collaborative learning – East Calder Primary School Blog

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.

Primary 3A Learning

We have been learning about nouns and adjectives. We worked together to come up with adjectives for the noun ‘apple’. Then we split into random partnerships and worked together to find adjectives for the nouns ‘car & dog’. We thought about our senses to help us come up with words. What did a car look like, sound like, smell like and if we were to touch it, what would it feel like?

Then we started learning about writing a description. To do this we read a passage and had to find all the nouns in it. We learned that a noun is a naming word for a people, place or thing. Next we used the same passage and highlighted all the adjectives. We thought of other describing words that could be used.

Learning in P3/2

We have been so busy over the last few weeks and we have been really enjoying our learning. This is a summary of some of our learning highlights which we would like to share.

Topic – Ancient Egypt

We are really interested in our Topic, Ancient Egypt and we have enjoyed leading our learning. We wanted to learn more about the Pyramids of Giza and we started off by following a tutorial to create picture of the pyramids. They look great and we were so focused on our learning.

We also learned more about how and why the pyramids were built. We have been reading books and watching videos in class to support our learning. One of our favourite recent learning activities was a STEAM Challenge (Science, Technologies, Engineering, Art and Mathematics.) We had to create a 3D model of the Pyramids of Giza. This was fun because we worked in partners and we chose how to create our model. Some of us used paper, some of us used construction or other strategies.

We loved talking about our strategies and the tools we chose to use. Creativity was one of the main skills we identified as part of our Success Criteria. We also had to use great teamwork with our partner to be successful. We currently have our pyramids displayed in our classroom and we love to show them to anyone visiting our classroom.

Numeracy and Maths

We continue to engage in Number Talks every day to consolidate Numeracy skills and to talk about different Numeracy strategies. We also engage in Numeracy every day and one day a week, we focus on a Maths topic. At the moment, we are exploring fractions in Maths, and in Numeracy, we are learning division strategies. We are starting to understand the link between fractions and division. The following learning activities are examples of our learning from the last few weeks.

Using arrays to divide numbers and consolidate multiplication.

Using Numeracy Tools to make equal groups and write the algorithms in our Maths and Numeracy jotters.

Working in random partners and in groups to solve division calculations by making equal groups. We always share our strategies and help each other. We love talking about our learning.

Literacy – Writing

We are working vey hard in Writing. Primary 2 are moving on to writing a Procedure and Primary are continuing to work on writing explanation texts. We are still splitting into two groups for Writing at the moment due to P2 and P3 focusing on different genres. Mrs Robertson will soon work with P3 pupils, and P2 pupils will work with Miss Marra.

We are excited to share more of our writing with you. Watch this space and we will share more examples of our writing.

We recently peer-assessed our writing again to give each other feedback and identify next steps. We were very focused and used the skill “communication” to talk about our ideas and listen to others in our group.

Literacy – Grammar

We are learning to identify and use past and present tense verbs in Grammar. We are consolidating our learning and applying our learning in different contexts. We recently engaged in a learning activity that we loved so much, we asked to do it again! Miss Marra gave each of us a card with verb on it. Some verbs were past tense and some were present tense. We had to find the person who had the same verb as us in a different tense e.g. walk – walked. This is how we were split into random partners. We then wrote a sentence for each verb on our cards. Mrs Mitchell worked with a group, and Miss Marra supported us with our learning. Our challenge was to make up our own sentences with past and present tense verbs which we really enjoyed, especially when we made up silly sentences.

This is Blair’s past and present tense verbs with her sentences above which she created with a partner. She confidently shared her sentences with the class and could talk about how she knew which verb was past tense and which verb was written in the present tense.

Music

We look forward to our music workshop with Dave every Wednesday. We all had the opportunity to play instruments this week which was amazing! Miss Marra forgot to take photos, so we will share some photos of us playing instruments next week. We learned to make loud and quiet sounds with our instruments to tell a story.

Last week, we used sound and learned how music can be used to tell stories. We also took part in acting out the story to help us understand it better. Some of us were even talking about the links with Guided Reading and Reading Comprehension. This role-play activity in Music helped us to understand the story.

