How time flies. P4-5 is nearly done and we will soon be looking forward to a well-earned summer break. But there’s much to do between now and then – so let’s have a look at what we’ve been up to and what we’ve still to do…

Numeracy

We’re still doing lots of fractions, decimals and percentages because it’s pretty tricky and there’s so much to cover. Most of the class are enjoying it which is useful given how much they’ll be doing in P5 and P6!

We’re also continuing the times tables sheets and we’re all keen to get as far as we can with them before the end of the year.

We’ve been doing money with Mrs White where we have to find out the amount in change from up to £20.

With Mrs Brock we’ve been doing coordinates and making cool pictures – making the robot was tricky but we got there.

Literacy

Writing

In writing we’ve been learning how to do explanations – some of us wrote about how to make a bear from Build-a-Bear.

We created emotion poetry based on how we feel, such as happiness, excited and nervous. Have a listen to a few of them:

Olivia – Sad

Peyton – Cheerful

Skye – Anxious

We also had to pick out a name from a box and then write about that person which was nice.

Reading

We’ve now finished ‘The Queen’s Nose’. To be honest some of us weren’t sure about this one as we found it a bit old fashioned. We’ve now moved onto ‘The Hundred mile an Hour Dog’ which is  fun and easy to get into.

Topic

Our last topic was Scotland. The places we’ve all been to and also the places we can visit in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

It was amazing to see how many places we’ve been to – we’ve been about as far across Scotland as is possible without visiting the far North Islands.

Our new topic is the Tudors where we’re going to find out all about Mary Queen of Scots  – and how she didn’t have the best of times – especially at the end :-(. We’re also going to learn all about King Henry VIII and the fact that he had 6 wives (lots of them didn’t survive!)

We also now know that our class trip will be to Kelvingrove museum to cover an endangered species workshop. This links in with the John Muir award which we’ve been working towards (see below) and this will also be the subject of our solo talks. Let’s hope for a sunny day!

PE

We started the term doing gymnastics where we got to use the wall bars, the mats and the vaulting horse. We nearly got to the stage where pupils were doing somersaults on the horse (but not quite). We also did a wall bar hanging competition. The top boy was Kayden C and the top girl was Alaina!

This term we are doing athletics which will involve, sprinting, fast bounce, javelin, long jump, shot putt and standing high jump. Hopefully this will inspire some future Olympians.

We’re also learning how to play golf and we made our own crazy golf course with jumps and ramps and barriers – watch out Xscape :-D.

Outdoor Learning

For outdoor learning we’ve been taking part in the John Muir Award where we explored, discovered and conserved our local area.

On the nature trail we went on a mini-beast hunt and saw lots of slugs, snails and other beasties. We learned that there used to be a big mansion on the main field but it got knocked down. However, there are still some signs that it was there like the fountain, the stairs and some pupils even found old things like door locks!

One week we went litter picking and managed to pick up about 10kg of litter (which is both a good and a bad thing).

We also spent time creating artwork and sculptures which was even made into a YouTube video: Click here for link.

Music

We used Incredibox (Click here to try it) to make lots of cool beats. Some of us even made lyrics to go with the beats (future Taylor Swifts!).

We also used the Chrome Music Lab (Click here to try it) which had lots of great ways to make tunes, record ourselves and be creative.

Art

We’re in the process of making some Tudor comics about the life of Mary Queen of Scots – once they’re done we’ll be putting them up on the wall.

We made some Steven Brown Highland cows making them as colourful as possible.

We also got very creative making impressionist paintings based on the work of Monet  which was lots of fun.

 

So, we missed all that snow (much to everyone’s chagrin) and are coping with the freezing cold. But the classroom remains nice and warm and a great place to get lots of new learning done.

This is always a super-busy term and this year is no exception. Here’s a sample of what we’ve been getting up to in P4-5:

Numeracy

We’ve been learning about fractions, decimals and percentages since the start of the year – it’s so complicated that we’ve been doing it for 2 weeks!

“Percentage was hard at the beginning but it got easier as we went through it” – Kayden

“We tried a loop game for fractions and percentages but it was a bit hard*” – Peyton

* This was Mr Connor’s fault 😪

Next we’ll be going back to the basics of adding and subtracting – it may seem easy but the numbers are getting bigger! We build on previous learning so that the knowledge is fully embedded.

We’ve also been continuing the times tables sheets. The pupils are really keen to beat their records – will anyone get onto the super-difficult pink sheet?

Literacy

Writing

“We’ve been practising our handwriting with Mrs White – we have been learning new joins using ‘igh’ and ‘dge’” – Noah

We have been learning procedural writing which is all to do with instructions like recipes and how to make or do something. We are all looking forward to the next couple of weeks as we might be making microwave chocolate pudding!!!

This week we have started persuasive writing. This is where we try and persuade people to think in a certain way. We have already covered whether zoos are good or bad – we’ve also covered subjects which are personally important to each of us – for example, here’s Lailah’s work on why dogs are better than cats – she doesn’t actually think that but she makes a very convincing argument (especially the bit about burglars!)

Reading

We’ve been doing monthly reading challenges which involve fun things like upside-down chair reading, reading under the desks, reading in your jammies, reading in an unknown area and the reading river (but we missed this because of our assembly).

Our class reader this term is ‘Flat Stanley and the Egyptian Grave Robbery’.

It’s about a boy who got flattened by a bulletin board and now he goes on lots of adventures. This time he’s trying to get into an Egyptian tomb (dun dun duuuuuun!).

