Category Archives: Primary 5

Learning Letters, Primary 5

P5 Learning Letter Term 4

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Dear Parent/Carer,

Welcome to term 4 in Primary 5. We are looking forward to a busy, fun filled and creative final term. The highlights of last term included attending the Handball Sports Festival, our trip to Dynamic Earth and our STEM open afternoon. We were also very excited to piece all of our evidence together to find out who took the Green children in our IDL context, Kidnapped. This term we have started to ‘Be Prepared’ for our school show, The Lion King, and we ‘Just Can’t Wait’ to share it with you…

Miss Sherlow and Mrs Campbell

P5 Teachers

Letter to parents- Key Dates

Learning Letter P5A and P5B Term 4

Achievement Awards, Community, Events, Maths & Numeracy, Nursery, Primary 1, Primary 2, Primary 3, Primary 5, Primary 7, Sciences, Technologies

Term 3 Celebration Assembly

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This morning we welcomed parents and friends along to our Celebration Celebration so that pupils could receive their STEM Super Star and Remarkable Reader Awards. We also announced the Top Scorers for each house and a big well done to Almondell who won the House Cup for last term.

Miss Sherlow presented those pupils who came in the top 50 of the West Lothain SumDog Competition with a certificate.

Lewis and Ross, both past pupils from our school who now attend West Calder High shared their achievements with us. They reminded us it was important to achievement academically and in other areas of life, and also to have fund along the way. A big thank you to Lewis and Ross for joining us.

 

 

 

Interdisciplinary Learning, Primary 5, STEM 2017

Mission Accomplished!

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As part of their IDL context, Kidnapped, P5B have been working hard in their investigation teams to compile, sort and analyse the evidence in the case of the missing Green children. Now, we’re proud to announce that we have solved the mystery! In the lead up to the discovery, we had to take part in a series of missions:

Mission 12: The Hideout
The kidnapper got in contact with Chief Anderson and we were given one hour to meet their demands. We listened to a voice recording of the message the kidnapper left, and although their voice was heavily disguised, we were still able to get some clues. Chief Anderson also gave us a link to a map that the Special Police Squad had put together following their investigations in Wick. We used Google Earth to look at each place closely, and linked it with clues from the phone message. Based on the evidence, we decided to lead the police squad to an abandoned hut in the woods and waited for news.

Mission 13: A Final Clue
We learned that our suspicions were correct and the children were found safe in the abandoned hut- phew! They were discovered along with one final piece of evidence- a bank statement left by the kidnapper. After analysing the final clue, we had our suspicions about Martha Goodwater due to the payment into her account from Save the Wildlife and the purchase of walking boots. But, we pulled together all of the intelligence we had been gathering throughout our investigations, and most of us still believed that this pointed towards Austin Black- the tyre track, the handwriting analysis and his police interview was hard to ignore!

However, a final package containing CCTV footage from Green Manor was delivered, and it was confirmed that Martha was the one who took the children! We’re extremely glad that the Green children are safe and sound, and we hope that the police team manage to catch Martha quickly!

Maya commented, “I really liked the Kidnapped topic. I liked that you had to solve a mystery and I really liked the experiments we did. I did suspect Martha at the end but I thought it was Austin Black or William Baker.”

Ben said, “I really liked the topic but I still think there is a bit more to it. I think it wasn’t just Martha Goodwater, I think all of the suspects were involved. I think they were walking round the other side of the house so they weren’t on the CCTV camera.”

Rebekah added, “I liked learning about what it is like for people being kidnapped and what the police have to do to solve crimes.”

English & Literacy, Primary 5, Religious & Moral Education

P5s Easter Poetry

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L.I. We are learning to use interesting vocabulary to write a poem about Easter.

S.C. -I can use features specific to a poem

– I can include key vocabulary linked to the topic

– I can include examples of rhyme

– I can use interesting verbs and adjectives to describe my chosen subject

 

As we look forward to the Easter season, P5a have been learning about the true meaning behind this special time of year.

We were asked by Mrs McKenzie to write some Easter poems to be recited as part of our Easter service at Kirk of Calder.

We worked in groups to come up with a bank of rhyming words and shared some examples of Easter poems.

Leah Schmidt and Niamh Sher had their poems selected to be read at the service. Both girls included some excellent examples of rhyme and worked hard to uplevel their poems after receiving feedback.

They read their poems aloud beautifully at the church and really helped everyone to get into the spirit of Easter – well done, girls!

Events, Expressive Arts, Fundraising, Nursery, Primary 1, Primary 2, Primary 3, Primary 5, Primary 7, PSA, Uncategorized

PSA Easter Egg Competiton

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A big well done to everyone who participated in the PSA Easter Egg Competition. Mrs Murray and Miss Sherlow had a difficult job judging the competition! Mrs Learmont from the PSA presented the winners with an Easter Egg at the Church service today. Thank you to the PSA for organising this event.

