Category Archives: Social Skills

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

Voxter and Soft Play

September 17, 2025 Mrs Forsyth Leave a comment

The children were so excited heading out on the bus to Voxter Woods for the morning.

Being in the trees was so much fun. There were swings, balancing ropes, a saddle swing and a zip line to play on. The children were really good at taking turns and helping each other on these.

There were trees to climb, dens to build or add to, bugs to investigate and lots of places to explore. What a fantastic place for children to exxperience.

They had snack in amongst the trees.

We all went to the top of the hill and got a class photo before heading back to the bus.

By the time we got to the Soft Play in Voe it was time for lunch. The children enjoyed their packed lunches which the school had provided.

The children spent the afternoon playing with their friends in the Soft play. There was so much to do and they never stopped.

There were some very tired bairns on the way back to school on the bus, but what a great day out.

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

Beginning Phonics

September 11, 2025 Mrs Forsyth Leave a comment

The children have started learning the sounds and formations of some letters this term. As well as learning with songs, stories, speedy skills and actions there are many other ways they practice these in class.

For ‘s’ they also had a go at making ‘s’ shapes with spaghetti and cutting out snakes which they covered with lots of s’s.

There are always visuals available for them to use and a roll-and-write card with a little ball on it which shows them the correct formations. Ellis is practicing ‘a’ below.

T was for tea! and what fun they had making tea.

They use the interactive whiteboard to practise formations and play games. They also use sand, little whiteboards, chalk, shaving foam etc. Lots of different opportunities to keep them engaged and enthusiastic.

For ‘i’ we got out the ink and lots of different stamps. They really enjoyed turning their pictures into works of art.

They practise recognising the letters and matching them to the initial sounds of words.

The children practised ‘p’ in many different ways. It is a tricky one to master but they really enjoyed opportunities for using ‘p’ words while using petals to make perfume.

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

Strom Beach

September 7, 2025 Mrs Forsyth Leave a comment

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.

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

Go Furt Fridays

September 1, 2025 Mrs Forsyth Leave a comment

The children get a focused loose parts and outdoor play session on Friday mornings. The water trays with pipes, half pipes, containers and connecting parts are always popular. The skills the children demonstrate here are fantastic.

They also learn how to climb and play safely in the trees together.

Imaginative play outdoors creates so many opportunities for developing social skills. it is particularly important for developing and establishing new friendships amongst the children.

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

The Three Little Pigs

September 1, 2025 Mrs Forsyth Leave a comment

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

August 25, 2025 Mrs Forsyth Leave a comment

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.

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

Polycrub Success

June 26, 2025 Mrs Forsyth Leave a comment

This week, the final week before the school holidays is when we need to clear out the polycrub. The children have been so excited. Especially seeing what has been growing underneath the soil.

There has been extra excitement as there has been a little mouse making frequent visits to steal peapods. The peas were the first thing we picked. There were hundreds of them. Every child had bag of some to take home or eaten, and all the other children in the school got ones as well.

Along with the peapods the children pulled up the onions, which have done really well this year and brought in the pots of basil they have been looking after. They could be re-potted at home into larger pots and keep it growing or lots of the children are keen to make pesto pasta and use the basil now.

The children grew some nusturtium flowers this year. They added a lovely pop of colour to the polycrub

And as you can see in the photos, the cabbage is doing amazing. #

Yesterday the children also took home some of the plants that were still in pots. Lots of Strawberry, cucumber, marrow, courgettes, tomatoes as well as some sunflowers.

They are keen to keep them growing at home. The children have been learning how to re-pot plants once they outgrow the pots they are in so should be good at this. I hope they continue to grow and produce some fruit/vegetables at home.

Today they dug up the tatties, carrots and beetroot. A mixture of successes but such amazing learning opportunity for the children.

I hope they enjoy these at home and have a little try of some of the things they have grown themselves.

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

Moving Up Day

June 26, 2025 Mrs Forsyth Leave a comment

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

June 15, 2025 Mrs Forsyth Leave a comment

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.

Listening and Talking, maths, Social Skills

Measuring Capacity and Weight

June 15, 2025 Mrs Forsyth Leave a comment

The primary 1’s loved using non-standard units to measure the capacity of different containers. Unfortunately it was too windy to take this learning outdoors this year so the mop was used frequently.

