Tag Archives: communication

Listening and Talking, literacy, technology

Beginning Phonics in primary 1

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The children learn phonic sounds and practice letter formations every day. They listen to a story and a song linked to the sound they are learning and play some games on the big whiteboard.

They then spend some time practicing the formations, in sand, on whiteboards, on infinity pads or with chalk, spaghetti or in shaving foam.

The children made tea and enjoyed investigating teabags and chatting about things beginning with ‘t’. They were also outside for a ‘t’ search which was great fun. their favourite game on the whiteboard is popping the ‘ t’ balloons as they appear on the screen.

The children loved investigating the effects of mixing ink and water when they were practicing the ‘i’ sound.

The children like matching the letters to the pictures initial sounds on the big whiteboard.

Health and Wellbeing, Science, Social Skills

Taing Beach

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The children walked down to Taing Beach on Friday and had fun exploring in the ebb.

They found lots of shells, whelks, crabs and even a sea cucumber. It was so great seeing how curious and excited the children were about their finds.

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

Our Own Paddling Pool

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Friday was a really warm day and the children have been learning about sun safety. They got onto discussing drinking plenty of water and staying cool. This got onto the subject of paddling pools and outdoor hot tubs. The class decided they would have a go at making their own paddling pool as we were heading outdoors.

They worked together to roll tyres into position to make a big circle. They then helped to get the tarpaulins over the top and pegged them down.

Once the tyres were in position and the tarpaulins on the top the children worked together to fill their pool with water.  They used lots of different containers to fetch water from the water trays at the other end of the play area as the hose only reaches so far.

Once there was enough water it didn’t take long to get wellies and socks off and get in for a little paddle. The chairs made it a very comfortable place to sit and cool off. The children were so happy and excited with what they had built together.

There was a ‘changing room’ created for the children to dry their feet and get their socks and boots back on.

Art and Craft, Expressive Arts, Health and Wellbeing, Listening and Talking, literacy

A visit from Becky

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We were so lucky to have Becky in visiting the class to tell us about her job as an author. She told the children about writing the stories and shared lots of great vocabulary with them. They loved listening to the story and finding out about the characters on the pages of the book.

Her latest book is amazing and tells a really great story about a little girl who is a bit of a rebel. Her illustrations are beautiful and the children had the challenge of coming up with ideas for the last part of the book for her.

These are their ideas……

Listening and Talking, maths, numeracy, Social Skills

A Bit of Number

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The primary ones have been practicing their number formations in lots of different ways. They listen to stories, use craft materials, sand, whiteboards, shaving foam, playdough etc.

The other children have progressed onto numbers to 100. They have been using loads of practical materials to make tens and Units numbers, they love the interactive whiteboard games and place value basketball game on Topmarks. they have been working in pairs with playing cards and 100 squares to practise their numbers.

They love number games like Snakes and Ladders and are are really good at taking turns.

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

When I Grow Up….

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Children are often asked what they would like to be when they grow up. These ideas often change as they get older, but for now these paintings show what job they would like to do.

They were so good at painting in the classroom. Really great listening and careful work.

They have been enjoying role playing a few different jobs through play in the classroom and outdoors. A lot of different jobs in the hospital area, builders in the blocks, sand and Kapla and a spot of fishing in the water tray are just a few examples.

As the term goes on we will be discussing more jobs and having some parents in to tell us about their work.

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

Drawing Club

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Yesterday we had our first go at Drawing Club this session. The children absolutely loved the story of Splat the Cat and his first day at school. These are their drawings showing Splat riding his penny Farthing bike to school.

They really liked the story ‘Brenda is a sheep’. The ‘sh’ letters and words made Brenda be more and more sneaky.

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

Our First Day Back

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The children were delighted to find a hospital area in the classroom to play in. Lots of jobs to do and great fun. Lots of the new p1’s told us last year that they are keen to be doctors or nurses when they grow up.

We got some time to play outdoors in our ‘Zone’. The weather was lovely and there was great excitement watching the tractor cutting grass in the field behind the school.

A few snaps of the children having their lunch. A great success and what lovely manners.

The children loved having the opportunity to explore and play with all the lovely things in the classroom. We are very lucky at Whiteness to have such an amazing learning space.

I loved all our class photo shots so thought I would just put them all on here rather than choose just one.

