Category Archives: Primary 5

Digital Leaders for Digital Learning Week 2018

To celebrate Education Scotland’s National Digital Learning Week, our Technical Troopers have been working extremely hard to make a #digitaldifference in Mid Calder Primary School. They have delivered lessons across all stages of our school, teaching our pupils how to use a range of digital tools to enhance their learning. P3 received a lesson on how to use the Glow tool Forms, while P4 learned how to the Glow tool, Sway. The Technical Troopers helped our Nursery children to develop their positional language by using the Bee-Bots, as well as supporting P1 with creating an animation using Puppet Pals 2. Primary 6 and 7/6 were given a range of coding sites on their Yammer page to explore, while P2 developed their programming skills using Scratch Jr. Primary 5 were shown how to use the different features of iMovie.

The Technical Troopers received lots of positive feedback from both the teachers and the pupils, and they did a fantastic job at sharing their own digital skills confidently to make a #digitaldifference. Check out the video that they scripted and edited to showcase what they got up to:

Digital Manipulation

On the 18th of May P6 started to do digital manipulation which means  when you take a picture of still life and then turn it to black and white. We took some pictures of outside and then we took some of people. We used an app called Snapseed to change the fond of the picture.

Here’s some examples of some photos we took.

West Lothian Triathlon

Yesterday, over 40 pupils from P5, P6 and P7 took part in the West Lothian Triathlon at Deans CHS. Pupils had to swim, cycle and run through a course laid out by a team of brilliant volunteers, high school students and members of Active Schools and Triathlon Scotland. In all, hundreds of pupils took part throughout the day. By all accounts, it was a fantastic time. The pupils really enjoyed the opportunity to take part in something totally different to what they had previously experienced. Staff and parent helpers were so impressed with the level of determination and enthusiasm shown by the pupils and also the confidence to have a go at something new. Well done to everyone involved. Bring on next year’s event!

iMovie Masterclass in P5

On Thursday this week, some of Primary 5A and Primary 5C were lucky enough to receive a lesson in how to use the iMovie app as part of Digital Learning Week. Jamie, Dylan, James and Euan came to our class to show us how to record and edit movies. We then all had a chance to go off and make our own short films, which was a lot of fun; these were then shared with the rest of the class. The p5s who were lucky enough to take part in this lesson will now have a chance to teach the rest of their class -they say the best way to learn is to teach someone else, so watch this space! Thanks to Miss Sherlow and the fab Technical Troopers for their input, we thoroughly enjoyed it.

Capturing the Decisive Moment

Second Level have been working on digital photography leading up to and during Digital Learning Week. Primary 5s led the way after their successful photography trip to the National Museums. The latest challenge involved the young photographers looking at the work of French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson who specialised in street photography in Paris and who was describes as trying to capture ‘the decisive moment’.

They went round the school trying to hunt down interesting subjects and then had the advantage of digitally manipulating their efforts – a luxury in the digital age of i-pads and apps that Cartier-Bresson did not have. They used Art Set, Snap seed and Photoshop express to change a few selected images. The children had to narrow down their winning shots to one and these were then printed off for a school exhibition. They were helped by the Technical troopers from P6 and P7 and Miss Sherlow was on-hand to offer advice on downloading and printing.

A lot of the school-life images focussed on portraits and here is what the pupils said, thought and felt. Some captured the moments of school life in black and white just like the master himself.

Curious and Curiouser at The National Museum and P5s

Curious and Curiouser
The P5s and 6 parent helpers went on a STEAM outing to The National Museum of Scotland on the 23rd of April 2018. We were met by the two Ruths – Ruth the Enabler and Ruth the Director of Public Programmes (and a parent of Theo) and were introduced to the curious world of possibilities that are our National Museums. Ruth told us about the 25000 objects on display and roused our interest in how we might explore further the excess of 1 million artefacts across all their museums. We were told we might see only 100 in 1 day! Lots to spark the imagination…
We started in the Wildlife Photography exhibit with the finalists in a worldwide annual competition and some very young entrants under 10 years. We then had the challenge to find interesting ways to digitally photograph some of the animals in the Natural World galleries. We are going to select and edit from these to have our very own wildlife photography competition. Our next creative challenge was to sketch in some of the other galleries. Theo suggested the diorama of Scottish wildlife in the basement and we started to draw in our artists ‘sketchbooks’ and did quick drawings as well as more detailed studies with notes. These will be used in creating an artwork back in class.
Finally, we went to the Science and Technology galleries where there is a lot of fun stuff in their great new exhibition spaces – highlights were:
My favourite part of the museum was the Energy exhibition because of the Fun activities:Matthew C

My favourite part was the basement because I saw all the fossils and I also liked the exhibition Oliver doak
My favourite bit is when we got to do free time I loved the hamster wheel. And the exhibition the pictures were cool: Sophie G
I loved playing with the plasma ball and I loved looking and at the pictures though some were really sad . Charlotte C
I had a good time at the museum my favourite part was seeing what we weigh as an animal : Kaylie P
My favourite bit was all of it especially the exhibition we saw weird crazy funny happy and sad things it was a really good experience I had a amazing time me and primary 5 had a great time and I deffinetly go back : Freiah T
The museum was very big and packed with enormous adventures it was also extremely fun one team which was my team lost track of time and almost missed the coach until Miss Anderson found us. We got lost because we were so amused by the wonders of the museum. My favourite area was the animal area because it was very interesting and mesmerising (did you know most of the stuffed animal skin is real!) I also had fun designing a bike but I only got 1/5 stars my star was for her position apparently she could see well. I would go back to visit the museum again to see the art exhibition again and to see Tim Peakes space craft. I HAD AN AMAZING TIME! :Joni Rafferty 

I loved when we went to the energy bit it was my fav bit I liked the hamster ball it was fun :katy 

It was very fun when we sketched the animals .My fav part was the dinosaur bones and the stuffed animals .I found the Viking grave cool because it was a skeleton bones.Emme E

I HAD to then take Miss Anderson’s class to visit my favourite secret part but I’m going to keep that a secret and you will have to discover it for yourself. The only clue that I can divulge is that it is watched over by a mysterious Bog Lady?! AND I didn’t even get to take the pupils to the rooftop for a great view of Edinburgh. A million or more reasons to return. Miss Brolls and P5A

Look out for P5C blogpost of their recount of the visit and for our photography exhibition!

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! 

Snow Day Suggestions P5

*Esta nevando! – It’s snowing!

Continue to practise the Spanish we have been learning in class.

Greetings:

Hola – hello

Buenos dias – good day

Buenas tardes – good afternoon

Buenas noches – good evening

Que tal? – How are you?

Bien / muy bien – good/very good

Fenominal! – Great!

Asi asi – so-so

Mal – bad

fatal – very bad

Hecha Polvo – I have turned to dust!

Go online and find one of the many ABECEDARIO songs/rhymes to help you practise your Spanish alphabet – try spelling out your name or another family member’s.

 

  • Continue to practise your times tables – challenge yourself to try tables you’re not confident with yet. Get someone to time you and see if you can improve your speed.
  • Take some photos of what you get up to in the snow – write a diary bout your activities or make a video.
  • Think about the debating skills we have used in class and write a list of ‘pros’ and ‘cons’  for the following – ‘Snow days – good or bad?’
  • Write a list of as many snowy/wintery words as you can and practise spelling them using some of the games we do in class, e.g. Kim’s Game, dictionary Race, Hangman