Our Roots of Empathy this week was a visit  from Baby Allie. She has grown and is able to do much more. Today she was sitting up straight and playing with her toys. She was able to take the toys out of a plastic case. She wasn’t able to reach the last one at first, but she didn’t give up… she tried all sorts of things and finally she got the last toy. She also played with some balls which she liked banging together then rolling. When we sang for her she clapped her hands and laughed! She is able to do so much more now! The next milestone she has to reach is standing on her own and walking. She can stand just now, but needs Mum’s help. It is fun and really interesting to watch Allie grow and develop, she is teaching us so much!

While Primary 4 were sharing with their P4 friends in Greenrigg at Greenrigg, the P3’s  stayed in Stoneyburn, but we were busy too! We were finding out about Pond life, what lives below the surface, on the surface and above the surface. You would be amazed and how many things call a pond their home, or need the pond to live. We also watched a film about rock pools. There is lots of life there too, but they have a very different life to those that live in the pond. The rock pools change whether the tide is in, when there is lots of water, or when the tide is out and there is only a little water left behind.

In the afternoon we had a critical skills challenge. We had to make a shape that could float in the water. It sounded easy, but it wasn’t! At first all our shapes just sank! We worked in pairs to try and solve the problems we were having, so we could successfully complete the challenge!

We didn’t give up…we kept trying, and finally we all managed to make a shape from the playdoh that would float! The next part of the challenge was to say if our shape could carry any cargo!

“Our challenge was to make shapes from playdoh that floated on water. It wasn’t easy at first, but it was fun trying to get it to work” – Katie

“It was fun making boats, my boat sank at first but I tried and tried and I did it! My boat carried 66 small bricks before it sank!” – Leah

P4 pupils from Greenrigg and Stoneyburn joined up today to do some recycled art. We had asked for pupils to bring in bottle lids, cans and jar lids and we received a huge amount. Pupils had a great choice of materials to choose from. Apart from being shown a few ideas the pupils were given free choice to use the materials they wanted and create their own design. We had a huge range of art produced including pictures and models. Many groups had some issues with joining materials and had to experiment with the best way to get their different parts to stick together. In the afternoon we went outside. Two groups were given a supply of cans and bottle lids and to plan and create a finished design. The boys went for a spiral design and the girls created a snake. 

As part of our islands topic, we made ‘cocktails’ from the fruits from Caribbean Islands. First of all we had a taste of each of the juices, then we decided which ones we wanted to mix together to make our ‘cocktails’, (they really were mocktails). We also had ice and lemonade in our drinks, and had to give our mocktail a name before we could drink it! We got to make a couple then choose our favourite, it was great fun!!

This week we have had lots of different learning opportunities in lots of different places! We had a dancing taster session with Alex, in the gym hall, who is going to resume her after school dance club, in school,  on a  Tuesday. Then on Wednesday we moved our learning outside. We took a closer look at what was all around us, then we wrote poems about learning outside! Here are a couple of examples from Fraser Brown and Aimee Green.

On Thursday Jammin’ Andy was in school working with the P7’s, but he worked with us too! The P7’s taught us what they had been taught, and Fraser and Charlie became teachers too! We all had a great time!

Our first week back has been really busy with lots of fun things to do. We enjoyed doing mental maths with Mrs Gardinier, then we went to the gym hall for Judo. We were doing Judo with Marv from Destination Judo.

” I enjoyed doing Judo with Marv, he was funny.” – Leah

“We were doing break falls with Marv. We slapped our hands on the floor to make a loud sound! We got to throw our partners too ” -Phoebe.

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Baby Allie also came to visit us for Roots of Empathy. We haven’t seen her since November! She has grown a lot! She can sit by herself now, and she was paying lots of attention to us. She was looking right at us and smiling. She even waved to us! It is good to see Allie reach her ‘milestones’ and the difference it makes to her. She is teaching us lots of things! What a good teacher she is!!

” Baby Allie was awake for the whole time she was with us. She was laughing and playing with her doll! She can pick up things and hold them by herself now.” – Katie