Health and Wellbeing, Science, Social Skills

more polycrub produce

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The beetroot is amazing this year. The children pulled it up and it has been picked and put in jars. They will get a taste after the holidays.

The carrots – not so amazing. They didn’t get the attention they needed and didn’t get thinned out as the seeds had been sown too close together. The children enjoyed laughing at how small they were but did manage to crunch a few of the bigger ones.

All the children got a sunflower and tomato plant to take home and there were plenty for some of the other classes too. More peas have been eaten and the other plants are getting cleared out before the end of term.

The children thought that next year they would like to have a plant sale and raise money to get some new trowels and tools for the polycrub.

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

Emergency!

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the children have been learning about the Emergency Services and how to get in touch with them.

In small groups they created little plays about an emergency when they needed to dial 999 and ask for the Police, Ambulance, Fire or Coastguard.

They have loved playing with Emergency vehicles in class, especially the ‘Oscar Charlie’ helicopter.

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

On Our Doorstep

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Another Monday afternoon exploring our amazing local area. A walk in the Strom Road and down to the little beach to complete  todays task…….’what can you make?’

Some groups decided to do dam building…….

Others diverted the water flow into new channels….

the children came up with so many different ideas………..

There was also time to explore the shoreline and find out what lives there.

 

 

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

Obstacle Course to 30!

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The best way to practice counting out loud is to have lots of fun while doing it. The primary 1 children built an obstacle course and took turns at being the leader and counting to 30, controlling everybody who was running around, under, through, behind, over obstacles.

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

The Crow and the Pitcher

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The children loved the Aesop’s fable called the Crow and the Pitcher. The primary ones made crow puppets and used jugs and glass pebbles to retell the story. They loved being videoed on the class ipad and watching it back.

The primary 2”s wrote the story and then read it to a partner who acted it out using props. This is Conans story. He did a fantastic job of spelling and remembering to include all the important parts of the story in sequence.

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

Fruit Pots

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Primary 1/2 are the Health Committee this term.

They presented their idea for fruit pots in assembly a few weeks ago and designed pot shaped adverts to display on the Health Committee board.

Today the children  were very busy……washing, chopping and sorting fruits into little pots.

  • They used the fruit/vegetable knives very sensibly.
  • They counted out the cups and little forks and started sharing all the different fruits into the pots.

The children were very excited to welcome all the classes and staff to come and get a fruit pot at breaktime.

Health and Wellbeing, Listening and Talking, maths, Science

Polycrub Progress

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The radishes were the first thing to be ready for harvesting. They have grown really fast. The children got to take some home and the cooks at school chopped somefor the children to try at lunchtime.

The sunflowers are getting very big. The children have re-potted them and are keeping an eye on the flowers at the top to see which ones bloom first. They are measuring Laurie’s one everyday as it is the tallest at the moment.

 

They have also cleared out all the spinach. They got a little bag of leaves to take home and try and the rest has been frozen ready to add to a recipe soon.

Willum did a great job of tying up peas onto the canes. It is really exciting seeing the peapods growing now. The children are desperate to start popping them open.

The children finally got to try some peas today. So many growing now.

The polycrub looks amazing and the children work hard to water and look after the plants daily.

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

Sorting Data

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The children have been learning about tally marks and this has really helped improve their ability to count in 5’s.

The primary one’s collected flowers sticks and stones and created this pictograph together outside.

The children have loved carrying out surveys and asking each other questions.

The primary ones practiced sorting objects using different criteria. It could be by colour, shape or size.

They worked really well with a partner discussing how they were going to sort the objects and taking turns at different stations.

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

Colour in Nature

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As part of our On Our Doorstep IDL we went to explre the areas nearby the school and find different colours of plants.

The children were vary careful and only picked what they needed to work in their IDL groups to create Colour in Nature pictures. They talked about and named different types of flowers and plants they found.

The results were beautiful…….and fun!

Listening and Talking, maths

Capacity Fun

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The children have been learning about capacity. The primary ones have been great at working in pairs to measure different containers. They were great at estimating how many cupfulls it would be before they counted and checked.

The Primary Two’s compared different containers and measured them using non- standard units. Againthey were excellent at making estimates before measauring.

They then went on to learn about using litres and half litres. It was great to be outdoors for this as they loved measuring the big containers.

It was great timing for the oil delivery to the school as the children were able to see the dials and put this learning into a real life context. We had 5000 litres delivered.