Well done to all the children in primary 5/4 for their excellent model ships and cabins. Each of you put an outstanding amount of effort into this homework challenge and the results are amazing! Well done!
Category Archives: Primary 5
Fantastic Fractions!
Primary 5/4 and Primary 5 have been learning lots about fractions in class. We have been finding out about fractions of shapes, objects and amounts.
This week we have investiageted equivalent fractions, simplifying fractions and finding fractions on a nunberline. These are some suggested games to support our learning:
http://resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/fractions/#Fractions
http://www.math-play.com/math-fractions-games.html
http://resources.oswego.org/games/fractionflags/fractionflags.html
http://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/7-11-years/fractions-and-decimals
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/
Have a go at home and let us know how you got on with the games!
Miss Crease and Mrs Quin
Equivalent Fractions
This week in primary 5/4 and primary 5 we have been learning all about equivalent fractions. If you are finding it tricky or want more practise why not try the game below to help.
Primary 5/4 Storytellers
Today in literacy primary 5/4 were exploring their performance skills. They heard some advise from a professional actress who advised them to take their time, practice their breathing, stand up tall and imagine the image of the character in their heads.
Click the link below to see a clip of the story they were performing.
The Building of the Unsinkable Ship!
Over the last few days Primary 5/4 and Primary 5 have been hard at work getting the amazing ship, Titanic, ready for her maiden voyage.
The Unsinkable Ship
Yesterday Primary 5 and Primary 5/4 visited the library to find out more information about our new topic ‘The Unsinkable ship’. To our surprise when we arrived Diane had dressed up as a first class passenger! During our visit we learned lots of new information.
Caitlin learned that even third class passengers ate well on the ship, they ate porridge, toast and potatoes.
Grace learned that aboard the ship was 13 honeymooning couples.
Aaron learned that band members continued to play their instruments as the ship went down.
Kyle learned that there should have been 64 lifeboats but there were only 20 lifeboats on the ship.
Finlay found out that 55 people cancelled their ticket before the ship set sail.
Ali found out that there was a fireman who got off the ship when it arrived in France.
Aiden learned that the ship stopped at Ireland before making its journey across the Atlantic Ocean.
We really enjoyed our library visit and we are all looking forward to finding out much more information about “The Unsinkable Ship”.
P4 and P5 Party!
Primary 4 and 5 had a great time at the party yesterday. We played lots of games and danced. Look at us having fun.
Winter Ready Activities Primary 4 and Primary 5
Here are some ideas of what you can do if the school is closed in the event of bad weather.
Maths
- Complete games and challenges on SUMDOG.
- Use numbergym to practise times tables.
- Use ‘Just in Time’ for mental maths practise. (http://www.transum.org/software/SW/Starter_of_the_day/starter_October12.asp?ver=stu)
- Create some mental maths word problems to challenge your class when you return to school.
- Build a snowman and measure how tall he is.
Literacy
- Continue to read your accelerated reader book.
- Write a book review if you have completed your reading book.
- Create a ‘Word Wizard’ or ‘Character Cop’ to show your understanding of your book.
- Design a new front cover, blurb and title for your book.
- Create a diary entry for your snow day, to tell us all about what you did, how you felt, where you went? etc.
- Make a Winter Ready poster detailing how to keep safe in the bad weather.
Hope you have some fun in the snow and remember to keep wrapped up warm and stay safe!
Mrs Canning, Miss Crease and Mrs Quin
Matter Chatter!
Primary 5 and Primary 5/4 have been learning all about SOLIDS, LIQUIDS and GASES and their properties. We looked at the main characteristics of each state of matter.
Emma – I learned that some solids are hard and can’t be molded into a shape without force. The molecules in a solid are packed close together and they don’t have much movement.
Molly- I learned that liquids are made out of particles that are more spread out compared to solids and have some movement. Liquids do not have a fixed shape but take the shape of their container.
Sami – I learned that the particles in Gases are spaced out and can move around freely. Gases do not have a fixed shape and can change volume.
We watched videos to learn about different experiments we could carry out. We then had a go at some of these in class, this got a bit messy!
We used a Kettle, cling film and ice to learn about condensation and evaporation.
We also experimented with different material to see what dissolves. We learned sugar, gravy granules and coffee granules are soluble and sand, chalk, flour and rice are insoluble.
Today we went to school kitchen to find out what changes in state are reversible or non-reversible. We carried out this experiment by heating different foods to melt them then we placed each item in the fridge to cool it back down. Tomorrow we will check which change in state are reversible.
WE LOVE SCIENCE!!!
Amazing Author Visit
Primary 3-7 were extremely lucky to receive a visit from a fantastic Australian author yesterday… Jaqueline Harvey.
Jaqueline has written a series of books about girls called Clementine-Rose and Alice-Miranda. She entertained the children with exciting excerpts from her books and had everyone laughing in their seats!
She even had two very eager and willing participants in Ellie (P7) and Finlay (P6) who had to act out a very funny scene!
We would like to thank GlowWorm books in Broxburn for organising this very special event for us.
School Camp Primary 5
Recently primary 5 visit Lendrick Muir for their school camp. Have a look the pictures below to see what we got up to.
Visit from a CHAMPION!
Article 29
Talents and skills should be developed and shared.
Tuesday was a very exciting day at St Nicholas Primary School as we had a very special visitor!
When we told the people at the Commonwealth Games ‘Game On Challenge’ about all that the boys and girls had been doing to get into the spirit of the games and learn about different sports and countries, they decided we deserved an Athletes Visit!
