Category Archives: literacy

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

The Three Little Pigs

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The children were all familiar with the traditional tale of the Three Little Pigs and loved joining in the story with actions and voices.

We read two different versions of the story and watched a short video too. The children were great at comparing the differences and similarities between the different versions of the same story.

The class were then split into three different groups and worked on creating the houses that the pigs built.  Lots of communication, teamwork, problem solving and creativity were evident during this session.

The houses look great and there are three little happy pig puppets living outside.

The new children were introduced to Drawing Club using the three little Pigs story. This is not simply about drawing, there are many skills involved and the final drawing were fantastic.

 

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

First Day

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What a busy and fantastic first day you the children have had. Here are some activities captured on camera today for you to see.

……….building, problem solving, co-operation

…….fine motor skills, focus and concentration, patterns

Counting, number bonds , creating Penguin One for number formations,

outdoor fun, collaboration, mark making, following instructions

Imaginary play, dinosaurs, curiosity, interactions, communication

Routines, structure and lots of listening

The children also had a music lesson today and the activities in the photos just show some of what the children were doing during their first day of school this session. They are a busy bunch.

 

 

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

Moving Up Day

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The children had a great day moving into their new classes. It was so lovely to welcome new pupils to the school that day as well.

There was an opportunity to explore and play in the classroom. The train set was very popular, as was the role play and craft areas.

before the early years children joined us we had a little song and video about writing capital letters. They listened really well and then we went outdoors to create these letters using natural objects. The children worked in pairs to do this. It was a great opportunity for developing cooperation and communication and also for exploring the outdoors.

The final alphabet looks amazing and is up on the wall in the school.

after breaktime the younger children joined us as next years primary 1’s. They all listened to the story of Inch and Grub, which is really funny. It is about two cavemen who are constantly trying to be better than each other.

They then had to work in pairs to make the tallest towers in competition with another pair. This was a lot of fun and the children got to use lots of different construction materials and loose parts. So many opportunities for team work, sharing, turn taking, collaboration and problem solving skills.

The children then drew a picture of something that Inch and Grub might put on their towers. They look great.

At lunchtime the children were great. They all followed the new routines really well and enjoyed their fish and chips.

It was a busy and fantastic day and the children got on so well.

 

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

Bucket Fillers

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After reading the Story ‘Have You Filled A Bucket Today’ the children created this display.

They spoke about how everyone has an invisible bucket which can be filled up or emptied by the words and actions of others.

They practiced filling each others buckets in school by being kind, giving compliments, good manners, showing respect etc.

Around their posters they added words and drawings of examples of how to fill and empty peoples buckets.

Art and Craft, Listening and Talking, literacy, Science, STEM, technology

Digital Committee – QR Codes

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The P1/2 class are the Digital Committee this term. They have worked hard to create this interactive display to challenge all the children in the school.

They presented their idea in assembly to the other classes.

To answer the question about each minibeast the children must scan the QR code on an ipad. This takes them to a website where they can find the answer.

Art and Craft, Listening and Talking, literacy, Science, Social Skills, Social Studies

Life Cycles

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A few weeks ago we all went for a walk up the Strom Road to find frogspawn and tadpoles. The bairns were so excited to see them and wanted to bring some back to school.

They loved watching the tadpoles swimming around and using the magnifying glasses to get a closer look at the frogspawn.

The frogspawn and tadpoles were returned to the outdoors to grow into froglets and then frogs.

The primary 1’s made these collages demonstrating their understanding of the life cycle of a frog.

As part of their work on lifecycles the Primary !’s made these beautiful models withe their buddies after reading ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’ story.

Listening and Talking, literacy

Quickly Squirt ‘Qu’

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The primary 1’s were learning how to spell words with the ‘qu’ sound in them. They loved this activity where they had to squirt the correct word with water as soon as they found it written in chalk on the playground.

The Children practice their phonics and spellings in lots of different ways at school. Below Imogen is playing pairs on the Interactive Whiteboard to practise the most recent sounds she has been learning.

Health and Wellbeing, Listening and Talking, literacy, Science, Social Skills, STEM

Polycrub In May

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The weather has been amazing this month and the plants are thriving as they have been well watered and looked after by the primary 1/2 class.

The older children have also been getting involved in planting and looking after the polycrub on Tuesday afternoons as part of our IDL work in school.

We had our first harvest of vegetables. There was great excitement when we pulled up a few radishes and took them into school to clean and prpare for tasting. There were not many children who liked them but they gave them a try.

Art and Craft, Listening and Talking, literacy, RME, Social Skills, STEM

Easter Egg Fun

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The Children enjoyed listening to the Easter Story today and watching a short animation about it.  After discussing the reason we roll eggs at Easter time they got to work painting and designing their own egg ready for rolling later in the day.

