Week beginning 6th June 2016
Well, the week started off with more glorious sunshine! The weather has encouraged our children to be sun-aware and they have proudly been wearing caps and sun cream in our playground.
In the 3-5 room they have been spending lots of time outdoors and helped to re-arrange our nursery garden. They have also made vases and collage flowers to fill them.
In P1 we are very excited as our own butterflies have all emerged from their cocoons! Those caterpillars were hungry…but not as hungry as the one in the book! We also had a party to celebrate Mrs Hasson going on maternity leave and are excited about Miss Waters joining our class on Monday.
In P1/2 we have had great fun this week at Health Day and Sports Day. We have been continuing to learn about the lifecycle of a butterfly in anticipation of their arrival…they’ve already arrived across the corridor in P1 so fingers and wings crossed it won’t be too long until they’re with us!
In P2 we have been revising our common words and spelling rules. We have also been learning about the lifecycle of a frog. We also had great fun on Sports Day and Health Day.
In P3 we too had great fun at the Sports Day and Health Day and wasn’t it so nice the sun was shining too!. We particularly enjoyed the Bird Man and the RSPB talk and were able to tell lots of facts about attracting bees and butterflies to the garden through planning their own in school.
In P3/4 we wrote letters to Hamilton’s Homeless Unit called Blue Triangle asking what it was like to be homeless. Logan and Elaine ( Logan’s Support Worker) visited and told us all about what it’s like and even invited P3/4 down for a tour. Sadly our space seeds did not grow because of fly-infected soil! Don’t let Tim Peak know that! Gardening Scotland replied saying that this had happened to a few schools and noted our results.
In P4/5 we had a wonderful Sports Day and Health and Wellbeing Day. We learned lots of new information about birds and animal Welfare. We enjoyed all the sports activities and lots of children want to join new sports clubs.
In P5 we really enjoyed participating in both the Sports Day and Health Day, particularly when scooting to school and learning about how blood gets pumped round the body. It’s given us lots of ideas about more activities throughout the school year.
In P5/6 we have been revising all math concepts that we have been taught this year. We enjoyed Sports Day and Health Day. We all really enjoyed getting to work in teams on Sports day and all of the different sessions on Health Day. We wrote letters of thanks to the host of a session of our choice. A super fun week in P5/6.
In P6/7 and P7 we have been revising lots of work recently and preparing for the Talent Show which is happening soon. We are busy rehearsing for our P7 Leaver’s Assembly on Wednesday and also our Leaver’s Mass on Thursday.
P7 enjoyed their induction days in Holy Cross on Thursday and Friday. They took part in a range of lessons and followed the timetable that will be in place from August. We are very proud of how well they conducted themselves, well done boys and girls.
This week also saw our new P1 children come to visit us on Thursday and Friday. They were wonderful! We were delighted to meet them, their mums, dads and other relatives and to see them enjoy their time with us. Well done to them and also a big thank you to our buddies who played an important role in helping to settle the new children.
We also said ‘adios’ on Friday to Mrs Hassen who has now begun her maternity leave…we look forward to seeing her and Mrs MacKenzie visit us with their little babies.
The weeks are flying by and next week promises to be another fun and busy week in our school, ending with a Fun Day on Friday which we are all looking forward to.
Thank you for reading this week’s blog. Best wishes, Miss MacPhee
Week beginning 30th May 2016
Our children in our 2-3 room have been spending lots of time in the nursery garden developing their gross motor skills. They are also continuing to focus on their language skills, reading stories and singing songs. They love Humpty Dumpty and have a little puppet they enjoy playing with.
Along in our 3-5 room, they have been planting sunflower seeds for the Summer Fayre. They have also been enjoying outdoor learning due to this lovely weather we have been having.
In P1, our caterpillars are now hanging and getting ready to go in to cocoons! It is very exciting! We have been keeping a close eye on them and are looking forward to the next stage in the life cycle. We’ll keep you posted about this.
In P1/2 our caterpillars are growing nicely and they have a few changing into the chrysalis. They have been creating collage butterflies which are nice and colourful and will make a beautiful wall display. P1 are working hard counting to 20 and P2 have been measuring area. They are very clever these boys and girls!
P2 have been working really hard this week to revise common words. They made the most of our good weather going outside to write their words on the ground using chalk. They managed some tricky words, well done boys and girls.
P3 are learning all about the phases of the moon linked to their novel study. They have made their own cycles of the moon with Oreo biscuits… even managing not to eat as they went! They also drew fantastic owl pictures. In Maths they have been learning to calculate area by counting square centimetres.
In p3/4 they have been BBQ-ing with twigs, dough and school lettuce on a very sunny afternoon! What a wonderful smell…and what a delicious taste! Helpers and safe square areas kept us all safe , happy and well fed! We then used the charcoal leftovers to make patterns on the school yard and a very very big gracias to our Calderside S3 pupil Rachel for all her support this week.
P4/5 have been learning about symmetry, creating patterns and copying patterns and using games in ICT time. They have been enjoying learning about forces and are experimenting making model rockets fly using water, air and gas propulsion. The children are thoroughly enjoying this as you can imagine.
P5 really enjoyed participating in all the activities at Hamilton games including judo, tennis, dance and athletics. The children and staff had a great time at this very well organised event. P5 have also successfully selected their act for the Talent show and look forward to seeing them on stage.
In P5/6, they enjoyed a trip to Hamilton Games where they got to experience athletics, judo, tennis and dance. They have been presenting their Powerpoints that they created in ICT linked with Natural Disasters. They recorded their very own safety adverts linked with Earthquakes….we should really be in discussion with the Advertising Agency as they are of a very high standard. Well done everyone.
Along the corridor, P6/7 thoroughly enjoyed their sponsored walk around Strathclyde Park on Wednesday and hopefully a lot of money has been raised for St Andrew’s Hospice from all the schools that participated in this. They have been researching the suffragettes as part of their democracy and government topic and have started presenting their findings as Powerpoints. The P7’s have been busy getting organised for their leaver’s assembly in a few weeks time. This is taking a lot of time and careful planning as the children want it to reflect their time in St Elizabeth’s before they leave us to move on to Secondary School.
All in all, yet another successful week in St Elizabeth’s. We finished the week off with a wonderful Summer Fayre taking place on Saturday 4th June. Many of our staff, children and families attended this and we all had a great time. Thank you to our Community Partnership for organising such a successful event.
Next week sees our P1 induction days – Thursday 9th , 1.30pm and Fri 10th, 9.30am. We are excited to meet our new P1 children and their families.
Isn’t this lovely sunshine wonderful – the children are enjoying taking shelter in their dens in our playground! Thank you for reading my blog, I hope you have a lovely week ahead.
Best wishes
Miss MacPhee, Head Teacher
Week beginning 23rd May 2016
Well, the past few weeks have seen the sun beginning to shine and it has been lovely to see our children enjoying the nice weather in our playground inside their dens. They are really enjoying working together to build their dens and have been developing their co-operative skills with one another. Read on to find out more about our key learning taking place across our school –
In the 2-3 room the children have been learning the rhyme Humpty Dumpty this week. They have made a wall in the book corner and the children have been re-enacting the rhyme using props. They are having great fun doing this.
The 3-5 room are learning all about planting and growing. They have visited the library to get some important reference books. They have also learned to name the basic parts of a plant. They are going to plant sunflower seeds and these plants will be on sale for our Summer Fayre on Saturday.
