Tag Archives: primary 5

Primary 5’s update

This week we have been learning about fractions.  We have looked at fractions of a shape and how to find them on a number line.  We have also been comparing and ordering fractions.  It is a bit tricky.

We have also been looking at data handling.  We have been using tally marks and creating bar graphs.  We collected data about our favourite colour, eye colour, hair colour and favourite country.

 

We have been writing a recount about our favourite holiday or day. We know you have to write a recount  in the past tense, include details about who, what, where and why and how you are feeling.  We also know you need to remember punctuation!

 

We have also learned about Ascension Thursday and know this is the day when Jesus ascended into heaven.  We celebrated Mass on Thursday.

 

In Guided reading we have completed our novels and are starting new ones.  We can’t wait!

 

With Mrs Baty, we have started to make our own games for our gaming topic.  We didn’t realise how many steps are involved in making a game.

 

In Number Talks with Mrs Heather, we were looking at a sequence of numbers and trying to work out which number was the odd one out.  We discovered it could be more than one number.

 

We have created presentations about food and the calories and energy found in food.  We then presented the presentations to the class.  Some of use made a PowerPoint, while others used sway or made a video or poster.

 

In P.E we have been learning about playing different types of rounders.  It was fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

P5b’s digital week

This has been a busy week in P5b. We have really enjoyed digital week and learned lots of new things.

Some of the activities we took part in are coding, debugging, a silent disco, QR hunt and a VR experience.

Chloe – My favourite part was the silent disco.

Charlie – My favourite part of the week was QR hunt as we had to go around the school to find all the different parts of the story.

Ellie – My favourite was the silent disco because it had lots of different music to listen to.

Daniel – My favourite part of the week was making a presentation about solids, liquids and gases. I worked well with my group.

Szymon – My favourite part of the week was when we did the hour of code because it was fun.

Alex – I learned about solids, liquids and gases and made a presentation using powerpoint.

Erin – I learned how to use clips this week.

Kacper – I learned how to debug this week.

Cameron – I learned how to use scratch this week.

We also had a day on Friday where we only used digital technology. What a busy week! We have learned so much. Thank you to our digital leaders for helping us.

 

P5’s week

This week we have been very busy even though we have only been at school for 3 days!

Ellie- we designed and then made a stop and go sign.  We were only allowed to use one kitchen roll tube, 4 pieces of paper or card, 1 pair of scissors and sellotape per group. After we made the sign we had to write about how we made it.

Sam – we had visitor this week to see us complete a number talks lesson.

Connor – in Numeracy we have dividing and using the chunking method and expanded method to solve sums. I like the chunking method when dividing.

Paula – we had an author visit from David McPhail. He told us about Vikings. We had the chance to buy one of his books.

Leo – we looked at Mary and coloured in some stained glass windows and thought about we think of when we think of Mary.

Ciaran – in P.E we have been doing athletics and running races.  We have been sprinting and doping sprint starts.

Marwa – this week we did some reading routes and looked at punctuation.  we looked at why it was important and rated the authors use of punctuation.

Mirin – with Mrs Baty we started to make scratch projects and made the characters communicate with each other.

 

P5’s weekly reflection

We have had a busy week in P5b.  This week we have been continuing with Multiplication in Number talks and in our Numeracy lessons.  In Number talks we have used the strategy partial products this week and also used friendly numbers, doubling and halving and repeated addition. Mrs Heather came into class and worked with us on Thursday. In Numeracy we have worked on the formal written method of multiplication.

Marwa – there are different ways to do the written.

Mirin – this method is easier than a vertical sum for me.

We have practiced this week and are getting really good at it. In maths with Mrs Renshaw we have started to  looked at measure and started to estimate the length.


In Literacy we have completed spot the silly word in two different pieces of writing.

Sam – one was a job advert and the other was about Harry Potter.  Phoebe – you need to read the whole piece then look for words that don’t make sense.

 

Paula – we have continued with literacy circles and are improving with our group discussions and peer assessments.

In writing we wrote a diary entry about when the Titanic hit the iceberg.

Max – In a diary you must discuss your feelings.

