Category Archives: General Information

General Information, Primary 7

Weekly update…

I can’t believe this is the last month of this session and in only 4 weeks time your children will have finished at primary school. The year has flown by and the children have grown so much!

Monday was Miss Lenathen’s last day with us. She had a fabulous time and the pupils were feeling really sad to see her go. We wish her well for next year in her first year as class teacher.

The week has been very quiet compared to the last few, giving us a chance to revise some of the maths and literacy that we covered months ago.  We have been working on basic numeracy skills, multiplying in particular.

The weather has been kind and we have been able to go outside for PE and for our reading. That has been lovely.

The latest Sumdog competition has started today and finishes next Thursday. It is for West Lothian schools only, so we are really going for it this time. Pupils all have log-ins and can play at home.

On Monday we will start a block of Outdoor Learning with Mrs Murdoch. Pupils will be outside no matter the weather, so please ensure they have sensible shoes and raincoats if the forecast isn’t good.

General Information, Primary 4

This Week in P4

The children have been revising maths and completing some check-up tasks and activities.  They have been exploring measure further and are developing further understanding of numberlines when reading scales. We have made opportunities to practice our writing inspired by our outdoor learning walk this week.  The weather was kind to us and we were able to have another go at drawing detailed pictures of leaves etc. with the aid of magnifying glasses, and closer inspection of the bark!

Over the week the children have also been challenged to complete some team tasks in silence to extend there observation skills, challenge their communication skills and their consideration of others.  They found this hard at the start of the week but are showing signs of improvement as the week went on.  I will continue to challenge them next week too.

Class Posts, General Information, Primary 3

P3 visit to the Kelpies & Helix Park

Yesterday we went to visit the Kelpies.

We learned that Kelpies used to live in water and they would appear as beautiful horses to attract people closer.  If you touched them, you would stick to them and get pulled into the water.  Once you drowned you would be eaten!

The Kelpies are called Duke and Baron (Duke has his head down and Baron looks up towards the sky).  They were based on real Clydesdale horses (called Duke and Baron).  The artist’s name is Andy Scott.

Clydesdale horses are bigger and stronger than other breeds.  They used to pull boats along the canal!

Each Kelpie has 464 steel plates.  We worked out that must mean there are 928 steel plates altogether!  It took 7 people to build the Kelpies over 90 days.  They are 30m tall.  They were built in 2013.  When they opened there was a big party and the real Duke and Baron came too!  They each left one of their horseshoes behind as a gift.

The best way to view the inside of the Kelpies is to lie on your back.

In the afternoon we visited the Helix Park.

There was a massive slide which everyone loved!  It was a bit scary though.  Lots of us challenged ourselves when we felt a bit scared of heights!

 

Class Posts, General Information, Primary 7

So, there goes another very busy week for P7…

As well as Inveralmond CHS transition on Wednesday – Friday, pupils had to fit in West Lothian Netball Championships and Athletics Championships.

All our routines and timetables have changed due to all these events, and well done to pupils for managing to keep going. It can be really difficult to keep up when everything is changing. Even for those not involved in the big events this week, things have been very different.

Well done to our sports teams as they have done very well representing the school, some even bringing home medals. Mr Stewart has all the information on our twitter feed.

This week our main focus in class was debating. This builds on our learning about how things work at The Scottish Parliament, and links to our current block of non-fiction writing. Topics so far have been about the World Cup and driverless cars. It has been great to see how carefully the pupils have listened and responded to each other. They are all improving in their use of rhetorical questions and counter-argument.

 

General Information, Primary 3/2

P2 Weekly Update

In Science this week we have been exploring examples of food chains and finding out how animals and plants depend on each other for food.

In numeracy we have been learning how to round numbers to the nearest ten.  Sometimes we want to add numbers in our head but the numbers are a bit tricky.  We can estimate the answer and it is easier if we use numbers that are in 10s.  Rounding means we find the nearest 10.

In PE, we have continued to develop our skills in tennis and handball.

In grammar we have been learning about antonyms.  These are words with opposite meanings and proved a bit tricky for some of us as we kept getting mixed up with synonyms from last week.  We will continue to work on antonyms and synonyms next week.

Hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine and remembering to stay safe – remember your sun cream and hats!

Class Posts, General Information, Primary 7

Another hectic week for P7!

P7 have hardly stood still this week. Some pupils have had a successful sports transition day at high school, making lots of new friends already even though they were nervous at the start. The formal transition process is building up pace next week for pupils who will be attending Inveralmond CHS as they will be spending 3 days there  – don’t forget to download the Google Expedition app before you go!

Several pupils had a great new experience at the West Lothian Triathlon yesterday. They enjoyed it very much even if cycling in a dripping wet swimming costume was a bit weird!

In class, pupils have continued to learn about area in maths, pilgrimages in RME – focussing on the Western Wall in Jerusalem this week, and ways to generate electricity in science. Pupils have been working on functional writing and using their experiences of building wind machines to write instructions.

General Information, Primary 6

Archery Fun at Whithaugh Park

Here are some photos of the children in Group 2 having fun at archery.  It was lovely to see everyone’s sportsmanship as they supported their peers in learning this new sport.  By the end of our session, everyone’s skills had improved and we even had a number of bullseyes!  The children were quite surprised to see how competitive Mrs Clyne can be and even she managed to achieve a few bullseyes.

Class Posts, General Information, Primary 7

This (short but busy) Week in P7

What a whirlwind few days it has been. Miss Lenathen has been squeezing in lessons in between all the other activities, including practising for our assembly today. Thank you to the parents who attended and for their positive comments and feedback.

The highlight of the week had to be our visit to The Risk Factory. The class have been continuing to reflect on the scenarios they encountered and on what they would do better/more safely next time. It is a great learning experience for P7 pupils as they begin to be more independent and venture further afield. Thankfully, at The Risk Factory, they are allowed to make risky decisions in a safe environment – was your child one of those who went onto the railway line to get a £20 note, or did they run back into a burning building?

Just a reminder for pupils that the latest Sumdog National Competition started today, and that all pupils have been entered. It is easy to log on and join in from home. As soon as they start answering questions it will count towards our school total.

General Information, Primary 3/2

P2 Weekly Reflection 11th May

Although this has been a short week we have still been learning lots in class.  We used a word processor to develop our understanding of typography.  Typography is when writers present text in different ways, this might include the font, the style and the size.  We practised using the word processor to change text.  In science we have been learning about mini-beasts and Ethan reminded us that ladybirds have a red shell so that the birds don’t eat them, this helps to protect them.  Leo told us that he learnt that insects have 6 legs apart from spiders which have 8 legs.  Darcy said that she had learnt that insects have 3 parts to their body; head, thorax and abdomen.  Freya told us that some mini-beasts have four wings.  In grammar, we have been learning about synonyms and the children worked in groups to identify synonyms for the words ‘bad’, ‘good, ‘happy’ and ‘sad’.

Class Posts, General Information, Primary 7, Sporting Activities

Fantastic Footballers!

Congratulations to Toby, Liam, Sonny and David who had their places at the Inveralmond Academy of Football confirmed today.

The boys were selected after 2 rounds of football trials and an informal interview. The course is not just about improving football skills, it is about developing the whole footballer so sportsmanship and friendship are key attributes. The boys also have to show that they can maintain high standards of work across all other subjects in order to remain on the course.

Really well done boys!