Category Archives: Learning Stories

Events, Interdisciplinary Learning, Primary 5

P5 Trip to Dynamic Earth

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On Thursday, Primary 5A and Primary 5B took a trip to Dynamic Earth to consolidate our learning about natural disasters. As well as feeling the ground shuddering as a molten lava flow sped towards us as we watched volcanoes throw clouds of ash and gas into the sky, we also had the chance to travel back in time, touch an iceberg and fly above the Polar ice caps. We took part in a workshop where we were able to show off our knowledge of different natural disasters, as well as learn new and interesting facts as we created our own tornadoes, held real moon rocks and tried to construct a building that would withstand an earthquake.

Thank you to our parents helpers for your help throughout- what a fantastic trip!

English & Literacy, Expressive Arts, Nursery, Technologies

Snow Day!

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Even though it was the first day of Spring, the nursery children had great fun playing and exploring the snow. They made snowmen, slushes, pretended to be snow ploughs and all this was filmed by our GoPro team! They even filmed themselves giving an update on the new nursery. By lunch time the snow had cleared so the boys and girls asked to have bubbly water, pretending it was snow and burst into Christmas songs!  The children were very excited to wear their new waterproof suits.

Community, Events, Nursery, Primary 1, Primary 2, Primary 3, Primary 5, Primary 7, STEM 2017, Useful Websites

Building Site Safety

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Today, Mid Calder Primary had an important talk from Stephen from Hadden Construction, the company who are building our new nursery. He showed us the plans for the nursery, described what it will look like, and spoke to us about some of the equipment that will be used to build it. We also learned about the different careers people can have in the construction industry. He also taught us, very importantly, about the potential dangers found on a building site, and how to keep ourselves safe.

Stephen also introduced a whole competition to design a poster about building site safety. Hadden Construction have very kindly donated money to the school for prizes, so we are very excited to take part and to share what we have learned about how to stay safe.

If you want to learn more about building site safety, visit Ivor Goodsite’s website: https://www.ivorgoodsite.org.uk/kidszone/

Health & Wellbeing, Primary 2, Primary 3, STEM 2017

Bike-tastic Skills Fun Afternoon for P2/3

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P2/3 had a lot of fun and learned about bike safety on the 20th of March 2017. Ian from Lowport Activity Centre came to lead bike games, talk about his interest in bikes and cycling and check whether our bikes were roadworthy. He told us that we need to check our brakes regularly and that we need to have a well-fitted helmet to keep ourselves safe.

Some of us were skidding and were clearly very skilled already and for others we gained in confidence as we weaved in and out of the bike trails in the playground. There are lots of cycle tracks near Mid Calder so here is hoping we are now ready to cycle beyond the school gates!

Primary 5, Primary 7, Pupil Council, School Improvement Plan, Self Evaluation

Learning Walk Part 3 .. Visit to Woodmuir Primary!

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Today our Pupil Council went along to Woodmuir Primary School, along with Addiewell Primary for the finale of our Cluster Learning Walks. The Pupil Council gave us a presentation about their school.

We asked the Pupil Council some questions about their school:

  • What is your favourite thing about your school?
  • Is there anything you would like to change about your school and why?
  • What is it like being in multi-composite classes?
  • Do you get awards at your school? What kind of awards?

We also asked Ms Hamilton, their Head Teacher some questions about her job:

  • What is your favourite part of your job?
  • What do you like about your school and why?
  • How many pupils and teachers are in your school?
  • How do you plan your assemblies?

There were lots of things that we found interesting about Woodmuir Primary:

  • There are 23 pupils in their whole school.
  • They have 2 classes.
  • In the mornings they go for a walk and have a quick assembly everyday.
  • They have toast after break time every day.
  • Outdoor learning is an important part of their learning and they have lots of outdoor spaces.
  • There is no fence around their school.
  • Woodmuir is a new school so it looks really nice.
  • They have unisex toilets.
  • P5-7 have been learning about the Mars Rover.
  • Some of their school values are the same as ours.
  • They have walls in their classrooms.
  • P1-4 were learning about Art.
  • We even got to meet Ms Gordon who used to teach at our school.

Thank you to our tour guides and answering our questions.

A big well done to Harry for helping Miss Burton navigate her way to Woodmuir (after getting lost!).

