This week we took a back to front approach to maths. On Thursday we looked at the ‘bigger picture’ and how one thing relates to another. We did this with angles, degrees, fractions, decimals and percentages. The reason we did this was to know a bit about inter-relatedness of these concepts before we visit each one discretely. What a great morning we had! Here are some of our comments …

Zoe – I now know there are four angles obtuse, right angle, reflex and acute.

Emma – I now know that two quarters is the same as 50%

Jamie – I learned that one quarter is the same as 25% and as a decimal this is 0.25

We had a rugby taster session this week and were glad that it went ahead even though it was raining. We live in Scotland so we know that much of what we do in life will be done in the rain!! Here are some of our comments….

Polina – I really enjoyed the sharks and fishes game.

James – we had to run around dodging people and we are all getting very good at this.

Ryan – the tag rugby game was a really fun way to learn about dodging people when running around. Next time we will be using a rugby ball instead of the tags.

In our topic we are continuing to learn about the various creation stories. This week we learned about one version of the Chinese creation story.

Iona – The Christian and Chinese creation stories are similar because they both began with the creation of light.

We have been reminding ourselves this week about how we learn and that a positive attitude will help us to achieve success both in and out of the classroom. We know that being on time, coming prepared for school with pencils, pe kit etc is a very small part of preparing ourselves to learn. We are adopting a ‘can do’ attitude and already we can see results!

Have a good weekend!

Even though it has been a short week, we have still learned lots of new things…..

We have been learning all about the different parts of the flower. Kiera H & Clara

We have been learning personification! Geo

We have been learning about different types of ways of displaying data….line graphs, pictograms and bar charts. Zoe

We learned the song Circle of Life. Freya

We have learned how to read a line graph.  Lexis

I learned a new parachute game.  Louisa

We have learned about different types of graphs in practical maths.  Madeliene

We learned how to create pictures out of collage.  Isla

I learned a dotted crotchet on the violin.  Scott

I learned how to improvise with jazz music on the double base. Lexis

I learned how to play Coulter’s Candy on the violin.  Jessie & Isla

We learned how to write similes. Kiera H

Have a great weekend!

What a great week!

We had a lovely time on Monday sharing our stories about the holidays. We don’t often have the chance to share our news in-depth and we all really enjoyed it.

The great weather meant that we could take our learning outdoors and we all agree it really does feel good to work outside.

Zoe – It was so much more fun doing our anagrams challenge outside.

Valerija – I liked it when Mrs Drummond read the story to us as we sat in the sunshine.

LATC

We have begun our new topic for the term. We will be learning all about our wonderful world. Our topic begins with the two theories of how the world began – The Creation Story and the Big Bang Theory. Already we have some very challenging questions for the teacher !!!

David – I really like learning about the Creation Story and can’t wait to learn about the Big Bang theory.

Evie – I learned that in the Creation Story God created the world in 7 days.

Jamie – I like finding out about both theories and I know that the Big Bang theory is a scientific theory.

Have a great weekend !

This week we have learned lots about Florence Nightingale and how she has made conditions in hospitals much better for us in the present day. We used the BBC Victorians website to find out some information then we took the quiz and we answered all the questions correctly and got a gold award certificate! We wrote a story about a night on the ward with Florence.

In maths we have been multiplying by100 and 1000 and after the lesson last week about multiplying by 10 and 20 we picked this up quite quickly! We continue to work on two and three step problem solving and are becoming much better at identifying which of the four operations we need to apply to solve the problem.

We began our class talks this week. We have had some wonderful presentations. It has been super to see just how talented we all are. We have to listen when someone is presenting and record whether they are well prepared, giving eye contact, what has impressed us and anything we think could be improved upon.

Using the drums some of us accompanied P4m with a song in their assembly. Once again the talent in P5d is shining through!!!

I would just like to thank all of you at home who helped your kids with their presentations …..I know sometimes it can feel like the homework is for you not them!!! I really do appreciate your support!

This time next week…..

What we enjoyed most this term….