Stephen Payton is an amazing former paralympic runner who during his career won 3 gold medals, 2 silver and 4 bronze… and he broke 2 world records! Stephen was born in Uphall and grew up in Livingston, it was really interesting to hear about how Stephen began running in his local athletics club and how he became a world champion. Stephen ran training sessions for primary 5 and 6, showing them techniques, answering questions and showing us his amazing medals. He also spoke in a special assembly for primary 2, 3 and 4.
Thank you Stephen for coming in to tell us about becoming an athlete, working hard and achieving your dreams!
A day in the life of an Aussie.
Article 7
You have the right to have a name and a nationality.
Primaries 3 and 3/2 were so lucky this morning to get a visit from Hannah in Primary 5. She lived in Australia for 3 years and she recently returned back to Scotland. Hannah found out that we have been learning about the country Australia as part of our topic work and she volunteered to come into our class to talk to us all about this wonderful country. She showed us a powerpoint, brought in artefacts like a boomerang, clap sticks, flag, her netball trophy and her school uniform. She told us so many interesting facts and showed us some pictures of a typical day in the life of an Aussie!
Thank you so much Hannah for sharing this with us. We thoroughly enjoyed your presentation!
2014 St Nicholas Commonwealth Games!
What a fantastic day at the St Nicholas 2014 Commonwealth games! Primary 5,6 and 7 came together in an opening ceremony to celebrate their chosen Commonwealth country and preformed some wonderful cultural displays of song and dance from South Africa, Malaysia and Canada.
After a short break, for a BBQ lunch, pupils then took to the courts to display the skills that they had learned in their chosen sports of rugby, netball and hockey. Each country played their final games in a play off format and the winning teams were presented with their medals in the closing ceremony.
Primary 5,6 and 7 would like to say a massive thank you to all the parents, grandparents and friends who turned out to cheer us on and share in our learning today. We would also like to say a huge thank you to James Pegg and everyone at the Albyn Park who helped make today such a success.
Netball Frenzy!
Over the last couple of weeks, Primary 6 have been learning the skills of Netball. Each member of the class has been divided up into 10 teams and each week they have to play a netball match against all the other teams. In these teams, everyone has been working together to make T-shirt designs, writing newspaper reports, writing up scoreboards for the netball games and doing a lot of research for their regions of Malaysian, so we all been extremely busy!
Mr. Gorman has been working with the primary 5, 6 and 7’s to show us the process of creating our team tops. A few people from every class got a chance to see Mr. Gorman make the designs with a big printer. First, he got special material and placed it into the printer. Then he collected our designs and set them to the right size on his computer. Lastly he sent the design to the printer and it printed out five copies in 6 minutes. To get the designs onto the T- shirts, Mr. Gorman placed the design onto a T- shirt, then he put a piece of special paper to stop the design from burning. Finally, he placed the T- shirt into a heat press. After 15 seconds the T- shirt was done. Everyone enjoyed watching this process, as we got to see how Mr. Gorman spends most of his days.
Stay tuned for pictures of our teams in their new fabulou
s uniforms!
Rugby… Rain or Shine!
For the last few weeks the primary 5 rugby teams have been learning key skills and rules of the game, creating warm ups and have now began to play competitive games in our rugby league… all in preparation for our Commonwealth Games Day on Thursday! It has been great fun and we have made the most of it whatever the weather! Have a look at our photos in the rain on Tuesday and the lovely sunshine on Wednesday! We hope you can make it to see us play!
Bobotie Recipe
It’s no wonder bobotie is considered one of the national dishes of South Africa. Spiced minced meat topped with a creamy layer of egg custard ticks all the boxes.
Ingredients
- 1 kilogram minced lamb (or beef)
- ½ onion (diced)
- 25 ml cooking oil
- 10 ml butter
- 25 ml curry powder
- 10 ml salt
- 25 ml peach chutney (or apricot)
- 15 ml apricot jam (smooth)
- 15 ml worcestershire sauce
- 5 ml turmeric
- 25 ml malt vinegar
- 1 handful raisins
- 3 eggs
- 375 ml milk
- 1 slice bread (crestless)
- 1 pinch of salt
- bay leaves
Method
- Put bread into bowl with milk and leave to soak. Heat oil and butter in large pan and fry onions. When onions are soft add curry powder, slat, chutney, Worcester sauce, jam, turmeric and vinegar. Mix well.
- Drain bread, saving milk. Add bread, raisins and meat to pan. Cook over low heat until meat looses its pinkness. Remove from heat and add 1 well beaten egg. Mix well then spoon into greased ovenable dish and level the top
- Beat remaining 2 eggs into the reserve milk, add turmeric and salt, mix well. Pour over meat mixture and place bay leaf on the top. Bake uncovered in 180C for approximately 1 hour or until set (nicely browned). Serve with yellow rice, banana, coconut & chutney.
Traditional Koeksisters Recipe
How to make South African-style doughnuts
These much-loved South African doughnuts have occupied an honorary place at many a tea-time table, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a dessert more distinct to the nation’s Western Cape. Derived from the Dutch word for ‘cookie’(koekje), a good koeksister is crunchy and sticky on the outside, and moist and syrupy in the inside.
Although this koeksister recipe may not be the easiest to master, practise makes perfect…and you can be guaranteed a very delicious series of practise sessions in the least.
Ingredients for koeksisters
For the syrup:
- 530ml water
- 800g sugar
- pinch of salt
- 2,5tsp cream of tartar
- 1tsp ginger
- 1 tblsp lemon juice
- 1 cinnamon stick
For the dough:
- 300g self-raising flour
- 200g corn flour
- pinch of salt
- 50g unsalted butter
- 25g baking powder
- 1\4 cup sugar
- 200ml milk
- 50ml cream
- 2 eggs
Method:
For the Syrup (prepare the syrup the day before for best results)
In a pan, heat up the water. Add the sugar, salt, cream of tartar, ginger, lemon juice and cinnamon stick. Bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer. Stir occasionally. Simmer for 10 minutes. Allow to cool. Transfer to the fridge.