Connor – you must use ‘I’ when writing a diary entry. It also has to be in the present tense.

In Health and Well being we looked at advertising and how companies advertise products to get people to buy them  We discuses different strategies like buy one get one free, half price, toys in boxes and tokens to collect.

Ellie –  We then created our own cereals and next week we will create an advert for our cereal.

Sam – we also discussed what makes a good friend and created a ‘wordle’ about friends. Some of the things we think they need to be are- kind, caring, honest and trustworthy.

In our Titanic topic we created adverts for Titanic. We talked about communication on board the Titanic and how important it was. We also looked at the technology on the Titanic. We also completed a cross section of what was inside the Titanic looked like and looked at where things were placed for first and third class passengers.

We also visited the library this week and had a look for Titanic books.

These are only some of the things we have covered this week.  What a busy week!

 

 

 

 

P5b’s week

We have had a busy week in class learning lots of new things.

 

Marwa – we have been learning about Fair trade as this is Fair trade overnight

Christy – if you put Fair trade banana skins on mosquito bites they go away.

Ellie – I learned that in the UK people eat over 5 billion bananas in a year.

Max – over 1.66 million farmers and workers produce Fair trade products.

Ciaran – there are over 100 billion different Fair trade bananas produced a year.

Paula – we learned about the grid method of multiplication

Mirin – we made a Titanic display.

Max – we drew pictures of first and third class passengers from the titanic

Kacper – we have been researching facts about the Titanic

Phoebe– we completed our well being check in.

Cerys –  for homework we researched a language

Charlie – we have been learning bout Michelangelo and his image of God.

We have been using our own devices to complete research and find out more about Fair trade and the Titanic.

 

P5b’s week

Primary 5 have had a busy week.  Here are some of the things we have been doing and learning.

Mirin – this week we made an emotions timeline thinking about how we felt at different points in our lives.

Marwa – we started to learn about the Titanic.

Ciaran – we learned that the Titanic was on her the first trip from Southampton to Nee York.

Daniel – we thought about we what know and what we want to learn during the topic.

Lucas – we have continued to practice our cursive script.

Max – we started to look at the timeline of events that led to the sinking of the Titanic.

Mirin – we typed our learners statements and shared them on Teams for our parents to see.

Sam – we reviewed our guided reading books.

Phoebe – we went to the library and read to the nursery children.

Marwa – we completed our entries for the engineering competition. Good luck everyone!

Paula – we went to Broxburn Academy to play Handball.

Leo – we were learning how to use the halving and doubling strategy in number talks.

 

 

P5’s busy week

We have had a busy week in Primary 5.  Here are some of the things we have been learning  this week.

Leo – We have been learning about storytelling as this is NAtional Storytelling Week and we watched David Walliams talking about his novels.

Ellie – We have been learning about the 7 times table and practicing our other times tables.

Cerys – We have drawing entries for the art competition and also designing inventions to make life easier for the engineering competition.

Paula – We have been learning about the brain.  Your brain connects to your nerves and tells you what to do.

Ciaran – We have been practicing our tables and looking at different strategies for learning the facts we find tricky.

Mirin – We have photographed our latest and best pieces of Numeracy and Literary and tried to use teams to post them.

Poppy and Leo- We have been talking about our reflexes and we were holding each others’ shoulder to see how quick our hand reacted and squeezed the other person’s shoulder.  We also tried this with hands so see if it was quicker than our shoulders.  Shoulder reflexes were quicker as the shoulder is closer to our brain.

Erin – We worked on our estimation skills with Mrs Heather.  We learned that our guesses have to be reasonable.

Alexander – We have been thinking about our learning and completed our learners statements.

Leo – We were having learners conversations and talking about what we are good at and what we need to work on.

Ciaran – we have been completing our health and well-being check in and today is feel good Friday.

Phoebe – Mr Menzies came into school to read us a story for storytelling week.

P5 Burns’ celebration

Primary 5B enjoyed a Burns’ celebration today.  We had shortbread and oatcakes.  Kai’s dad very kindly gave us the oatcakes. Thank you! They were delicious!

