Category Archives: Curriculum Areas

Interdisciplinary Learning, Maths & Numeracy, Primary 1, Uncategorized

P1a Toyshop

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This week we have been shopping in the Toyshop.

LI    We are learning to use coins to buy things

SC    I can say how much each item costs                                                                                                                      I can choose the correct coins to pay for the things I buy

There are lots of things to buy in the toyshop. We choose what we would like and put it into our

shopping basket.

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The shopkeeper checks the price and tells us how much we need to pay. We look in the purse and choose the coins we need. The shopkeeper puts the money in the till.                                                         We are using real coins  to do our shopping!

 

Einartas – ‘You need money to buy the car. That’s my favourite.’

Aidan – ‘At the shop I bought an aeroplane and a car. The shopkeeper said it was 6p, so I counted out six 1p coins.’

Naomi – ‘You need 10p to buy the doll and the dinosaur.’

Daisy – ‘I went to the shop and I bought a dolly and a toy giraffe. It cost 2p and 3p, so that was 5p altogether.’

Community, English & Literacy, Events, Homework, Maths & Numeracy, Primary 5, Primary 7, Supporting homework, Useful Websites

P4-7 Parent Drop In: Using ICT to Support Homework

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Thank you to all of you who attended the 4-7 parent drop in session, looking at how to use ICT to support learning at home.

If you were unavailable to attend you will find out more information by clicking below:

Sum Dog

Purple Mash

Here is the feedback from those who attended:

Tickled Pink:

  • It was excellent to see SumDog and to know more about Purple Mash. Both will be good learning tools made fun for the children.
  • Sum Dog and Purple Mash both look like fun programmes for learning.

Sum Dog:

  • My child loves it can use it independently.
  • They have never been so keen to do maths homework before this.
  • Likes to compete with friends.
  • Quick, fast, keeps the mind ticking.
  • Feels like a game.
  • Can do it on their own, therefore it doesn’t seem like homework.
  • Instructions really clear and formative.
  • I now understand what Sum Dog does.
  • Excellent way for them to learn in a fun way.

Purple Mash:

  • Really caught their imagination.
  • My child loves it.
  • Great that they can use it independently.
  • Looks like a great tool. Many thanks to Anna for her clear explanation.

Green for Growth:

  • Purple Mash can have some aspects that are quite difficult
  • Would be good to have written work to back up Sum Dog
  • Clearer instructions of what homework is and what is ‘nice to do’
Maths & Numeracy, Primary 1, Uncategorized

P1b Information Handling

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LI: We are learning how to display information on a bar graph.

SC: I can identify the title, x axis, y axis and labels on a bar graph.

LI: We are learning a how to interpret information on a bar graph.

SC: I can analyse information on a bar graph using the y axis to help me.

Through the context of our Toys topic, Primary 1b have been learning about different ways to collect, sort and display information.

We have:

– Carried out surveys, recording our results with tally marks;

– Sorted our toys and other information on Venn Diagrams using our own and given criteria; and

– Displayed information about our favourite toys on a block graph.

On Friday, we learned about bar graphs. We created a copy of the block graph which we made on Monday, to allow us to transform it into a bar graph. First we drew around the outline of each tower of blocks, and imagined that we were melting blocks of chocolate into long bars of chocolate.

Then we realised that we could no longer count how many people voted for each toy. After some brainstorming, Oscar suggested that we needed to put numbers on our graph. That’s when we learned about the purpose of the y axis.

We used our bar graph to answer interpretation questions. Amorie analysed the bar graph and told everyone that dolls were the most popular toy, and Isla MacKinnon told everyone that construction toys were the least popular.

Finally we applied what we had learned in order to interpret a variety of other bar graphs online.IMG_8461

English & Literacy, Primary 3

Dear family and friends of P3…

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We are learning to write a letter of invitation.

Success Criteria

I can include:

  • the school address in the top right hand corner
  • The date underneath the address
  • An appropriate greeting
  • Persuasive wow words to make my guest want to come to my event
  • The date, time, price and venue of my event
  • An appropriate sign off

In P3 last week, we wrote our letters of invitation for either our Nativity called ‘Are we nearly there yet?’ or to Edinburgh Zoo for a day out with friends. Within our writing, we needed to include features such as an appropriate greeting and sign off, the price of the ticket and correct punctuation.

During our planning session, we worked in pairs and read through Miss Kerr’s good example of a letter of invitation and a letter of invitation that was missing some important features. Our job was to highlight features that met the success criteria (tickled pink) and highlight features that were missing with green (green for growth). We had to tell Miss Kerr how she could make her letter better.

After, we wrote our letters of invitation in our groups with help from Miss Kerr, Mrs Allsopp and Mrs Robertson. Some of us read out our letters to inspire others that were struggling with their ideas.

When we finished our writing, we had to self and peer assess using traffic light colours and then write the evidence to match our assessment.

“I enjoyed it because I like writing invitations and it was fun”- Finlay Fraser

“I thought it was fun because I like writing invitations”- Rebekah Bell

“I am proud of myself because I got my letter completely finished in the time, meeting the success criteria and including details about my part”- Matthew P W

Achievements, Events, Maths & Numeracy, Primary 5, Primary 7, Uncategorized, Useful Websites

Sumdog’s West Lothian Maths Contest

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A huge well done to all the children in Primary 5-7 that took part in Sumdog’s West Lothian Maths Contest last week. Each person that contributed was to answer 1000 questions on a variety of topics within maths and were then ranked based on how many questions they answered correctly. Out of the 743 children that took part, Mid Calder had 10 pupils in the top 50! A fantastic achievement, and a brilliant opportunity to build upon your mental maths skills. Congratulations! 

