Carmondean Primary School Blog

Week beginning 20 June

Primary 2 all had great fun at North Berwick beach and last week we all wrote fantastic personal stories about our time there.

Both classes made bird houses from junk as part of our ‘Garden Centre’ topic. It was quite tricky cutting the hole for the entrance but luckily we had 2 primary 7 helpers.

We have another busy week ahead. On Monday the children will be meeting their new teachers. I am sure they will all be excited about this. On Friday the Open Day will take place. Your child will show the work in their Learning Journal and then parents will get the opportunity to see the new technology equipment. We look forward to seeing you then.

Ms Matheson and Mrs Oliver

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.

Week beginning 6 June

Primary 2 are busy with our Garden Centre topic. The role play cafe and shop have been very busy! Both classes have made fantastic plant collages and owl paintings. Last week we all planted a seed. We chose if we wanted to plant a bean, a sunflower or a nasturtium. The first plants have begun to grow already. Tomorrow in writing we are going to write instructions about how to plant a seed.

The beach trip is on Wednesday. Hopefully the good weather will continue until then. Please remember to put suntan cream on your child before they come to school, as teachers and support assistants are not allowed to put it on.

Outdoor gym continues to be on Tuesday and indoor gym on Thursday. Please remind your child to bring appropriate clothing.

Both classes hope to make junk models. P2M are going to make model bird boxes. Please send your child in with any boxes or cartons that might be useful.

Have a great week.

Ms Matheson and Mrs Oliver

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.

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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

Primary 4 27.5.16

Good morning all!

We have seen 5 of our caterpillars turn into butterflies and fly away this week. It was very exciting. They were brown and orange and very bright when their wings were open.

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This week we had the dress rehearsal for the show ‘Robin and the Sherwood Hoodies’. The children were fantastic, and have learned so many words and songs, you are in for a very impressive afternoon if you plan on coming to see us. Tickets are on sale for £2.50 at the office and it is first come first served. The show takes place next Wednesday at 1:30 pm and 6:30 pm. Children should be dropped back off at the church for 6:15 to be ready for the evening performance. If for any reason your child cannot attend, please let the school know at your earliest convenience.

We made our mini-beasts from junk this week and boy do they look good. It is amazing what the children have produced by themselves and we have had some fantastic ideas for movable parts. Their research and plans were followed and amended as they worked creating their model, allowing them to see the importance of planning and being flexible in their planning when things do not o to plan.

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This weekend is the Summer Fair. It starts at 11 and finishes at 1 pm. I hope to see as many of you as possible for lots of fun there!

Reminders

Please sign homework diary

Summer Fair Saturday 28th May 11am-1pm

School Show Wednesday 1st June 1:30pm and 6:30pm

Homework

Spelling as normal

Miss Smith’s Maths group – Direction homework (see sheet)

Reading due Friday plus an activity

Red – Chapter 5

Blue – p.88 – 101

Green – p. 78 – 92

P7 drumming 26.05.16

Hi all,

Here are some videos from today’s drumming workshop. The full length video cannot be uploaded down to the file size being HUGE!. We will practice again tomorrow. Well done for all your hard work today!

Miss Farren

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Primary 1 Update 23.5.16

Hi Everyone,

We’ve got another busy week ahead in Primary 1 this week. The children are very excited about our farm visits starting this Tuesday. P1MO and some of P1D will be visiting Craigie Farm this week and P1C and others from P1D next Tuesday. Please can we remind children to wear sensible footwear and a waterproof jacket and bring a packed lunch to school that day. There will be the opporunity to order a school packed lunch on the day, however we will be leaving early so a hot lunch will not be available that day.

Also this week, we have our rescheduled Sports Day on Thursday – hopefully the weather will be kind!

In maths we are continuing to work on subtraction along with improving mental agility and our knowledge of mathematical language.

P1MO are practising hard for their assembly on Monday 30th May. We hope some of you will make it along.

Letters and forms went out this week for the Beach Trip in June – please check your child’s bag and send back as soon as possible. Please don’t hesitate to ask teachers if you have any questions.

Thank you for your continuing support,

Primary 1 Teachers

Primary 6

Morning! Hope you all had a lovely long weekend and looking forward to the final few weeks of the school year!

Last week P6 were given the opportunity to experience what High School life would be like. Both classes set off excitedly to Deans Community High School and got to experience a range of lessons in English, Maths, PE, Music, Science and Social Subjects. The high school teachers prepared a range of activities that were very motivating, we had never seen the children so quiet! Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves and are now looking forward to the continued transition experiences in P7.

P6 have also been busy designing their own animations using the I Pads. This has been a very exciting learning opportunity for the children and we hope to share some of these later on in June on our Open Day. Below are some pictures of the children preparing their characters and backdrops before filming their scenes.

