Category Archives: Learning Stories

Primary 7, Transition

P7 Transition

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The last few weeks have been very busy for P7s. We have been preparing to move onto our high schools through a variety of ways. We have had visits from staff at the high school as well as a Skype session with some S1 pupils at West Calder High School. We have all had our transition visits where we got to meet our new teachers, learn about the routines and expectations of high school and start some of our timetable. We really enjoyed getting to move around classes and teachers every new period and had some great S6 buddies who took us around. We have been doing some work on getting ourselves organised including how to make best use of our timetable to prepare what we need to bring each day. We also had some time to think back on our year in P7 through our transition challenge for the P6 pupils. We prepared a powerpoint by taking on responsibility for different aspects of P7 that we thought they should know and presented this to the new P7 class. They also had the chance to ask us some questions.

p7 transition challenge whole 2

Health & Wellbeing, Primary 5, Second Level, Transition

P5a Transition Challenge

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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.

Primary 5, Transition

P5B’s Transition Challenge

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Learning Intentions: We are learning to help encourage learning and confident 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, P5B took part in Mid Calder’s transition challenge where we were asked to create a presentation for the current Primary 4s to give them an insight into what life is like in Primary 5.

We chose to present this in the form of videos, utilising our drama, team work and presentation skills to meet the success criteria and describe the different expectations, learning experiences, routines and specific experiences from P5. Primary 4B were then invited to watch our videos and had the opportunity to ask any questions or raise any concerns. Hopefully you are all feeling confident and happy

Primary 3, Transition, Uncategorized

P3’s Transition Challenge

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Over the last two weeks we have been learning how to do a transition challenge to show Mrs Walker’s Primary 2s what it will be like in Primary 3!

To prepare for this we were arranged into small groups. In our groups we had to work together to decide how we would present our given area. The areas we shared were:

  • What is expected from a P3 pupil.
  • What topics we covered.
  • What Numeracy and Maths looks like in P3.
  • What Literacy looks like in P3.
  • What Health and Well-being looks like in P3.

Lewis C: We worked well as a team because were talking nicely to each other.

Daisy: I enjoyed making props for our presentation.

Alex: I enjoyed creating and presenting a role play about being independent in the classroom.

Carla: I really liked writing a script and making props.

Marc: I really liked making pictures with a script on the back.

              

 

Curriculum Areas, First Level, Information for Parents, Primary 2, Transition

P2/3 Presentation to P1 About Life in P2

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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.

Expressive Arts, First Level, Outside of School, Primary 2, Primary 3, Sciences

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

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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!

Primary 2, Primary 3, Uncategorized

P3 and P3/2’s amazing trip to North Berwick beach!

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Yesterday P3 and P3/2 went on a trip to North Berwick beach. We had lots of fun playing in the sunshine with our friends. Our highlights were:

  • Enjoying a tasty ice-cream.
  • Burying ourselves in the sand!
  • Playing in the paddling pool.
  • Taking part in a sandcastle competition.
  • Digging holes in the sand.
  • Racing on the sand.
  • Walking to different parts of the beach.
  • Walking along the shore with our toes in the water.

Amelia: I enjoyed being in the paddling pool!

Alex: I enjoyed eating my ice-cream and being in the paddling pool!

Sophie: I enjoyed making big holes in the sand!

Ciara: I enjoyed making the sandcastle with my friends.

Marc: I liked eating my ice-cream and lying down on the sand.

Ignatius: I enjoyed the paddling pool. It felt weird because the water was pushing me over!

Euan: I enjoyed digging big holes in the sand!

Events, Primary 5

It is Time…for a Lion King Party!

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To celebrate the incredible success of The Lion King Junior musical, Primary 4 and 5 got to sit back, relax and become an audience themselves to a special viewing of The Lion King DVD. We had ‘slimy, yet satisfying’ animal themed treats and popcorn to enjoy during the movie. It was a fantastic way to round off the huge amount of hard work that has gone into the last 8 weeks.

Thank you to Mrs McKenzie and Miss Burton for the celebration cakes, and for popping into our party for a visit. We have really appreciated all of your positive feedback about our production.