Topic

Our topic this term has been ‘Home and Away’. We have been looking at all of the places we have been in Scotland. It’s amazing to see that people have been all the way north – for example, Calum has been to Stornoway. We’ve been west to places like Arran (Jacob) and Skye (Skye). We’ve been east to Peterhead (Alexa) and south to Dumfries (Caleb). It’s great to see how many places we’ve been to and the pupils have loved sharing their memories of their journeys.

The next things we’re going to learn about are Glasgow and Edinburgh – the places, people and history. Should be fun!

PE

In PE we’ve started gymnastics. So far we’ve just got used to using the mats. This week we’ll be learning how to do handstands and forward rolls. Soon we’ll be getting the apparatus out and we’ll be climbing the wall bars and vaulting over the horse.

Outdoor Learning

Over the next 10 weeks we’ll be working towards the John Muir Discovery Award along with P6-7. To get the award we have to Discover, Explore, Conserve and Share our knowledge of a local nature area.

To do this we’ve been going out to the nature trail to discover new things. We’ve already seen a fox, squirrels, tyre prints from a tractor, dog prints, hoof prints, a frozen bridge and a fallen tree. Next time we’ll be taking the litter pickers to try and conserve our nature trail.

Music

We’ve been learning Makaton – which is a type of sign language. The song we have been learning to do it to is ‘A Million Dreams’ from the Greatest Showman. On Friday we’ll be doing a show for the whole school where we’ll get to showcase all the cool work we’ve been doing.

We’ve also been doing body percussion using our hands, feet and knees to add to the music we’ve been learning.

Art

For art we are learning all about Scottish artists. The first one we have learned about is Steven Brown who is famous for making multicoloured ‘Coos’. As the term goes on we’ll be discovering lots of different Scottish artists. Maybe you could suggest one for us to learn about? Here’s an example of our work from Jacob LeVaillant:

Hello everyone and welcome to the first P4-5 blog of the year. We’ll let you know a little bit about what we’ve been doing and what’s coming up in the near future.

Numeracy

We’ve been pushing on with our mental maths and learning new skills. Here’s some examples of what we’ve been up to:

“We’ve been learning about fractions – using pizzas has been really helpful” – Alaina

“In division we’ve been learning how to do bus stop sums. They’re really useful if you’re stuck on tricky division” – Jacob P

“With Ms Smail we did measurement – we used our rulers to measure different things around the classroom” – Lailah

“With Mrs Brock we learned about area – it’s all to do with counting squares” – Olivia

“Every Friday we do a times tables sheet – if you beat it in under 3 minutes you get to do an even more tricky sheet” – Noah

“We’ve been learning time with Mrs White – we went on the Chromebooks to play time games” – Alexa.

“We’ve also been learning chimney sums for adding, taking away and multiplying – there’s so much to do!” – Peyton

We’ve now pretty-much covered everything we’re set to do in this year (once). Our ethos in maths is revisiting, revising and reinforcing so that by the time the pupils hit June they’re really confident and ready to move on.

Literacy

Writing

Recently we’ve been writing Halloween stories. We worked really hard to add detail and make our stories atmospheric. Here’s a good example below from Heidi

We also had a visit from a Scottish author, Stuart Reid  who presented a fun-filled assembly and encouraged us to get writing our own stories.

Here are some other things we’ve been covering:

“We’ve been improving our joined-up handwriting with Mrs White and now our writing is beautiful :-)” – Alexa

“We’ve just started summarising with Mr Connor which is when you take a long piece of writing and take out what is important” – Lailah

“We also learned how to make story planners so that we don’t get lost when we write our stories” – Noah

Reading

“The story we’ve been reading is ‘The Invisible Boy’ – We found out about Hilda Hardbottom and the fact that she is extremely mean” – Caleb.

“Mrs Kelly came in and heard us reading” – Devon.

We’ll soon be moving onto a new book. This time it’s going to be fact-based – ‘The Search for Tutankhamun‘. It’ll be fun finding out about Howard Carter and his quest to find the tomb.

Topic

We learned all about Pompeii which was a place in Italy until it got destroyed by a Volcano  – Mt Vesuvius.

We made our own volcanoes by putting paper around some 2L bottles and then decorating them with paint and little houses. This link shows what happened to the green group’s volcano recently. It’s quite dramatic!

VIDEO LINK

Soon we will be making our own tornados using 2 bottles and sticky tape – you tip the bottle over and spin it around to make the tornado.

We made a cool display picture for our classroom wall with lots of rocks and lava detail. Alexa made lots of little people who were screaming in the windows – lovely!

PE

In PE we’ve been doing lots of fitness which involves different stations such as: running up and down the hall, stepping up and down on benches, gymnastics, hula-hooping, the maze game, obstacle courses, basketball timed star jumps. The pupils learned to keep trying even though things got tough. Resilience is a great skill to have.

In the run up to Christmas we’re going to be doing some badminton – so get practising at home!

For outdoor PE we played various outdoor games. We have also been practising ball skills like how many claps can you do before you catch the ball.

For outdoor learning we have just started the John Muir Discovery Award. This is designed to get the pupils to appreciate our outdoor space – to explore it, conserve it and understand it. We’ll be covering this until Easter when we’ll hopefully complete the award.

Assembly

Our assembly is coming soon – it’s going to be all about natural disasters (it’s on the 23rd of November) – we don’t want to give too much away but it will involve: seismographs, songs, reporters, the news, and charities  – and that’s all we’re going to tell you. We’d love to see you there but if you can’t make it we’ll be making a recording for YouTube.

Skills Workshops

“In our skills workshops we did music with Mrs Kennedy – we even made up our own songs!” – Lailah.

Then with Mrs White we did art – replicating works by Claude Monet, and van Gogh. We plan to sell them at Sotheby’s at a later date.