On Monday, some Primary 6 pupils had the opportunity to receive training all about being a Magical Mediator. This is a role that they will take up after the Easter holidays and into Primary 7. The training was well organised by our current Magical Mediators and we benefited from some wise words from Jeremy Scuse, a professional mediator. Many thanks to everyone involved.
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.
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/
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:
We also asked Ms Hamilton, their Head Teacher some questions about her job:
There were lots of things that we found interesting about Woodmuir Primary:
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!).
This week we had our STEM open afternoon and P7/6 enjoyed showing friends and family a few of the experiments that we have been doing in class. All of our experiments have their own unique qualities but they were all chemical reactions. This week we made more slime, more elephant toothpaste (our water was the correct temperature), blobs in a bottle and a fizz inflator. When we made our we mixed together glue and washing detergent, we had to be careful though because if we mixed too much detergent with the glue, the mixture became too gloopy and lumpy and wasn’t the correct consistency for slime, we seem to have now perfected our slime and it really is now taking over P7/6!!!! Blobs in a bottle and the fizz inflator were new experiments, so were excited to find out what the results would be. Blobs in the bottle was a bit like a lamp lamp and The Fizz Inflator was a bit like a balloon pump. With our Blobs in a Bottle experiment we mixed together sunflower oil, and water but they did not mix together and the oil sat on top of the water, we then added some food colouring and this mixed with the water, once we had all the materials in the bottle we added an alka seltzer. The results were amazing…..the alka seltzer fizzed and pushed the water up into the sunflower oil and made blobs, it was really amazing. The Fizz Inflator consisted of bicarbonate of soda, vinegar, a balloon and a bottle. We had to put the vinegar in the bottle and then carefully put some bicarbonate of soda into the balloon. Once we had all the materials in place we had to very carefully try and put the balloon on top of the bottle, this allowed the bicarbonate of soda to fall into the vinegar, the two chemicals worked together to create an acid base reaction and the two chemicals work together to create carbon dioxide and this blew up the balloon, it really was exciting to watch. I think all of the family and friends were impressed by our experiments. Hopefully they might be able to try this at home!!!
I hope you all have a good weekend.
Miss Anderson and P7/6
This afternoon we opened our doors to parents, carers and friends to come and explore our STEM interdisciplinary learning. In the different areas we had:
Visitors had an opportunity to take part in a range of science, technologies, engineering and mathematical activities with their children including chemistry experiments, designing the front of our new nursery, making parts of a bike, trying out toys for our baby gyms, making star constellations, fingerprint analysis and showcasing how we use digital learning.
The Nursery used this opportunity to try out their Go Pro, and Scarlet and Archie recorded the STEM afternoon through their eyes.
Our Technical Troopers also tried out using Microsoft Forms to collect information about out visitors’ experiences. This was a fantastic and instant way to gain feedback. You can complete the form by clicking here if you did not have time to do so during your visit.
Some of our feedback so far has included:
The most popular Science, Technologies or Mathematical skills evident during your visit:
We use a range of ways to involve parents/carers in their children’s learning. The methods you prefer are:
At Mid Calder we use digital technologies in a range of ways to enhance learning and teaching experiences. How do you feel the use of digital technologies enhances your child/ children’s learning?
Thank you to everyone who came along to support the event.
There will be a PSA Dress Down Day on Friday 31st March, please see details below.
This evening Niamh, Cailin, Zach and their parents went along to St. Kentigern’s Academy to represent our school by reciting their Burns poems at the WL Burns Competition.
A big congratulations to all three pupils for being confident individuals.
Today our Pupil Council went along to Addiewell Primary School, along with Woodmuir Primary to continue our Cluster Learning Walks. The Pupil Council gave us a presentation about their school and showed us a video.
We asked the Pupil Council some questions about their school:
We also asked Mrs MacMillan, their Principal Teacher some questions about her job:
There were lots of things that we found interesting about Addiewell Primary:
Thank you to Charley, Jessica-Lee and Ryan for being our tour guides and answering our questions.
P1-7 have been entered to take part in West Lothian’s latest Sumdog contest. This runs from 10-16th March and can be played at both home and at school using the SumDog website or app. All pupils should have their SumDog log in their homework diary/ book.
The children have to answer 1000 questions and their score is based on accuracy, not speed or winning games. There are also prizes to be won and certificates will be given out at Assembly for those children in the top 50 from across West Lothian.
Good luck everyone!