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

Active Spelling in P3/2

We are learning the “sh” sound this week and some of us are learning more CVC words. We have learned the “sh” sound before but we are excited to learn some new words with this sound.

We take part in Active Spelling every Monday morning to help us practise reading and writing our words. One of our favourite learning activities is “Musical Words.” We play music and dance to burn off some energy and when the music stops we find a word on our word list to write. Sometimes our words are scattered around the classroom on sticky notes. We work in random partners and choose a word to write. We also have the opportunity to write a sentence. We write on the tables with white board pens which is a fun way to write our words. We share the words we have written too. This is a fun way to be introduced to new words and we told Miss Marra that this game is one of our favourite learning activities.

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

P3 Learning

We are continuing our learning about using question marks. This week we worked with random partners to come up with questions about a picture. We wrote them on sticky notes so we could display them and remind ourselves what to do.

In Numeracy we have been learning about Fact families. A fact family is made up of three numbers and can be made up of at least four math facts. For example, if a child knows that 3 + 4 = 7 then they can also deduce that 4 + 3 = 7 and 7 – 4 = 3 and 7 – 3 = 4.

In Literacy we worked on the discussion, “Should children be allowed screen time?”. We had a great discussion about it and came up with lots of arguments for and against. Ask your child what they think about it.

Literacy and Numeracy in P3/2

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

In Reading Comprehension, we are focusing on prediction this term. We learned that “prediction” means having a good guess about what we think will happen next in a text. Texts come in a variety of different forms and we used an exciting picture from a web site called “Once Upon a Picture.” Miss Marra asked us “what do we notice and what do we wonder?” We shared our ideas and used clues to predict what we think would happen next. One of our favourite parts of this task was working in “random partners.” We have been using our randomiser wheel or our magic box to choose a name at random. This is how we find out who we are going to be working with and it means we can work with different people each time.

We made some great predictions and shared our ideas confidently with the class. We worked well as part of a team which is one of the skills we identified when we co-created or Success Criteria. Miss Marra was impressed by how well we worked together on this task.

In Numeracy, we have started to explore addition strategies this week. We are learning to use the CPA Approach – concrete, pictorial and abstract. We started by adding Mathematical vocabulary to our Maths and Numeracy Learning Wall that we can use to help us when we learn addition. We came up with plus, add and addition and we are going to keep adding more. We also added vocabulary to support us with the other three operations (subtraction, multiplication and division.) We will re-visit this vocabulary and add more as part of our learning process.

We worked in random partners today and use our Numeracy Tools to show a calculation that was written on the board. We shared the strategy we used to calculate the answer and how we used the Tools to support our learning. We were provided with a challenge once we solved the first problem. We loved sharing our strategies with the class. In this photo below, Caelin and Olivia worked very well as part of a team to add 22 + 9. They could confidently explain how they solved the calculation.

One of our amazing learners was challenged even further in his group and was introduced to column addition. This is very early in primary 3; however, he was provided with the opportunity to learn this strategy and he then used his learning to teach others in his group. This learner was very proud to share his learning and support his peers.

P3B Dictionary Skills

The Lions and Giraffes Reading groups were learning to use a dictionary as a tool to support their learning. We started by finding out the meaning of some words in their Reading books; however, we then asked Miss Marra to give us different words to find. It was like a game, using the letters in the words to find them in the dictionary. We learned that the word “definition” is the meaning of words. We enjoyed finding out the definition to some words we already know, and we learned some new words too.

Miss Marra was impressed with the teamwork that was going on, as we all helped each other and we were very focused on our learning.

A special well done to Aria who was very eager to help others find the words once you felt confident. This was lovely to see, Aria. Well done!

P3a – Fractions on a Number Line

Today we came into class to several pieces of tape on the floor. We tried to think why they were there. Mrs Spence helped by placing a 0 at one end and a 1 at the other. As a class we worked out that they were number lines. Mrs Spence then put a blank piece of card right in the middle between the 0 & 1 and asked us what would go there? We then had to write the answer on the card. It was 1/2. We then put another piece of card in the middle between the 0 and 1/2. We worked out this would be 1/4. Then we put another piece between the 1/2 & 1 and worked out it needed to be 3/4. We then extended the line to 2 and had to work out what fractions went where. Then we split into groups and tried to complete the task. Some of us managed to work in 1/2’s from 0 to 5!

