Tag Archives: Creativity

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.

 

 

 

 

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.

 

 

Our Big Dino Build

The children started by selecting suitable boxes/junk to make their model dinosaur. They worked in pairs so there was a lot of discussion and collaboration to find the parts and join them together.

We spoke about how to make their model strong by creating different types of joins in using PVA and sellotape.

The next stage was seriously messy. They used papier mache to cover the dinosaur, focusing on the joins and making sure the newspaper strips went from one part of the model onto an adjoining part.

Once the models had two coats of papier mache it was time to choose colours for their dinosaur.

Once the paint was dry the children thought about the detail they wanted to add- eyes, teeth, claws etc.

The primary 2’s have been working on adjectives in their literacy work so this was a great opportunity to apply that learning to describing their dinosaur.

The writing was read out in class for the others to guess which model the description matched.

Their is now a little Dinosaur Exhibition set up in the school for the other classes and staff to visit to see the models and the writing.

Buddying

Every week the Primary 1’s meet up with their buddies in Primary 7. This is always exciting and the bairns really look forward to it. They do lots of fun things together inside and outside during this time. Below are just some of the things they have been enjoying doing together.

Parachute games

Robots with Rectangles

Plasticine Creations and Presentations

Puppets and Puppet Shows

Name Collages

Our Christmas Concert

We only managed a few rehearsals in school before the snow came and we had to close. The children were so good at listening and following instructions. They made their own props and practised songs as often as possible.

The children did so well remembering their lines and singing their songs on the big stage. It was a great experience for them performing in front of such a big audience.

Symmetry

The children have just begun a topic on symmetry and have really enjoyed the first few activities. They had fun looking at reflections and using mirrors to make pictures complete.

They worked with a partner to create a giant symmetrical design using classroom objects.

They made symmetrical body shapes with their partner.

They had great fun investigating symmetry with the little mirrors.

The children had a go at painting symmetry butterflies. They make a very colourful corner in the classroom.

They then had a go at creating their own symmetry paintings for their gallery.

Around The World

This terms whole school topic has been  ‘Around The World’ which included a little bit about the World Cup. The primary 1/2 class showcased some of their learning in assembly last Friday.

They loved learning about different countries in the World and keeping tabs on who is playing and still in the World Cup.

Archie loved matching countries and flags and finding places on the maps

 

 

As part of the project the children worked in pairs/small groups to create their own imaginary country. Whether it was hot or cold? Where the cities, forests, mountains etc would be, what animals lived there, what was the country called and design a flag for it.

Children In Need Day

We had a really fun day on Friday and the children( and staff) loved coming to school in their pyjamas.

 

This wasn’t a fundraiser this year but the children watched short video clips and we spoke about Children In Need in class.

I only managed to get one photo during the day and it was of little Pudsey coming into his newly built house by Carina and Carrie.

More about Autumn

This little area of the classroom is all about Autumn. The children have been thinking about all the changes that happen with this season and about animals who hibernate – focusing on hedgehogs in particular. 

They have been making little hedgehog homes\nests using the loose parts.

We have been outside again spotting signs of Autumn and having discussions about  the changes we see and things we find.

Halloween Fun

The bairns have had so much fun being back at school with a Halloween theme in the classroom. They have been enjoying dressing up, reading stories, making potions and spells,  hocking out pumpkins and finding spooky creatures in some very disgusting blue goo amongst other things.

After reading the story Funnybones the children had a go at drawing skeletons. They loved learning about the different bones and feeling for them inside their own bodies. The drawing were excellent.

 

The children helped Grizelda the Witch with her spell. They put in lots of gruesome, unusual and scary things.

 

There was great excitement as the mixture began to bubble up and the children said their magic words.

The mixture bubbled over and the children thought of wonderful things their spell could do……..

The children completed some writing using their favourite ingredients for the cauldron. These are from Primary 1’s.

They loved the opportunity to scrape the seeds out of the pumpkins and get them ready for carving. This created lots of discussion, fun and mess.

 

 

 

P for Petals and Perfume

The children had great fun making perfume using petals from different flowers. There was honey suckle and fuschia as well as flowers from the school polycrub to make fantastic smells with.

They used small scissors and tiny spoons to create their perfumes in little glass jars and containers.

They were very proud of their final products. They named their perfumes and made labels for the little bottles.

Number formations in p1

The children have been practising the correct formations of numbers. They listen to stories, play outdoor and indoor games and practise writing them in sand and on whiteboards.

The children worked in groups of 2 to go out and collect lots of threes  of things. They worked really well with their partners and created lovely displays of their findings.

They are practising their counting by playing games and through lots of play and everyday activities.

They have been doing ‘speedy skills’ as part of their morning routine which is a great way to get in a little bit  more practise of how to write those numbers correctly.

last week they created Feathery Four who is the peacock in the story which is all about 4. He looks fabulous and the children were great at following instructions for making his tail feathers.

The children made jumps out of lego for Frisky 5 the kangaroo character to jump over.

The children made a swamp for Snappy Six which had 6 trees, 6 ducks, 6 rocks etc. This was great fun and  super exercise for those little fingers.

Counting in 2’s

The primary 2’s have been practising counting in 2’s. As well as counting eyes, feet, ears etc in the class they have been counting pairs of wellies, pairs of socks and finding pairs of objects to count. They practised with a partner playing clapping games and pegging up washing.

They worked together to display their items and write numbers to 20 and beyond by counting them in 2’s.

The class display looks great and they love counting the socks as they walk past.

Day One At School

The children had a super first day back at school and loved exploring the play provision in the classroom and shared area.

It was lovely to spend time chatting with each child to hear what they had been doing in their summer holidays and what they are looking forward to doing at school this year.

They had snack in the class and then went out to play with all the other children in the school.

After playtime they met Mr Travins the new music teacher. It was lots of fun and they sang and danced along to lots of cool songs.

We had a chat about the Zones of Regulation and the emotional check in system we use throughout the school and the children showed me all their happy, sad, angry and worried faces!

Everyone managed really well at lunchtime lining up and telling the cooks what choices they would like. Lots of clean plates and great manners.