P1 parents who requested to have their child set up with a home  access account on EPIC (online resource to support reading at home) should have received an invite email today. The email will have a link to click on which will activate your account. If anyone has not received an email please let Mrs Clyne know. Many thanks.

Hello everyone, we hope you’ve had a good week and enjoyed all the wonderful sunshine!  This week there has been a lot of great learning taking place both through written tasks and active tasks.  We’ve heard about lots of creative activities with people making models and pictures, painting beautiful under the sea lanturns for their bedrooms, building planters, baking yummy delights (including dandelion honey), and even making a video as if they were a granny looking back on what life was like during the coronavirus.

In Literacy our learning has been focused around the ‘ai’ sound and the tricky word ‘there’.  We have been writing our spelling words in rainbow colours, making ‘ai’ words by cutting and sticking initial, middle and end sounds and we played a Popping Balloons game which was great fun!  We have also been trying to remember our sun, boat and sea letters to help us when writing.

In Maths we have been developing our understanding of fractions and have consolidated our knowledge of halves and quarters.  We’ve been drawing some shapes and marking them to show a whole, a half and a quarter.  We practised our sandwich making skills and identified halves and quarters.  Some of us went on a fraction hunt around our homes and came up with some great examples of halves and quarters.

In our topic work this week we have been imagining we are under the sea and we have thought about some of the wonderful things we would see, hear, touch and smell.  People also discussed how they might feel living under the sea and what would amaze them and possibly scare them about being under the sea.  Some of us made kaleidoscopes which was great fun and others did some research into the different creatures that live in the sea.  Did you know that an octopus can flash different colours?  Well done to those who were able to explain that the ocean is dark at the bottom because the sunlight does not reach there but light at the top because the sunlight is absorbed and reflects the blue colour of the water.   Many of us have enjoyed watching the videos about the sea creatures and their habitats.  We are all learning so many new and interesting things.

In science lots of us have been carrying out some personal research into different minibeasts and have been sharing lots of good facts.  We’ve seen people continue their hunt for minibeasts and others matching up the habitats with the different creatures.  Well done to everyone who was able to label the parts of the minibeast correctly too.

We are loving being able to share in all your learning experiences so please do continue to send your photos and videos or even just an email with some news of what you’ve been doing.   If possible can we ask when sending your emails that you copy both of us in because Mrs Clyne is rubbish and keeps forgetting to forward them to Mrs Smith!  This would be a great help and means we can both see all the wonderful learning that’s happening.  Thank you.

With regards to reading, try to enjoy sharing books as much as you can and Mrs Clyne will get on to sorting EPIC as quickly as she can, this week has been very busy with report writing!

Wishing you all a lovely weekend.

Mrs Clyne & Mrs Smith

Hello everyone, we’ve made it through another week of Lockdown and what a busy week you’ve all had!  Thanks for all the emails with photos and videos of the chilren’s learning, it’s great to see how you are all getting on.  I hope you’re finding the feedback useful too.  It was also so lovely to chat to you and the children on the phone as this week, if I haven’t managed to get you yet, I’ll try again next week.

In Literacy we were learning the ‘er’ sound and I received some beautiful flowers showing ‘er’ words, what lovely colouring in!  Some people also played the card game and were very quick to read the words while others decided to create a wordsearch with ‘er’ words.  I do love a wordsearch and while tidying out over the Easter break I found a book of them so I have managed to grabs some moments of peace!  I hear some of you had good fun playing the Roll and Read game, I’ll perhaps try this at home with Euan too.

In Maths we have continued our theme of money and have further developed our recognition of all coins up to £2.  We have begun to think about working out change from 20p; some people even worked out change from 50p and £1, fantastic effort!  Lots of you enjoyed making coin rubbings with some of you looking at American and Euro coins too.  We enjoyed watching Elmo’s videos about Finance for Kids, click here if you didn’t get the chance to watch them or want to watch again.

In topic work this week, many of the children received the news that they had been successful in gaining the job of Marine Biologist, well done! If you haven’t returned your application form you can still email this to Mrs Smith or I.  I hope you had good fun discussing the most important thing about sea creatures and the sea.   In our house we enjoyed watching a documentary about barracuda fish and also the live shark feed at the National Marine Aquarium.   It’s been great watching your videos of your scuba diving adventures and seeing all the fantastically designed scuba diving equipment, well done everyone!

In science the minibeast topic continues to provide a lot of enjoyment with many of you continuing to hunt for minibeasts in and around your garden and during your daily walks or cycles.  Some of you made some super minibeasts from paper plates, fingerprints and handprints, playdough and junk materials.  Also, well done to those who of you who developed your understanding of life cycles – we had people learning about the life cycles of frogs and butterflies.

This week saw the release of the Clyne butterflies .  We have really enjoyed watching the life cycle of a butterfly through looking after our own caterpillars and would highly recommend this experience.  If you are interested we got ours from insectlore.co.uk.  Please remember to share photos of your caterpillars if you do get some!

