Category Archives: Primary 5

Achievements, Anytime Anywhere Learning, Events, Nursery, Nursery Learning Stories, Primary 1, Primary 2, Primary 3, Primary 5, Primary 7, Technologies

Surprise visit to mark Digital School Award

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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.”

Health & Wellbeing, Primary 5, Sporting

P5 Bowling

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Rain couldn’t stop play for Mid Calder Primary School’s young bowlers on Thursday. Weather conditions meant that a planned trip to the local bowling club was switched to the school gym hall instead but that didn’t lessen the enthusiasm or enjoyment for the youngsters, who have been undergoing bowling sessions held by Mid Calder Bowling Club.

The bowling club are keen to start a junior section when the new outdoor season starts next May.
And they are also looking for size 00 bowls, to allow juniors to play in competitions. Anyone able to donate a set should contact Jim White at 01506 880412 or 07766 834 491.

The Mid Calder pupils enjoyed this afternoon’s indoor session, but are still looking forward to a trip to the outdoor green in May.

Thank you to Mr Anderson for coming to take our photos.

Events, Fundraising, House Meetings, Maths & Numeracy, National Maths Week 2017, Primary 1, Primary 2, Primary 3, Primary 5, Primary 7, PSA

Coin Trail Winners

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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:

  1. Linhouse – 100 points & extra break
  2. Almondell – 75 points
  3. Cunnigar – 50 points
  4. Calderwood – 25 points

Total raised:

  1. Cunnigar – £181.10 – 100 points
  2. Linhouse – £152.84
  3. Almondell – £103.77
  4. Calderwood – £54.98

Total: £492.69

A big thank you to the PSA for counting the coins!

 

 

Maths & Numeracy, National Maths Week 2017, Primary 5, Uncategorized

Maths week Scotland in P5A

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Maths has been our main focus this week in P5a. We have been learning all about position and direction. At the start of the week we got out our Atlases during IDL, where we had to locate where the Rainforests were in the world. We used our knowledge about using a non-fiction book to help us locate this information in the Atlas. One of the children spoke about co-ordinates and was able to explain to the others what a co-ordinate was,  the other children were then challenged to find a main airport and provide the co-ordinate for it.

We then started to think about the language that we could use to give someone directions, what the children came up with was amazing, things such as; co-0rdinates, 360, 180 and 90 degrees, clockwise, anti-clockwise, full, 1/2 and 1/4 turn, left and right, backwards and forwards and the 8 compass points. We used our new language skills to write direction of how to get from one point of a map to another. We took our learning outside and we had to direct each other from different points in the playground using all the language that we had learned. We quickly learned that when blind folded we were unsure as to what direction N,E,S and W was and we had to change our language, we all had great fun.

We have also been learning how to ask good questions in maths. Miss Anderson and the children had to use their questioning skills to find out what the number was and the only answer could be yes or no. Some of the good questions that were asked were:

Is it an odd/even number?

Does it have 2/3/4 digits?

Is it a prime number?

Is it a multiple of?

The children were then given the opportunity to work with a partner and get them to ‘guess’ the number. This is a great game that can be played at home to improve questioning skills.

 

Hope you all have a fantastic September weekend.

 

Miss Anderson

Maths & Numeracy, National Maths Week 2017, Primary 5, Second Level

Maths Week Scotland in P5C

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As part of Maths Week, we linked our learning with our IDL context ‘The Rainforest’ . Early in the week we were learning about where in the world the rainforests are, using maps and atlases. We were able to link this to outcomes within Shape, Position and Movement.

I can use my knowledge of the coordinate system to plot and describe the location of a point on a grid.

MTH 2-18a / MTH 3-18a

L.I. We are learning about position and movement

S.C.- I can identify an object on a map

-I can describe its location in relation to the eight compass points

-I can create a grid and give instructions for how to describe or find a position on the grid

We practised giving each other directions,  making half, quarter and full turns and relating these to angles – some people were brave enough to be blindfolded and allow others to direct them!

Using our knowledge of the eight compass points, we wrote out directions for how to get from one point on the map to another. We practised plotting and finding coordinates on a grid and this allowed us to locate places on maps when we were finding out about where the rainforests exist.

Later in the week we were able to create our own grids and plot coordinates for others to find. We have been trying to keep practising using positional language whenever we can – during our bowling session this afternoon someone commented that their bowling ball had gone a bit too far to the North West!

 

Events, Information for Parents, Learning Letters, Nursery, Primary 1, Primary 2, Primary 3, Primary 5, Primary 7

Meet the Teacher

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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

Learning Letters, Primary 5

P5A & P5C Learning Letter Term 1 & Meet the Teacher

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Dear Parent/Carer,
Welcome to Term 1 in Primary 5. All of the children have settled well into P5 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 class charter and becoming familiar with our new class routines. We also had a mini focus on our school aim of linking home/school/community which we presented at last week’s assembly. We have just begun our new IDL context for learning, The Rainforest, and the children have discussed what they already know and have created a set of questions they would like answered; we will be exploring these throughout the topic.

Miss Anderson and Mrs Campbell

Learning Letter P5a P5c Term 1

https://www.slideshare.net/midcps/meet-the-teacher-p5-201718/1

Achievements, Events, Nursery, Primary 1, Primary 2, Primary 3, Primary 5, Primary 7, School News, Technical Troopers, Technologies

Mid Calder Primary Wins National Award for Excellence in Digital Teaching and Learning

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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