It is great to get outdoors so much with the amazing weather we have had recently. The children have such a great space behind the school and enjoyed creating some seating areas and places to sit and have their snack.
Snacks in the Sun
Tag Archives: communication
Loose Parts in the Sun
We are very lucky at Whiteness Primary to have such excellent outdoor spaces that provide rich environments for learning. Today we focused on using the loose parts in the shed to build, experiment and play. It is amazing seeing how the children use the various resources to create, solve problems and develop more flexible thinking.
Firstly the children thought about what they needed and took the materials they needed to an area they wanted to play/develop.
There was lots of discussion, collaboration and physical work to gather materials.
The children worked together to solve problems, develop ideas and negotiate. The spaces they created were fantastic and they had so much fun.
We also had snack in the new polycrub, which was lovely but quite hot.
Lots of the children were involved in using a series of pipes and guttering to get water to flow down a slope. There were so many peerie engineers helping and coming up with ideas and solutions to problems. They were so excited when each new section worked and they just wanted to make it even longer.
Make it fly
The children had a STEM activity this afternoon after discussing how birds fly.
First they had some simple instructions to follow . It was lovely to see the children helping each other with the tricky bits.
once they had made them they went outside to try them out.
Shoes!
Today the children enjoyed listening to the story of ‘The Elves and The Shoe Maker’. Last week in library time we read ‘Don’t Chew the Royal Shoe’, which was really funny.
So after some discussion about different kinds of footwear the children had a go at making their own using various materials.
The children worked in pairs and had to help each other complete the task of having a pair of shoes each. They did really well and we spoke about co-operation and helping each other.
They were so chuffed to wear them when they were finished and we now have a bit of a shoe shop developing in the classroom.
Library
The children love choosing their books during library time and sharing stories together. Its a great time to listen to a story too.
The p1’s are really delighted to be able to take the books home to share with their families.
Busy Bodies
Through role play the children have learned a lot about how to look after their bodies and what it would be like to be a patient or a nurse/doctor in a hospital.
The children learned about their bones and loved having Bob the Skeleton in the classroom for a visit.
They created wonderful skeleton pictures using art straws and had to think carefully about where there were joints.
They also had a torso in which had removable organs. It was like a puzzle to get everything to fit in and a great way to learn about some of the different parts inside their bodies.
They learned a little bit about their heart and lungs and completed some exercise challenges to see how this effected the different parts of their bodies.
The children worked in groups to create these amazing posters spending time learning about the different things they need to do to look after their bodies.
There are so many aspects of their school day which lend themselves to the Busy Body topic this term. working in the Polycrub, growing their own food, snacktime and lunchtime are also perfect opportunities to discuss healthy food and a balanced diet and outdoor play really provides lots of exercise and fresh air.
Buddying
The Primary 1’s look forward to meeting up with their buddies every week. The p7’s plan a variety of fantastic fun activities to do together and recently completed this collage based on the Hungry Caterpillar story.
Measuring
The children have been measuring length using different body parts, uniform objects and moving on to metres and half metres. They have really enjoyed these practical fun activities and challenges. I just haven’t managed to get many photos.
Following on from length and capacity the children have been learning about weighing objects.
The children worked really well in pairs to weigh small items using uniform objects like cubes and pegs.
They were very good at estimating and recording their answers.
They went on to use kgs and half kgs and enjoyed estimating each others weights and the adults too.
The Primary 2’s have also been learning about Area and how to cover a surface with different uniform objects and then moving onto squares.
The Hare and the Tortoise
The children loved the story of the Hare and the Tortoise and we used the story in Drawing Club. These are some of the drawing Club masterpieces.
The Primary 2’s re-wrote the story using pictures which they had sequenced to help them remember the story order.
They did an amazing job of using exciting vocabulary, description and phrases which they picked from listening really well to the story and Drawing Club and applying this to their own pieces of writing.
They read their stories out to the class and were proud to see them on display.
The Primary 1’s made the cute tortoises with beautiful collaged shells.
Taing Beach Exploring
The children had a great morning at the beach and they loved searching in the seaweed and amongst the rocks for crabs and shells.
Carina made this wonderful pattern with lots of similar sized whelks which she had collected on the beach.
We stayed at the beach for snack which is always a treat.
