minibeasts – Carmondean Primary School Blog

Primary 4 30.5.19

Hello everyone

We have had a very busy week in Primary 4 so far. In P4C our learning of minibeasts continued with the story of “The Cautious Caterpillar”. This caterpillar was afraid to change into a butterfly because he loved being a caterpillar so much. However he was brave, made the transformation and was so pleased that he did. We discussed how we could apply that to our own lives and discussed times that we had been brave and tried something new and how this was important. All of the children are about to “transform” into Primary 5 children and some decided to write down information about themselves to share with their future P5 teacher. We will continue to discuss this and learn more about the life cycles of minibeasts through our topic.

We have been working extremely hard on the “Rock Bottom” Primary 4/5 show this week. Our dress rehearsal in front of the whole school and staff is next Thursday 6th June. You should have received costume letters home detailing what your child needs to bring in to wear during the performances. Almost all children should provide a plain but brightly coloured t-shirt and leggings/trousers that we are allowed to cut into zig zags at the bottom for a prehistoric feel! Please let us know if there are any problems with providing parts of your child’s costume and we will work hard to solve any problems. Thank you for your support with this. The final show performances to friends and families are on Thursday 13th June 2019 with a performance at 1:30pm and another at 6:30pm. All children are expected to attend both performances. If your child cannot attend for any reason then please let us know as soon as possible. Tickets will go on sale for this event soon.

This week Primary 4 were involved in the whole school spring clean litter pick. Our area was the perfect playground area and the left hand side and back fence on the field. We found lots of litter and we were happy that we could help Mrs Muir and her Eco Warriors along with the rest of the school to help make our playground beautiful. Well done Primary 4! Even the rain didn’t dampen our spirits! See some photos of us working hard below! 🙂

We were visited today by Mr Canning, the chanter/pipes tutor that visits the school weekly. All children were treated to him playing the chanter and the pipes for us! Today children will receive letters home to ask whether they would be interested in chanter/brass tuition beginning in Primary 5. Please fill in these forms and return them to school if your child is interested in taking part in a trial lesson next week.

Reminders –
PE days – Tuesday and Thursday
Homework (reading, spelling activity and one other activity due on Fridays)

Thank you for your continued support.
Have a lovely weekend when it comes.

Miss Clark & Miss Donaldson

Primary 4 17.5.19

Hello everyone

This week has been an exciting one in Primary 4. We are really enjoying watching our caterpillars grow and grow. They are so much bigger than they were last week and we hope that by the time we are back to school on Tuesday that they will each be in their chrysalis! See the photo below to see how much they have grown.

In maths we have been continuing to develop our knowledge of fractions. We have been using whiteboards, pens and coloured counters to help us to find fractions of amounts (such as 1/4 of 24). The children have worked very hard with this and most are now also able to find 2/5 or 7/9 of a number too! Well done P4!

Show rehearsals are continuing and our dress rehearsal in front of the school is in 3 weeks time. If your child has a script at home and still has words to learn can you please encourage them to have their words fully learned by Tuesday. We really appreciate all the support you are providing your child with at home.

Our first homework share today was a huge success! Many children were able to share fantastic pieces of homework and tell us all about what they have been doing at home this week. This learning experience would not be possible without your help so thank you so much for working with the children on this at home. We look forward to homework share again next Friday!

Reminders
PE days – Tuesday and Thursday
Homework share – Friday
Reading pages – Read pages before Friday 24th

Thank you for your continued support.
Have a lovely long weekend and we look forward to welcoming back the children on Tuesday 21st May.

Miss Clark & Miss Donaldson

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 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.