Pupil Learning – Page 72

Primary 3 29.8.16

Welcome back!
It was fantastic meeting all the new Primary 3 boys and girls last week! Everyone looked very smart in their uniforms and were very excited to come back to school.
We have been very busy getting to know each other, getting used to our new classroom and seats. Primary 3 have been working hard, showing us quality lines and fantastic manners.
Primary 3 have been focusing on what it means to be active by taking part in active activities, describing what happens to our bodies when we are active and how it can help us develop into healthy adults. We walked down to the local forest to explore, challenged ourselves on the trim track and practised our fine motor skills in class.
This week we are going to continue with activities and lessons about being active which will help us with our wonderful wall display in the hall.
We are looking forward to meeting everyone at Meet the Teacher on Tuesday! We will also be handing out our newsletter with some information about what will be happening in Primary 3 this term.

Homework will be issued next weekend.

P.E for Miss Rafferty:
-Outdoor P.E on a Tuesday
-Indoor P.E on a Thursday

P.E for Mrs Smith:
-Outdoor P.E on a Tuesday
-Indoor P.E on a Wednesday

Miss Rafferty and Mrs Smith

Primary 4 26.8.16

Welcome back everyone!

It has been so nice seeing everyone back at school and getting to know everyone in our new class. We have been very busy this week settling in, for some of us into a new classroom, and to others having new classmates! Welcome also to three students who are new to our stage, two in Miss Smith’s class and one in Miss Donaldson’s, and to Miss Miller, who will be helping in Primary 4 up until the end of February. I have to say, I have been very impressed so far with the way we have been following routines and getting used to being a Primary 4 in the upper school!

If anyone has any questions or queries, please do not hesitate to contact me. I look forward to meeting some of the parents next Tuesday 30th August at Meet the Teacher. This will help us put names to faces and to pick up the class newsletter to find out what is happening this term in Primary 4.

Reminders:

Tuesday 30th 4:30 – 5:30 – Meet the Teacher. Feel free to drop in between these times.

Outdoor PE kit (outdoor shoes and warm active-wear) every Tuesday

Indoor PE kit (shorts and T-shirt) every Thursday

Homework:

Due Monday 29th August – Please cover both spelling homework jotters and homework diaries with paper. If you do not have paper at home, please let me know as we can provide this without a problem.

Miss Smith and Miss Donaldson

Weekly Bulletin Week Beginning 29 August 2016

Carmondean Nursery: Weekly Bulletin 29/8/16

Monday 29 August

New Ante-preschool children start Nursery.

Tuesday 30 August

New Ante-preschool children start Nursery.
4:30 – 5:30, Meet the teacher evening held in the Nursery building (Please note the change from 31/8 to today)

Wednesday 31 August

New Ante-preschool children start Nursery.
Children making soup with Mrs Murphy, using vegetables from our Nursery Garden.

Thursday 1^st September

New Ante-preschool children start Nursery.
School PSA/PC AGM, held in school 3:30pm

Friday 2^nd September

Notices

The Nursery have our own page on the school blog, please go to the Carmondean Primary blog where you will be able to navigate your way to the Nursery page and find out what we did in Nursery last week. This will be updated on a Friday.
Annual update letter will be sent home this week, please look out for this in your child’s bag it contains important information including email addresses etc so you can receive our newsletter and bulletin information.
If you have not already done so please sent your child into Nursery with a box of tissues and any junk material you may have. Thank you.
We are looking for anyone who would be interested in joining our new Nursery Parents/Carers Association to let one of the Nursery Team know.
We are currently putting children’s names on shoes, if your child has not got their name on their gym shoes please hand them to the member of staff on the door.
Snack money is now due, please either pay via parent pay or put the money in an envelope with your child’s name on the front and clearly labelled ‘Snack Money’ (£12 from now to October holidays).

Welcome back to Carmondean Nursery

It was lovely to see the boys and girls back at Nursery this week. Staff went out on home visits to meet all our ante-preschool children and we are looking forward to welcoming them into Nursery over the next few weeks. We enjoyed learning about what our friends were up to during the summer holidays. Some of the children’s brothers and sisters started school on Tuesday and off course this was very exciting! In some more exciting news we wish to congratulate Keaghan McQuade and his family on the safe arrival of baby Oli, we are looking forward to meeting him.

