Category Archives: Interdisciplinary Learning

Interdisciplinary Learning, Primary 1, Primary 2

P2/1 Almondell and Calderwood Country Park Trip

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Yesterday Primary 2/1 went to Almondell and Calderwood Country Park to discover if it would make a suitable home for Buddy Bear. It was a fantastic opportunity for us to apply and extend our learning about living things.

In the morning, we worked in groups to build shelters out of natural materials collected in the woodlands. On the way we looked for lots of things which Buddy Bear could use to survive, including examples of food and water. Some Primary 2 pupils also spotted parts of woodland food chains, like a caterpillar munching on a leaf. After lunch, the children also had the opportunity to play together the play park. The Rangers then led us on a nature trail, where we collected and compared different shapes of leaves, spotted a bat box and mole hills, and learned all about squirrels.

Here’s what some of the children had to say about what they learned:

“I learned to build shelters. You have to have a tree that’s got branches on it. You put sticks on the branch and make it into a triangle and then you put leaves on it. Then you have to test it out.” Grace

“My favourie part was when we were trying to catch leaves falling out of the tree.” Emily

“We learned about squirrels. They look behind them when they are digging to bury their nuts to see if there are any other squirrels. Sometimes they just pretend to dig the hole and put the nuts in.” Amber

“My favourite part was hiding the squirrel food and then finding them.” Cayla

“My favourite part was playing in the play park.” Finlay

And here are lots of pictures of  our day:

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Thank you very much to all the Rangers and Parent Helpers for making the trip so valuable!

Interdisciplinary Learning, Primary 1, Uncategorized

Woodland Adventure

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On Tuesday, Primary 1 visited the Almondell and Calderwood Country Park.

We went there because we had previously spotted this area on a map of our local area, and we wondered if it would be a suitable place for Bobby Bear to live.

We were very excited to be travelling altogether on a big coach. Our behaviour on the coach was very good indeed, so it was an excellent start to our day out. We soon arrived and met the Rangers who  were going to be working with us for the rest of the day.

First of all, we thought about the things that a bear would need in order to survive, and because we have been learning about Living Things in the classroom,  we decided that he would definitely need food and water, air to breathe and shelter. We walked on the path alongside the river, and as we walked, we could see  that  food and water   would certainly be available for animals living in the wood. Air was all around us too- it was blowing the leaves off the trees!

Next, we walked deeper into the wood  looking for somewhere that would provide materials to build a shelter. Soon we found a great place, and  in small groups we set off to find the things we would need. There was some fantastic teamwork, as everyone worked together to gather enough sticks  to begin building. Here are some photographs of us hard at work –

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After lunch we set off to look for evidence of more Living Things in the woods. We discovered lots!

First, with the help of some little toy clues that were hiding all around us, the Ranger introduced us to different kinds of animals and birds and she told us a little bit about each one.   The boys and girls listened carefully and asked some very good questions.

Then we explored some of the trees and plants round about. We discovered seeds, and we even acted out growing from a tiny seed into a great big, tall tree. We especially enjoyed hearing about the helicopter seeds and  the conkers, and were very keen to find some of our own.

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Finally, we created a little reminder of our day.

We had a few minutes to look at all the beautiful colours of Autumn. Then we took a piece of sticky card and tried to find as many different colours as we could to stick to it. We gathered lots of little things, and soon we had made lovely patterns and pictures using the nature that was all around us.

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We had a fantastic day, and we think that a wood would be a very good place for Bobby Bear to live!

We would like to say a special Thank You to all the Parent Helpers who came along to support our learning, and who did such a great job throughout the day.  We hope you come and join us again soon!

Maths & Numeracy, Money Week 2016, Primary 1, Uncategorized

Money Week

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This week in Primary 1 we have been learning all about money.

LI: We are learning to recognise the value of different coins

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  • I can sort coins
  • I can recognise and name coins of the same value
  • I can count 1p coins and say how much I have altogether

We began by investigating and sorting coins using criteria suggested by the children.

