Category Archives: Primary 3

An out of this world week in Primary 3!

On Tuesday 2nd May, we had a very exciting visit from Cosmos Planetarium, a state of the art, 360° theatre experience. We were transported on a journey through our 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 and were able to share our knowledge of Neil Armstrong from the biographies we wrote about his life and experiences. We also took a virtual tour of the International Space Station and learned more about what life would be like in space. To continue this learning when we got back to class, we got to try astronaut food. Some of us loved it, others…not so much.

After that, Steven Gray from Cosmos Planetarium, who is also a STEM ambassador, led us in a rocket making challenge. You can check out what we got up to in this amazing video made by Rose and Zoe:

To top it all off, Primary 3 shared all of our learning through our IDL context, NASA Juniors: Mission X with our parents/carers, families and friends in our assembly. We also blasted our audience back in time to meet Neil Armstrong and some other famous astronauts from throughout history. So fasten your seat belts, check the oxygen levels and prepare for lift off….

Term 3 Celebration Assembly

Today we welcomed parents and friends along to our Celebration Assembly so that pupils could receive their STEM Super Star and Successful Speller awards.

Certificates and prizes were also given to the children who won our Bookworm, STEM and Fairtrade Junior Leadership Team’s challenges and competitions, and to the 5 pupils who represented our school at the West Lothian Burns Contest. We also announced the Top Scorers for each house, along with our house winner.

A big thank you to Hannah Rarity for inspiring us by sharing her interpretation of our school motto, Believe, Achieve, Succeed, and for sharing her journey of hard work and determination to become the successful singer she is today. Thank you also to Leah, P6, who impressed us with her own musical talents and played ‘Clowns’ for us on the piano.

Well done to all of our award winners!

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! 

Roman Mosaics in Primary 3

We are learning about Roman mosaics

  • I can observe and discuss the different colours, patterns, shapes and symmetry found in Roman tiling/mosaics
  • I can create my own tiling/mosaic design in the style of the Romans
  • I can include symmetry in my design.

Primary 3 have started their new IDL context, The Rotten Romans, and this week we have been focusing on life in Roman times. We learned about how rich Romans often decorated their homes in mosaics as a sign of wealth. We explored the colours, patterns and shapes they used, as well as how they were created.

We then used digital tools, 2D shapes and squared paper to explore and create our own mosaics. In our maths lesson this week, we have been learning about lines of symmetry and symmetrical patterns. We applied our learning when we were creating our mosaics, making symmetrical patterns in the style of the Romans.

We also applied our knowledge of mosaics and symmetry in writing and spelling this week. In a spelling task, we were challenged to find lines of symmetry in letters and then write words and sentences using only symmetrical letters. In writing, we have been learning how to write a diary entry of a day in the life of a Roman and, if we decided to be a rich Roman, we talked about our beautiful mosaics and making our slaves sand them down until they were smooth for us. We are really enjoying learning about the Rotten Romans.

Dynamic Designs in P3

We are learning to design a vehicle

Success Criteria:
Using what I know, I can include features that will suit different climates and landscapes
I can create a neat and detailed drawing of my vehicle
I can label each part and effectively describe why it has been included
I can use a ruler and my space effectively

Great news! Primary 3 have been working extremely hard to help Gamba the giraffe to get back home to Africa, and we finally received the postcard we have been waiting for to let us know that he made it! He also set us one final challenge- to design a vehicle that he could have used to travel across all of the different landscapes he discovered on his journey. We had to use all of our research to create a design, thinking carefully about all of the climates and living things that Gamba met along the way.

We think Gamba will be very impressed with our designs. We included lots of features that demonstrated our knowledge of the different landscapes, climates and living things we have been learning about. Lots of us also included thoughtful things to make Gamba more comfortable on his travels.

We have been keeping a track of Gamba’s journey on our world map in the classroom and we are very proud that all of our hard work helped him to get back home.

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

 

Safer Internet Day in P3

To mark Safer Internet Day 2018, Primary 3 took part in lots of activities to help us understand why we should stay safe online. First, we looked at different emojis and suggested adjectives to describe each one. Then we were given a range of different internet themed scenarios and had to stand beside the emoji that represented how we would feel in that situation, sharing why we had chosen that emoji with each other. Next, we looked at different images and had to sort them into ‘safe’ and ‘not safe.’ We quickly discovered that all of the items can be safe, including digital tools, if we use them sensibly and responsibly.

We love using the internet in Primary 3, so we learned about our ‘digital footprint’ and how important it is to make sure we use it in a positive way. For the #ItStartsWithUs campaign, we made a pledge of something kind that we could do to make the internet a better place. We also took part in a Skype session where we learned top tips from 6 different schools from across Scotland.