Category Archives: Supporting Reading

P6 Artland Adventures in the Natural World

P6s have been engaged with Environmental Art for the past few weeks.

LI – EXA 2.07a to look at others’ artwork and use these ideas as inspiration for their own work

SC- I can create a hall display to detail my Land Art experiences

I can create a blog response of my thoughts and feelings

They also created artworks in teams and on their own in the school playground using natural and scavenged items that they found.

They researched the art of Andy Goldsworthy and other sculptors whose work they saw on a visit to Jupiter Artland near Wilkieston.

After their tour the pupils were set a challenge to create an artwork with a repeating pattern or sequence in the outdoors.

Marvellous Maths in P1P

LI: We are learning to sort, collect and display information.
We are learning about tally charts and pictographs.

SC: I can talk about my favourite toy and ask others about their favourite toy.
I can say what type of toy I have and record it in the form of a tally mark.
I can contrast and compare our favourite toy results with the P7’s favourite toys.
I can answer questions about the information that I have collected and displayed.

This week P1P have been learning how to gather and display information. During our Maths inputs we have developed an understanding of tally marks and have began to explore and use pictographs through a variety of practical, written and digital activities. We have also been able to use our new knowledge during our Toy Story IDL lessons to create a tally chart to show P1’s and P7’s favourite type of toy. It was really interesting to compare both the results and find out that both P1 and P7 had the same favourite… ‘cuddly toys’.

Maths Week Scotland in P5C

As part of Maths Week, we linked our learning with our IDL context ‘The Rainforest’ . Early in the week we were learning about where in the world the rainforests are, using maps and atlases. We were able to link this to outcomes within Shape, Position and Movement.

I can use my knowledge of the coordinate system to plot and describe the location of a point on a grid.

MTH 2-18a / MTH 3-18a

L.I. We are learning about position and movement

S.C.- I can identify an object on a map

-I can describe its location in relation to the eight compass points

-I can create a grid and give instructions for how to describe or find a position on the grid

We practised giving each other directions,  making half, quarter and full turns and relating these to angles – some people were brave enough to be blindfolded and allow others to direct them!

Using our knowledge of the eight compass points, we wrote out directions for how to get from one point on the map to another. We practised plotting and finding coordinates on a grid and this allowed us to locate places on maps when we were finding out about where the rainforests exist.

Later in the week we were able to create our own grids and plot coordinates for others to find. We have been trying to keep practising using positional language whenever we can – during our bowling session this afternoon someone commented that their bowling ball had gone a bit too far to the North West!

 

P1 and P2/1 Transition Challenge

Last week Primary 1 and Primary 2/1 worked together to prepare a presentation for the Nursery children who are coming into P1 in August.

The first part of our challenge was to discuss what we thought the Nursery children most needed to know about being in Primary 1. There were lots of ideas and suggestions put forward and here are a few of our suggestions:

“To be confident and make new friends.” (Grace)

“You need to be kind to each other.” (William)

“Sitting still, looking at the teacher, lips closed and open ears.” (Cayla)

“Do your own work.” (Lacey)

“Don’t push. Use gentle hands and feet.” (Jake)

Next, we organised these ideas under the headings of routines, rules and expectations, learning, playing in the playground and friendship. We took photographs to include in the presentation because they helped to demonstrate some of our ideas.

When the Nursery children came over, we took turns to talk to them. The Nursery boys and girls listened very well, and at the end, they asked some good questions which we tried hard to answer.

 

                      

We are looking forward to working with and playing with the Nursery children when they become our new Primary 1 classes.

 

P5a Transition Challenge

 

L.I. we are learning to encourage learning and confidence in others

We are learning to recognise our skills and abilities and discuss our learning

We are learning to support others in preparing for their next stage at school.

This week in class, P5a worked in groups to prepare a presentation for the current P4s all about their transition to Primary 5. Each group focused on a different curricular area; Inter -Disciplinary Learning, Health & Wellbeing, Maths and Language. One group also focused on the routines of the school day and the extra responsibilities of being in P5.

As a group, we reflected on the learning which has taken place throughout our P5 journey. It was fun to remember all of the things we’ve done and we had to jog our memories to think of everything and make sure we didn’t forget anything!