For the Dough:
Add the dry ingredients to a bowl and mix them together. Add the milk, butter, eggs and cream, mixing it all together. Knead with your hand for a couple of minutes. Wrap in cling film, and store in the fridge for 30 minutes. Roll out to a 1 cm thickness. Cut into strips thin strips and then short strips. To plait, tuck three strands together at the top. Fold the outer strips over into the middle, repeating until you reach the end and tuck them together.
To Fry:
Heat up half a pot of oil on a low flame. Place the bowl of syrup in a larger bowl of ice to keep it well chilled. Deep fry the koeksisters, don’t put too many in at once. When golden, transfer to the syrup using a slotted spoon, draining off as much oil as you can. Leave to soak in the syrup for a while. Transfer to a cooling rack. Cool completely before eating.
Bags of Life
Article 30
You have the right to enjoy your own culture, practice your own religion and use your own language.
We have been learning about the beautiful country of South Africa and comparing it with life here in Scotland. We thought it would be a really good idea to share our huge diverse culture, traditions, history and lifestyles with some children in South Africa. So, we decided to create ‘our life in a bag’ – a paper suitcase filled with pictures, photographs, coins, information etc. – explaining the rich environment we live in and send them to two primary schools in the Port Elizabeth area; Lorraine Primary and Herbert Hurd Primary.
The bags are now on their way and we have had a look at the websites of both schools online. We have already had a response from one of the schools, who have emailed to say they are really excited about our projects and have started creating a collage to send back. We can’t wait!!
A Taste of South Africa
Article 30
You have the right to enjoy your own culture, practice your own religion and use your own language
Primary 5 had a fantastic afternoon on Thursday after they received a visit from Lizette Dredge as part of our South Africa topic.
She began by telling us some stories about her life growing up, including how strict her school was. Lizette explained that some of the rules still exist today such as; if your hair touches your shoulder or longer, it must be tied up at all times; skirts must be no shorter than knee length, but that, thankfully, smacking on the hand with a ruler has now been banned. One of the most impressive stories that Lizette told us was that at her friends wedding in the Union Buildings in Johannesburg, she had met, shaken hands and spoken to Nelson Mandela!!!
We learned about the gold and diamond miners in South Africa and their unique language – Fanagalo. It was used because the South African mining industry employed workers from across southern and central Africa: including Congo, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, Malawi and Mozambique. With workers originating from a range of countries and having a vast range of different mother tongues, Fanagalo provided a simple way to communicate and is still used.
Then came the best bit – the food tasting. Thanks to Lizette and her husband we enjoyed a big selection of foods traditional to South Africa such as biltong, droewors (beef and ostrich), rusks, bobotie, mieliepap with a tomato dipping sauce and Koeksisters.
We would like to say a huge thank you to Lizette for giving up her afternoon to spend it and share her experiences with us.
Persuasive or what?
Article 12
We have the right to an opinion and for it to be listened to and taken seriously
Recently, in Primary 5 we have been practising our skills in persuasive writing, when we wrote to Edinburgh Trams. A little birdie told us (Mrs B-C) the date that the trams were going to go live around the 30th or 31st of May and that one their first drivers/driving instructors was really young (her son, Dale). He was also Miss King’s classmate at St Margaret’s Academy andNot only that, but we also found out that because he wore aviator sunglasses all the time, he has been given a really cool nickname – Tram Cruise. We thought it would be great idea if we wrote to the General Manager/Director to ask him if Dale could be the driver and if we could be amongst the first passengers, with him mum and his classmate, when they go live.
Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful on being the first passengers, but because of our letters, Edinburgh Council found out about Dale and so did the Edinburgh Evening News!
We may not be the first passengers, but Tom Norris, Director and General Manager wrote back to us to invite into the depot for a tour and a ride of the trams before the end of term and Mrs Buchanan-Coutts and Miss King are trying their best to get this organised. In the meantime, to say thank you, Tram Cruise himself paid us a visit! Although Dale hasn’t been chosen to be the inaugural driver on the 31st May (that goes to 19 year old Craig Scotland), he will be on it as Craig’s instructor and that is all thanks to us. We can be quite persuasive when we want to be!
Well done and good luck, Dale.
Sounds from South Africa!
Article 30
You have the right to enjoy your own culture.
This term in music primary 5 have been learning to play the African drums! Miss King and Mrs Buchanan Coutts were amazed listening to us all play beautiful rhythms using so many unusual and wonderful instruments! We are enjoying listening to lots of African Music in class while we work as well!
Judo Star!
Well done to Erin from Primary 5b who has won her first Judo trophy after joining Destination Judo just a couple of weeks ago after our taster sessions in school! What a star! Keep it up Erin, we might see you at the commonwealth games one day when you’re older!
St Nicholas Swimming Champions!
Article 15
We can join clubs and choose our friends as long as it doesn’t harm others.
A huge well done to our amazing talented swimmers here at St Nicholas Primary School! Many of them competed in the Broxburn Swimming Club Gala last week.
We are delighted to tell you that the pupils from St. Nicholas not only had a great time and tried their very best, but three of them came away with medals winning bronze, silver and GOLD!
Louis Mattheson came in 3rd, with Rachel Kendall just in front taking 2nd place and Hannah Spence the fastest of the lot winning 1st prize- A HUGE TROPHY! What a wonderful achievement!
Congratulations and a huge well done to all the boys and girls who took part in this event! We are so lucky to have such hard working and talented pupils in our school, and everyone at St Nicholas is extremely proud! Keep up the hard work!
