Category Archives: Expressive Arts

Expressive Arts, Health and Wellbeing, Listening and Talking, literacy, maths, Social Skills

Swimming Lessons

December 11, 2024 Mrs Forsyth Leave a comment

The classes have really enjoyed their lessons at Scalloway pool this term. Mr Kirkness was impressed with their listening and effort and both classes have made lots of progress with confidence and skills.

Each week the classes take turns at going in the pool so while the p2 group are in I teach the p1’s at the poolside and vice versa. It is quite a productive time and the children are kept very busy with maths and literacy activities.

A huge thankyou to all the parents who volunteered to come along each Tuesday. I am very grateful for all your help.

Art and Craft, Expressive Arts, Listening and Talking, literacy, STEM

The Eyebrows of Doom

November 19, 2024 Mrs Forsyth Leave a comment

This week the children will be coming home with their Bookbug Bags. They have loved reading the books in class and The Eyebrows of Doom was a favourite…….

…….we all got carried away and made our own eyebrows of doom to change moods and make mischief.

Art and Craft, Expressive Arts, Listening and Talking, literacy, maths, Social Skills, STEM

Shapes

November 19, 2024 Mrs Forsyth Leave a comment

The children have had great fun using different materials and resources to create symmetrical designs. They have been using mirrors to check for symmetry indoors and outside and also painted wonderful symmetrical abstract designs.

They have also been learning about the 2D shapes and practised counting sides and corners. They designed their own pictures using different shapes.

We are very lucky at Whiteness to have so many fantastic resources for the children to use…..some modern technology mixed with some very old puzzles.

The Primary 2’s have been learning about which shapes can tile and which ones can’t. they found examples in and around the school and might find examples at home too. They investigated tiling using the different shapes they had been learning about.

The children have also been learning about 3D shapes and using their knowledge of 2D shapes they can describe the faces they can see. They have been learning about flat and curved faces as well as counting the vertices on the different shapes. They loved using the ‘feely box’ to describe and guess the shapes.

Again we found lots of examples of 3D shapes in the school and outdoors.

They used shapes to build models and the p1’s practiced sorting shapes into ones that could roll or not roll and ones that could stack or not stack.

Art and Craft, Expressive Arts, Health and Wellbeing, Listening and Talking, literacy, maths, numeracy, Science, Social Skills, STEM

To Start the Term…..

October 31, 2024 Mrs Forsyth Leave a comment

The classroom has changed around a bit and they are very excited and enjoying the Halloween Shop and messy activities set up for them this week.

The children have been having fun playing literacy and numeracy games and going over some of the learning from last term.

Expressive Arts, Health and Wellbeing, Listening and Talking, Social Skills, STEM

Go Furt Fridays

September 29, 2024 Mrs Forsyth Leave a comment

Most Friday mornings in Term One have been spent outdoors in our Loose Parts Zone. This gives the children opportunities to develop so many skills like co-operation, problem solving, teamwork, collaboration, etc.

Each time we go out there are different ideas, children go into different groups, different friendships develop, they get more confident using the materials available and allow their imaginations and creativity to take over.

The parent council provided us with some new resources, including half round guttering pipes and some very sturdy stands to support the pipes at different levels. This has led to some amazing problem solving and water courses in the playground.

The tree area is great for the children to learn about taking risks but being safe. They love building Dens and climbing in the trees.

On these mornings we usually have our snack outdoors which has been lovely while the weather has been good this term.

And we get to play too………

Art and Craft, Expressive Arts, Health and Wellbeing, Listening and Talking, literacy, Social Skills, STEM

Our Towns

September 29, 2024 Mrs Forsyth Leave a comment

The children started building houses in the junk modelling area and got really into it, making floors, rooms, furniture etc. They began including ‘mini-me’s into the houses too.

From this they decided to make a big town with roads between the houses.

They then began to create other buildings and areas in their town. There was a park, hospital, school etc.

The toy cars were brought out so they then built garages and even a multi-story car park.

They worked in pairs to draw plans of their towns and include all the buildings they thought should be included. It was great to see the primary 2’s labelling parts of their plans and writing names on their buildings.

The children have also been learning about different aspects of safety, including crossing the road. They did some role play in the games hall and had turns at being the lollipop person.

They then re-played crossing the road safely in their ‘town’, using the toy cars and mini-me characters.

Expressive Arts, Health and Wellbeing, Listening and Talking, Social Skills, STEM

Our Own Paddling Pool

September 8, 2024 Mrs Forsyth Leave a comment

Friday was a really warm day and the children have been learning about sun safety. They got onto discussing drinking plenty of water and staying cool. This got onto the subject of paddling pools and outdoor hot tubs. The class decided they would have a go at making their own paddling pool as we were heading outdoors.

They worked together to roll tyres into position to make a big circle. They then helped to get the tarpaulins over the top and pegged them down.

Once the tyres were in position and the tarpaulins on the top the children worked together to fill their pool with water. They used lots of different containers to fetch water from the water trays at the other end of the play area as the hose only reaches so far.

Once there was enough water it didn’t take long to get wellies and socks off and get in for a little paddle. The chairs made it a very comfortable place to sit and cool off. The children were so happy and excited with what they had built together.

There was a ‘changing room’ created for the children to dry their feet and get their socks and boots back on.

Art and Craft, Expressive Arts, Listening and Talking, maths, numeracy, Social Skills

Feathery Four

September 8, 2024 Mrs Forsyth Leave a comment

The primary 2’s are so good at helping the primary 1’s in the class. They worked together to draw and cut different sized circles to go on the peacocks tail feathers.

Feathery Four is a character in a story that helps with the number 4 formation.

