Category Archives: Learning Stories

Interdisciplinary Learning, Primary 5, Uncategorized

P5a Preparing for Disaster!

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L.I. We are learning to prepare for an emergency

  • I understand the difference between needs and wants
  • I can create a visual of a disaster pack and explain why I have chosen specific items

As part of our IDL topic on Natural Disasters, we learned about Earthquake Preparedness and how this is taught to children and families who live in areas which experience frequent earthquakes, such as Japan and the West coast of America. After watching a couple of drills, P5 were very keen to try it out for themselves. We discussed the need for a designated marshal, whose job it is to organise everyone if there is no adult available. We learned about Drop, Cover and Hold which is a way of protecting ourselves from falling debris – after that, all we had to do was carry on with our morning and wait for the siren! It came as a big surprise to everyone but we managed to take cover quickly and then get to a safe place.

We have also been discussing the things we would include in a disaster pack – essential things we would take with us if we had to be evacuated. It was a difficult decision as we had to really think hard about the difference between needs and wants – we found that we would have to leave many of our favourite things behind and take only the things we really need to keep us warm, clean, fed and watered.

Hopefully we will never be involved in a natural disaster, but if we are we will be prepared!

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Nursery

Firefighters visit the Nursery

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As part of our topic on superheroes, the nursery children have been learning about real life superheroes.  On Tuesday the children were surprised with a visit by Red Watch from the Livingston Fire Station.  The children had fun firing the hose and climbing into the cab of the fire engine.  The firefighters talked to the children about their jobs and the special equipment they used.  They even let the children see the flashing lights and hear the sirens.

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Anytime Anywhere Learning, Expressive Arts, Interdisciplinary Learning, Primary 5, Technologies

Touching tales of tsunami survivors

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We are learning to write an interview with a survivor of a tsunami.

Success Criteria:
I can use features specific to interviews including:
-an introduction to set the scene of the interview
-the name of the person speaking on the left, followed by a colon
-relevant and appropriate questions and responses
-a new line for each speaker
-adjectives to describe the feelings and emotions of the survivor
I can use question marks correctly

This week, our IDL lessons have focused on the natural disaster, tsunamis. We learned all about the key features of a tsunami including how it is caused and how it can affect the land and population. We then used our own and the school devices to research the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, collating and sharing our notes on our P5B class OneNote. We demonstrated our developing skills of writing in our own words and using bullet points to organise our notes, as well as learning how to insert a picture into our section of the OneNote.

Now knowing about the devastation that the Boxing Day tsunami caused, we watched an interview with one of the survivors that the film ‘The Impossible’ was based on. We learned all about her terrifying experience then looked at other examples of interviews, learning about the layout and important punctuation that we had to include. We used all of this knowledge to write our own interviews with a survivor of a tsunami.

When we were finished, we presented our interviews to an audience using our drama skills of expression, volume, pace and tone to portray appropriate feelings and emotions of the survivors.

Primary 7, Uncategorized

Primary 7 IDL Learning

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Learning Intention:

We are learning to develop our understanding of what the role of the Scottish Parliament is and what is meant by democracy.

Success Criteria:

  • I can say what democracy is.
  • I can participate in a group challenge to promote values.
  • I can develop my understanding of how a parliament works.
  • I can identify the different roles of people in parliament.

Primary 7 have begun learning about the Scottish Parliament as part of our IDL context for learning. We took part in a group challenge which was designed to help our understanding of what democracy is.  One group had a leader who made all of the decisions for the group, dismissing people who did not participate to their liking and used only their own design ideas.  The next group asked all members of the group to make and contribute decisions, whilst voting on the best solution throughout the task  – all members of the group designed and worked together at the same time with a common goal.  The final group split in two parts and delegated work and roles to different group members, each making contributions but sticking only to their individual roles.

What an interesting session we had!  Each group went about their task in very different ways and each had a very different experience – this led to some interesting discussion about the different types of governments around the world and how they can be run.  Pupils were able to apply some of their knowledge about WW2 leaders (our previous IDL context for learning) and current news topics during the discussion, drawing upon current world political problems, asking challenging questions throughout.

English & Literacy, Interdisciplinary Learning, Primary 1, Primary 2

Question Writing in P2/1

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We are learning to write a letter asking questions about Stirling Castle.

  • I can use a letter opening and ending.
  • I can use an address.
  • I can use questions with question marks.
  • I can use different question openers.

This week in writing we were learning about questions. We thought ahead to our trip to Stirling Castle and created some questions we would like to ask. We had to use different question openers, for example, who, what, where, when, why and did. We had to remember to use a question mark at the end o our questions. We then wrote a letter to Stirling Castle asking them our questions. Primary 2 had to write an introduction telling them about ourselves. We finished it by self assessing our work against the success criteria.

Someone even received the Living Our Values Award for creating interesting questions.

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Expressive Arts, Primary 2, Primary 3

Modern Art Gallery Trip January 2017

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naomi fraser  boys-buildingboys-buildingcotton-rivernaomifraser

untitledthe-three-lassiesrummaging-everyday-materialspaintingPrimary 2/3 loved their trip to the galleries of modern art in Edinburgh on Monday. They were going to look at some of Joan Eardley’s paintings and drawings. They were asked lots of questions by Fraser, an artist guide. They had to respond with what they saw and felt about the art works. James thought that Fraser was really kind and he learnt that anyone can be an artist. James found out that artists have to do a sketch before they do a painting. Cara learnt that Joan had done a lots of seascapes and landscapes. Rhuairdh learnt that Joan also painted portraits of children from Glasgow and the streets.
Miss Brolls ran two painting workshops to teach the children how to paint in layers, using ‘dirty’ colours. The children had to mix their colours on a palette using yellow ochre, cobalt blue, white and black. They made washes of colour with lots of water. They saw statues and artists’ models and Lucas loved Vulcan the large iron giant sculpture.

James learnt that dark colours such as grey and black shading a colour makes it ‘dirty’. He also used dry brush strokes to create more texture with his layers.

Now P2/3 have added dried grasses from Catterline, where Joan worked to add a final layer. Their mini-masterpieces are displayed in the art room in school.

By Cara, James and Rhuairdh with some help from Miss Brolls

Nursery

Come and Sway with the Nursery!

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The nursery have started a new Sway board. It keeps you up to date with what is happening in the nursery and all the activities we are doing linked to our topic – Superheroes!! We will continue to add to this as the children move through their learning journey.

Please take a look at all the fun we are having while learning!

Maths & Numeracy, Primary 1

P1 Number Talks

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We are learning to use different strategies to help us add

SC I can look at the pattern and say how many there are altogether

I can talk about the strategy I used

In Primary 1, during our recent Number Talks, we have been focusing our attention on  Addition. We have been using dot patterns and ten frame patterns to help us. We look carefully as the pattern is flashed onto the SmartBoard, and we quickly work out how many dots or counters we see altogether. It’s very interesting to listen to each other’s ideas, and talk about the different  strategies that have been used. For instance, we often  talk about using Doubles, counting in twos, knowing number bonds and counting on to help us.

We practise our Addition in other ways too. Sometimes we play games together or use ICT.dscn1541dscn1529dscn1544dscn1546dscn1527dscn1525 dscn1549 dscn1550

Here are a couple of games that we enjoy playing in class.

http://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button    (addition within 10)

http://www.topmarks.co.uk/Flash.aspx?f=PostSortingcalculationsv2  (total less than 10)