Learning about Florence Nightingale. Olivia, Gemma M

Doing our assembly and going to New Lanark. Ella, Scott

Going to New Lanark. Ellie

Doing the assembly. Andrew

Assembly, New Lanark, class talks and designing home team signs. Annie

Learning about the Victorians. Zoe D, Kiera H

Learning Mathachins on my violin. Isla

Learning how to read musical notes. Louise

Preparing for my class talk. Cameron B

Doing the African Ki Yo Wah Ji Neh dance! Kiera B

Doing our Victorian school day, getting into the Golden Club, going to New Lanark, our assembly and class talks. Roan

Doing the Problem Playground. Gemma B

Victorian school day and class talk. Sarah

Working in our home teams and learning Mathachins on my violin. Lucy

Doing the PowerPoint at the assembly. Declan

All the class talks and learning Mathachins on my double base. Lexis

Drumming with Mrs Drummond, learning Mathachins on my violin, getting into the Golden Club and the Victorian school day. Jessie

Doing the assembly. Ben

I enjoyed New Lanark and Victorian school day. Connor

New Lanark, learning about Florence Nightingale and the Victorian school day. Ramsay

Writing about the lives of Victorian children and New Lanark. Casey

I enjoyed making the shop. Louisa

My class talk and assembly. Freya

The drumming showcase for the opening of the new gym and dinner hall. Cameron M, Geo

The drumming and our assembly. Madeleine

The Victorian school day, our assembly and New Lanark. Clara

Enjoyed doing the music for the assembly even though I only got to see the side of everyone’s heads! Jane

What? Nobody enjoyed maths?!

Have a great weekend!

This week we learned that Victorian children had NO rights. We have also been learning about some of the Victorian people that helped improve the lives of children.

We feel very lucky that we have the rights that we have today.

Article 1 Everyone under the age of 18 has these rights.

As we are only 2 weeks away from the end of term, the blog is ‘What I would like to learn more about..’..

Article 17- Access to information

I would like to know more about algebra. Kiera H & Isla

I would like to know more about algebra and if you don’t know what algebra is here is an example….star + star = 21!! Louise

I would like to learn more of my 3,4,6,7 times tables. Sarah

I would like to learn more of the 6,7,8 times tables. Scott

I would like to know more about what the Victorians wore. Ramsay

I would like to learn more French. Madeleine

I would like to learn more in my maths. Louisa

I would like to know more about Ramadan. Jessie

I would like to know more about the Victorians and how much homework did Victorian children get! Roan

I would like to know more about Islam. Gemma M

Have a lovely weekend!

Another week gone!

It’s been another fast week in P5d. We have been learning how to multiply by 20!!! We know there is a sneaky quick way to do this now…..after we spent ages trying to actually multiply whole numbers. For example if we wanted to multiply 12 by 20 we would double 12 and add a zero ….. Mrs Drummond waited patiently for the penny to drop !

This week we have been developing our punctuation and grammar skills. We were focussing on identifying words and phrases to do with settings and atmosphere. This task turned into a real brain buster as sometimes some phrases could be used to describe both the setting and the atmosphere at the same time. We have worked out that setting is more to do with physical things and that atmosphere is related to the senses. We had no idea how important our senses are in all areas of our learning and in life in general.

We have learned the dance moves to Uptown Funk and we got together with P5m to practice the moves then we practiced an American Indian tribal chant to which we added instruments and the P5m girls added some choreography. It was amazing. We really love getting together with P5m on a Friday morning. We spend 45 minutes not even realising that we are learning until Mrs D or Mrs McClafferty point it out!

Today (Friday) we have been extremely lucky to witness the eclipse. The last one was in 1999 and it will be many many years before there is another one. Mrs Drummond thought that sharing such a special event with all of us in the class was particularly special.

Two weeks to go ……….hang on in there!

Article 29 – Right to develop personality, talents and interests

Congratulations to everyone in P5m for a wonderful assembly.   The children all worked really hard and were really enthusiastic. I was very proud of each one of them. Thank you also to Mrs Drummond for helping with the singing.

Here are some of our thoughts on the assembly…….

I enjoyed the biscuits, they were yummy and I stole one and didn’t get caught! Don’t tell Mrs McFarlane! Jessie!!!!

I enjoyed all the songs in the assembly. Ella

I enjoyed singing the Street Children song. Sarah

I enjoyed getting dirty and learned more about the Victorians. Roan

I learned how to dance and sing songs. Louisa

I enjoyed the assembly and singing and seeing my mum and my sister. Ellie

I enjoyed the biscuits after the assembly. I also enjoyed wearing my costume. Olivia

I enjoyed the assembly because I loved our funny costumes. Gemma M

I learned so much about the coal miners and I enjoyed my lines. Clara

I enjoyed learning the songs at the assembly. I also enjoyed seeing my mum and dad afterwards. Scott

I enjoyed the assembly because I got to wear a bandage and got to keep it afterwards. I learned lots about the Victorians as well. Annie

Congratulations again P5m!

