Carmondean Primary School Blog

P4/3 Update 29.4.16

Well we’ve had quite a small class for the last couple of days with 5 of our Primary 3s away to Lowport and yesterday three of our class were also away for the morning competing in a schools gymnastics competition. They did brilliantly coming back with bronze and gold medals and big smiles on their faces. Well done Kuzey, Carla and Rosie!

It looks as though the Primary 3s are having a ball at Lowport and hopefully the snow hasn’t caused any bother. We’re all looking forward to hearing about their time away next week.

Remember we’re off Monday and Tuesday next week.

Next Friday (6th May) is our Day for Change when the children can come to school in pyjamas and also bring slippers to wear in class if they wish. We are collecting spare change for UNICEF and there is no set amount of donation. We do ask if the children are taking part that they bring in something.

Our big homework task for this term was given out on Wednesday and is due to be completed by the 11th May. If your child has lost their copy of the task please let me know asap and I will give them another.

There will be no spelling or maths homework next week as it is a short week. The class still have reading pages to do and their big homework task to work on as well.

Have a great long weekend and enjoy the rest.
Mrs Wallace

Lowport Diary Star Date 28/04/16:04

A very busy evening on the Lowport Adventure. After returning from Beecraigs Country Park (alias ‘The Jungle’), we had a very nice dinner of vegetable soup, meat or vegetable pasta and arctic roll to finish. We spent around half an hour writing our diaries, then it was time for the Disco come Talent Show – and what a lot of talent we had; singers, dancers, gymnasts and even sports stars. Then, Supper in pyjamas. Now everyone is in bed and (supposed to be) sleeping. Time will tell. More news tomorrow.

Primary 4, 5.4.16

What an interesting week we have had with lots and lots going on!

We had two V.I.Ps in our classroom and two V.I.Is… We will begin with the V.I.Ps. After we sent our letters out to the community, we had three responses to our letters, one from PC McMahon who will be visiting us in the next couple of weeks and Mrs Vance and Mr Cowan, parents of children in our class. I wish to take this opportunity to thank you both for coming in to chat to us and tell us more about the part you play in your communities. We found it fascinating and asked lots of questions. Both visits led to fantastic discussions afterwards with the children too. We did some research on John Newland (after a few google searches for his correct name) and found out a little more about his part in the Bathgate community and their Galaday. We are looking forward to finding out more about free pool too! It was very good of you both to give up your free time and we thank you.

Also, today I received an e-mail from Livingston F.C in response to the letters sent to them. The children do not know this yet but they are going to try to send a player for a meet and greet with the class, as well as someone who can explain a little more about what they do in our community. We shall see if any of the children read the blog and mention it tomorrow!

Now for the V.I.Is…(Very Important Insects) we have been lucky enough to acquire 35 worms and 5 caterpillars to help us study mini-beasts for our topic. We have set up a worm farm at the back of the classroom and have been watching them wriggle their way down into the soil. The caterpillars have been very lazy so far, at times we have had to check whether they are still alive, but all 5 are doing well and have grown so much over just 4 days. We are excited to see what they will look like as butterflies.

Next week we are off Monday and Tuesday, and on Friday we have our Day for Change. Children will be fundraising for UNICEF on this day and are looking forward to not having to get ready for school. They tell me they are going to roll out of bed and come in wearing their pyjamas they slept in!

We have a talent show at the end of the school year being organised by the house captains. We will be holding a contest in the classroom very soon to decide who goes through to the final, so be thinking about a talent you can showcase if you wish to take part! Watch out for reminders in diaries to find out when this will be.

We have also been working on the acting and songs for our school show with lots of practice dates in the diary. Costume letters will also be coming out soon so please look for these in bags. If there are any problems with any aspect of the costume required, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us and we will do our best to help out.

Reminders

Monday 2nd and Tuesday 3rd – holiday

Wednesday 4th – return to school

Friday – Day for change. Bring any spare change you wish as a donation to UNICEF and come to school in your pyjamas.

Homework

Reading due Friday 6th May:

Red Chapters 5 and 6
Blue p.33-45
Green p.28-40

Please begin collecting appropriate junk for our mini-beast challenge. Children have chosen a mini-beast to do a class talk on (information to follow) and in class are being asked to create a mini-beast from junk with movable parts. Any junk for this would be greatly appreciated.

