Category Archives: Learning Stories
Pirates of the Curry Bean
Visitors travelled from across the UK and even Europe, to Mid Calder Primary School this week to view the Primary 6 and 7 production of Pirates of the Curry Bean. The Primary 6 and 7 pupils and staff have worked very hard over the past 6 weeks to pull everything together, it was great to see the pupils taking a lead in everything from acting to singing, lights to dancing, props to prompting … a true team effort from the pupils who were facilitated by their teachers and school staff. It definitely was better than ‘alright on the night’ with the pupils being the true stars of the show! We received lots of lovely feedback from our guests who commented on how it was nice to see the pupils being so involved in the production, the jokes were great, a fantastic show and a it was a real feel-good show.
A big well done to all the pupils, staff and parents for their team effort in making the show such a huge success.
Watch this space for some video clips … coming soon!
Sports Day
This week we had our Mid Calder Primary School Sports Day, which for the first time in a very long time managed to happen on the day we had planned it, thanks to the sunshine. The children took part in a variety of potted sports in their house teams and the favourite by far was the tug of war, which even some of the teachers joining in!
A big well done to Mrs Mitchell, our P.E. teacher for organising Sports Day for us and for the Primary 7 helpers. A big thank you to all the parents, family and carers that came along to support the event.
The winning house will be announced at assembly on Friday.
P2/1’s Dictionary Escapades!
P2/1 have been very busy learning about alphabetical order and how to to use a dictionary to find out the spelling and meaning of different words.
P1
We are learning about alphabetical order.
I can order letters and words alphabetically.
P2
We are learning how to use a dictionary.
I can find words in a dictionary by their beginning letter.
Our P1’s have been practicing ordering words alphabetically by their beginning letter and we hope to soon be able to do this without support. Our P2’s have used their knowledge of the alphabet to quickly locate the correct section of the dictionary and find the word. Next, we are aiming to apply our skills by using a dictionary to support our spelling and comprehension of words across our learning.
Finlay Fr commented ‘‘You have to look closely for words in a dictionary. I check that I have the correct beginning letter first before I look for the words.”
Ferne said, ”I started by using a smaller dictionary but now I’m using a thick one!”
Emme advised, ”You can use a dictionary to help you spell words. I like them.”
Matthew stated, ”In a dictionary, if you read alongside the word it tells you what it means.”
We have all been very enthusiastic in learning to know and apply our alphabet skills. Well done everyone.
Outdoor Spelling
This week we took our spelling class outdoors. We wrote out our new spelling words and discussed the patterns.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
This week M & M productions visited us to put on a performance of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The pupils enjoyed the performance and will now follow this up in class with a piece of writing around the play.
P3 Mid Calder Village Walk
LI: We are learning more about our local community
SC: I can understand the history of Mid Calder
SC: I can identify differences in the local area from then and now
P3 had a lovely, sunny walk to Mid Calder village last week. We have been learning about the history of Mid Calder in class and we were surprised at how much we didn’t know about the history of our local area. The children were excited to take their learning out of the classroom and take a closer look at the buildings we pass every day, but don’t pay much attention to!
Throughout the walk the children were focused, while using their observation skills to find the answers to questions on their clip board. They transferred learning from maths lessons to the outdoors, using tally marks to gather information on shops in the village and they used mental maths to find out how many years older the Black Bull is than the Torphichen Arms.
The best part of the trip was when we reached the Kirk of Calder on the way back to school and we stopped to sketch the building. The children were fascinated by the detail and produced beautiful pieces of art work. The work completed on this trip will be used to create a frame of our work on Mid Calder village and will be displayed near the school on the Gala Day.
Pirates of the Curry Bean
Ahoy there me hearties! This here be a reminder that the squid sucking buccaneers in Primary 6 and 7 have been working their unwashed socks off for you to sail away on an adventure with them in their show, Pirates of the Curry Bean. Come and join us on the docks of Old London Town on Tuesday 26th and Wednesday 27th May at 7pm for the piratical musical that’s sure to make you shake yer booty! Tickets can be seized from Captain Bokhari and Admiral Ritchie at the school office for the scurvy price of £3 each. Don’t monkey around and get yourself on board before the anchor is away…
Come on a history walk with P4/3
This week in P4/3, we went on a walk around Mid Calder village because we are learning about and celebrating 100 years gala. We wanted to know more about the history of Mid Calder and how the village has changed from then till now.
As we walked through the village, we were using tally marks to record how many hairdressers, pubs, restaurants and convenience stores we could see.
We also used four adjectives and one simile to describe Calder House, and looked at the difference between Market Street years ago and now. We know that the difference is that years ago the road was wider because there were no pavements as people could safely walk at the sides of the road as there were no cars.
Finally, we sat in the grounds of Kirk of Calder church and sketched a section or different parts of the church building whilst having our snack.
“I had fun learning about the history of Mid Calder”.- Eve Stirrat
“It was interesting finding out that they had no pavements in the olden days”.- Euan Roberts
“I enjoyed putting tally marks down on how many hairdressers, pubs, restaurants and shops there are and I enjoyed working with my partner”. Kiera Brown
“I enjoyed working with my partner and sketching part of the church”. Aiden Hardie
Nursery Newsletter – April
Dear Parent/Carer,
It is a delight being the morning nursery teacher over the past few weeks. We welcome new staff to the nursery and look forward to our end of term events and assemblies as an opportunity for you to get to know the nursery staff team. Our children are busy rehearsing for their assemblies and I thank you for your support to practice lines and songs. I bet you know the words to our jungle songs by heart!
Mrs McNamee will be returning to the nursery on Tuesday 19th May until Tuesday 16th June.
Nicola Thompson
Head Teacher