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Article 8
Your right to a nationality and identity.
Some of the Primary 5 children have asked about the concert in Edinburgh by South Africa’s Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Details are below:
Saturday 9 August
-
Running time:2 hours approximately
Tickets
| Grand circle: | £30 £25 £20 £15 |
| Stalls: | £30 £25 £20 £15 £12 £10 |
Described by Nelson Mandela as ‘South Africa’s cultural ambassadors’, Ladysmith Black Mambazo has been delivering exuberantly energetic performances around the globe for decades.
To complement its collaboration on Inala, it gives a special one-off concert that offers the chance to experience one of the world’s finest vocal groups.
Combining traditional Zulu musical styles with gospel music, it contrasts powerful, passionate choruses with soft, soulful sweetness in quieter music, bringing a symphonic richness to its a cappella performances, all delivered with an infectious sense of rhythm and flamboyant dance moves.
Undulating rhythmic phrases that push and pull…harmonising that is both ethereal and earthy”
Sporting Stars!
Article 15
You have the right to be with friends and join or set up clubs, unless this breaks the rights of others
Well done to Marco and Joseph from Primary 5B for their recent sporting achievements!
Marco won a wonderful football trophy when he played at a tournament in Ayr last week with his team Edinburgh Spartans. Congratulations Marco!
Joseph’s rugby team ‘Livi Hawks’ came second in a tournament at the weekend at Livingston Rugby Club against lots of other teams! Well done Joseph! Luckily Joseph will have the opportunity to showcase his rugby skills as Primary 5 continue their South Africa topic!
Congratulations boys, keep up the hard work! We are all very proud of you!
Primary Five Experience… APARTHEID
Article 41
You have the right to any rights in laws in your country or internationally that give you better rights than these
On Sunday the 27th April, South Africa celebrated 20 years since the end of apartheid when Nelson Mandela became the first black president following his 27 years spent in prison for fighting against this segregation. Apartheid happened for many years in South Africa and was when people with different colours of skin were not allowed to be together. The country had separate schools, banks, buses and even laws for white people and non white people. People who were not white were treated very unfairly.
To gain a better understanding of apartheid and how unfair and unjust it was, last week primary 5 actually experienced it first hand!
We had a long discussion about equal rights and how unfair it is when people are discriminated against, we agreed that everyone no matter who you are should be treated equally and everyone is entitled to their rights. To gain a better understanding of what it would have been like to live in South Africa during apartheid we were separated into 2 groups. People that were born in January to June were in group one and people born in July to December were in group two. We talked about how we didn’t get to choose what month we were born in, just like babies do not get to choose the colour of their skin, eyes or hair, or the country they are born in, who their parents are or if they have a disability.
Then we were told the ‘Apartheid Laws’ for the day. People that were born in the first half of the year were treated fairly but the laws for the people born in the second half of the year were very different…
A person born between July to December…
- could not sit with or play with people born between January and June
- could only play in one small area of the playground
- had to work until the bell
- could not take part in class discussions
- went last for break and lunch
- had to ask permission to use classroom resources
- could not receive stickers, rewards and points
- had to wear an identity badge at all times
Children who were born in the first half of the year wore bibs so both groups could be easily identified.
Children born in the second half of the year were not treated fairly at all, during P.E. even though they won the curling game 7-2, the teachers insisted that the other team won. It made the people in group 2 very frustrated! The unfairness also had an effect on children in group 1 who felt guilty and were angry that people were being treated so differently. We stopped throughout the day and we shared how we were feeling, it gave us a real insight into what life would have been like during apartheid.
On day two the groups swapped over so everyone had a chance to experience both sides of apartheid.
At half past two on Thursday we stopped our segregated P.E lesson and celebrated the end of apartheid and a very challenging couple of days. We scrunched up our idneitity badges and threw our bibs in the air and danced around the hall with our friends who we had been separated from for two days. This was a very valuable lesson, we vowed to always treat each other equally, never to discriminate and to stand up to injustice and unfairness.
Our Amazing Adventure in Amazonia!
Article 29
You have the right to education which develops your personality, respect for other’s rights and the environment
To end our wonderful rainforest topic primary 5 embarked on a wonderful adventure to Amazonia before the Easter holidays. Amazonia is Scotland’s largest indoor tropical rainforest and home to many amazing and rare animals. We could feel the humidity and heat the minute we entered the building! We viewed and handled many different creatures and had an amazing experience! Here are some of our thoughts on the day…
‘We saw monkeys, spiders, snakes, birds and butterflies. It smelled really funny! We went into a room to hold animals, I held a fat tailed gecko, I shook hands with a tarantula and had a snake around my neck! We played a game where you stand in front of a special green screen and it looks like you are in the actual rainforest! It was a brilliant day!’ Erin L
“I loved holding the animals, but was a bit scared that they were going to jump up on me!” Murray
‘I really enjoyed Amazonia. The best bit was seeing all the nocturnal animals. I had the snake around my neck but it was scary holding the spider because I am scared of them but I still did it!’ Lewis B
“When the Kinkajou ran over our heads in the dark room, I got a really big fright, because we couldn’t see it!” Jasmine
A big thank you to our helpers Mrs Buchanan and Mrs King for coming on our trip!
Adventurous Authors
Article 28
You have the right to education
While we were learning about the rainforest, we discovered that some of the non-fiction books we were using for research did not have all the information in them that we needed, so Primary 5 were set a challenge to create our very own non-fiction books. The books had to have an eye-catching title and front cover, had to contain a contents page, a fun page, a glossary and at least four chapters.
