Tag Archives: Topic

A Place In Childhood

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Today Anna from the ‘A Place In Childhood’ organisation came to visit along with Ana Arnett, Community Involvement & Development Officer, to work with our class.  We were thinking about our local area and places of importance.  We collected quite a list!

Gathering ideas about our local area.

After that, we went on a walk to help us think more about the areas around our school, what we like about them, how we use them and how they might be improved.  Our walk ended up at the Boddam Play Park so we had our snacks outside and had a play!  This was actually useful for our discussions later!

We then worked in groups on an island task.  We pretended we were separated from the rest of Shetland from Levenwick and South.  We noted down what we would miss not being connected to other areas and added them to the ‘island’.  When Anna collated all our ideas, we were able to think more realistically about what we would like to see in our area and this helped us create our priority list.

Tomorrow, we will all complete a Play Sufficiency Assessment where we will select areas we like to play and pinpoint others that we feel could be improved.  The results will be used to support the SIC in their decision making plans for the future.  We will then use our expertise to help others in the school complete this same survey.

Our final task will be to select a few willing pupils to share our thoughts and ideas at a Showcase Event at Sandwick JH School next Friday.  We will meet with children from our Cluster Schools and share our priorities with local decision makers, including representatives from the Shetland Islands Council.  It’s a great opportunity for us to effect change and see that our views are valued.

Grateful thanks to Anna, Ana and our parent volunteers!
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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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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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The Results Are In!

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We tested the last of our wind powered cars today.  Some groups needed more time to make slight modifications to their sail or car structure.  As well as engineering skills being developed here, the pupils were working with a partner to share ideas, make decisions and persevere with the task when it didn’t always work first time.  What a lot of learning going on!

Some cars didn’t get finished in time, but those pupils will still get the chance to test their sail making abilities, using a ready made toy car.

As each car was tested. it was lovely to hear the positive feedback given to each group, along with some helpful tips on how to improve on each design.  Some common themes were:

  • Getting the right shape and size of the sail
  • Can the wheels turn?
  • Is anything on the bottom of the car creating too much friction?  We realised that the car would need even more wind energy to help it to move.
  • How the sail was held up – was it secure enough?

With Mrs Smith, the class have been working on their measuring skills and these skills were put into good use for this task!  There were lots of helpful pupils who were keen to read how far each car had travelled.  Very accurate measuring from all!

All of the cars moved when wind energy was provided, even if just a little bit.  However, the most successful wind powered car travelled a massive 1m 80cm!

Even when things didn’t go to plan, it didn’t matter!  We had fun watching the results and learning from the process.  This car was even pushed over by the wind!

 

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Museum Trip

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Primary 4/5 visited The Shetland Museum on Wednesday 5th June to learn more about Shetland in World War Two.

Lots of changes were taking place in Shetland during that time and it was interesting to learn about how people lived and adapted to these changes.

We looked at World War Two exhibits, learning about the Home Guard, The Shetland Bus operation, stories about men who were fighting in other countries and how soldiers created their own entertainment here in Shetland to boost morale.

We learned that materials were rationed and it was common for children to make their own toys out of things they could find around the house.  We made our own peg dolls!  What a creative bunch in P4/5!

Week 3

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Week 3 was another busy one with lots of opportunity to work with others and be creative.

We played a variety of word building games and revised some common high frequency words.  These words are used regularly in our writing, so we will work hard to learn them in many different ways.

Thank you for sending in resources to help with our Rainforest in  a Box project.  We started building them this week and it has been lovely to see so many creative ideas being shared amongst the class.  We plan to have them ready to show parents towards the end of term.

In Maths this week we have been looking at Place Value and how to construct larger numbers.  The class had fun using the Place Value blocks to build models and then work out the value of each model.  It was great to hear the children sharing their thinking and supporting each other to understand.  We will be moving on to comparing numbers and ordering them too.   I’m sure everyone will be keen to challenge themselves with even larger numbers!

We love to hear about any achievements outside of school and this week enjoyed hearing about one P4’s success at a recent athletics competition.  Well done!

 

Research Projects

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This afternoon we got the chance to share our learning with each other and the P6/7 class.  For the past few weeks, P4/5/6 have been busy researching and learning new things about Shetland in the past.

Each pupil got the chance to choose an area of local history that interested them and they could decide how they wanted to present their information.  Everyone was encouraged to think creatively about the different ways information can be shared.

