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!
On Wednesday 5th February we enjoyed an afternoon of Biosecurity activities. Biosecurity is the protection of a species from other non-native invasive species.
We learned about the Storm Petrels on Mousa and the importance of keeping the island clear of any predators who would be a threat to them.
Afra Skene, a Biosecurity Officer in Shetland, provided lots of games and activities to get us thinking more about Biosecurity and how to spread the word to others in our community.
The children were asked to think of the ways in which they enjoyed learning and to invent activities, songs, games and challenges to try and teach others about Biosecurity. Hopefully some of our ideas will appear in a teaching resource being produced for schools in Scotland!
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.
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!
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!
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.
Today we looked at the next aspect of our topic – electricity. It was great fun exploring the electricity boxes and trying to make an electrical circuit to light the bulbs! Lots of exciting discoveries were made and I’m sure the hilarity could be heard throughout the school as we tried to create a complete circuit with our bodies!
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.
Today was our last STEM session with Emma Chittick this year. The children were asked to use all of the knowledge and skills gained over the past couple of weeks to build something that would generate electricity. Everyone was raring to get started and it didn’t take long for their designs to take shape!
Some made wind turbines, some used solar cells, while some used both in the same structure. It was great to see the children interacting and problem solving together to try and achieve success. I was very proud to see everyone working so well as a team and providing support for each other. Well done P5/6!
We had a visit from the school nurse today to remind us how to wash our hands properly. It is so important to keep washing our hands thoroughly, especially at this time of year with all of the nasty bugs that can so easily be spread from person to person.
Everyone took turns to cover their hands in a special cream that will show up under UV light. Then we all washed our hands carefully, following the advice given, and put our hands under the UV light. If anything did not get washed properly, it showed up on your hands with the special light.
Everyone did a brilliant job and now we need to remember to keep this up with our daily handwashing routines!
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