In P1, they have been learning about the life cycle of butterflies. This week following the arrival of 5 class caterpillars, they watched video footage of their metamorphosis, read the ‘Very Hungry Caterpillar’ and created a visual chart to show the different stages. There is great excitement in the infant corridor whilst we wait for the butterflies to appear.
In P1/2 they have been working very hard for their new teacher Miss McGuigan. They also welcomed some visitors to their class; some baby caterpillars that they are taking care of! Primary 1 have been counting to 20 and Primary 2 have been learning about capacity and have had lots of fun with water.
In P2, they were sad to say goodbye to their butterflies. They released them into our playground and some of them even landed on our hands. In Maths, we have been revising addition and subtraction as well as doing missing number sums. They have also written some super stories about their butterflies.
Our P3’s have been learning about fractions of numbers this week. They liked playing “Fraction Matches” in ICT. They are still very fascinated by planet Earth and have been ‘Rock Stars’ studying different rocks such as chalk, limestone, sandstone and slate. It is great to see their enthusiasm for learning more about our universe.
Aeroplanes, gravity, wind resistance, yes P3/4 are getting prepared for Tim Peake’s return to Earth! Mr Stink has been so popular that we are now wondering if we can find out more about ways to help homeless people in Hamilton and whether they are like the character we are reading about. Our letters to the Blue Triangle have been delivered and here’s hoping we learn more about homelessness soon.
In P4/5 they have been working on Position and Movement in Maths. They have enjoyed using the games on Top Marks Maths to help them learn. Mrs Summers has been coming to the class teaching us all about rocket science. It is great fun.
In P5, the children are delighted to have Mrs McGuire and Mrs McRoberts back teaching full time but very sad to say goodbye to Miss Dunne. They have enjoyed learning about adverbs and revising their knowledge of equivalent fractions. They also had a great time learning to be Civil Engineers when they completed the ‘Penny Bridge Challenge’ with Mr McLaughlin.
P5/6 have been learning about Co-ordinates…not easy! They have played exciting games of Battleships to help with their learning. They have also learned all about Lines of Symmetry. They have created PowerPoint’s on their National Disasters topic and are enjoying presenting these to the class.
P6/7 enjoyed Mr. Farrukh’s visit on Monday. He shared his knowledge of Islam with us. The children have started preparing for St.Elizabeth’s Got Talent and filled in application forms for the job(s) they would like to do to help organise it. They word processed their letters to the First Minister during their visit to the ICT suite.
In P7 we enjoyed a visit from Mr McLaughlin and made a giant tetrahedron which was very impressive. We worked together as a team and we used our design and problem solving skills to do this. We have also been busy rehearsing for the Leavers Assembly and the Talent show.
As you can see, a lot going on again this week and there is no let up in our learning, even with a four day week! Thank you to Mrs Summers and Mr McLaughlin for taking valuable time to come in to our school and work with our children. They thoroughly enjoyed their sessions with both and it was lovely to see them developing important team work and life skills.
We are excited about our Summer Fayre next Saturday and also our Talent Show in a few week’s time. The excitement is building! Thank you for all donations for tombola, bric-a-brac, etc. We will happily accept any donations at our school office.
Week beginning 25th April
So another busy week has taken place in the life of St Elizabeth’s. Some of our children took part in a Tennis Competition last Sunday and did very well while another group took part in a Rotary Quiz on Wednesday evening, again doing very well. Congratulations boys and girls and thank you for representing our school so well.
In the 3-5 room they have been learning all about recycling. The children have been bringing in recycling materials and sorting them into boxes. They have also been making great models!
In P1 they were reading Percy Park Keeper ‘After the Storm’. After reading this they decided to investigate some of the animals and what kind of habitat they need to live in. They also started learning about 2D shapes and can now name and describe lots of them already.
In p1/2 they were learning about Percy Park Keeper and they have written about ‘A Day in the Life of Percy’ as well as making finger puppets then performing their own Percy Park Keeper puppet shows.
In P2 they started a new topic this week about Minibeasts. They have looked at pictures to identify various minibeasts and enjoyed working in groups to compose a minibeast rhythm.
In P3 they were learning about Vincent Van Gogh and have used his painting techniques-strokes to create their own ‘Starry Night’ (linked to their novel-The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark). They also wrote imaginative stories about ‘Magic Seeds’ linked to science of growing plants. In Maths they were adding 2 digit numbers and 2 digit numbers mentally and they are great at this! Ask them a question and be prepared to be blown away!
In P3/4 they were working hard on their money topic and have been relating it to addition. They have been enjoying reading Mr Stink and watching the DVD where they have developed skills of inferring, connecting and will now be moving on to comparing. They were also incorporating Mr Stink into their Drama and ICT as well as Health and Wellbeing which has been exploring the bullying theme.
In P4/5 this week they were learning about division. They have been using concrete apparatus to solve division problems and to understand the concept of remainders. The children have also developed an awareness and understanding of the link between multiplication and division. In Science they were learning about electricity and have been able to identify electrical dangers. The children were also learning about the function of the heart and lungs in Health and Wellbeing.
In P5 they were working really hard on their fractions and division. They also created fabulous Climate murals for our Hamilton v Al’Ain Topic. This week they were also exploring static electricity and its effects and they are starting to write their own newspaper articles about current affairs, sport, etc.
P5/6 have been learning about volcanoes and creating Powerpoint Presentations in ICT with Mrs McVey. They were also learning about kg and grams in Maths with Miss Rodger. Miss Waters and the children also started a new volcano display in the class.
In P6/7 they were working hard on budgets in Maths. They were using the skill of scanning to locate features of VCOP in their reading books. They were also working in the 5 main political parties as part of their government topic and were busy working on their manifestos.
In P7 they were continuing their work on area and perimeter. They were also studying the play of Macbeth and in Art were studying Shakespearean dress.
We have a holiday Monday next week, we hope everyone enjoys the long weekend. A gentle reminder that next Thursday is an in-service day for our staff so school and nursery will be closed for our children.
From next week we will be saying a decade of the rosary every day after school in our school foyer at our May altar. Everyone very welcome to come along.
Thank you for reading this week’s blog.
Miss MacPhee
Week beginning 18th April
We returned to school and nursery this week, fresh from our 2 week break. We are delighted to welcome Kirsty Hunter as acting Team Leader for our nursery. Welcome aboard Kirsty!
It’s been business as usual with children and teachers discussing new learning focuses and targets for this term. Wasn’t it just lovely to see the sun this week … it’s finally getting his hat on!!
The children in the 2-3 room are developing their language skills and have been looking at stories, puppets and first word flash cards. They are having fun learning new rhymes and songs.
The nursery children have been working on skills this week. They have been practising their pencil control, cutting and physical skills ie throw, catch, bounce ball.
P1 created beautiful 3D models of cherry blossom trees this week. They are working very hard on subtraction and are now getting much quicker at working out the answers in their heads!
P1/2 have been learning about shape (P2) and data handling (P1) this week. They also had great fun doing a springtime scavenger hunt outside – they were making the most of the beautiful sunny weather!
P2 have been learning about the changes that occur during the 4 seasons. They loved being outside in the sun doing a Nature Colour Hunt too! They are still learning how to select coins to pay and give change.
P3 have been busy learning about 3D shapes, place value and partitioning numbers. They have also made the most of the fine weather, planting potatoes and wild flowers! Our raised bed is now ready to plant our seedlings soon, which is very exciting!