We do live in the most beautiful place with fantastic opportunities for learning outdoors.
Capacity
The children have been learning about capacity in maths. For part of this topic they have been learning outdoors so we have been glad of the dry weather.
The Primary 1’s had a variety of containers to choose from and then had to decide on a suitable ‘measuring’ container. They got the hang of making good estimations before working together to find out the correct answer.
The primary 2’s have been learning about litres and half litres. Their containers were quite big so we were glad to be able to work outside with all that water.
They worked really well with a partner and their estimations were getting pretty close to the actual measurements once they checked.
Tortoise Visit
Thankyou Mason for bringing in your tortoises for Show and Tell.
The children were very curious to learn all about them and asked really good questions.
Voar Redd Up
Low tide and sunshine meant it was a perfect time to head out and do our bit for the Voar Redd Up.
It was great that there was not too much litter on the Taing Beach. Great fun finding shells and crabs while we were there too.
Strom Beach
We are so lucky to have wonderful places to walk to from our school.
There is always plenty to chat about, investigate and be curious about on our walks.
Once we got to the beach it was time for snack! It is always quite exciting having food outdoors with friends.
the sun came out for us and there was plenty of interesting finds on the beach.
The longer we stayed the more curious and creative the children became. Some of the children began re-routing the water flowing across the beach and building dams and new channels.
Tasty Fractions
The children had to cut their toast either in half or into quarters and choose their toppings for each part.
Easter Fun
The children have been learning a liitle bit about the symbols of Easter and they enjoyed listening to the story from the Bible.
They had great fun today doing an Easter Egg Hunt in the school grounds which resulted in some yummy chocolate treats at snack time.
This tied in with the patterns which the children have been doing in maths as they created repeating patterns using colours and shapes to design beautiful Easter Eggs.
Have a great holiday everyone!
Learning Out in the Snow
Opportunities for using loose part to create dens. Great for developing problem solving and teamwork skills.
Collecting the melting snow from icicles dripping from the roof. Great science and STEM opportunities outdoors.
Some of the melting ice was collected in a different way!
Deciding which containers are best for different purposes. Evie’s snowman needed three different sized containers.
Opportunities to develop creativity, confidence and take risks- so many skills being developed.
Collaboration, choice and commitment in play develops so many social skills and friendships. It can also be exhausting!
Testing to see which snowball goes fastest- big or small? Does lifting the guttering higher or lower? So many opportunities for conversation, developing vocabulary and communication skills outdoors.
Checking out footprints and the different patterns boots make in the snow.
Data Handling
The children have been doing a lot of data handling recently in maths. These lessons are always really active and busy so its difficult to capture on camera how much learning has taken place.
The primary 1’s have been learning about different ways to sort items and explaining the criteria they used to put items in different groups.
The primary 2’s have been doing a lot of surveys in the class and in the other classrooms too. They have been using this data to create graphs and diagrams.
The primary 1’s have also been creating graphs using practical materials.
by sorting the information they have they are getting good at answering the types of questions necessary to explain their data.
World Book Day
The children all looked amazing today and had great fun listening to and reading stories.
Several of the staff joined in as characters from the book The Day the Crayons Quit.
The children loved sharing their books and explaining who their characters were.
Ellis dressed as Greg from Diary of A Wimpy Kid and Mrs Moncrieff was the white crayon to colour him in.
In the afternoon the children became authors and publishers and wrote their own books! They were so enthusiastic and the independent writing was amazing.
Viking Warriors
The children love learning about the Vikings and have been enjoying role play opportunities in the classroom. It is great to see them all getting on so well together using what they have been learning in their play. Below is a snapshot of Wednesday afternoon’s adventures.
The galley is now finished and they have been taking turns and sailing around the world discovering new places to settle.
Sometimes, just their imaginations are enough. They set out chairs and rowed their longship – even before it was built.
Once in their new lands the children have been learning how Vikings trade items to get what they need. Their are jewels, gems, furs, food and jewellery to swap, using the scales and balances to work out different amounts.
They would also need to cook over an open fire in the middle of the longhouse using foods available.
These viking warriors are getting ready for another attack.
The children are enjoying using the Viking longships in the water tray to set battle scenes and talk about their topic.