The start of the Nursery School year has seen the children enjoying playing in the garden and finding out how the vegetables we planted before the summer holidays have been growing. However, there has been a problem!! Some little creatures have been nibbling away on our lovely cabbages so some of the children decided to investigate! We found worms, snails and slugs and we gave them a firm telling off!! Next week we will make some vegetable soup with vegetables from our garden and will look forward to tasting it at snack time with some crusty bread.

We have been revising our Nursery rules and routines and linking this in with our curriculum focus over the next few weeks which is based around the GIRFEC principals. This ties in with some work the whole school are focusing on at the moment and we as a Nursery will be contributing to a whole school display by doing some art work for the school hall. Children have settled well and the pre-school children are excited about being the ‘big’ boys and girls when our little ones start next week.

Building works is ongoing and we very much appreciate your understanding as the main entrance to the Nursery is still via the bottom gate and the cloak room is in the big room. We have been watching the builders working when out playing in the garden and are really looking forward to using our new gym hall.

Newsletters were handed out and emailed this week. Please see one of the Nursery team if you did not receive one. Annual updates will be sent home with the children next week. Please ensure you complete and return these as they contain important information including email addresses etc for us to send home newsletters and bulletins etc. Each week I will post on the blog a weekly bulletin (I will print some paper copies for those without email) which will contain important information about the week ahead, I hope this helps keep you informed about what is happening in Nursery the following week.

It has been an exciting week at our Nursery everybody is happy to be back and we are looking forward to next week when more boys and girls will join us for the very first time.

Best wishes

Mrs Fletcher and the Nursery Team

Hello from Primary 6!

Hello everyone!

We hope you have all had a lovely, relaxing summer holidays. We have had a very busy first week back in Primary 6 and we are thoroughly enjoying getting to know all of the children. Luckily, we seem to have so many hard working, confident & responsible individuals in Primary 6 so Mrs Kelly, Mrs Wylie and I are sure that this will be a great year.

This week we have been discussing in detail what kind of classrooms, classmates and teachers we would like to have. We have created our own class charters which show us how to respect our rights and the rights of others. We have also been exploring the SHANARRI wheel. SHANARRI stands for Safe, Healthy, Active, Nurturing, Achieving, Respected, Responsible & Included. We explored what we can do and what adults in Carmondean can do to help us to feel respected and included.

PE Days
Both classes will have Indoor PE on a Wednesday with Miss Inglis this term. The children will be taking part in cross country runs and related activities. Sometimes the children will be working outside in the playground so please send your child to school with appropriate footwear for this. Miss Clark’s class should try to come to school in their PE kit on a Wednesday if possible as they have PE at 9am.
Both classes will have Outdoor PE on a Monday. Please ensure your child comes prepared for PE on both days.

Meet the Teacher is next Tuesday 30th August from 4:30-5:30pm. We look forward to meeting as many parents as possible. Meet the Teacher is a chance to chat informally with your child’s class teacher, see your child’s classroom and view some of the work we have completed in the first week of term.

More information about this term will be provided in the P6 Termly Newsletter which will be handed out next week.

Have a lovely weekend!

Miss Clark, Mrs Wylie & Mrs Kelly

Guinness World Record Djembe Performance

You may recall just before the end of term, a large group of our Primary 7 children took part in the Guinness World Record Attempt to have the largest Djembe Ensemble. We are very proud to report that the attempt was successful and many school children in West Lothian, including Carmondean PS, are now officially world record holders for this event. You can watch the You Tube video of the attempt by clicking the link below.

Guinness World Record Attempt

Goodbye to Primary 7

It was quite an emotional time in school today as our Primary 7s engaged in some traditional Carmondean leaving rituals. First, there was the polo-shirt signing – so much ink! Then there was the Summer Assembly at Church, which was very much targeted at the P7s and the journey they will be making when they go on to high school. Of course, there was the traditional Conga Line around the school, which is always a lot of fun. And, yes, there were tears, as it dawned on our young people that they have now finished another chaper of their lives and are ready to move on. We have enjoyed having you, we will miss you, but we wish you every success in the future. The very best of luck to you all.

Primary 6

We can’t believe the end is almost here! What a year! Thank you for all of your support, the children are so ready to move on to Primary 7 and we just know that they will shine!

Particular highlights for us this year have been:

*Watching the children work with their future P1 Buddies

*Dalguise

*Sport Relief where the children raised just under £600!

