Category Archives: Primary 1

Homework: Using Purple Mash at home to support literacy and numeracy

All pupils will soon have a Purple Mash login in their reading records or homework diary. Purple Mash helps develop literacy and numeracy skills in relevant and engaging ways whilst promoting ICT skills.

You can find out more about Purple Mash by clicking here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxDWPUZVSNc

Pupils can log into Purple Mash using their logon through the following link: https://www.purplemash.com/sch/midcalder-EH53

Term 1 Achievement Assembly

On Friday we had our first Achievement Assembly of this session. Each class nominated one pupil to receive the Achievement Award for their class and parents and carers were invited along to watch the assembly.

We also gave out Star Writer Awards, Top Scorer prizes, JRSO certificates and announced the winning house for the term. 

Well done who everyone who received an award!

 2015-10-16 achievement assembly nominees

House Meeting 2

Today we had our second house meeting which had a focus on our playground. First of all the vice and house captains shared with us our house logos and slogans and also the values that our house thought were the most important:

  • Almondell: Friendly & Enthusiastic
  • Cunnigar: Friendly & Inclusive
  • Linhouse: Friendly & Enthusiastic
  • Calderwood: Enthusiastic & Successful

The vice and house captains taught us a new community builder called; elephants, monkeys, helicopters and palm trees. They were taught how to play this game at peer mediator training.

Next we discussed the importance of being safe in the playground and why we need to create a playground charter. We got into groups and discussed what we should have in our playground charter, and the house and vice captains will take this information to make a school playground charter.

Thank you to our house and vice captains for organising the house meeting, and to the P7s for organising the groups.

Money Fortnight Open Afternoon

To celebrate the end of Money Fortnight we invited our parents and families into school to share with them what we have been learning about in connection with money, and also our interdisciplinary learning context for learning. Activities included visiting the bank, sharing our storybook, making a rainforest in a bottle and making sushi. Thank you to all the parents and families that came along to support this event, there was a great ‘buzz’ around the school.

 

P1a Patterns

This week in Primary 1a we have been learning about patterns.

LI  We are learning about patterns

SC

I can recognise a pattern of lines, colours and shapes

I can continue a pattern

I can create a pattern

First of all we talked about what we thought a pattern was then we looked for examples of patterns around about us in the classroom. We found lots! Next, we looked at patterns on the Smartboard and described what we could see. We were able to say what came next in order to continue the pattern.

This was all very useful later in the day when we read the story of the Princess and the Pea, because we decided that we could  use what we had learned about  pattern to create some  really beautiful things for the Prince and the Princess, as well as the castle where they lived happily ever after. We set to work and soon we had made pretty patterned necklaces for the Princess, a super pattern for the Prince’s crown and lovely designs for the mattresses and quilts on the beds. We also made tall towers with flags on top and interesting floor designs for the castle. What a great job Primary 1 a!

Perhaps we should go for a walk around the school grounds and see if we can spot patterns outside. Do you think we will find any?

P1b Number Hunt

LI: We are learning to explore and understand numbers in our environment.

SC: I can find numbers around the school and playground.

SC: I can discuss the purpose of different numbers in my environment.

Primary 1b became number detectives this week. We explored our school and playground to look for numbers. We discovered that they are all around us and they have lots of different purposes.

There are lots of numbers in our classroom and playground for us to learn and play with:

“In school you can see numbers everywhere! We use them for counting and trying to recognise what                               number it is.”     Lucas

Daniel found numbers on our classroom date chart and Oscar found numbers on the clock in the infant department. These numbers help us to know what date and time it is. We also found numbers which help to organise lists, numbers which tell us how many points each house has, and numbers which help us to keep track of library books and story sacks.

As we hunted outside, we noticed numbers on the cars in the school car park. Finlay told everyone that these help us to know whose car it is.

We also shared some numbers we see outside of school. Isla MacKinnon, Aimee, Finlay and Brandon told us that the numbers on the front doors of their homes help them and the post man to know whose house it is. Kaitlyn has also noticed numbers on shop doors. These numbers sometimes help us to know what time shops open and close.

We are looking forward to hearing about all of the numbers the children find at home this weekend!

House Meetings

Today we had our first House Meeting and the Vice and House Captains did a fantastic job or organising and leading the meeting. They created their own House Meeting Agenda which started with discussing the House Community Contract, followed by a Community Builder so that we could get to know everyone in our house. They completed a Values Vote to select which 2 values their house would stand for. Then they set the challenge of designing a logo and slogan for their house. The results will be shared at the assembly on Friday. Well done on a fantastic first House Meeting!

Literacy

This week in Primary 1 we have been reading the story of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ as part of our work in Literacy.

LI  We are learning to sequence events in a story.

SC  I can put the pictures in the correct order to tell a story with a beginning, a middle and an end.

The children worked really hard sorting the pictures, and they were even able to use the correctly sequenced pictures to tell the story clearly to a partner.

Great work P1!