 

 

This week we have researched Robert Burns using our own devices and school i-pads and laptops.  We created a profile of Robert Burns.  We also learned some Scots words. For homework we also learned a few verses of a Burns’ poem or song and recited them to the class. Well done everyone!

Some facts we have learned about Robert Burns.

Ellie -He was very famous for his poetry and songs.

Mirin – He died because of a heart condition.

Paula – He wrote so many poems and songs for example ‘To a mouse’

Szymon – He was born in a farm in Alloway, in Ayrshire.

Christy – He was also called Rabbie Burns.

Max – He originally spelled his name BURNES.

Sam and Leo – He had a wife called Jean Armour.

Marwa – He had 9 children.

Tomasz – He was born on 25th January 1759.

Charlie – His last resting place is in Dumfries.

Max – He died 21st July 1796.

Sam – He was 37 years old when he died.

 

 

 

Busy first week back in P5

Primary 5 have had a busy first week back at school.

In Literacy,  we have been learning about poetry and metaphors and similes. We have worked very hard to create our own metaphors and similes and added them to a poem about dogs.

In Numeracy, we have been continuing to work on money.   We have been working on subtraction number talk strategies and also using our number bonds knowledge to add and subtract multiples of 10.

We have been learning about the 10 Commandments and came up with our own commandments that we felt were important.

This week we have continued with our science topic about our body systems.  We have looked at our respiratory system and also our circulatory system.  We have been working together to research body organs and locate them in our bodies.

We have also been making new year resolutions and looking at making targets for ourselves this term.

What a busy first week back!

 

 

 

Contemporary Art at St Nicholas

Today, Primaries 4 to 7 enjoyed a fantastic visit from the travelling art gallery. The exhibits were all about work and routine which made us think about our own routines in a new way. We loved the people-sized sculptures dressed in bright prints and the ‘workers’ happiness’ graphs. Thank you once again to the travelling gallery for giving us the opportunity to think differently about things!

Titanic Adventure

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Yesterday we had a great time with Captain Sean who came to our classroom with his Titanic Workshop. First of all, Sean told us all about how the Titanic was built in Belfast. We dressed up in costumes as crew members such as a stewardess, purser,quartermaster, engineer, fireman, gymnasium instructor, wireless operator,lookout and captain. Sean gave us all official job cards that were stamped with a picture of the ship.

Sean let us hold a piece of wood from the bannister of the Titanic’s staircase. He was given it by the grandson of a worker on the Titanic who had kept the offcut. When I touched the piece of wood I felt like I was coming down the staircase on the Titanic.

We were put into groups and then had to design a White Star Line dinner plate for first class, second class and third class. First class were allowed to use unlimited colours but third class could only use four colours.

We then put our costumes on and acted out what happened at the time of the collision. It took 37 seconds from when the lookout spotted the iceberg until it collided with the ship.

Sean then told us about some of the survivors on the Titanic. He was actually very good friends with a few of them and had spoken to them in real life. Sean was at the 100th birthday party for Edith Haisman when she was presented with her father’s gold pocket watch that had been found in the shipwreck.

We also were allowed to hold the name plate from one of the life boats used on the Titanic. The metal plate had the smell of the sea on it, it was very heavy and it said S.S. Titanic.

Sean had an awesome model of the ship from America that he used to show us how the ship finally sank to the ocean floor.

We learned lots of new facts about The Titanic and would recommend the workshop. We would love to participate again.

Written by the pupils of Primary 5a

 

 

Deacon Brodie and Greyfriars Bobby

This week Primary 5 have been learning about the masked robber, Deacon Brodie and the loyal dog of Edinburgh, Greyfriars Bobby. Here are some facts the children found interesting about both Deacon Brodie and Greyfriars Bobby.