Art and Craft, Expressive Arts, Health and Wellbeing, Listening and Talking, literacy

A visit from Becky

September 8, 2024 Mrs Forsyth 1 Comment

We were so lucky to have Becky in visiting the class to tell us about her job as an author. She told the children about writing the stories and shared lots of great vocabulary with them. They loved listening to the story and finding out about the characters on the pages of the book.

Her latest book is amazing and tells a really great story about a little girl who is a bit of a rebel. Her illustrations are beautiful and the children had the challenge of coming up with ideas for the last part of the book for her.

These are their ideas……

Art and Craft, Expressive Arts, Health and Wellbeing, Listening and Talking, Social Skills, STEM

When I Grow Up….

August 28, 2024 Mrs Forsyth Leave a comment

Children are often asked what they would like to be when they grow up. These ideas often change as they get older, but for now these paintings show what job they would like to do.

They were so good at painting in the classroom. Really great listening and careful work.

They have been enjoying role playing a few different jobs through play in the classroom and outdoors. A lot of different jobs in the hospital area, builders in the blocks, sand and Kapla and a spot of fishing in the water tray are just a few examples.

As the term goes on we will be discussing more jobs and having some parents in to tell us about their work.

Art and Craft, Expressive Arts, Health and Wellbeing, Listening and Talking, Social Skills, STEM

Our First Day Back

August 14, 2024 Mrs Forsyth 3 Comments

The children were delighted to find a hospital area in the classroom to play in. Lots of jobs to do and great fun. Lots of the new p1’s told us last year that they are keen to be doctors or nurses when they grow up.

We got some time to play outdoors in our ‘Zone’. The weather was lovely and there was great excitement watching the tractor cutting grass in the field behind the school.

A few snaps of the children having their lunch. A great success and what lovely manners.

The children loved having the opportunity to explore and play with all the lovely things in the classroom. We are very lucky at Whiteness to have such an amazing learning space.

I loved all our class photo shots so thought I would just put them all on here rather than choose just one.

Expressive Arts, Health and Wellbeing, Listening and Talking, literacy, Social Skills

Emergency!

June 27, 2024 Mrs Forsyth Leave a comment

the children have been learning about the Emergency Services and how to get in touch with them.

In small groups they created little plays about an emergency when they needed to dial 999 and ask for the Police, Ambulance, Fire or Coastguard.

They have loved playing with Emergency vehicles in class, especially the ‘Oscar Charlie’ helicopter.

Art and Craft, Expressive Arts, Listening and Talking, literacy, Science, STEM

The Crow and the Pitcher

June 11, 2024 Mrs Forsyth Leave a comment

The children loved the Aesop’s fable called the Crow and the Pitcher. The primary ones made crow puppets and used jugs and glass pebbles to retell the story. They loved being videoed on the class ipad and watching it back.

The primary 2”s wrote the story and then read it to a partner who acted it out using props. This is Conans story. He did a fantastic job of spelling and remembering to include all the important parts of the story in sequence.

Art and Craft, Expressive Arts, Health and Wellbeing, Listening and Talking, Science, Social Skills, STEM

Colour in Nature

May 28, 2024 Mrs Forsyth Leave a comment

As part of our On Our Doorstep IDL we went to explre the areas nearby the school and find different colours of plants.

The children were vary careful and only picked what they needed to work in their IDL groups to create Colour in Nature pictures. They talked about and named different types of flowers and plants they found.

The results were beautiful…….and fun!

Art and Craft, Expressive Arts, Listening and Talking, Science, Social Skills

Dandelion Art

May 23, 2024 Mrs Forsyth Leave a comment

The children went out and looked at dandelions in the nature garden. They saw them at different stages of their lifecycles.

They looked at the dandelions using magnifying glasses to see the different parts and especially the little seeds. They watched the seeds float and fly around and learned about wind dispersal and self seeding.

They created these wonderful pieces using cut paper and paint.

Expressive Arts, Health and Wellbeing, Listening and Talking, literacy, maths, Social Skills

Hills and Parks

April 29, 2024 Mrs Forsyth Leave a comment

As part of our IDL topic this term the children have been out and about again………

Today the children set off up the hill to explore and appreciate the amazing views which are just ‘On Our Doorstep’.

Once at the top they found ‘First Base’ and then they went into their mixed groups to complete their task. They had to find all the markers with letters on them and put them together to solve a puzzle.

It was great to see the children helping each other and working in their groups. There was time for a little rest at the ‘second base’ before heading back to school.

Going down the hill was much easier than going up.

Last Monday the children all went over to Strom Park. This time in their groups they used some sports equipment to practise some activities for Sports Day.

in their groups they had to decide what activities to practise and set it up themselves. It was amazing to see the inclusion of all pupils of mixed ages.

Art and Craft, Expressive Arts, Listening and Talking, Science, Social Skills, STEM

Lifecycles

April 20, 2024 Mrs Forsyth 1 Comment

As part of our ‘Changes’ IDL learning the children loved the activities around lifecycles and metamorphosis. It all started with a visit to our school pond when we spotted several frogs.

The children worked in groups to create a 3D collage of a pond showing the different stages fo the lifecycle of a frog. it was lovely to see them collaborating and supporting each other with this.

The final ponds looked fantastic……..

As part of their learning about lifecycles they discussed the transformation of a caterpillar to a butterfly. It was so much fun learning this through drama.

These are the eggs!

Out of the eggs hatch the little caterpillars

The chrysalis/cocoon/pupa hangs while the caterpillar transforms inside.

The butterflies emerge from the cocoons, dry their wings and fly away.

Then they lay eggs!

Art and Craft, Expressive Arts, Health and Wellbeing, Listening and Talking, literacy, Social Skills

Changes In Me

March 5, 2024 Mrs Forsyth Leave a comment

There have been visits from local babies Daniel, Kit and Orla this year so it has been great to chat about how the children have changed since they were babies.