We’re back in Space in P3/4 and have learned all about “Life on Mars”. Adam, an astrobiologist visited to tell us that he is investigating life on the Red Planet! Mr Stink is a fabulous book and we are enjoying comparing it to the DVD. P3 celebrated Mass with Our Lady and St. Anne’s Reconciliation Pupils and P4 are getting ready for First Holy Communion. Not forgetting a Money Visit to Spar. Another very busy week!
P4/5 have been learning about money in maths this week using coins and notes. Keira’s uncle is going to give us holiday brochures for us to cost a holiday for the class to go somewhere sunny and warm! Miss MacPhee says she wants to come too! We were alsolearning outdoors this week. We had our drama lesson outside and had a scavenger hunt with P5 for Earth Day.
In P5, we have been focusing on Fractions in maths this week and have been introduced to our new topic- Hamilton versus Alain. We are also taking part in a Scavenger Hunt as part of Earth Day and thoroughly enjoyed our talk on budgeting from Chloe Mason’s mum as part of Financial Education Week.
Primary 5/6 have been learning about Financial Education this week. We had a visit from Chloe’s mum who works in The royal Bank of Scotland and a visit from Carragh’s mum who works for HSBC. Both talks were excellent. We learned about budgeting and interest rates. We have begun our new topic of Natural Resources and have begun looking at layers of the earth. We welcomed Miss Rodger back to our class, she will be with us for another 5 weeks.
P6/7 have been learning about Money in Maths. We have been using a range of notes and coins to make amounts, finding totals and calculating change. We have started our new topic ‘Democracy’ and have been finding out what it means. We wrote persuasive pieces of writing outlining our views on children wearing uniform to school.
P7 have started a new perimeter topic in Maths. In Literacy we have been studying the work of Shakespeare and reading the novel Macbeth. We enjoyed playing tennis outside in the sunny weather!
Thank you for reading this week’s blog. A wee reminder that we have our Community Partnership meeting next Wednesday, 27th April, 7pm in our school, everyone welcome.
Have a lovely weekend ahead.
Miss MacPhee
Week beginning the 28th March
This week has seen the performances of the 5 songs we learned from our involvement with Rookie Rockstars. The children performed wonderful concerts for us on Tuesday and Wednesday and gave any rock star a run for their money! Well done boys and girls. The messages from our Rookie Rockstars work were around respect, non-bullying and self esteem, all of which are strongly promoted within our school. We will continue to build on these values over the coming months.
Also this week, our P3 children celebrated the Sacrament of Reconciliation on Thursday evening during a beautiful service with Fr O’Farrell and Fr Joe from St Joseph’s in Blantyre.
We had representatives from Mary’s Meals out yesterday to collect our donations for this charity. They were delighted with the amount of bags we had filled. Thank you so much for all donations. Also, during Lent we have been fundraising for SCIAF and our approximate total is a terrific £1,162.81!! The government have again pledged to match all donations which will be wonderful. Again, thank you for all your support, the children have enjoyed taking part in our weekly focuses and have had some fantastic ideas.
Our Spring Holiday begins today, we hope all children, staff and families have a lovely break. Fingers crossed the sun will shine at least for a few hours!! Back to school and nursery on Monday 18th April, 9am.
| The Sunshine children have been enjoying the beautiful spring weather and have been playing outside with the balls throwing and catching. |
| The nursery children have been learning to predict ‘what happens next” and have focused on ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’. They have been comparing sizes and acting out the story while enjoying using role play. |
| P1 enjoyed our visit to chapel with the whole school. They sang beautifully. We have been learning about cherry blossoms this week and were printmaking to make some works of art. |
| Primary 1/2 have been learning about shape and data handling / We enjoyed making a spring book with colouring pages, written stories and cut and stick activities. We enjoyed visiting chapel. |
| Primary 2 have really enjoyed playing tennis outside in the sun. We have also been counting and laying out coins to make amounts to 20p. |
| Primary 3 have been learning about linking, division and multiplication and subtraction with money. Congratulations to all of the children who received their Sacrament of Reconciliation. All their preparation and hard work paid off! It was a lovely celebration! |
| Steven Wallace from the MET office explained the importance of Space Weather to P3/4 this week. Did you know that electric bursts from the sun can shut down Power stations? Matthew and Kyle began planting our potatoes and are in competition to see whose variety grows most. Thank you for all the prayers for our P3/4 Reconciliation girls who received the Sacrament on Thursday evening. |
| Primary 4/5 have been measuring this week with rulers, metre stick and measuring tapes. We have been drawing and painting daffodils and learning that we do it better when we look closely and touch the daffodils, “the better we look, the better we draw”. Mrs Summers came on Thursday and taught us science. It was fantastic. |
| Primary 5 had great fun taking the tennis nets outside and practising our technique with P4/5. We also really enjoyed focusing on line and colour when painting our daffodils. |
| Primary 5/6 finished reading ‘The Lion, The witch and The Wardrobe’. We explored the theme and discussed C.S. Lewis strong reference of the Easter Story. We wrote detailed book reviews. We have been estimating angles. |
| P6/7 have been rounding numbers to the nearest hundred/thousand/million. We finished reading the novel ‘War Horse’ and used the skill of informing to discuss the different characters’ views of war. We enjoyed the mass we attended with St.Anne’s. |
| Primary 7 have been learning about lines of symmetry and rotational symmetry. We have been analysing the characters in ‘Kensuke’s Kingdom as we approach the end of the novel. |
Week beginning the 14th March
So, our week ended with some FANTASTIC creations brought about through our Enterprise Day. The children came up with some fabulous ideas and we were in awe of many of the creations. Well done to all boys and girls for great enthusiasm, team work and motivation and thanks for all help from home. On Thursday, we all enjoyed a fantastic Science Focused Day with every class taking part in science experiment led by Noleen Summers. The children were highly enthused and engaged during their activities, thank you so much Noleen for a wonderful day! We were also delighted with our wonderful dancers who took part in a Dancing Show on Tuesday evening in the Town House. Well done to our boys and girls for brilliant performances and thank you to Laura and LeeAnn for running such a successful dance club in our school every Friday during lunchtime. This club helps to add to the already fabulous dancing skills of many of our children. I wish my feet would move that smoothly on the dance floor!!
In our 2-3 room, the children have been listening to the story of the runaway egg. They have been learning nursery rhymes Incy Wincy Spider and Twinkle Twinkle and they are all continuing to make friends with our new children.
Our 3-5 room children have been learning the story of the 3 Billy Goat’s Gruff. During the lovely weather this week, they have been taking their learning outdoors … hope they’ve not been hearing too many strange noises from any trolls!
Spring has sprung in P1! They have been learning all about the season of Spring. They have painted, made and even planted daffodils and have also learned new songs for Spring. They have also been learning how to read analogue and digital clocks for ‘o’clock’ times. How clever are they?
P1/2 have been learning to type the days of the week on the computer. They have been writing letters and newspaper articles about Katy Morag and her cousins.
P2 have been busy making Easter prayer cards and have been learning about the Stations of the Cross. In story writing, they have written imaginative stories about talking animals – their animals said some strange things!
P3 have been so busy this week! They have been painting our raised bed, planting seeds and preparing the soil for our vegetable seeds. They have worked very hard writing instructions and presenting their habitats. Their work was AMAZING!
