Tag: Expressive Arts

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.

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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.

 

 

Learning in P2/1

We were lucky to be visited by Fischy Music. We had a great time in our workshop and then a concert in the afternoon. We really enjoyed dancing, singing and listening to the music played live on guitar and violin.
In art, we created a Fireworks picture. We used paints and a fork to make jagged shapes and then covered the paint in biodegradable glitter to make them sparkle like fireworks.
We discussed how to stay safe around fireworks and sparklers and learned about Guy Fawkes.


In maths, we are learning about 3D shapes. In P1 we are experimenting to see if the shapes roll, slide or stack. In P2 we are learning about the properties of 3D shapes- faces, vertices and edges.

Article 28: We have the right to an education.
Article 29: We have the right to develop our talents and abilities.

Learning inP2/1

This week has been Scots Week at East Calder. P2/1 have enjoyed listening to stories about Katie Morag. We were really surprised and excited to receive a letter from her! She was asking us to design a new tartan skirt. Her one had been ruined when she was trying to deliver the mail. We used our fine motor skills to use a ruler and created these fantastic tartans.
In music we’ve been learning to keep a steady beat by clapping and dancing along to Scottish music. This is our favourite song:

https://www.scottishbooktrust.com/songs-and-rhymes/katie-bairdie-audio

We did a brilliant job of reciting our poems in Scots and are really looking forward to hearing all the winners at our Scots school assembly next Friday.

(Article 28: We have the right to learn. Article 29: We have the right to develop our skills and abilities.)

 

P3a HWB

This week we have been learning about the well-being indicators Safe, Healthy, Active and Nurture. We discussed how we feel in different situations. We thought about how we know we are nurtured and how we are all unique. We designed back packs to show how we all look different and all like different things.

P5, P5/4 and P4 Fischy Music

We were lucky to have the opportunity to take part in a Fischy Music session last week. Everyone was so excited to see the people from Fischy Music who we have seen so many times on screen in Assemblies! We  sang songs that we know so well and we learned a few new songs too. One of the songs reminded us of the importance of friendship and the qualities that make a good friend.

We really enjoyed our learning and Miss Cameron, Miss Beattie and Miss Marra certainly spotted some future performers among us. We are looking forward to using some of the new songs we learned to support our learning in class.

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

P2/1 Learning this week

Primary 2/1 have been working hard this week.

We have taken a small break from our Romans topic and introduced a mini-topic about Pandas in response to questions the children had about the Red Pandas coming to the Five Sisters Zoo.  The children were very interested to learn that Red Pandas and Giant Pandas are not related and this made them more curious.  We made a list of what questions the children had about Pandas and then decided to watch factual videos to find our answers then make a Fact File about them.  The children also enjoyed following an artist to learn how to draw Giant Pandas.  So far we have been learning lots about Giant Pandas.

In numeracy Primary 2s are learning about money and Primary 1s are having more practise with addition.

In literacy Primary 1s are making great progress in their reading and our Primary 2s are learning about reading with fluency and expression as well as comprehension techniques.

At the start of the day before Register, the children have also enjoyed finishing off our Roman Colosseum display picture by adding Romans, gladiators and wild animals in the arena.

I hope you’ve all had a lovely weekend,

Mrs Meikle

P2/1 Learning This Week

Primary 2/1 – you have worked hard this week!

In Language, Primary 1 are practising their reading, writing and handwriting each week now.  The children are learning to read longer sentences using their phonics to sound out cvc and ccvc words.  Some children are also blending and reading much longer words using their phonics knowledge.  In writing we are working hard on thinking about all of the sounds in a word as we write it down.

In Language, Primary 2 practised Instructional Writing for the second time – this time we ‘walked through’ ‘How To Make A Jam Sandwich’.  The Primary 2s were very wise this week and remembered the rules from last week’s handwashing instructional writing.  Primary 2s were also practising spelling with their new phonic sounds – st, ft and mp (e.g. first, lift and bump).  They enjoyed learning to use a dictionary to look up some words as part of their Clarifying lesson in Comprehension.

In Numeracy, Primary 1 did more work on learning numbers 11-20 and Primary 2s learned their half-past times on digital.  The Primary 2s were also given some learner agency in this area and they enhanced a Time Traveller mini-whiteboard game that was introduced in the class earlier in the week.  The children went on to developing it further into an airport and train station context and one pupil created a detailed map of a train station and airport including clocks placed within it.  Some rich dialogue around time could be heard during this game.

In our Romans topic the whole class loved the Romulus and Remus mythical story about the alleged Founders of Rome who were raised by a she-wolf when they were babies.  The children made their own stick puppets and re-enacted the story through puppet drama.

In French we learned the weather and used weather sticks to interact with one another whilst asking ‘What’s the weather like?’ and to answer these : It’s a lovely day; It’s raining; It’s cloudy; It’s snowing; It’s cold.  The children also very much love when Tidot, our French mascot, visits the lesson.

In Word Boost, where we introduce four WOW words in a weekly story, the children very much loved dramatising this at the end of the week.  They were excellent at remembering their speaking parts and also used great listening skills whilst others were talking.

I hope you have a lovely holiday weekend, Primary 2/1.

Primary 1s, I look forward to hearing your class talks on your favourite animals next Tuesday.

Best wishes,

Mrs Meikle

 

 

 

 

Aargh Primary 2A!

In Primary 2A, we have been learning about pirates as our Topic. We were very excited to receive a letter from a real pirate who is going to help us with our learning.

We decided what we would like to learn about pirates and some of our questions have been answered in the interesting non-fiction book we have been reading. We even learned about some real famous pirates from the past. Blackbeard sounded the scariest. We wrote fantastic descriptions about him in Writing last week. Well done to Oscar C, Matthew and Isabella who were our amazing Writing stars last week. I wonder who will be the Writing stars this week?

Our pirate also asked us to learn about why pirates have flags on their ships. Well done to Hugo who knew that the reason for this is so that other ships would know pirates were approaching and the flag would scare them. Our pirate asked us to design a new flag for her ship using black paper and oil pastels or chalk. We used no more than two colours each and we did not share to make sure everyone was safe. We used pictures of pirate flags on the Smart Board to help us with our designs. We worked very hard and did an amazing job! We are still waiting to find out the winner. That will be a very hard decision.

   

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

 

 

P2/1 Learning

Dear Parents and Carers,

Primary 2/1 have been working hard this week and are also very excited about the Christmas period (and a special daily visit from a mischievous Elf called Jingle).

Numeracy

Primary 2s are learning about Arrays and finding different ways to experiment with this using the Smartboard, counters, whiteboards and Numicons.                  Primary 1s have been introduced to more Mathematics and learning about Weight and the concepts of Lighter and Heavier.  The children have enjoyed using classroom objects to experiment with this and deepen their learning.

Literacy

Primary 2s have been using different techniques to practise their spelling words. Primary 1s have been learning the sounds ‘w’ and ‘v’ and been trying out more cvc (consonant vowel consonant) words e.g. van and win etc.

Social Studies

In Topic Primary 2/1 are enjoying learning about Pirates and made a super effort in creating their own Treasure Maps after learning about the saying          ‘X Marks The Spot’ and how this was made popular by Robert Louis Stevenson in his famous book Treasure Island from 1883.  The children are keen to read this book when they are older.  The children added great detail to their maps, such as, volcanoes, bridges, rivers, palm trees etc.  The children then crushed their sheets to make it look ‘authentic’ and we discussed this fantastic word too!

 

Mrs Meikle

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