We have had a very busy couple of weeks, lots of different things have been happening, and although we have had lots of time when we have been out of our own classroom, we are still working hard with our Numeracy and Literacy and the other areas of the curriculum as well.

Last week was the first of our transition days. We went to Greenrigg and worked with Mrs Monahan and the P7’s there. Our topic is Sustainability. We are looking at the World’s Oceans and the damage that is being done to them, and what we could be doing to improve the situation. It was good meeting up with our friends at Greenrigg, having worked with them before during previous transition days, and we are all looking forward to our next visits.

It was our last time working with the Forest Schools’ Rangers, our shelters are finally finished and this time we were learning how to make fires and how to keep them (and us)  safe. We tried using the sticks method to try and start a fire the way they would have done years ago, but unfortunately although many of us managed to get our sticks really warm, none of us managed to get a spark! The Ranger did though, she showed us how to gather kindling, what would make the best kind of kindling , then how to build up the fire and how to light it. We  finally had a lovely fire that we could sit around and toast marshmallows and bread on! After we had eaten our fill, we were shown how to put the fire out safely, and cover it up so it looked like there had never been a fire there at all. The Forest Schools has been an amazing experience and we all loved every bit of it!

We were lucky enough to have a trip to Lady Haig’s Poppy Factory in Edinburgh. We didn’t know what to expect, but we had a great day! We met veterans who shared a lesson on wars with us. Sargent Major Joe, told us all about both WW1 and WW2. He had lots to show us, and explained lots of different things. Madyson and Shayne were chosen to be dressed up in uniforms, Madyson as a regular soldier and Shayne as a commando, ans each bit of the kit  they put on was explained to us. The Sargent Major kept shouting at Madyson, like he would do with regular soldiers, to keep still (using his Sargent Major voice,) even though she wasn’t even moving! Miss Smith got dressed up as a spy and all her uniform and gadgets were explained too, the women who were spies were very brave but sadly most of  them were captured, tortured and killed.

After our lesson we were shown around the factory, and saw lots of veterans making poppies and wreaths. Lady Haig’s Factory gives work to veterans of the armed forces, any branch, who have been injured in any conflict fighting for their country. We also saw different types of poppies, because each country has their own design. The Scottish poppy has four petals but no leaf. The English, Welsh and Northern Irish Poppy has 3 petals and a leaf.  We all had our own favourites, but the Scottish Poppy was the most popular! To finish our visit we all got making our own poppy to take home with us. We also made lots of others, which will be used to make poppy wreaths. It was a great day, and one of the best trips we have ever been on.

The end of our busy two weeks, was Children in Need Friday. We have been selling pin badges, key rings and wrist bands all week to raise money. We sold out of everything except for some wrist bands. On the Friday itself we all got dressed to “Be what you want to be” and paid a pound fine for the charity. It was funny seeing so many Pudseys coming to school, even funnier seeing some of them trying to do Scottish Dancing with Mr Tennant! We don’t know the total amount we have raised yet, but we hope it is a lot. When the total is finalized, everyone will be told.

“It’s a shame it is the last Forest School! I had great fun and the marshmallows we toasted on the fire were very tasty!” – Erin

“I enjoy doing traditional Scottish Dances to modern sons with Mr Tennant” – Matthew

“I really liked making poppies and learning more about World War 1 and 2” – Kieran Mc

“I liked the challenge of using appropriate and specialist vocabulary, to  write a letter of thanks to the Veterans and the Poppy Factory for our visit” – Natasha

“Singing in the choir with children from Our Ladies is amazing. We missed it last week because of our Poppy Factory visit, but this week we got to audition to sing solos or duets. I am singing a duet with Robbie Mc.” – Sarah

“I liked meeting Sargent Major Joe, and getting dressed up as a commando! I was given a machine gun to hold and I had to charge at Mrs Loosemore yelling to try and frighten her, like a command would do to an enemy!” – Shayne

“I was dressed as a soldier, first of all the Sargent Major told me I needed a hair cut because soldiers didn’t have long hair, then he kept shouting at me to keep still! All I was doing was breathing!” Madyson

” It was funny seeing Miss Smith dressed as a spy. Sargent Major called her James Bond’s Granny and 0071/2″ – Katie

“The Sargent Major used me as a puppet and made me move my arms to point to all the girls and say they were useless during the war. Then he explained they weren’t, and all the jobs they actually did!” – Robbie Mc

“I liked learning about the oceans, but I really liked when Mrs Monahan explained the difference between using the words Pacific and specific!” Jay

“It was fun meeting and working with our friends at Greenrigg again” – Leah

I liked trying to make a spark using two sticks, the sticks got hot, but we didn’t get a spark” – Alexandra

Numeracy

We have been doing some subtraction work this week.  We know how to do this using Rekenreks and we have now moved on to drawing number lines and counting backwards.  Here are some pictures of us at work below.