Lowport Diary Star Date 28/04/16:04

The Jungle Bash saw rain, hail and shine, but our brave explorers were not put off.

Lowport Diary Star Date 28/04/16:03

A visit to St. Michael’s Church, next. A lot of history here.

Lowport Diary Star Date 28/04/16:02

First stop, the ducks.

Lowport Diary, Star Date 28/04/16:01

The Primary 3 residential experience to Lowport Centre has taken off on schedule with 29 very excited children firmly fastened into their flight seats (one child to join us later after the Gymnastics Competition). We will keep you updated throughout the mission with some photos of our activities, depending on wifi and mobile signals. Don’t miss us all too much.

Primary 2

The children were working this week with Miss Millar, Mrs Tully and Miss Farren while Ms Matheson was in Bulgaria and Mrs Oliver was on a maths course.

The classes continued their work on hot and cold countries, producing a leaflet on animals who live in hot counties. We also learned all about how the cactus survives in the desert with little water. The children then completed lovely cactus collages.

The classes also made the most of the better weather by making sure they got out for outdoor gym.

We are looking forward to hearing all about Bulgaria from Ms Matheson this week.

Reminder; outdoor gym for both classes is on a Tuesday, with indoor P.E. with Mrs Ferguson on a Thursday.

Have a great week.

Ms Matheson and Mrs Oliver

Primary 3 25.4.16

Primary 3 have front row seats for the construction of the new gym hall. We have been seeing lots of activity outside our classroom windows! We are lucky enough today to have one of the contractors coming in to speak to our boys and girls about the construction, the equipment and machinery that is used. We also might meet their mascot! We will let you know how we get on.

Very exciting week in Primary 3- its nearly time for our residential to Lowport. Everyone is looking forward to some outdoor activities and we hope the sun keeps shining for us. Any questions about Lowport, please feel free to contact us.

Last week in Primary 3 we wrote letters to our local gardener. The children had to share their learning and think of at least 3 questions to ask. The children carefully structured their letters and decorated them with drawings of flowers.

No homework spelling

Maths homework- Money game

http://resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/measures/money.html

Sweet shop

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/ks1numeracy.html#sweet_shop

Thanks,

Miss Rafferty and Miss Christy

Primary 7 update 22nd April 2016

Miss Clark has been off in Bulgaria this week and Mrs Gilmour has had an enjoyable week in Primary 7. Miss Walker has taught P7F most of this week whilst I, Miss Farren, covered P2.

In Maths both classes consolidated skills in Algebraic Expressions. Miss Thompson from DCHS was working with Miss Clark’s class on Wednesday. We will continue improving our understanding in algebra next week.

Miss Clark returns to us on Monday with lots of stories to share I am sure. Then it’s back to business and we start preparing for our leaver’s assembly (Eek!)

Our first lesson was to write a letter to our favourite teacher- hankies at the ready. Our next task is to write a song about our time here at Carmondean.

On Thursday some pupils have volunteered to take part in a Drumming for Excellence workshop. Letters will go out on Monday about this for those involved. Also, Thursday will be our last week at DCHS for P.E.

My Life So Far – Can all pupils bring in a close to finished copy of their My Life So Far on Friday 29^th April so that we can check they are near completion before final submission in June. Thanks.

Finally, for any child going to France the office staff require essential documentation as soon as possible. Ideally before Friday!

Have a lovely weekend!

Miss Farren, Miss Clark and Miss Walker

Primary Five 22nd April 2016

This week we continued our rehearsals for the School Show. The songs are really coming on and the actors are doing a great job so far. Please remind your child to learn lines if they have a part as we will be focussing on stage directions in class.

In Language we have been looking at the poems of Grace Nicholls. We have been reading her poetry, discussing the type of language she uses and talking about the things we like about her poems. We have also had a go at writing our own poems based on her poem ‘Morning’.

This term in French we will be learning vocabulary that we use in a cafe. This week we looked at French words for different drinks.

In PE this week we started our new topics- Athletics and Mini Golf. We are lucky to have two PE students in this term to help us out.

Please remember gyms kits-Indoor kit on Tuesday and outdoor kit on a Friday.

Thank you for your continued support

Mrs Jamieson and Mrs Steel

P4/3 Update 22.4.16

Well done to the P4s who were at Auchengillan last week. Their behaviour was great and they all took part in the activities enthusiastically. Have a look at Miss Smith’s P4 blog for some photos of the trip.
The P3s are now really looking forward to their overnight trip to Lowport next week.