Over the holidays, Mrs Buchanan-Coutts and Miss King looked over them, giving us a grade and a certificate that depended on how well we met the success criteria. Our teachers thought that some of us put in a tremendous amount of effort and really pushed ourselves to go above and beyond our targets and those people received an additional special prize, so well done to Sara, Murray, Jonathan, Hannah, Neive and Marco.
If the authors agree, any gold certificated books will be put into the topic box library for future use by other children in our school.
Thrown Right In
Article 15
You have the right to be with friends and join or set up clubs, unless this breaks the rights of others
After our lovely relaxing Easter break, Primary 5 were thrown right back in – literally! Destination Judo came along last Tuesday to give us a taster of this modern martial art and it wasn’t long before we were throwing each other to the floor and pinning each other down. As you can see from the photos, we had a great time and some of us are eager to join the club and try it out some more. The club is in Broxburn and if we take the flyer along to the first lesson and join, we will be given a free judo suit, so we can look the part straight away.
Terrific Ten Pin Bowling!
Primary 5 had a great time ten pin bowling at M and D’s theme park after their visit to Amazonia before the Easter holidays! We ate our lunch in the arcade then got our shoes changed and into our bowling teams. It was great fun and there were lots of cheers and excitement as people managed to get strikes and spares during the games!
‘We went on our school trip to bowling at M and D’s. We ate our lunch and got into groups and went to our lanes. Miss King, Mrs King, Mrs Coutts and Mrs Buchanan Coutts all had a shot and every time they got strikes! When we finished my team had 83 points. We were having so much fun that we had to run for the bus because we were almost late! Luckily the driver was waiting for us.’ Hannah S
‘Bowling was amazing fun! I was in a group with Callum, Colin, Oliver, Matthew and Lewis. We were all cheering when we got spares!’ Kieran
‘Jack won in our group but I was amazed because I managed to get TWO strikes!’ Louay
‘We were all celebrating when Declan got a strike! Well done.’ Andrew
Staff Flashmob
It seems that not only the children of St Nicholas have talent. Mrs Buchanan-Coutts, Miss King, Mrs McGuire and Mrs Thompson got all the kids cheering and clapping by showing off their dancing skills to Pharrell Williams’ Happy. Have a look at the link below to see some of the staff strutt their stuff and watch their efforts.
Rainforest Reading Reaps Rewards
Article 28
You have the right to education
Over the past few weeks, Primary 5 have become authors of both fiction and non-fictions books all about the Rainforest.
After watching ‘The Road to Eldorado’, we began writing our own fictional adventure story for young children. We had to include lots of imagery so that our audience would really know what it was like in the rainforest. Our next challenge was to turn our stories into a colourful and well presented picture book with a catchy title.
This afternoon, in groups of three, we read our books to the Primary 1 children. They all sat really well and listened with bright eyes and welcoming smiles to the adventures. They all answered questions about the book and some of the P1 children even gave some great feedback! Our thanks go to them all and we hope you all learned lots of new interesting vocabulary and information about the Rainforest.
Reading in groups of three, gave us all a little more confidence to speak loudly and clearly and by listening to each other, we gained and developed skills in using expression and body language to capture and hold our audience.
Our non-fiction books have been created as a homework challenge and have to be handed in before the Easter holidays. More details about them at a later date.
Primary 5 Playground Clean Up!
Article 24
We have a right to live in a clean and safe environment.
This week p5 have been out in the playground clearing up all the litter as part of our task from the Eco Club! We had a challenge to see which group could find the most rubbish as there was quite a lot! Please remember to always put your litter in the bin, help keep our school clean and tidy!
We’re going on an… EASTER EGG HUNT!
P5 had a wonderful time raising money for the Lenten Appeal on Wednesday with an Easter Egg Hunt in the playground! We counted down from 10 then burst out the doors in search of hidden goodies! It was great fun. Saif was the overall winner as he managed to find 9 items! In the end we collected all the chocolates and sweeties into a big tub and shared them out equally.
Chickens in the Eco Garden!
By Seren
Today I have brought two of my chickens to school to visit the Eco Garden! Everyone tried to save some of their fruit from lunch and we fed them this afternoon! The chickens are called Griffyn and Mars and they really enjoyed meeting everyone in my class, they got some treats and a clap on the head from everyone brave enough! Everyone got a fright when they started flapping! When we came back into the classroom I answered lots of interesting questions about the chickens, everyone hopes they can come back to visit us again soon!
Famous Fudge… Recipe Revealed!
As a special treat for our Mums, on Thursday and Friday last week, Primary 5 made Milkybar and Oreo Fudge! After a lengthy debate we have finally came to the decision that we should share our ‘secret’ recipe with the rest of the school. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do! If you decide to make it leave us a comment and tell us how you got on!
Ingredients:
400g of white chocolate
1 pack Oreo biscuits
1 tin condensed milk (about 400g)
You will need:
Microwave
Mixing bowls and spoons
Sharp knife (make sure an adult helps you)
Baking Tray
Method:
1. Chop up all the Oreos into small pieces (lots of crumbs will make the fudge look grey!)
2. Break up all the white chocolate and put it in the mircowave (keep checking it incase it burns!)
3. Add the condensed milk to the white chocolate and put in all the chopped Oreos.
4. Mix everything together.
5. Spread the mixture into a medium sizes baking tray, make sure you use grease proof paper or it will stick to the tray!
6. Leave in the fridge over night.
7. Chop into squares and enjoy!
Presents that Protect the Planet!
Last week LUSH from Livingston Centre visited the St Nicholas to talk to primary 5 about how they source ingredients for their products fairly and in a way that protects the environment. It was very interesting and we all learned a lot about fair trade and about rare ingredients from all over the world!
We were particularly concerned about the use of palm oil in products after our presentation from Joss, Hannah S and Georgia. Luckily LUSH never use palm oil in any of their products.
After their presentation LUSH set up a stall for everyone to buy gifts for their Mum’s for Mother’s Day on Sunday! There were hand creams, bath bombs, bath jellies and soap bars on offer, the upper area smelled wonderful all day.
There was lots of discussion and mental maths in action as boys and girls from across the school helped each other work out how much they could buy with the money they had and how much change they would receive.
Equal Rights for All
On Wednesday 26th of March, West Lothian Council hosted an event to showcase the excellent work in the areas of Children’s Rights & Equalities across the region at Inveralmond Community High School.
Along with Mrs Buchanan-Coutts, Mandipa, Kerys, Carrick, Daniel, Mark and Chloe represented St Nicholas.
We set up our stand, sharing just a snippet of the rights education carried out at our school, including the recent P2 and P2/1 diversity assembly, Send My Friend to School resources, world trade day and Famous Fridays, then prepared ourselves for questions from the vast amount of people who had turned up, including Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People, Tam Baillie.
There was a little bit of time for us to have a look at the excellent work that some of the other schools are doing before Daniel and Carrick, very confidently, stood up in front of the auditorium and introduced the Primary 5 assembly and showed a clip from the DVD of the children singing the Every Child has Rights song.
Chloe and Mark then shared with everyone, their experiences of the digital rights programme they took part in as part of their transition to St Margaret’s academy.
It was a great morning and we definitely showed how, through our work, we contribute to Getting it Right for Every Child.
Ryder Cup Coming Up!
2014 will be a fantastic year for sport in Scotland with the Commonwealth Games coming to Glasgow and the Ryder Cup coming to Gleneagles!
Throughout the year we are looking forward to many opportunities to try out different sports and activities at school.
This week golf coach Macrina Crawford visited the school and ran fantastic taster sessions with Primary 5a, Primary 5b and Primary 6b. We were learning all about different types of clubs (putter, driver etc) and when is best to use them. We were playing group games that involved different golf shots and Macrina was very impressed with the promising talent from St Nicholas! Next week Macrina will be visiting primary 6a, 7a and 7b, look out for the photographs!
If you are interested in learning more skills Macrina will be running a 7 week Clubgolf programme for children aged 6-12 at Binny Golf Club, for more information parents can contact macrinacrawfordgtf@hotmail.com
HELP US SAVE THE RAINFOREST! Reduce the amount of Palm Oil you eat!
By Hannah S, Georgia and Joss
We have been speaking to the P5 classes about what palm oil is and how using it is damaging to the rainforest because people are tearing down all the trees to get it.
Palm oil comes from trees that have been cut down to be used for different products of food and for petrols.
It is important that people know about palm oil because using it is leading to deforestation of the rainforest. We learned that if we don’t stop cutting down trees the rainforests could all be gone by 2030 when we are 25 years old! It would be sad if our grandchildren would not be able to learn about the rainforest when they are at school and see how the tribes of the rainforest live, or the great plants and animals.
You should try and reduce the amount of palm oil that you eat but we are not saying not to eat anything with palm oil in it just try not to eat lots of it. We are trying to tell everyone so that we can help to save the rainforest!
At the weekend we went to the shop Lush in Livingston Centre and we told the shop assistant about our rainforest topic, she told us all about the products they make that have no palm oil. One product that has palm oil in it is toothpaste but Lush sells something called Toothy Tabs which are like minty sweets you crush and then you brush your teeth (like a mini bathbomb in your mouth!) Toothy Tabs have no palm oil. We told the class we had a surprise for them and they had to bring in their tooth brushes, at the end of our talk we gave everyone a Toothy Tab to try!
What’s in a graph??
Primary 5 have been learing all about data handling. We carried out surveys around the school, recorded the data and created either a pictograph or bar graph to show our information. The graph had to be labelled correctly and include three questions about the information. We then moved around each graph, interpreting the graphs and answering the questions. Some were definititely harder than others!!
Rainforest Challenge
Primary 5 have been set a new homework challenge:
| Learning Outcome:
I can write to transfer information. |
Rainforest Topic Book Challenge |
Skill/Disposition Targeted:
Research and Investigation Creative thinking |
| Essential Knowledge/Questions (s)
The world around us – use a variety of skills to demonstrate an understanding of knowledge and ideas. |
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| Challenge:
You are now very knowledgeable about the rainforest, but during our lessons and investigations you may have discovered that the topic books available have not fully met our requirements. You are therefore going to design and create your own topic book to be displayed and available for others to use in our school library. Your challenge is to present your information in a well presented non-fiction book. Within your book you should clearly describe how life in the rainforest differs from ours. Your readers will be particularly interested in topics listed below and if you are looking for your book to be displayed in the library, you should include at least 4 full pages of information, each on a different topic, in a mixture of written and art work.
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| Product Criteria:
Rule:
Form:
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| Process Criteria:
Key Attributes/Performance Criteria: Creative thinking
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To help you succeed, we have already created a detailed success criteria:
Rainforest Topic Book Challenge
Handed in on time 1 point
Front cover 1 point
Contents/Glossary pages 2 points
4 subject areas 4 points
Fun page 1 point
Neat handwriting 2 point
Clearly written in own words 3 points
Appropriate punctuation
(capital letters, full stops, commas, question
marks and exclamation marks) 2 points
Correctly spelled common words and topic
Words 2 points
Detailed art work 2 points
There will be an additional 5 floating points awarded by the teacher for exceptional effort above and beyond usual capabilities.