A Very Busy Start to the Term in P3B

Welcome back everyone! We have had a very busy few weeks in P3B. We have been working hard to create posters about the “Zones of Regulation.” Each class has a chart and we use our names to show how we are feeling by placing our names in either the green, red, blue or yellow zones. This is a great way for us to talk about our feelings and we shared strategies that can help us regulate our emotions. We were so excited to visit P1 and P2/1 this week to share our learning with the younger children.

We had some great ideas, using our own experiences to help us. Many of us suggested strategies such as telling our trusted adult, taking deep breaths, taking five minutes to have some quiet time, brain breaks, write a note in our Worry Box, go to the Safe Space. The children were confident individuals as they spoke clearly and were eager to show the younger children the pictures on their posters. Well done everyone! Thank you so much to Mrs Murdoch, Ms Rutherford and the children in Primary 2/1 and Primary 1 for allowing us to come to your class.

This term, we are learning to summarise texts in Reading Comprehension and we are learning to write a Narrative text in Writing. We decided to link these two areas by summarising an example of well-known narrative texts. We had a choice between “Hansel and Gretel,” “Little Red Riding Hood,” Rapunzel” and ” “Goldilocks and the Three Bears.” We worked in random partners to read the text and write a short summary. We also had to write words down about who, what, why, where and when? This encouraged us to think about the Orientation section of a Narrative text.

In Maths, we have continued to consolidate our learning about Compass Directions. We practised all the directions we learned last term and worked in random partners to use compass directions on a map. One of our favourite days was when we took our learning outside. We try to take part in outdoor learning at least once a week if possible. Everyone was excited to practise compass directions in the playground and we used great vocabulary to demonstrate our learning.

Thank you to this amazing learner for volunteering to be our “human compass.” You did a great job following the directions you were given and you helped remind everyone about North West, South West, North East and South East.

We then played a game called “Captain’s Coming” where we had to listen to the instructions and use our learning about Compas s Directions to help us. As you can see, we all really enjoyed our learning and we had a discussion to remind us the purpose of playing this game. Some of the children said it was helpful to have objects or areas as reference points in the playground to help them remember the directions.

Article 28: We have the right to learn.

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

Article 13: We have the right to find out things and share what we think with others.

Article 12: We have the right to be heard.

Snapshot of Learning in P3B

We have been taking part in “choral counting” in Number Talks. We count together as a class, usually skip counting, and then we look for patterns. Miss Marra asks us the questions “what do you notice? What do you wonder?” This gives us the chance to talk about patterns and share our strategies. In this choral count, we were skip counting in 3’s.

I noticed all the number going up in order, adding 3 each time. Lexi

The first digit of each number gets higher to show that the numbers are getting higher e.g. 1, 2, 3. Struan

I noticed that in the bottom row when you add the digit in each number together, they make either 6 or 9. Finlay

We are continuing to practise reading and writing Fry’s words in class. On the weeks when we are working on a Phonics sound, we still practise reading and writing Fry’s words during Smart Start. We love writing our words on the desks because it is a fun way to write them and it helps us to practise spelling them correctly.

We are enjoying our Ancient Egyptian Topic and we have been provided with opportunities to lead our own learning. We asked Miss Marra if we could learn more about mummification so we watched a video, explaining the process and then we had a go ourselves. We mummified dolls and we even had a go mummifying our partners. Luckily no organs were removed! We remembered to start from the head down. Two of the most important skills we had to use were communication and teamwork. This is what we said about our learning.

I loved it so much because it was so much fun! Aria

That was so good. I remembered to start at the head. Tyler

I started at the feet by mistake but then I started again and remembered to start at the head. Isla

I’ve learned more about what mummification is and how they do it. Emmi

I already knew lots of facts about this but I liked sharing what I know. Peter

Article 13: We have the right to find out things and share what we think with others.

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