Author: Mrs Johnson

Big Question

This week we were learning about Glasgow Tenements. We watched a tour of the Tenement House Museum in Glasgow and learned all about the life of the lady who lived there. We read a poem all about Mrs Johnson’s Great Gran who lived in one for the Tenements from 1912 when she was born until she died in 2007. From the poem we were able to learn about all the changes that happened in the time of the Tenements such as the invention of the washing machine, the telephone & the television, the addition on indoor toilets, the change in music (we listened to some Elvis and Beatles), the Queen’s coronation (we watched a bit of this) and the moon landing (we watched a bit of this). The kids then created venn diagrams about life in the Tenements versus life now then illustrated parts of the poem with what they had learned. We also drew Mackintosh Roses.

Maths – 2D Shapes

In maths this week we were learning about 2D shapes and their properties. We drew shape aliens and then wrote clue cards to describe them using the properties of the different shapes we included. I wonder how many of the 13 shapes that we learned that the kids can remember? (6 x 4 sided shapes then 3,5,6,7,8,9,10 sided shapes)

Music Festival

I was so proud of the kids for both their behaviour at, and their performance in, the music festival on Monday. They were absolutely brilliant! Well done to each and every one of them and many thanks to Mrs Pottinger for all her hard work in preparing them for it. We are very lucky in Shetland to have such a rich culture of music and such great provision for the arts and it is very important that we continue to support this very important part of Shetland’s unique heritage and the young people who shine through this medium.

Huge congratulations to our very own Junior Young Musician of the Year finalist, Kaela, you did a phenomenal job and we are all so proud of you.

SMUHA

We enjoyed a visit from King Karl Hundason and his squad on Friday.

BIG QUESTION

This week in Big Question we were learning about the Wars of Independence. The kids made time lines showing the main events, researched some of the key figures and then did a free writing project to show their learning.

World Book Day Maths

We did some book related maths activities. Well done to the Dastardly Diarists who were the winners of the competition.

World Book Day Activites

We had some exiting activities set up for World Book Day. These will be available all through the next week too.

World Book Day – Book Landscapes

We made book landscapes based on a book, or book series, that everyone in our group had read.

Dogs Against Drugs

Megan and Bravo came to visit us to teach us about the work that Dogs Against Drugs do.

Everyone has been doing brilliantly reading their ‘just right’ books. Lots of people are consistently reaching their target and several people have reached beyond the halfway point with our reading challenge. Reading is one of the best indicators of academic success, it improves general knowledge and attainment, wellbeing, resilience and self-esteem, language and literacy skills and thinking, memory, attention and creativity. My favourite part of our reading ethos is when the kids are searching for new books to read and they start to recommend reads to each other! So whether it is a physical book, an eBook on a kindle or even an audio book all of these count towards our reading challenge (though audio books don’t count towards our reading targets).

These are some photos from the clay models we made a couple of weeks ago that the kids took home last week. Unfortunately I didn’t mange to take too many photos as I was generally covered in clay! I hope that you loved seeing what your children made.

Our science focus for this week was on micro-organisms. We are trying to grow our own mould but we are testing out whether mould grows faster in the light or the dark and also testing whether mould grows faster on bread that has been touched by no hands, clean hands or unwashed hands. It will be interesting to see how this experiment develops.

This week we learned about the Scottish Parliament and Stirling Castle. We investigated when they were built and what they were built for. After that the children created these fantastic pieces of art inspired by Scottish artist Gillian Kyle. The children were encouraged to incorporate iconic Scottish images in their artwork alongside a can of Irn Bru. I think they have done a fantastic job!

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.