Children are often asked what they would like to be when they grow up. These ideas often change as they get older, but for now these paintings show what job they would like to do.
They were so good at painting in the classroom. Really great listening and careful work.
They have been enjoying role playing a few different jobs through play in the classroom and outdoors. A lot of different jobs in the hospital area, builders in the blocks, sand and Kapla and a spot of fishing in the water tray are just a few examples.
As the term goes on we will be discussing more jobs and having some parents in to tell us about their work.
The children were delighted to find a hospital area in the classroom to play in. Lots of jobs to do and great fun. Lots of the new p1’s told us last year that they are keen to be doctors or nurses when they grow up.
We got some time to play outdoors in our ‘Zone’. The weather was lovely and there was great excitement watching the tractor cutting grass in the field behind the school.
A few snaps of the children having their lunch. A great success and what lovely manners.
The children loved having the opportunity to explore and play with all the lovely things in the classroom. We are very lucky at Whiteness to have such an amazing learning space.
I loved all our class photo shots so thought I would just put them all on here rather than choose just one.
Another Monday afternoon exploring our amazing local area. A walk in the Strom Road and down to the little beach to complete todays task…….’what can you make?’
Some groups decided to do dam building…….
Others diverted the water flow into new channels….
the children came up with so many different ideas………..
Rock cars
Brochs and buildings
Dart board!
The Titanic sets sail!
Stone designs
There was also time to explore the shoreline and find out what lives there.
The children loved the Aesop’s fable called the Crow and the Pitcher. The primary ones made crow puppets and used jugs and glass pebbles to retell the story. They loved being videoed on the class ipad and watching it back.
The primary 2”s wrote the story and then read it to a partner who acted it out using props. This is Conans story. He did a fantastic job of spelling and remembering to include all the important parts of the story in sequence.
Great teamwork from the children working together to create a ‘hot tub’ which became a ‘chocolate flavoured hot tub’ with the addition of some mud!
The children had a snack area and enjoyed sitting together outdoors in the sunshine.
Lots of engineering going on to make the water flow around bends and pour into different containers. Also using the water as a force to push objects down the pipes and figuring out how to make the water flow faster and slower.
Children’s imaginations are wonderful….these vehicles were taking them all over the world and beyond!
And there is always time to do a bit of climbing amongst the trees. The children learn how to do this safely and are really good at helping each other.
As part of our ‘Changes’ IDL learning the children loved the activities around lifecycles and metamorphosis. It all started with a visit to our school pond when we spotted several frogs.
The children worked in groups to create a 3D collage of a pond showing the different stages fo the lifecycle of a frog. it was lovely to see them collaborating and supporting each other with this.
The final ponds looked fantastic……..
As part of their learning about lifecycles they discussed the transformation of a caterpillar to a butterfly. It was so much fun learning this through drama.
These are the eggs!
Out of the eggs hatch the little caterpillars
The chrysalis/cocoon/pupa hangs while the caterpillar transforms inside.
The butterflies emerge from the cocoons, dry their wings and fly away.
Go Furt means get outdoors………It was a chilly 3 or 4 degrees on Friday morning but the children were still keen to get outside to build shelters and play together.
We will be heading out every Friday to make the most of our wonderful outdoor space at Whiteness. There is a shed full of loose parts which the children use to develop so many important skills including problem solving, cooperation, teamwork, etc.
It is fantastic seeing them having so much fun together and there imaginations are just the best!
It was great to meet Chloe who shared lots of songs, rhymes and stories with the children. They were all so excited and engaged and really enjoyed joining in and having a go with the puppets and actions.
The primary 2’s never received their Read, Write and Count bags before Christmas so Chloe sorted that and they arrived yesterday. We will look at them in class this week, and try out the resources and ideas and the children will them home at the end of the week.
The bairns were so excited today and were all ready for the Nesting and Girlsta Jarl Squad coming this morning.
They had painted a galley and all the children in the school made themselves into Vikings to go inside and around it. It looked great in the school hall.
The children also made collage pictures of Viking longships on the sea. They used paint, torn paper, foam shapes, pens, wooden sticks and card for all the different parts. They are so colourful and look amazing.
The children have been learning about Divali this term. They made lovely little diva lamps and used coloured rice to create this Rangoli pattern on the wall.
They used loose parts, peas and beans, Numicon and counters to create Rangoli patterns which tied in nicely with our work on pattern and symmetry.
The Primary 1’s created this collage of Ravani, the 10 headed demon god from the story of Rama and Sita. He looks pretty scary!
The children have had great fun creating these aliens after reading a story in class with Miss Jamieson. There was a lot of discussion and many amazing descriptive words about their characters. The Primary two’s practised their ICT skill by typing and printing out fancy lettering for words to add to the display.
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!
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.
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!
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.
Isla choosing her resources
Deciding which items are best
preparing tarpaulins for dens
Heading to the chosen area to develop
Gathering ideas
Enjoying nature
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.
Dinner is served!
Rainbow Hoop House
Carrie loves climbing
making Swings in the tree
Tunnels through the bushes
Testing the suitability of materials
Boo!
Busy in their shelter
Its taller than us!
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.
Finding the best pipes to connect
Checking the flow of water
lining up the pipes to ensure a good downward flow
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’.
These are the eggs!
