Category Archives: Science

STEM fun

We read this book by Polly Dunbar about a penguin who wouldnt say anything. It was very funny and the children loved it.

In the story the penguin gets fired up to Space in a rocket so the children made their own little penguins as part of a STEM activity.

They had great fun seeing how high the penguins could be blasted. The Primary two Children have been learning how to write instructions so did a fantastic job explaining how to do this STEM challenge.

Finding tadpoles

It is always great to get outdoors, especially when the sun shines.

We all went for a walk in Strom Road noticing differences around us with the changing Seasons.

There was great excitement when the children spotted lots of tadpoles all along the ditches.

We had a look in the school pond and found lots of frogspawn there so hoping to spot tadpoles soon.

Polycrub update

A huge thankyou to the parents who helped to water the plants throughout the Easter holidays. They have fairly shot up. The sunflowers were ready to be re-potted into bigger pots so the children have been busy doing that and lots of watering this week.

As part of their literacy this term the children have been learning how to write instructions. Lucy-Jo was very clear on how to plant a seed.

The Eco-Committee

The primary 1/2 class are the Eco-Committee for this term. They shared their plan in assembly last week of how they were going to involve the whole school in planting and growing their own food in the Polycrub this year.

Each class have been given a section of the polycrub to be responsible for planting in. There is also a rota for watering and looking after the plants throughout the term.

There have been lots planted already – tatties, peas, radishes, carrots, lettuce, beetroot, to name a few.

The children have also planted sunflower seeds and tomatoes in little pots which will need careful looking after and re-potting oncce they grow a little bit.

Each class is responsible for not only looking after the plants but keeping the polycrub tidy and organised for the next class or group of children who come in.

it is also a great space outdoors at Whiteness Primary to play. The children took a break from planting to work on their teamwork skills and have a lot of fun on the hill.

First Day of Term 3

The children had a great time today exploring and playing with the new resources ready for them in the classroom.

The vets area was really popular and the children worked together to plan out what they would need in the vets to look after the animals.

They collaborated and worked well together to build the train set. It was great to listen to their conversations and how they shared their ideas. The children also loved investigating the snow and ice in the water tray.

Lots of great vocabulary and science going on.

They spent part of the day outdoors, making the most of the snow. It was amazing to see the friendships, teamwork, problem solving and creativity going on. They had so much fun.

Just before they headed back indoors it was time for a photo with their igloo and snowman.

 

Making a Magic Potion

Haggis the witch made a magic potion in the cauldron with the help of the children.

They had so many ideas for disgusting things that could be included in the mixture…….wizards ear-wax, slugs slime, fish scales etc.

They repeated a little rhyme while stirring in the ingredients and of course said some magic words to make it work.

They thought of lots of ideas for what the potion would do and finally it started to bubble……

the children completed some recipes for magic potions in their writing jotters. There were so many great ideas.

Afore Noo

As part of our IDL this term the children have been finding out about items from the past. We got a selection of items from the Lerwick Museum to investigate which were fascinating.

There were lots of opportunities for discussion, investigation and figuring out what some of the items were.

They particularly loved the old typewriter. They got to try and type some messages and loved the mechanical element of it.

They made their own typewriters in art with Miss Whelan and decided what the paper would have typed on it as it came out of the top.

They had great fun learning how listening to music has changed over the years. The record player was great for listening to and swaying to some Bing Crosby tunes. They also looked at cassette tapes and CD’s which some of the children had seen before.

They practised drawing and cutting circles to make their own records for display in the classroom.

Ms Sinclair also brought in an old gramophone and gave a demonstration of how to work it. The children got a chnce to wind up the handle to get the turntable moving. There were some scottish dance tunes to dance to this time.

They loved hearing about how watching TV has changed over the years with limited channels and black and white images. They made their own old style TV’s and made themselves the stars of the show.

 

Strom Beach

P1/2 are making the most of the fine weather and getting outdoors to explore the local environment.  On Friday we all headed along the road and down the hill to the beach in the Strom Road.

The children were so engaged and really enjoyed themselves. There was so much to do. Lots of digging, making dams, finding treasure and great excitement finding little creatures that live in and out of the water.

The children brought their snack to the beach with them to allow more time there for exploring and playing.

There were opportunities to develop those gross motor skills by climbing and balancing safely on the rocks.

 

Most of the children managed to go over the top of their wellies at the edge of the water so there were lots of soggy socks and trousers by the end of the morning. To be fair to them their wellies aren’t very tall.

These three had a great idea and took off the soggy socks to go for a paddle.

None of them complained though.

The sun stayed out for the whole morning and the children had a great time. The sheep were very entertained by the children on the walk back.

We hung out some washing to dry for a bit back at school.