Primary 6 were incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to go out on the Swan. We had a fantastic day sailing in the Lerwick harbour. We learned new skills, such as how to put up and take down a sail. We also all got a chance to steer the boat!
Category Archives: Outdoor Learning
Victorian Lerwick Trip
Our final question in our Victorians topic was: What was life like in Victorian Lerwick? We were very lucky to have Mrs Nicholson take our classes on a tour of Lerwick to look for evidence of the Victorians. We also compared old photos of Lerwick to what we could see today.
The Gilbertson Park was opened in Victorian times. The Burgh Road used to also be the end of Lerwick!
The Town Hall and Police Station were built in Victorian times. We looked for clues on the buildings that tell us this.
The street has lots of Victorian buildings on it. We were surprised that the sea used to go all the way up to Harry’s Shop!
Microbit Step Counters
We LOVE using microbits in Primary 6. They are mini computers that you can code. We have used them to display messages, make games and create animations.
In this lesson we created step counters. The microbits have motion sensors so we could programme them to count our steps. We also had the extra challenge of setting a step goal and coding our microbit to react when we reached our step goal. We got to choose and code what our microbits did when we achieved our goal. Some of the microbits played music, displayed an emoji or displayed a message. Here we are testing them out outside.
Buoyancy
P5A have been learning about buoyancy and density in their topic work this week. First we tested different classroom objects to see if they would float or sink, then we completed a STEM challenge, creating boats out of craft materials. We tested them to see how buoyant they were. If they didn’t stay afloat we tried to amend our designs to improve their buoyancy. Pupils had great fun doing this and used numerous meta-skills in the process such as adapting, showing initiative, collaborating with others and using their creativity and critical thinking skills. Well done P5A! 
Clouds
P5A have been learning about different types of clouds in our water topic. We took our learning outdoors to identify the types of clouds present in the sky – cumulus, stratus or cirrus. This involved applying our focusing, communicating and curiosity meta-skills.
Planting
Our topic this term is Water. We have been learning about the importance of water for survival. This week we planted some sunflower seeds which we are going to water and care for. Hopefully they will grow very tall. During our time outdoors we used our collaborative meta skills working in pairs.
Measuring Outdoors
P5A have been learning about measure this term. We were fortunate enough to get some hot, sunny weather this week so we took our lesson outdoors and measured lines drawn in chalk around our playground. Pupils were able to convert these measurements from m to cm. During this task we applied collaboration and communication meta skills.
Creating Water Butts
Our topic this term is Water. We have been learning all about the water cycle and the importance of water. P5A spent time outside this week looking at the best areas around the school to place a water butt to collect water. They also took time to decorate their own water butts. This task involved collaborating with peers and applying critical thinking, a very important meta skill. Next week we will monitor the water they collect.
Beach Trip
Last week P5A went to the Sands of Sound beach. Our topic this term is Stories of the Sea so we were interested in gathering shells to use in a display for our Stories of the Sea Museum and checking the beach for plastic pollution.
Pupils stated that learning outdoors at the beach had helped them focus and lift their mood whilst working collaboratively to search for beach artefacts to display back in the classroom (all very important meta skills). They also stated that they enjoyed adapting to learning in a different environment and spending time outdoors with each other, even though it was a cold, blustery day.
Distance from the Sun
Later in the week we used our fruit to measure the distance of the planets from the sun. We used measure and scale to illustrate this.
