September 2022 – Page 2 – East Calder Primary School Blog

Ranger Service Visit P6

We were lucky enough to have a visit from The West Lothian Ranger Service this week. This was an environmental workshop which engaged the class by running a range of nature inspired games to help them understand the community and environment around them. We started with a mapping activity where we saw an aerial shot of East Calder taken by a satellite. It was interesting to discuss what our access rights were to the land that surrounds us and how by following a few simple rules it will allow us all to assist in managing our natural heritage whilst also enhancing biodiversity.

Learning in P2/1

In P2/1 we’ve been learning about the artist Etel Annan. Etel grew up learning lots of languages. She created ‘leporellos’ which are small folded books showing pictures, poems or words that she loved. We created our own ‘leporellos’ in art. We used paint,pencil and pen.

Primary 1

It has been a busy few days in Primary 1. We continue to learn our phonics and have now completed the first set (s, a, t, i, p, n). We have been finding objects that begin with these sounds, playing ‘I hear, with my little ear’.

We continue to work with numbers to 10 and have been finding missing numbers on a number track.

We have also been able to meet with our Buddies, play in the classroom and enjoy stories in the school library.

P3a Money

We extended our learning on money by thinking about answering the question, ‘how are we going to show we know how to use money?’ Lots of discussion and groups then started setting up their own shops, writing labels for what they had on sale and making sure they gave the correct coins.

P2 Art and Design

We wanted to create self-portraits. We could use anything in our classroom. This included, paint, pencils, tissue paper and Lego. Our aim was to develop our creativity skills. You will see examples of our work below.

P7B Japanese Gardens

Primary 7B have been exploring the culture of Japanese gardens. We learned about the 3 main types of garden which we went on to create through play and art. We explored the gardens essential elements; water, plants and rocks and discusses the meaning behind these and the importance they have to the Japanese culture.

P5 Ranger Service Visit

Primary 5 had a visit from Angharad from the Ranger Service who taught us all about the Scottish Outdoor Access Code. The session reminded us of how to use our green spaces responsibly and we enjoyed some mapping activities in class before heading outside. Everyone had a range of features to look out for, including wildlife, cyclists, water and even dog poo…!

One thing which surprised us was the amount of litter we saw, which gave P5 the idea of doing a litter pick soon-watch this space!

P5 and P3 Reading Buddies

Primary 5 met up with Miss Marra and her P3 class in our Library for our first Reading Buddy session. Everyone enjoyed using this lovely space to discuss our favourite books and share our reading, we all enjoyed getting together and are looking forward to many more sessions!

P3a Numeracy

In Numeracy this week we were using Ten Frames to help us work out sums. We used counters, drew it and then wrote the sum. We were even able to help each other correct mistakes. We will now use these strategies when working out sums with bigger numbers.

P6 Reading with P2

Reading with P2 gives the children the opportunity to practise, the important values of respect, care, valuing difference, responsibility, friendship and including others. Through reading and caring for smaller children older children learn the skills associated with empathy and compassion through activities in the classroom. It allows them to embed a culture of reading for enjoyment across the whole school whilst also being able to identify the needs of a different audience to their peers.

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