The children had so much fun making glasses today. They enjoyed hearing about the Dinosaur who Lost his Specs and decided what their glasses would enable them to see. Some glasses made everything invisible, or a particular colour, and some even made everything fly or even gave the children super powers!
We are very lucky at Whiteness Primary to have such excellent outdoor spaces that provide rich environments for learning. Today we focused on using the loose parts in the shed to build, experiment and play. It is amazing seeing how the children use the various resources to create, solve problems and develop more flexible thinking.
Firstly the children thought about what they needed and took the materials they needed to an area they wanted to play/develop.
There was lots of discussion, collaboration and physical work to gather materials.
The children worked together to solve problems, develop ideas and negotiate. The spaces they created were fantastic and they had so much fun.
We also had snack in the new polycrub, which was lovely but quite hot.
Lots of the children were involved in using a series of pipes and guttering to get water to flow down a slope. There were so many peerie engineers helping and coming up with ideas and solutions to problems. They were so excited when each new section worked and they just wanted to make it even longer.
Another beautiful morning in Whiteness so we set off along the Strom Road for a walk and a little adventure.
The children were so sensible when crossing the road and listened really well as we chatted and played games as we walked.
We listened for the yeti’s belly rumbling and the children had great imaginations for where he would have a bath or shower and where he lived.
We headed to the ‘mountain’ where the children loved climbing and exploring.
What a beautiful place we live in. The children took time to look around them and be aware of the plants, animals, colours and landscape in front of them.
River and Willum were first to the top of the ‘mountain’.
But we all got there eventually.
The children had a STEM activity this afternoon after discussing how birds fly.
First they had some simple instructions to follow . It was lovely to see the children helping each other with the tricky bits.
once they had made them they went outside to try them out.
Today the children enjoyed listening to the story of ‘The Elves and The Shoe Maker’. Last week in library time we read ‘Don’t Chew the Royal Shoe’, which was really funny.
So after some discussion about different kinds of footwear the children had a go at making their own using various materials.
The children worked in pairs and had to help each other complete the task of having a pair of shoes each. They did really well and we spoke about co-operation and helping each other.
They were so chuffed to wear them when they were finished and we now have a bit of a shoe shop developing in the classroom.
The children love choosing their books during library time and sharing stories together. Its a great time to listen to a story too.
The p1’s are really delighted to be able to take the books home to share with their families.
The children listened to the story of Rumplestiltskin and then they all had a go at Drawing Club in little groups.
The children learned a little bit about forces and we focused on the spinning motion of objects which they have loved investigating.
They then made their own penny spinners and designed them so they would look really cool when they were spun around.
The children listened to the story of Splat the Cat and his first day at school. They did really good listening to create these wonderful painting which are already up on the school walls.
The children have snack all together in the classroom and the younger pupils have been great at learning the new routines.
The P2’s and p3’s have been amazing at helping them.
At the beginning of the day the children have freeflow play between the classroom and the shared area for the first half hour where they make choices for what to play with. Each area is carefully resourced to enable the development of different skills eg. co-operation, problem solving, numeracy, literacy etc.
This time is a super opportunity for children to share their news and to observe them in their play. It also provides time to focus on particular children and support them in different ways eg. phonics blending, emotional check in and social skills development.
Through role play the children have learned a lot about how to look after their bodies and what it would be like to be a patient or a nurse/doctor in a hospital.
The children learned about their bones and loved having Bob the Skeleton in the classroom for a visit.
They created wonderful skeleton pictures using art straws and had to think carefully about where there were joints.
They also had a torso in which had removable organs. It was like a puzzle to get everything to fit in and a great way to learn about some of the different parts inside their bodies.
They learned a little bit about their heart and lungs and completed some exercise challenges to see how this effected the different parts of their bodies.
The children worked in groups to create these amazing posters spending time learning about the different things they need to do to look after their bodies.
There are so many aspects of their school day which lend themselves to the Busy Body topic this term. working in the Polycrub, growing their own food, snacktime and lunchtime are also perfect opportunities to discuss healthy food and a balanced diet and outdoor play really provides lots of exercise and fresh air.
The Primary 1’s look forward to meeting up with their buddies every week. The p7’s plan a variety of fantastic fun activities to do together and recently completed this collage based on the Hungry Caterpillar story.
The children have been measuring length using different body parts, uniform objects and moving on to metres and half metres. They have really enjoyed these practical fun activities and challenges. I just haven’t managed to get many photos.
Following on from length and capacity the children have been learning about weighing objects.
The children worked really well in pairs to weigh small items using uniform objects like cubes and pegs.
They were very good at estimating and recording their answers.
They went on to use kgs and half kgs and enjoyed estimating each others weights and the adults too.
The Primary 2’s have also been learning about Area and how to cover a surface with different uniform objects and then moving onto squares.
The children loved the story of the Hare and the Tortoise and we used the story in Drawing Club. These are some of the drawing Club masterpieces.
The Primary 2’s re-wrote the story using pictures which they had sequenced to help them remember the story order.
They did an amazing job of using exciting vocabulary, description and phrases which they picked from listening really well to the story and Drawing Club and applying this to their own pieces of writing.
They read their stories out to the class and were proud to see them on display.
The Primary 1’s made the cute tortoises with beautiful collaged shells.
The children had a great morning at the beach and they loved searching in the seaweed and amongst the rocks for crabs and shells.
Carina made this wonderful pattern with lots of similar sized whelks which she had collected on the beach.
We stayed at the beach for snack which is always a treat.
We do live in the most beautiful place with fantastic opportunities for learning outdoors.
The children have been learning about capacity in maths. For part of this topic they have been learning outdoors so we have been glad of the dry weather.
The Primary 1’s had a variety of containers to choose from and then had to decide on a suitable ‘measuring’ container. They got the hang of making good estimations before working together to find out the correct answer.
The primary 2’s have been learning about litres and half litres. Their containers were quite big so we were glad to be able to work outside with all that water.
They worked really well with a partner and their estimations were getting pretty close to the actual measurements once they checked.
Today was an exciting day as we pulled up the first vegetables ready in the polycrub. These radishes will be used by the cooks in school. Carina loved taking them in and giving them a wash before delivering them to the canteen.
The children are very good at looking after the plants with daily watering, transplanting seedlings and re-potting plants.
Thankyou Mason for bringing in your tortoises for Show and Tell.
The children were very curious to learn all about them and asked really good questions.
The children have been learning about about flowers. They have been finding out about the different parts of a flower and how they grow and change.
They have been investigating and naming the different parts of flowers and learning about how dandelions use the wind for seed dispersal and bees take the pollen to different flowers.
This all ties in with discussions about Spring in the classroom and when we are outdoors.
The Primary Two’s used lots of verbs to write poems about Spring. They did a great job of making a good copy to display on the wall using ICT skills they have been practicing recently.
We had a special Show and Tell this week from Jack. His mum brought along three caddie lambs for the children to meet.
This was such a good experience for the children as many of them haven’t really been close to lambs before. They had a go at feeding them with a bottle and loved getting cuddles and stroking them. They named them Rosie, Sally and Annie.
Freyja also brought in her caddie lambs for Show and Tell. The children were very amused to see them wearing nappies. They had great fun cuddling them and playing chasies up and down the hill. Freyja could tell us a lot about how to look after them.
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