5d rocks!!!!

Just when we thought we couldn’t get any better we have excelled ourselves by learning a more complicated rhythm pattern that sounds really cool and we even played along with the Meghan Traynor song All About The Bass !!!

Writing

We have been learning about the daily routines of rich and poor Victorian children. We used this as a focus for writing out a timetable for each and it was really interesting to see the difference between the two. We will be using the timetables next week in maths!                                                                                                                  We were also able to relate our work on timetables to this morning’s assembly that showed how the lives of rich and poor children were very different and we understand this in the context of social norms and values.

We will now be doing a weekly reading rave slot (an idea pinched from Mrs McKenzie) where we have the opportunity to bring our favourite reading material into school and talk about it with the class. The idea behind this is to encourage those who maybe aren’t keen readers to read more and those who are keen readers have the opportunity to share their thoughts and ideas with the class.

Have a great weekend!

Our class trip to New Lanark

We really enjoyed our trip to New Lanark last Monday and wrote Obituaries for Robert Owen in writing.

Here are some of the things we learned and enjoyed…… (I think most peoples favourite part was the Annie McLeod ride!!

I enjoyed the Annie McLeod ride. Gemma B, Louise & Ramsay

I enjoyed listening to the Annie McLeod story whilst on the ride. Jane

Roan enjoyed the river made of Cola! Really Roan??

I enjoyed being a teacher because I could shout at people! Gemma M

I enjoyed the movie about Harmony. Isla

Everything! Kiera H

I really enjoyed the ride and I liked the school room and the film near the end. Casey

Well done to all the drummers and the choir who took part in the opening of the new extension. A special mention to Cameron Muir who did a great job leading the drummers and a huge thank you to Mrs Drummond and Mrs Innes for teaching the drumming and the choir. Well done to everyone for their fantastic artwork. The Victorian Street Scenes looked really effective framed.

Have a lovely weekend!

Wow, what a week!!!!

I would just like to take this opportunity to thank all of the musicians from both primary five classes who worked extremely hard over the past few weeks to make Thursday’s performance such a great success. I am very proud of each and every one of you!!!!

New Lanark

We had a fantastic time on our trip to New Lanark. We especially enjoyed the Annie McLeod ride and the Victorian classroom. Here are some of our pictures……

LATC

We have decided that toys in the present day are much more fun than in the Victorian times although we did have great fun playing with them in class!

Maths

It’s been fun this week as we have been going over everything we have learned about money before we get to the hard stuff! We really enjoy this as it reminds us of just how much we already know and gives us a real shot of confidence. We are now moving on to a variety of tasks from making a given amount in as many ways as we can and problem solving using money up to £20.

HWB

Mrs Duncan makes P.E. really fun and we weren’t really aware just how much exercise we can get through learning dance moves. We have been learning the moves to Bruno Mars song Uptown Funk. We broke the dance moves down and learned the individual moves then put them into a sequence. Eventually we were able to perform along with the music!!

Writing/Latc

This week we learned about writing and sending an e-mail. We wanted to send an e-mail to the staff at New Lanark to thank them for our fantastic visit. We discussed as a class what information the e-mail should have then we talked about the composition of the e-mail. We were delighted when the staff at New Lanark replied to us thanking us for our kind comments.

Unfortunately Mrs Duncans time with us has come to an end. We have really enjoyed having her with us. Myself and  the boys and girls in P5d will miss her! We have invited Mrs Duncan to visit us in the near future so we hope to see her soon.

Have a great weekend!

Another great week!

Maths has been very challenging this week! We have had great fun in our problem solving lessons. We worked collaboratively to solve a problem that almost pickled our brains …..here it is….can you solve it? We’ll give the answer next week!

Andy, Oliver, Joseph and Miles each own a bicycle. One has a green bike, one has a blue bike, one has a white bike and one has a silver bike.

Work out the colour of each person’s bike from the following clues:

Oliver does not like white.

Andy borrowed the green bike because Oliver was using his bike.

Joseph does not like blue.

Miles does not like green.

Joseph does not like green either.

