Author: S Ali

Cultivating Calderwood

We have a brilliant start to Term 4 and have had lots of opportunities to carry out experiments within our ‘Captivating Calderwood’ topic.

Water Cycle Experiment

We carried out a water cycle experiment where we drew the process on Polly bags, added water and placed onto our windows to see what happens to the water. We also made predictions and have been observing the experiment. We discovered that the evaporated water vapor usually goes into the atmosphere, but in our bag, it has nowhere to go, so it ends up sticking to the sides of the bag, turning back into a liquid as condensation.

Planting 

We have planted our very own sunflowers and placed them onto the windowsill. We are watering them everyday and observing their growth by recording this onto a line graph. We have observed some plants have grown much faster than others and have discussed why that might be the case. We think some pupils have placed the seeds deeper than others and that may be a factor. We have discussed the life cycle of a sunflower and made posters to show this visually. In addition to this, we have recently dissected flowers and carried out research the purposes of each part. We were so interested in the different purposes of each part. This then led onto discussions on ‘pollination’ and why this is a vital process within the food chain.

Literacy

We have linked our topic with our reading and writing. Last week, we made notes on sunflowers based on where they are located, what they look like and how they behave. We are now working on creating an information report on sunflowers. We have discussed our writing targets in detail and pupils have loved the link between their topic and literacy!

Have a look on the following sway to see how much fun we have had on our ‘Cultivating Calderwood’ journey so far!

 

Go to this Sway

Friday 31st March 2023- End of Term 3 with Bluebell

Engineering Project

This term we have had lots of fun exploring our Engineering Project. We looked into what some useful and useless inventions in history were which led to further discussion and research into the progression of electrical inventions. We worked together to create a timeline of these electronic inventions and were shocked at how quickly digital technology became so popular within our society! We then participated in creating our own engineering projects where we displayed and developed our problem solving, creativity, innovation, planning, designing and communication skills. This was linked to the sustainability goals where we looked at how the most successfully innovations are those that are less selfless and are designed to help others and the environment around us. We based this thinking at the forefront of our projects. We had a lovely visit from students at Edinburgh University who introduced the Clan to Microbits and how it can be used for coding and programming. We then had a fantastic opportunity to visit Glasgow Science Centre and had the most amazing time with our Clans and Champions.

Please see the sway below for photographs:

https://sway.office.com/FJ8aPvgG9itdhoOa?ref=Link

Food Technology

We have been busy chefs this term baking shortbread, pizza, flapjacks and hamantashs. We have developed many skills such as team working, turn taking, communication, following instructions and safe food handling. We have practised kneading, rolling, chopping, spreading and folding to make our recipes. We were so impressed by our baking and got so many compliments from our family and champions for baking some delicious recipes.

Please see the sway below for photographs:

https://sway.office.com/uOstmrbysk3Q73Hh?ref=Link&loc=mysways

Feel free to share any other treats you make at home with us on your online jotters!

 

Have a lovely Easter Break and we cannot wait to see what fun we get up to in Term 4!

-Miss Ali and Mrs Robertson

Bluebell- Scotland

Bluebell have been celebrating Scotland in lots of different ways this term.

We began this term thinking about ‘What makes Scotland great?’. We did some brainstorming with our learning partners before we carried out our own research. This supported our persuasive writing ‘To persuade someone to visit Scotland’. Bluebell Clan wrote fantastic persuasive pieces where they used lots of bossy verbs and powerful persuasive phrases. It definitely made Scotland seem like the best place in the world! We also learned about ‘Haikus’ and wrote our very own Scottish inspired Haikus that we will be on display for our Caledonia Clan Celebration on Thursday 9th of February. Alongside this, we learned about Robert Burns and recited different Scots poems which led to our Burn Competition. A huge well done to everyone who participated as you all showed great enthusiasm in performing your chosen poems.

In PE, we have been practising different types of Scottish dancing and we look forward to demonstrate this to you.

We have also participating in food technology this term. We started this off by baking shortbread! We made this in small groups where we used our team working skills to take turns and complete the recipe together. We used our communication skills to read the recipe and follow the instructions. We also used our numeracy and maths skills for adding and taking away as we measured the ingredients. We learned about the dangers and risks within a kitchen and discussed ways we can keep ourselves safe. Miss Ali tried our shortbread and she said it was absolutely delicious!

For our topic, we have been learning about the life of Mary Queen of Scots. We have had lots of opportunities for discussion of the events in Mary’s life. We have also had lots of opportunities to carry out our own research and work collaboratively in small groups. As a class, we are currently making our Mary Queen of Scots time line display where we all had different roles to play. Some of the tasks included; making a birth/ death announcement of Mary Queen of Scots, make a poster on the Rough Wooing, write a short diary page on how Mary felt traveling to France and drawing a map of Scotland and pin pointing the different places Mary had visited. Again, this will be on display in class for you to look at during the Caledonia Clan Celebration.

