Category Archives: Curriculum Areas

Early Level, Expressive Arts, First Level, Modern Languages, Outside of School, Second Level, Winter Ready, Winter Ready P1, Winter Ready P2, Winter Ready P3, Winter Ready P4, Winter Ready P5, Winter Ready P6, Winter Ready P7

Forget The Beast from the East. Ice Art from Harbin Anyone?

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CREATIVITY IN THE SNOW ANYONE?

Have a go at making an igloo? With help from adults you can make snow bricks and a great den. How will you decorate the interior?

The Scandinavians have long dark winters but try to create warmth with candles, blankets etc What is Danish hygge?

Check out images of Harbin in China and their amazing snow and ice sculpture event for 3-D ideas.

Go to new places to enjoy the snow and the views. Take some pictures of wintry trees and then use these as an art inspiration. Victoria Crowe is an artist who has done just that. Google her.

What can you make with icicles? What can you make with powdery snow or another kind of snow.

Il neige. It is snowing in French. How many other languages can you say that in? The winner wins an ice-cream. Try making a fun-flavoured ice-cream outside!

If you can get on skis and sledges and swish through The White Stuff!

 

Early Level, Primary 1, Technologies

P1P Explore Farms through Digital Technologies

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LI: We are learning to use digital technologies to recreate aspects of a farm.

SC: I can work with others
I can share my ideas with others
I can plan and create simple programs/designs
I can use Purple Mash to create a picture of a farm.
I can animate a farm scene using Scratch JR

Today, P1P recalled their learning from last week’s technologies lesson during our IDL ‘On the Farm’. We used what we had learned from tinkering with Scratch JR to recreate and animate a farm scene. We were able to change the movement, size and speed of characters. Some of us even managed to record our own voices and add them to our characters.

We then explored Purple Mash for the first time to recreate a farm using clip art and animations. P1P were able to explore the app and come up with their own ideas.

Modern Languages, Primary 5, Primary 7, Second Level

Ooh La La! French Culture Hits Mid Calder.

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Come along to our Curriculum Evening on Tuesday to find out how we learn about France, French culture and French vocabulary. The upper school will be there to present their learning with videos, Powerpoints and posters.

Miss Brolls will try to offer ways to support Modern Languages evening using cartoons

OR with a structured lesson as below

French First Level Classroom Talk Updated

Information for Parents, Maths & Numeracy, Useful Websites

Useful Website- Bedtime Math

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Bedtime Math is striving to help families introduce maths as a fun part of their daily routine, as common and beloved as the bedtime story. They make it easy to roll maths into the day, whether at bedtime, bathtime, or snacktime.

You can check out the site by clicking the link below:

http://bedtimemath.org/bedtime-math-for-families/

There is also a free app that can be downloaded onto Smartphones and tablets.

 

Junior Leadership Teams, Maths & Numeracy, Sciences, Technologies, Uncategorized

STEM Competition Preparation!

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As part of our Junior Leadership Team, the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) group decided that they would like to learn about the construction of the new Queensferry Crossing. We spent some time in our sessions researching and watching videos around the construction of the bridge.

The children then decided that they would like to organise and run a STEM competition for the whole school as part of the upcoming British Science Week from the 9th to the 18th of March 2018.

Over the past few weeks we have been designing posters and experimenting with different ways and materials to construct bridges. We will now arrange a timetable for each class during British Science week to run the competition with each class, taking on a leadership role.

Primary 1, Technologies

P1W get technology savy!

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Learning intention:

We are learning to experiment and develop our understanding of the tinkering and programming skills when using an Ipad.

Success criteria:

I can use ScratchJr to design a simple sequence of instructions.

I can develop an understanding of appropriate behaviour and digital language.

I can experiment with and identify icons and symbols of ScratchJr.

Last week, P1W worked in small groups to develop their awareness of the tinkering and programming skills while using ScratchJr “Under the Sea” on the Ipads. The children worked as a group to experiment and play about with the different symbols to control the movement of each of the four sea creatures. Each group reported and fed back to the class about what they had discovered about the different symbols and buttons. Then using what they had learned they created a simple sequence of instructions for their chosen character and shared it with the class.

Some of the children were able to work out not only how to move the character but how to make them grow or shrink, disappear and re-appear and change the speed of their movement all by using their tinkering skills! Well done P1W!

English & Literacy, Homework, Second Level

Primary 5 Spectacular Spelling

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Primary 5A and Primary 5C have been busy working on new ways to learn their spelling words. The children have enjoyed using their new spelling grids for homework which gives them a lot more choice and allows them to learn their spelling lists in different ways. In class, the children have continued to use a variety of games and activities to support their spelling, such as ‘Dictionary Race’, ‘Hangman’, ‘Spelling Tennis’, ‘Kim’s Game’ and ‘Words Within Words’. Children can work within their own spelling group or choose to challenge themselves by working with a different group to try more difficult words.

‘Spelling games are fun and great for learning’ – MILLIE

‘I think spelling games are good for learning and they help you remember how to spell your words’ – TEAGAN

Primary 5, Sciences, Second Level

Float Our Boats – Science Skills in P5A and P5C

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We were learning about floating and sinking in P5A. First we investigated whAT THINGS FLOATED AND WHAT THINGS SUNK. We learnt about buoyancy, upthrust and gravity and how the density of the material affected the buoyancy. Afterwards we designed boats thinking about their size and shape. We ran a fair test as we each used the same size of tinfoil. We predicted how many pennies our boats would hold . Then we tested the boat design and recorded how many pennies it held before sinking.

I found out that sometimes it is the shape and size of the boat that effects the buoyancy. Our small boat held 21 pennies but we had predicted that it would hold 10 (Ruari). It was so much fun making and testing our boats (Kai).