Category Archives: Curriculum Areas

Primary 7, Sciences, Uncategorized

How does your garden grow?

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LI: We are learning to explore the life cycle of plants.

We are learning to investigate what helps plants to grow.

SC: I can state the different ways that plants can reproduce.

I can design an investigation to test the effects of fertiliser on plants.

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Last week we kicked off our new topic ‘How does your garden grow?’ and over the last fortnight we have been busy learning all about how plants grow and what might help them grow faster. Last week we looked at what a plant actually needs to grow, they’re not much different from us as they need food, water, air and sunlight. We thought that we could investigate whether fertiliser made any difference to the rate of growth so we planted our own sunflowers, watered half with just water and half with plant food mixed with water. We also decided to see if compost made any difference so we dug up some soil from the garden in the playground and used some that to plant too. It only took a few days for our sunflowers to start growing and we can see a difference in them every day. We will let you know the results of our experiment when they are fully grown. Once our sunflowers are fully grown we are going to plant them in the gardens within the playground.

This week we have been learning to explore similarities and differences between two outdoor areas. The children were split into groups and were each given an area of the playground to explore. Armed with a clipboard and paper and an ipad, the children had to explore what was in their designated area, draw a sketch and take some photographs. Back in the classroom the children mapped their area onto an A3 sheet of paper where they had to replicate their area using the information they had gathered. Each map had to have a key so that we knew what was on their map. The children all worked very hard on their map using all sorts of resources to highlight different areas and they all look amazing. Once the children had created their maps they then had to present their findings to the rest of the class. All of the children’s presentation skills have developed since the beginning of the year and were confident in presenting their findings.

English & Literacy, Uncategorized

Storytelling in Primary 6

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Learning intention:

We are learning to identify a range of storytelling techniques.

Success Criteria:

I can adjust my expression, pace and gestures to suit a text

 

This week Primary 6 have been learning about different storytelling techniques. They have had opportunities to put these into practice when reading an extract from our class text, ‘Eye of the Wolf’. We will continue to to focus on our expression and pace as we begin to construct our own stories inspired by the novel. These will then feed into our written work.

Maths & Numeracy, Primary 5

Probability in P5B

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Learning Intention: We are learning to talk about how likely something is to happen and can order events on a simple probability scale

  • I can talk about how likely something is to happen using a wide range of vocabulary
  • I can order events on a simple probability scale
  • I can create my own simple probability scale and place events on this

In maths this week, P5B were learning all about probability. We focused on the key vocabulary of the topic, using words such as certain, good chance, even chance, unlikely and impossible to describe different events. We found it more difficult than we thought we would to think of examples that were impossible, although we were pretty sure that none of us would be eaten by a dragon our way home from school!

We had to order given events on a probability scale, as well as adding our own examples. There was lots of rich discussion going on as some of us had very different answers to certain statements based on our likes and dislikes and our lifestyle habits. We also took part in a probability Sumdog challenge. We look forward to learning more about chance and uncertainty, unless we were all eaten by dragons after all!

Maths & Numeracy, Primary 7

P7 using multiplication and division strategies

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LI: We are learning to choose the most effective multiplication or division strategy for a given calculation.

S.C: I can use a range of strategies

I can say why a strategy is best the calculation.

I can explain my working out.

In P7 we have been going over our strategies that we know in multiplication and division. We all knew a range of strategies and certainly had our favourites. We then looked at different types of questions and which strategy would be most suitable. We learnt that it is always best to try to solve it mentally first. The class favourite is the grid method but for simple calculations like 4 x 26 then it is not the most suitable. For this one we would use strategies like partitioning, doubling and halving or using number facts like 4 x 25 = 100 and then add one more 4.

Maths & Numeracy, Primary 1, Uncategorized

Fractions in P1

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This week P1 have been exploring fractions.

LI  We are learning to recognise half of a shape

SC  I can recognise 2 equal parts of a shape

I can name each equal part as a half

We began by talking about our experiences of sharing things like a piece of fruit or a pizza between two people. The children were very adamant that to be fair each person should have the same amount. This meant that each piece would have to be the same size. We learnt that this is called making equal parts. We looked carefully at different shapes and decided if they showed equal parts or not. When a shape had two equal parts we called each part a half. We practised folding and cutting different shapes into two equal parts. We labelled each part one half or 1/2.

 

LI  We are learning to recognise half of a quantity

SC   I can make 2 equal parts by sharing

I can say how many there are in each half

Next, we wondered if we could half a group of items. We discovered that if we  shared a group of counters equally between two children, each child got the same number of counters, so each child had a half. We practised this a few times altogether, and then we worked with a partner sharing out dinosaurs, cubes, counters and elephants.

Soon, some children began to use their knowledge and understanding of doubles to help them work out half of a number. A great job P1!

 

Expressive Arts, Uncategorized

P4A Roaring from the Rooftops

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This week P4a have been extremely busy planning new ways of promoting and advertising The Lion King show. We concentrated on making posters which we planned using advertising techniques and then designed a poster with all the relevant information.

LI:We are learning to create an advertising poster

SC: I can include features specific to an advertisement including:

  • name of the show
  • a rhetorical question
  • a slogan
  • persuasive techniques
  • a picture
  • features about the show

We looked at advertisements of other shows and applied the techniques to a poster for ‘The Lion King’. We designed the advertising posters on paper before designing them using digital media. Well done P4a for all your hard work!

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English & Literacy, Interdisciplinary Learning, Primary 5

The Lion King

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L.I. We are learning about the marketing of a show

We are learning to design and create a ticket/programme

S.C. – I can use persuasive language and present my information clearly

-I can include the key dates and information, i.e. venue, date, time price

Rehearsals are well underway for our Middle Area show and Primary 5 have been working hard this week on some behind-the-scenes preparations.

Our Marketing team have begun putting together a blog post to share information about the upcoming show; they have used persuasive language in their post and lots of highly descriptive language to hook in readers and convince them not to miss this fantastic production!

Our Ticketing and Programme teams have also been hard at work putting together a draft programme and sharing ideas for how we want our tickets to look. They have discussed the key information which needs to be included on both tickets and programmes and have tried to come up with designs which are simple but effective, bearing in mind that we will (hopefully!) have lots of tickets to print.

All of our teams are full of enthusiasm for the show and we ‘just can’t wait’ for you to see it…

Anytime Anywhere Learning, Events, Primary 5, Primary 7, Technical Troopers, Technologies

Dishing Out Our Digital Knowledge

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Today, representatives from Eastertoun Primary visited our school to find out some of the ways that we use digital technologies to enhance our learning. Primary 5B showed our guests how we share our achievements on our iAchieve blog, as well as how we have used some of the Glow tools to support and challenge us across the curriculum. We shared how Bring Your Own Device works in Mid Calder, and also gave them a tour of our class Yammer pages, explaining the different ways in which we have used these.

Next, pupils from P6 and P7 who were involved in the process of MCPS becoming a Bring Your Own Device school shared this journey with our visitors. This offered an excellent opportunity for questions to be asked and answered by pupils from both schools. Our guests also popped into Primary 4B who shared their new knowledge of the language of coding with them.

The visit ended with a chat with some of our Technical Troopers who explained some of their roles and responsibilities and how they have helped to support digital learning across the school.

We hope that our guests found their visit valuable and we look forward to hearing how they progress in their own journey using our new collaborative Yammer page.