Intro

How time flies! It only seems like yesterday that we were thinking about what P5 would bring and here we are in the final term. But there’s no time for reminiscing as we’ve lots to cram into these final few weeks including the trip to Stirling Castle, a great new topic (see below) and, of course, the Summer Fayre.

Numeracy

The pupils continue to make great progress across a range of skills. Last term we introduced BODMAS along with multiplying and dividing by 10, 100 and 1000. We also covered compass direction, chance and data analysis. But there’s no time to rest on our laurels so this term we’ll be looking at fractions, decimals and percentages and how they are basically just different ways of looking at the same information. We’ll also revisit time and money and introduce the idea of ratio. After that we’ll probably have a bit of a rest before heading off to P6!

It is also the last chance to beat the times tables sheets. Will anyone get to the pink sheet by the end of June???

Amber “I like the times tables sheets because they challenge me”

Elise: “We do the times tables sheets every Friday and it’s really fun”.

Literacy

Reading

Earlier in the term we completed Charlotte’s Web.

After coping with the emotional trauma of the ending (no spoilers) we then moved onto factual reading and current affairs (Newsround in particular) which tied in nicely with our writing topics. This term we have just chosen ‘The Queen’s Nose’ which is a novel about magic and animals

Writing

Last term we covered a lot of ground including persuasive writing (where we argued the case for/against zoos amongst other things) as well as procedural writing (instructions/recipes). This term we’ll be covering discursive writing (arguing both sides of a debate) and then returning to narrative writing as this brings together so many aspects of the learning the pupils have undertaken during the year.

IDL

We have now completed our Scottish Wars of Independence topic. The pupils really enjoyed learning about the history of Scotland and showed their acting props in our re-enactment of Braveheart.

Amber “I loved the Braveheart re-enactment because we got to learn about the history of Scotland”.

Haylie “I loved watching Braveheart but was annoyed when Mr Connor turned off the gory bits”.

Iona “I liked acting out the movie in the woods”

Elise “I liked making the swords, shields and helmets”

We also had a blast at Stirling Castle where we got to see the actual battlefield where the Battle of Stirling Bridge took place, as well as an enormous statue of Robert the Bruce.

Kali “The views were amazing and we could see all the way to the mountains”

Cairo “I liked the spooky dungeon”

Amber (and others) “The gift shop was good but it was expensive!”

Haylie “There was a bird’s nest in the dungeon!”

Alex/Elise “I liked all the activities in the tunnel under the Great Hall”

Leland “I liked sitting on the King’s Throne”

Iona “I enjoyed the Queen’s Garden”

As you may have been told, P5 will be running the Summer Fayre. It’s a great opportunity for the pupils to put into practice a lot of the skills that they’ve been learning. It also teaches them responsibility and gives them a taste of enterprise. We look forward to seeing you all on the 9th of June :-).

PE

The pupils loved the gymnastics module (especially the wall bars) and some of them even got to do full somersaults over the vaulting horse!

Jake “I liked doing the vaulting horse (until I hurt my nose!)”

Alex “I got to do a somersault on the vaulting horse!”

Iona ” I liked swinging on the ropes when doing the wall bars”

Haylie “I liked doing the hula hoops”

Elijah “I liked doing the monkey bars and getting from one end to another”

Elise “Gymnastics is really fun”

Sophie D/ Amber “I liked watching people improving and I enjoyed the mats.”

This term it’s badminton for indoor gym and tennis for outdoor.

Although they seem like they’d be similar they are actually very different skills. Let’s hope we get the good weather to fully enjoy them.

Topic

This term’s topic is New York. We’ll be looking at lots of different aspects such as the architecture, famous people, music, food, and culture. Many of the pupils had never heard of Frank Sinatra but we’ll be sure to remedy that by the end of June.

STEM

We have continued our topic of Forces investigating friction and measuring force using a Newton Balance.

We discussed air resistance and the importance of aerodynamics.

An anonymous pupil stated that this was about the dynamics of chocolate bars. We shall say no more……

More recently we have been looking at magnets and magnetic fields and experimenting with balloons and static. The whole school also took part in a STEM Day where the children participated in many exciting activities!

Amber “I really liked when we did the scavenger hunt because it helped us work together.”

Akillez “I really liked programming the Microbits, because I got to play with my friend.”