Category Archives: Expressive Arts

Lifecycles

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!

 

Changes In Me

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.

They love playing with the babies in the role play area of the classroom and are very good at looking after them.

It was great fun to chat about and compare all the things they can do now that they couldn’t when they were babies.

Thy have also been learning about the different parts of their bodies and about how they will continue to grow and change as they get older.

The Wind and the Sun

As part of our topic the children listened to  the fable about the Wind and the Sun. They acted out the different parts of the story.

The primary ones made books sequencing the story.

The primary 2’s wrote the story, remembering all the different parts. Below are two examples of the p2’s writing. They all did so well.

Drumming with Joy

This term the children are enjoying African Drumming lessons with Joy.  Lots of concentration and confidence building going on in these classes.

As well as drumming the children learn about the drums and where they come from. There is also time for lots of games, dancing and singing during the lessons.

Swimming Lessons

Today was the start of the swimming lessons with Mr Kirkness at Scalloway Pool.

The children did so well listening to instructions and following all the new routines. Everyone had a great time in the pool.

There is also time for snack at the poolside and also a bit of spelling, reading and maths. It is a very busy morning for the children.

Book Bug Visit

It was great to meet Chloe who shared lots of songs, rhymes and stories with the children. They were all so excited and engaged and really enjoyed joining in and having a go with the puppets and actions.

The primary 2’s never received their Read, Write and Count bags before Christmas so Chloe sorted that and they arrived yesterday. We will look at them in class this week, and try out the resources and ideas and the children will them home at the end of the week.

Squad p1/2 – Peerie Vikings

The bairns were so excited today and were all ready for the Nesting and Girlsta Jarl Squad coming this morning.

They had painted a galley and all the children in the school made themselves into Vikings to go inside and around it. It looked great in the school hall.

The children also made collage pictures of Viking longships on the sea. They used paint, torn paper, foam shapes, pens, wooden sticks and card for all the different parts. They are so colourful and look amazing.

Christmas Party and Christmas Dinner

The bairns had great fun at our class party on Wednesday afternoon. Lots of charging around, noise and excitement! Flashing lights and party food made it just a great way to end term two.

Last week the children had Christmas dinner at school. The cooks at Whiteness are amazing and the children really enjoyed it, especially the pigs in blankets.

It’s beginning to feel festive

Lots of opportunities for maths and literacy throughout the classroom linked to Christmas.

Busy Elves in the Christmas Corner

The Class Advent Calendar

 

Christmas Jumper Day

Alien Adjectives

The children have had great fun creating these aliens after reading a story in class with Miss Jamieson. There was a lot of discussion and many amazing descriptive words about their characters. The Primary two’s practised their ICT skill by typing and printing out fancy lettering for words to add to the display.

Fireworks!

The children listened to the story of Guy Fawkes and also had a chat about being safe on bonfire night.

The children used junk modelling techniques to create their own firework to go above the London skyline.

The primary one’s used 2D shapes to make the rockets with their names on them.

They loved using the beads to make firework patterns. They also made a really good firework noise on the plastic tray!

 

Halloween Fun

Halloween is always so much fun and lends itself so well to the classroom with exciting fun learning opportunities. Below the children created a potion with many disgusting ingredients, using magic words and actually getting it to bubble up and overflow the cauldron. The potion made lots of weird and interesting things happen. Children are so creative and imaginative.

They wrote out their chosen ingredients and shared spells with each other.

The primary ones had to use their phonic sounds and choose the correct ingredients to read magic words.

The classroom has a Haunted House area with lots of Halloween creatures and costumes to use.

There have been a few disgusting days in the water tray with slime and goo, full of spiders and snakes. And other opportunities to measure weigh and create bottles of potions with different materials.

The children can’t wait to scare their parents with these ‘teethy’ symmetrical pumpkins!

and the spooky bat prints!

 

 

Phonics in p1

The primary 1 children have been doing agreat job learning their phonic sounds. They listen to a little story and learn a song and action to go with each new sound they learn. There are then opportunities to practise the letter formation  eg. on the big whiteboard, in sand, shaving foam, chalk, little whiteboards etc. They also have daily practise through ‘Speedy Skills’.

They also play lots of games using the new sounds learned eg, Sorting words beginning with phonic sounds into hoops, Whiteboard games, Bingo, Treasure hunts, Lotto, pairs games, matching games, splat the sound with fly swatters, etc.

There are also opportunities to explore and chat about their sounds as they play in different areas of the classroom.

French in term 1

French lessons are very active and the children have a lot of fun.

There are two groups for lessons –  p1/2 in the first group and p3/4/5 in the second group.

The children dance, play musical games and practise short conversations with each other.

They listen to french songs and stories. They love when Patrice(the puppet) speaks to them and gets up to silly stuff to keep them entertained and keen to have a go at speaking in French.

They practised the names of the colours in french by playing games, making  artist pallets with paint and colouring ‘arc de soleil’ images.

During each lesson the children learn a few facts about France. They enjoyed using google maps and online sites to research information. The younger children made a start to Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe pictures using artstraws and the older children added more detailed parts.

 

 

Sophie even made an Eiffel Tower out of Lego

 

 

 

The younger group have been learning numbers to 10 and the older group numbers up to 20 by listening to songs, active games and playing Bingo.

The Three Little Pigs

The children loved hearing the story of the three Little Pigs.

The children worked in groups to create houses made of straw, sticks and blocks. They had to decide how to join the different materials and make it as strong as they could.

It was great to listen to the children sharing ideas, chatting about the story as they made the different parts of the houses. The three versions look great.

The primary 2 and 3 children used the story for writing practise and have written books of their own. below are examples of writing from three different primary 2’s.

The Primary 3’s have been focusing on extending their vocabulary and including different connectives to lengthen their sentences.

The primary 1’s and 2’s loved using the story for Drawing Club. It is amazing to see the progress in the P1 fine motor control.

The have also been using stick puppets and masks to role play the story and make up their own adventures too.

 

 

Making Glasses

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!

Shoes!

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.

Spinning Stem

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.

Busy Bodies

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.

 

Buddying

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.