In our classroom, we displayed posters, leaflets,  models, and stop motion animations.

Pupils chose to find out about The Braer disaster, Jarshoff, Shipwrecks, Historical landmarks in Shetland, World War 2 in Shetland, The Quendale Mill, Sumburgh Lighthouse, The Shetland Bus, Sumburgh Airport,  Mousa Broch and Whaling.

We also got the chance to see what P6/7 had chosen to research.  It was a lovely afternoon of sharing and learning new things.   How lovely it was to hear so many wonderful compliments being given by everyone!

Da Trowie Sang

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Over the past few weeks, the upper stages pupils have been supporting Mrs Inkster in her Music classes when she teaches the younger pupils.  She has been so grateful for their help and we’re sure that all the children, both young and old, have gained from this experience.  To tie in with our local history topic, we have been learning ‘Da Trowie Sang’ which is sung in Shetland Dialect.  Some of our pupils have taken to this so well, Mrs Inkster asked them to perform it for the Orca class today.  They did an amazing job!

 

Magical History Tour

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What a week it has been in P4/5/6!

On Monday, P4/5/6 and P6/7 spent the whole day in Virkie, learning about what went on there throughout history.

First we took a little walk to see the remains of the Braer oil tanker, which ran aground 30 years ago.   Some pupils have chosen this topic to research further and we look forward to seeing what they have to share with us later in the term.

 

We could see one of the funnels stuck between some rocks.
I wonder if it will still be there in 30 years time?

Next it was time to visit Old Scatness and the iron age village.  Archaeologists from The Amenity Trust took us around the site and gave us a little insight into what life was like and how archaeologists can learn more about how people lived in the past.

Looking fierce!
It was great fun dressing up!
We made a timeline jigsaw together. We could see just how long ago Old Scatness was built!
We dissected some “poo” to see if we could find out what had been eaten. (Thankfully, it wasn’t real!)
Was it easy to make flour using this method?
Getting a tour of Old Scatness.
We enjoyed sitting in the reconstructed round house. I wonder what it would have been like to live there?

After some lunch in Betty Mouat’s Bod, we set off to Mrs Leslie’s farmland to find out about what was going on there during World War 2.  We were amazed to find out that around 5000 men were stationed there at that time!  There are still some remains of buildings and roads that were built for them.  We had fun trying to guess what some of the different structures were used for.

The remains of an old house that had to be knocked down to create a clear view of the runway during the war.

On Wednesday we walked to the Crofthouse Museum to find out about life in Shetland over 100 years ago.  It has been so well looked after, one of the pupils asked if it was a reconstructed house.   We are grateful that it continues to be cared for and enjoyed by so many visitors.

We learned about the crofting way of life and all of the different things people used.  Everyone listened really well to the information and there were some super questions being asked too.

We passed around some items inside the crofthouse. These are some “rivlins” that were made from seal skin.
We did a scavenger hunt around the garden area and tried to answer questions on what we had just learned.

Thank you again to all of our parent helpers who accompanied us on our trips this term.   Your support is greatly appreciated and has given the children the opportunity to safely explore all of the wonderful things on offer in their local  community.

Swan and Museum Trip 15th May 2023

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What a day!  The pupils in P4/5  had an exciting day in  Lerwick today, learning about life in Shetland in the past.

On our way to set sail with The Swan, some pupils were unsure and feeling a bit nervous.  It wasn’t long before these feelings disappeared as we got busy on deck with the skipper and his 2 crew mates.  We got some hands on learning to see what it takes to sail a traditional vessel, the history of the Swan – and our maritime heritage.

It was good fun, working as a team to raise the sail and have a go at steering the boat!  Some future skippers at Dunrossness perhaps…?  One of the highlights was definitely exploring the bunks downstairs.  Most folk thought it would be quite a comfortable sleep in there, apart from when you would have to put in the extra plank of wood across the bunk opening, to keep you from falling out on a rough night out at sea!  On Wednesday, P6 will have a whole day on board The Swan, learning “the ropes” and working as  a team.  We know they’ll have great fun!

As well as our sailing experience, we spent time at the Shetland Museum, hopping through the ages and discovering the different people who have settled in Shetland over thousands of years.

We learned about crofting and fishing life in Shetland and the different jobs men and women were responsible for.  After our tour, we got a chance to do some “carding” with sheep’s fleece, to make it soft enough to then spin into yarn.  We can certainly see how hard life must’ve been in the past!