Greyfriars Bobby died in 1872, 14 years after his owner. – Sean

Greyfriars Bobby was a loyal dog. – Eve

Bobby was a Skye Terrier. – Taylor

Deacon Brodie was hanged because he stole things from people’s houses. – Josh

Deacon Brodie used to rob houses by making his own copy of people’s keys. – Dominik

Greyfriars Bobby was a happy dog until his owner passed away. – Anna

Before Greyfriars Bobby’s owner died he followed him everywhere. – Owen

Deacon Brodie tried to escape on a boat but a couple read his letters and he was arrested. – Holly

The Lord Provost of Edinburgh paid for Bobby’s licence after his owner died. –Hollie

When Bobby heard the 1 o’clock gun he would go to Mr Traill’s café for food. – Lilli

When his owner died Bobby lay by his grave. – Ruby

Primary 5 are now looking forward to our trip to Edinburgh Castle and Holyrood Palace on Thursday.

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Mary, Queen of Scots

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This week Primary 5 have been learning about the fascinating life of Mary, Queen of Scots. We would like to share some interesting facts with you.

Her son was James VI of Scotland and James I of England.  – Cameron H

Elizabeth I gave permission for her to be executed. – Julia and Sophie

Lord Darnley,(her husband) was jealous of her friend, David Rizzio, and murdered him. – Thomas

Her coronation took place at Stirling Castle, when she was 9 months old. – Marcel

She was born in Linlithgow Palace. – Lewis

She was  Catholic. – Patryk

Her first husband was Francis, the Prince of France. She married him when she was 15 years old. – Riley

Francis died of an ear infection. – Molly

She was very good at needlework and made a picture of a cat and mouse. She thought that she was the mouse and Elizabeth I was the cat. – Rayyan

 

 

Primary 5 create Old Edinburgh artwork

Primary 5 have been learning about Old Edinburgh for the past fortnight. We have been learning lots of interesting facts about Edinburgh Castle, the Palace of Holyroodhouse and Mary,Queen of Scots.

We have also been using mixed media to create these fantastic sunset silhouettes of the Edinburgh skyline.

Please click on the link below for a short video explaining the process.

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Book Week Update

 

We have been having a fantastic week this week, celebrating book week.

We have been engaging in lots of activities all week, and still have plenty to go.

This week we have been enjoying lots of paired reading (reading to others in the school). Primary 1 particularly enjoyed the primary 7 boys and girls reading to them.

Primary 4-7 have been going on a ‘Cluedo Quest’. Someone stole all the books from Mrs Brown’s office! They have been answering clues, leading them all around the school, to help them work out who did it!

We have been receiving some amazingly creative photos for our Extreme Reading competition. They are all on display in the gym hall. We have had children reading whilst hula hooping; upside down; in the dogs bed; on the moon; standing on top of a giant peach; on a horse; in a tree and many more!

Our teachers have been challenging us this week as well. There is a display in the gym hall, with lots of teachers hiding behind their favourite books. It is really tricky to work out who is who!

We have all been working as a class to create an imaginative display based on a favourite book, or a number of favourite books.  We can’t wait to see which class wins this competition on Friday.

 

We still have many more activities to do as well!

Tomorrow (Thursday) we are participating in a book swap in the classes. Every child has been asked to bring in a book they no longer want, or read, and it will be swapped with someone else, meaning we all go home with a new book to enjoy.

Also tomorrow our teachers are all swapping classes to read a story to another class.

But the thing we are most looking forward to is the chance to dress up as our favourite book character on Friday (Nursery is on Thursday)! We have been discussing costumes all week. There is a prize for the most imaginative costume from each year group.

Keep checking back for more updates!

 

 

What P5b thought of this week…

We looked back at our week and these are our weekly reflections …

I enjoyed the big maths beat that challenge this week because I noticed that I have to try hard to beat my score (Finn).

In PE, I learned that you have to learn the basics of a game rather than dive straight in to the full game (Abbie).

Even if you have answered all the questions in BMBT, you still have to revisit and check them because you might have got some wrong (Piotr).

In Maths, I learned that you can’t always just add on a zero when multiplying by 10, 100, 1000 because it won’t work when you multiply with decimals (Alex).

It doesn’t matter who does what in a group as long as it get done to the best quality (Rosie).

I like PE because I scored 4 goals and learned that you can shoot from lots of different angles and work with my team to get closer (Molly).

We linked our literacy using persuasive writing to our social subjects because we had to write an advert to persuade people to buy clothes from us (Ieuan).

