Christmas hats on and all set for a delicious feed of Christmas dinner today.
The school cooks did a tremendous job and the children really loved their special meal. Lots of lovely manners as they remembered to say ‘please’ and ‘thankyou’.
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.
Huge excitement today in the polycrub as the children discovered several of the sunflowers had opened up.
A lot of the peas were also ready to be picked. The children tried a few and Conan brought a tub back to the school canteen. The cooks were delighted and will serve them up with the picnic lunch on Wednesday.
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.
The children were very excited to welcome all the classes and staff to come and get a fruit pot at breaktime.
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.
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.
The bairns had great fun at our class party on Wednesday afternoon. Lots of charging around, noise and excitement! Flashing lights and party food made it just a great way to end term two.
Last week the children had Christmas dinner at school. The cooks at Whiteness are amazing and the children really enjoyed it, especially the pigs in blankets.
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.
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.
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.
The children had to cut their toast either in half or into quarters and choose their toppings for each part.
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.
Today we were learning a little bit about Robert Burns and how people celebrate Burns Night. The children prepared tatties and neaps to go with the haggis. They were very careful with the peelers and knives listening well to instructions.
They all got to have some of the Burns Supper they had cooked. A few loved it, some liked it and quite a lot of children did not like it at all but had a try.
The children have been learning about Chinese New Year. This year is the Year of the Rabbit and they loved hearing the story about how the Emperor decided how to name the years after animals.
They have been counting to 10 in mandarin and having a go at using chopsticks in our little chinese restaurant.
The children loved baking in preparation for the school coffee morning. The Primary 1’s made chocolate crispies and the Primary 2’s made Malteser Squares.
It was great to have parents into the school again. The children were so excited to see their families and enjoy the tea, coffee, juice and homebakes together.
It was a very busy classroom with excited children showing their parents and families all the things they like to do and have been learning about this term.
It has been wonderful to have so many visitors in the school recently and the children have loved hearning about the different jobs people do.
Carina’s mam came in and told the children about being a dental nurse.
Alfie’s mum came in and told them about being a nurse and showed them lots of different things she uses in her job.
Mandy from the kitchen came and spoke to the children about what she has to do in her job as a cook. They had to guess what some of the items were that she brought with her. They especially loved the salad spinner and the protective specs!
Willum’s mam and dad came in to tell the children about their jobs. Louise is a pharmacist and the children found out about how important it is to only take medicine given by an adult and never eat a sweetie if you don’t know what it is or who it is from. They really enjoyed the peerie quiz ‘Is it a sweet or a medicine?’
Davie is an officer on a boat and they loved seeing the photos and finding out about the different jobs people do on the boats. He has travelled all around the world and spoke to the children about the different journeys and places he has been too.
The children pulled up the beetroot from the Polycrub. They washed it and chopped it and put it on to boil.
They cut a square of material and put it in a pan to boil with vinegar.
Once everything had boiled the beetroot was drained and the material put into the purply red juices.
This is Sophie’s instructions describing what we did.
The children used vegetables they grew in the polycrub to make soup. They pulled up carrots onions and snipped some coriander leaves to take indoors.
They washed, chopped and prepared the vegetables. The children listened so well and were very careful with the vegetable knives.
The vegetables went in the pan with a stock cube, the coriander and some salt and the classroom smelt wonderful.
A few of the children liked the soup but lots of them said they didn’t- at least they gave it a go.
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.