*The enthusiasm for all of our topics, particularly the Titanic

*The sporting opportunities such as Futsal, Cross Country, Rugby and Handball

*Transition to High School

There is so much more for them to look forward to in the next academic year but until then have a fantastic summer break! Lets hope the sun shines and we all get a good rest!

Warmest Wishes,

Mrs Smith, Mrs Muir & Mrs Kelly

Open Morning Mobbed

The Carmondean PS Open Morning, which showcased some of the work we have been (and will be doing) to improve the school through children leading their learning, work on the Technologies and the progress of our Erasmus+ project, was attended by well over 100 visitors today. Responses were overwhelmingly positive and suggested that almost all people who completed the questionnaire felt that the work being done in school in these areas spanned the spectrum from Good to Excellent. A big ‘Thank You’ to all visitors and to all children, their teachers and our marvellous support staff for all the efforts they put in to make today’s Open Day such an outstanding success.

Teachers at the Talent Show

Carmondean PS Talent Show took place today and it was a star-studded affair. Our House Captains organised the show and all went well with many of the acts winning prizes. There was, however, a ‘sting in the tail’… To see what it was, click below.

Important information for Primary 7!

We hope Primary 7 have had a great transition week up at Deans Community High School. We can’t believe how quickly this term has gone and that our time with you is almost at an end. Although we only have a week and a half left at school we still have so much to do P7! So we look forward to welcoming you back to school on Monday with a hard-working and motivated attitude.

Some important points to remember:
– Please continue to practise our Leavers assembly songs over the weekend. You should know all of the words by Monday.
– If you have any lines to learn for the assembly please also continue to practise them.
– If you are part of the drama section of the assembly – please begin to think about your costumes! Please don’t feel the need to buy anything new but feel free have a rummage in your cupboards over the weekend.
– Our dress rehearsal is on Thursday afternoon when we are performing in front of the Primary 2 and 3 classes.
– Our Leavers Assembly is on Monday 27th June beginning at 1:30pm. Parents & other adults – please let the office know if you are planning on attending.
– P7 Prom is next Tuesday (28th June!) All of the teacher invites you created have been distributed. If you still need to buy a ticket or would like professional photos taken at the event please let the office know next week.

Have a lovely weekend Primary 7! We are looking forward to seeing you on Monday and hearing all your exciting news 🙂

Miss Clark & Miss Farren

Primary 4, 17.6.16

Well done to everyone who applied for the Eco Committee yesterday and Pupil Council today. We have new Committee Rep – well done to Mason Pow, and Depute – Abby Colquoun. I’ll update the Pupil Council results later today.

A massive thank you to everyone for applying. The competition was fierce and I’m glad I wasn’t part of the voting. We had people with campaign banners, leaflets and even mascots. It was an excellent effort from everyone so thank you.

This week letters were handed out for our final trip to Hopetoun House next week where we will be participating in a mini-beast safari and a pond dip as well as some lessons in the outdoors. Please can you bring appropriate clothing this day. Waterproofs, warm clothes and sturdy shoes are necessary but hopefully the weather will pick up a little for us. If possible, perhaps pupils should bring a change of shoes in a plastic bag, but this is not compulsory. If it is raining however, we should get a good glimpse at a huge variety of mini-beasts and pond life as these are the conditions they love!

Please remember to sign both forms and both sides of the A4 form, then return to school before Wednesday 22nd.

Reminders:

Monday: Meet the Teacher, Talent Contest.

Tuesday: Outdoor PE Kit

Thursday: Trip to Hopetoun

Friday: Open morning 11:15- 12:15. Come along to your child’s class where they will show you their Learning Journal showcasing what they consider to be their best work, then be taken on to see the progress with our Erasmus partnership and also the technologies we have been learning about and will continue to work with next year.

West Lothian Young Writer, 2016

It was another very proud moment for Carmondean Primary School and for one of its pupils tonight at the 41st West Lothian Young Writer Awards. Although many young stars shone brightly throughout the evening, it was our own Joy Koay (Primary 7) who outshone them all to become West Lothian Young Writer, 2016. Here she is receiving her prize from the current West Lothian Reader in Residence, Mr Harry Giles, who gave a dramatic rendition of Joy’s work to the assembled audience. Ms Millar was also called up onto the stage to accept the Young Writer Shield on behalf of Carmondean P.S. This was certainly the proudest of proud moments for Joy and her family and for our school. In the audience was world renowned writer and illustrator Nick Sharratt (Illustrator of many Jacqueline Wilson books, amongst others), and he clapped as loudly as the rest of the audience when Joy was presented – praise indeed! Well done, Joy, on behalf of everyone at Carmondean P.S. And remember … Keep Writing!

