Category Archives: Primary 1

Fairtrade Fortnight 2018 at Mid Calder Primary School

Over the last two weeks we have been celebrating Fairtrade Fortnight by taking part in various activities, competitions and experiences. The children have embraced learning about Fairtrade and enjoyed sharing their learning.

Each class was assigned a Fairtrade product to find out about. Have a look at what each class got up to!

Nursery

We have included a picture of our floorbook, comic life and pictures of the children exploring the fairtrade items Mrs Murphy had brought in from the Fair Tradewind shop in Linlithgow. After seeing the worry dolls the children asked if they could make their own worry dolls.

Primary 1: Bananas

P1 learned about Pablo the Banana. He taught the P1’s about what Fairtrade means and also about the journey of the banana. We then designed our board games for the competition.

Primary 2 and 3: Coffee

P2 learned about coffee and other Fairtrade products. They were able to colour and label Fairtrade products from around the world and then draw a Fairtrade product that they have seen or tried.

Primary 3 learned about what Fairtrade is and why it important before researching their Fairtrade product, coffee. We used the netbooks to find out interesting facts and shared them with a partner. As we have been learning about fact and opinions in our reading lessons, we then using the Glow tool Forms to create a fact and opinion quiz about Fairtrade.

Primary 4 and 5: Brazil Nuts

P4 and P5 learned about the Brazil Nut. We found out about the story of the Brazil nuts by:

  • Finding out where and how Brazil nuts are grown and gathered
  • Looking at the rainforest and the factors needed to grow Brazil nuts
  • Talking about Fairtrade and how it can help Brazil nut gatherers to get a better deal

Primary 6: Tea

P6 had a great time  looking at a tea planting community in Malawi as part of Fairtrade Fortnight. We learned about how Fairtrade pays their workers fairly and also provides money to benefit the whole community. Pupils worked in groups to decide how money should be spent within a community (e.g. Food, water, healthcare, education etc). They had to decide which needs were most important- a difficult decision!

Primary 6/7: Footballs

Primary 6/7 took part in their own competition to ‘Design a Fairtrade football’. The Fairtrade Junior Leadership Team had a look at the fantastic designs and picked 1st, 2nd and 3rd place! Have a look at some of the designs:

 

There was lots of other fun things happening around the school too!

Nurture group: Baking with Fairtrade products

The nurture group worked with Mrs Kellner to make a Fairtrade banana loaf. They had lots of fun following the recipe, measuring the ingredients and mixing everything together! A delicious smell filled the corridors of the school and it tasted delicious!

 

Fairtrade breakfast: Bananas and Chocolate!

This week during breakfast club the children had the opportunity to taste Fairtrade bananas and chocolate. The boys and girls enjoyed dipping their bananas in the rich dark chocolate and it was smiles all round!

 

Fairtrade competition

The Fairtrade Junior Leadership Team launched a competition to design a Fairtrade board game. Lots of children across the school entered the competition and the JLT had a difficult decision trying to pick a P1-3 and P4-7 winner. They played some of the games to help make their decision. Winners will be announced next week! Have a look at some of the fantastic competition entries!

Visit from Lush Livingston

Lush in Livingston kindly offered to hold an assembly for the school to talk about their fresh handmade cosmetic products and give pupils the opportunity to purchase some of their fantastic range! However, due to the untimely Spring snow the visit has been re-scheduled. We will update you with this visit soon!

Tidy Toilets!!

Our House Captains and Vice Captains were keen to improve the school toilets for everyone and they’ve been working with other members of the school community to improve things and ensure they are a nicer place to be!  After discussions at House Meetings, they decided on rotas and rewards and put this in place a couple of weeks ago.  After counting up the scores today, they announced that the Upper Girls Toilets and the Infant Boys Toilets had the highest points.  They will have ‘fancy’ toilet paper and hand wash in their toilets next week.  A very big well done to everyone for trying hard and leaving the toilets as they would like to find them! 

P1P Get Squeaky Clean!

LI: We are learning about the importance of cleanliness.

SC: I can demonstrate how to wash my hands thoroughly.
I know that I have to wash my hands after touching an animal, and before preparing or eating food.
I can talk about key points in the day when I have to wash my hands.

This week in P1P, we have been getting prepared for our farm trip next week. We discussed the importance of washing our hands after touching animals and before eating or making food to prevent the spreading of germs.
We took part in germ experiment. Miss Prior squeezed glitter paint into our hands and we then had to shake hands, hi 5 and pass a pencil between us to show how easy it is to spread germs. We found that the group that washed their hands straight away didn’t spread any germs. We then made safety posters to let other people know how important it is to wash your hands.

School Closure

Good morning everyone,

I know you will have had a group call to say the school is closed tomorrow and that we will miss both the ‘P7 Assembly’ and the ‘Bingo Night’.

We will reschedule the P7 assembly for later in the session, I know they have put a lot of work into their presentations and it would be a shame if they did not get to showcase them. I am sure the PSA will be in touch to let everyone know the new arrangements for the bingo night.

The conditions are not ideal but it is lovely to look out and for children to venture out and have fun. I was out yesterday for a short while to clear garden paths and it was bitter cold, this morning you would not know where these paths are!

Boys and girls if you are outside keep wrapped up cosy and keep yourself safe. I look forward to seeing you all back with lots of stories on Monday.   Mrs McKenzie

Snow Snow Snow

Good morning everyone,

Here we are all stuck at home and wondering what we can do!

I do not imagine that is the situation at all and you are already very busy. However, boys and girls you could catch up on your spelling homework, read an extra few pages of your reading book or use your Sum-dog log in to complete some maths challenges OR you could get outside build an amazing snow structure, take a picture and e-mail the school with them. I am sure your teacher would love to see what you did on your day off. Take care and keep safe when you are outside, hope to see you tomorrow.                                                     Mrs McKenzie

 

P1P Explore Farms through Digital Technologies

LI: We are learning to use digital technologies to recreate aspects of a farm.

SC: I can work with others
I can share my ideas with others
I can plan and create simple programs/designs
I can use Purple Mash to create a picture of a farm.
I can animate a farm scene using Scratch JR

Today, P1P recalled their learning from last week’s technologies lesson during our IDL ‘On the Farm’. We used what we had learned from tinkering with Scratch JR to recreate and animate a farm scene. We were able to change the movement, size and speed of characters. Some of us even managed to record our own voices and add them to our characters.

We then explored Purple Mash for the first time to recreate a farm using clip art and animations. P1P were able to explore the app and come up with their own ideas.

P1W get technology savy!

Learning intention:

We are learning to experiment and develop our understanding of the tinkering and programming skills when using an Ipad.

Success criteria:

I can use ScratchJr to design a simple sequence of instructions.

I can develop an understanding of appropriate behaviour and digital language.

I can experiment with and identify icons and symbols of ScratchJr.

Last week, P1W worked in small groups to develop their awareness of the tinkering and programming skills while using ScratchJr “Under the Sea” on the Ipads. The children worked as a group to experiment and play about with the different symbols to control the movement of each of the four sea creatures. Each group reported and fed back to the class about what they had discovered about the different symbols and buttons. Then using what they had learned they created a simple sequence of instructions for their chosen character and shared it with the class.

Some of the children were able to work out not only how to move the character but how to make them grow or shrink, disappear and re-appear and change the speed of their movement all by using their tinkering skills! Well done P1W!