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Calling all Secret Readers … can you help?

During Book Week Scotland (which begins on 18th November) we celebrate reading for enjoyment and aim to show our pupils that adults enjoy sharing books and stories too.

We love to welcome in adults as Secret Readers who come along to read a short story or chapter aloud to classes.

We would be delighted to hear from you if you would like to volunteer as a Secret Reader during the following dates and time.

Week 1

Wednesday 20th Nov 1.30-2.20 pm
Thursday 21st Nov 9.45 – 10.30 am

Week 2

Wednesday 27th Nov 1.30-2.20 pm
Thursday 28th Nov 11.00-12.00 OR 1.30-2.15 pm

Please contact our school office by email and include the following information

your name
which day / time slot you can attend
which age group you prefer and if you would you like to read to your child’s class.

We provide a wide selection of books but are happy if you have a favourite of your own that you enjoy reading.

We would also love to celebrate the number of different languages that we have here in East Calder Primary and would appreciate it if anyone would like to read a short story in a language other than English.

Many thanks for your continued support.

Happy Reading Everyone!

P3A Learning

We have had another busy week with our learning. We are continuing to work with giving exact amounts of money and giving change. We also keep extending our knowledge of times tables. As we have been learning about Farming, we decided to write a description of a tractor. We used our plan to inform our writing. In Art we used different media to create fluffy sheep.

The Clan Merob! P6

Wow,how amazing is this! Emmy and Victoria have made up a game inspired by our class novel Light on Dumyat by Rennie McOwan. The name of their clan is a mix of their two surnames and the game involves all the skills you would need for an adventure in the Scottish hills,just like Gavin,Clare,Michael and Mot! I was so impressed with the game and the bow and arrows you constructed were great! Fantastic to see you having such enthusiasm for the story……we will have to wait and see if our predictions of how it may end are right!

Maths Week in P3A

We were very lucky during Maths Week to have two visitors come in to tell us how they use Maths in their daily work. Mr Malik is a software engineer and uses Maths all the time when he is writing code. He even created a game to show us how the software worked. Then we heard from Callum who runs a company involving small animals. He uses Maths each day for things like measuring how much food or water to give the animals and record the temperatures in the cages.

In class we worked on our times tables with a random partner, using arrays to help us.

We were also very lucky to go on a trip to Almond Valley Heritage Centre to take part in a Maths Trail. Here we found out how the farm used Maths in the past. We met the Miller who used to water wheel to power the wheel to grind the flour. Then the baker had to weigh the flour to make bread. We walked round the farm counting lots of different animals. This helped us gain knowledge for our Topic on Food and Farming.

Maths Week Scotland in P6

Maths Week P6

Miss Niven joined us for Maths Week and demonstrated how P6 could combine our maths skills with expressive arts, as they learnt about the role of stage management in theatre. The children learnt about stage directions, technical stage drawings, and setting a stage, and how these elements all use maths. They first measured out the space, applying their measuring and estimation skills, and then coordination skills were used for setting the stage. This was followed by scene changes, which encouraged an understanding of how time and coordinates are used in managing a stage production.

We were also lucky enough to have 2 visitors come into our classroom to explain how they use maths every day in their careers. Mrs Pennykid told us how Maths is so important not only in the running of the KNEC Community Listening project but also when she worked as a nurse, discussing what skills she needed to use on a daily basis. Mrs Nallathambi used jars and beads in a very ingenious way to demonstrate how pensions work and what strategies she employs on a daily basis. Following on from this the class researched a range of careers and were amazed just how many relied on maths in the world of work.

Linking curricular areas, we looked at which artists used maths in their work. From our research we found artists like Paul Klee, Piet Mondrian, Wassily Kandinsky and Georges Seurat to mention a few all used maths of some description in their art. We saw examples of pointillism, geometric shapes, tessellation and symmetry. We chose a particular artist and either recreated a famous piece or created our own in the style of the artist.

P3A Learning

We were learning to order number to 100. We were given a card with a number on it and had to get ourselves in the correct order. Then we had to make our number using tools in the classroom. We came up with lots of different ways. Some of us laid counters out in twos and explained our strategy to everyone else. Jude had the number 22 so had two lines of 11. Eli had 15 so had 2 groups of 7 plus a single counter. Next everybody in the class tried their strategy.

We are continuing to learn to write a description. We watched a video about giraffes, then discussed it and thought of adjectives to help describe a giraffe. We used a planning sheet to write done the information. The next day we used the planning sheet to write our description.

Fire Safety in P7

Today, we were lucky enough to have five fire fighters come to visit our school and teach us about fire safety. We learned how to keep safe on fireworks night and also top tips to help us if we were ever caught in a fire. P7 were very engaged with the talk and had some fantastic questions for them. They even got a comment about how wonderful an audience they were! Below are some pictures from the talk :

Future Oscar Winning Actors in East Calder Primary!

We have started the term with a very busy few weeks in Drama. It has been lovely working with every class and the children should be so proud of how much they have embraced their new learning opportunities in Drama, with a positive attitude and eagerness to learn. Well done everyone! Below are a few examples of some of the learning in Drama so far this term. We always start every Drama lesson with a game to get us warmed up and ready to learn.

Primary 6 pupils worked hard to create a short improvised drama using role-play cards and performing it for the class. We have been working on using a variety of facial expressions, projecting our voice and diction. We gave feedback on each performance linked to our co-created Success Criteria.

Primary 5 have also been working on short improvised dramas using Improv cards. Well done to these two fantastic learners who presented their short drama to the class using facial expressions and voice. In Primary 5 we are working on diction to make sure we speak clearly.

We have also started exploring the features of a script and we are learning to analyse scripted language. We are also practising reading from a script and we are excited to perform for the class using the Drama techniques we have been learning.

In Primary 3, we are learning to take on roles and use facial expressions, voice and movement in role-play. We have recently been engaging in “hot seating” in characters from stories. We have also been using freeze frames to act out chapters from “I Don’t Want To” by Bel Mooney. We have been in character and have been learning to use fantastic facial expressions to show different emotions.

In Primary 1, we have been playing games to practise using our voice, actions and facial expressions. We are starting to use our learning to act out stories. We have particularly enjoyed re-telling stories using puppets.

Watch this space for more regular updates about our learning in Drama! There are definitely some future performers in our school. Well done for all your hard work so far everyone!

Article 29: We have the right to develop our talents and abilities.

Lego Colosseum for Italy!

Hudson, Elias and Nathan – I am so impressed that you have taken on our context of Italy and worked on your own project at home. You created the inside of the colosseum, paying close attention to detail. In these pictures, we can see the gladiator battle scene – alongside the animals kept in cages below the wooden floors. You also stated that you attempted to make the outside (finding it very tricky, with its curved edge!). P7 loved hearing about why and where you put each piece of lego. They particularly enjoyed the emperor!

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.