P3/4 began the week with a fantastic visit from an astrophysicist and ended with a Passover meal in the playground, eating the same meal as Jesus did at the Last Supper.
P4/5 are excited as their new novel ‘Billionaire Boy’ has arrived for them to read next term. They are super excited! Mrs Summers came to do science with them this week and they looked at the properties of water. Next week they are going to continue to explore scientific investigations. They can all multiply 3 digit numbers by 2-10 now. Everyone in this class was on gold this week too – fabulous…well done boys and girls!!
P5 have been enjoying learning to do division using the divisions shelf and have been creative whilst making a variety of games/outfits/toys/cakes for Enterprise Day.
P5/6 have been working well this week and are developing the IT skills. They have enjoyed building a den in the playground which includes a mat at the door for everyone to wipe their feet on!!
In P6/7, they have been using digital stopwatches to time events using minutes and seconds. They have also been working out simple time/distance/speed calculations. They have been working on Control and Travel skills in PE and in music have been performing shape compositions by saying shape names and clapping shape rhythms.
And finally, P7 have been learning about co-ordinates this week and the translation of various shapes. They have also created volcano pictures as part of the Japan topic. They have worked on creating news broadcasts reporting upon the bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
We are looking forward to a Community Partnership Coffee Morning on Sunday in Our Lady and St Anne’s Church Hall. Everyone welcome to come along and enjoy tea/coffee and lovely goodies. Then next week in our school, we welcome Rookie Rockstars for what promises to be a great week of hard working, singing, rapping and fun! Have a lovely weekend everyone, thank you for reading this week’s blog.
Miss MacPhee
Week beginning 7th March 2016
Well, yet another busy week in the life of our school and nursery. This week we had parent’s evening on Thursday and were very pleased with attendance from every class. Our playground is continuing to develop and we are delighted to see the children having such good fun with the boxes, the crates, the sticks, etc. We have dens galore being built at every corner!
In our 2-3 room, our children have been listening to the Dear Zoo story using animal props. We have been making new friends with our children who have just arrived.
We have been learning the story of the 3 Little Pigs; Numbers to 5; building houses for the pigs and learning the letter ‘S’ in our 3-5 room.
In P1, we designed islands for Katie Morag this week on paper and on the computer using Colour Magic. We have been learning more about Children’s Rights and the difference between needs and wants.
In P1/2 we were very busy preparing for Parents’ Evening and wrote letters to our mums and dads about how we are getting on at school. They wrote back to us once they’d seen our work and they are all so proud of our hard work…we are all delighted!
In P2, we have been acting out how to be a good friend and have learned about all the emotions we feel. We loved using Numicon to help us with the 2 times table!
Further along in P3, we have been building a wormery and looking at food chains and different habitats animals live in. We have started to prepare our outdoor garden and have our first planter built.
P3/4 have one word to sum up their trip to the Science Centre – brilliant! They learned even more about Planets and ISS in preparation for our astrophysicist visit on Monday. Goodbye and thank you to Mrs Brown for a great placement, will see you after the holidays.
Primary 4/5 enjoyed sharing their powerpoints on birds they have been researching with the class. We are sorry that Miss McAuley is leaving us but looking forward to her coming back in April. They have been practising saying days, months and numbers in Spanish and can say what day and date it is now when asked.
This week P5 have been designing their own chocolate bars for Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. We even did a taste test to test our senses and create good adjectives and sensory descriptions. P5 have also been introduced to ICT and have started creating their own ‘Prezis’
Primary 5/6 have been learning about 3D shapes. We built our very own Anderson shelter in the playground. We also flew bomber planes outside after building them.
P6/7 have been calculating durations in both the 12 hour and 24 hour clocks. They have compared the death of Topthom in ‘War Horse’ in the novel and the film. They researched the use and roles of animals in WW1 and started to plan a non-chronological report.
And finally…in P7, they have been extending their learning on angles. This week they have been calculating missing angles and bearings. In Art they have been creating a comic strip and they took part in a press conference related to our ‘Kensukis’s Kingdom’ novel!
Thank you to all parents and carers for attending our Parent’s Evening on Thursday. I hope you were all very pleased with the information you received about your child and his/her progress. Many thanks to all who completed and returned the Community Partnership Questionnaire.
Thank you for reading our blog.
Miss MacPhee
Week beginning 29th February 2016
Another busy week in the life of St Elizabeth’s.
Our 2-3 room children have been making Mother’s Day cards using their hands as flower prints. They have been enjoying looking at and playing with our new resources.
In our 3-4 room, our children have been learning to count out numbers to 5 and beyond. They have been talking about the sound ‘s’ and words which have it at the start.
P1 have been busy making Mother’s Day gifts to surprise their mummies with on Sunday. They have also had lots of fun dressing up on World Book Day and enjoyed paired reading with the bigger boys and girls in our school.
P1/2 wrote beautiful stories about what makes their mummy so special and also drew portraits of their mummy. They have also been really enjoying money maths and are getting really good at counting out correct amounts.
P2 have been learning how to make 2 sets of 0 to 10. They have even been looking at the multiplication sign! They have also been learning about Fairtrade Farmers and designed a Fairtrade Logo and breakfast on the computer.
P3 have been busy writing letters to B and Q and Homebase asking for equipment for the Outdoor Garden. They have also been making beautiful clay roses for Mother’s Day!
P3/4 have been to WHSmith this week and were delighted with the bag of goodies they received from the store. They represented our school beautifully as usual.
In P4/5 they have been learning about birds and making gorgeous, colourful, eye-catching birds using clay and feathers. They have been enjoying active maths activities to learn to the time. In RE, they have been learning about the Last Supper and are going to act it out in drama. They also wrote lovely stories about their mums for Mother’s Day.
Our P5 children have really enjoyed starting tennis in PE. They have also loved making Mother’s Day cards and special messages in a bottle for their mums. They also found learning division using the traditional division shelf very helpful. Moreover, they also all loved dressing up in bright clothes for Rainbow Day.
P5/6 have been learning about writing persuasively through having debates and writing about the pros and cons of World War 2. They have learned about decimal word problems with Miss Rodger and have also learned about an aside in Drama. They enjoyed reading to P1 and P1/2 at ‘Tell-a-Tale’ time and they also received a talk about Fairtrade from Josh at the One World Shop.
P6/7 have been working collaboratively to determine the importance of some of the events that occurred in their class novel ‘War Horse’. They started learning about 24 hour clocks in Maths and have been converting 12 hour clock times to 24 hour times. They thoroughly enjoyed the visit we had from local author Gordon Bell.
P7 have been learning how to use Serif Draw in Technologies. They created a logo for a new café. They have been continuing their money and finance learning and this week they have been learning about exchange rates. Through our ‘This is Our Faith’ resource, they have been learning more about the Stations of the Cross.
Thank you for all donations during Rainbow Day. The children looked fantastic and were so creative with the colours they were wearing.
We have been lucky enough to secure a Green Token slot with ASDA Hamilton. Please help us with this if you are shopping in this store, thank you for any support you can give us.
This coming week we have Parents Evening and we look forward to seeing you and discussing your child’s learning with you.
Thank you for reading our blog this week, isn’t it lovely seeing this beautiful sunshine … spring is in the air!
