Dear Parents / Carers,
What an exciting but extremely busy term ahead for everyone involved with Mid Calder Primary School.
Primary 7 have begun the countdown for transition to High School and the nursery children have started transition arrangements for moving up to P1. It is an exciting but nervous time for them and I am sure as parents you will experience the same feelings.
Learning Intention:
Success Criteria:
As part of P2/1’s new IDL topic we have been learning about what a pirate might look like and about key objects they may own.
First, we listened to a selection of pirate stories and we identified and discussed the key vocabulary and information that we would need. Then we invited a few of our class members to come to the front and dress in pirate clothing. They demonstrated how the different objects or equipment would be used and shared their ideas about why a pirate would need or want to use them.
After this, we had a class discussion about other items of clothes a pirate may wear and other objects they may own. We made a chart of our ideas on our class board.
Finally, we used the information we had identified and gathered to help us label parts of a pirate and draw any missing items.
On Thursday the 30th of April, P2/1 went to visit the Robertson Building Site in Mid Calder as part of their IDL STEM topic for term 3.
The children demonstrated that they were responsible citizens by displaying excellent behaviour and using their road safety knowledge to cross roads sensibly and safely.
On arrival, we entered the meeting room where we met the site manager and some of Roberson Building Site team members. First, they gave us an important safety chat where we discussed the clothing and equipment builders and the children would need to keep them safe on the building site. Then we spoke about some of the things we might see and hear on the building site and any potential hazards that we would have to look out for. The children also got the chance to share their knowledge from their topic and ask their own questions to the experts.
Then, we put on our safety equipment (orange hi-vis vests and hard hats) and set off on our tour around the building site. The class could successfully identify and talk about different building materials and different machines they could see as we walked to look at the foundation stage of building.
After this, we went to see a house that was further on in the building process. We discussed the scaffolding outside, the wooden frame and how it was pieced together, what insulation was and why it is important, the layout of the upstairs and downstairs and finally the wiring and position of the lights.
The children did an excellent job of asking questions and linking their knowledge from our topic to this real-life experience. They could identify different tools and speak about the different types of roles involved in building a house (plumber, electrician, painters etc.).
The class really enjoyed the experience and we would all like to say a huge thank you to the Robertson Homes team and all our adult helpers that came along to support the class in our learning during the visit.
This week P1 have been exploring fractions.
LI We are learning to recognise half of a shape
SC I can recognise 2 equal parts of a shape
I can name each equal part as a half
We began by talking about our experiences of sharing things like a piece of fruit or a pizza between two people. The children were very adamant that to be fair each person should have the same amount. This meant that each piece would have to be the same size. We learnt that this is called making equal parts. We looked carefully at different shapes and decided if they showed equal parts or not. When a shape had two equal parts we called each part a half. We practised folding and cutting different shapes into two equal parts. We labelled each part one half or 1/2.
LI We are learning to recognise half of a quantity
SC I can make 2 equal parts by sharing
I can say how many there are in each half
Next, we wondered if we could half a group of items. We discovered that if we shared a group of counters equally between two children, each child got the same number of counters, so each child had a half. We practised this a few times altogether, and then we worked with a partner sharing out dinosaurs, cubes, counters and elephants.
Soon, some children began to use their knowledge and understanding of doubles to help them work out half of a number. A great job P1!
Dear Parent/Carer,
Welcome to Term 4 in Primary 2/1. First of all, a huge thank you for the support you gave last term. It was a very busy time for us, but we enjoyed lots of new experiences in our learning journey. Hopefully the children were enthusiastic about sharing their learning with you at home too. Highlights of last term included our visit to Stirling Castle and the Ball In The Hall with our P7 Buddies. As part of the STEM ‘Building Our Nursery’ topic, we also enjoyed a visit to the Robertson Homes building site. This helped us to understand how buildings are created, and how everyone has an important role to play during the building process.
Now, there is a lot to look forward to in the term ahead. This includes our new IDL context- Pirates and our Assembly. We look forward to seeing you there!
Mrs Walker
P2/1 Teacher
This morning we welcomed parents and friends along to our Celebration Celebration so that pupils could receive their STEM Super Star and Remarkable Reader Awards. We also announced the Top Scorers for each house and a big well done to Almondell who won the House Cup for last term.
Miss Sherlow presented those pupils who came in the top 50 of the West Lothain SumDog Competition with a certificate.
Lewis and Ross, both past pupils from our school who now attend West Calder High shared their achievements with us. They reminded us it was important to achievement academically and in other areas of life, and also to have fund along the way. A big thank you to Lewis and Ross for joining us.
This week, as part of our IDL STEM Topic, Primary 1 went to visit the Robertson Homes Building Site.
We set off from school and walked all the way down to the building site. Although it was a long way, everyone did very well. At last, we saw our destination up ahead, and our excitement grew. On reaching the site, we climbed up into a cabin and gathered in the meeting room where we met some representatives from the site. They were to be our guides for the morning.
First of all, they spoke to us about the kind of things we might expect to see and hear on a building site. They asked us about possible dangers too, and talked about the kind of things we would have to look out for as we walked around. Mrs Smith was very impressed with the answers we gave, and with the questions we asked too!
Next, we put on our orange hi-vis vests and hard hats, and set off to have a look round. We correctly identified a number of different vehicles and machines as we walked over to see the digger digging out some foundations. Then we looked across to see a house that was a little bit further on in the building process. It was surrounded by scaffolding, and we discussed how the scaffolding helped the builders work at higher levels.
Finally, we went inside a house that was almost finished. Here, we learnt about insulation-what it is and why it is important. We also talked about the materials that were being used for different parts of the building. Again, we were able to make lots of connections between our learning in the classroom, and what we could actually see around us.
Looking around, we could see that the skills of plumbers, electricians and painters would all be very important over the next few weeks too.
All too soon, it was time to leave and head back to school. We would like to say a huge thank you to the Robertson Homes staff, who gave us such an interesting and informative tour of the site. Thanks also to the adult helpers who kindly came along to help and encourage us during the visit.
A big well done to everyone who participated in the PSA Easter Egg Competition. Mrs Murray and Miss Sherlow had a difficult job judging the competition! Mrs Learmont from the PSA presented the winners with an Easter Egg at the Church service today. Thank you to the PSA for organising this event.
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/
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.
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