This Friday we will be taking P6 to a Rugby Festival at the Rugby Club in Livingston. The children will be leaving school at 9am and returning by 12pm. They will need warm clothing, waterproofs and sensible footwear as well as a water bottle and snack. We are looking for four parent helpers so if you would be interesting in giving us a hand then please contact the school office. The children will be coming home with letters today so please complete the EE2 forms required.

Next week the children will continue their rugby taster sessions so please can you make sure your child brings their outdoor PE kit to school on Monday and Wednesdays.

We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate our student, Miss Blackwall, who passed her PGDE course and placements and will start her teaching career in the next academic session in the Glasgow area! This is our last week with her and she has been a fabulous addition to the P6 team.

Have a good week!

Mrs Smith, Mrs Muir & Mrs Kelly

24.05.16 Primary 7

Back to normality in Primary 7 after our adventures in France!

This week in P.E we have enjoyed Judo taster sessions and learned a few new skills. We also continued to work cooperatively in Hockey and are playing 5 v 5 games. In Science we have enjoyed a very active lesson where we had to dissect a flower then create a labelled poster to demonstrate our knowledge.

For those children participating in the drumming for excellence workshop, can you please familiarise yourself with your pattern of music and bring you music to school every day next week. We have rehearsals and our final workshop coming up.

Our Prom Committee have now begun working with Mrs. Gilmour to organise the theme for our celebration evening. It is all getting exciting in Primary 7.

Next week we have a visit from DCHS to look forward to. They will be teaching us Science and showing us some new ICT sites. We are all looking forward to this.

A big thank you and good bye to Miss Walker who has been teaching P7F recently. She is now off to complete her studies and we wish her lots of luck for her future in teaching!

Happy long weekend! See you all Tuesday!

Miss Farren and Miss Clark

Primary 4, 20.5.16

This week began with a fantastic trip to Dynamic Earth. We found out how the world was created according to the theory of the Big bang. We also learned about the phases the world has gone through in order for us to have the chemicals and products within the world. This fed into ‘Our Community’ topic as it taught is how coal and gases were formed.

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This led nicely to Tuesday where we had a visit from a lady from Library Services. She brought with her lots of artifacts from museums from the shale mining times in West Lothian. We learned about the lights they used down the mine and what it was like to live without electricity. The battery which powered their light in their helmets weighed a lot and we discussed the difference between batteries then and now. We also got to explore fossils in rocks and learned how these were made.

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On top if this, our last visitor came into school from the community. His name is PC McMahon and is one of the community officers from this area. He came to tell us how he helped the community and was able to answer questions about what he did. The children asked very good questions as a result of knowing lots of information from Mrs Vance’s visit! We definitely made him think!

We have one last visit as a result of our letters and it is Monday the 30th of May. We will be visiting Morrisons to find out what part they play in the community and to have a little tour.

There is no further progress with the butterflies / caterpillars and they are all still in their chrysalises with no change. Our worms are doing well and are creating lots of patterns for us to follow in their soil. We will probably set them free soon.

STOP PRESS Four of the butterflies have hatched and have been released today (Friday)

Well done to the Deer Park team in sports day today, however we need to find out the results from the infant sports day to see whether they are overall winners or not. Thank you to all the parents who came along to participate, and for the tug of war at the end!

Reminders:

Monday 23rd – Holiday

Tuesday – Outdoor PE Kit

Wednesday – Dress Rehearsal for the show (performing to the school)

Saturday 28th – SCHOOL FAIR

Homework:

Due Friday 27th : Spelling as normal

Reading pages plus activity:

Red – Ch 3 and 4 of The Karate Princess in Monsta Trouble

Blue – P.74 – 87

Green – P.65 – 77

Primary 3/4W Update

This week we worked very hard in class taking part in our rainforest challenge. In groups we all created models showing the different layers of the rainforest and some of the animals that live there. Don’t they look brilliant?

We also took part in sports day yesterday and had a great time competing in the different events. Thankfully, even though it was cold, the rain stayed off for us.

Remember we are off on Monday and Mrs Harris and Mrs Gilmour will be taking over the class as of Tuesday.
Today is my last day with the class and I am going to miss everybody very much. I am hoping they will continue to work hard for Mrs Gilmour and Mrs Harris as they have been doing so far this year.

Have a great long weekend,
Mrs Wallace.

Primary 2 Week beginning 16 May

Primary 2 have begun the Garden Centre topic. We made some fantastic paper flowers, flower pots and flags for the garden centre and on Friday our role-play garden centre was opened. We will be able to have lots of fun buying plants and tools. There is even a cafe where we will be able to buy snacks!

Weather permitting it will be sports day on Thursday. Primary 2 sports will start at 1.30 pm. We look forward to seeing you there. Children should try to wear house colours. The colours are:

Sutherland- yellow

Waverley- red

Deer Park- blue

Raeburn -green

Both classes are doing class talks about their favourite animal. The date the talk is to be completed is written in the homework diary. We look forward to hearing them all.

Have a great week.

Ms Matheson and Mrs Oliver