Week beginning 22nd February 2016
Well, yet another busy week has passed by in St Elizabeth’s! Boy oh boy, it’s a busy, thriving place! This week has seen the launch of our loose materials for outdoor play – thank you for all donations of cardboard, crates, twigs, string, etc. The children have had a great time exploring and playing with the resources and we now have a camp of dens blossoming in our playground.
In our 2-3 room the boys and girls have been using our climbing frame to develop their gross motor skills. They have been reading the Dear Zoo story, learning about animals and what sounds they make…you’ve maybe been hearing a lot of animal sounds at home!!
Along in our 3-5 room. they have been talking about what we know about books. They have spoken to their friends about the names of their favourite books. Mrs Sweeney is working with the Red Group in the nursery whilst we have staff absent.
P1 were using Google Street View to go for a virtual walk around our school area, then they even used it to walk around the Isle of Coll looking for Katie Morag’s house!! How clever are they!
Across in P1/2, they have been busy learning all about money this week. P1 can add and take away 1p and 2p and P2 can recognise coins to 50p – they know lots of different ways to add coins together to make different amounts. They love playing with the loose materials at playtime and lunchtime in our playground.
P2 have been learning how to find halves and quarters of 2D shapes. They know that 2 quarters make a half. They have been reflecting on the first stations of the cross too. They have been loving building dens and houses at break time!
In P3, they have been outside this week measuring and making plans for an outdoor garden area. They enjoyed their visit from James the Shepherd and his stories about life on a farm. Boy, does he get up early! This helped us in our Sacramental Preparation.
P3/4 have been outside this week exploring space, looking at the Water Cycle and how it affects the weather and space travel. They have all been looking forward to a visit by a shepherd today to learn more about Jesus, the Good Shepherd. Again, the visit will help with the Sacramental preparation of our children.
P4/5 have been using activities and games to learn their tables. It is good fun. They have been using the visualising strategy in their reading, creating images for chapters of Road Dahl’s book, ‘The Twits’. Lots of the children have been enjoying using their technology skills to build dens with the new outdoor learning materials at playtimes and lunchtimes.
P5 have really enjoyed making their Charlie and the Chocolate Factory character masks this week. They also learned a lot from their Fairtrade visitor Mrs Oakley, this week. Those children who attended the Spanish Club really enjoyed all the activities on offer there.
P5/6 have been learning about propaganda during World War 2 and have created their own propaganda posters. They have learned a lot about the blitz. P6 got a visit from Childline a completed a workshop on Friday. They have also been loving making dens at playtime.
In P6/7 they have been entering information into spreadsheets and interpreting information from databases. They have been reflecting on the Stations of the Cross as part of our Lenten Journey. They have been developing their drawing skills and learning about the function of trenches in World War 2.
P7 have been continuing their financial education by learning about APR, budgeting and profit and loss. They have been entering information into a spreadsheet and using different formulas to calculate answers.
We have said goodbye today to Karolina, who is returning to Poland with her family. We wish her and her family all the best. We also have a fantastic Fairtrade Breakfast today, thank you to Mrs Emmett and all parent helpers for organising and running this successful event and thank you to everyone who managed along.
Have a lovely weekend, thank you for reading our blog.
Miss MacPhee
Week beginning 15th February 2016
Our 2-3 room children have been learning nursery rhymes and the children are enjoying playing in the large dingy and inflatable crocodile for Row-Row-Row Your Boat…!
In our 3-5 room, the children have been busy deciding on the Golden Rules of our nursery. So far they have decided on ‘no hitting’ and ‘no running’.
P1 have been learning about questions this week. They have even been practising question marks and used them in their letters to Katie Morag. There is so much we want to find our about Island Life…
Across in P1/2, the children have begun their new focus this week, which is on Scottish Islands. They are doing a Katie Morag topic along with P1. They have also written letters to Katie Morag to tell her about life in Hamilton and ask about life on the Isle of Struay.
In P2 it’s been all about shape, shape, shape! They have been doing shape tours around the school and in the playground. P2 know and love their sides, corners and shape names. Go on, ask them and see how many shapes they know!
P3 have been learning about rounding numbers to the nearest digit. They have also completed their autobiographies and have shared them with the class…they were fantastic! Waterstones may be coming a calling! They have also presented their powerpoint talks on their chosen subject of the universe. We are still learning things about the universe in P3 would you believe!!
Further up in P3/4, they have been learning to tell time using analogue and digital clocks…not easy! They have made rockets using clay for their space focus and they look forward to painting these next week. They have also done a fun science experiment using different types of salt after noticing how white some of our shoes had become.
P4/5 presented their power points on Mary Queen of Scots this week to their classmates. They were fantastic! They have started a new focus on birds and have created a fantastic collage of Rolly Polly bird from Roald Dahl’s ‘The Twits’ for their display wall. They are looking forward to lots of bird activities next week.
In P5, they have been reading ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ by Roald Dahl and have been using self questioning and visualization reading strategies. They have been learning about how chocolate is made nowadays compared to ancient times. We were also sad to say farewell to Madison today, good luck in your new school!
P5/6 have also been learning about time. They have also been learning about evacuees in World War 2 and have written letters home as an evacuee. These were special letters as they adopted the role of a character from ‘The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe’. Their science topic is the Human Body and they have learned how to say this in Espanol!
P6/7 have been working in pairs to write wonderful poems about a cavalry charge. They took their ideas from their class novel ‘War Horse’ and the poem ‘Charge of the Light Brigade by Lord Tennyson. They have also been finding the range, mode, median and mean in maths and have been using the skill of scanning to find ambitious vocabulary in their War Horse novel.
And finally, in P7 they have begun a new focus on budgeting, money and exchange rates … good news mums and dads!!!. They have been investigating the impact Thomas Glover had on Japanese manufacturing. They also welcomed students from the University of the West of Scotland who worked with the children and spoke to them about Dementia. Earlier in the week, they also enjoyed a karate lesson from Mia’s karate teacher.
All in all another busy week. Plus our Crazy Hair day on Friday raised a fantastic amount of £256.70 for SCIAF. Thank you mums and dads, well done boys and girls and I loved all the crazy hairstyles. Given me a few ideas for my own hair!! Have a lovely weekend everyone, thank you for reading this week’s blog.
Miss MacPhee
Week beginning 8th February 2016
It was lovely having a little holiday on Monday and Tuesday of this week. Back to business on Wednesday, the start of Lent. We had a lovely Mass in our school, thank you to Fr O’Farrell for the wonderful job he does.
In our 2-3 room, our Sunshine boys and girls have been developing their gross motor skills this week. They have been using the climbing frame and the mats to roll.
Our 3-5 children have been learning all about birds and have made some lovely bird feeders which you will see hanging in our garden.
P1 have been learning how to log on to the school computer system and have managed to save drawings of the monkeys they have been doing (for Chinese New Year). They have been saving their work to their own folder – very impressive!
Across the corridor in P1/2, they have also been learning about Chinese New Year and have learned the story of the animals, have tried Chinese foods, made Chinese crafts and during their story writing they have even written reports (not in Chinese!!) about what they have learned.
P2 have been learning about how to stay safe on the internet – very important nowadays.
In P3, they have been learning to use a timeline to write about their lives so far. They have thoroughly enjoyed sharing their photos with each other which we hope to make into personal books. You’ll enjoy reading these.
In P3/4, they have welcomed their new student teacher Mrs Brown who is helping the children with their knowledge of analogue and digital clocks. They have also been looking at moon craters, meteor landings and moon phases using dough metal ball and bottle tope – engineers and scientists of the future!!
