Cunningsburgh – Primary 4/5 – 2025/26

Big Question

This week we have focused on Scalloway Castle. The kids learned about ‘Black Patie’ also known as Patrick Stewart, the 2nd Earl of Orkney and Shetland. The kids learned about the different people who would have worked in the castle in the early 1600s. The kids then read an extract from Patrick Stewart’s ‘diary’ . Finally the kids worked in pairs to write a diary entry as one of the people who would work for the Earl.

I saw you SHINE

Since Wednesday this week I have been watching for glimmers – moments when the kids have gone above and beyond with their behaviours, effort or tasks. We are extremely lucky because I could give every child a glimmer every day so I aim to give out 3/4 at day. There are several kids on the wall already and more will follow in the coming days.

Up Helly Aa Artwork

P4 and P5 had a fantastic visit to Lerwick to watch the morning procession of Up Helly Aa. We then went to the museum where the children participated in 2 workshops; a tour of the Viking exhibits and a hands on investigation of some Viking objects. It was very interesting and the kids were extremely engaged throughout asking interesting questions throughout. It was great to be out with them all. Many thanks to Kayla Hunter, Trevor Jamieson and Mrs Teale for accompanying us on the trip.

Big Question

In big question this week we were learning about castle defenses. The children worked in pairs to make notes during our lesson and then create posters on canva to show the main defenses that castle buildings included. The next day the children worked in groups of 3 to ‘build’ their own card castles with as many of the defenses build in as they could. It was great to see everyone working so well together to achieve their goals and I think their castles are fab! I wonder if the children can tell you about any of the castle defenses?

Movement Breaks

We have been loving Waka Waka this week during our movment breaks. We aim to have a movement break in the middle of each of the long learning blocks (morning-break and break-lunch). Sometimes we do a sensory circuit which involves 3 ‘exercises’; an alerting activity like star jumps to wake up the nervous system, an organising activity like balancing on one leg to organise sensory input and a calming activity like giving ourselves a tight hug to focus and settle. Either of these activities takes 3-4 minutes and helps the children to focus better as they have had a chance to ‘get the wiggles out’ and give their brains a rest.

All learners also have fidget tools in their pencil box to help them focus when listening to teaching inputs.

We start the day with either daily mile or Go Noodle to give a soft start and get ready for the day ahead. What is your child’s favourite go noodle?

Writing

In writing this week we have been creating our characters for the writing block ahead. Our characters will be going on lots of adventures in the coming weeks while we work on using interesting vocabulary to engage the reader. Who has your child created?

These are a Few of our Favourite Things

On the first day back the children brought their favourtie thing. We then drew and painted them before practicing our cutting skills by cutting them out and backing them to create a black outline.

Self Portraits

The children we given a photograph of half of their face. They then drew and shaded the other half in pencil.

Maths – Subtraction

This week we have been learning the jump method of subtraction. We have been doing lots of practice with concrete materials and then looking at showing the working on paper.

Science

In science we did an experiment to investigate the properties that resulted in floating and sinking. The children learned to use the term buoyancy and density.

Big Question

This week we have been learning about primary and secondary sources. We looked at different sources of information and discussed the properties that made them primary or secondary. The children then created posters showing possible examples of primary and secondary sources.

Exciting Equipment Updates This Week!

This Week’s Equipment Highlights

• New Heights: One box was set higher, and another had a lower bench leading up to it, adding variety and challenge.
• Ropes Added: The ropes were introduced this week and were a huge hit with the pupils!
• Directional Changes: We included a mix of benches, beams, and tables with changes of direction to keep things interesting and engaging.

In maths we have been continuing our 'speedy skills' work and we have played some times table board games to help us practice. We have also got new QR codes in our classroom which we can scan to find different times table games to play. This has been super fun!

This week our writing has been about Guy Fawkes. In partners, we created fact files about his life and we also have written newspaper articles about The Gunpowder Plot. We imagined we were writing the newspaper report after the event in 1605.

We finished our Big Question about Fairtrade. We looked at different non-Fairtrade products and researched which ingredients in them could be sourced through Fairtrade suppliers.

We also started thinking about our Enterprise project this week and we had two special visitors in who were business experts. They spoke to us about branding, marketing, selling and the finance behind a business. It was great to hear from them before we properly begin planning our businesses next week. We asked lots of brilliant questions and spoke about what made us nervous about the event.

Our discovery club this week was about 'endangered animals', which was sad to learn about but a really important topic to educated ourselves and others on. We created presentations, posters and drawings of different endangered animals with lots of information about how we can help them.

Speedy Skills:




Writing:

    


Fairtrade:



Enterprise:


Discovery club:

This term, all pupils will be taking part in gymnastics, starting with mat skills and progressing to apparatus work. Gymnastics is a fantastic way for children to develop confidence, coordination, and strength while working at their own level.

It has been a very busy first week back at school after the holidays!

In maths we have started doing a new starter task before each lesson. We now get a 'number talks' picture with questions to work out. We have also started our 'speedy skills' for the term which will be times tables. Over the term we will be playing different games and working with Miss Mann & Mrs Johnson to build and consolidate our knowledge.

We have been writing poems this week about Halloween. We did an Acrostic poem and we did a rhyming poem where we had to add in the next line. 

Our Big Question this week has been about why we should choose Fairtrade products. We learned about what Fairtrade is and why it is important. We found out that it protects the rights of farmers who grow foods such as - sugar, cocoa and bananas. If a farmer is part of the Fairtrade organisation they will be paid fairly which will allow them to buy the things they need to live. We made posters about Fairtrade and the process of growing some of these foods. On Thursday we sorted products into Fairtrade and not Fairtrade groups. We also taste tested Fairtrade cookies, bananas and chocolate! :)

Halloween fun! 
On Friday we did a few fun Halloween activities. We had a mini-figure scavenger hunt around the classroom to find ghosts, bats, spiders and pumpkins. We also heard Halloween jokes from p3/4 which we can use when we go guising. We also used our knowledge of volume to follow a recipe and accurately measure ingredients to make a 'Wizard potion'. We used frog juice, zombie acid, wizards powder, pumpkin juice and fairy dust to make a potion! It was very fizzy. 

On Friday morning/afternoon we had Eve from the Edinburgh Royal Botanics come in to teach us lots about different plants and flowers. We learned about the names of Scottish plants, stories behind them, tasted some different plants, created ‘Frankenstein’ plants and also thought about plants that held memories for us. We all had a super time and enjoyed learning about plants in a different way.

Royal Botanics visit:














































Maths Starters:











Fairtrade foods:


































Halloween Fun: