P3lm have been learning about courage and the many different ways we show courage. We all agree that there are a lot of people who who show courage and bravery everyday. We had a very interesting talk about the people we think show courage and what actions are brave or can be a bit silly. We made courage badges in class which we will present to anyone in our class who shows courage in any shape or form. We also discussed who our own personal Hero is and why. Who is your personal Hero?

This week we have been learning about fractions in numeracy. We have been learning how to find half of a number. It’s quite tricky but our fractions boards help us to see how to do it. Mrs Gallagher also brought in some oranges to show us that a fraction of something is smaller than the whole thing. We enjoyed eating them afterwards as a snack.

In topic we have been learning about houses and homes on the past. We learned that we are very lucky to live in modern houses as there were many things about living in houses in the past that were not so nice, for example having to go outside to use the toilet. Mrs Jamieson brought in some items for us to have a look at. We enjoyed trying out the inkwell and pen to do some writing and using the meat mincer.

Here is what we had to say about our learning this week:

Colin: “We heard a different Three Little Pigs story at the library. I liked it.”

Aidan: “We did writing about a haunted house for the Young Writer competition.”

Lauryn: “I liked going to the library.”

Archie: “I enjoyed learning about fractions this week.”

Lennox: “I liked seeing Mrs Jamieson’s artefacts that she brought in to show us.”

Our P7 travellers have just been in touch to say that they have arrived at the hotel (1.05pm) and the sun is shining!  We have asked them to send some our way:)

Our P7 travellers have just sent a text to say that they have arrived in Calais (9.05am) and are heading to Dunkirk before journeying onto Belgium.  All safe and well and enjoying the excitement.  Will keep you updated when we hear anything.  Watch this space for Belgium blogs.

We have enjoyed our new topic ‘Gardner’s World’ this week. We have transformed our role play area into a treehouse and made bird feeders to hang up in our gardens at home. A huge thank you to Mrs Jamieson for organising that for us! We also studied an artist called Georgia O’Keefe’s paintings for inspiration and used pastels to create our own flowers. We learned all about the basic plant and created one and labelled each part. We now know how each part of the plant plays an important part to keep the plant alive including the roots, stem, flower and leaves.

Next week we are looking forward to our trip to the Five Sisters Zoo!

By P1g

The children have been enjoying lots of things this week, including …

“Making our Torah scrolls in RE.” Ciaran and Steven.

“Big Maths Challenge.” Murray and Gabriel.

“Writing our Jack and the Beanstalk stories, Stars in their eyes, practicing for our assembly and making our scrolls in RE.” Jennie.

“Everything.” Ty.

Many of the children enjoyed watching the Got Stars in their Eyes and proudly cheered on Zoe from our class.  Well done Zoe, you were fab!

The children really enjoyed learning about Judaism whilst looking at faiths around the world and making our Torah scrolls.  Lots more to look at over the next few weeks.

All the children are working hard practicing for our assembly next Friday and we are looking forward to seeing you all there.

Well done P2pg.

We’ve had a very busy week this week in P2lg. In our review jotters this week we thought about what we had enjoyed the most. Here is what we had to say:

Rory: “I enjoyed Balbardie’s got Stars in their Eyes.”

Michelle: “I enjoyed playing basketball with Mr Jefferies.”

Katya: “This week I liked the SSPCA talk.”

Archie: “This week I liked making model houses. I liked it very much.”

Aaliyah: “I liked maths this week.”

We are very proud of Noah and Archie who were placed third in the final of Balbardie’s got Stars in their Eyes.

*** Pupil of the week***

Jack was pupil of this week for showing a good understanding of work on tens and ones in numeracy.

Next week we are looking forward to our library visit on Thursday.

This week p3lm started their Farm topic. We decided to make our own farm characters to help “Farmer Jim”  on the farm. We have had great fun  discussing who would help on the farm, how they would help and what they would wear while working on a muddy, dirty farm.  It was great as this tied in with our SSPCA workshop where we learned about looking after and protecting animals and who to call if we needed help with an animal! Mrs Mitchell hopes that the parents and children in p3lm are enjoying the talk talk homework. Let me know your thoughts!

This morning we all took part in Big Balbardie Blether 3 where we discussed learning out of school and homework.  All of the teachers shared the learning which they do out of school with their groups.  Miss Henderson showed the children about what she learns at Zumba and everyone got a chance to do a Zumba dance to a Little Mix song, Miss Goff showed everyone how she learns badminton out of school and Mr Jeffries shared his learning in baseball with everyone.  We then had the chance to see the Draft Home Learning Policy and feedback on what our thoughts were on this.  The feedback so far has been very positive and the Home Learning Group are already putting into action some of the points raised.  We really did enjoy hearing about our teachers learning out of school.

We have had a very busy first week back. We started our new topic of Houses and Homes. We listened to the story of  The Three Little Pigs and then we had the Big Bad Wolf challenge of making a house with a partner that the wolf couldn’t blow down. We had a choice of 4 different materials to use to build the house with.  Some groups did manage to make houses that could not be blown down by the wolf (or Mrs Waddell’s hairdyrer as it really was!). Mrs Gallagher was impressed with our efforts. We also learned about the different types of houses and we are busy preparing for some talking and writing activities about our own houses.

On Wednesday we had our class trip to Craigmillar castle. Despite the weather we had a great day. We loved being shown round the castle by our guides from Castleview Primary school. Lots of us enjoyed the game they played with us but the best part for most of the class was hearing the story of the mysterious skeleton that was discovered bricked up inside the castle walls 200 years ago. The guides asked us to think about what could have happened to the skeleton and we wrote letters back to them explaining what we thought. Some of our ideas were very imaginative.

Thank you to everyone who joined us at the High Church this afternoon to celebrate Easter with us.  The children all took part in, Easter Praise which told the story of Easter.  Well done to our strings performers and to all of the actors in the play. 

Everyone at Balbardie would like to wish all of our families and friends a very Happy Easter and wonderful holiday.  We hope that the sun will come out for at least some part of it!

P3 have been learning about the Easter story. We have watched some great cartoons that have explained the Easter message in a wonderful way. We also had an Easter Egg competition and winners will be announced on Wednesday. Have a great Easter!

On Friday 15th March 2013 we organised events for Red Nose Day 2013, including a Bake Sale, Dress Up/Down or Wear Something Red and selling Red Noses.  Everyone entered into the spirit of the day and had a lots of fun raising money for people who don’t have as much as we do.  We would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who made cakes, helped to run the Bake Sale, sold Red Noses and who took part in the day.  We are very proud and pleased to say that we raised an incredible £1079.19.