Category Archives: literacy

New Years Resolutions

The class recycled old Christmas cards to make these stars to hang in the classroom.

On the back they wrote their New Years Resolutions. It was lovely to hear what the children would like to get better at and their wishes/promises for 2023.

Here are a couple of ideas of the kind of things they were thinking about.

Cards for the Community

All the children in the school made Christmas cards for the over 80’s who live in the community. The primary 1/2 class uses tatties to print penguins then put on details with cut paper and pens. They looked fantastic. I am sure the recipients were delighted with these precious cards.

Our Christmas Concert

We only managed a few rehearsals in school before the snow came and we had to close. The children were so good at listening and following instructions. They made their own props and practised songs as often as possible.

The children did so well remembering their lines and singing their songs on the big stage. It was a great experience for them performing in front of such a big audience.

Around The World

This terms whole school topic has been  ‘Around The World’ which included a little bit about the World Cup. The primary 1/2 class showcased some of their learning in assembly last Friday.

They loved learning about different countries in the World and keeping tabs on who is playing and still in the World Cup.

Archie loved matching countries and flags and finding places on the maps

 

 

As part of the project the children worked in pairs/small groups to create their own imaginary country. Whether it was hot or cold? Where the cities, forests, mountains etc would be, what animals lived there, what was the country called and design a flag for it.

Making Words In Primary 1

It is so exciting to see how the Primary 1’s are using their phonic sounds to build words. Everyday we practise their sounds and do lots of games and activities to practise blending letters to read and make words.

They loved playing hopscotch in the classroom using wordcards.

More about Autumn

This little area of the classroom is all about Autumn. The children have been thinking about all the changes that happen with this season and about animals who hibernate – focusing on hedgehogs in particular. 

They have been making little hedgehog homes\nests using the loose parts.

We have been outside again spotting signs of Autumn and having discussions about  the changes we see and things we find.

Halloween Fun

The bairns have had so much fun being back at school with a Halloween theme in the classroom. They have been enjoying dressing up, reading stories, making potions and spells,  hocking out pumpkins and finding spooky creatures in some very disgusting blue goo amongst other things.

After reading the story Funnybones the children had a go at drawing skeletons. They loved learning about the different bones and feeling for them inside their own bodies. The drawing were excellent.

 

The children helped Grizelda the Witch with her spell. They put in lots of gruesome, unusual and scary things.

 

There was great excitement as the mixture began to bubble up and the children said their magic words.

The mixture bubbled over and the children thought of wonderful things their spell could do……..

The children completed some writing using their favourite ingredients for the cauldron. These are from Primary 1’s.

They loved the opportunity to scrape the seeds out of the pumpkins and get them ready for carving. This created lots of discussion, fun and mess.

 

 

 

Trip to the Windfarm

We went to the Viking Energy windfarm for a visit. So many roads, so much information and so many trucks and vehicles. They loved wearing the PPE, being on a bus and having packed lunches as part of their day out.

In the afternoon the children were in the hills and got to see the huge scale of the base of one of the wind turbines. They also had a quiz and used the information boards to find the answers.

The children brought a time capsule with them. They had all written some information about themselves and predicted what might be happening in 25 years time when it gets dug up again. The children got to choose which one of the 103 windmills it would be buried under using the map as a guide.

They chose one near to Weisdale and there will be a competition to now give their windmill a name.

The primary 2’s wrote reports on their trips, These are by Chloe and Sophie. They did an amazing job remembering all the things they saw and being able to write so many sentences about their day out.

Coffee Morning

The children loved baking in preparation for the school coffee morning. The Primary 1’s made chocolate crispies and the Primary 2’s made Malteser Squares.

It was great to have parents into the school again. The children were so excited to see their families and enjoy the tea, coffee, juice and homebakes together.

It was a very busy classroom with excited children showing their parents and families all the things they like to do and have been learning about this term.

p1/2 Assembly

The P1/2 class presented their IDL learning in a whole school assembly on Friday. They shared drawings of themselves with things they like and are good at. They had lovely drawings of their families, including some writing done on the computers.

 

 

They dressed up as what they would like to be when they grow up and showed their paintings to the rest of the school staff and children.

 

 

The paintings are on display in the classroom now.

Dying with Beetroot

The children pulled up the beetroot from the Polycrub. They washed it and chopped it and put it on to boil.

 

They cut a square of material and put it in a pan to boil with vinegar.

Once everything had boiled the beetroot was drained and the material put into the purply red juices.

This is Sophie’s instructions describing what we did.

 

P for Petals and Perfume

The children had great fun making perfume using petals from different flowers. There was honey suckle and fuschia as well as flowers from the school polycrub to make fantastic smells with.

They used small scissors and tiny spoons to create their perfumes in little glass jars and containers.

They were very proud of their final products. They named their perfumes and made labels for the little bottles.

Beginning Phonics in P1

The primary 1’s love hearing their new sounds. They listen to a story, sing along to a song, play games on the whiteboard and practise formations.

They practise the letter formations in various ways including, in the sand, shaving foam, with playdough and on the whiteboards.

 

They have been doing speedy skills everyday to practise the letter formations and lots of hiding and searching games. They also have had ‘s’ for spaghetti, ‘t’ for tea to play in and ‘i’ for ink experiments.

They enjoy using the Jolly Phonics books to retell the stories and find all the things in the pictures which begin with the sounds they are learning.

I love seeing how well they are doing practising their formations at home. Lots of great ideas and support.

 

Making Soup from Scratch

The children  used vegetables they grew in the polycrub to make soup. They pulled up carrots onions and snipped some coriander leaves to take indoors.

They washed, chopped and prepared the vegetables. The children listened so well and were very careful with the vegetable knives.

 

The vegetables went in the pan with a stock cube, the coriander and some salt and the classroom smelt wonderful.

 

 

 

A few of the children liked the soup but lots of them said they didn’t- at least they gave it a go.

Rocket Mole

We read the story Rocket Mole in class then the children made their own little moles to launch into space!

Initially this needed careful cutting, designing, colouring and folding to make a little cone shaped mole.

The children all listened really well to instructions and loved getting their moles as high as they could by blasting them with the plastic bottles.