We also really enjoyed our trip to Dynamic Earth this week. Unfortunately our bus got caught up in bad traffic on our way there but the boys’ and girls’ behaviour was fantastic with no complaints on the journey. We learned lots more about the rainforests and also had a tour around Dynamic Earth.

Some of the class are taking part in a schools gymnastics competition on Thursday and we all wish them luck. I’m sure they’ll have a great time and do brilliantly.

New reading homework sheets have been attached in homework jotters. These include weekly reading pages as well as tasks to be completed once a fortnight. Please have a look at these as they started this week.
Next week’s homework will be Spelling, reading and maths.

Remember indoor PE is now on a Monday and outdoor PE on a Thursday (weather permitting) so please make sure your child has appropriate kit on these days.

Your child should have brought home a letter last week informing you of the change of teacher in class. As of May 24th Mrs Gilmour and Mrs Harris will be teaching P4/3 when I go off on maternity leave.

The boys and girls in P4 and 5 have all been working hard and rehearsing for our school show. We’re sure it’s going to be great and can’t wait to see the final result.

Have a good weekend
Mrs Wallace

Primary 4, 23.4.16

What a busy week it has been, getting into our new topics and recovering from the fantastic Auchengillan!

The children were excellent and their behaviour and manners were commented on by everyone, from the kitchen staff to the outdoor staff as well as the administration staff so a big well done to everyone who came.

We got very muddy on the last day as it had been raining prior to our visit. We had a very quick change before heading onto the bus to go home. See below for a few sneaky pics! We have made a video of all of the photos taken by staff which the children will see very soon.

Whilst we were away at Auchengillan, the people who stayed with Mrs Wallace did a fantastic job of organising Primary 4’s event, ‘Day for Change.’ This will take place on the 6th of May whereby children can mark the event by getting dressed in their pyjamas and slippers to come to school. If they wish they can bring in a donation of change, as much or as little as they want.

It has been a busy week for our staff and colleagues this week in Bulgaria too! I hope you have all been catching up with their activities on the F.L.A.G Blog page. In class we have been reading it every morning and discussing similarities and differences as well as talking about their experiences.

Look out for our newsletter for this term. It highlights up and coming events, current topics as well as reminders. We will be welcoming a few new visitors to our class next week as well as part of our Science topic, Mini-beasts. Caterpillars and worms will be making their way into their enclosures at some point for us to observe over the next few weeks.

This week we sent off letters to members of our community to invite them in to chat about their role in our community. We sent ten letters to various people the children considered to be important in our community and have one visit booked in for next week already! Fingers crossed more people reply to make our learning all the more interesting and relevant.

Reminders:

Please sign homework diaries

Indoor PE kit – Monday

Outdoor PE kit – Tuesday

6th May – Day for Change

Homework:

Due: Friday 29th April

Reading book pages:

Red – Ch 3 and 4

Blue – p.21 – 32

green – p.15 – 27

Corresponding activities (first one to be completed by next Friday 29th as they have two weeks to complete an activity.)
Miss Smith’s Maths Class – Multiplication / division sheet.

Primary 1 Update

Hello Everyone!

Hope you all had a good Easter break and great to see everyone back and ready for our last term in Primary 1! In maths last week we had a focus on clocks and telling the time and children enjoyed making their own clocks. This week we will be investigating capacity whilst continuing to develop mental strategies for calculations.

The children and teachers were delighted Brambleberry joined us before the holidays and have enjoyed gettting to know him. Brambleberry did not come prepared for the wet weather we have been having and this week we will set the children a challenge to create a waterproof coat for Brambleberry! In science they will carry out an investigation to see which materials would be best suited for his jacket.

In language, the children are continuing to learn phonic patterns along with new vocabulary introduced through reading books. In writing, the children put in a lot of effort to prepare different sections for The Ugly Duckling book which will be shared with many European Schools. Please remember that The Ugly Duckling front cover competition is due on Monday.

P1D are working hard to prepare their assembly which will take place next Monday (25th April).

Thank you for your continuing support,

Primary 1 Teachers

Primary 3 18.3.16

Primary 3’s new topic for this term is Our Outstanding Outdoors. We will be learning about plants, wildlife and investigating outdoor play parks. We are looking forward to getting outside and getting our hands dirty.