Following some questions earlier in the week I have been having a look at how I can best support the children’s progress in reading.  I’ve been having a look at two websites, EPIC and Oxford Owl.  I know some of you have already been using Oxford Owls and that’s great, keep up the good work.  Using Oxford Owls you can continue working through the books similarly to how we do in class.  Check out www.oxfordowl.co.uk, click on My Class Login at the top and use these login details to help you get started (Class Name is lvpsprimary1 and Class Password is lockdown).

I have also been looking at EPIC which I know a number of other classes are using to support their reading for enjoyment.  Using EPIC I am able to allocate particular books to individual children so it can be tailored to suit individual needs/interests.  In order to use this allocation facility and allow you access to the books on EPIC outwith school hours I need to input your parents email address so if you would be interested in using this please have an adult email me and I’ll sort it out.

Finally, I just want to take this opportunity to thank you all for your continued hard work and enthusiasm as we carry on learning from home, it’s not easy but you are all doing a fantastic job! Remember the learning grid is there to provide support for you and can be used as much or as little as you want.  Each family situation is different and you must make things work for you.  Don’t make comparisions with other households because that will cause unnecessary stress and pressure!  Do your best as only you know what is best for you and your family!

Although next week’s learning grid will be posted on Sunday, there is no expectation for children to complete any work on Monday and Tuesday as these are ‘holidays’ for the children.  We are simply putting it up so people can plan their week according to individual circumstances.

Thanks again for your support and kind wishes.

Mrs Clyne xx

Good morning everyone.

I hope you all had a relaxing weekend and enjoyed the sunshine!

Although this term is going to be very different to the one we envisaged, Mrs Smith, Miss Maclachlan and I will continue to support your learning as best as we can from home.  Here is the Window into Learning for the term with an overview of what we hope to achieve.  Initally it will look a lot but please don’t panic because when we break it down into the different weeks it will be okay and together we will get there!  Take one day at a time!

P1-Window-into-Learning-Term-4

We have 6 butterflies this morning. It’s lovely watching them stretch and strengthen their wings. We’ve put some orange in for them to eat which they seem to be enjoying. Enjoy your weekend.

Love Mrs Clyne xx

Hi everyone!

As we are still in Lockdown this is a reflection with a difference!  Instead of writing this with your help, I am sitting here scrolling through all the lovely emails from your parents.  It is great to see you all having such fun as you continue your learning at home.  Thank you to all your parents for their continued support in your learning, it is very much appreciated.

This week in literacy we have been learning the sound ‘ur’ and we were looking for ‘ur’ words in the story of Sam the Cat.  Well done to Zac, Eva and Georgie who found the 6 words – fur, curls, purrs, turn, hurt and nurse and to Sahasra who found 8 ‘ur’ words in her Mr Mischief  book.

I know many of you enjoyed the Piggy Bank activity as well and were able to identify the correct coins.  I particularly liked Lochlann’s idea of writing his spelling words on the pavement with chalk and on the window using whiteboard pens – I do hope you helped mum clean the window afterwards!

In Maths we were focusing on developing our understanding of money and in particular recognising all coins up to £2.  

Many of you developed your coin recognition by creating shops and cafes at home, what a shame we aren’t allowed to go out or I could have popped round and done some shopping or grabbed a cuppa!

I hope you enjoyed the topmarks game, it proved to be a great hit with Euan in our house.

The work which Miss Whigham set us on the topic of Minibeasts has been very well received with lots of you taking advantage of the nice sunny weather to get outside and engage in many of the activities.  There’s been lots of minibeast hunts and some of you have done some great fingerprint painting of insects and bugs.

Isla and Georgie’s mums have chosen some books with a minibeast theme and linked a number of activities to these.  Georgie’s mum chose Caterpillar Butterfly by Vivian French and Georgie counted a number of minibeasts before creating a bar graph while Isla read What the Ladybird Heard and coloured in a beautifully symmetrical butterfly.

A special mention goes to this young lady who has made a tremendous effort this week in creating a wormery, a windchime and a bug hotel.  She also created her very own minibeast workout which she challenged Mrs Smith, Miss Whigham and I to complete.  I’m hoping it’s a sunny day tomorrow so I can do my challenge.

Our new topic of Under the Sea seems to be a popular one with a number of you having returned your Marine Biologist Application Form already, remember you can still send this in if you haven’t already done so.  Hopefully we’ll find out lots of information about the plants and creatures that live in the sea including how they manage to survive there.  Remember if you come across any interesting facts send them in so we can share them with everyone.

A big thank you to all those who have sent in their animal talks, including Lucia who spoke about hedgehogs and Sophie who spoke about bunnies.  Did you know that bunnies can see behind themselves without turning their heads?

Well it’s been a busy week and I look forward to receiving your emails next week with even more of your learning.  Next week’s learning grid will be posted on Monday but until then relax and enjoy some family time in the sun. You are all stars, keep smiling!

Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Clyne

The caterpillars have now been visiting for 3 weeks. There hasn’t been much action for us to see this past week as they have been in their chrysalides but inside a magical transformation is taking place!   We are looking forward to seeing them hatch out as beautiful butterflies soon.