It was great to see so many parents in school last Friday. The children loved sharing their learning and showing them around the classroom and the school. I think everyone got dragged along the ‘Kindness Trail’ which the children have loved this term. The art work throughout the school is amazing and the children are very proud of their pieces.
Blue skies and sunshine for sports day this year at Strom Pitch!
We had an afternoon of fun with lots of worms in the class. The children learned some facts about worms and watched a little video about them.
Miss Robertson brought in these worms to show the class and shared lots of interesting facts about them with the children.
They then got a worm each to watch and look more closely at.
The children were really gentle with them, watching how they moved and using the magnifiers to zoom in and look more closely at their bodies. The worms were quite funny as they got annoyed and waved and waggled their bodies at the children.
The children have harvested their first produce. The radishes were ready to be eaten so the children pulled some up and brought them into school.
They all had a chance to taste a little bit in class – not the most popular vegetable but they all tried some.
The cooks also got some radishes which they prepared for the classes at lunchtime.
The children have been finding lots of insects and minibeasts in the School Wildlife Garden. They used the magnifiers to look closely at them and watch how they moved.
The school pond also has a couple of resident frogs and lots of tadpoles. There were also other water beetles and insects around the water.
Back in class the children have been learning about different minibeast and insects. They have been doing some research about them during writing lessons and learning how to label diagrams.
They used oil pastels to create this amazing wall display.
It is always so exciting once the plants start to appear! The bairns are doing a great job of looking after them and thankfully the weather is improving and there is a bit of warmth and sunshine.
Kindness is one of the schools’ Core Values and we feel it is the most important. It is always on the agenda but it is good to make it a focus and spend time discussing with the children different ways of being kind and how it makes us and others feel.
The children listened to stories, watched clips and had discussions about kindness. We also had little role play scenarios to act out and discuss.
Any children who were noticeably kind could choose a smiley face and add it to the Kindness Trail which is making its way around the school corridors.
Lots of parents have emailed in Acts of Kindness that they have seen the children doing at home. They loved hearing the different ways their peers have been kind and it has really spurred them on with their efforts.
All adults in the school are noticing their kindness and commenting on this with them. The cooks are well impressed with the good manners at lunchtime with lots of pleases and thankyous.
On Friday the tide was low so the bairns went to the Taing beach to take part in the Voar Redd Up. They mostly found bits of rope and plastic but the more unusual finds were a toorie and cans and bottles in the grassy area between the school and the top of the beach road.
There was also time to go exploring and find shells and crabs.
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.
It was lovely to welcome lots of Grandparents into the school and classroom again. The children were so delighted to be able to share their learning and show them what they love doing at school.
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.
The children, and staff had so much fun on World Book Day. So many great character costumes and books were brought in.
They loved listening to stories, acting out stories, reading and making books.
They painted their own book covers and wrote stories inside. They loved using their favourite stories to help. So much excitement and enthusiasm for reading- it was so lovely to see,
As part of their learning about looking after pets the children listened to the story of the Pet Popper -Upper. They then had to set to work creating their own one.
The ideas and creativity was amazing and the children loved coming up with new ways to make the pet pop up. it was good to see their confidence growing as they tried new modelling techniques and practiced craft skills.
The children were talking about how much they loved animals and telling each other what pets they have.
We spoke about how to look after pets and then decided we needed a Vet area in the classroom. They have loved making sure all the pets are well cared for and looking after them if they need a visit to the vets.
They all painted their favourite pets, which they shared with the NGUHA Jarl Squad as part of their quiz.
How many dogs can you see?
The children loved the story of the Hickory Dickory Dock Clock and set to work creating their own versions.
Their clock needed tp have numbers, hands, switches and passcodes to work. The final Clocks were great and the children loved showing them to the class.
Many of the children wrote about their clocks and how they had made them.
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.
The children loved the lead up to Christmas in the classroom. There were lots of opportunities for craft, writing and number activities every day.
They enjoyed hearing the story about the birth of baby Jesus and of course did an amazing job performing at the Christmas Concert.
Every week the children have french lessons so they learned a little bit about french traditions and how children in France celebrate Christmas.
Here, the children played ‘Christmas in France’ and have left their shoes under the Christmas tree for Father Christmas to know where to leave the presents.
On the final day of term the children played Christmas Party games.
We read the story of the T-Rex who Lost his Specs in class. The children then went on to create their own specs. There were lots of opportunities for creativity and problem solving. They look fantastic and it was a lot of fun.
The Primary 1’s and their school buddies get together every week. They have been learning about dates and months in class and created these beautiful birthday cakes to pop their birthday candles in. they are absolutely beautiful and really brighten up the school corridor.
The children arrived back at school today and were delighted with a bit of Halloween fun in and around the classroom.
Many of the children loved the dressing up and Witch’s kitchen area.
During art they followed instructions well and made little pumpkin collages.
It was such a nice morning that the class went out and did a scavenger hunt for spooky images hidden around the school grounds.
In the afternoon they listened to a story and all took part in Drawing Club.
In between times there was practical maths lessons and reading activities so a very busy first day back.