In P4/5, the children have been looking at the Queen’s family tree and her relationship with Mary, Queen of Scots. they are designing crowns inspired by the Queen’s Coronation Crown. They have also welcomed Miss McAuley, their student teacher.
P5 are delighted to welcome Miss Dunn to their classroom for the next few weeks. P5 are also really enjoying coming to school in their House Colours today. Also, they are enjoying doing long distance running in PE …watch out Mr Bolt!!
P5/6 have been learning how to keep a steady beat in music and composed their own sound stories. They welcome Miss Rodger to their class. The children have also written to local companies to ask for donations to our Mary’s Meals Backpack Appeal. Thank you boys and girls.
P6/7 have been working collaboratively in groups to compile Fact Files on the planets of the solar system. They have also written to local businesses like their comrades in P5/6.
And finally, in P7 they have begun a new writing topic based on writing a balanced argument. They have explored a range of discursive writing and next week till be taking the plunge and writing their own balanced argument – good luck with that boys and girls!
We remember Aunty Biff today as it is her funeral and several members of our staff are there on behalf of us all. The children compiled memory books which we have given to her family. We have also had a donation of a beautiful tree and this will be planted in her memory.
Many thanks to everyone for all donations for our Rag Bag appeal and also for the backpacks for Mary’s Meals. Our corridors are starting to groan with all the donations…thank you so much!
Have a lovely weekend everyone and thank you for reading this week’s blog.
Miss MacPhee
Week beginning 1st February 2016
Another busy week in our school and, of course, a focus in every class on Catholic Education Week. We are talking about learning to be more merciful and this will be a theme running through our work for the coming months, in line with Pope Francis’ Year of Mercy.
Our children in our 2-3 room are learning to sit with their friends in the book corner and listen to new stories and rhymes.
In our 3-5 room, we are learning all about birds. We have made models and pictures and have explored materials for making nests.
In P1, it’s been all about Chinese New Year in preparation for next week. They have been making monkeys because this year is the year of the monkey.
Across the corridor P1/2 have also been learning about Chinese New Year. They have looking at why the years of the Chinese Zodiac are named after different animals. They have been busy learning about how Chinese people celebrate and have even been trying Chinese food! The smell in this area of the school has been delicious.
P2 are continuing their journey through space…they have been learning about the constellations and have been designing their own constellations on their Planning Wall. They have also written a comic strip for the well known book ‘Aliens Love Underpants’.
In P3, the research continues…they have been researching a chosen plan/moon/star/sun in ICT and making model of the structure of planet earth. They have also been talking about emotions and the children wrote a personal story about this.
P3/4 it’s Time! Time! Time! And they have been finding it quite tricky! Any old analogue clocks that can be donated to the school would be greatly appreciated. The children are also learning The Confiteor and The Gloria in preparation for their Sacraments. They have also been visiting countries whilst spelling their word sets …just ask your child where they have been and how they got there!!
P4/5 have been studying the timeline of Mary Queen of Scots and are now creating a ‘My Time Line’ Book to the show the important milestones in their own lives. They are also learning to tell the time in minutes past and minutes to.
P5 have really enjoyed using watercolour to paint their Mary Queen of Scots portraits in the style of Francois Clouet. They also feel they are making good progress in understanding multiplication with 2 digit numbers.
P5/6 continued their work on decimals. They have talked about Catholic Education Week and discussed Pope Francis’ Year of Mercy. They have learned more about Fairtrade and have written letters to the Co-Op asking for help for our Fairtrade Fortnight.
P6/7 have been learning about the roles of different countries in World War One and sorting them in to groups: Allied Forces, Neutral Countries and Central Powers. They have also been interpreting information from line graphs and drawing their own.
Our P7 children are continuing their work with decimals. They have been learning how to divide and multiply decimals. They have finished an imaginative writing piece entitled ‘Sailing Around the World’ which linked to their class novel of ‘Kensuke’s Kingdom’
Another very busy week all round in our school. Friday was a Staff Development Day and we
-discussed our plans for Fairtrade Fortnight and Book Week
-looked at our Improvement Plan for our school and nursery and identified priorities for next session
-discussed our Working Time Agreement for next session
-reviewed and updated our Behaviour Policy and Procedures, an information booklet will be distributed to parents and carers next week.
Next week, we also welcome several students coming to our school, working in our classes from P3 to P7. We hope you have a lovely Monday and Tuesday holiday if you are lucky enough to be off.
Thank you for reading this week’s blog. Miss MacPhee
Week beginning 25th January 2016
The children in our 2-3 room are now all in and are learning to follow the nursery rules and they are becoming more independent every day throughout each nursery session.
In our 3-5 room, our children are learning about birds, focusing on the birds we see in Scotland. We are all busy looking at birds we see in our garden and when we are out and about. The children are learning about what they need to survive in winter and how we can help them.
P1 have been busy creating polar bears and walruses for their art display, following on from learning about animals in winter. They are looking fantastic!
P1/2 have been busy learning about winter – how we keep warm in winter; how animals keep warm in winter. They have even designed their own cosy winter clothes using collage – what a wonderful display they have inside their classroom!
P2 have been learning about the phases of the moon. To demonstrate this they have used a globe, a torch and a ball as a moon. The space station outside their classroom is also continuing to be a great learning area….mission control to P2!!
Our P3 children are thoroughly enjoying learning about the Universe and its components. This week, they’ve made a structure of the earth and papier mache planets. They have also been learning about time in maths focusing on quarter past and quarter to.
P3/4 have been communicating with our Shetland School about Up Helly Aa and Rabbie Burns. They have made videos of ‘Dugs of Deid End Street’ and Shetland showed us their Up Helly Aa preparations. Big thank you to all parent helpers, you are helping us enormously, thank you.
P4/5 have seen the completion and displaying of their Mary Queen of Scots portraits. They have also made powerpoint presentations of her in their ICT time. The children are making good progress with their tables and are on to their 6 times table now. Next week they will be learning more about time in their maths.
Our P5’s have been learning about the 5 different types of vertebrates in Science and have drawn some excellent pictures of them. They have also revised a selection of 3D shapes, looking at edges, vertices and names.
P5/6 have been learning about decimals. They are confident in adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing tenths. They have been finding a link with money and decimals. They have also been finding out about evacuees from World War 2 and wrote an imaginative piece about losing a favourite toy after being evacuated. They also created their very own wardrobes as an art activity linked to their current topic of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.
P6/7 have been learning about the significant events of World War 1 and have produced a timeline of events. They have been researching the order of the planets from the sun in science and inventing raps, songs or mnemonics to help them remember the order. They have also been following Tim Peake’s progress on the ISS, following his Twitter Page.
Our P7 children enjoyed their visit to Holy Cross on Thursday evening. It gave our children an opportunity to visit different departments in the school, meet staff and hear more about the learning that will take place. They also found their tea light experiment to determine the presence of oxygen in the earth’s atmosphere very informative and enjoyable.
On a sad note, we learned about the passing of one of our parent helpers, fondly known as Aunty Biff. Aunty Biff has been a helper in our school for many years and thoroughly enjoyed working with our children and staff. We have fond memories of her wonderful skills in art and craft and her enthusiasm for being creative. She will be sadly missed by us all and we pass on our deepest condolences to her family and friends.