 

A week in the life of P5

Article 28 – we have a right to an education

What a busy week we’ve had in p5b.  We have been using our artistic skills and knowledge to design a logo for our fashion house (huge thanks to Mr Gorman for converting them into stickers for us :-))  creating mood boards to show off our 1960s clothing designs, using persuasive language to make adverts, learning all about the Great Wall of China, the Cold War and Vietnam War and much, much more.

RERC

– We were learning about religious symbols and looked at the Celtic Cross and Pictish Stones. They were hand carved with pictures of animals to do with the creation and patterns of shapes. No-one really knows what they all stood for. Next week we are going to design our own using our God given talents as symbols. Some places in Scotland are named after religious saints or things to do with the Bible.

Social Studies

– This started in the 1950s. Vietnam split into 2 (North and South) and began to fight each other. China and Russia were friends with the North and America thought this was dangerous because of the Cold War between them and Russia so they sent soldiers to help South Vietnam. They dropped lots of chemicals on innocent people and woman and children were forced to fight in North Vietnam. Mohammed Ali, the boxer, refused to go to war.

Maths

– We have been learning about place value and multiplying by 10, 100 and 1000. We are organising a 1960s music festival and had to work within a budget to find 7 acts that would perform at a choice of venue. We are now going to see how much profit we make with ticket sales but had to know how to multiply by units of 10 first. You can’t just add a zero!!! You have to move ALL the digits 1 place (x10), 2 places (x100) or 3 places (x1000) to the left and then put zeros in to hold the value of the place. We think to divide, you do the same but move to the right…

Wonderous Wednesday

– all about the Great Wall of China. An Emperor in China forced people (including prisoners) to build a wall around his land to protect them from invaders. A lot of them died and were just left to rot in the fields. The wall is about 20ft high and is over 1300 miles long – it looks like a snake on the map and you can walk along with wall. It has towers quite often so there was always a view or place for the soldiers to see and fight oncoming invaders.

Literacy

– We have been trying to use descriptive language, rhetorical questions, strong verbs and play on words to write an advert for our fashion houses. AFOREST helped us to remember what to include and became our success criteria for this task.

Here’s what some of us enjoyed the most..

Finlay – “The war in Vietnam was really interesting, I didn’t know America and Russia were against each other at the time”.

Grace – “I really enjoyed Maths this week because I had to challenge myself”.

Cole – “Watching the video about the Great Wall of China was good because it had loads of interesting information in it. It was sad that so many people died and were just left to rot in a field”.

Shaelyn – “I liked using lots of descriptive words in our writing this week”.

Alex – “I can’t believe that the Celtic Crosses were all hand carved – that’s awesome!”

 

Reflection Time

Primary 5b evaluated their learning from the week.  This is what they had to say…

We had a great time learning all about 1960s fashion this week. We know that there were 3 periods (early, mid & late) and that there were mods and rockers. We are working in groups to design our own clothing line and make a mood board to show our ideas. Our group are looking at early/mid clothes where the men had no collars on their jackets and woman wore woolen suits with matching hats. (Molly)

Our Thinking Thursday challenge this week was really good fun and a great laugh. We were connected to a partner with a piece of string and had to get disconnected – it took ages! We were going through each other’s legs, arms and wrapped up in some very unusual positions. Mrs B-C eventually showed us how to escape by putting a loop of string from our partner through our opposite wrist and twiddling it out. I had to help Grace because she couldn’t get it – she did eventually. (Shaelyn)

We were practicing our passing skills in handball this week. We were in teams and had to play against each other to score a goal. Finlay, Piotr and Blake were great goalies for us! I found it great fun and fairly easy, but if you didn’t spread out and pass quickly, the other team would block you. (Adrian)

 

What have we been up to???

Article 28

We have a right to an education

Today, P5 have been revisiting the spelling rules that have been taught over the last couple of weeks.  We tried to make words with the suffix -ing or -ed on the end or plural words in lots of different ways, including blind spelling, dot words, word searches, playdough, squiggle spelling and writing the words in silly sentences.

