our last session the World Cup had started and it was great that so many had watched games and been able to see some of the concepts we’ve talked about in action.  It really helped them understand the game.

This week, our class has been learning more about coding using Microbit computers.  We coded pedometers to measure our step count before the daily mile.  We were able to improve our pedometers by altering the code to double the step count, therefore counting each step, not just steps made by one foot.  Some groups even added melodies to their code.