Category Archives: Learning Stories
Handwashing Video
We are learning to explain ways of preventing the spreading of diseases.
- I can explain different ways of preventing the spread of germs.
- I can describe the steps of how to wash your hands correctly.
This term in Science and Health and Wellbeing we have been learning about diseases, their symptoms, ways of preventing them and why we get vaccines. We also investigated the correct steps in washing your hands and the importance of washing your hands. Please watch our video below.
Primary 5’s Roald Dahl Assembly
On Friday, Primary 5 demonstrated all of the new knowledge and skills they have been developing through their IDL topic of Charlie and the Chocolate factory. They invited parents, carers and the school to attend their class assembly to celebrate the life and works of the author, Roald Dahl. Primary 5 thoroughly enjoyed sharing their learning and can’t wait to find out what their next wonkalicious golden challenge will be. Stay tuned…
Torch Light Procession
On Saturday night, some of the pupils from Primary 1-3 braved the weather to come and sing some of their nativity songs at the Kirk of Calder Parish Church. They sounded fantastic and there was a real sense of community spirit shown by the number of people who came along to attend the service and to support them.
Jack and the Beanstalk
This morning P1-7 enjoyed a performance of Jack and the Beanstalk from Hopscotch Theatre.
Wonkatastic Roald Dahl Projects
Learning Intention: We are learning to use our research skills to answer the key questions about Roald Dahl that we have created
We are learning to present our findings in an interesting way
A successful personal project will include:
- introduction
- conclusion
- bibliography
- relevant facts/information
As a homework challenge, Primary 5, P5/4 and P4 were asked to think about 5 key questions they would like to find the answers to about the life and works of the famous author, Roald Dahl. We were given a month to complete this and, last week, we shared our findings with the class. In P5, we also used the new knowledge we learned to help us to write our script for our class assembly. We think it is fair to say, Roald Dahl lead a very interesting life!
For example, did you know that he could speak 3 languages- English, Norwegian and Swahili.
Did you know that during the Second World War at 23 years old, Roald joined the Royal Air Force and became a fighter pilot.
Did you know that Roald Dahl published 17 children’s books, 2 rhyme books, plus 2 autobiographies, 2 adult books, 51 adult short stories and more.
Did you know that Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was recently voted number one in the top 100 fiction books all children should read before leaving primary school.
Did you know that the inspiration for Willy Wonka’s infamous Inventing Room came from being a taster for the famous chocolate making company, Cadbury’s.
Magical Mediators @ Scottish Mediation Conference
Six of our Magical Mediators were invited along to the Scottish Mediation Conference on Friday. It was a school trip with a difference, as we had to get two trains in order to get to Queen Margaret University, and our day started at 7:45am, some of us felt a little sleepy!
We managed to fit in some numeracy work, as we had to calculate how much money we needed at the shop, and we used our prior learning to calculate the duration until our train arrived. We bumped into Carol Hope our Peer Mediation trainer at the platform at Waverly and we got the train to Musselburgh together.
First of all we listened to a keynote from Kenneth Kressel from the Psychology of Mediation. Some of it was a litte bit difficult to understand but it allowed us to reflect on what time of mediator we are. It also was our first time in a huge lecture theatre (and university).
We then attended a workshop with Mediator Magician Nick Patel (who has worked with the famous Magician Dynamo). He reminded us of all the important skills and knowledge we need to be a mediator, while showing us some tricks. In the second workshop we discussed the challenges and solutions to peer mediation being sustainable in our schools, here we had the opportunity to share our magical mediators story and learn from other schools.
On the way home we reflected on the day, some of us thought it was ‘The best day ever!’. Our next steps are to share this event with the other magical mediators and discuss as a group how we can develop the magical mediators service. A big thank you to Roxan and Carol for inviting us to this event, and to our parents for dropping us at the train station. Miss Burton said we demonstrated excellent communication skills and that we represented MCPS in a positive way.
Roxan the Peer Mediation Network Coordinator send an email to say:
So glad to hear your pupils enjoyed it – it was such a great, positive day! Your pupils were all so lovely, clever, motivated, and talented and it was our pleasure to have them there. Nick was also very very impressed with the peer mediators, and said it reflects very well on their teachers and trainers! The rest of the conference delegates were also delighted with the presence of the young people. Overall, it was a very happy day! Thank you so much for joining us.
Primary Two preparing for our Nativity ‘Are We Nearly There Yet?’
This week Primary Two have been very busy preparing for our Nativity ‘Are we Nearly There Yet?’ which will be shown this week coming on Thursday 10th and Friday 11th December. We would like to thank all of our parents and carers who have provided us with super shepherd and angels costumes. We are all looking wonderful and we are really looking forward to our performance!
Looking forward to seeing you all soon,
Primary Two.
P.5/4’s Spectacular and Super Settings
Over the last couple of weeks P.5/4 have been studying the novel ‘Storm’ by Kevin Crossley-Holland. Here is what we have learned this week.
Learning intention: We are learning to understand how authors use settings to create different feelings or moods.
Success Criteria: I can draw the setting from ‘Storm’ using evidence from the text.
I can use interesting and ambitious vocabulary to describe the marsh.
Firstly, we practised finding evidence in the text to support our ideas.
Then, we looked for information about the setting in the text.
Next, we chose whether to draw our setting in winter or summer. We then spent time drawing whilst looking back at the text to help us.
Finally, we wrote WOW words to describe our setting and then up-levelled these using a thesaurus.
“I thought it was really fun because I enjoy drawing.” (Lewis)
“I enjoyed reading the story because I like looking at the illustrator’s pictures of the setting.” (Erin)
“I really liked how the author described the ghost and the marsh.” (Owen)
“I found it fun working in pairs when we used a thesaurus.” (Eloise)
Christmas Lunch
This week MCPS had their Christmas Lunch. We were lucky enough to have a team of Primary 7s serve us our lunch, and our teachers joined us wearing their Christmas jumper. Some children commented that is was ‘The best lunch ever!’. A big thank you to Mrs Ritchie in the office and all the dinner ladies for organising our Christmas lunch.
