Today we had a wee wander  over to Broxburn Library with some of our P7 buddies. For some of us, it was our first visit to the library since it moved from the Main Street.  We all agreed that the new library is lovely !

What did we do ?

We met one of the lovely librarians who read us a story called ‘  Wee Granny and the Ceilidh’ by Elizabeth Walker. This was chosen specially for us as the librarian had heard that we had been learing about Scotland.   After the story, the librarian spoke to us about library and what we can do whilst we were there.  We didn’t realise that we can visit any library with our card and even pop along on a Saturday between 10.00 and 12.00 for fun craft activities.

It was a very enjoyable visit !  Special thanks to Diane for having us over .

We had great fun learning all about ‘Shrove Tuesday’.  We also got the chance to taste some delicious pancakes. Yum yum!

Primary 7 have really enjoyed designing and building these bridges as part of our STEM topic this term.

‘Huey McCoo’ painted by Stephen Brown.

What do you think ?

As part of our Scotland topic , we have been learning all about the Scottish artist, Stephen Brown. He is famous for painting the McCoos and other Scottish animals including Scottie dogs and stags.  We like his colourful paintings so much that we gave it a go ourselves and used oil pastels to recreate a highland cow.

What do you think ?

Did ye ken that we’ve bin learning loads eh guid Scottish words ?  We have been braw bairns wi oor learnin’.

(Did you know that we have all  been learning lots of good Scottish words ? We have been good children doing good learning).

Here are some of the words that we have learnt: 

Chloe – ‘aye’ –  (yes).

Oona  –  ‘ moose’  –  (mouse).

Roman – ‘heid’ –  (head).

Max C – ‘hoose’  –   (house).

Ben  – ‘lugs’  – (ears).

Matthew P – ‘bahookie’ – (bottom).

Lucia – ‘sit doon’ – (sit down).

Isla – ‘crabbit’- (grumpy).

Daniel – ‘hauns’ – (hands).

Karol – ‘wheessht’ – (be quiet).

Hugh – John  – ‘laddie’ – (boy).

Today we learnt all about the Chinese New Year as tomorrow it will be the first day of celebrations.  We learnt all about some of the customs and traditions that are celebrated and made some lanterns, dragon masks , and animal masks.  We also tasted some Chinese food and were very pleased to go home with some Chinese sweeties that Megan kindly brought in for us all.

What did we learn ?

We learnt that there are lots of preparations before the actual day!

This year is the ‘Year of the Rooster’.

Houses are cleaned from top to bottom.

Houses are decorated with garlands and lanterns.

Red is the colour that is used all around the house to help to scare off the dragon.

Lanterns are lit in houses and in streets to help to scare away the monster that appeared that first new year.

Families come together to eat a big feast.

Boys and girls look forward to receiving a red envelope hidden under their pillow (it has money in it !).

Fireworks light up the sky.

We have been very busy in Maths this week. We have finished with our angles topic and started focusing on division. We have learned to solve division sums using number talks strategies and using the standard written method.

We have applied our knowledge of paragraphs and practised using more ambitious connectives to create flow in our writing.

We have learned the names of different subjects in Spanish and we are hoping to start using this as part of our 1+2 routines.

We discovered the amazing work of Spanish painter Pablo Picasso and learned a little bit about his life too. We have made our own cubist portraits inspired by his art!

St Margaret’s Academy Cluster Transition – Thursday 2nd February 2017
Primary 7 will spend the morning at St Margaret’s Academy on the above date. We will also be eating lunch there so could all pupils please bring a packed lunch that day. If you would like a packed lunch from our school, please order by the end of this week.
Broxburn Academy Transition Google Expedition Event – Thursday 2nd February 2017
Primary 7 will spend the afternoon at Broxburn Academy and will take part in a Google Expedition Event on the above date.

P1b are really enjoying their topic , ‘Scotland and Edinburgh’.  The boys ands girls have learnt lots of exciting things and been very busy making tartan, flags, painting thistles and writing stories about Nessie. We are really looking forward to our Burn’s Supper on Wednesday !

What have we learnt so far ?

Chloe  – ‘Inverness is nearly at the top of Scotland’.

Piper – ‘Edinburgh used to be called ‘Auld Reekie’.

Sofia – ‘Edinburgh was stinky in the old days’.

Thomas – ‘People in Edinburgh used to throw rubbish out of the window’.

Keilidh – ‘Trousers are called troosers’.

Andrew – ‘The Loch Ness Monster lives in a loch near Inverness’.

Matthew – ‘The flag is called St Andrew’s Cross’.

Max – ‘A thistle is a kind of flower’.

Alfie – ‘A thistle has jaggy bits’.

Isla – ‘Don’t touch thistles because they spike you’.

Shahazaib  – ‘Tartan is a Scottish pattern’.

Jamie – Leigh – ‘You can get different colours of tartans’.

Eleanor -‘The Scottish word for girl is lassie’.

We have just been notified that the open evening for parents of P7 children wishing to attend St Margaret’s Academy is on Thursday the 12th of January.  It starts at 6.30pm with a welcome presentation, followed by a tour round the school where parents will have a chance to sample some St Margaret’s learning experiences.  A poster will follow with more information, but in the meantime, please put this date in your diaries.

Many thanks.

Primary 5 have been studying the traditions of Christmas in various countries around the world.

Last week we were learning about Sinterklass and Zwarte Piet and the traditions linked to his arrival in the Netherlands.

Like the Dutch children P5 made little paper shoes and left them out overnight on the 5th December hoping for a little treat from Sinterklass. He didn’t disappoint us and the following morning our shoes had been filled with a few sweet treats. We also realised that Messy Piet had paid us a visit and piled up all our gym shoes and made them into a Christmas tree complete with tinsel and lights !

Today a parcel arrived with lots of Sinterklass goodies from Mrs Verhoef in Rotterdam. The children were delighted to open up the parcels which had been wrapped in special Sinterklass paper. We were able to experience a Dutch celebration in our classroom.

Sinterklass is St Nicholas, who is the patron saint of our school.