Expressive Arts, Nursery

The Grumpy Sheep

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We are learning to sing songs and follow a tune for our nursery nativity. EXA 0-16a

This week during gathering time we have been practising our nativity songs. We had to listen carefully to the music and words. We have also started adding actions to show what the sheep looks like when he is grumpy and happy. Miss Thompson and Miss Burton were very impressed with our singing skills.

 

English & Literacy, Interdisciplinary Learning, Uncategorized

P4 Week ending 20th November 2015

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In P4 this week the children have been working hard on their IDL project linked to our Roald Dahl topic. In the spirit of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the children have worked in a group to set up a company. The aim of the company is to design a chocolate bar which will be a top seller for Willy Wonka! The companies are currently very busy conducting market research. Mrs Mackie.

In  P4 we have been learning about Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake.

In maths we learned how to measure water using a scale. In our  project we got a letter from Mr Willy Wonka . Jamie Hardie

We have been learning about our body in class. Lucy Paris

English & Literacy, Interdisciplinary Learning, Primary 5, Uncategorized

P5/4’s Confectionery Creations

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Inspired by Roald Dahl’s book ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’, P5/4 have been inventing their own confectionery products.

Learning intention – We are learning to use our market research create our own confectionery product.

Success Criteria – A successful product will reflect the findings of our market research.

A successful product name will be catchy and memorable.

Firstly, we created our own market research questionnaires about the choices that other children in the school make about confectionery (e.g. Are you allergic to anything? What colour of packaging would you prefer? Do you like chocolate/sweets?). We sent these questionnaires to Miss Sherlow’s class and they answered them for us.

Next, we studied the responses carefully and collected information from the questionnaires. We used this to invent our own confectionery product.

Soon we will be designing logos and packaging for our products.

Fraser: ‘This is a fun and exciting task!’

Freya: ‘I am excited about the challenge.’

Ryan: ‘I think the challenges will be fun and I am looking forward to building my skills from P4.’

Mhari: ‘I enjoyed coming up with a product name.’

Lewis: ‘We used the research to figure out what we were going to do.’

Natalie: ‘I enjoyed making the questionnaire because we got to create lots of questions to help us make our product.’

Expressive Arts, Primary 7, Transition, Uncategorized

Transition: Dazzling Dazzle Camouflage Art – P7 Art

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P7 Art-Ms Thompson

Ms Thompson comes to Mid Calder Primary from West Calder High School every Monday and Thursday to work with all the Primary 7’s. This is part of our transition to High School and to make it easier to experience what it might be like when we go up to High School next August.

In P7, we have been learning how to draw Dazzle Camouflaged Spitfires. The Dazzle technique was used in World War 1 and 2. They put it on ships to confuse the enemy of what speed the ship was going, what side was the front and which was the back and what side the ship was from. (The Germans or the Britains)

L.I: We are learning to draw spitfires and camouflage them using the Dazzle technique.

S.C: We will be able to successfully complete our Dazzle Camouflage Spitfires and make them into models out of clay.

The skills we need to use are: concentration, listening, sketching, respect (to Ms Thompson) and a steady hand.

Firstly, Ms Thompson explained what Dazzle camouflage is, then we got all of our necessary equipment (A pencil, tracing paper and a picture of a spitfire) and we traced the picture of our chosen spitfire. Then we drew a grid on a fresh piece of paper and our tracing paper, we then transferred our tracing to the other piece of paper. We drew in all of the details and then we were on to drawing our design. We then got a piece of paper and drew our Dazzle pattern in black pen; it included a lot of different and unique pretty patterns. Next we had to block our design to ensure we could camouflage it correctly. Finally we had to transfer our design on to our spitfire drawing.

We know that our next step is to start modelling the clay into the spitfire shape. The clay has ARRIVED!

“It’s really enjoyable and it is preparing me for High School” Laura Mackay

“It is good fun and it calms me down” Lachlan McGukin

“It is super fun and it’s getting me excited for High School” Olivia Jones

“It is a fun experience and gets us ready for High School” Romany Moffat

“It’s very enjoyable and making me more confident in art” Neve Cormack

“I love to make the designs on the Spitfires and now I really, really like art” Millie Thomson

“Art is fun and it gets you thinking at the same time” Caitlin Black

“It is exciting but challenging” Andrew Vince

“You can imagine what you are going to make” Callum West

Primary 7, Technologies, Transition

Transition: P7 CDT lesson

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This week Primary 7 group 1’s had a visit from the high school CDT teacher, Dr Cherry. He was here to help us with the transition to High School and show us some of the skills we would be learning when we get there.

We learned to draw straight lines without using a ruler, for example vertical, horizontal and diagonal. He also taught us a technique on how to draw squares, using only horizontal lines and then turning your paper to a different angle. He gave us a top tip – to use all the joints in our arm when drawing free hand straight lines. This will help us control our lines.

We all look forward to his future visits to primary school and we are especially excited about visiting his workshop at West Calder high school in 3 weeks time. We will keep on practicing our techniques until then!

“I liked drawing the lines free hand!” – Chiaro

“I liked it when he taught us the proper names for light lines and heavy lines” – Michael

“It helped us feel more comfortable and confident about moving up to high school” – Holly

“Dr Cherry made us feel comfortable about the lesson and trying new skills. He also told very funny jokes! – ‘Have you ever heard of the magic tractor? It turned in to a field!’