Category Archives: Interdisciplinary Learning

Pizza Fun

May 7, 2015 Mrs Smith Leave a comment

This week Primary 1 visited Pizza Express to make their very own pizzas.

We all travelled together on the coach which was a great experience, and gave us lots to talk about.

When we arrived we washed our hands and put on an apron and a hat.

Then we started to make a pizza.

First, we used our hands to squash the dough into a circle shape, and then most of us had a go at flipping it from hand to hand before throwing it up in the air and catching it! This helped to make the pizza base a little bit bigger, and soon it was ready to put in a pan. A large dollop of tomato sauce was added, and by tapping around the edge of the pan it was soon spread all over the base. Next, we added a variety of toppings. Now the pizzas were beginning to look really tasty!

We sat down at the tables and were offered a choice of orange juice, blackcurrant juice or water.

After cooking for a while in the oven, the finished pizzas were brought out to us, and we were able to enjoy a slice. We had made a really good job of the pizzas, so it was a delicious snack!

Finally we closed the boxes, and took the pizzas back to school, ready to take home and share with our families.

What a great morning we had!

Interdisciplinary Learning, Primary 1

Maps

May 6, 2015 Mrs Smith Leave a comment

Primary 1 have been learning how to look at a map of the local area and recognise features such as a road, a river, a wood and different kinds of buildings. The children were all very keen to identify these familiar places, and we had lots of interesting discussion about what we could see.

Next, we decided to look at a map of the Isle of Struay, and compare it to our local area. It was very exciting to discover that some things were similar to the area where we live, but some things were quite different. We were particularly interested to discover that Struay has a castle, a golf course and lighthouses !

One thing that intrigued us was the compass that was shown on the map. Now we would like to learn a little bit more about this. For instance –

What does a real compass look like?
Who uses a compass?
How does it work?

Community, Events, Interdisciplinary Learning, Primary 1, Primary 2

The Scottish SPCA visit P1, P2/1 and P2

May 1, 2015 User deactivated Leave a comment

We were all very excited yesterday when the SSPCA visited our school to talk to us about and show us what they do to help out the animals across Scotland.

Lee, the Animal Welfare Officer, was very interesting and we all listened intently while she explained how she rescues and treats all different types of wild and domestic animals.

It was great to be able to handle and try on the specialist equipment Lee had brought with her. It was funny when Niamh tried on Lee’s high visibility jacket she wears at night time and near roads – it was slightly too big!

We learned that if we see people being cruel to animals we must tell an adult and someone will be there to help them. The SSPCA do a great job and we really enjoyed the visit. Thank you for our fancy pencils, we really like them 🙂 .

Healthy Families, Healthy Children 2015

P3 Tesco Trip

April 30, 2015 Mrs Murray Leave a comment

P3 had a fantastic day at Tesco Bathgate. We were learning more about the journey our food makes before it lands on our plate! We had already completed a lot of work in class about this topic and the guides, Paul and Tracy were very impressed with the children’s knowledge, but this was a super opportunity to enhance our learning with really practical activities. The rainbow activity showed all the colours of fruit and vegetables and the children got the chance to try some that they had never tasted before. Mango, coconut and avocado were new to some and most children enjoyed them, although Paul was ready with his bag just incase!

We then explored the seafood we eat and learned some interesting facts. Did you know that pearls come from oysters and prawns have ten legs? Moving to the delicious smells of the bakery, we watched the machines working hard to make bread rolls and some of the children linked our recent maths topic of measure to the work of the bakers. You will see in the photos that we then got to take on the role of the baker and made our own bread rolls, topping them with tiger paste, poppy seeds, sesame seeds or cheese. This was a really exciting activity, particularly when Tesco dropped off our rolls to school in the afternoon, still warm from the oven. We visited the warehouse, fridge and also made a brief visit in to the freezer that was -23 degrees!

Our final tasting activity was cheese. This wasn’t as popular as the fruit and vegetable tasting, especially when some tried the stilton! The whole morning was very informative and extremely enjoyable. Well done P3!

Health & Wellbeing, Healthy Families, Healthy Children 2015, Interdisciplinary Learning, Primary 3

In P4/3, Every Little Helps :-)

April 30, 2015 User deactivated Leave a comment

P4/3 had a great trip to Tesco Bathgate this week to find out more about how food comes from farm to fork related to our previous topic of Healthy Families, Healthy Children. We ate many different fruit and vegetables, made our own bread, held different seafood, stood in the big freezer and even got to try some delicious cheeses- I think the favourite was blue cheese 🙂 Have a look at some of photos from the day! We loved it!

Community, Healthy Families, Healthy Children 2015, Interdisciplinary Learning, Primary 1, Primary 2

P2/1 Visit to Pizza Express

April 29, 2015 User deactivated 1 Comment

P2/1 were very excited last week when we visited Pizza Express. We traveled by coach and arrived just after 9.15am on Thursday morning. We begun by washing our hands and putting on our aprons. We had to use our hands to carefully roll out the dough and make a nice circle. We kneaded the edges to make our pizza crust.

The chef helped serve the peseta which we spread over the dough by tapping the pizza tray. Then, we were able to add our toppings! We had lots to choose from including cheese, tomato, ham, pepperoni, chicken, onion and mushroom.

We had a drink of juice while we waited on our pizzas cooking. When they were ready, we ate them at our table.

