The sun was shining on Mid Calder this morning as P1-7 went up to the field to take part in Sports Day. There was a range of activities on offer including: football shoot out, welly throwing, obstacle races, hurdles and lots more. A big thank you to Mrs Mitchell, our P.E. specialist for organising such a successful and enjoyable Sports Day and thank you to all the parents and families who came along to support the event.
Congratulations to Calderwood who were the overall winners!
This  morning, MCPS opened its doors to parents, carers and friends in order for pupils to exhibit their learning through our STEM (Sciences, Technologies, Engineering ad Mathematics) contexts for learning. This included:
P1: The Garden
P2-3: The Great Deserted Island
P4-5: Project Planetarium
P6-7: CSI
Our guests spent time in their children’s classes taking part in a wide range of activities including; designing space crafts of the future, information sessions, demonstrations, Science investigations and lots more.
We also used this time to ask parents for their input into our Curriculum Rationale, the the results of which will be shared soon.
Thank you to everyone who came along to support the event.
 
The afternoon preschool pupils enjoyed another session in the Primary 1 class. They have been listening to the story, Oliver’s vegetables and drawing a picture of themselves in a garden. They can discuss many plants and bugs found in our gardens.
This afternoon we invited the parents and carers of our Nursery children who are transitioning to Primary 1 to a transition workshop. The Primary 7 pupils took the parents on a tour of the school and they had the chance to visit the P1 classrooms. We also shared some hints and tips for P1 from the current P1 parents which you can find below.
Hints and tips from P1 Parents
The children were very excited about the start of their transition into Primary 1.They met up with some of their friends from last year.     
 
  
The children were very excited about the start of their transition into Primary 1.They met up with some of their friends from last year.
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Today Primary 1, P4, P5/4 and P5 had a very exciting visit from Cosmos Planetarium, a state of the art, 360° theatre experience. We were transported on a journey through the solar system and beyond – from flying through Saturn’s rings to diving into Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa, to search it’s vast ocean for signs of life. We learned about the first moon landing, as well as what life might be like on the moon in future. We took a virtual tour of the International Space Station and were able to share our knowledge of Tim Peake from the biographies we wrote about his life and experiences last week.
In the Middle Area, we have been working in teams to create a planet fact file, and we were excited to use our new knowledge from our Cosmo Planetarium experience to help us. We also used our own devices, as well as the school’s netbooks and iPads, to research the key features of each planet. We will use ICT to bring our research together to create a group fact file about our Solar System.
We are living in a constantly evolving digital world and technology has an impact on nearly every aspect of our lives. And, we are very lucky to be able to use this technology in school to develop skills that will help us in the world of work and in our journey as lifelong learners in our ever advancing world.
Here are some of the ways that we use ICT to enhance our teaching and learning in Mid Calder Primary School:
LI: We are learning to use a simple map with a key and symbols.
SC: I understand the concept and function of a map.
SC: I understand the use of symbols and a key.
SC: I can transfer information on a map to reality.
Last week, both Primary 1 classes started to explore positional and directional language, and enjoyed creating and navigating simple mazes.Â
This afternoon, we went outside to progress our learning in the sunshine. After discussing our prior experiences with maps, we talked about their features and clarified how to use a key with symbols.
In small groups, the children then had to work collaboratively to recreate a ‘funny face’ using a map with a key. This was even more challenging than the children first thought. Only one team member could move one object to the ‘face’ at a time. Furthermore they couldn’t bring the map with them, so they had to analyse the map very carefully before travelling to the ‘face’. Evie pointed out that it would have been much easier if they could just take the map with them!
We hope to apply our new mapping skills to increasingly challenging orienteering games during the next few weeks.
 
On Thursday night we invited parents and carers along to find out about our world of Maths at Mid Calder Primary. As you know Maths is on our school improvement plan for the second year, we began in the hall discussing with parents our journey with maths so far. Then the Numeracy shared with us some information about SEAL (stage of early arithmetical learning) and how parents can support at home. Â This was followed by workshops in classes demonstrating what a typical maths lesson looks like and how parents can support their child at home. A big thank you to everyone who supported the event and to our house and vice captains who helped with the smooth running of the event.
Feedback from parents included:
School Overview:
http://www.slideshare.net/midcps/school-overview-58754805
Numeracy Team Input:
http://www.slideshare.net/midcps/numeracy-team-parents-information
Nursery:
http://www.slideshare.net/midcps/nursery-58754877
Primary 1:
http://www.slideshare.net/midcps/p1-58757153
Primary 2/3:
http://www.slideshare.net/midcps/p2-3-58759172
Primary 4/5:
http://www.slideshare.net/midcps/p45-58755712
Primary 6/7
http://www.slideshare.net/midcps/p67-maths-presentation
