Category Archives: Thinking Skills

Food Technology, Literacy, P1, Problem Solving, Thinking Skills, Uncategorized

P1c Learning Update 29 April

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Miss McDermott and Mrs Smith were delighted to see us all back safely for our last term together as P1c. We also welcomed 2 new children to our class and we hope that they enjoy learning and taking part in all the super activities at Linlithgow Primary School with us.

This term one of our topics is Fairy Tales and Traditional Stories and we have started this by reading a  rhyming and lift the flap story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Unfortunately as you know, Goldilocks is rather naughty in the story so we made and displayed some WANTED posters.

Our first team challenge this term was based on the book “A Chair for Baby Bear”.

We worked in teams of 3 to design and build new chairs for our own baby bear using different construction materials. We had to make sure that he would fit comfortably on the chair and that the chair would not fall over.  As you will see from the photographs most of the groups came up with fantastic designs to complete the challenge.

Our second team challenge was to retell the  Goldilocks story using puppets and trying to use “character voices”.  First of all we made the stick puppets and then decided who would be each character.  This was quite tricky as there were 4 characters and only 3 of us in each group. Miss McDermott was very pleased as she did not need to help any of the groups to sort this out!  We then had some practice time before we performed our puppet shows to each other.  There was much laughter at our different “bear” voices!

We have also enjoyed reading the story “Who’s Been Eating My Porridge?” by Nick Ward which includes a very strange porridge monster and a porridge party.

So we decided to end the week by having our very own porridge tasting party, helped of course by Mrs Smith!  We all tried some plain porridge and some sweet porridge to see which one we liked best.  Some of us however, didn’t like any of them (as you might be able to tell from our faces!!) but we did try them which was the important thing.

 

 

 

Creativity, P1, Parents, Partnership Working, Problem Solving, Science, STEM, Technology, Thinking Skills

P1c Primary Engineers – 17th March

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As part of British Science Week we have been revisiting our learning about engineers. We love to build things but this week we have also been learning about designing things too.

Along with lots of other classes in school we are taking part in the Primary Engineers competition which is quite tricky for P1! We have been reading lots of robot stories to help us get some ideas for designing and making our own robots and also thinking about jobs that robots could do to help people.

We worked with a partner to make our robots and could choose whether to use construction materials or junk. Everyone’s model had to include a “button” to turn it on and off!

We drew pictures of our robots and labelled them for the competition. We also had to write a sentence explaining what our robot could do. Here are just a few of them.

Sophia’s mum came into class to tell us all about her job as a civil engineer.  We enjoyed looking at the fantastic photos of the Queensferry Crossing as it was being built and also seeing some real engineers’ plans.  We asked lots of questions.

Thank you very much to Sophia’s mum for leaving her special Health and Safety clothing for us to try on too!

 

 

Creativity, P1, Problem Solving, Thinking Skills

P1c Bird Activity Afternoon – 31 January

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This afternoon we read the story Charlie Crow in the Snow by Paula Metcalf. We learned that some birds like swallows fly away to warmer countries in the winter and some birds like Charlie stay at home in Scotland.

As you will see from the photographs we then took part in three different bird themed activities.  One of these was a challenge to work with a partner to build a bird house that could stand up without support . After many attempts, some of the results were very impressive indeed!

We also made model birds using plasticine and craft materials.  Some of the girls helped Miss McDermott to prepare the resources and practised counting in 2s at the same time.

Mrs Smith helped us to make bird feeders for our gardens so that birds like Charlie won’t go hungry in the winter.  Some of us were not overly keen on this activity as you can see by our faces and we certainly didn’t want to eat them!!

PS

Apologies for some of the rather blurry pictures today – it seems the camera lens had some bird food mixture on it!

 

Community, Creativity, Curriculum, Digital Technology, Health and Wellbeing, Literacy, Outdoor Learning, School Closure, Thinking Skills

World Book ‘Snowy’ Day Challenges

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Tomorrow is World Book Day. In school we had planned to have  lots of activities related to the enjoyment and importance of reading. Due to the weather, however, we would love it if you all were able to complete a reading challenge in the snow.

Here are a few suggestions.

 

  • Read a book while out in the snow?
  • Create a character from a book in the snow?
  • Build an outdoor book stand?
  • Read aloud outside in the snow?
  • Write some WOW words in the snow
  • Design a picture/scene from your favourite book in the snow.

Anything you do please take a quick picture if possible – Tweet your pictures, share on GLOW or bring into school to show us when we return.

Happy snowy reading

Mr Taylor

Health and Wellbeing, P1, Science, Thinking Skills, Uncategorized

This week’s learning in P1a – 26 January

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It has been another very busy week in P1a!