Miles borrowed the silver bike because Joseph was using his bike.

Andy’s favourite colours are silver and blue. His bike is one of his favourite colours.

Joseph borrowed the blue bike because Andy was using his bike.

Miles’s favourite colours are green and white. His bike is one of his favourite colours.

Come on parents get your problem solving hats on !!!!

Writing/LATC

Once again we are taking the opportunity to use our topic to enhance our writing. We have learned how to write instructions to make a thumatrope and a peg doll. We now know that instructions come in different forms: bullet points, numbered, short sentences, in a list or as a paragraph depending on what the instructions are for.

Comprehension

Mrs Duncan has introduced us to the fabulous author Anthony Browne. We have been learning about illustrations and what they can tell about a story that isn’t written in the text.

Polina – I enjoyed learning about how to read a picture. Anthony Browne hides lots of little pictures in the bigger pictures and thy help you to think more about the story.

Valerija – I think his books are really strange but good. They are a bit like brain teasers!

Brooke – Mrs Duncan let us hear from Anthony Browne and he said that he makes the pictures in his book like spot the difference pictures because he liked that as a boy.

Expressive Arts

Working with Mrs McClafferty we have made peg dolls that Victorian children would have played with. We have also had great fun designing and creating a piece of artwork for the art exhibition next week.

Mrs Drummond has been working us very hard to learn our rhythm piece that we will perform at the opening ceremony of the new hall.

Have a great weekend folks !!!!

We have had a busy week.  We have been practising for our assembly we have been doing lots of art and music.

Here are some of the things we have learned….

I have learned how to do aboriginal dot painting and learned to do reading strategies at the right time. (Lucy)

I have learned how to add and subract decimals. (Lexis, Gemma B, Roan and Ella)

I have learned about Islam and Muslim peoples’ lives. (Ellie)

I have learned how to divide by 2, 3, 4 and 5. (Geo and Kiera B)

I have learned about the Islamic holy book the Qu’ran (Scott)

I have learned to play a new rhythm which is really cool! (Isla)

I have learned how to do aboriginal dot painting. (Louisa and Freya)

I have learned that aboriginal art is really effective. (Cameron B)

I have learned how to divide by 4. (Declan)

I have learned that Muslims are never allowed to draw a picture of Allah. (Kiera B)

I have learned how to divide by 4 in a different way. (Gemma M)

I have learned some of the aboriginal symbols. (Jane)

I have learned all the moves in my gymnastics grade routines. (Annie and Olivia)

I have learned how to do a perspective drawings of a Victorian street. (Olivia)

I have learned to play Merrily We Roll Along on our violins. (Lucy, Isla and Scott)

I have learned Scottish dancing in PE. (Kiera B)

I think you will agree that we have learned a wide variety of things!

And finally Happy Birthday to Lexis! 10 today. Have a fab day!

We wrapped up term 2 of P5 watching our Loch Ness Animations and performing our rap with 5d at the church service.

Only two more sleeps until Santa brings us some lovely things to unwrap!

So wrap up warm and have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

From the Blog Post Box:

A present I would like to give this year is…

…medicine to cure cancer.                      Gemma M

…help for the greyhounds.                     Madeleine

…a big party for my Grandpa James because he is very ill.                      Lexis

…food for the homeless.             Louise

…hugs for my family.        Cameron B

…clean water to those who have to live with dirty water.                        Annie

…a cuddle. Sometimes all somebody needs to make them feel better is a cuddle.               Scott

It has been animation crazy in 5m this week as we explored the ‘Animate it’ app and let our imaginations run wild. We discovered lots of interesting features and shared hints and tips as we created animations on a subject of our choice. Once we were familiar with the app we felt confident to tackle our big project – The Loch Ness Adventures!

Ten very special stories were selected and their authors chose an animation crew to help convert them into animations. We carefully planned our backgrounds for each scene, the characters and props we would need and any text that would be necessary to tell the story. Then we got to work designing, creating, filming and editing.

We’re having great fun and are looking forward to the premiere on Monday. Wonder if any of us will be up for an Oscar?

Special thanks to Ben whose origami Nessies were in great demand!

From the Blog Post Box:

This week I enjoyed…

…planning my animation. I can’t wait to start filming!                    Louisa

…singing in the choir for my mum and at the Partnership Centre. I’m looking forward to completing the Loch Ness Animation.         Madeleine

…PE in the new gym hall. I’m looking forward to completing our animation and I can’t wait until Xmas!!                               Roan

… Health and Wellbeing. When the teacher asked the girls if they had an X-box or a football nobody laughed. When she asked the boys if they had a doll people started laughing. We did some drama to help us think about this.                            Louise

…planning and making our Loch Ness Animations.                     Geo

We’ve had an exciting week in P5m with our Party on Tuesday and our Christmas Dinner on Wednesday. We’re all looking forward to the Panto tomorrow. Being the hard workers that we are, we still managed to find time amongst all the celebrations to complete our Loch Ness Adventures. We have been working on them for the past three weeks and now have to wait, with bated breath, to find out which stories are to be turned into animations.

It will be a difficult choice because we have all been working so hard on developing our Writing Skills!

From the Blog Post Box:

In Writing I find it helpful when…

…we plan our work the day before so that we can think about it at night. Ella

…I get left alone to do my plan and ideas. I like to have only a little bit of help. Jane

…I use my plan and the Core Writing Skills checklist. Casey

…I get immediate feedback because I can improve my story there and then. Gemma B

…I gather millions of ideas on my plan. Olivia

…I plan my story in a group with the Planning Professors. Connor

… I have written feed-forward. It helps me improve my next story with my teacher’s help. I also like it when we discuss our work with our Writing Buddy because they can share their opinion as well. Lucy

Maths

We have been learning to find the position of an object on a grid. We know that we have to give the bottom co-ordinate first and the side co-ordinate second. We all thought it was a fun exercise although we are not quite so excited about doing more next week because Mrs Drummond said it will be harder!

Writing/LATC

We continued or writing this week as part of our topic. We are doing a creative piece about a trip to see the Loch Ness Monster. Last week we wrote the opening and this week we have been learning how to structure the middle of our story.

LATC

We carried out an experiment with Oreo cookies this week. The three layers of the cookie represented the crust, mantle and core. We broke off the top the Oreo then broke that part in half. The two halves represented tectonic plates and we put them back on top of the Oreo and pushed them together. The pressure when the two parts came together caused the two parts to push upwards. This was a great way to learn about how mountains are formed.

Have a great weekend folks …..12 school days left !!!!!!!!

This week we have been learning about the three different types of rock using – you guessed it – chocolate!

The layers of our Caramel Wafer reminded us of sedimentary rocks. Sedimentary rocks are formed from sediments that have settled at the bottom of a lake, sea or ocean, and have been compressed over millions of years. The sediment comes from eroded rocks carried there by rivers or ice, and from the skeletons of sea creatures.

The holes inside our Crunchie reminded us of the gas bubbles that form when lava cools quickly, creating igneous rock.

We held a Curly Wurly in our hand as we learned about the different types of rock. The heat and pressure totally changed the shape of our chocolate. Metamorphic rocks are created by the heat and pressure from tectonic plates sliding together.

We’ve learned so much during our Chocolate Geology lessons and cleaning up after them is always so much fun!

We have been finding out how the landscape of Scotland was formed thousands and thousands of years ago.

We used Oreo cookies to help us understand how the tectonic plates (which make up Earth’s crust) push together to form mountains. Sometimes the plates pull apart and molten magma seeps through. When this cools and hardens it forms a mountain.

We also learned how the glens were formed by large rivers of ice called glaciers. We made a glacier out of porridge and drew lines of chocolate sauce across it so that we could study how the glacier moved. We noticed that our porridge glacier travelled more quickly in the middle. The sides slowed it down. We worked out that a real glacier would be eroding the rocks at the sides, carving U-shaped glens into the landscape.

Did you know that Loch Ness was formed by a melting glacier?

Wonder what Nessie thinks of that!

From the Blog Post Box

I think the Loch Ness Monster is…

…real because I have seen the monster when I was at Loch Ness and I have seen pictures and videos of it.              Clara

…real because sharks and crocodiles have survived so why couldn’t a dinosaur? (I think Nessie is a dino.)                     Cameron B

…not real because I’m sure it is just a myth.              Casey

…real because there is a dinosaur called elasmosaurus which lives in the sea and looks like the Loch Ness Monster. Google up a picture of elasmosaurus to see!                                  Ben

…not real because all of the photos of it have been fake.             Scott

…oh I’m just not sure!!!                           Sarah