We have also been looking at other patterns – in Maths. We became spies and tried to crack a secret code! It was really complicated and took a few of us a while to work it out. Tommorow we have big maths that challenges to conquer before watching a theatre production of Matilda by Roald Dahl. Busy, busy busy…

 

Science Centre

Yesterday Primary 5, 5/4 and 4 went to the Glasgow Science Centre.

It was great fun! Look at us completing some experiments.

We also went to a show called Blood, Bile and Body bits. It was great and we even witnessed an explosion!

Saoirse – I learned that magnets are powerful and when playing a game the magnets made the route of a ball different.

Fraser – I learned that a tornado starts from the sky and goes all the way down to the ground.

Finlay – my favourite part was when the man put the flour and sugar
into a tube then lit a blow torch and blew some the flour and sugar and it make an explosion!

Megan L – my favourite part was the show.

Callum – my favourite part was the energy machine as you had to run around to make it go!

Sophie R – my favourite part was the whirlpool when it swirled in the water.

Ollie – I learned that if there is wheel and you put bolts int eh outside it goes slower than if the bolts are in the inside of the wheel.

Oscar – I learned how electricity worked by turning three handles to create power.

Charlee-Marie – my favourite part was when Isla and Francesco had to do the cream cracker challenge.

Maria-Victoria – I learned how our legs move when we are on a bike.

Ieuan – I found out that if a sound is loud enough it can make water move.

Piotr – I tried to make a bubble wall – it was quite hard.

Ethan – I learned that when you touch the electric ball and then touch someone else you give them an electric shock.

We had a good day and would like to go again!

SUPER SKY SKILLS!

We all really enjoyed our morning at Sky Skills Studios in Livingston.  It gave us an experience that took us behind the scenes at Sky where we worked in groups to create our very own TV news report.

Each of us had an important role to play including: producer, director, scriptwriter, camera operator, presenter/reporter, eye witness, expert and editor.  It was a brilliant experience and helped us devlop many important skills including communication, self management, team work, problem solving and creativity.  We were all given a certificate and USB wrist band which contained the news report.

Anna – I loved being a Director because I got to make suggestions and gave people directions.

Logan – I liked being the editor because I changed the background screens and decided which clips to use.

Niamh – I was the reporter and I got to talk in front of the camera and dress up!

Ben – I was the director and I enjoyed showing the reporters what to do in order to make the scenes look professional.

Annie – a memorable performance

 Article 29

Our education allows us to share our talents.

This week the school has been ringing out with music, as the stars of the school production of ‘Annie’ were able to share their hard work with their friends and family. The cast, who have been working hard on the show for only seven weeks, performed Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week to packed audiences.

Set in 1930s New York, Annie tells the story of an eleven-year-old girl, who has been living in the horrid Miss Hannigan’s orphanage for girls her whole life. She has the dream that one day she will be reunited with the parents who left her a letter and a locket so many years ago. Annie’s quest to find her real parents and the adoption by the billionaire businessman Oliver Warbucks is what provides dramatic plot for this spectacular and heart-warming musical.

We would like to thank all the parents, grandparents and friends who have donated their time, props, costumes, and for supporting learners in their learning of lines and dance routines.

Every single performer gave everything they had, helping to make this production so successful.

Thanks are due to all the staff who helped with auditions, rehearsals and backstage. Of course, the entire performance could not have happened if it were not for all the brilliantly talented actors, actresses and chorus who helped to make the event so memorable. Well done everyone!

Here’s just a few photos with lots more to come. Please leave a comment about your thoughts on the production…

Time Around the World

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This week Primary 5/4 have been carrying out some research into different time zones around the world. We found out that there are 24 different time zones.

To show off what we had learned we decided to make some clocks to display the times in different countries.

Abbie : I learned that some countries have the same time as us and some are in-front or behind us.

Haidyn: I learned that Hong Kong is 8 hours ahead of us. If it was 9.00 here it would be 5.00 in Hong Kong.

Grace: I learned that there are 24 time zones in the world.

Molly: I learned that we orbit the sun so different places in the world have sunlight at different times of the day. It can be day time here but night time in an other country.

 

 

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

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”.

