As this week is West Lothian Money pupils in P2-7 have been invited to take part in a whole school Money Week Competition. This runs from Monday to 4pm on Thursday and is divided into P2-4 and P5-7. The pupils can assess this competition at school and at home. Remember we are looking for high accuracy scores.
Good luck!
LI : We are learning to write a report based on the findings of our experiment.
SC:
As part of learning about the rainforest in our topic of Crazy Climates, we researched what makes plants grow well. In an experiment with three plants, we put one plant in a dark cupboard, we put a plant in a cold place and we didn’t give a plant any water for a week. During the week, we observed how the plant changed in all three places. We reported back on how all of the plants had changed in a presentation, in which included other top tips for helping plants grow. The plant in the dark had still grown because it had water, however the flowers had become darker. The leaves of the plant beside the window had started to shrivel up and the plant in a cold place was beginning to smell and die off.
We concluded that the basic ingredients of sunlight, soil and enough water keeps most plants alive. We have also heard that plants like classic music….this experiment is still to be tried and tested.
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: 13.00-13.45
P4-P7: 13.45-14.30
The lessons start on the 7th October – 2nd December (no lessons will run on the 21st October due to it being half term)
Each lesson will cost £2
If you would like to book a place for your child please contact the Active Schools Coordinator on hayley.smith2@westlothian.gov.uk . Spaces are limited so please get in touch soon.
P5-P7 Rugby Club on Fridays at Parkhead Primary School;
Livingston Rugby Club Coach Lee Anne Steel will be running the rugby club for both girls and boys in P5-7 for all abilities. The club will run from 13.00-14.00 starting on the 28th October -2nd December and is free. If you would like any more information please contact hayley.smith2@westlothian.gov.uk or leeanne1808@sky.com
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.
On Friday we had our first House Meeting of the term. This was a chance for us to meet up with everyone in our house and welcome the new P1s. The House and Vice Captains set a task for us to look at the new school motto: Believe, Achieve and You’ll Succeed and what this would look like and sound like in our school. We are designing shields to display around the school.
http://www.slideshare.net/midcps/house-meeting-1
As P1-P7 have access to Purple Mash to support their learning, P5B buddied up with P2/1 today to show them how to use this fantastic resource. The Primary 5s showed their buddy how to login, how to play some of the games, how to access the different tools and how to watch videos linked to the games they were playing.
Purple Mash will be used to support learning in school, but can also be accessed at home where the children can complete activities set by their class teacher or just explore the games and tools themselves. They can access this account at home by using the log in provided in their homework diary/book.
To access Purple Mash, go to:
https://www.purplemash.com/sch/midcalder-EH53
Here are some tips below on how to support your child with their homework and learning at home.
Education Scotland have also created a glossary of mathematical terminlogy which you may find useful. Click here to view it.
Learning Intention:
We are learning how to write a postcard.
Success Criteria:
I can include specific features of a postcard that include;
I can use interesting vocabulary in my postcard.
This week in writing, we researched facts about different rainforests in the world and watched an informative video. Then we used all our knowledge we had learned, to decide which rainforest we would write from and what we would experience if we spent a holiday there. We came up with lots of fantastic adjectives to describe our experience in the rainforest including different aspects such as the climate, food and animals.
Super effort, primary 4a.
LI: We are learning to create a piece of Roman jewellery.
This week, P5a were set the challenge to design their own Roman cuff or Roman bangle.
“I used the internet to find out what the cuffs looked like and made my own.” (Scott)
The designs included a brief description of their jewellery and an explanation of the specific Roman features they included.
“I have a sword and a Roman helmet that the gladiators wore.” (Jamie)
“My Roman numerals are Roman numbers and made it more Roman.” (Freya)
“Romans who wore a lot of jewellery were rich and so mine has emeralds in it.” (Caitlin)
P5a were also keen to explain where and when the Romans may have worn their cuffs or bangles.
“At celebrations” (Niamh)
“and when at banquets.” (Leah)
“Soldiers had cuffs that protected their arms and could have had a weapon in it.” (Fraser)
Success criteria: I can design and create a piece of Roman jewellery.
Today Primary 2/1 enjoyed a literacy morning.
P1
LI: We are learning about the sound /t/.
SC: I understand where and how I make the sound.
SC: I can recognise the letter shape for /t/.
SC: I can identify words with the initial sound /t/.
SC: I can form the letter shape for /t/ correctly.
The P1s learned all about a new sound, ‘t’. After being introduced to ‘t’ using interactive resources, we enjoyed lots of different activities to help us learn about the new sound and revisit others.
We played a game of popcorn, where the children pop up if they hear a word beginning with ‘t’.
We used a variety of multi-sensory resources to make the letter shape.
“We used the slime to make it” Erin
“We made a twinkling ‘t’.” Charlie
“We were also writing on the mini boards.” Cayla
“With the wee beads we made a ‘t’.” Amber
They also demonstrated their understanding of which sounds are long and stretchy, and which are short and bouncy.
“We were stretching for the long and stretchy sounds like ‘m’. Jake.
“We were doing short and bouncy. We jumped.” Imogen
Grace’s favourite thing this morning was making ‘t’ with putty.
P2
LI: We are learning to self-assess our writing using ‘Tickled Pink and Green for Growth.
SC: I can read my writing carefully.
SC: I can identify things in my writing which achieve the success criteria and highlight them pink.
SC: I can identify things in my writing which do not achieve the success criteria and highlight them green.
SC: I can talk about what I have done well and what I could try harder to achieve next time.
The Primary 2s are learning to self-assess their writing using ‘Tickled Pink and Green for Growth’. First they read their writing very carefully. As they read, they identified things in their writing which match the success criteria and highlighted them pink. Anything which didn’t quite meet the success criteria they highlighted green. We were very pleased with all of the pink in our writing jotters! 😀
The highlighting lets us consider what we have done really well, and create targets for the next time we write. For example, after self-assessing her writing this morning, Isla M said “I put all of my full stops in the right place, and I’m going to work on doing some openers next time.” Finlay said “I put two connectives in, which you asked for. Next time I’ll remember to put capital letters at the start of every sentence.”
Once we are confident using ‘Tickled Pink and Green for Growth’, we will start to peer assess each other’s writing. We can’t wait to see how much this technique improves the quality of our writing!
P2/3 have been writing sensory poems and drawing imaginary pictures of the Rainforest! Myah thought the drawings were colourful. Cara thought the pictures were rainy.
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