Delicious! Yummy! Mmmm!

Now we know how to prepare and cook a pizza, look out Papa John!

Niamh said of the experience, ”I felt happy when we went to Pizza Express because we got to make our own pizzas”.

Emme also agreed that she really enjoyed the trip – especially the coach journey!

Interdisciplinary Learning, Maths & Numeracy, Primary 7

Maths in Primary 7/6

April 1, 2015 Miss Sherlow Leave a comment

Learning Intention:

We are learning to talk about the different ways that money is represented and accessed (MNU 2-09a)

Success Criteria:

I can talk about the ways I can access money
I can talk about representations of money such as vouchers, credit cards, rail/pre-pay tickets
I can give examples of where people keep the money they have and how they access it
I can talk about how people earn or obtain money
I can talk about how to be safe with money

As part of our Young Enterprise IDL topic, we have been learning about money in real life contexts. We have been learning about what goods and services are and have been giving examples of each. We have also talked about the different types of bank cards that you can get, e.g. credit and debit cards and we learned about the differences between these. We learned about cash machines and we now know that some people call them ‘holes in the wall’ or ATM (automated teller machine) machines and that there is usually a £300 limit that you can withdraw. To help keep your money safe, everyone is given a PIN to access their money from the cashline. If you forget your PIN, the bank can send you a new one. This is to help stop fraud on your account. We also learned that if you are shopping online, it is safer to use a credit card. We talked about what cheques are and now know that they are a safe way of sending money to people as gifts because they can be cancelled if it doesn’t reach them.

Once we had a good understanding of all of these different ways to pay for things, we spilt into groups to complete our activities.

Group 1- Working with Miss Sherlow- We learned about the best ways to pay for different goods and services

Group 2- Game group- We were learning about different ways people pay for things and who might use those methods

Group 3- Sumdog Challenge

“I liked learning about credit cards because I now know the dangers and how to use them safely,” commented Ross.

“I enjoyed doing the board games because you had to explain what different money related items were and I learned about some new ones,” said Carrie.

“I enjoyed giving advice about how to safe with money because we got to use our previous knowledge to help us,” added Abbie.

Health & Wellbeing, Healthy Families, Healthy Children 2015, Interdisciplinary Learning, Maths & Numeracy, Primary 5, Primary 7, Sciences, Technologies

P5’s are the chefs

March 30, 2015 User deactivated 2 Comments

Great fun and learning was had with P5 and our P7 helpers in the cooking classroom this week. Following on from our healthy product challenge we had the opportunity to apply the following skills, knowledge and understanding.

When planning to cook, we need to select the most suitable ingredients, equipment and food skills for successful results.

a) To be able to write and follow recipes.
b) To be able to weigh and measure accurately.
c) To be able to select and use the most appropriate ingredients and equipment to plan and cook a range of dishes.
d) To be able to modify existing recipes.

There is a range of additional food skills which enable us to cook.

a) To be able to demonstrate an extended range of food skills and techniques.

Buying, storing, preparing and cooking food safely and hygienically are vital for health.

a) To know that food can spoil and decay due to the action of microbes, insects and other pests.
b) To understand and use date marks and food storage instructions on food packaging.
c) To demonstrate good personal hygiene when cooking
d) To demonstrate good food safety and hygiene when cooking

In our plenary we discussed

A recipe is a set of instructions for preparing/cooking a food dish, e.g. how to bake a bread.
To ensure that a recipe works, it is important to weigh and measure ingredients accurately.
It is important to select and use the most appropriate ingredients and equipment to plan and cook a range of dishes.
Many recipes can be modified to produce exciting and original alternatives.
Good personal hygiene is vital when cooking to avoid the risk of food poisoning.
Good food safety and hygiene is vital when cooking to avoid accidents and risk of food poisoning.

English & Literacy, Expressive Arts, Interdisciplinary Learning, Learning Stories, Primary 1, Primary 2

Katie Morag visits P2/1

March 27, 2015 User deactivated 1 Comment

P2/1 were very excited last week when a visitor arrived in class. Her name is Katie Morag McColl and she comes from the Isle of Struay. We have made Katie feel very welcome at school and we have taken her home too. In class, she especially likes to sit beside her new friends Mr Tickles and Ted!

Emme took Katie Morag home to meet her family. She said ”Katie liked meeting my friend who is also called Katie! We went out on my scooter together and I tucked her into bed beside me every night‘.

Through reading, watching, talking and listening we have been enjoying learning all about Katie Morag and her island life. We have learned what an island is and the common features of one. Through learning about the Scottish Isles, we have discovered life on an island is very different from the mainland. We used all our new knowledge to design our own islands which were very creative indeed!

Emma worked with Eilidh to design an island. She said ”We drew a street with a charity shop on it and a play park too. I think this would be on an island”.

A particular book we enjoyed reading was Katie Morag and the Grand Concert. In this, Katie was preparing to perform a song called ‘You Cannae Shove Your Granny off a Bus!’. We also enjoyed preparing and performing our own songs at the P2/1 Grand Concert. With so many talented pupils, keep a look out for their names in the future!

Sophie spoke about her singing performance with Charlotte, ”I felt happy but a little nervous singing to my class. I enjoyed it because it felt like I was at a real concert and I liked doing it with my best friend”.