Mrs Scobie

Climate Change

Rannoch clan have brought their learning about climate change to a close this week. After learning about deforestation through our reading of The Lorax by Dr Seuss, some of us transformed ourselves into the Lorax to ‘speak for the trees’. We used our new-found skills in persuasive writing to write a persuasive piece on what we could do as a community to look after the trees. Fantastic pieces of writing were produced using a clear structure, sensing verbs and persuasive language.

Some pupils have been learning about waste with Miss Redmond and they went for a walk around Calderwood to look at what bins were available for waste and recycling. Tjhey made a persuasive poster to persuade others to think more carefully about the waste we produce and how we dispose of it.

Some pupils learnt about transport and how this can affect our environment, with Miss Reid. They completed a traffic survey of Calderwood and created air quality sensors for round the school.

Our final task was to use art to persuade the Calderwood community to look after our planet. We discussed colour in art and thought about how we might use this in a picture showing our world in all its beauty and showing the world if we do not take action. I am sure you will agree that everyone produced very powerful pictures, showing great persuasive techniques through art.

All in all, we have had a very interesting and informative look at climate change and have many ideas on what we can do to support our planet moving forward.

Well done to all in Rannoch clan.

Calderwood Tackles Climate Change

Ness, Rannoch and Tay clan have been learning about COP26 together, finding out what it stands for, what it is, why it is happening, and what it means for us and have been learning about climate change with Miss Christie in our STEM lessons. Through our learning, we wanted to explore climate change even further.

Today, Ness, Rannoch and Tay clan were visited by Miss Connor, our RAISE Primary Science Development Officer in West Lothian, who gave us an introduction to the science behind climate change.

We discussed what the words climate and climate change meant and why climate change is happening. We then looked more deeply into greenhouse gases that are released into the atmosphere such as carbon dioxide, learning about the links between CO2 and climate change.

Following this discussion, we all carried out an experiment to see if we ‘could see CO2’. After making predictions of what we might see happening in the experiment, we added sugar to a test tube of warm water and mixed it till the sugar had dissolved. We then added some yeast to the mixture before, finally, placing a balloon over the top of the test tube. We waited for approximately 10 minutes to see what might happen. We found that the balloon inflated, showing that a gas had been created. This helped us to understand how carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere and trapped, causing the planet to become warmer. We really enjoyed carrying out the experiment and checking our predictions.

After completing the experiment, we discussed why climate change matters to us and what we can do to help. We look forward to looking deeper into this in the coming weeks. Thank you so much to Miss Connor for allowing us to learn and think more about climate change.

#WL_STEM

Number Sequences

This week, Rannoch clan have been learning about number sequences. We have been learning about how to describe and create a number sequence.

To begin with, we looked at different number sequences together as a class. We thought about each number given and decided on how much we had to add or subtract to produce the next number in the sequence. From doing this we were able to work out ‘the rule’ for each number sequence. We practised this by playing some interactive games online using snappy maths.

To follow on from this we went outside, making the most of this lovely September weather, and created our own number sequences using materials we found in the playground such as sticks and stones. We worked with a partner to create our own sequences and took photos of our creations. We then challenged our classmates to work out ‘the rule’ for each sequence we had created. We also extended our learning and thought about what the next number in the sequence might be. We had great fun working them out and felt confident in doing this.

Our next steps will be to work on sequences using larger numbers and to challenge ourselves to start from a larger number rather than 1,2 etc. and try starting, for example at 14 or 19.

To practise more at home we can use the number sequence interactive games on this website http://www.snappymaths.com/counting/sequences/sequences.htm and/or we can create our own sequences at home using materials indoors such as pasta or outdoors using different materials. We also made connections with these sequences to our times tables so practising these will also help us to develop our skills.

Share your learning by taking a photo of any creations you make on your seesaw account.

Our first week in Rannoch Clan

What a fantastic first week we have had in Rannoch clan! This week we have been settling in to our new environment and learning and following our new class and school routines. Rannoch clan have picked these up very quickly and are demonstrating these extremely well throughout the school day.

Our main focus has been ‘getting to know each other’ and we have been involved in lots of activities to help us do this. We took part in a clan quiz with Ness and Tay clan, created stag ‘all about me’ pictures, played games and created a time capsule which we can look back at, at the end of the year.

We used our observation skills in STEM this week to record the results of our paper aeroplane investigations. We had great fun making and flying our very own paper planes.

It has been great to meet everyone and I am so proud of you all. I can’t wait to see you all next week! Have a fantastic weekend.

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