Category: Ben Lomond

The Bens Go Engineering!

At Calderwood we pride ourselves in being at the cutting edge of practice, pedagogy and research. With this in mind, we are currently working with Alana Wilks at Heriot-Watt as part of our Engineering IDL topic.

We are taking part in a number of activities designed by Alana, which will stimulate skills and knowledge around the topic of engineering. In order to further research in this field we hope that parents and guardians would fill out online forms and support our pupils in home learning engineering tasks. Alana’s research topic is ‘The perception of engineering in children and parents from ethnic minority backgrounds‘ and the online forms are around this topic. We would be hugely grateful if as many Bens’ Parents and Guardians could explore the online forms and home learning.

There are two forms to fill out:

Watch this space to see some of the activities and thinking from the Bens displayed shortly!

Oceans IDL

At Calderwood, our pupils get autonomy over what they want to learn. We try to ensure we listen and follow along with what they find interesting.

Through  This Mural (click to see what we said at our last pupil planning meeting)

We decided we would learn about Oceans. Through our planning meeting, we looked at different sub-topics and thought about what we already knew and what we wanted to find out more about:

 

 

This week, we looked at where the worlds ocean were and used Google Earth to locate, name and label different Ocean Areas and seas. Mural allows us to work collaboratively on the same document. We used technology, map skills and research skills to complete our geography challenge.

We also found out that the river closest to Calderwood is the River Almond and it runs into the North Atlantic Ocean.

 

 

We think we did a great job at our first attempt – what do you think? Spot any mistakes?

 

We are looking forward to exploring more about ore world’s ocean as we move forward through the term.

Scottish Recital – Clan Winners

Last Friday we celebrated Burns by reciting poems in our clans. The children were absolutely amazing! The hard work, perseverance and confidence was excellent to see, whether on Teams, See Saw or in person. A huge thank you to our families to supporting our children to learn and perform in their own way.

Each clan voted for their winner. Congratulations to our clan winners below. If your child was a winner you are invited to watch your child compete and recite their poem in front of the judges tomorrow.

 

The Ben’s IDL Showcase

Last week, the Ben’s took over the Discovery Den area.

They has been working on their IDL topic ‘Ancient Civilisations’ and had so much amazing work, they wanted to show it off and plan a school event. Here is what they had to say:

In 4 main groups, we chose our Civilisation of interest: Ancient Romans, Ancient Egyptians, the Aztecs and the Vikings.

We organised ourselves into sub-topics and worked for 5 weeks researching, learning, discussing, planning and creating beautiful, amazing pieces of work that demonstrated what we learned from our research.

We set wrote poems and stories, collected data, made PPT’s, cooked food, conducted science experiments, created art pieces, performed drama pieces and made videos.

We used our teamwork skills to work together to build a picture of what we discovered.

They invited members of staff and other clans around and presented beautifully and confidently, the learning and knowledge they had on their chosen topic. Well done Bens!

Ben Lomond Residential – Lockerbie Kitlist

Ben Lomond are preparing for our first ever residential trip!

As you know, we are going to Lockerbie Manor on 1st-3rd March.

Please click the link below to view the suggested kitlist of essential items your child will need to pack, as well as some useful notes about optional items and which items will not be allowed.

Lockerbie Kitlist – Ben Lomond 2023

A paper copy has already went home with your child after having a thorough discussion about everything in class. If you still have any questions or queries please let us know.

Please note – we understand there could be costs incurred from potentially buying new items. If you have any concerns about this please reach out for support, we are happy to help.

 

We would also like to invite you along to an online information session about the residential, the information is below. If you are unable to attend, we will share the presentation on the blog.
01/02/23 – 6pm

P7 Residential Information Session: Teams  

Microsoft Teams meeting Join on your computer, mobile app or room device

Click here to join the meeting Meeting ID: 340 806 909 89 Passcode: NvXp3r

*changed date

 

Thank you!

 

Burns Poetry Competition

At Calderwood we currently have a Scottish focus for learning. All clans will participate in a Scottish/Burns Poetry competition in clan. All children will be encouraged to participate in their own way – whether that is filmed, performed to their clan or to their champion on 27th January. The finalists will be put forward to a whole school competition on Friday 3rd February.

Please see below the options of poems the children can choose to learn.

 

Early and First Level 

Primary 1 Scottish Poems

Primary 2 Scottish Poems

Primary 3 Scottish Poems

Primary 4 Scottish Poems

 

Second Level 

Primary 5 Scottish Poems

Primary 6 Scottish Poems

Primary 7 Scottish Poems

Ben Lomond’s Christmas Festivities

The Bens have been incredibly busy with our festive celebrations!

We spent the afternoon making Christmas crafts for our friends and family: we made woolly hats, cards, jewellery, coasters and tiles.

We made our own ‘Aztec’ hot chocolate as part of our IDL topic on Ancient Civilisations. It was pure 100% dark chocolate powder with no sugar or milk. Most of us thought it was ‘bitter’, ‘disgusting’ and ‘terrible’, however a few people thought it was ‘amazing!’

 

 

We also celebrated our Christmas lunch together – the food was yummy and we were also amazing helpers – helping to serve the younger pupils!

 

We also enjoyed our Christmas party for which we planned the games, activities and playlist! We had a best dancer competition, best singer competition, hula hoop pass-the-parcel, corners, musical chairs and of course… party food!!

 

 

Our Christmas Around the World play was also one on Ben Lomond’s highlights! We chose the topic, wrote the script, designed the set, costumes and chose our song. It was directed and lead by the pupils and was a huge success – check out our vid here! https://sway.office.com/gm4BEjrfvmuvnQBw?ref=Link

 

It’s been an incredible year and we thank you for all your continued support.

 

Next term will be VERY exciting as we begin to think about leaving our Calderwood P7 Legacy behind.

 

For now, relax & enjoy the break!

 

Ben Lomond & Mrs McGarvey 🙂

Calderwood Primary Presents Christmas Around the World

Primary 2-7 children invite one family member along to the performance below in our Arena.  We look forward to seeing you.

If you are attending both performances you can wait in the Arena between times.

(Children should wear Christmas jumper/ accessorise on top and uniform on bottoms).

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