Category Archives: Curriculum Areas

English & Literacy, Primary 7, Reading IDL 2016, Uncategorized

Primary 7 Book Week

November 28, 2016 Mrs Ross Leave a comment

In Primary Seven, we have celebrated Book Week by focusing our work on comparing and contrasting the modern and older adaptations of Alice in Wonderland, with the original Lewis Carroll novel.

We have found some challenges when reading the novel – the language used when the book was originally written in 1865, has been difficult to follow at times whilst reading. We have also found that Lewis Carroll is a less descriptive author, compared to some modern day authors, therefore we have found visualising Wonderland quite challenging. We have had to refer back to the 1951 Disney version to help us to think about setting.

We are currently working on developing our knowledge of what a synopsis is and how to write one, within the context of a film review. We’re looking forward to being able to give our “Star Ratings” to each of the versions we have studied.

English & Literacy, Events, Primary 5, Reading IDL 2016

P5B’s Booktastic Assembly

November 28, 2016 Miss Sherlow Leave a comment

On Friday, P5B presented our love of books and reading in our class assembly. We also shared the reading skills we have been developing through our IDL context for learning, George’s Marvellous Medicine.

Questioning:

We have been learning to ask and answer a range of questions about a text. We looked at what makes a quality question and know that it has to make someone think hard about a text. We wrote a set of questions about the first two chapters of the book, then tested our partners on them.

Predicting:

We have been learning to use clues from a text to make realistic predictions. We used these skills to write chapter 7 of George’s Marvellous Medicine, which we then shared with our Grandparents at our Novel Natters session.

Visualising:

We have been learning to use key words and phrases from a text to create images in our mind. This week, we had to select the words and phrases that the author uses when he described what happened when Grandma took the medicine and discuss how these stimulated our senses and helped us to visualise the scene.

Book Week Scotland

Here are some of the ways we celebrated Book Week Scotland:

English & Literacy, Interdisciplinary Learning, Reading IDL 2016

P4b – Marvellous Freeze Frames

November 28, 2016 Miss Prior Leave a comment

LI: We are learning to create a freeze frame of a key moment in the text.

SC: I can work with others.
I can consider body language, facial expressions and use of props.
I can perform my drama to others and accept and provide constructive feedback.

In P4b this week we have been using drama to further develop our understanding of George’s Marvellous Medicine IDL Context. In groups, we were given a key moment from the text and asked to create a freeze frame/still image to represent this. We had to consider: body language, facial expressions and use of props (imaginative and physical). Once we had prepared our freeze frames, our classmates then had to use the freeze frame to guess which part of the text is being represented.

Anytime Anywhere Learning, Community, Events, Pupil Council, Technical Troopers, Technologies

West Lothian’s Digilearn Event

November 27, 2016 Miss Sherlow Leave a comment

On Friday, Mid Calder Primary School were invited along to West Lothian’s Digilearn Event to share our journey to becoming an AAL and Bring Your Own Device school. As they were part of our Technical Troopers and Pupil Council Junior Leadership Teams during the key stages of this journey, Calum, Ben, Grace and Kirsty joined Miss Burton and Miss Sherlow to present to Head Teachers, teachers and a range of other practitioners from across West Lothian.

They did a fantastic job in sharing the ongoing process that MCPS are going through in our engagement with AAL and BYOD, and received lots of lovely feedback about about how professional and inspiring they were when presenting. Well done Calum, Ben, Grace and Kirsty!

Achievements, Community, Events, Expressive Arts, Musical, Outside of School, Primary 7

Stars of the Future!

November 27, 2016 Miss Burton 1 Comment

Miss Anderson, Miss Sherlow and MissBurton went along to Howden Park Centre on Saturday to watch some of our pupils perform in Cinderella. We really enjoyed the show, well done girls, what a fantastic achievement!

English & Literacy, Events, Reading IDL 2016, Uncategorized

P4A Making Predictions

November 25, 2016 User deactivated Leave a comment

P4A Predictions

We have had a tremendous amount of fun this week, developing our reading skills by learning how to select clues from the text to help us make realistic predictions. We read chapter 7 in George’s Marvellous Medicine, selecting clues from the text to help us predict what might happen to Grandma. Then we wrote what our predictions were following on from when George gives Grandma her medicine. During our ‘Natters to Nannas and Papa’s’ event, we asked what our own Grandparents/family members thought of our predictions and how accurate they thought they were.

LI: We are learning to use what we know about the text to make predictions.

SC: I know that my genre of text determines how realistic my predictions need to be.

I can select key themes, information and identify the author’s style to help e make suitable predictions.

Thank you to those who came to hear our predictions.

Health & Wellbeing, JRSOs, Junior Leadership Teams, Uncategorized

JRSO – 2016 Induction Event

November 25, 2016 Miss Prior Leave a comment

This week our three Primary 7 Junior Road Safety Officers attended a West Lothian JRSO Induction Event at Broxburn Primary School.

During this event our JRSO’s developed their knowledge of Road Safety, received brilliant resources and were given training on how to present information to an audience. The JRSO’s really enjoyed their afternoon and are very excited to share what they have learned with the JRSO Junior Leadership Team and with the rest of the school.

English & Literacy, Reading IDL 2016

Studying Settings in P6

November 25, 2016 Mr Renshaw Leave a comment

Over the last couple of weeks Primary 6 have been learning all about how authors create effective settings.

Learning intention:

We are learning to identify how different authors create settings.

Success criteria:

I can identify the key features of a good setting.

I can identify the language used to describe a setting.

We chose 3 different extracts to study: Alice in Wonderland, The Secret Garden and Peter Pan. We selected key phrases and words that the authors used to describe their setting and evaluated how effective we thought they were. Also, we discussed the similarities and differences between the texts. Next, we are going to apply what we have learned to create a piece of writing that describes a setting from Alice in Wonderland. We will have to create our own descriptive words and phrases that suit the genre of text and the author’s style.