It is always so exciting once the plants start to appear! The bairns are doing a great job of looking after them and thankfully the weather is improving and there is a bit of warmth and sunshine.
Poly Crub
Tag Archives: successful learners
STEM fun
We read this book by Polly Dunbar about a penguin who wouldnt say anything. It was very funny and the children loved it.
In the story the penguin gets fired up to Space in a rocket so the children made their own little penguins as part of a STEM activity.
They had great fun seeing how high the penguins could be blasted. The Primary two Children have been learning how to write instructions so did a fantastic job explaining how to do this STEM challenge.
Polycrub update
A huge thankyou to the parents who helped to water the plants throughout the Easter holidays. They have fairly shot up. The sunflowers were ready to be re-potted into bigger pots so the children have been busy doing that and lots of watering this week.
As part of their literacy this term the children have been learning how to write instructions. Lucy-Jo was very clear on how to plant a seed.
Grandparents
It was lovely to welcome lots of Grandparents into the school and classroom again. The children were so delighted to be able to share their learning and show them what they love doing at school.
The Eco-Committee
The primary 1/2 class are the Eco-Committee for this term. They shared their plan in assembly last week of how they were going to involve the whole school in planting and growing their own food in the Polycrub this year.
Each class have been given a section of the polycrub to be responsible for planting in. There is also a rota for watering and looking after the plants throughout the term.
There have been lots planted already – tatties, peas, radishes, carrots, lettuce, beetroot, to name a few.
The children have also planted sunflower seeds and tomatoes in little pots which will need careful looking after and re-potting oncce they grow a little bit.
Each class is responsible for not only looking after the plants but keeping the polycrub tidy and organised for the next class or group of children who come in.
it is also a great space outdoors at Whiteness Primary to play. The children took a break from planting to work on their teamwork skills and have a lot of fun on the hill.
World Book Day
The children, and staff had so much fun on World Book Day. So many great character costumes and books were brought in.
They loved listening to stories, acting out stories, reading and making books.
They painted their own book covers and wrote stories inside. They loved using their favourite stories to help. So much excitement and enthusiasm for reading- it was so lovely to see,
Hickory Dickory Dock Clocks
The children loved the story of the Hickory Dickory Dock Clock and set to work creating their own versions.
Their clock needed tp have numbers, hands, switches and passcodes to work. The final Clocks were great and the children loved showing them to the class.
Many of the children wrote about their clocks and how they had made them.
2D and 3D shapes
The children have had great fun learning about 2D and 3D shapes this term. They have had lots of opportunities to familiarise themselves with the shapes through practical activities both indoors and outdoors.
There have been lots of conversations about the faces, corners and names of the new shapes. They have enjoyed finding examples of these shapes in the environment.
Number Formations
The Primary One children have been learning the letter formations this term. This begins as a character in a story, a little rhyme, some creativity and lots of practise.
For number 1, the children made penguins like the character in the story. This was great for practising those scissor skills and listening to instructions.
For number 2 the children made little nest models with two eggs made of plasticine, they also had two feathers for tickling each other like the character in the story. They worked with a partner to collect outdoor objects (two of each) and create a picture together.
Number 3 was a butterfly so the children added lots of ‘3 things’ to their pictures
For number 4 the children made these beautiful peacocks and learned a few facts about them.
Number 5 was a jumpy kangaroo so the children made jumps out of lego. Great for their fine motor skills.
For number 6 they used 6 sticks to make their own shapes and designs. They also used plasticine to make a swamp scene with 6 snakes, 6 rocks etc. This was a great opportunity for communication for collaboration.
Number 7 is a giraffe with 7 little birds on his back, 7 spots, 7 leaves etc.
For number 8 the children made spiders with 8 bendy legs and spider webs with 8 ‘spokes’ and 8 flies on their paper collage.
They also used plasticine to make ball shaped spider bodies and strengthen those little hands. Matchsticks were used as legs.
Number 9 was great fun practising in the shaving foam.
Tiger 10 was a favourite and the children made masks. They all had ten whiskers.
Afore Noo
As part of our IDL this term the children have been finding out about items from the past. We got a selection of items from the Lerwick Museum to investigate which were fascinating.
There were lots of opportunities for discussion, investigation and figuring out what some of the items were.
They particularly loved the old typewriter. They got to try and type some messages and loved the mechanical element of it.
They made their own typewriters in art with Miss Whelan and decided what the paper would have typed on it as it came out of the top.
They had great fun learning how listening to music has changed over the years. The record player was great for listening to and swaying to some Bing Crosby tunes. They also looked at cassette tapes and CD’s which some of the children had seen before.
They practised drawing and cutting circles to make their own records for display in the classroom.
Ms Sinclair also brought in an old gramophone and gave a demonstration of how to work it. The children got a chnce to wind up the handle to get the turntable moving. There were some scottish dance tunes to dance to this time.
They loved hearing about how watching TV has changed over the years with limited channels and black and white images. They made their own old style TV’s and made themselves the stars of the show.
Beginning Phonics
The children have started learning the sounds and formations of some letters this term. As well as learning with songs, stories, speedy skills and actions there are many other ways they practice these in class.
For ‘s’ they also had a go at making ‘s’ shapes with spaghetti and cutting out snakes which they covered with lots of s’s.
There are always visuals available for them to use and a roll-and-write card with a little ball on it which shows them the correct formations. Ellis is practicing ‘a’ below.
T was for tea! and what fun they had making tea.
They use the interactive whiteboard to practise formations and play games. They also use sand, little whiteboards, chalk, shaving foam etc. Lots of different opportunities to keep them engaged and enthusiastic.
For ‘i’ we got out the ink and lots of different stamps. They really enjoyed turning their pictures into works of art.
They practise recognising the letters and matching them to the initial sounds of words.
The children practised ‘p’ in many different ways. It is a tricky one to master but they really enjoyed opportunities for using ‘p’ words while using petals to make perfume.
Library
Library time is a special time. The children love choosing their books and spending time looking at them with their classmates.
They listen to a story which they voted for in class earlier in the day. There can never be enough stories read to children.