The primary 2’s moved on to understand the need for standard units of measurement and learned about litres and half litres, measuring the capacity of some quite large containers.

The children have been using the language for comparing weights to compare objects using the scales, finding out which objects were heavier/lighter than and heaviest/lightest.

They then used non-standard units, such as cubes, beads or pegs to weigh a variety of classroom objects.

The primary 2’s moved onto learning about kilograms and half kilograms and really enjoyed estimating and weighing heavier objects, including each other.

Expressive Arts, Listening and Talking, Science, Social Skills, Socila Studies

Science Workshop

June 15, 2025 Mrs Forsyth Leave a comment

The children were treated to a fantastic science show from ‘Sunbeam’ and ‘Raindrop’ from the Edinburgh Science Centre.

They spoke about the different kinds of weather in the different habitats around the world. They explained how the earth has many layers and how the atmosphere protects the earth.

They demonstrated the importance of the Ozone Layer and spoke with the children about how we need to look after our planet.

The characters of Raindrop and Sunbeam were really engaging and the children loved the experiments and interactive parts of the show.

The parachute became the atmosphere and all the children are inside. It got quite hot in there with all the p1-3 children tucked in nice and cosy. demonstrating how the atmosphere holds the heat in.

The children also got to play games using the information they had been learning about.

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

Grandparents Afternoon

June 15, 2025 Mrs Forsyth Leave a comment

What a fantastic afternoon spent with so many grandparents. The children were so delighted and excited to play games, do puzzles and show everyone around. There was such an amazing feeling throughout the whole school.

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

There Was An Old Lady

May 25, 2025 Mrs Forsyth Leave a comment

The children loved the Song called ‘There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly’. We read the story in class, then watched a video which allowed the children to compare and chat about the differences. They sang the song in Music with Mr Travins earlier in the week too.

The Children did Drawing Club about the story and enjoyed playing with the puppets afterwards.

They set up their own puppet Show in Class during Golden Time on Friday. It was amazing to see the organisation and cooperation amongst the children. They provided seats for the audience, as well as tickets and ‘snacks’.

The whole audience joined in with the singing. I shall try and share a little video on here for you to see.

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

Number Activities

May 25, 2025 Mrs Forsyth Leave a comment

The Primary 1’s have been learning about place value using different materials and continuing to practise sequencing and ordering numbers within 20.

They have also been learning to read the number words and have played lots of games and enjoyed matching activities.

The older children have been continuing to work with numbers up to100. They have been learning about rounding numbers to the nearest 10 and also sequencing and ordering numbers.

They have been doing a lot of skip counting games and activites. Counting in 1’s, 2’s, 3’s, 5’s and 10’s using lots of different classroom materials.

They have been learning about odd and even numbers, and how counting in 2’s links to doubling and halving, factions, symmetry and the processes of multiplication and division.

The children enjoyed fingerpainting arrays, choosing different multiplication cards and then writing the answers next to them

Expressive Arts, Listening and Talking, Social Skills

Drumming with Joy

May 25, 2025 Mrs Forsyth Leave a comment

On Friday mornings we have been doing some Drumming with Joy. The children have been so good at listening and trying their best with all the games and different rhythms. Their confidence is growing week by week and they are really enjoying this opportunity to learn about African music and cultures.

As well as drumming there is time for dancing, singing and a lot of fun.

The children love playing the Dunduns keeping the beat throughout the pieces they have been learning.

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

Life Cycles

May 25, 2025 Mrs Forsyth Leave a comment

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.

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

Voar Redd Up

April 23, 2025 Mrs Forsyth Leave a comment

Today we went down to clean up the Taing Beach as part of the annual Voar Redd Up.

The children found lots of rope and netting tangled in the seaweed and amongst the rocks. There were also a few bottle and cans and some food packaging amongst other things.

The children did a great job and were very proud to be helping look after the local environment.

Health and Wellbeing, Science, Social Skills

Polycrub Progress

April 22, 2025 Mrs Forsyth Leave a comment

It is great to see the vegetables and flowers shooting up now after the Easter Holidays. The children have done a great job of looking after them so far.

Love Learning Love Life