Tag Archives: challenges

Hills and Parks

As part of our IDL topic this term the children have been out and about again………

Today the children set off up the hill to explore and appreciate the amazing views which are just ‘On Our Doorstep’.

Once at the top they found ‘First Base’ and then they went into their mixed groups to complete their task. They had to find all the markers with letters on them and put them together to solve a puzzle.

It was great to see the children helping each other and working in their groups. There was time for a little rest at the ‘second base’ before heading back to school.

Going down the hill was much easier than going up.

Last Monday the children all went over to Strom Park. This time in their groups they used some sports equipment to practise some activities for Sports Day.

in their groups they had to decide what activities to practise and set it up themselves. It was amazing to see the inclusion of all pupils of mixed ages.

 

Outdoor Learning with Loose Parts

Great teamwork  from the children working together to create a ‘hot tub’ which became a ‘chocolate flavoured hot tub’ with the addition of some mud!

The children had a snack area and enjoyed sitting together outdoors in the sunshine.

Lots of engineering going on to make the water flow around bends and pour into different containers. Also  using the water as a force to push objects down the pipes and figuring out how to make the water flow faster and slower.

Children’s imaginations are wonderful….these vehicles were taking them all over the world and beyond!

And there is always time to do a bit of climbing amongst the trees. The children learn how to do this safely and are really good at helping each other.

On Our Doorstep

The children are learning about what is ‘On Our Doorstep’ this term so every Monday we are heading out to explore.

Our first trip out was down to Taing beach. 

During each trip out the children have a little challenge or activity to do in mixed age groups of four pupils. For this first visit the children had to collect 10 shells each and work together to create a design.

it was great to see the pupils of different ages working together on this task.

measuring length

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.

 

 

Go Furt Fridays

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!

Kites STEM Challenge

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.

Numbers to 20

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.

 

Drumming with Joy

This term the children are enjoying African Drumming lessons with Joy.  Lots of concentration and confidence building going on in these classes.

As well as drumming the children learn about the drums and where they come from. There is also time for lots of games, dancing and singing during the lessons.

Swimming Lessons

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.

Measuring Rainfall

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.

Pancake Day

The children measured, cracked, poured, mixed and got all the ingredients combined to make a perfect pancake (dropped scones) mix.

The children learned how to look for the bubbles in the cooking pancake mix to know when to turn it. While the pancakes were cooking they all had a go at tossing a pancake in the air- great fun!

At snacktime the children chose their favourite topping and enjoyed their pancake day treat.

 

Robbie Burns Day

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.

 

Water Experiments

The children have loved setting up and learning about the properties of water experiments.

  • They had great fun doing evaporation experiments and talking about the results.
  • They froze little creatures and dinosaurs into ice blocks and spent time chipping away and getting the ice to melt to get them out again. Learning that water can be a solid, a liquid and gas called water vapour from the earlier experiments.

They have enjoyed investigating ice and creating habitats with the polar animals.

 

Changes

This is how the children began planning for this terms topic on Changes. They thought of lots of possible ideas of things that can change and were very excited to be involved at this stage.

This created a lot of discussion and great questions from the children who worked in little groups to come up with the ideas.

It’s beginning to feel festive

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

Alien Adjectives

The children have had great fun creating these aliens after reading a story in class with Miss Jamieson. There was a lot of discussion and many amazing descriptive words about their characters. The Primary two’s practised their ICT skill by typing and printing out fancy lettering for words to add to the display.

Children In Need

Well done Primary 123 who raised an amazing £331.29 for Children in Need today.

They organised a coin collection in the school and got everything ready for other classes to come and sort their coins into the different tubs.

The children did really well and had to ensure the correct coins went into the correct buckets.

They had spent time the day before in pairs and small groups preparing the buckets and learning about the different coins as well as where the money collected is going to.

The buckets looked fabulous!