We are getting ready for Christmas making cards using line drawing, painting and then cut-out collage in the style of Alice Druitt at Gingerpaws designs. Nathan’s gran is coming in to help with the careful mounting and card design at our Craft Club on the first Tuesday back after the hols and thereafter on a Wednesday. We have some very crafty staff helping too. If you are a keen crafter and want to help please let Miss Brolls know. We need small colourful or mother of pearl buttons for one of the cards so donations will be gratefully received. Get out yer button boxes and give for the fundraiser!
Category Archives: Primary 2
Surprise visit to mark Digital School Award
Pupils at Mid Calder Primary and Nursery School had a surprise visit from Donna McMaster, West Lothian Council’s Head of Service for Education Curriculum, Quality Improvement and Performance, recently.
Mrs McMaster dropped in to congratulate the school on gaining national ‘Digital School’ status for excellence in digital technology in teaching and learning.
The Digital Schools Award recognises the dedication and innovation shown by Mid Calder Primary in areas of leadership and vision, digital technology for learning and teaching, school culture, professional development and resources and infrastructure.
Donna McMaster commented: “I was delighted to have been invited to Mid Calder Primary School to congratulate pupils and staff personally on their achievement.
“Mid Calder is the second primary school to achieve the Digital Schools award in West Lothian, earlier this year Kirknewton Primary School was also recognised as a digital school.
“Bathgate Early Years Centre was the first facility to pick up the prestigious award in West Lothian, and it is believed to be the first early years centre in Scotland to achieve the accolade.
“It is fantastic to see the work which has been achieved to embed technology into the school ethos and how technology is being embraced by the pupils, staff, parents and carers.”
Depute Head Teacher, Sarah Burton, Mid Calder Primary, West Lothian said: “The Digital Schools programme offered our school a supportive structure to evaluate our digital learning journey and where we needed to go.”
“It has also enabled our Technical Troopers pupil group, to take on a valuable leadership opportunity within our school. We are very proud of how digital learning is embedded in our school from nursery to primary 7, and this award was a chance to celebrate this work and share with others.”
Coin Trail Winners
On Friday, the PSA and House and Vice Captains organised a coin trail for money week and to raise money for school funds.
Longest line winners:
- Linhouse – 100 points & extra break
- Almondell – 75 points
- Cunnigar – 50 points
- Calderwood – 25 points
Total raised:
- Cunnigar – £181.10 – 100 points
- Linhouse – £152.84
- Almondell – £103.77
- Calderwood – £54.98
Total: £492.69
A big thank you to the PSA for counting the coins!
P2 Dinosaur Maths
P2 have been very busy this week learning to gather, display and interpret information related to our IDL context of Dinosaurs.
Success Criteria
- I can collect information
- I can display information
- I can interpret information
We discussed what question we wanted to ask, and how we could best gather the information.
We decided to find out what P2’s favourite dinosaur is. We thought that creating a Tally chart would be a good way to gather and display the information.
This is what we found –
We were then able to look at, and comment on the results.
In our Dino Discovery Teams, we were developing our research skills this week too.
As part of this, we began to learn about the size of different dinosaurs. We soon discovered that although some dinosaurs were quite small, some were huge! We were particularly interested in the length of them. We noticed that the lengths were given in metres, so we had a look at a metre stick that happened to be in the Maths area, and we used it very successfully to work out that a Stegosaurus would only just fit into our classroom!
We think we’ll have to find more metre sticks now, and go outside next week to measure the lengths of other longer dinosaurs!
Coin Trail
Dinosaurs
Today, as part of our new IDL Topic, Primary 2 went to the National Museum of Scotland to learn about Dinosaurs.
We began by learning about the work of a Paleontologist, and we heard how they uncover clues which help them to learn new things about different types of dinosaurs. We looked at some of the different shapes and patterns of fossils and heard how they were formed a very long time ago. We soon spotted some of these shapes and patterns on the floor beneath our feet, so we went on our own little fossil hunt!
In smaller groups, we settled down to explore some dinosaur related items. We learnt that some dinosaurs were huge, but others were really quite small. Some dinosaurs were herbivores and others were carnivores.
There were replicas of different dinosaur parts for us to handle and to make clever guesses about what they were, and what they could tell us about the dinosaur they belonged to. We carefully handled the spike from the end of a tail, a thumb, a jawbone and even some dinosaur poo! We all managed to stand together on an enormous dinosaur footprint too.
Dates for Your Diary
Meet the Teacher
Thank you to all the parents and carers who attended Meet the Teacher tonight. If you were unable to attend all the presentations are now available on the blog.
Thank you to the house and vice captains who welcomed our guests, acted as tour guides and helped you to complete the evaluations – if you would like to complete an online evaluation, please do so here.
https://www.slideshare.net/midcps/meet-the-teacher-2017-18
P2 Learning Letter: Term 1 & Meet the Teacher
Dear Parent/Carer,
Welcome to Term 1 in Primary 2. All of the children have settled well into P2 and we are looking forward to a busy and fun term. So far, the children have participated in a community building fortnight where we have been getting to know each other, creating our community contract and becoming familiar with our new class routines. We also had a mini focus on our school aim of developing our skills and celebrating achievements. We have begun our new IDL context for learning, Dinosaurs, and are looking forward to our class trip to the National Museum of Scotland.
Mrs Smith
https://www.slideshare.net/midcps/p2-meet-the-teacher-2017
Mid Calder Primary Wins National Award for Excellence in Digital Teaching and Learning
Wednesday 6th September – Mid Calder Primary and Nursery School have gained national ‘Digital School’ status for excellence in digital technology in teaching and learning.
The Digital Schools Award recognises the dedication and innovation shown by Mid Calder Primary in areas of leadership and vision, digital technology for learning and teaching, school culture, professional development and resources and infrastructure.
22 primary schools from cities and towns across Scotland were recognised for their work on digital technology in the classroom at a special presentation ceremony.
Recognised by Education Scotland and supported by HP, Microsoft and Intel, the award is designed to encourage and recognise schools that make the best use of digital technology in the classroom.
Shirley-Anne Somerville, Minister for Further Education, Higher Education and Science, said: “This programme positively impacts upon pupils’ motivation to learn as well as recognising achievement by teachers and schools in advancing the integration of technology in the classroom. I commend all the primary schools receiving their digital schools award on their great achievement.”
Depute Head Teacher, Sarah Burton, of Mid Calder Primary, West Lothian said: “The Digital Schools programme offered our school a supportive structure to evaluate our digital learning journey and where we needed to go.”
“It has also enabled our Technical Troopers pupil group, to take on a valuable leadership opportunity within our school. We are very proud of how digital learning is embedded in our school from nursery to primary 7, and this award was a chance to celebrate this work and share with others.”
Mid Calder Primary in West Lothian is now among 43 Scottish primary schools from across Scotland that are recognised for excellence in digital teaching and learning