Primary 7, Sciences, STEM 2017, Uncategorized

STEM P7/6

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This week we had our STEM open afternoon and P7/6 enjoyed showing friends and family a few of the experiments that we have been doing in class. All of our experiments have their own unique qualities but they were all chemical reactions. This week we made more slime, more elephant toothpaste (our water was the correct temperature), blobs in a bottle and a fizz inflator. When we made our we mixed together glue and washing detergent, we had to be careful though because if we mixed too much detergent with the glue, the mixture became too gloopy and lumpy and wasn’t the correct consistency for slime, we seem to have now perfected our slime and it really is now taking over P7/6!!!! Blobs in a bottle and the fizz inflator were new experiments, so were excited to find out what the results would be. Blobs in the bottle was a bit like a lamp lamp and The Fizz Inflator was a bit like a balloon pump. With our Blobs in a Bottle experiment we mixed together sunflower oil, and water but they did not mix together and the oil sat on top of the water, we then added some food colouring and this mixed with the water, once we had all the materials in the bottle we added an alka seltzer. The results were amazing…..the alka seltzer fizzed and pushed the water up into the sunflower oil and made blobs, it was really amazing. The Fizz Inflator consisted of bicarbonate of soda, vinegar, a balloon and a bottle. We had to put the vinegar in the bottle and then carefully put some bicarbonate of soda into the balloon. Once we had all the materials in place we had to very carefully try and put the balloon on top of the bottle, this allowed the bicarbonate of soda to fall into the vinegar, the two chemicals worked together to create an acid base reaction and the two chemicals work together to create carbon dioxide and this blew up the balloon, it really was exciting to watch. I think all of the family and friends were impressed by our experiments. Hopefully they might be able to try this at home!!!

I hope you all have a good weekend.

Miss Anderson and P7/6

Interdisciplinary Learning, Learning Stories, Maths & Numeracy, Primary 5, STEM 2017

Kidnapped! Mission 8: Tyre Track

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L.I. We are learning to use line symmetry to complete an image

S.C.- I understand the terms symmetry and symmetrical and can use a mirror to help me complete a symmetrical pattern

-I can use my completed symmetrical pattern to match to an identical pattern

Primary 5 received communication from Police HQ telling us about the discovery of a partial tyre track which was found close to the home of Alan Green. Unfortunately the track found was too incomplete to be able to match it to a vehicle so we were given the task of trying to complete the image.

We inspected the track and found that half the tread was missing so we were able to use our knowledge of line symmetry to complete the whole tyre track.

We used a mirror to give us an impression of what the complete pattern would look like and then used the squares on the grid to ensure our mirror image was absolutely accurate. It took us a long time and quite a few attempts to get our symmetrical patterns right , but we eventually managed to produce the completed image. This allowed us to match it against the tyre tracks on Police HQ’s database and narrow down the make of vehicle which had left it.

We were able to demonstrate our knowledge about line symmetry during our STEM open day when parents and carers came into school to find out about our topic.

Events, Interdisciplinary Learning, Maths & Numeracy, Primary 5, STEM 2017, Technologies

P5B’s Mission 9: Vehicle Database

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We are learning to use an online database to locate information

Success Criteria:
– I understand what a database is, the different forms they can take and what they are used for
– I can select the key words needed to retrieve the specific information I need
– I can filter results to discount irrelevant information

As part of their IDL context, Kidnapped, Primary 5B received another mission- to use an online database to identify the type of getaway car used in the kidnapping. Chief Anderson had sent us a partial tyre track found at the crime scene, and we had to use our knowledge of line symmetry to complete the track. We then searched an online database to identify the make of the car it came from, hoping that this would help us to eliminate some of the suspects. We were able to narrow down our search to 3 types of getaway cars that could have been used. Another online database helped us to find out about the vehicles owned by each of our 6 remaining suspects, locating the registration number, vehicle type, model, colour and any other distinguishing features of their vehicles. We had to ensure that we used the correct spelling and our skimming and scanning skills to locate the key information. We recorded our notes in our case files.

We then shared this learning with our parents, carers and family friends during our STEM open afternoon, along with 4 other activities to demonstrate some of the new knowledge and skills we have gained from our Kidnapped topic so far. We rotated around 5 different stations:

1. Handwriting Analysis
2. Fingerprint Analysis
3. Forensic science careers research
4. Completing a partial tyre track
5. Deciphering a secret code

We enjoyed showing off our evidence wall and our Yammer page, as well as having help from our parents/carers to complete some of the missions.

English & Literacy, Nursery, Primary 1, Primary 2, STEM 2017, Technologies

Sharing our Learning!

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This week, the nursery children visited the P1 and P2/1 classes to share what they had observed and learned during the construction of the new nursery building. They confidently used the GoPro to film their visit, explaining which materials were used, what held the bricks together and why the pipes were under the ground. The P1 and P2/1 children exchanged their knowledge, showing us their Architect drawings and building area. Thank you for letting us visit your class to share our learning.