Author: Miss Topping

When Nurse Sandra dropped by to do some routine growth checks, P2/1 had lots of questions for her. Happily Sandra had time to chat with children about how she uses literacy and maths in her job every day. Children were very interested in how neatly she wrote the numbers and letters down on record sheets, especially when it helped them to check who was tallest!

The class were also keen to ask about how to make sure they keep growing, and Sandra had some top tips about eating well and getting plenty of sleep. It was lovely to see the children showing our visitor how Respectful and Ready to Learn they can be – they were a great showcase for our school rules.

Children loved meeting the mascot of Maths Week Scotland, who is called Finfinity. We took part in the national challenge “Wild Maths” and took Finfinity out to our garden for some wild maths adventures! Children showed so much creativity by creating stories for their character, and helping him solve problems by counting and measuring. The next day we wrote story books to record the exciting adventures. They were so much fun to read, the children created some very interesting stories set in space, jungles, forests and fairyland!

P2/1 have measure the weight of all sorts of things this week, including their snacks and even themselves! The P1s are learning to use vocabulary like heavy, heavier, heaviest and light, lighter, lightest. They have learned that when two things weigh the same the scales are balanced.

P2s have been learning that we use grams and kilograms to measure weight. They have weighed things like shoes, calculators and books with a digital scale, and were very surprised by some of the amounts!

P2/1 are learning how to estimate and measure length this week. We’ve been measuring all sorts of things, including superhero footprints, classroom furniture, each other, and even Mrs Carty! P1s showed some brilliant counting skills as they used paper clips, pencils, cubes and their own feet to measure length. P2s learned about metres and centimetres, and searched the classroom for things that are bigger or smaller than a metre. The children showed great collaboration as they helped each other measure their items accurately from end to end, and used “White Hat Thinking” to check that their team-mates had their facts right!

P2/1 enjoy using books and stories to develop their mathematical understanding, sometimes they give us great ideas for new measuring missions!

P2/1 continue to enjoy lots of outdoor play and learning in our fabulous garden, recently renovated with huge thanks to the parent council who arranged for artificial grass, play bark and sturdy outdoor tables to be installed in the spring.

Children absolutely love using this area, so they’ve teamed up with P3/2 for a collaborative project to continue developing and improving the outdoor space. We got started this week by clearing out the summer’s debris, and have begun planting in the remaining area to welcome more nature. The children have big ideas and we’re only just getting started – we plan to invite families, neighbours and friends to help with a ‘gardening party’ very soon… watch this space!