Tag Archives: core

Art and Craft, Expressive Arts, Listening and Talking, Modern Languages, numeracy, Social Skills

French in term 1

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French lessons are very active and the children have a lot of fun.

There are two groups for lessons –  p1/2 in the first group and p3/4/5 in the second group.

The children dance, play musical games and practise short conversations with each other.

They listen to french songs and stories. They love when Patrice(the puppet) speaks to them and gets up to silly stuff to keep them entertained and keen to have a go at speaking in French.

They practised the names of the colours in french by playing games, making  artist pallets with paint and colouring ‘arc de soleil’ images.

During each lesson the children learn a few facts about France. They enjoyed using google maps and online sites to research information. The younger children made a start to Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe pictures using artstraws and the older children added more detailed parts.

 

 

Sophie even made an Eiffel Tower out of Lego

 

 

 

The younger group have been learning numbers to 10 and the older group numbers up to 20 by listening to songs, active games and playing Bingo.

Art and Craft, Expressive Arts, Listening and Talking, literacy, Social Studies, STEM

The Three Little Pigs

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The children loved hearing the story of the three Little Pigs.

The children worked in groups to create houses made of straw, sticks and blocks. They had to decide how to join the different materials and make it as strong as they could.

It was great to listen to the children sharing ideas, chatting about the story as they made the different parts of the houses. The three versions look great.

The primary 2 and 3 children used the story for writing practise and have written books of their own. below are examples of writing from three different primary 2’s.

The Primary 3’s have been focusing on extending their vocabulary and including different connectives to lengthen their sentences.

The primary 1’s and 2’s loved using the story for Drawing Club. It is amazing to see the progress in the P1 fine motor control.

The have also been using stick puppets and masks to role play the story and make up their own adventures too.

 

 

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

Loose Parts in the Sun

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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.

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

Strom Road Wander

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Another beautiful morning in Whiteness so we set off along the Strom Road for a walk and a little adventure.

The children were so sensible when crossing the road and listened really well as we chatted and played games as we walked.

We listened for the yeti’s belly rumbling and the children had great imaginations for where he would have a bath or shower and where he lived.

We headed to the ‘mountain’ where the children loved climbing and exploring.

What a beautiful place we live in. The children took time to look around them and be aware of the plants, animals, colours and landscape in front of them.

River and Willum were first to the top of the ‘mountain’.

But we all got there eventually.

 

Art and Craft, Listening and Talking, maths, Science, Social Skills, STEM

Make it fly

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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.

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

Busy Bodies

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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.

 

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

Buddying

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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.

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

Taing Beach Exploring

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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.

 

Listening and Talking, maths, Social Skills, STEM

Capacity

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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.

Health and Wellbeing, Listening and Talking, Science

Polycrub Produce

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Today was an exciting day as we pulled up the first vegetables ready in the polycrub. These radishes will be used by the cooks in school. Carina loved taking them in and giving them a wash before delivering them to the canteen.

The children are very good at looking after the plants with daily watering, transplanting seedlings and re-potting plants.

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

Spring Flower Science and Literacy

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The children have been learning about about flowers. They have been finding out about the different parts of a flower and how they grow and change.

They have been investigating and naming the different parts of flowers and learning about how dandelions use the wind for seed dispersal and bees take the pollen to different flowers.

This all ties in with discussions about Spring in the classroom and when we are outdoors.

The Primary Two’s used lots of verbs to write poems about Spring. They did a great job of making a good copy to display on the wall using ICT skills they have been practicing recently.

 

 

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

Strom Beach

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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.

Art and Craft, Listening and Talking, literacy, maths, RME

Easter Fun

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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!

Health and Wellbeing, Listening and Talking, Science

Polycrub planting

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We finally made it out to the polycrub to start planting. The soil was really dry so a lot of watering was needed and then the bairns planted carrots, onions and tatties as well as their own little pot with a sunflower seed.

Expressive Arts, Health and Wellbeing, Listening and Talking, literacy, maths, Science, Social Skills, Social Studies, STEM, technology

Learning Out in the Snow

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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.

 

 

 

 

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

Data Handling

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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.

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

Viking Warriors

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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.

 

 

Art and Craft, Expressive Arts, Social Skills, Social Studies

NGUHA

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The children were already for their visit from the Nesting and Girlsta Jarl Squad.

In class they made axes, shields and helmets with Viking runes and designs on them.

The children all designed individual shields and they voted for the best one which was enlarged and put on the Jarl Squad’s galley. Esme won this and her shield looked amazing.

The Jarl Squad came in singing and cheering. The Jarl enjoyed his quiz which the children helped prepare and then everyone enjoyed a Boston Two Step with the jarl Squads’ band.