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: