Category Archives: Curriculum Areas

Primary 7, Sciences, STEM 2016

P7 at Glasgow Science Centre

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‘bmfy f ifd’!!! Only P7’s will be able to read this coded message that we learned about today at Glasgow Science Centre!

What a fantastic day. First up was a workshop to learn more about Caesar Cipher and cracking cryptography. The children will be able to take their code cracking skills back to school and use them in our CSI topic.

We then had a chance to look around the interactive games in the Science Malls. On floor 3 we took on the role of the snot barrier, burned some energy in the giant hamster wheel, performed a virtual autopsy and bust some moves at the DNA disco. Floor 1 offered us more inspiring games that made our minds work. We had to offer ideas on how to meet ever increasing energy demands without breaking the bank or damaging the environment, we had the chance to feel the force of wind in a hurricane booth, find out what happens in a nuclear chain reaction and  crank the handles to generate enough power to race around a Scalextric track.

All of the activities were testing different skills – strength, patience, concentration, reaction times, organisation and team work.

In the afternoon we went to the workshop ‘My World of Work – All about Me’. We learned about our personality traits by completing the personality quiz, used the careers information wall to discover more about different careers linked to STEM and we were able to talk to a High School career officer about what subjects we should study if we were interested in working in one of these roles.

Staff from the Science Centre commented on the superb behaviour of the P7’s, how hard they worked and were impressed by there knowledge of STEM and code cracking. Well done P7 – another great day out. Your teachers are very ‘uwtzi’ (proud – caesars cipher)!

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Anytime Anywhere Learning, Maths & Numeracy, Sciences, STEM 2016, Technologies

Mission 3: The Solar System

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Creating a Human Solar System

Today we braved the weather to create our own human solar system to scale in the playground so we could put into perspective the distance each planet was from the sun.

Making a Solar System Factfile

This week in our home teams we have been busy researching the planets in the solar system. We had to use websites to use find out specific information about planets, and had a list of questions to research. We use Yammer to share useful websites that were reliable so we did not waste time. We also used the key questions to search for key information. We learned that the phrases we use in a search engine is important to finding answers quickly. We also had to skim and scan websites for key information. We supported each other with using a range of search engines and finding the AAL network. Then we shared our notes with each other. Our next steps are to look at reliable sources on the internet as we realised some of us had different answers. We will now use this information to create an electronic factfile.

Sciences, STEM 2016, Technologies

Cosmos Planetarium

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Today Primary 4 had a visit from Cosmos Planetarium to help put our current context of Project Planetarium into a real life. Cosmos Planetarium is a state of the art, 360° theatre experience. We were transported on a journey through the solar system and beyond – from flying through Saturn’s rings to diving into Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa, to search it’s vast ocean for signs of life. We learned about the first moon landing, as well as what life might be like on the moon in future. We took a virtual tour of the International Space Station and were able to share our knowledge of Tim Peake from the biographies we wrote about his life and experiences last week. We also were able to ask different questions about the solar system and find out new information that will help us with Mission 3!

 

Anytime Anywhere Learning, Events, Interdisciplinary Learning, Primary 1, Primary 5, Sciences, Technologies

Cosmos Planetarium

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Today Primary 1, P4, P5/4 and P5 had a very exciting visit from Cosmos Planetarium, a state of the art, 360° theatre experience. We were transported on a journey through the solar system and beyond – from flying through Saturn’s rings to diving into Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa, to search it’s vast ocean for signs of life. We learned about the first moon landing, as well as what life might be like on the moon in future. We took a virtual tour of the International Space Station and were able to share our knowledge of Tim Peake from the biographies we wrote about his life and experiences last week.

In the Middle Area, we have been working in teams to create a planet fact file, and we were excited to use our new knowledge from our Cosmo Planetarium experience to help us. We also used our own devices, as well as the school’s netbooks and iPads, to research the key features of each planet. We will use ICT to bring our research together to create a group fact file about our Solar System.

Maths & Numeracy, Uncategorized

Primary 6 investigate negative numbers

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This term we have been learning about negative numbers through our Number Talks sessions and linking them to our daily mental maths.

LI:  We are learning to count forwards and backwards on a negative number line

SC:  I can identify zero as a place holder

I can count forwards and back from zero

I can identify number patterns within negative numbers

We completed lots of Number Talks to gain a good understanding of numbers below zero and linked our learning to real life situations, for example, when reading temperature gauges.

We then used our knowledge to place ourselves in a human number line along our classroom wall and practiced counting forwards and backwards. Then we up levelled the challenge to count forwards and back in 2s, 5s and 10s starting at different places along the line.image image

Anytime Anywhere Learning, Maths & Numeracy, Primary 5

Coordinated Maths

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Learning Intention: We are learning to explore the use of coordinates to plot points and describe positions and movements on a grid (MTH 2-18a)

Success Criteria:
I can use coordinates to locate a point on a grid
I can use coordinates to describe and locate a unique point on a grid
I can plot coordinates on a grid

Primary 5 have been learning all about coordinates in maths. We know that you use coordinates to locate a specific point, usually on a map. We have been learning how to read coordinates accurately by finding the number that appears on the horizontal, or x axis first, then reading the number on the vertical, or y axis. Last week we looked at how to find and read coordinates in a grid with 1 quartile, but this week we challenged ourselves by locating and reading coordinates on a grid with 4 quartiles! That meant we had to use our knowledge of negative numbers to help us.

We rotated round three stations to demonstrate our knowledge and understanding:

  1. Teaching group- we plotted coordinates on a grid to create a pictures of an alien creature
  2. Game group- some of played a game of Spinning Coordinates, and others played Coordinates Bingo
  3. ICT group- Sumdog Challenge

We also used the AAL network to use our own and the school’s devices to try and and find the coordinates of our houses, learning about the meaning of latitude and longitude.

Anytime Anywhere Learning, Interdisciplinary Learning, Sciences, STEM 2016

Project Planetarium: Mission 2

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We are learning to safely observe and recording the sun and moon at various times.

We are learning to describe the patterns of movement of the sun and moon and changes over time.

  • I can safely observe the sun and moon and make recordings of what I see.
  • I can understand the stages of the moon.
  • I can relate these to the length of a day, a month and a year.

This week Primary 4 have been investigating the sun and the moon, we started by watching a video from Glow Science about Day and Night. You can view the video here by using your Glow log in. We then made our own sun viewers so we could safely view the sun. When we went outside to observe the sun we observed that it was in the west.

We then investigated the different phases of the moon by replicating a lunar month by using Oreo cookies and creating a phases of the moon flip book. We self and peer assessed our work using Yammer.

Learning at home:

  • As homework we are recording what the moon looks like each night.
  • Ask us to log into Yammer so you can see our learning and leave a comment with us. We need our Glow log in for this.
  • Take us to the library we can read books and find out information about the sun and moon.
Primary 7, Sciences, STEM 2016, Technologies, Uncategorized

Busy start to our final term!

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P7 has got off to a busy start this term.

In Primary 7 we have been learning about Forensic Careers. These jobs are vital in a crime investigation.

The first thing we did was we learnt about all the possible jobs in Forensic Science. Such as a Toxicologist, a SOC (Scene of crime) officer, a Pathologist and much more. We then discussed the job requirements if you were to apply for one of these jobs; we came up with different answers to what we would need in order to work in the Forensic environment. We thought we needed to have good eyesight, curiosity, imagination, be very good with details, have integrity and have the ability to keep accurate records.

After we chose one of the jobs to research and make an advert.

In Science, we completed an experiment to see whether or not an orange would float or sink in water.  First we had to make a prediction on whether we thought it would float with the peel on and then we had to predict whether it would float once it had been peeled. Here are some of our predictions:

‘It has it’s skin on so it is not going to absorb water so it will float’

‘It will float as the peel will make it lighter’

‘The peel has small holes in it creating air pockets, air will fill these making it float’

We discovered that when the skin was kept on, the orange would float, but as soon as we peeled the orange it sunk, meaning that our predictions were correct.

This term we are looking forward to learning all about STEM (Science, technology, engineering and maths), and learning new skills that will help us in the world of work.

As P7’s we have our transition visits to look forward to, our leavers assembly and our final trip as a year group. We are all looking forward to the journey.

 

Miss Anderson & P7

Interdisciplinary Learning, Maths & Numeracy, Primary 2, Sciences, STEM 2016, Technologies

The Great Desert Island STEM Challenge!

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This week P2 found out about our new exciting interdisciplinary context which is the Great Desert Island Challenge. We started by listening to a story about a group of sea travelers who were exploring the seas when their ship became wrecked on a desert island. There was only one survivor, Sir Harley Houndstooth III. We now have to help him survive on the desert island and get back to the civilized world. We were all very excited and up for a challenge!

Over the next few weeks P2, P2/3 and P3 will be given a series of challenges in which we will have to help Sir Harley Houndstooth III. We will be developing our skills in group work through carrying out different roles and developing our knowledge of the STEM subjects (Science, Technologies Mathematics and Engineering.)

Parents and carers can help by bringing in materials from the list in your child’s homework jotter. We will keep you posted on the challenges we do,

Thank you for your continued support.

Mr Nelson.

Anytime Anywhere Learning, Nursery, Primary 1, Primary 2, Primary 3, Primary 5, Primary 7, Technologies

Using ICT to enhance learning in Mid Calder

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We are living in a constantly evolving digital world and technology has an impact on nearly every aspect of our lives. And, we are very lucky to be able to use this technology in school to develop skills that will help us in the world of work and in our journey as lifelong learners in our ever advancing world.

Here are some of the ways that we use ICT to enhance our teaching and learning in Mid Calder Primary School: