All posts by Mrs Smith

Down Syndrome Awareness Day

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Dunrossness Primary School was decorated with odd socks this week ready for Down Syndrome Awareness Day!  Many pairs of odd socks, odd shoes and even bare feet were seen today!

We prepared a card and poem for one of our classmates to let her know how lucky we are to have her in our class.  We also learned to sign, ‘If classmates were flowers, we’d pick you!’

We watched a PowerPoint about Down Syndrome and did some activities that helped us realise we are more the same than different.

Finding classmates with the same interests as us.

We learned a lot of facts about Down Syndrome and many thoughtful questions were asked too.  Some we need to find out about but that’s what makes days like these so interesting for us all!  We all learn together!

We watched the song below and talked about its importance.  We decided that it shows just how many jobs a young adult with Down Syndrome can do and that everyone needs to be given a chance in all aspects of life.  We thought that this video can also link to life in school.  If one person is seen to be inclusive, that soon rubs off on all the others watching.

https://youtu.be/SKku4RAWa4M?si=JcnvIcFtJfrwUG8s

We’ve had a super day!
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Interfaith Scotland Visit

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We had a great visit from Frances from Interfaith Scotland.  She brought two friends to tell us more about their faith.

Haikal told us about his Muslim faith and showed us pictures from his pilgrimage to Mecca where he and his family prayed around the Kaaba, Islam’s holiest shine in the Grand Mosque.

He showed us his prayer mat which keeps him clean while kneeling and sitting.  The top of the mat must point towards Mecca.  They used to use a compass to find the correct direction but it’s easier now with phones to tell you.

Some girls tried on a Muslim headscarf, a hijab.

Dhammara told us about the 5 Principles of Buddhism and told us about the meditation he does.

Some boys tried on the Islamic skullcaps and there was one Jewish cap.  They would be held on by clips.

Finally, we listened to the meditation bowl that signals when meditation can start and stop.

We really enjoyed answering and asking questions.  This is the perfect introduction for our RME work next term!

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3 Cheers for SMUHA!

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Recycled Viking by Lucille

It’s been a busy week for all classes this week as we prepared for SMUHA!  We all made torches and helmets ready for today’s procession and galley burning.  Over the past few weeks, we’ve been creating a piece of artwork to decorate the hall.  We used recycled cardboard and paper to create a picture with a 3D look as we layered up the card.  These looked great in the Boddam Hall!

More great examples…

We got our picture taken beside the school galley.

Some P4/5 pupils had their shields chosen to go on the school galley.  Congratulations too, to Sophia and Lauren who had shields displayed on the main galley as well.  (Sadly, no photos were managed.)

Today we celebrated along with Leah, our Jarl, and the P7 Squad.  A great day was had by all!  Only a few photos were taken but we hope they give you a feel for the afternoon!

Until 2025….

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Good Luck Mr Shannon!

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P4/5 have enjoyed having Mr Shannon, a first year student at Aberdeen University, working alongside us for the past five weeks.  He was popular with all the children and he’ll be missed.  We wish him every success as he continues in his teacher training!

Good luck!
For his final afternoon in our class, we introduced Mr Shannon to one of our favourite games, a Space themed Blooket Quiz.
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Next Week in P4/5

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Good morning all!  We hope you have managed to get outside and enjoy this amazing week of snow we’ve had, in between all those snowy showers!

Next week we have a busy week planned for you!  We hope that Gregory and his team from The Children’s Parliament will be in school on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning.  On Tuesday, we will also have a visiting artist in class who will do creative work with you so we would ask that you all bring in an apron or old shirt to protect your clothes.

On Thursday we will be swimming again and we’ll have another session of Boccia to look forward to on Friday!

It’s going to be a busy one!  Hope to see you all soon!  👋

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Happy New Year!

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Happy New Year!  It’s been so lovely to see everybody back at school and to hear about the excitement of Christmas!

This week, we’ve been getting to know Mr Shannon, who is working alongside our class for his 5 week long teaching experience placement.  We are delighted to welcome him to our class and hope he enjoys his time in P4/5 at DPS.

The children did so well at the Sandwick Pool this first week back showing great listening skills while being instructed by pool staff in the water and showing considerate and respectful behaviour while we spent time in Sandwick JH School.  We are very proud of how they conducted themselves.

It’s always a tiring first week after Christmas so we were glad of some game time on Friday afternoon.  We welcomed Charis, Kayleigh Anne and Avril from Ability Shetland to the school.  They introduced us to Boccia and we played some target games.  Great fun was had by all!  We look forward to their return!

Avril kept us right by showing us whose turn it was next using her blue and red paddle.
Spot the ball!

There were many cheers and groans!

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We all supported each other to do well and try our very best.

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Santie, whaar’s du gyaan?

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We had some sleepy pupils in school on Friday after their two performances of, ‘Santie, whaar’s du gyann?’  They all did brilliantly with special thanks going to those who took on extra parts at the last minute!  We were sorry not all pupils could make it in that day.

This year, there was quite a bit to prepare before our rehearsals could begin.

We had to use our French time with Mrs Henderson to research how Christmas is traditionally celebrated in France.

We had to learn a French song to sing and also learn the signs that accompany it.  The class picked these signs up so quickly and could keep up with the fast paced tune too!  Great work!

Some pupils were keen to play instruments along to this tune and worked hard on this with Miss Moar in Music time.

Many pupils were keen to take on talking parts for our classroom scene and they worked hard at memorising lines and speaking in loud voices so that they could be heard in the hall.  This takes quite a lot of courage when faced with a large audience on the day.  They all spoke so clearly and with confidence.  😊

We also enjoyed singing in Shetland dialect as Santie made his journey around the world.  There really was something for everyone to enjoy in this concert!

On Thursday and Friday, we needed something calming and relaxing to do so the instrumental Christmas songs went on and we spent time creating our Christmas cards to take home next week.

We used oil pastels to create a ‘driving home for Christmas’ picture and then used water colour paints to paint within the lines.  The oil pastels help to keep the colours within each part of the picture.

 

The first stage was to use oil pastels to create our scene.
Next came the water colours.
Happy at our work!

Please look out for the finished cards in bags next week!  They really have turned out beautifully!

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It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

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To prepare for Christmas, we made advent calendar gnomes with a little treat hidden under each one to help us count down to the big day.

We are also really enjoying learning a new Christmas sign each day.  Today was reindeer.

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We have helped to decorate our class tree…

The highlight of today was our Christmas lunch.  A huge thank you goes to P6/7 for setting out the hall so nicely and to the cooks for the amazing food!

As well as all this, we managed some Christmas Show rehearsals, finished off our First Christmas writing and started our cards.  It’s been a lovely, lively day!
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