Thank you for reading my blog. Miss MacPhee
Week beginning 18th January 2016
In our 2-3 room, we are continuing to settle more new children. There are lots more friends to play with and the children are settling well.
Our 3-5 room children have been busy practising for our Coffee morning and afternoon happening on Mon 25th. Come along if you can and enjoy the entertainment, as well as the piper!
Our P1’s continue to focus on winter. They have been doing science experiments learning about using blubber to keep warm. They have also written personal stories about keeping warm – we were delighted with the adjectives they used in their writing. Wow!
Our P1/2 children have been consolidating their learning about numbers to 20 and have a good understanding of this. They have been busy working on their Katie Beardie poem for their part in our coffee morning.
Our P2 girls enjoyed playing football with Hamilton Accies this week. Meanwhile, our P2 boys loved building space rockets out of lego and k’nex. They are looking fabuous!
P3 are busy, busy, busy researching the universe! They have read Room in the Broom in Scots…it was braw! They have been learning the names of animals in Scots too. In maths, they have been developing their skills in counting in 2’s, in 3’s, in 4’s and in 5’s.
P3/4 have not been learning more Scots this week…AND they’ve dipped their toes in to learning Russian! They know how to say hello and alien in Russian. They have been learning more about Tim Peakes and how he had to learn Russian to communicate with his co-spaceman. Nevertheless, in keeping with Burns Day, they have sampled haggis, neeps and tatties as well as Irn Bru, macaroon and shortbread! Well done to our new pupil Kyle, who has settled in to his new class and our school very well.
Following on from their work last week on Mary Queen of Scots, the children in P4/5 have created fabulous portraits and have added gold coloured frames! They have looked at the work of Francois Clouet, who was the portrait artist for the French Royal Family, for inspiration. The children have also been working hard to learn all their tables up to the 6 times table.
P5 are coping very well with multiplication of 2 digit numbers and are making great progress in consolidating all their times tables facts. They also enjoyed performing The Red Yo-Yo song at our Burns Day Coffee Morning.
P5/6 have been learning about decimal points in maths. They have also been learning more about Islam in RE. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is continuing to excite us and they are finding out more about Edmund’s adventure to Narnia. Some of the children were pictured in the Hamilton Advertiser this week due to our involvement with the Cooking Bus last week and so the children were involved in writing newspaper reports.
P6/7 have started their new class novel ‘War Horse’ and are focusing particularly on the reading skills of skimming and scanning. In maths, they have been busy dividing numbers and they all enjoyed learning ‘To a Mouse’ for our Coffee morning. It was performed very well boys and girls.
P7 are enjoying the class novel Kensuke’s Kingdom. This week they have been focusing on the reading skill of inferring. They have started a topic on Japan and this week they have learned how to write their names using Japanese characters.
We had special celebrations on Wednesday and Sunday too. On Wednesday the children making their Reconciliation this year received their workbook from Fr O’Farrell at a special Commissioning Service. The children making their First Holy Communion received their workbook at 9.45am Mass on Sunday. We are very excited about beginning the preparation for these Sacraments.
Another very busy with lots going on in our school and nursery!
Thank you for reading my blog
Miss MacPhee
Week beginning 11th January 2016
What a fantastic week we have had in our school.
There was great excitement in our playground on Monday when we all arrived at school to see a very large articulated bus sitting there – the Cooking Bus had arrived! What a fantastic resource this is and those of us lucky enough to get on it were blown away! Sarah and Jemima were the two cooks leading us through healthy eating and cooking strategies. Our older children were taught how to cut, slice, grate, hold a knife correctly, mix, stir, squeeze fruit, combine ingredients and then cook delicious dishes. As well as our own teaching staff, staff from Our Lady and St Anne’s and Woodside Primary School attended after-school sessions. We all thoroughly enjoyed these sessions and have already been on the website checking out new recipes! Several of our parents and members of our community had the opportunity to come on board too and feedback from them was that it was just great. Have a look at their website for more ideas and great ideas ….www.focusonfood.org …. happy cooking!
At the same time as all this was going on, life in St Elizabeth’s was continuing at the normal fast pace!
We continue to welcome our new nursery children to our 2-3 room as well as our 3-5 room. The children are settling well and making new friends!
In our 3-5 room, the children are focusing on feelings and have been learning about emotions – happy, sad, surprised, etc. Some children could even recognise embarrassed and excited and use these big words.
Our P1’s have been learning all about this season of winter, learning a snow dance, writing winter stories, painting winter pictures and learning new songs.
Across the corridor P1/2, have been introduced to subtraction and our P2 children have been doing subtraction within 20. They are also learning lots of different words for subtraction – ask them and see how many they can remember!
P2 have also been working on subtraction within 20. They are learning to use cubes to help them with this process. They have also created a fantastic space station outside their classroom…Tim Peakes would be very proud of them! They have been looking at some meteoroids from a space station, they have all been very excited about this.
The space theme continues in P3 where the children are learning about space, planets and the universe. They were excited to tell me about the dwarf planet Pluto and that stars are suns in different galaxies. They have also been learning to write fairy tales…once upon a time in P3…!
Our children in P3/4 have taken lots of ideas and skills from the cooking bus and have been snipping, cutting and mixing lots of fresh ingredients to make delicious dishes. They made the most delicious Spanish bread on Friday and lovely salad dishes. Continuing the space theme, they have been looking at real meteorites from space, some of which are so precious, they are untouchable. They are working on making their own versions.
P4/5 have been doing fantastic art work of Mary Queen of Scots, which is a current focus this term. In maths, they have been working on addition and subtraction within 1000, learning decomposition skills. They have also written letters to famous people … we’ll let you know of any responses they receive, fingers crossed!
P5 are enjoying being in their new houses as part of our House System. Half the class made wonderful, deliciously chocolately mug cakes this week whilst the other half cooked on the cooking bus. Our P5 class are also learning about Mary Queen of Scots, having voted for this focus. The other potential focuses were Bonnie Prince Charlie, Annie McLeod and Robert Owen, William Wallace and Robert the Bruce.
A trip to Narnia is taking place in P5/6 as the children study The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. All the children in this class were lucky enough to visit the Cooking Bus – P6 children made Spanakopitta whilst P5 made baked potatoes with kidney beans and tomato. In maths, the children are working on fractions, looking at ordering, equivalent fractions and finding fractions of whole numbers.
It’s been food, food, food galore in P6/7 with potato and leek soup being made as well as fresh fruit smoothies and rice crispy cakes. The children have been designing menus using alliteration and have been learning about budgeting, using £50 to budget for meals and shopping for a week. It’s been foodtastic all the way!
Our P7 children have been working on fractions this week, developing their knowledge and understanding of equivalent and improper fractions. They have also bee on the Cooking Bus and enjoyed making frattata and couscous salad. This week also saw the end of our block of swimming which the children have thoroughly enjoyed.
A very busy week all round, and to top it off, we have been enrolling our new P1 children. It has been lovely to meet so many of them and their parents this week.
Thank you for reading this week’s blog, have a good week ahead.
Miss MacPhee
Week beginning 4th January 2016
Well, after all the celebrations of Christmas and New Year, it is back to school to begin another busy term. We wish everyone a very happy new year and hope it brings good health and happiness to everyone.
The children were very excited to tell us all about the lovely gifts they received over Christmas and were thrilled to bring their favourite toy to school on Friday afternoon for our toy afternoon. They were all very responsible in looking after their toys too which is great.
