Category Archives: maths

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

measuring length

Leave a comment

The children have been having fun learning about length. The Primary 1’s created these flowers and talked about longer, shorter, taller, tallest, smaller etc. Lots of great discussions and vocabulary used.

They used their ‘magic sticks’ to compare the size of objects outdoors.

All the children  used different body parts to measure objects eg. ‘heel to toe’ steps, and handspans. They loved doing this and got good at estimating their answers before actually measuring to check.

The Primary 2’s used different units to measure objects in the classroom and outdoors. They then went on to learn about metres and half metres.

They worked in pairs to create a snake which was exactly 1 metre long.

The primary 1’s showed their buddies how to measure objects using their sticks and the p7’s recorded the answers.

They have had fun using the playdough to make long and short worms.

 

 

Health and Wellbeing, Listening and Talking, literacy, maths, Sciences, Social Skills, STEM, technology

Go Furt Fridays

Leave a comment

Go Furt means get outdoors………It was a chilly 3 or 4 degrees on Friday morning but the children were still keen to get outside to build shelters and play together.

We will be heading out every Friday to make the most of our wonderful outdoor space at Whiteness. There is a shed full of loose parts which the children use to develop so many important skills including problem solving, cooperation, teamwork, etc.

It is fantastic seeing them having so much fun together and there imaginations are just the best!

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

Kites STEM Challenge

Leave a comment

The children worked in pairs to create a kite using a variety of materials. Lots of skills were being developed through this activity – for example collaboration, co-operation, problem solving, listening etc.

The wind was blowing so it was great to go and test the kites. The children soon found out that in order to fly the kites well they had to work together.

Listening and Talking, maths

Numbers to 20

Leave a comment

The primary 1’s have been completing lots of different games, puzzles and practical activities to learn about the numbers to 20.

They can count, sequence, order and sort all these numbers using lots of different materials.

They have also been learning about addition and subtraction, again with lots of practical resources and games as well as using technology.

 

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

Swimming Lessons

Leave a comment

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.

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

Measuring Rainfall

Leave a comment

The children worked in mixed groups to make rain gauges to measure rainfall.

They then had to find a suitable position outdoors to place their rain gauge and dig a hole to place it in to keep it stable.

There was a lot of excitement around the pond as they all spotted our very large resident frog!

We will go out at regular intervals to check on the rainfall and record the results in class.

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

Robbie Burns Day

Leave a comment

The children were learning about Robbie Burns last week and prepared the food for cooking a Burns supper.

The primary 2’s peeled and chopped tatties and neaps and put them on to boil. Evie mashed the neaps when the were ready.

 

They mixed up the haggis and put it in the microwave to cook.

Everyone had a try of the food and their were mixed responses…….

They learned a little bit about the history of Robbie Burns and what he was famous for. They loved hearing the start of the poem about the Mouse.

They also looked at some scottish tartan and had a go at weaving using paper strips. Their designs look amazing.

 

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

It’s beginning to feel festive

Leave a comment

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

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

Divali

Leave a comment

The children have been learning about Divali this term. They made lovely little diva lamps and used coloured rice to create this Rangoli pattern on the wall.

They used loose parts, peas and beans, Numicon and counters to create Rangoli patterns which tied in nicely with our work on pattern and symmetry.

The Primary 1’s created this collage of Ravani, the 10 headed demon god from the story of Rama and Sita. He looks pretty scary!

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

Fireworks!

1 Comment

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!

 

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

Halloween Fun

Leave a comment

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!

 

 

Listening and Talking, maths, numeracy, Social Skills, technology

Numeracy in p2/3

Leave a comment

The children are very good at using lots of practical materials to help understand place value and number concepts.

The p2’s have been working with numbers up to 100 and the p3’s learning about bigger numbers up to 1000.

There are lots of practical lessons, using materials, playing games, using technology, discussions on ‘how’ they are working out their answers and demonstrating their learning to each other.

The children are encouraged to use materials to continue to consolidate understanding. They are also very good at finding what they need themselves to work out their answers correctly.

The p2’s have been practising ways of organising items to ensure they count out the correct number. They are making a number from a card and grouping items into 10’s to count them easier. They then swap around and check each others numbers.