Rekenreks:

Number Lines:

Literacy

We have been focusing on nouns, verbs and adjectives and have been trying to identify these in different books this week.  We’ve added some examples to our class wall:

Today we were challenged to create and write our own sentences which had to have at least one noun, one verb and one adjective in them.  Here’s some examples of what we came up with:

Castle Collages

As part of our class topic on Castles, we have been busy making ‘Castle Collages’.  First we had to draw our own castle by copying the main shapes from a picture of one.  This part was quite tricky because we had to try to make it the correct shape and size.

Next, we have started to add brown paper to it to make it look like brick or stone.  We left little spaces in between each one so that the other paper shining through looked like the cement.

We have still to add more detail, like the windows, the portcullis and the moat.

We hope Mrs Campbell feels better soon as we are missing her lots and looking forward to seeing her again.

Halloween week or not Primary 7’s were very busy. We are continuing to study the Ancient Greeks, and our challenge this week was to find out as much as we could about Odysseus and why he is important in Greek Mythology. We had laptops and books as our resources, and had to use them to make our own key notes, to help us create something that we could later present to the class.

We are still busy in Forest Schools and our dens are really taking shape. This week some of us were taught how to use tools safely and responsibly to help us create our shelters. Next week is our last week, and we hope if the weather allows, to learn about fire making.

In our writing lesson, we were discussing different types of writing and the vocabulary they use. We concentrated on using specialist vocabulary to do with parliament, as we were writing a letter to our MSP Mrs Angela Constance. Our letter was a formal piece of correspondence, so we had to ensure it was set out correctly and that correct formal vocabulary was used.

On Thursday, not only did we do French and Music with Mrs Ewing in the morning, but in the afternoon the P7’s from our Ladies came down to join us to form a choir for Christmas. It was good fun to work with them and Mrs Ewing. We are learning some really good songs, some traditional and some modern.

On Friday at PE Mr Tennant set up an agility obstacle course for us. It definitely got our hearts beating faster! After playtime we had house time, where we met together with all the children in our house from the different classes. We had challenges to complete, including designing our own mascot. Each of us had to draw what we thought should be our house mascot and the house captain and vice captain choose the winners. It definitely has been another busy week!

” I really liked using the saw to cut down a small tree for our den. The ranger had found the tree and taught us how to saw safely”-Katie

“I was quite nervous when I saw the agility course that Mr Tennant had set up. But when I tried it, it was great fun!” – Erin

“Our den is actually finished! We have lots of room inside for us all to shelter, and not much rain gets through, so we stay pretty dry!” – Matthew

“The PTA’s Halloween Disco was great fun! My favourite part was dooking for apples!” – Leon

“I used the big saw with Brad to cut down a big branch for our den”- Shayne

“I really enjoyed working with the P7’s from Our Ladies and Mrs Ewing in the afternoon, to form a choir  to sing at different Christmas events” – Sarah

“Doing the weather in French with Mrs Ewing was fun, we are going to do a weather forecast in French too!”- Madyson

” I really loved learning “Somewhere only we know” with Mrs Ewing” – Erin

“The resilience group was great fun, we used origami to make paper penguins” – Keiron H

“Designing our house mascot was fun, especially since it was made into a competition”

– Robbie Mc

Is there nothing our fantastic school can’t do?

We are delighted to announce that Mrs Robley has become the first Izak9 Superuser in West Lothian and the first primary school in Scotland!  She has had to work hard with the children in P4-7, develop plans and showcase to parents to gain this ‘superuser’ status.

The following is taken from the Izak9 website and describes what a ‘superuser’ is:

“Superusers are passionate and innovative practitioners who have made an outstanding contribution to raising standards in the teaching and learning of maths.  They are a source of inspiration for Izak9 users globally, as examples of their leading practice are shared on their own Superuser pages, in our Izak9 blog section and on twitter.

To be certified as an ‘Izak9 Superuser’, teachers must complete school based milestones, evidence of which demonstrates how effectively these teachers use Izak9 to positively impact on the quality of the teaching and learning provision across their school community.

Superusers are certified to provide Izak9 training and workshops to neighbouring schools and to work with Qubizm staff in developing additional resources and training programmes that enhance the quality of the offering Izak9 presents to schools.”

Have a look at Mrs Robley’s superuser link: http://www.izak9.com/article/fiona-robley

We are very proud of Mrs Robley and the work that she has done in this area across Stoneyburn and Greenrigg Primaries and we are delighted that this has been recognised by Izak9.  Well done! 🙂