It was p1 versus p2 in the Egg Rolling competition. The egg that travelled furthest after two shots and had no cracks was Ollie’s.

After lunch the children enjoyed an Easter Egg Hunt in the School grounds. It’s great to be back at school.

 

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

World Book Day

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The children have had a great day today. They are so excited by books and reading, which  fantastic.  They were keen to share their favourite books they had brought from home.

They looked so lovely in their costumes and pyjamas at school today.

They enjoyed World Book Day activities in the classroom.

The afternoon was really special as the whole school came together and shared books in a paired reading session.  There are photos on the School Blog.

The adults had a lot of fun too!

Health and Wellbeing, Listening and Talking, literacy, maths, technology

Pancake Day

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The children learned how to make pancakes for Pancake Day. They measured, sieved, poured, cracked and mixed all the ingredients themselves. They learned the names of the utensils and how important it is to read a recipe correctly.

They watched for the bubbles in the mixture to know when to flip the pancake over and cook the other side.

They had great fun having a go at flipping a pancake in a pan. 

The best bit was choosing their toppings and eating them at snacktime.

The primary 2’s wrote out the recipe so they can make them at home. This is Ollie’s beautiful writing.

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

The Class Airport

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The children have really enjoyed creating an aeroplane and airport to play in this week. They have been talking about all the different jobs and have been really good at taking turns and playing together in this area.

They love being the pilot and co-pilot and its good to have cabin crew ready to help passengers with safety and snacks. They have made tickets and passports to take on their flights with them.

Air traffic control have been guiding the plane safely and they are taking the security very seriously. They have been asking the passengers lots of great questions to see where they are going on holiday and what they have packed in their suitcases.

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

Chinese traditions

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In class we have been learning a little bit about Chinese New Year. They have been talking about the festival and looking at photos of the celebrations.

The children loved the story of the the Zodiac for naming the Years. This is the Year of the Snake and we looked at calendars and dates in class. Most of the Children were born in the Year of the Dog or the Pig.

We set up a little Chinese Restaurant in class and the children have been trying out chopsticks.

We also had some chinese masks, costumes and other items to investigate and play with in class. Can you guess who are behind these masks?

The children loved the chinese lanterns which were hanging up and the dragon so they had a go at making their own lanterns.

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

Nesting and Girlsta Jarl Squad Visit

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The children have been building up to this visit. They have made shields, axes and helmets for their own class squad and have been practicing marching and singing in class. Some of them made this amazing galley boat with the loose parts and have enjoyed Viking related play options in class.

They looked and sounded fantastic when they all grouped together for this photo.

They were really excited about doing their quiz which they had prepared for the Jarl. They drew big posters of things linked to the Jarls real life and then had fun choosing random things to draw for the answers to questions.

We managed a quick rehearsal before the Vikings arrived.

We didn’t manage to get many photos during the visit. I shall add more if I get any.

 

Listening and Talking, literacy, Science, Social Skills, STEM

J for Jelly

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The children have been learning about the ‘j’ sound this week and were delighted the jelly begins with j and they got to make some!

They did really good listening and following instructions to measure out the water and then cut, mix and dissolve the jelly.

The waiting bit was the toughest as it wasn’t until the next day that they got to eat it after it had been in the fridge overnight.

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

Hopscotch Words

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It was great to take advantage of the beautiful morning and get outside for some literacy fun. The primary 1’s had great fun playing hopscotch with words and writing with chalk on the tarmac.

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

Promises

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The children loved the story about Noah’s Ark. The story tells of God’s promise to never again flood the Earth and his creation of a rainbow. The children made their own promise, or New Years Resolutions, which they wrote on clouds at each side of their rainbow.

The primary 2’s sequenced pictures from the story and then re-wrote it in their own words. They have done amazing and they are all so proud of what they have achieved.

The children are enjoying playing with the animals and the ark in the classroom. They also have books and puzzles linked to this story and have had a go at Drawing Club too.

They have also enjoyed listening to another Bible story called Jonah and the Whale. They made these really cool expanding pictures and watched a little video of the story as well.

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

Back to School

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The children were delighted to be back at school this week. They are always excited to see what is new in the classroom but mostly they are excited to see their friends.

The train set is always a huge hit in the classroom. The children work together to build some really good layouts and play together so well with the trains

As part of their numeracy work the primary 1’s have been learning about Ordinal Numbers. They did this with the primary 2’s lined up and then they had their own little tub of objects to set out in an order of their choice. They practiced using the words 1st, 2nd, 3rd …….10th to say the positions of the items in their lines.

This term the IDL topic is titled ‘Here, There and Everywhere’. The children  worked in groups to discuss and plan what they would like to learn about this term. Their drawing show lots of fantastic ideas and they are very excited about leading their learning through this topic.

 

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

Swimming Lessons

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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.