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!!!

What is the perimeter?

Article 28

We should learn lots of new things in school.

Primary 5a have been learning all about perimeter.  We know that if you measure the distance around the edge of a two dimensional shape, we can work out the perimeter.  How can this help in real life situations I hear you ask?  Well, if you want to work out how much fencing to put around your garden or how many people will fit around your table for Christmas dinner, then you need to know the perimeter of the polygon your are surrounding.  We took our learning outside this week and started to measure the perimeter of polygons around the playground – putting our learning into real action!

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!

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

  1. 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.
  2. 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
  3. 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.

Welsh Wednesday

Article 7

You have the right to have a name and a nationality

In primary 5b we love learning all about different countries and cultures of the world.

Last Wednesday Seren prepared a presentation to tell us all about her favorite country Wales. Lots of Seren’s family come from Wales so luckily she knew a lot about it! She told us lots of facts, showed us photographs and brought different artifacts for us all to look at. Seren was able to teach us some Welsh as well using a nursery rhyme. The best bit was the Welsh cakes Seren had made for the class, we all really enjoyed them- Mrs Buchanan Coutts, Miss King and Mrs Deas thought they were delicious!

Well done Seren for sharing your knowledge and experiences with the class!

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!

Race for Life

Article 24

You have the right to the best health possible and to medical care and information

A huge congratulations to Katriona (P5A) who, for the second year in a row, completed the Race for Life at Hopetoun House.  She is becoming such a pro that she even managed to beat her time from last year, finishing the 5K course in under 1 hour.  This is a tremendous cause and a superb achievement, Katriona.  Well done 🙂

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

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!

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.

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.

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.

  • Facts: location, weather
  • Plants: layers, purpose
  • Tribe life: roles of the family members, what homes look like, jewellery.
  • Animals: categories, food chain.
  • Conservation: what is happening? How can we help?
Product Criteria:

Rule:

  • Each learner must produce an informative topic book.
  • Your book should highlight the differences between lifestyles and cultures in the rainforest with that of Scotland.
  • Your book should be completed and handed in on Thursday 3rd April.

Form:

  • Front cover
  • Contents page
  • At least 4 subject chapters.
  • Clear and neatly written information with correctly spelled words and appropriate punctuation.
  • Detailed artwork relating to topical subjects.
  • Glossary
  • A fun page
Process Criteria:

Key Attributes/Performance Criteria:  Creative thinking

 

  • Use your imagination to transfer your knowledge of the rainforest into a creative, informative book.
  • Remember this is YOUR (not your parents) homework challenge so use your time wisely!

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

Second Gold for Scottish Acrobat!

Taylor proudly showing his Gold medal.

On Saturday 1st March, Ravenscraig Sports Centre in North Lanarkshire hosted the Scottish Gymnastic Championships and our very own Taylor Stirling (P5A) was there to participate in the Acrobatic Section of the competition. 

Acrobatic Gymnastics includes partnership work on the floor. This discipline is both physically and psychologically demanding. It involves gymnasts working closely together, building up trust and responsibility for each other and developing skills in balance and dynamic elements. Acrobatic Gymnastics combines the skill and activity of the gymnast, expressive movement and artistry of a dancer and the courage and excitement of the acrobat.

Although Taylor was extremely nervous about the competition on Friday, he put all his worries to one side to out-perform all the other athletes and along with his partner, topped the table for the second year running and walked away with the Gold Medal!

This is a tremendous achievement and we are all extremely proud of Taylor  – Scottish Acrobatic Champion 2014.

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!

Rainforest Explorers!

Primary 5A have become explorers of the deep, dark rainforest.  Now that we know where to find rainforests, what the climate is like and what it might look like from within, we have started converting our classroom.  It is beginning to take shape, but in order to help us learn about this vast area of amazing land, we have arrived as teams of experts – Ornithologists, Botanists, Mammologists, Herpetologists and Entemologists.  Last week we had to research and share information on our specific groups with the rest of the class.  Next we will be looking at some of the products that are found in the rainforest, in particular from the plants and we hope the Botanists will help us a bit! 

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!

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!