All posts by Mrs Henderson

A busy first day back!

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Our first day back after the holidays has been full of fun and problems to solve!  We started the day with a Halloween themed Soft Start. Everyone was free to choose from the various puzzles on offer.  We all tried hard to persevere without giving up, even though some challenges were quite tricky!  However, we had to keep  reminding ourselves that they were not impossible.

I wonder if they managed to get their puzzle edges to match up and fit into the space?

YES!  They did!

Draw 4 straight lines through all of the pumpkin pictures, without lifting your pen.  Can it be done?!

 

Arrange 8 bats in the grid, without any bats on the same line (horizontally, vertically or diagonally).

Then it was time for more Halloween fun, with a Mental Maths activity involving lots of bugs, bats, rats, snakes etc. The children worked as a team to collect as many as they could before the timer ran out. Then it was time to find out how many points they had earned!  Each item had a secret value, which was only revealed once they had finished collecting.  Everyone used their addition and multiplication skills to work out their final total.

Then a twist in the game – some individual creatures were worth extra points or in some cases deducted points from their totals!  Lots of discussion was had as to the strategies used to calculate.  We had so much fun, we forgot to get some photos!

After break we spent some time getting creative and explored how to blend colours together to make a spooky sky background for our Halloween pictures.  Next week, we’ll add more to the foreground and begin some spooky writing to accompany them.

In the afternoon we had Kate Hookham  (specialising in outdoor education)  join our class.  It was time for some more problem solving!

We had to work together in small groups and as a whole class to complete various tasks successfully. Some challenges were tricky and we didn’t have enough time to master them, so we will definitely be returning to these very soon!

We timed how quickly we could go around the circle saying our first names. Let’s see if we can beat 12 seconds next time!
Everyone tried hard to give and follow instructions to complete the blindfolded task.

Can they escape the handcuff tangle without taking their hands out of the loops?

This challenge involved control and concentration to keep the ball moving without dropping it.  The problem was, there were only 5 pieces of pipe to keep it moving, so we had to keep moving too!

After Kate’s visit, we spent some time exploring the “forest” area.  Although our time with Kate was bright and sunny, the sky suddenly darkened and the sky burst open, so we all had to seek shelter in the trees!  We were glad of our jackets, waterproofs and wellies!  A beautiful rainbow appeared behind the trees.

” I found some gold at the end of the rainbow!”

When looking for some autumn leaves, a caterpillar was spotted on a leaf.

Look! A caterpillar!

A challenge was set to find a stick that would be same length of one of our school rulers.  Although this one broke on the way back to school, I think some excellent estimation skills were at play here!

Well done!

What a great start to a new term.  Well done P4/5/6!

P4/5/6 Play

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We are enjoying spending time together as a new P4/5/6 class, doing the things that we enjoy most.

We have been playing with Lego, making comics, setting up a cafe, reading our books, decorating stones, doing some origami, playing board games and drawing.

Through these activities we are:

  • Developing communication and writing skills
  • Taking turns
  • Sharing space and resources
  • Involving others
  • Being creative
  • Using our imaginations
  • Building resilience when we lose a game
  • Problem solving
  • Using Maths in a real life situation

I wonder what everyone will enjoy playing with next time!

 

Fun and Games

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This morning the whole school had some fun outdoors, watching the staff and P7s playing “Sheet Volleyball” mixed with “Floor is Lava”.   Of course, some fancy dress for the staff was a requirement.

It was a close match with each member eliminated if they were the last person off the floor each time the whistle was blown.

Although the P7s lost more of their team mates, they won on the points earned whenever the ball was tossed over and not caught by the staff team on their sheet.    Perhaps next year the staff will win…!

Well done to all!  What a brilliant way to end the school year.

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Sunny Playful Minutes

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We had fun in the sun this afternoon during our Playful Minutes time.  There were burritos being made in the mud kitchen, balancing and hula hooping skills being developed and of course a game of football being played!

Some chose to stay indoors and  play in their restaurant, making us all yummy things to eat as we were playing.  I wonder what will be on the menu next week…

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Term 3 Topic Work

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Bones

“This term we have been learning about the human body.  We learned about our hands and the tendons used to make them move.

We made hands with string and straws.  We drew around our hands, then taped straws to it and threaded string through so that they could move.”   Elska P4

 

The Digestive System 

“We put crackers, bananas and juice in a bag and mixed it up by squeezing the bag.  This was supposed to mimic the stomach.  Then we put some tights over a paper cup and  poured in the mixture.  Then we squeezed the mixture in the tights.”  Elska P4

The tights acts like the small intestines, squeezing out all the nutrients that the body needs and passing on what our bodies don’t need to the large intestine.  At the end of the task, we emptied the remaining food in the tights into a cup where it was then pushed out as waste.  Some children were delighted to be part of this messy activity, whilst others were glad that it was over!!  It was a great way to visualize what is happening inside our bodies when we eat food.

Time to go to show what happens when we go to the toilet!

 

Sound 

We have been learning about how sound is made through vibrations and how it travels to our ears so that we can hear it.  It was great fun making string telephones to speak with our friends!

We tested to see if we needed the string to be loose or taut.

We’re not sure if the message was able to get passed on here!
Good vibrations…! We tested what happens to the vibrations when we made the ruler longer or shorter.

On the last day of term we had fun making instruments to show our understanding of vibrations and how to change the pitch of sound.

 

A finished guitar, ready to be played!
An “electric” guitar with an amp and an acoustic guitar. Well done boys!
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Visitors to our class

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We were delighted to have a visit for some cute and cuddly guests last Monday.  Leva’s Mum took in their new baby rabbits for us to see.

We all had fun stroking, cuddling and feeding them.   It was very difficult to say cheerio at home time!

Thanks again to Leva and her Mum for taking them in!

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Electricity

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We explored electricity by building circuits this afternoon.   We worked in groups to try to light a bulb using the equipment we were given.  After that we investigated how to add a switch so that we could stop the flow of electricity in the circuit so that we could switch off the bulb.

We made some predictions about materials which would conduct electricity and it was fun testing them all to see if we were right!

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Last week of term

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The end of Term 1 is almost upon us!  Three of our pupils shared some exciting news with us this week, so we simply had to get a photo to celebrate their achievements.

We are lucky to have such an inviting and comfortable library in our school.    What a lovely time  we had on Tuesday, relaxing with our books.  We hope that P4/5/6 continue to read over the holidays too!

Many of us enjoy being able to choose what we write about in class. It was lovely to see everyone working so hard to achieve their writing targets this week.  We sat together on Wednesday afternoon and enjoyed sharing what we had written with everyone.  It was fantastic to see how many children were excited to share their writing and give positive feedback to others.

Maths time on Wednesday morning was good fun, playing number games with our friends.  We had to remember to take turns and listen carefully to each other.

In the afternoon we spent time building jigsaws in small groups.  Some jigsaws were tricky and will need more time to complete, but I know that we have some determined pupils in P4/5/6 who will keep going , even when the task seems impossible!

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