Primary 3 are also attending Futsal lessons on a Tuesday morning, The children will be learning skills like controlling the ball with their feet, passing and teamwork. Please bring an indoor P.E kit every Tuesday morning (This will replace our outdoor P.E).

Last week we started to learning a little more about money and how to give change. We will be continuing this, so please encourage your children to be more familiar with all the coins and their value.

A number of children are beginning to get excited about our trip to Lowport- we have asked the children to think of a talent/performance for the Thursday evening. If they could get back to us with that talent and any resources/music they require so we can be prepared. Miss Christy also has lots of exciting plans for the boys and girls who are not going to Lowport.

Homework- Spelling, Maths

Miss Rafferty and Miss Christy

Update 18 April

The children returned to school last Monday refreshed and ready to go after the Easter break.

We will be spending the next two weeks finishing our ‘hot and cold countries’ topic. Last week we learned about some of the animals that live in hot countries and began to make a leaflet about them. Primary 2M also made sun hats to protect us from the sun and Primary 2C drew some fantastic desert scenes.

This term indoor gym will be on Thursday for both classes. Outdoor gym will be on Tuesday, weather permitting.

This week Ms Matheson will be in Bulgaria as part of the Erasmus project. She will learn lots about schools in Bulgaria and will take lots of photos. Next week the children should have an enjoyable time looking at them all and hearing all about schools in a different country.

Have a great week.

Mrs Oliver and Ms Matheson

P4/3 update 15.4.16

What an exciting week we’ve had this week!
On Tuesday we had a visitor called Callum from a company called Cool Creatures. He came into class with some animals for us to meet. They were all animals from rainforest climates and it really helped us to kick off this term’s topic in a fun and exciting way.
We met a tortoise, two giant millipedes, two armadillos, a tarantula and a python called Bob.

On Tuesday of next week(the 19th) we are going to Dynamic Earth to learn more about the rainforests. A letter was sent home about this earlier in the week. Please can you ensure that this is returned to school before Tuesday and that children bring a packed lunch with them that day. We are all looking forward to our trip.

Some of the Primary 4’s also headed off to Auchengillan for their overnight trip yesterday with Miss Smith. We hope they are having lots of fun and that the weather stays good for them.

Those of us still in school have been busy planning Day for Change which is an event that will be taking place in 3 weeks time.

We also went outside to have a look at the construction of our new gym hall. We’re very excited about all the progress that’s been made and can’t wait until it’s finished.

A slight change has had to be made to our timetable. Indoor PE will remain on a Monday but, as of next week, outdoor PE has been moved to a Thursday and will be on a Thursday until the end of term. Please ensure your child has appropriate kit on these days.

Have a great weekend.

Mrs Wallace

Auchengillan Residential P4

This is just a quick reminder for children in Primary 4 going to Auchengillan tomorrow.

The bus will leave from the school car park at approximately 9:30am. We will return to school at approximately 3:00pm on Friday 15th.

Please remember the children need a packed lunch for Thursday and if school meals are provided by the school for your child, these will be here ready.

An evening meal on Thursday and breakfast and lunch on Friday will be provided by the centre.

Please ensure names are put on all clothing. Things you should bring include:

socks
underwear
jumpers / sweaters
T-shirts/tops
old joggers / trousers (if possible no jeans)
old training shoes (2 pairs if possible)
indoor shoes or slippers
outdoor shoes / boots
warm waterproof jacket and trousers if you have them
gloves and hat
nightwear
toiletries including toothbrush and toothpaste
towel
bin bag for dirty / wet clothing

No electronics should be brought with the children. Cameras are permitted should they wish to bring them. No money is required as it was included in the price of the trip and children will be given their money to spend at the shop when required.

Some of the activities we will be doing include; grass sledging, water walkers, laser tag, inflatable assault course among other things.

Miss Smith, Mrs Tully, Mrs Dudgeon and Mrs Scott are looking forward to sharing the Auchengillan experience and all of the fun we are going to have there 🙂

PE kit

Can the following classes please remember indoor PE kit this term for PE with Mrs Ferguson. This should be a white t-shirt , navy or black shorts and suitable clean indoor shoes.

Wednesdays – both P7 classes, both P6 classes and P3C

Thursdays – both P2 classes and all P1 classes.

Many thanks

Mrs Ferguson