Christmas in Bluebell

Christmas Crafts

We have had such a busy week in Calderwood! Bluebell Clan have been engaging in lots of fun Christmas craft activities, creating little handmade gifts for their loved ones. We won’t give away what they made just yet and will leave this as a little surprise for Christmas day. However, have a look at how Bluebell Clan have been extremely busy elves!

       

        

    

We then wrapped our Christmas presents and watched tutorials on how to make a bow. This supports our fine motor skills development as we were using small muscles in our hand, wrist and fingers to wrap the presents and tie the ribbon. We helped each other along the way demonstrating great team work and collaboration.

      

   

Christmas Party Fun

We had an amazing time at our Christmas Party. We played games such as musical bumps, Christmas corners and pass the parcel. We then enjoyed some party food before having a dance off! Well done to the pupils that won the dancing competition, it was such a difficult decision as everyone danced so well!

Have a look at how much fun we all had!

                                       

 

A Little Message from Miss Ali and Mrs Robertson:

Wishing you all a lovely Christmas, filled with lots of laughter and cheer and all the best for the New Year. Enjoy the break. We cannot wait to hear all about your holiday fun!

Love Miss Ali and Mrs Robertson x

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Blogging Friday in Bluebell

In Bluebell clan we have been working very hard on developing our narrative writing. We changed our shared writing on ‘Cinderella’ and created our very own. Pupils in Bluebell clan used their imagination to develop their characters, theme and setting. We discussed the importance of using adjectives to describe our narrative writing and learned how to use speech marks correctly throughout. We are continuing to self and peer assess our work using our genre and core targets. We used our self and peer assessments to support us to edit our writing. We focused on ‘up levelling’ some of our work by adding more descriptive language. We have developed our ‘Phenomenal wall of words’ which supported us to do this.

In addition to this, we have been excellent authors and illustrators as we manufactured our very own book! We looked at different methods of book binding, chose our materials and planned our writing before making them independently. We loved the opportunity to share this with our parents on Book Week Scotland and are looking forward to share our finished products!

We have enjoyed narrative writing that much that we have chosen to focus our next weeks assembly on our literacy! We have planned this production together and shared out the roles and responsibilities. This involved an invitation committee, a power point team, backdrops and props teams, VCOP team, choreographers for our dancing and our tech and equipment team. We also participated in drama where we learnt about freeze frames and have incorporated this within our assembly. We have been practising lots and cannot wait to share our learning with you all next week!

Bluebell Clan

Over the last few weeks we have participated in various creative activities to further develop our team working skills, use our critical thinking skills and listen attentively to each other as well as instructions. Have a look at some of the activities below:

Diwali

For Diwali we read the story of ‘Rama and Sita’ where we clearly understood why it is known as the ‘festival of light’. This festival celebrates the triumph of light over darkness and good over evil. We made ‘diya lamps’ together in small groups where we took turns to add the ingredients, mix them together and divide the mixture. We also helped each other mould them into a bowl shape. In addition to the vital teamwork, we also had some problem solving to do. We realised that if the mixture was too dry we need to add more water and if the mixture was too wet we need to add more dry ingredients like salt and flour. Once our diyas were baked in the oven, we decorated them and added a tealight before taking them home to show our families!

Block Play

As part of our Stag Starts, we have participated in block play challenges. This involved working in pairs and small groups to re-create a monumental building or design our own bridge! This involved co-operating with one another, but most importantly taking turns to talk by sharing our creative ideas and listening to one another. Alongside team working skills, we used our problem solving skills to manipulate the blocks and create the design we had in mind. We also used our mathematical knowledge to create patterns and use symmetry for the structures. Miss Ali was very impressed by our outstanding creations!

Literacy

One of our literacy tasks this week was to re-create the setting of our reading books. Again we worked in teams to design the setting and find the words that builds the setting for the reader. We sat in our small groups, discussed what the setting was and used the small blocks to create the setting and used the post-it notes to label our settings. We showed respect to one another and listened to the different point of views of my team members.


NYCOS (National Youth Choir of Scotland)

During our weekly Nycos visits we get to participate in a variety of active singing games which not only helps to develop our musical skills but also enhances our numerical, linguistic and social skills. We showed attentive listening to Miss DeLuen as we copied the beat and rhythm. We are developing our listening skills by focusing on good looking, sitting still (when required), staying quiet and listening to all the words of the instructions given.

In Bluebell Clan, we love being creative and love the opportunity to present and share our ideas and work. We look forward to further develop our team working skills throughout this term!

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