We used Powerpoint and Sway and tried to make our presentations interesting and informative; we hopefully made our P5 experience sound like fun. After each group had presented, we answered questions from P4s.

Some of the things they wanted to know were;

‘Will we have the same lunchtimes?

‘Will we do all the same topics?’

‘Will the Maths be harder?’.

We hopefully gave full answers to all their questions and we tried to reassure them about moving on to the next stage in their school life.

P2/3 Presentation to P1 About Life in P2

P2/3 presented to P1 telling them about life in P2.
Their learning intentions were:
• We are learning to help encourage learning and confidence in others.

• We are learning to recognise our skills and abilities, and discuss our learning.

• We are learning to support others in preparing for their next stage at school.

Their successful presentation included:
• Expectations of P3 pupils such as showing respect to others.

• Learning experiences within Maths, Languages and Health and Wellbeing

• IDL Contexts and trips to Jupiter Artland and The National Gallery, The Zoo and the Into Film Festival, local woods and a fun beach outing with ice-cream!

• Routines for your area

• Specific experiences from Primary 3 such as the Biketasic design challenge and learning bike skills and 2 hours of P.E. which included Fitkid circuit training and doing lots of burpees. Cara and Nathan even demonstrated a few of the exercises.

Charlie asked if it was a lot more work and Miss Brolls assured them that it was a wee bit harder but achievable and they would be making lots of new friends as the two P1s were coming together.

Ice-Cream and Fun in the Sun! by P2/3

P2/3 and P3 set off on a mystery tour to North Berwick on Monday. It was a long journey and a last-minute change from the planned trip to Yellowcraigs at Dirleton but fine weather and a good team spirit meant that we had a fantastic day out together and managed to complete a team sandcastle building challenge.
Some of our LIs were:
Expressive Arts
I can create and present work using the visual elements of line, shape, form, colour, tone, pattern and texture. We did this by creating sand sculptures and there are two of the winners in the pictures. The winners enjoyed playing with their mini-kite prizes.
EXP 1-03a
Sciences
I can distinguish between living and non-living things. I can sort living things into groups and explains my decisions. We looked at different types of shells and learnt their names – limpets, clams, winkles, cockles but we didn’t find any cowries or the elusive Pelican’s Foot.
SCN 1-01a
As Class Teacher it was great to explain to some children about the different edible sea vegetables such as kelp, sugar kelp, sea lettuce and bladderworts. Some of these can make a delicious miso soup. Next time they go to the beach they might remember what they looked like.
PICTURE EDITORS
Annalise said, “Before I went for the bus I loved my vanilla ice-cream. My favourite bit was going into the paddling pool and collecting shells. On the way back we got stuck in a traffic jam.”
Lauren said, ” My favourite bit was the sandcastle contest because me and Myah worked as a team.”
Amorie explained, “Going in the paddling pool was a little bit deep and it was fun.”
ICE-CREAM DREAM TEAM
Jessica and her team found out that ice-cream is made from many things such as milk and sugar. We went for the best ice-cream with dairy ingredients from Lucas in Musselburgh. It was scrummy! Jessica’s Mum organised a great deal with Mr Whippy and Lucas but the ‘healthy’ ice-cream was the best choice even if it did cost more.
SEA MONSTER TEAM
James and Rory said ” In the paddling pool everyone thought it was freezing and the rules were we could not go any further than up to your knees and we were not allowed to swim or push. We were playing tig in the water and it was really fun.”
Rory saw a crab in the water and they saw unusual pink stripy small jellyfish. What could they have been?
SEAHORSES TEAM
Cara imagined that she was a mermaid on the beach and created imaginary play with friends about exploring the seaworld full of fish and shells. Great imaginations indeed.
SANDCASTLE TEAM
Brandon said, “When we were working in teams we were building sandcastles.”
Aidan said, “It was a race to build the best sandcastle.”
Nathan made a moat and a hill and built up the sides with wet sand in a bucket.

A huge thank you to our wonderful sun-kissed parent helpers. It was a grand day of fun in the sun!