The children had lots of different ideas, and soon we had –

  • a set of silver coins
  • a set of brown coins
  • a set of big coins
  • a set of round coins
  • a set of coins with straight bits

Then we  looked even more closely and we began to recognise that the coins had numbers on them, so we sorted them according to the numbers too. We decided to focus on 1p coins.

We looked at money bags containing 1p coins and we counted how much there was in each one.

We played some interactive games on the Smartboard.  We emptied the 1p coins out of  Piggy Banks and counted how much there was altogether.

We used 1p coins to fill up the Piggy Banks.

We used 1p coins to buy items in a shop.

We used 1p coins to play a game with a partner.

Primary 1 really enjoyed exploring coins this week. We will continue to revisit the topic of Money, and develop our skills further over the coming months.

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Anytime Anywhere Learning, Health & Wellbeing, iAchieve, Primary 5, Profiling, Supporting homework, Useful Websites

iAchieve in P5

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At Mid Calder we recognise that profiling it creating a holistic overview of the child as a learner through reflection and dialogue. This is central to practice in recognising achievement, profiling and reporting.

What is profiling?

Profiling means that learners will be engaged in regular, on-going discussions with staff about their progress. This should be a continuous process for all learners from 3 to 18.

iAchieve

iAchieve is our new approach to achievement which is being used in all our cluster schools. Each child now has a copy of their iAchieve level (you can download these here: https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/wl/public/mcps/uploads/sites/2949/2016/09/iAchieve-Level-4.pdf

This is used to track their achievements inside and outside of school. When they have achieved three of the tasks in each box they will receive a certificate in class or at a Friday Assembly and move on to the next area within their level, for example if they complete Brilliant Bronze for Responsible Citizen they will move on to Super Silver.

If the achievement has been completed at home the pupil can fill out an iAchieve sheet which are available from their class teacher or Primary 4 to 5 have the option of using their private iAchieve blog: https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/wl/mcpsiachieve2010/

Using the iAchieve Blog:

  • Google MCPS Blog to access the school blog
  • Select iAchieve, Primary 5 from the tab along the top
  • Pupils enter their Glow username and password
  • At the top they can click add, new post or on the right hand panel they can click add a new post
  • The blog post should link to their iAchieve pathway
  • Tick the categories for the post including:
    • Award
    • 4 Capacities
    • Value
    • Level – 5
    • And any other relevant category
  • Tag their name by typing in their name and clicking add
  • Add a title
  • Write their post (you will see examples on the blog):
    • Title of achievement from their pathway (in bold and colour)
    • Summary of achievement and what they learned
    • What school value they lived (the school value can be in bold and colour)
  • If you wish to add a photo:
  • Click on add media
  • This will ask you to browse for the photo on your computer
  • Click insert into post
  • Click Publish

Download these instructions: iAchieve-in-p5

iAchieve Level 5: iAchieve Level 5

Anytime Anywhere Learning, Health & Wellbeing, iAchieve, Profiling, Supporting homework

iAchieve in P4

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At Mid Calder we recognise that profiling it creating a holistic overview of the child as a learner through reflection and dialogue. This is central to practice in recognising achievement, profiling and reporting.

What is profiling?

Profiling means that learners will be engaged in regular, on-going discussions with staff about their progress. This should be a continuous process for all learners from 3 to 18.

iAchieve

iAchieve is our new approach to achievement which is being used in all our cluster schools. Each child now has a copy of their iAchieve level. You can download these here: https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/wl/public/mcps/uploads/sites/2949/2016/09/iAchieve-Level-4.pdf

This is used to track their achievements inside and outside of school. When they have achieved three of the tasks in each box they will receive a certificate in class or at a Friday Assembly and move on to the next area within their level, for example if they complete Brilliant Bronze for Responsible Citizen they will move on to Super Silver.

