That’s been a fast week! What have you been up to? In my house, we’ve been baking/cooking and watching Masterchef, playing Cluedo, getting our daily exercise outside and doing lots of reading. I am also trying to get my MRI hat finished. We hope whatever you are doing, you are having fun! If you are quick, you might be able to get out to play in the snow this morning! Today’s quote is especially for Mrs A. Henderson!
All posts by Mrs Smith
Friday’s Inspirational Quote
Well, that’s this term coming to an end. It’s certainly not how we pictured these last few weeks would go but we are sure you’ve done wonderfully at home, working on your packs and Blog ideas plus other activities you’ll have thought of yourselves. As we enter into our holidays, we ask that you and your families have a well deserved break and just spend time together, doing what you love. It’s hard when we are limited in what we can do but be inventive and think of ways you can do what makes you happy! Also, try to find ways you can keep in touch with friends…either using technology or a more traditional way! Whatever happens, know this – Mrs Henderson and I are thinking of you all and wishing you a happy and healthy holiday. Mrs Smith 🤗
Inspirational Quotes
I know it’s Friday night…but I am unsettled and feeling like there is something missing. Then I remembered…our Friday inspirational quote! Every Friday, we pick a pupil to choose an inspirational quote to be displayed in our class for the week. The week of our Education Scotland visit, Fearne picked a beautiful quote. It seems very fitting for now so I’d like to share it with you. Who knows….our Friday Blog Quotes could catch on?
Friday 20th March – Language Challenge!
Hello!!
How are you all? I hope this Post finds you all well and enjoying your home schooling. It’s very different for all of us but we all just have to try our best to get used to the new situation that we find ourselves in. Mrs A. Henderson has asked that, from time-to-time, we still use our Class Blog to set small challenges. Well…are you up for it? Here is a Language Challenge you could try and post up your work.
I found a lovely poem all about using the outdoors as a classroom and how you can learn from it. Please read the poem below and then add your own verse in the comments to tell me how you’ve been using, or could use, outside as your classroom.
The Best Kind of Classroom – by Ian MacMillan
This is the best kind of classroom,
No walls, just sky and trees.
This is the best kind of classroom,
No radiators, just a gentle breeze.
This is the best kind of classroom,
It’s a journey through time and space.
From the smallest seed to the largest tree,
This is a forest and a learning place.
This is the best kind of classroom,
Where the seasons don’t happen in books.
Where learning is watching and thinking and talking,
Where everyone notices and everyone looks.
See what you come up with P5/6!
Outdoor Maths
We have started to explore a new area of Maths this week. We braved the February weather to take our learning outside into the playground. The markings on our play areas were perfect for helping us explore parallel and perpendicular lines. We looked for right angles too. It’s amazing how many you find when you actively go looking!
Euroquiz Success for DPS Pupils
Today Tory, Kayla, Evie and Lois from Primary 6, represented our school in the Shetland Heat of the Euroquiz. We are delighted to say that they came third equal! Congratulations to them! It shows that all their hard word paid off.
P5/6 Shared Learning
Thank you to all our supporters who came to our Shared Learning event today. We hope you enjoyed our journey through Europe on this historical day! Our pupils have worked so hard in the lead up to today, especially on their STEM inventions which they presented so well in their “Dragons’ Den” style act. We had fun learning the EU anthem on the boomwhackers and were glad to share it with you. We hope you were able to spend time looking through your child’s pupil folio, looking at our climate change posters and completing our Europe quizzes. Well done – some of you scored full marks! Our displays will be in the foyer next week if you missed them. A big well done to all pupils. Your confidence when presenting to an audience always impresses us!
Apologies…no photos from today but we all enjoyed the moment!
Christmas Cards … and Poetry
I hope you have found your lovely Christmas card that was sent home today! This class enjoy craft work and created really striking winter tree paintings for their cards.
We also used these pictures to inspire us to do some creative writing. We went out into the nature garden to look at the winter trees and gather words, phrases and ideas for our work. Back in class, we looked at various free style poems to give us more inspiration before creating our own. The poems needed to sound as if we were having a conversation with the tree. They needed to have questions and repetition within it and they were not to rhyme. This proved harder than we thought! Some excellent pieces were created, very quickly. Here are some of my favourite lines…
Dream and dream until the sun shines through to wake you up, winter tree. (Amy)
Tall and elegant, but dead looking inside so bare and brown. (Fergus)
Will your leaves ever return? Lying dormant on the ground but in the summer you’re tall and proud. (Magnus)
Trees do you hear me? How do you feel? What do you see? Dusted with frost. (Fiona)
Oh winter tree, how do you survive the harsh, harsh cold winter? (Matthew)
Oh cold frosty tree, how do you stand so strong and proud in the strong winter breeze? (Hannah)
I’ll speak to you next year but now it’s time to sleep, sleep, sleep. (Isabel)
No reply came from the winter tree. Then I wonder… Is he alive? (Robbie)
The newly fallen snow is…hair. It’s winter, tree. (Ellie)
I don’t know how you can stand so tall and proud in this bitter wind. (Kelsi)
Are you cold? Surely you are! Will your leaves ever come back? You’re so naked. Soon your leaves will return. Just keep dreaming and dreaming. (Liam)
Oh tree so cold, bent and old. Your pine cones so spiky. Do you feel it if you bend so bold? (Kathryn)
Winter tree, your leaves have fallen. You’re covered in a cloak of snow. You are freezing in the bitter temperatures. (Bella)
How do you live outside in the cold lifeless winter, tree? You must have thick skin. (Bobby)
You dream about the summer and the flowers and the grass and how you’ll have leaves at last. (Ava)
Winter tree, how can you live like this…in the vast winter wind where your life has faded…? (Abi)
Yes, yes, yes! I can get cold on the outside but in the inside I can feel happiness. (Anders)
Do you want my jacket? Wait, no, that strong, insulating bark of yours will surely keep you warm. (Evie)
Mum said you’re dreaming of spring with your green, vibrant leaves but I can not see it! (Fearne)
Bare, chilly and frosty, you need some warmth. Dream of spring, summer, flowers and the sun. (Tory)
Your fantastic green leaves, gone but when summer comes around, you will be remade and beautiful once again. (Koll)
That’s too many questions! Let me stand here until spring! (Hayden)
Are you ever going to take off in this winter breeze? Swaying in the wind, bare and cold. (Kayla)
The full versions of our poems will be displayed in school next term. Please feel free to come and have a read in the new year!
Christmas Carol Concert
A huge well done to our P5/6 pupils on two wonderful performances at our Carol Concert! We are very proud of you all! What super singers, instrumentalists, percussionists and performers. We hope you enjoyed your time rehearsing and on the stage. Thank you for rehearsing so well and thanks too, to parents and carers supporting at home and on the day.
Advent
As November closes and we look forward to the advent season, P5/6 have been preparing their origami tree advent calendars. Lots of cutting, folding, gluing and sticking resulted in some lovely trees being made ready for Monday.