Art and Craft, Listening and Talking, literacy, maths, Social Skills

Drawing Club

Leave a comment

We have a go at Drawing club usually about twice a week.

Below are 3 examples of stories we have used this term to inspire wonderful drawings by p1,2 and 3.

It is not just about the drawing though, there are so many skills being developed through not only the delivery of the story but new vocabulary, maths concepts,  phonological awareness, spelling and rhyming patterns etc. It is also a great way to focus in on the children who may need a little bit of extra help building their confidence with pencil grip, fine motor skills and forming shapes, numbers, letters etc on paper.

The children draw with me in little groups to be able to hear repeated vocabulary and have a go at creating their own masterpieces. They love it and get very excitied about Drawing Club.

Art and Craft, Listening and Talking, maths, numeracy, Social Skills, Uncategorized

Numeracy in P1

Leave a comment

The Primary 1 children have been so busy this term practising number formations, playing number games and learning through so many  fun, active and practical ways.

With each new number we focused on they enjoyed a story and also  a practical activity, game or craft activity to go along with it.

I have only managed to get photos of some of the ways the children have been learning  about the numbers as it is a very busy environment with so many exciting things going on.

There are always maths activities in the classroom and shared area. Below are some examples of children measuring weight and volume in the tuff trays and water tray and there are also opportunities to learn about time and money in the classroom.

 

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

Rapunzel’s Towers

Leave a comment

The children had to build towers as tall as they could manage using a variety of different construction materials. Some children chose to work in pairs or in a small group and some wanted to build their own ones.

Willum’s tower was the tallest and he only used three blocks! Good thinking Willum. The children quickly learned that they needed to make the base of the tower larger and get smaller as it got higher for it to be more stable. Lots of great discussion and problem solving going on.

 

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

Loose Parts in the Sun

Leave a comment

We are very lucky at Whiteness Primary to have such excellent outdoor spaces that provide  rich environments for learning. Today we focused on using the loose parts in the shed to build, experiment and play. It is amazing seeing how the children use the various resources to create, solve problems and develop more flexible thinking.

Firstly the children thought about what they needed and took the materials they needed to an area they wanted to play/develop.

There was lots of discussion, collaboration and physical work to gather materials.

The children worked together to solve problems, develop ideas and negotiate. The spaces they created were fantastic and they had so much fun.

We also had snack in the new polycrub, which was lovely but quite hot.

Lots of the children were involved in using a series of pipes and  guttering to get water to flow down a slope. There were so many peerie engineers helping and coming up with ideas and solutions to problems. They were so excited when each new section worked and they just wanted to make it even longer.

Art and Craft, Listening and Talking, maths, Science, Social Skills, STEM

Make it fly

1 Comment

The children had a STEM activity this afternoon after discussing how birds fly.

First they had some simple instructions to follow . It was lovely to see the children helping each other with the tricky bits.

once they had made them they went outside to try them out.

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

Spinning Stem

Leave a comment

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.

Listening and Talking, maths, Social Skills, STEM

Measuring

Leave a comment

The children have been measuring length using different body parts, uniform objects and moving on to metres and half metres. They have really enjoyed these practical fun activities and challenges. I just haven’t managed to get many photos.

Following on from length and capacity the children have been learning about weighing objects.

The children worked really well in pairs to weigh small items using uniform objects like cubes and pegs.

They were very good at estimating and recording their answers.

They went on to use kgs and half kgs and enjoyed estimating each others weights and the adults too.

The Primary 2’s have also been learning about Area and how to cover a surface with different uniform objects and then moving onto squares.

 

 

 

Health and Wellbeing, Listening and Talking, maths, Science, Social Skills

Taing Beach Exploring

Leave a comment

The children had a great morning at the beach and they loved searching in the seaweed and amongst the rocks for crabs and shells.

 

Carina made this wonderful pattern with lots of similar sized whelks which she had collected on the beach.

 

 

 

 

 

We stayed at the beach for snack which is always a treat.

 

We do live in the most beautiful place with fantastic opportunities for learning outdoors.