If the achievement has been completed at home the pupil can fill out an iAchieve sheet which are available from their class teacher or Primary 4 to 5 have the option of using their private iAchieve blog: https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/wl/mcpsiachieve2012/

Using the iAchieve Blog:

  • Google MCPS Blog to access the school blog
  • Select iAchieve, Primary 4 from the tab along the top
  • Pupils enter their Glow username and password
  • At the top they can click add, new post or on the right hand panel they can click add a new post
  • The blog post should link to their iAchieve pathway
  • Tick the categories for the post including:
    • Award
    • 4 Capacities
    • Value
    • Level – 4
    • And any other relevant category
  • Tag their name by typing in their name and clicking add
  • Add a title
  • Write their post (you will see examples on the blog):
    • Title of achievement from their pathway (in bold and colour)
    • Summary of achievement and what they learned
    • What school value they lived (the school value can be in bold and colour)
  • If you wish to add a photo:
  • Click on add media
  • This will ask you to browse for the photo on your computer
  • Click insert into post
  • Click Publish

Download these instructions here: iAchieve-in-p4

Level 4 iAchieve: iAchieve Level 4

Money Week 2016, Nursery

Nursery Money

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  • I can recognise the value of coins.
  • I can pay for items using coins in play and real life contexts.

This week in the nursery we have been learning more about money. We talked about what we already knew about money: –

Hannah told us “We buy cat food with money.”

Charlotte “buys toys from Toys r Us” and Connor knew that “we use money for snack.” Finlay  was able to tell the other children that a £1 coin was the same as 100 pennies!

We played the dino game on Education City and managed to match the coin to place in the piggy bank. The children also came to Mrs Murray’s restaurant and paid for their pasta snack with real pennies. We spoke about the coins they chose and some children could identify them.

Well done nursery boys and girls!

 

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Maths & Numeracy, Money Week 2016

Money Week in P6

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We are learning to work out the total cost, how I should pay and any change I should receive.

  • I can use a variety of strategies to find a total of several amounts of money with or without jottings or written calculations.
  • I can work out the total of several items, and how much change I should receive.

In Primary 6 this week we have been looking at key skills in relation to money. We have used our number talks strategies to help us add 2 or 3 prices of items together, to do this we used friendly numbers and partitioned numbers using ones and tens. Then we used counting on strategies to calculate the correct change.

We completed some written tasks using receipts, played games where we had to select items to purchase and entered the Sum Dog money week competition.

 

 

Help at home: Give your children the opportunity to use money in real like situations.

http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/Images/Numeracy_MoneyEN_tcm4-825779.pdf

Maths & Numeracy, Money Week 2016, Primary 5

Money Week in Primary 5

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Learning intention:
We are learning how to solve money problems
We are learning how to record our working accurately

To mark West Lothian’s money week, P5A and P5B took part in a bug related money challenge. We had to help Bluey the Bug to find his way through a money maze so that he got the highest amount of money possible.

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We were given a few hints and tips along the way, and had to record our route and the money Bluey had gained/lost accurately as we progressed through the maze. We had fun exploring the maze, and were challenged when having to calculate the different amounts and add or subtract this from our total.


Across the two classes, the highest amount we managed to get Bluey was £680. Can you find a way help him to get a higher amount?

Maths & Numeracy, Money Week 2016, Primary 7, Uncategorized

Primary 6 and 7 Money Week!

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This week for Mid Calder Money Week, we have been investigating through our IDL topic, the value of money from 1940 compared to 2016.

Learning Intention:

We are learning to convert money and compare costs from 1940 and 2016.

Success criteria:

I understand the names of old money

I can confidently discuss all coinage and notes from 2016

I can change from pennies to modern pence

I can change from shillings to modern pence

 

Through our challenge, we looked at the different values of money from now and then – we were surprised to find how differently money was used during WW2.  We then began the tricky process of conversion – we used old pennies and new pence to start with and then added in shillings.  We used examples of foods available during rationing and calculated the costs related to modern money.

On day three of the challenge, we had to design a rationed meal for four people using our knowledge of old money, and we planned a meal using ingredients and cost.  We presented our findings to a high standard.  We then participated in a valuable plenary session where we explained our learning and evaluated against our learning intention.  We really enjoyed the activities and liked discovering the value of money from 1940.

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