This week our highlight was sharing in the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning as we raised funds for MacMillian Cancer Support.  Thanks to all who gave so generously.

The children participated in some great discussions this week around our Farming topic.  We have been learning how different plants and animals are farmed and about farming through the seasons.  Rhys said he particularly enjoyed watching the video programmes about life on a farm during the summer and autumn.  Next week we will learn about life on the farm through the winter and spring.  Luke N said before the video he didn’t know that chickens lived in “little cages”.  He thinks it is better to have free range chickens so the animals have space to move about.  Luke C enjoyed learning about the different names for pigs; weaners, baconers and porkers.  Emma M was intrigued to find out that deer are killed at only 14 months for their meat.  We learned that deer meat is called venison.  Kaitlyn commented on the fact that deer can grunt, we didn’t expect them to make this noise, we thought it sounded funny.

In problem solving we continued to develop our use of lists by making tables to work out possible scores for a dart game.  Rhys said he enjoyed this activity and was proud of himself as Mrs Clyne praised him for supporting his peers in their learning.  There was a lot of super discussion during this task.

Some of us received our signed books from Elizabeth McKay yesterday which we had been eagerly awaiting.  Olly said he enjoyed writing a letter to New Lanark to thank them for allowing us to attend the Book Festival.  Most of the children enjoyed the Annie McLeod Experience best.  Perhaps some of you will be able to visit New Lanark as a family and learn more about Annie McLeod.

Have a lovely weekend. Mrs Clyne and family are off to explore the National Museum of Rural Life.

Well done to our pupil of the week for demonstrating excellent understanding of food sources and being able to sort foods into those which come from plants and those which come from animals.

Although this has been a short week we have still done lots of great learning.  We had loads of fun when we joined with P4 to take part in a workout to raise funds for Lepra.  Thank you to all those who made a donation, it is much appreciated.  If you still have money to return please send it in to the school office as soon as possible please.  In P.E. we have been practising our large ball skills with a particular focus on dribbling the ball with both our hands and feet.  Mrs Clyne was very impressed with how well we managed to keep the ball under control.

In Maths, we used base 10 materials to explore place value of 2-digit and 3-digit numbers.  We are becoming more confident to identify the value of a digit within these numbers.  Perhaps you could test us when we spot numbers in the local environment?

In reading we have been learning about fact and opinion and while Mrs Clyne led the guided reading sessions we were asked to make up our own facts and opinions about Scotland.  Anna told us that Scotland is a country;  Emma M said that Scotland is at the top of the U.K. and Kaitlyn reminded us that Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland.  Most of us thought that Scotland was a cold and wet country.

During our food and farming learning this week we had an interesting discussion about the source of our food.  We worked in groups to sort foods into those which came from plants and those which came from animals.  We were a little bit confused about chocolate and had a good debate.  Kalista told us that chocolate is made from cocoa beans which come from trees but Kayden and Jarrad said that chocolate has milk in it which comes from a cow.  We decided that it would go in the middle as it came from both sources.

Have a good weekend and enjoy chatting with the children about their learning.

On Wednesday we went to the Book Festival at New Lanark.  Luke N told us that he particularly enjoyed listening to Elizabath MacKay reading her book Wee Granny’s Magic Bag and the Pirates.  Most of the children enjoyed the Annie MacLeod Experience where we learned about life in the past and most of us did not think children had a good life in those days.  Emma M told us that she thought it was a dangerous and unhealthy thing to do climbing under the machines like Annie did.  Sadly the weather was not very nice during our visit but William said he enjoyed running in the rain!

In Maths we have been using our addition and subtraction to complete magic squares.  Mrs Clyne challenged us to make our own magic squares but most of us found this quite tricky.  Perhaps you could practise some at home?

Yesterday, Mrs Hill came to talk to us about life on her cattle farm.  Her husband has about 100 cows which he farms for beef.  His cows will eventually end up in the supermarkets for us to buy.  Mrs Hill spoke about the different types of machines and the jobs they do.  Jarrad told us that he liked learning about the combine harvester.  Lots of the children asked excellent questions and we learned lots.  One interesting fact is that the cows will eat approximately 1000 bales of silage over the winter months.  During the winter the cows are moved inside to the barn and Mr Hill’s friend sends his sheep to stay because it is too cold up on his farm further north. Kayden and Freya reminded us that having the sheep to stay was a good thing because they eat the grass right down which helps it to grow well again the following year.

Today in assembly Mrs Mill was talking about compassion.  We learned to look out for those around us and help people when they are feeling sad or needing help.  Emma M explained that if we do a small act of kindness for one person, they feel good and will then feel like doing something kind for someone else and the kindness spreads.  Let’s see if we can spread some acts of kindness, I wonder how many acts of kindness Mrs Clyne will see over the next week?

Please remember the children are off on Monday and Tuesday next week.  I hope you all have a lovely holiday weekend and look forward to hearing all the children’s news on Wednesday.