 

Community, Events, Interdisciplinary Learning, Primary 5, STEM 2017

Cracking the case with the Constable

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Today, Primary 5 had a special visit from Constable Graham McKenzie who gave us an insight into the different roles the police would play in an investigation similar to the one in our IDL context, Kidnapped. He explained different useful ‘intelligence’ or clues that the police would look for at a crime scene, and how they would gather the evidence. He also explained how he and his colleagues might use this to solve a crime and catch a suspect.

Constable McKenzie also gave examples of the different roles he has taken on within the police, and examples of crime scenes he has attended. We also had the opportunity to touch some of the vital equipment an officer requires to keep themselves and others safe. We even got to try some of it on- the body armour was much heavier than we expected it to be!

A big thank you to Constable McKenzie for coming to talk to us and help us with our investigations.

Events, Interdisciplinary Learning, Primary 5

P5 Trip to Dynamic Earth

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On Thursday, Primary 5A and Primary 5B took a trip to Dynamic Earth to consolidate our learning about natural disasters. As well as feeling the ground shuddering as a molten lava flow sped towards us as we watched volcanoes throw clouds of ash and gas into the sky, we also had the chance to travel back in time, touch an iceberg and fly above the Polar ice caps. We took part in a workshop where we were able to show off our knowledge of different natural disasters, as well as learn new and interesting facts as we created our own tornadoes, held real moon rocks and tried to construct a building that would withstand an earthquake.

Thank you to our parents helpers for your help throughout- what a fantastic trip!

Community, Events, Nursery, Primary 1, Primary 2, Primary 3, Primary 5, Primary 7, STEM 2017, Useful Websites

Building Site Safety

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Today, Mid Calder Primary had an important talk from Stephen from Hadden Construction, the company who are building our new nursery. He showed us the plans for the nursery, described what it will look like, and spoke to us about some of the equipment that will be used to build it. We also learned about the different careers people can have in the construction industry. He also taught us, very importantly, about the potential dangers found on a building site, and how to keep ourselves safe.

Stephen also introduced a whole competition to design a poster about building site safety. Hadden Construction have very kindly donated money to the school for prizes, so we are very excited to take part and to share what we have learned about how to stay safe.

If you want to learn more about building site safety, visit Ivor Goodsite’s website: https://www.ivorgoodsite.org.uk/kidszone/

Primary 5, Primary 7, Pupil Council, School Improvement Plan, Self Evaluation

Learning Walk Part 3 .. Visit to Woodmuir Primary!

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Today our Pupil Council went along to Woodmuir Primary School, along with Addiewell Primary for the finale of our Cluster Learning Walks. The Pupil Council gave us a presentation about their school.

We asked the Pupil Council some questions about their school:

  • What is your favourite thing about your school?
  • Is there anything you would like to change about your school and why?
  • What is it like being in multi-composite classes?
  • Do you get awards at your school? What kind of awards?

We also asked Ms Hamilton, their Head Teacher some questions about her job:

  • What is your favourite part of your job?
  • What do you like about your school and why?
  • How many pupils and teachers are in your school?
  • How do you plan your assemblies?

There were lots of things that we found interesting about Woodmuir Primary:

  • There are 23 pupils in their whole school.
  • They have 2 classes.
  • In the mornings they go for a walk and have a quick assembly everyday.
  • They have toast after break time every day.
  • Outdoor learning is an important part of their learning and they have lots of outdoor spaces.
  • There is no fence around their school.
  • Woodmuir is a new school so it looks really nice.
  • They have unisex toilets.
  • P5-7 have been learning about the Mars Rover.
  • Some of their school values are the same as ours.
  • They have walls in their classrooms.
  • P1-4 were learning about Art.
  • We even got to meet Ms Gordon who used to teach at our school.

Thank you to our tour guides and answering our questions.

A big well done to Harry for helping Miss Burton navigate her way to Woodmuir (after getting lost!).

Interdisciplinary Learning, Learning Stories, Maths & Numeracy, Primary 5, STEM 2017

Kidnapped! Mission 8: Tyre Track

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L.I. We are learning to use line symmetry to complete an image

S.C.- I understand the terms symmetry and symmetrical and can use a mirror to help me complete a symmetrical pattern

-I can use my completed symmetrical pattern to match to an identical pattern

Primary 5 received communication from Police HQ telling us about the discovery of a partial tyre track which was found close to the home of Alan Green. Unfortunately the track found was too incomplete to be able to match it to a vehicle so we were given the task of trying to complete the image.

We inspected the track and found that half the tread was missing so we were able to use our knowledge of line symmetry to complete the whole tyre track.

We used a mirror to give us an impression of what the complete pattern would look like and then used the squares on the grid to ensure our mirror image was absolutely accurate. It took us a long time and quite a few attempts to get our symmetrical patterns right , but we eventually managed to produce the completed image. This allowed us to match it against the tyre tracks on Police HQ’s database and narrow down the make of vehicle which had left it.

We were able to demonstrate our knowledge about line symmetry during our STEM open day when parents and carers came into school to find out about our topic.