Category Archives: Curriculum Areas
P5a Preparing for Disaster!
L.I. We are learning to prepare for an emergency
- I understand the difference between needs and wants
- I can create a visual of a disaster pack and explain why I have chosen specific items
As part of our IDL topic on Natural Disasters, we learned about Earthquake Preparedness and how this is taught to children and families who live in areas which experience frequent earthquakes, such as Japan and the West coast of America. After watching a couple of drills, P5 were very keen to try it out for themselves. We discussed the need for a designated marshal, whose job it is to organise everyone if there is no adult available. We learned about Drop, Cover and Hold which is a way of protecting ourselves from falling debris – after that, all we had to do was carry on with our morning and wait for the siren! It came as a big surprise to everyone but we managed to take cover quickly and then get to a safe place.
We have also been discussing the things we would include in a disaster pack – essential things we would take with us if we had to be evacuated. It was a difficult decision as we had to really think hard about the difference between needs and wants – we found that we would have to leave many of our favourite things behind and take only the things we really need to keep us warm, clean, fed and watered.
Hopefully we will never be involved in a natural disaster, but if we are we will be prepared!
Cluster Sports Clubs
There are currently two sports clubs that are running at West Calder High School and are for primary aged pupils. Please see the information below:
Swimming lessons on Fridays at West Calder High School
Active Schools & Swim IT are running a swimming club for all pupils in P1-P7 every Friday at the West Calder High School Pool. The swimming lessons are aimed at non swimmers but all ages and abilities are welcome.
P1-P3: 13.15-13.45
P4-P7: 13.45-14.30
The lessons start on the 3rd February – 23rd June.
Please note that no lessons will run on the: 10th February, 31stMarch, 7th April, 14th April, 21st April & 30th June.
Each lesson will cost £2
If you would like to book a place for your child please contact Fiona Donald at Swim – IT on Fiona@swim-it.co.uk and 07833433956.
GRC Triathlon Club on Wednesdays at West Calder Primary School;
This community club delivers alternate training sessions with one week swimming and one week gym fitness with games. Its open to all pupils aged 8-16 and runs from 6-7.15pm and costs £2 per session. This club is already in action so if you would like to join please get in touch with Coach Robert Ovens on 07971417877 or visit grctri.wordpress.com for more information.
Touching tales of tsunami survivors
We are learning to write an interview with a survivor of a tsunami.
Success Criteria:
I can use features specific to interviews including:
-an introduction to set the scene of the interview
-the name of the person speaking on the left, followed by a colon
-relevant and appropriate questions and responses
-a new line for each speaker
-adjectives to describe the feelings and emotions of the survivor
I can use question marks correctly
This week, our IDL lessons have focused on the natural disaster, tsunamis. We learned all about the key features of a tsunami including how it is caused and how it can affect the land and population. We then used our own and the school devices to research the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, collating and sharing our notes on our P5B class OneNote. We demonstrated our developing skills of writing in our own words and using bullet points to organise our notes, as well as learning how to insert a picture into our section of the OneNote.
Now knowing about the devastation that the Boxing Day tsunami caused, we watched an interview with one of the survivors that the film ‘The Impossible’ was based on. We learned all about her terrifying experience then looked at other examples of interviews, learning about the layout and important punctuation that we had to include. We used all of this knowledge to write our own interviews with a survivor of a tsunami.
When we were finished, we presented our interviews to an audience using our drama skills of expression, volume, pace and tone to portray appropriate feelings and emotions of the survivors.
P6’s Storytelling Assembly
Well done to Primary 6 for a great assembly today all about storytelling. We have learned a lot about both storytelling and story writing, using what we have learned to write our own fantasy stories. Thank you to all parents and carers who managed to attend. The children enjoyed planning, preparing and presenting their assembly! Here are some videos from the assembly for any parents and carers who couldn’t attend and for the pupils to watch again!
Question Writing in P2/1
We are learning to write a letter asking questions about Stirling Castle.
- I can use a letter opening and ending.
- I can use an address.
- I can use questions with question marks.
- I can use different question openers.
This week in writing we were learning about questions. We thought ahead to our trip to Stirling Castle and created some questions we would like to ask. We had to use different question openers, for example, who, what, where, when, why and did. We had to remember to use a question mark at the end o our questions. We then wrote a letter to Stirling Castle asking them our questions. Primary 2 had to write an introduction telling them about ourselves. We finished it by self assessing our work against the success criteria.
Someone even received the Living Our Values Award for creating interesting questions.
Modern Art Gallery Trip January 2017
Primary 2/3 loved their trip to the galleries of modern art in Edinburgh on Monday. They were going to look at some of Joan Eardley’s paintings and drawings. They were asked lots of questions by Fraser, an artist guide. They had to respond with what they saw and felt about the art works. James thought that Fraser was really kind and he learnt that anyone can be an artist. James found out that artists have to do a sketch before they do a painting. Cara learnt that Joan had done a lots of seascapes and landscapes. Rhuairdh learnt that Joan also painted portraits of children from Glasgow and the streets.
Miss Brolls ran two painting workshops to teach the children how to paint in layers, using ‘dirty’ colours. The children had to mix their colours on a palette using yellow ochre, cobalt blue, white and black. They made washes of colour with lots of water. They saw statues and artists’ models and Lucas loved Vulcan the large iron giant sculpture.
James learnt that dark colours such as grey and black shading a colour makes it ‘dirty’. He also used dry brush strokes to create more texture with his layers.
Now P2/3 have added dried grasses from Catterline, where Joan worked to add a final layer. Their mini-masterpieces are displayed in the art room in school.
By Cara, James and Rhuairdh with some help from Miss Brolls
P4A Visit to Fork and Field
This week we have been fortunate enough to visit the ‘Fork and Field’ restaurant as part of our Field to Fork topic. We were able to learn and ask questions including; how the restaurant was developed, how the restaurant works and the responsibility of all the staff. We had a practise at holding heavy meals and ordering food. It was fantastic to visit a local restaurant and it was a great way of learning in a real life context. Additionally we had a representative from Scottish Beef to educate us about healthy eating.
LI:We are developing our understanding of restaurants
Success Criteria
I am aware of the various job roles within a restaurant and why they are important.
I understand the different responsibilities of a waiter/waitress.
I can use the skills learned in an imaginary restaurant situation.
We have thoroughly enjoyed meeting people that work in the food industry this week and look forward to making our own food and creating our own restaurants next week, with all the skills we have learned.
P4b’s Fantastic day of food!
P4b had a very exciting day yesterday learning all about food, restaurants and cooking. In the morning we went to visit the ‘Fork and Field’ Restaurant in Mid Calder, it was brilliant! We were given a tour around the restaurant, shown how orders are made and sent to the chef and we were also able to pretend we were waiters and waitresses serving food and drink to customers. It was a super experience and cant wait to tell everyone about all the information we found out.
In the afternoon, Jennifer Robertson from Quality Meat Scotland came into class to talk to us about the importance of local farms and meat. Jennifer also taught us how to prepare healthy beef fajitas, filled with homemade guacamole, lettuce, tomatoes and peppers, YUMMY!
P4b’s Pizza Party
As part of our ‘From Field to Fork’ IDL Context, this week, P4b visited Frankie and Benny’s Livingston Restaurant as we have been learning all about restaurants and how food as prepared. When we arrived we were given our own aprons and chef hats, which we could decorate. We were each given a piece of dough to stretch, twist and squeeze into any shape we liked and these were cooked by the Chef in the kitchen to create dough shapes, they were delicious!
After creating our dough sticks we began to make our pizza! We covered our pizza bases with tomato sauce, cheese and a various other toppings of our choice, it was so much fun!
We had an amazing time at Frankie and Benny’s and cant wait to go back!
