Month: September 2021

This week has been incredibly busy and jam packed with lots of interesting and challenging learning taking place in our classroom and beyond.

In maths, we have been focusing on identifying a fraction of a whole number. We have been using concrete materials to do this as well as using our knowledge of multiplication and division. It was tricky to get our heads around but once we practised everyday we are becoming more confident at applying these skills.

In numeracy, we are continuing to work on using place value to help us with addition calculations.

We are still working on the writing genre, Recount. This week we wrote a recount featuring our Best Birthday Ever! We are experts at this genre now and becoming very skilled at using the self assessment placemats to help us identify what went well and what we can do next time to improve. Here are some examples of our wonderful work.

We have been exploring the concept of perspective in Art and Design. Seeing Autumn has finally begun we decided to draw an Autumn Scene, including a pumpkin patch. We worked step by step to create an element of depth to our pictures. We are very proud of the final result.

We hope you enjoyed this little snapshot of our week.

 

We have had another busy week in Primary 5, with lots of new tasks and challenges.

In Numeracy we have been looking at Decimals and how these relate to Fractions. We also looked at how we record these on a number line. We then went on to look at Percentages and also made links to what we have done previously in Fractions and Decimals. Here are some examples of the questions we completed:

50% of 40 = 20

25% of 80 = 20

10% of 70 = 7

PUPIL THOUGHTS:

Lewis – Decimals look hard but when you do a couple, they get a bit easier.

Chloe – You need to know your times tables to do them.

Summer – You also need to know your division skills.

Matthew – Percentages look hard, but are actually easy.

Olivia – First when you take a look at percentages it may look hard, but all you have to do is divide – e.g 50% you divide by 2.

Ryley – After you’ve tried a couple of percentages questions they become easier.

 

In Literacy this week we have moved on to look at the skill of Clarifying in Reciprocal reading. This is where we use a variety of strategies to make the meaning of an unknown word clear.

Here are the strategies we might use:

-use clues from reading on in the text

-use clues from re-reading the text

-visualising what is happening

-using our own knowledge

-looking for smaller words inside bigger words

-using clues like illustrations, punctuation etc.

We used a text called The Raven Heir:

We discussed what it might be about using our previous skills in Prediction and then we picked words from the text to clarify using the strategies above.

Here are some of the words we picked out to clarify. We will finish these next week.

In spelling we practised our words using fancy lettering. We repeated this later in the week but tested a partner, who then had to write their word correctly in fancy lettering.

 

In PE we have continued with our basketball skills and have now incorporated these into mini games. Before starting we had to go over the basic rules of the game.

We are looking forward to another week of learning next week.

Literacy

In writing this week, we continued to develop our recount writing skills. We created a small shop and as a class, we discussed the steps we carry out when in the shops. This helps us visualise our shopping routine when writing the recount piece. We were trying to ‘Bump Up’ our writing by adding adjectives to give the reader more information.

We were also practicing our tricky words this week. We were using our rainbow writing. This is where we have to say, cover, write and check each words.

 

Maths

In maths this week, we continued to develop our fractions knowledge. We were building on our knowledge from last week to look at converting fractions such as eighths and sixths into halves, thirds and quarters.

 

IDL

This week, we started our new topic Extreme Earth. We were learning about the layers of the Earth. We came up with a chant and dance to help us remember that the layers of the Earth are inner core, outer core, mantle and crust. We also learned about the key features of a volcano. To support this, we watched the live footage of the volcano eruption in La Palma.

We had two special visitors in P.5 this week.

Mark came from Headstrong which is an organisation  which specialise in changing the way we think to a positive mindset. Mark certainly makes us think about ourselves and we laugh (a lot!).

We also had Megan, a musical theatre practitioner. She was working with us on a song that we are going to get the chance to perform in Howden Park Centre later in the year. There was a lot of talent on show so watch this space!

It feels like everyone wants to work with our fab primary fives!

Health – Headstrong

We have been learning about how to approach things we find tricky in a positive way.

Hope – I enjoyed headstrong.

Katie – Mark is funny.

Literacy

We continued to read our class novel and predicted how the different characters would respond to events in the story.

Numeracy

We discussed negative numbers and practised ordering them from smallest to largest.

Ourdoor Learning

Emily – We made posters and learnt how important it was to avoid putting waste in the bin and about the need to recycle plastic.

Literacy

 

During reading this week, we had to read a passage and highlight the adjectives describing the character. After we had identified the describing words, we had to use this information to draw a picture of the character.

 

We continued to practice our spelling words. We practice our spelling words daily using wooden letters, writing on whiteboards and playing games.

 

Maths

This week, we were developing our number sense and ordering numbers. We have been ordering numbers from lowest to highest and also highest to lowest.

 

We were also looking at fractions this week. We were learning that we use fractions in everyday life, such as when we are cutting a pizza. We also had to write the fractions for a whole, half and quarters.

 

IDL

In science this week, we were learning about materials that were thermal conductors. We learnt that metals are great thermal conductors and this is why pots are made from metals. The atoms in the pot get bigger as they get hotter and this is called thermal expansion.

I liked doing writing about Draco the Dragon.

I enjoyed learning about skip counting strategy to add onto 2 digit numbers. S

I enjoyed learning about fractions because I like to learn.  SC

I liked doing spelling because you can learn new words. DN

I liked learning  about the words Denominator and numerator because it was interesting. M

I liked to do the shields because its creative and inspiring. L

 

 

 

Health

This week we had a visit from Mark who works for Headspace. Over the next few weeks he will be helping us to talk about mental health. We had great fun in his session!

Outdoor Learning

We had another visit from Green Gym and learnt about animals, their habitats and what they eat. We also thought about how we could improve the school grounds in order to encourage more wildlife.

P.E.

Our basketball skills continue to improve and we have voted to play football after we have finished our basketball learning.

Numeracy – Decimals

We timed ourselves doing different things using stopwatches. We learnt how to time to the nearest hundredth of a second.

Literacy – Writing

This week we wrote a recount about a special event-outdoor learning! We then peer assessed our work. Our recount writing skill has really improved!

Literacy – Reading

We have continued with ‘The Spiderwick Chronicles ‘ and enjoyed using role-play to predict how the characters might react when they meet one of the strange creatures in the book.

Maths: doubling in number talks; decimals to one decimal place and two decimal places; mutliplication by ten to millions.

Literacy:

talking and listening – turn taking

reading – predicting

writing – “bumping up” (up leveling) the recount writing about Mr Topley

IDL:

health – headstrong

topic –  myths and legends