Tag Archives: Imagination

Art and Craft, Expressive Arts, Listening and Talking, literacy, maths, numeracy, Science, Social Skills, STEM

Halloween Fun

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Halloween is always so much fun and lends itself so well to the classroom with exciting fun learning opportunities. Below the children created a potion with many disgusting ingredients, using magic words and actually getting it to bubble up and overflow the cauldron. The potion made lots of weird and interesting things happen. Children are so creative and imaginative.

They wrote out their chosen ingredients and shared spells with each other.

The primary ones had to use their phonic sounds and choose the correct ingredients to read magic words.

The classroom has a Haunted House area with lots of Halloween creatures and costumes to use.

There have been a few disgusting days in the water tray with slime and goo, full of spiders and snakes. And other opportunities to measure weigh and create bottles of potions with different materials.

The children can’t wait to scare their parents with these ‘teethy’ symmetrical pumpkins!

and the spooky bat prints!

 

 

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.

 

 

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

Making Glasses

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The children had so much fun making glasses today. They enjoyed hearing about the Dinosaur who Lost his Specs and decided what their glasses would enable them to see. Some glasses made everything invisible, or a particular colour, and some even made everything fly or even gave the children super powers!

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, 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.

 

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.

 

 

 

 

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

Our Big Dino Build

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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.

Listening and Talking, RME, Social Studies

Chinese New Year

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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.

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

Buddying

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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

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

Around The World

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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.

Art and Craft, Listening and Talking

Haunted Houses

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The children made a fantastic job of creating these haunted house pieces.

  • They began by painting the moon and then gradually mixing in blue paint to make their circular background.
  • The haunted house designs were completely done by themselves after looking at various shapes that would make the best spooky designs.
  • They loved drawing skeletons, ghosts etc. in the windows and adding a few bats, trees and gravestones to make it even more scary.
Listening and Talking, literacy, Science, STEM

More about Autumn

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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.

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

Halloween Fun

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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.

 

 

 

Art and Craft, Expressive Arts, Listening and Talking, literacy, Social Skills

p1/2 Assembly

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The P1/2 class presented their IDL learning in a whole school assembly on Friday. They shared drawings of themselves with things they like and are good at. They had lovely drawings of their families, including some writing done on the computers.

 

 

They dressed up as what they would like to be when they grow up and showed their paintings to the rest of the school staff and children.

 

 

The paintings are on display in the classroom now.