Total 25 points
Gold certificate 18 points or above
Silver certificate 14 – 17 points
Bronze certificate 11 – 13 points
Fail 10 points or below
Miss King and I are really looking forward to seeing what you can produce to show your new knowledge and understanding of the rainforest!!! Good Luck
FIZZ, BANG… BOOM!
Remember our blog post all about our science topic of ‘Solids, Liquids and Gases’?
We told you all about our cool experiements and our very sucessful bathbomb business. When Miss King and Mrs Buchanan-Coutts asked us what we would like to spend our profits on we decided we’d like to book a mad scientist to take over our classrooms and turn them into laboratories! Well on Wednesday we got exactly that…
Robin and Lucy from the Edinburgh International Science Festival arrived bright and early and unpacked their van of exciting experiments! We were amazed when we entered our classroom all set up for some super science and eagerly put on our goggles, gloves and aprons before our safety briefing!
We worked in groups to complete experiments on different chemical reactions and test whether different liquid and powders were acids or alkali! We discussed the chemical reaction that happens when a party popper goes off and then Robin and Lucy showed us their gigantic version of a party popper that created a burst of heat, light and sound in our classroom! We were very impressed!
This was a great way to revisit our learning and experience working in a real laboratory! We had a fantastic day!
If you are interested in learning more about science or seeing some really cool experiments the Edinburgh Science Festival 2014 runs during the Easter holidays from the 5th until the 20th of April, you can find out more about the events they will have on at http://www.sciencefestival.co.uk/
Trading all over the world!
Article 5
Adults have the responsibility to help you learn to exercise your rights, and to ensure that your rights are protected.
World trade rules are unfair and often disadvantage developing countries. Today, Primary 5 explored international trade issues to try and find out how this has happened.
We were divided into ten groups, each representing a different country:
- A most developed country (e.g.France, Canada)
- A less developed country (e.g. India, South Africa)
- A least developed country (e.g. Honduras, Kenya)
Each country was given an envelope containing raw materials (e.g. paper) and/or technology (e.g. scissors). The materials and technology differed from country to country, according to their level of development. With the contents of their envelopes, the countries were asked to produce shapes; each shape representing a monetary value they could redeem by depositing in either the Bank of Deas or Valentine’s Bank. The goal of the game was to gain as much wealth as possible.
It didn’t take long for us to discover that the contents of our envelopes were not equally distributed; some did not have enough raw materials or technology to produce any of the shapes. In order for us to do so, we had to negotiate and trade with other countries.
Everyone soon become extremely engaged in the game and there was a real buzz about the room. We were eager to produce tip top shapes and were very active in negotiating and trading with each other. However, there was some very underhand dealings going on! Not all countries were cooperative and helpful; selling resources at astronomical costs, counterfeit goods were being cashed in at the bank, there was dodgy trading at one of the banks and even some materials being sold on the black market by Miss King!!
The afternoon was a great success, especially for Canada who earned an impressive £22,000. Everyone gained a better understanding of the situation Third World countries find themselves in such as Tanzania who only managed to bank £3,150.
Well done to everyone involved.
I’m a Primary Five… Get Me Out of Here!!!
This week primary five have had great fun learning about different foods that have come from the rainforest… BLINDFOLDED!
We were amazed that Miss King and Mrs Buchanan-Coutts didn’t have to travel to South America at the weekend and they managed to find all these exotic foods in Asda! We were able to tell from the pacakaging exactly where each item had come from… Peru, Columbia, Brazil! Some of the fruits included mango, banana, pineapple, grapefruit, sharon fruit, coconut, physilis.
Everyone had a shot at being blindfolded and had to say what the food smelled like, felt like and most importantly tasted like! Then we all tried some. It was great fun especially when we were pretending they were spiders or bugs and we were on a rainforest gameshow! We tried to capture some reactions with the camera!
Well done to all the boys and girls, they all had a go and tried most of the foods! Some people even tried foods they thought they didn’t like and changed their minds!
We are going to choose our favourite of all the foods we tried and present our findings in charts, graphs and tables during our maths next week. Which of the foods do you think will be the most popular?
Cheerleading Championships!
A huge well done to the girls from JHM Youth Team who competed at the ICC Cheerleading Championships on Saturday at Meadowbank in Edinburgh! They recieved a huge trophy for coming second in the competiton!
We are all very proud of Paige (P5 b) Lauryn and Olivia (P7b)! Keep up the hard work girls! We look forward to hearing all about your next competition in June!
Creative Creature Categorising!
Primary 5b have been learning all about the different types of animals that can be found in the rainforest! We learned about vertebrates and invertebrates, then we started to classify different animals into categories; mammals, fish, birds, reptiles and amphibians!
Last week we were set the homework challenge to ‘show animals that are mammals, fish, birds, reptiles and amphibians in ANY WAY!’ Miss King wanted us to be as creative as possible! The results were amazing…
Some people created interactive powerpoint presentations full of facts and examples of animals, some people made books, fact files and posters, some people wrote lists or drew tables and some people drew pictures of different animals! Hannah B made some amazing creatures out of modelling clay; we all thought they were so cute! Hannah S made a beautiful mobile using coat hangers, tissue paper and ribbons with the animals pictures attached! Fraser baked 5 cupcakes and decorated them with an animal from each of the five categories! Paige created a rainforest song to the music of ‘We Are the Champions’ by Queen; we all sang along it was fantastic! Terri created her own jigsaw with pictures of animals from each category and we helped her to put it together, what a fantastic idea! Krzysztof used lego to create models and Marco even used his favourite game minecraft to ‘build’ his animals and took pictures of them!
It was amazing to see all the fantastic ideas and creations! Miss King was so proud of us that she invited Mrs Brown and Mrs Deas to visit us and see all our fabulous work… they were VERY impressed!