Primary 3 w.b. 13.6.16

Last week primary 3 learnt all about Poland as part of our ERASMUS project. Over the week the children had the opportunity to learn a Polish dance which we videoed to share with the partner schools. The children also tried a variety of Polish foods and created a Polish menu. We all liked the Polish biscuits and wafers but some children were not so keen on pickled gherkins, a famous Polish delicacy! Throughout the week the children created a lot of artwork which is now displayed in the classroom. We annotated maps, made Polish coat of arms, created Polish flags and drew famous Polish stories. The children all enjoyed learning about Poland and were very interested in exploring a different culture.
This week there will be no homework. PE will be as normal (Tuesday for both classes, Monday form Miss Rafferty’s class and Wednesday for Miss Christy’s class).
Thank you for your support
Miss Christy and Miss Rafferty.

Primary 7 10.6.16

Hello everyone

We have been very busy this week getting organised for our Leavers Assembly. The children have been practising hard and can’t wait for their parents and the rest of the school to see the final performance. The Leavers Assembly will be on Monday 27th June beginning at 1:30pm. If you have not requested tickets yet you can do so at the office next week. We hope to see you all there!
Children should ensure that they spend next week memorising any lines that they have and also learning the words to the three songs that we will be performing. It is vitally important that the children practise next week as we will have our first performance in front of an audience (the Primary 2s and 3s) on Thursday 23rd June.

Next week the majority of the children will take part in a transition week at Deans Community High School. The children should come to Carmondean in the morning for a normal 8:50am start. Miss Farren & I will then walk the children up to DCHS for a 9:30am start. Children should wear their Carmondean uniforms. On Monday however the children will be taking part in the “Hurricane Challenge” and should wear trainers and bring a waterproof jacket in case of bad weather. The children should go straight to Deans on Tuesday-Friday mornings for a 8:35am start. We are sure that the children will represent the school and themselves very well and that they will enjoy getting to meet their new classmates. We look forward to hearing how they get on.

On Friday 24th June the school is hosting a Technologies Open Morning. You will have the opportunity to come into the school to look at your children’s best work that they have chosen to put in their learning journals. You will then also have the opportunity to go to the school hall and look at the new technology equipment that the school has invested in. Parents of children in P7F can visit the school between 9:30-10:30am. Parents of children in P7C can visit the school between 11:15am-12:15pm. We would love to see as many of you there as possible.

Children who are attending other High Schools and are not going to the DCHS transition week will be able to complete a variety of work related to our Leavers Assembly. They will also have the opportunity to work with other teachers and younger classes in the school, assisting with their learning.

Have a great weekend!

Miss Clark & Miss Farren

Primary 4 10.6.16

We are beginning to learn about the features of power point and are creating a power point quiz for the adults to try out at our Curriculum Open Morning on Friday 24th at 11:15am. We have been using our research on our chosen mini-beast to inform our quiz. We have been inserting pictures and changing backgrounds and font in colour and size. Next week, we will be learning how to add in hyperlinks within our slides.

We also developed our own comic strips about mini-beast characters which we developed and planned ourselves. We have been learning a lot about correct punctuation for speech and we will turn our comic strips into a proper story next week to practise this. We also plan to turn it into a play script and allow others in our class to use our stage directions to help them act it out.

Busily, the children have been preparing a fact file about different aspects of our Science Mini-beast topic. This will be coming home next week for you to assess and give feedback on. We look forward to sharing and discussing our work with you.

This was the last week for Spelling homework. Next week we will be finishing off our reading books for homework.

Reminders:

Pupil Parliament on Monday so unfortunately no indoor PE kit is required.

Tuesday – outdoor PE Kit

Friday – Reading books returned.

Robin and the Sherwood Hoodies

On Wednesday, 01 June, our Primary 4 and 5 children blew us all away with a stupendous performance of ‘Robin and the Sherwood Hoodies’. The show was an outstanding triumph with so many excellent performances, we can’t possible name them all. A big ‘thank you’ to all staff who helped produce the show and to the children and their parents for making it all possible.

