It was great to see so many parents in school last Friday. The children loved sharing their learning and showing them around the classroom and the school. I think everyone got dragged along the ‘Kindness Trail’ which the children have loved this term. The art work throughout the school is amazing and the children are very proud of their pieces.
The children have been learning about how much containers can hold. The Primary 1’s started off by figuring out which containers holds more/ holds less by pouring and filling different sizes tubs, bottles etc.
All the children practised measuring the volume of different containers using non standard units. They counted how many cupfulls the different containers held.
The older children moved on to using litres to measure the size of the containers.
The children have recently been learning about measuring length. They loved being outdoor with their ‘friendly sticks’ to practice using the correct mathematical language of longer, shorter, etc.
They worked well with partners to use non-standard units to measure some larger lengths…………
…..and some smaller lengths……
The Primary 2’s moved on to measuring lengths in metres and half metres. They also worked together to make an underwater display of one metre long fish, with a few smaller half metre ones swimming along too.
Danny brought his two puppies in to school to show the rest of the children.
The puppies were so friendly and very cute. All the children got a chance to cuddle and pat them.
The adults also got a chance to cuddle them……
Blue skies and sunshine for sports day this year at Strom Pitch!
We had an afternoon of fun with lots of worms in the class. The children learned some facts about worms and watched a little video about them.
Miss Robertson brought in these worms to show the class and shared lots of interesting facts about them with the children.
They then got a worm each to watch and look more closely at.
The children were really gentle with them, watching how they moved and using the magnifiers to zoom in and look more closely at their bodies. The worms were quite funny as they got annoyed and waved and waggled their bodies at the children.
The children have harvested their first produce. The radishes were ready to be eaten so the children pulled some up and brought them into school.
They all had a chance to taste a little bit in class – not the most popular vegetable but they all tried some.
The cooks also got some radishes which they prepared for the classes at lunchtime.
The children have been finding lots of insects and minibeasts in the School Wildlife Garden. They used the magnifiers to look closely at them and watch how they moved.
The school pond also has a couple of resident frogs and lots of tadpoles. There were also other water beetles and insects around the water.
Back in class the children have been learning about different minibeast and insects. They have been doing some research about them during writing lessons and learning how to label diagrams.
They used oil pastels to create this amazing wall display.
It is always so exciting once the plants start to appear! The bairns are doing a great job of looking after them and thankfully the weather is improving and there is a bit of warmth and sunshine.
Kindness is one of the schools’ Core Values and we feel it is the most important. It is always on the agenda but it is good to make it a focus and spend time discussing with the children different ways of being kind and how it makes us and others feel.
The children listened to stories, watched clips and had discussions about kindness. We also had little role play scenarios to act out and discuss.
Any children who were noticeably kind could choose a smiley face and add it to the Kindness Trail which is making its way around the school corridors.
Lots of parents have emailed in Acts of Kindness that they have seen the children doing at home. They loved hearing the different ways their peers have been kind and it has really spurred them on with their efforts.
All adults in the school are noticing their kindness and commenting on this with them. The cooks are well impressed with the good manners at lunchtime with lots of pleases and thankyous.
On Friday the tide was low so the bairns went to the Taing beach to take part in the Voar Redd Up. They mostly found bits of rope and plastic but the more unusual finds were a toorie and cans and bottles in the grassy area between the school and the top of the beach road.
There was also time to go exploring and find shells and crabs.
We read this book by Polly Dunbar about a penguin who wouldnt say anything. It was very funny and the children loved it.
In the story the penguin gets fired up to Space in a rocket so the children made their own little penguins as part of a STEM activity.
They had great fun seeing how high the penguins could be blasted. The Primary two Children have been learning how to write instructions so did a fantastic job explaining how to do this STEM challenge.
The children’s IDL this term is called ‘Life In Action!’ so they have been working together and planning what they would like to learn about,
It is always great to get outdoors, especially when the sun shines.
We all went for a walk in Strom Road noticing differences around us with the changing Seasons.
There was great excitement when the children spotted lots of tadpoles all along the ditches.
We had a look in the school pond and found lots of frogspawn there so hoping to spot tadpoles soon.
A huge thankyou to the parents who helped to water the plants throughout the Easter holidays. They have fairly shot up. The sunflowers were ready to be re-potted into bigger pots so the children have been busy doing that and lots of watering this week.
As part of their literacy this term the children have been learning how to write instructions. Lucy-Jo was very clear on how to plant a seed.
Last term the children were learning about fractions. Their favourite activity was making toast! They had to then cut up their toast and put toppings on their halves and quarters. There was lots of discussion about making fractions equal sized as well as lots of chat about their favourite toppings.
It was lovely to welcome lots of Grandparents into the school and classroom again. The children were so delighted to be able to share their learning and show them what they love doing at school.
The primary 1/2 class are the Eco-Committee for this term. They shared their plan in assembly last week of how they were going to involve the whole school in planting and growing their own food in the Polycrub this year.
Each class have been given a section of the polycrub to be responsible for planting in. There is also a rota for watering and looking after the plants throughout the term.
There have been lots planted already – tatties, peas, radishes, carrots, lettuce, beetroot, to name a few.
The children have also planted sunflower seeds and tomatoes in little pots which will need careful looking after and re-potting oncce they grow a little bit.
Each class is responsible for not only looking after the plants but keeping the polycrub tidy and organised for the next class or group of children who come in.
it is also a great space outdoors at Whiteness Primary to play. The children took a break from planting to work on their teamwork skills and have a lot of fun on the hill.
The children, and staff had so much fun on World Book Day. So many great character costumes and books were brought in.
They loved listening to stories, acting out stories, reading and making books.
They painted their own book covers and wrote stories inside. They loved using their favourite stories to help. So much excitement and enthusiasm for reading- it was so lovely to see,
The children moved on from wanting to help treat pets to help treat each other. They asked for a hospital, so after a lot of chat about what we would need they set it up.
It has been such a popular area of the classroom and it is lovely to see the children being so kind and compassionate toward each other. I think their may be a few doctors and nurses of the future here.
