Well it’s hard to believe that it’s nearly the end of term 3 already. We have had a really busy term and there’s still loads to fit in.

January started with a bang with a visit from the Scalloway Jarl Squad.

The Girlsta and Nesting up Helly Aa visited us too in February.

What have we been learning this term?

Where do we start?  Our topic this term is Shetland and the Sea so we have done lots of activities linked to Shetland.  In January pupils wrote imaginative stories about a Trow in Kergord Woods.  Pupils have used their ICT skills to edit and type these up and will be used at our Shetland Fishing Foy later this term.  More about that later.

In Maths P5 have been working hard on equivalent fractions and ordering fractions.  Pupils became Pizza toppers for the afternoon but had to get the toppings right to keep the customer (Mrs Tait) happy!

P4 have been really busy learning about Addition and Subtractions this term and have worked really hard.

In PE this term pupils have been working on gymnastic skills and tag rugby with Mr Kirkness and have had a 6 week block of swimming.  We would like to say a big thank you to all the parents who gave up their time to help out.  Since swimming finished we got back to class PE on Thursdays where we are learning Shetland Traditional Dances.  I’ve not been brave enough to take the camera to PE yet as pupils are still polishing their performances.  Photos to follow.

Pupils have been busy in Art aswell with Mrs Hoseason.  All pupils have completed a competition entry.  See a selection below.

There are still more to display.

We have been learning 2 modern languages this term.  In January we met Miss Che and have been learning about Chinese culture and some language and pupils have even had a go at using chopsticks!

In French we have revisited greetings and emotions,classroom instructions, days of the week, Months of the year, numbers and colours.  Pupils have really enjoyed the challenge of asking each other sums in French.  I have introduced a class register for pupils to let us know how they feel each day.  This has generated a lot of discussion and Mrs Spofforth has been using it while teaching Health and Well being this term.

Pupils completed a colour by numbers Monster to help remember numbers and colours in french.

Despite all this we have still found time to squeeze in plenty of other activities.  Pupils have just started using Spellzone for Spelling and now all have their usernames and passwords stuck in their Homework Diaries – so they can be encouraged to play the games and do the activities at home.  There are lots of fun and challenging activities for pupils.  I am encouraging pupils to spend 10 minutes 2 or 3 times per week working on their spelling pathway at home to help improve their spelling.  Pupils also have passwords for Sumdog and Read Theory.

Read Theory is a free online resource that pupils are using as part of their reading comprehension.  All pupils go on at least once per week but some have been using the username and password in their homework diary to do extra during wet play times and at home.  We are still continuing with our usual reading scheme where pupils read with me once per week, alone once per week and with Mrs Morrison once per week.   I do a small group activity with pupils as well as hear them read.

We have been learning how to summarise a story.

Topic – History of Shetland and the Sea

We have had a super busy term on topic and we still have loads to do.  We started our topic by learning about timelines.  Pupils had to think about their own timeline and think about what important events had happened during their lifetime.   From there we started to think about when other important things in our daily lives were built or started.

These pupils were asked to make a timeline for when different services started and places were built.  Pupils were surprised to find out that there was no Gilbert Bain hospital until the 1950s, that the Anderson High School was built in the 19th Century.  Pupils also couldn’t understand that we hadn’t always had a Ro-ro ferry service.

Pupils started coming with many questions which we have explored during topic.  Pupils wanted to know:-

How did  people travel if there was no North boat?

What jobs did people and children do?

What kind of boats were used in Shetland?

What was it like to be young in Shetland many years ago?

We started by learning about Arthur Anderson who grew up in Shetland and worked as a beach boy before he left Shetland and changed the life of Shetlander’s forever.  Pupils have created a story wall of his life and have created their own motto’s for learning to sit next to Arthur Anderson’s “Do Weel And Persevere”.

 

      

 

   

   

    

Some pupil learning mottos

   

We have visited to museum to find out more.

Yvonne explained how people worked together to get the crofting work done.  boundaries weren’t set with fences but might be a burn or a dry stone dyke.

  

The Shetland museum is a great place to meet your Granny busy at work.  Yvonne told us that crofters lived in small croft houses which needed regular maintenance.  People had simple lives and ate reestit mutton and salt fish.

   

   

   

Yvonne explained all about how the sixareen was stocked up with fishing gear, basic personal belongings, stones for ballast and room to store fish.

Pupils have been really keen to share their topic with parents.

We also visited the archives to learn about how to investigate the past by using literature from the past.

Mark took time out of his busy day to tell the children about the Gloup disaster and gave us a copy of newspaper articles which were written following the disaster.

Pupils were shown how to look at old newspapers on microfilm and found a copy of the Shetland journal – Shetland’s first News paper started by Arthur Anderson.

Pupils were really impressed by how neat the handwriting was in the past but weren’t so keen to learn how to do it themselves!

Mark and Yvonne said that the class had been so polite, listening and asking great questions that they would get a VIP trip to the repository – the bit the public don’t get to see.

Pupils thought it was like being in Dr Who because all the shelves could move.  Mark showed us how the books were kept cool, in a controlled atmosphere and away from light to make sure they didn’t get damaged as they were very old and rare.

Finally it was time to say goodbye.

Thanks Yvonne and Mark we had a brilliant time and even spotted Arthur Anderson’s house on our way back to Tingwall.