We are very excited to be getting our House System set up and this is going to begin from Mon 11th January. The captains and vice captains have been busy helping to get resources and ideas organised and we know they are going to do a great job with their responsibilities. More info on how this is going next week!
All children have been getting back in to the swing of things and again there will be more information to come on what their particular focuses are in class. We are all excited about the Cooking Bus which is coming to our school on Monday. We are looking forward to learning new skills and information about healthy eating. The bus will be parked in our playground all week as the driver lives on the bus whilst it is with us. Fingers crossed the wind and snow will stay away!
Thank you for reading my blog this week.
Miss MacPhee
Week beginning 14th December 2015
Well, we’ve had a week filled with singing and dancing galore! The children from our nursery entertained us with wonderful singing, our P1’s performed a fantastic nativity and the Christmas Concert performed by our children from P2-P7 was terrific. We are certainly feeling the Christmas spirit in St Elizabeth’s! Thank you for the wonderful attendance at each of our events, your support is greatly appreciated.
The children and staff have been preparing for these events over the past few weeks and it is wonderful when it all comes together so well and everyone enjoys. Thank you to all the staff for their hard work in preparing our children so well.
All of our children have had their Christmas Parties this wee and, needless to say, they had a great time. Thank you for all party food, the children tucked in to lovely Christmas buffets during their parties. Thank you to our Community Partnership for organising, buying and delivering more goodies for each class. Crisps, diluting juice, sweets, marshmallows, haribos, etc – all went down very well with the children!
On Monday 21st Dec, we have a ‘Wear something Christmassy Day’ – jumpers, shirts, baubles, socks, hat, tinsel…anything Christmassy can be worn for a £1 donation.
We are also collecting donations of food and have boxes in our foyer, thank you for all donations so far.
On Tuesday 22nd Dec, we have Mass in our school at 1.30pm and on Wednesday 23rd we have Carols in our hall at 11am. Everyone very welcome to come along, it would be lovely to see you.
School and nursery closes at 2.30pm on Wed 23rd
Have a wonderful weekend everyone….ho, ho, ho!!
Week beginning the 7th Dec 2015
What another busy week in the life of St Elizabeth’s.
Our nursery children have been busy practising lots of Christmas songs for their concert next week. They hope everyone will enjoy – we’re sure we will!
Our P1 children have been working very hard rehearsing for their nativity performance of ‘Mary’s Knitting. Well done P1, you should be very proud of yourself and we are looking forward to seeing your production.
P1/2 have a very special visitor in their class – Buddy the Elf! He is keeping a close eye on good behaviour and kindness and is then reporting back to Santa!
Our P2 class also has Buddy the Elf, who has come all the way from the North Pole! His mission is to help us to spread lots of kindness and Christmas cheer. Buddy the elf has been getting up to all sorts of mischief in our classroom … we need to keep an eye on him!
Our P3 children visited Our Lady and St Anne’s to see their nativity. We all thoroughly enjoyed our visit and the children were a fantastic audience. They have also been busy learning to add with bridging this week.
In P3/4, in amongst learning our Christmas Songs, we have been busy bridging …no, not on the Forth Road Bridge….but with our additions! And yes, we can keep those hundreds in our heads too! P.S. Elves are everywhere!!
P4/5 and P5 enjoyed their visit to the Synagogue this week and also to the mask and puppet centre. They learned so much information for their topic. P4/5 also had a visit from Mariona from the Planning Department this week to tell us about planning permission and rules. Mariona’s visit was to do with our last topic “Local Area” but the department was very busy when we were doing that topic and so the visit was arranged for now. It was very interesting.
P5/6 have been working hard to include connectives in their story writing. In maths, they have been using co-ordinates to plot points and explain routes. We have been exploring Pope Francis’ Laudatos and have been discussing climate change. We had a visit from Alan who told us about the importance of trees and helped us to understand the greenhouse effect.
P6/7 have been working really hard on subtraction of up to 5 digit numbers both mentally and using the standard written method. Our Disney Castles have begun construction and we have learned how to use Tagxedo in our ICT time to make lovely decorations for our Christmas Tree.
For our P7 children, the weekly swimming every Thursday is going well and we are all thoroughly enjoying it.
In P7, all children have been working hard on fractions and are developing their understanding really well. Our P7 monitors have also been doing a great job in all this wet weather – thank you boys and girls!
Nov 2015
Welcome to my first blog! I hope you enjoy reading about life in our nursery and school and that this helps you to have a fuller insight into what our learners are focusing on.
Every week in St Elizabeth’s is busy and full, there is always a lot going on. Last week we had our first Parent’s Evening of this session and many thanks to everyone who made it along, despite the wind and the rain! We trust you find this evening informative and that it helps to give you a clear update about the progress your child is making across many areas.
Read on to find out more about what our children have been learning about this week …
Our children in our 2-3 room are thoroughly enjoying playing in the home area. They are also busy learning about day and night.
Some of the children in our 3-5 room did fabulous writing this week and copied dinosaur names! They were so proud that they showed their writing to our P1 and P1/2 children who were very pleased to see what great writing they had done.
Primary 1 have been learning about bar graphs this week and have made excellent progress. They have also started preparations for … the Nativity! Exciting times!
In Primary 1/2, our P1’s have been counting and ordering numbers to 10 as well as learning to add 1 or 2 more. Our P2’s have been learning about addition to 20 and number stories within 20. They are very confident learners with this tricky skill. Lots of hard work going on!
P2 have started their brand new topic – Finding Nemo. They have even set up a fantastic aquarium role-play area outside their classroom and have been learning about coral reefs.
Our P3’s have been using their computer skills to create fantastic posters for their Cake and Craft sale which will take place on Thursday 19th Nov. This is to help raise money for their forthcoming trip to Clasgow Museum.
In P3/4, the children began their mission to the International Space Station! They are following the progress of Tim Peake’s journey as he prepares for the first UK Astronaut International Space Station launch! The class is full of planets, spacesuits…and, of course, lots of excitement!
P4/5 have started their new topic learning about religious festivals of light – Diwali, Hannukkah and, of course, Christmas! They are looking forward to all the Christmas art activities they will be doing.
P5 have been working hard and achieving lots of success in subtraction of 4 digit numbers using the standard written form. They are also looking forward to starting their new topic next week, which is Festivals and Light.
Division work has been taking place in P5/6 and the children have been working hard on their skills with this. They are also writing letter as Victorian children, telling what life was like in 1885 . . . just a bit different to today!
The children in P6/7 raised a fantastic £206.37 at their recent Cake and Candy and would like to thank everyone who contributed in any way. £106.37 will be donated to Classrooms for Malawi. The children attended the Sky Academy in Livingston on Wednesday and were in the Sky Studios to explore the theme of cyberbullying. We watched their finished news report at assembly on Friday reminding us all to remember to stay safe on line. Well done boys and girls, your report was very informative and professional.
Our P7’s have been working hard on finalising our new website which is now up and running. Several of the children helped to showcase it to parents on Wednesday evening. Thanks to them for coming along to do that for us.
Our Christmas Fair is fast approaching and any donations for the tombola stall would be wonderful, as would books, games and toys for the children’s stall. Thank you for any help you can give.
Happy birthday to everyone who celebrated their birthday last week in our nursery and school. Also, many congratulations to families who welcomed a new addition.
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. Best wishes and hope you have a good week ahead.
Miss MacPhee, HT