Primary 7 3rd June 2016

This week has been busy and exciting for Primary 7! We have been working cooperatively in groups to complete a Bulgaria Challenge. Throughout this activity we are learning about Bulgaria’s traditions and history. Challenges help us develop our ability to compromise and work with people we may not always choose to work with. Each member within the group has their own responsibility. This might be as a facilitator or a time keeper but we all have an important role to play.

Also this week we have created a script for our leavers assembly. We cannot believe it is only a few weeks away but we are very excited to showcase an exciting trip down memory lane. Please remember to order your tickets ASAP as leavers assemblies are very popular as you can imagine!

Mr Shanks worked with half of us teaching us how to use an app on the ipads called Garage Band. We were taught how to use the app effectively and the final product was we created our own music! It was very cool! Continuing with a musical theme…We are now GUINESS WORLD RECORD HOLDERS. 27 of us attended Livingston Football Stadium on Thursday along with Miss Farren, Mrs Harding and Mrs Auld. There were 476 pupils from across West Lothian participating in the event and we played a drumming sequence for just over 6 minutes. We were shocked at how strict the judging criteria were but we were thrilled when they announced that we had broken a new record! Miss Farren was extremely proud of all who attended the event, the behaviour and enthusiasm was fantastic, we were a credit to our class and school.

Next week please remember to submit final copies of My Life So Far.

It is also the Beach Trip on Wednesday and we will be hopefully enjoying some fun in the sun! Please remember that if it is a warm day then apply sun lotion before coming to school and you can send it with your child in their bags to apply themselves throughout the day. Staff cannot put the sun lotion on your child or supply them with lotion. A packed lunch will be required as we are away all day.

Have a fantastic weekend whatever your plans may be!

Miss Farren, Miss Clark and P7

Primary 4 3.6.16

I will begin by saying a huge well done to all of the primary 3s, 4s and 5s in their excellent efforts in the school show. It was absolutely fantastic and all your hard work definitely paid off. I was a very proud teacher on Wednesday with what you managed to achieve. I’m sure all of the parents agree!

We began our week with our last community trip – to Morrisons. There, we had a tour around the counters and areas of the store including the fruit and veg isle, where we learned of strange foods and where they came from, the fish isle, where we learned how they gut a fish before sale and also had a tour ‘behind the scenes’. We learned of how the store collected and sorted deliveries and even how the store recycled their packaging! We even got to taste foods from all areas of the store, including pancakes and tiger bread from the bakery, a fruit cocktail from the fresh produce and cheese from the refrigerators. It was very interesting, and we thank Mrs Hendry for organising our visit.

100_8761 100_8762 100_8766 100_8769 100_8782

We have been busy presenting our mini-beasts to Primary 4/3 where we showed them our 3D models, plans and leaflets. We are busy learning about power point and how to use it to create quizes and linked slides using the information we wrote in our leaflets.

Reminders:

Please sign homework diaries

Please return any costumes your child has brought home. Thank you to those who have already done this.

Monday – Indoor PE Kit

Tuesday Outdoor PE Kit

Homework:

Due Friday 10th – Maths for Miss Smith’s Class. (Sorry I didn’t put a date on last week’s blog for the homework and due to the show it was only handed out on Thursday.)

Due Friday 10th – Spelling as normal (this will be the last week of spelling for Primary 4. Your child will move into Primary 5 with on the target they finish on this day.

Due Friday 10th – Reading pages and an activity.

Red – Read again from page 78 to the end of the book with a parent.

Blue – p.102 – 114

Green – Ch 6

Primary 3 w.b. 30.5.16

Primary 3 have been very busy the past few weeks completing a variety of tests to measure their progress throughout the year. Most children did very well in these and everyone should be proud of the effort they put in.
We are now back to a normal week of lessons. In maths, primary 3 are learning about fractions and data handling. Last week the children completed a traffic survey and today they will create a bar graph showing their results.
Our interdisciplinary topic is going well, the children have been learning about our local area and are thinking about vandalism and how to keep Livingston safe and tidy.
Please remember:
PE: P3C- Tuesday and Wednesday
P3R – Monday and Tuesday
Homework: spelling and maths.
Thank you
Miss Christy and Miss Rafferty