This week as part of our  health and wellbeing curriculum we learned all about germs and the importance of washing our hands properly.  Here is the video we watched and discussed in class – it’s got quite a catchy little song at the end too!

We practised washing our hands and singing the song  and now that we are “germbusters” hopefully we will all stay healthy.

Well done to the boys and girls who sang the handwashing song as they washed their hands!

This week’s team challenge had a winter theme,  At nursery,  we had learned how water changed into ice when the temperature was really cold.  Our challenge was to free a little dolphin from a block of ice without damaging it.  We were not allowed to smash or chip the ice but we had lots of other good ideas as you will see from the photos.  It was not quite as easy as we first thought!

And here is the winning team!

This term in PE we are practising throwing and catching.  Our PE day is now Wednesday, however over the next 2 weeks we may need to use some of our hall time to practise for our assembly.  Miss McDermott was very impressed with our throwing and catching skills already! If the weather is not too cold or wet we can hopefully practise this outside too.

We have been learning all about Scotland this week and have enjoyed lots of Scots stories, poems and songs.  We made  Saltire flags for our special Scottish celebration on Thursday.

 

 

P4, Problem Solving, Science, Scottish Culture, STEM, Technology, Thinking Skills

P4 Electrical Engineers

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This week in P4 we have been learning about Electricity and creating our own circuits.

We found out about James Bowman Lindsay (1799-1862). A Scottish Scientist who was said to be one of the earlier inventors of the incandescent lamp.

Here we are creating our own circuits to light our lamps and trying to match electrical symbols to their names. Did you know that electrical symbols are universal symbols, recognised Worldwide?

 

Achievements, Art, Classes, Community, Creativity, Curriculum, Digital Technology, Drama, Global Citizenship, Literacy, Numeracy, P7, Problem Solving, Scottish Culture, Social Studies, Thinking Skills

P7A Defenders in Action

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Well done to all the P7 pupils who took part in their mock trials this evening. They were confident, well-prepared, well-behaved and enthusiastic. We were impressed by their persuasive arguments and their cool, calm and collected approach under pressure. Here are a few snaps of P7A in their case against St Mary’s (Leith). JP

P1, Problem Solving, STEM, Technology, Thinking Skills, Uncategorized

P1a team challenge – make a chair for baby bear

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Like our Maths activities , this week’s team challenge also had a teddy bear theme.  We read  the story  A Chair for Baby Bear and then  we had  to design and make our own chairs.  We talked about trying to make the chairs the right size and “stable” so that baby bear didn’t fall over. We also talked about how teamwork meant everyone had to take part.

At the end of the challenge all the teams tested their chair with our class baby bear.  None of the chairs fell over –  and as you can see some were big and some were small! One team even made their very own baby bear from the construction materials. Well done everyone  – super teamwork!

Creativity, P1, Problem Solving, STEM, Technology, Thinking Skills

P1a’s first team challenge – bridge building!

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In honour of the Queen coming to Scotland to officially open the new Queensferry Crossing today, P1a undertook their first team challenge – to work in small groups to build their own bridges.

The children were not allowed to choose their groups or the materials that they were given.  They had to work together to build one bridge per team and as you can see the results were super – well done everyone!

Classes, Community, Creativity, Mathematics, P1, P2, P2/1, P3, P3/2, P4, P5, P6, P7, Partnership Working, STEM, Technology, Thinking Skills

Cluster K’Nex Challenge

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A fantastic morning with Primary 6 pupils from all cluster schools coming together to take part in a Cluster K’Nex Challenge. The teams had to construct a wheelbarrow to carry a house brick through a challenging obstacle course.  The wheelbarrows were all tested in the gym hall and the ‘ladder of doom’ ended the fate of many of them. All of the teams did a brilliant job and a huge well done to Winchburgh Primary who constructed the wheelbarrow which was the most successful.

Our team of master constructors and their model, well done boys.

Art, Creativity, Dance, Digital Technology, Drama, Literacy, Music, P7, Scottish Culture, Social Studies, STEM, Technology, Thinking Skills

P7A Creativity Challenge

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P7A have been looking after a mysterious box for the last few days.  Today was the day to open it…

Inside was a crest wrapped in a blanket – we brainstormed some ideas of what the crest might mean, where it was from, what is was and what the symbols meant.  After a bit of research we came up with some ideas…

Then we worked to think of creative things we could do – we had loads of different ideas.

Right now, we’re working on some of the suggestions we cameup with.  We’ll post up some of the final creative activities!