Let’s Dance
Mrs Downham, a PE teacher at St Margarets Academy, brought some of her sixth year Dance Leadership girls to do a workshop with us today. Before they taught us some really cool moves, we had to warm up and stretch; this is an extremely important part of any sport or excercise regime. Once completely warmed up, we got down to the business of learning a dance to a song from The Little Mermaid – Under the Sea. The concentration on our faces in the photos shows just how much we tried to follow the routine. Towards the end of the session, just to make sure we were completely exhausted, we joined in with a couple of zumba songs. It was really good fun and we would like to say a huge thank you to the girls and their teacher for taking the time to teach us and we can’t wait to see them again when they put on a performance for us next month.
In the Jungle, the Mighty Jungle…
Primary 5b have been learning all about animals of the rainforest!
We worked in pairs of research teams and were given an animal to create a fact file for, all the fact files were to be published in our very own ‘Rainforest Encyclopedia’!
Some of us had animals we had never even heard of like an okapi (which is actually a horse like creature with zebra legs!) or a gaboon viper (which is a deadly snake!), before we started our research another research team set us some questions to find out about our animal, such as; How long does it live for? Is it poisonous? What does it eat?
We went off in our research teams and used the internet and books to find our information. Then we used Mircosoft Word to create eye catching fact files with images and different fonts!
Once our fact files were complete and in the encyclopedia we presented them to our class, some of the facts were amazing… Did you know a blue morpho butterfly has a lifespan of only 115 days? The harpy eagle has a wingspan of over 7 foot!
We then provided each other with quality feedback on the presentations, we looked at each others fact files and tried to decide if they had provided enough information or answered all the questions they were asked, then we left comments for the researchers to read! We are hoping our wonderful encyclopedia will be filled with amazing information all about the rainforest as we continue our topic!
We then started to draw our animals for our rainforest display! We had to use maths skills to create a grid to help us draw our animals in proportion! First we drew the outline in a light coloured pencil, then we began to shade and mix colours to make our drawings really realistic! What do you think?! Come and see them for yourself in our classroom display!
Next we are moving on to classifying animals as vertebrates or invertebrates, then mammals, birds, fish, amphibians and reptiles!
Let it Shine, Let it Shine, Let it Shine!
Miss King and Mrs Buchanan-Coutts felt like two very proud mums on Friday when, along with Monsignor Patrick Burke, Primary 5 led the school in a lovely Mass in preparation for Catholic Education Week. The theme of the Mass was ‘Shining the Light of Faith’ and the children had prepared well by learning how the Gospel according to Matthew 5-15 helps us understand what our faith is and how we can let it “shine out” so that we can show other people what we believe. We also made lanterns from recycled tin cans to decorate the alter. Everyone read clearly and sang beautifully, including their own rendition of He Never Sleeps.
Well done Primary 5.
Click on the link below to watch us singing…
Our Voices Rock!
Jennifer Baird from Voice Rocks joined Primary 5 last Wednesday for a taster session of their project. She taught us how to warm our voices up properly before we got to show of our singing skills with our own rendition of Adele’s Rolling in the Deep.
Voice Rocks is free weekly Pop/Rock choir experience for young people in West Lothian.
Classes will be taught an easy-to-learn style – no formal training, sight singing or reading of music or theory is required. Participants will listen to and discuss songs in the rock/pop genre and decide as a group which ones to rehearse. Call Howden Park Centre for more information.
Fantastic Fractions in Primary 5!
This week primary 5 have started to look at fractions as our maths topic!
To help us really understand what a fraction is we began our topic by cutting up a huge chocolate cake into halves, then quarters, then eighths, then sixteenths!
Some of us have been creating our own ‘Fraction Paths’ by cutting up 1 whole piece of paper into fractions, we were then comparing and coming up with statements about what the paths show us! Have a look at the fantastic effort by Kieran and Hannah in the photo gallery.
Some of us have started looking at comparing equlivent fractions as well! This is when 2 fractions mean the same amount, like 1/2 is the same as 2/4!
Welcome to Inverness Tourist Information Centre!
- Primary 5 transformed their classes into tourist information centres for the city of Inverness!
We sent letters to Miss Sweeney at the real tourist information centre in the city and she replied sending lots of fantastic information, from how to welcome people, questions to ask tourists, leaflets about attractions in the highlands and the layout of her building!
We displayed lots of information on the walls, created characters to work in our centres and even created a gift shop with lots of wonderful nessie figures and post cards for sale! At the Scottish Showcase we invited our parents to visit our centres to find out lots about the city! We also had a Highland Cafe serving haggis, oatcakes and of course Irn Bru! The event was opened by Paige and Rachael dancing the Highland Fling! Some people spoke to parents about the Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, showing them highlights from the last game and giving lots of information about the club!
Some people were telling our visitors about the Scottish Whiskey industry and the very important job of a coppersmith! Some people where showing parents our own mini version of Urquart Castle and telling them some key facts about Inverness! Another group were showcasing our historic portraits of Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Red Coat Army and were looking at the battle of Culloden! Lastly we asked parents to participate in the St Nicholas Highland games! The activities were: chuck the welly, toss the caber, strength test and toss the hay! We even had a trophy for the Champion! To round up the event Oliver played the bagpipes to a cheering crowd!
We hope you were able to come and enjoy this great showcase, but if you weren’t able to have a look at these great pictures!
Welcome to our Blog!
Welcome to the blog of Primary 5b!
Here you will be able to find out all about the things we have been doing in our class!We already have a lot to tell you about; Children in Need, our assembly, our Inverness showcase, school camp…
We hope you will check here regularly and you enjoy sharing our learning!
Primary 5b and Miss King
