Welcome back!

After our October break, we kicked off the new term with an amazing Halloween party alongside the next-door P2 class. It was a fantastic way to celebrate, get moving, and try a few new things together.

🎶 Musical Monster Bumps & Statues 🎶

First, we put on our dancing shoes (and a few funny costumes) to play Musical Monster Bumps and Statues! The music played, and everyone showed off their best dance moves until it suddenly stopped—then we had to freeze like statues. Some of us had serious concentration faces, and a few funny faces snuck in too! There was plenty of laughter as everyone gave their best poses.

🧠 Finding Sweets in the “Brain”

One of the biggest challenges of the day was searching for treats inside a pumpkin “brain” (filled with slimy spaghetti!). Each of us had to reach in, feel around, and find a hidden sweet. It felt strange and squishy, but everyone gave it a try. And yes—there were plenty of “ewws!” and giggles, but by the end, each of us found a little treat to enjoy.

🌲 2D and 3D Shape Hunt with Our Buddies! 🌲

After all the indoor fun, we got outside to work with our P6 buddies on a shape hunt around the wildlife area. Together, we searched for as many 2D and 3D shapes as we could find. We spotted circles in trees, rectangles on the wall, and even discovered a few spheres and cuboids hiding in plain sight. It was a perfect way to bring our learning about shapes to life and connect with our buddies at the same time.

Our class had a fantastic return to school, and we’re excited for more learning and new adventures this term. Until next time, we’ll be keeping our eyes open for even more shapes and challenges around us!

Warm wishes from P2! 🎉

 

Exploring Lerwick with Primary 2: Smugglers, Maps, and Community Helpers!

Exploring Lerwick with Primary 2: Smugglers, Maps, and Community Helpers!

This term, our classroom turned into a mini Lerwick, with smugglers, lodberries, and local heroes filling our days! Teaching Primary 2 always brings surprises, but our focus on Lerwick in Shetland had us all on quite the adventure. Here’s a peek into what we’ve been up to.

Smugglers in Shetland: A Class of Curious Pirates

We delved into the exciting lives of Shetland’s smugglers, and let me tell you—there’s nothing like the thrill of teaching kids about sneaky criminals from long ago! The children were absolutely hooked on the tales of smugglers dodging the law and sneaking goods into Shetland.

And then we discovered lodberries—those quirky houses right on the water. The children were fascinated to learn these buildings had trap doors and hidden tunnels for smuggling. We created smuggler maps and discussed the items they may have taken into Shetland.

Mapping Lerwick: Geography Meets Artistic License

After our smuggler tales, we got practical with Google Maps to find Lerwick’s landmarks. Watching the kids explore a real town on a map was priceless—they were thrilled to find the harbour and Fort Charlotte, though some were more excited to point out random boats (“Look, a fishing boat!”) than the historical sites. This lead us down another rabbit hole which revolved around boats, particularly those we see in Lerwick. The children wanted to know where they went, what they did out and see and what kind of fish they caught. They were delighted when we found an online shipping map which told us exactly what we wanted to know.

Museum Day: Real-Life Artefacts (and Snacks)

No topic is complete without a museum visit, so off we went to the Shetland Museum.  Once we were inside, they were fascinated by the old boats and fishing gear. There were plenty of “oohs” and “aahs” as they saw real artefacts from the past. Funnily enough, they were highly amused when they were told about past toilet practices! We went on the trip with P2A. It was a great experience and fun to get out of school for the morning – in both the teachers and children’s opinions!

People Who Help Us: Real-Life Superheroes

Of course, learning about Lerwick wouldn’t be complete without talking about the people who make the community tick. We chatted about the roles of fishermen, marine biologists, those in customer service, coastguards, and firefighters —and after learning about how they help help Shetland, the kids were ready to sign up for all the above.

Wrapping Up: Smugglers, Maps, and Local Legends

By the end of the topic, the children were practically experts on Lerwick. They could explain what a lodberry is, describe how maps help us, and talk about how important community helpers are. Most of all, they learned that even a small town like Lerwick is full of history, stories, and people who keep everything running smoothly.

I think we’ve all come away from this topic a little more curious about the world around us—and perhaps a little more interested in the secret lives of smugglers!

Drumming with Joy!

Primary 2A have had a great experience over the past term playing and learning the drums with Joy.

Every week we journeyed to the library and took part in a varied repertoire of songs and beats. The children demonstrated excellent listening skills, along with rhythm and dancing. They really enjoyed these sessions and looked forward to expressing themselves with the music. To celebrate their achievements they performed one of their newly learned songs in front of the infant years. P2A did an amazing job showing off their talents in-front of the crowd.

Afterwards they listened well to the other year groups who were also excellent. At the end of the show the whole infant department had a boogie with their teachers and Joy who was keeping them dancing with the upbeat music.

Some of the children even came to dance in the middle. What dancers we have in 2A! They had some fantastic moves! I think it is fair to say, we are all very thankful to Joy for her fun sessions and we are looking forward to partaking in more drumming experiences in the future.

Great job everyone 🙂

PE – Movement Skills

In PE we have been revising and developing our movement skills, performing with greater precision, control and fluency.   Some of our activities have included

-using our bodies, on our own and in groups, to create letters,

-navigate around a circuit of different obstacles involving changes of height and direction, coordination and balance,

-coordinating our feet to perform different patterns of movement using dots and ladders.

Here we are in action.

 

Outdoor Learning

We spent a lovely afternoon at the stoney beach our favourite place. Our intended learning was to revisit road safety, beach risky play particularly rock climbing and the sea depth.

We found some interesting treasures and we enjoyed a windy beach explore. Pupils were using descriptive words to describe rocks and shell patterns.

Pupil voice

‘I think being outside makes me in a happy mood’

‘This rock is stripy but in a circle kind of stripe’

’I found two fossils can you believe it, I know what kind of creature is in here!’

‘The sea is wild waves today, I wonder if the poor fish feel sea sick!’

‘I found a cave and when I put my hand on, I felt a creature inside it!’

Continue reading Outdoor Learning

IDL through Play

A lovely example of children taking their learning into their play. After our topic lesson learning about the Lerwick Town Hall yesterday. I noticed today learners had applied their knowledge of the shapes and structure of the Town Hall and they used the loose parts, magnetic tiles and wooden dolls do recreate the Town Hall. As we spoke learners shared the following knowledge and understanding that they had learned from our topic lesson the day before:

‘Look this is where the clock tower is and it rings every hour and half past!’
‘here is where you can get married with the stain window glass’

Learners asked for this to go in the class block play floor book. They also shared that they were using their collaboration meta skills.

STEM – IDL Town Hall Models

Our topic is Lerwick, pupils asked to learn about the buildings in Lerwick. Today we spoke about the Town Hall, its uses and how/when it was build and made models using pasta and playdoh. We were focusing on the meta-skill of collaborating and added our learning to our IDL working wall. Pupil comments:

‘if we make a square then it will make it stronger when we add walls’

‘you hold this part and I will hold this side and she can get the roof on, the roof is a triangle!’

‘My parents got married at the town hall upstairs!’

Meta-skill Link – listening to and valuing other people’s opinions and developing language of collaborative learning.

 

 

 

Exploring learning through play, curiosity and the outdoors.

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