Learning Letter P7 Term 3 – 2017-18 JR.ER
Dear Parent/Carer,
Welcome to term 3 in Primary 7. Last term, we enjoyed our two IDL contexts, Mid Calder Memories and Wonder, and we have now started learning about Japan. After our focus on reading for enjoyment in term 2, I am pleased to see so many pupils bringing in their own novels to class and choosing to read them whenever they can. Please keep track of all that we are learning this term via the school blog. Mrs Redmond & Mrs Ramsay
Learning Letter P7-6 Term 3 – 2017-18
Dear Parent/Carer,
Welcome to term 3 in Primary 7/6. Last term, we enjoyed our two IDL contexts, Mid Calder Memories and Wonder, and we have now started learning all about Japan. After our focus on reading for enjoyment in term 2, I am pleased to see so many pupils bringing in their own novels to class and choosing to read them whenever they can. Please keep track of all that we are learning this term via the school blog. Miss Richmond
On December 22nd, we welcomed parents and friends along to our Celebration Assembly so that pupils could receive their STEM Super Star and Successful Speller awards. We also announced the Top Scorers for each house.
A big thank you to Mr Welsh for inspiring us by sharing his interpretation of our school motto, Believe, Achieve, Succeed, and for presenting our Primary 3 pupils with their certificate for coming first in West Lothian’s Sumdog Maths Contest. Certificates were also awarded to our pupils who came in the top 50 in the competition.
Well done to all of our award winners!
Last week P6 and P7 had an exciting week. On Tuesday the P7s had their Christmas party, on Wednesday we all went to see ‘Wonder’ at the cinema and on Thursday P6 had their party. It was a good opportunity for the children to be together and have fun in their year groups.
Our visit to the cinema was very enjoyable and brought the book ‘Wonder’ to life. It was interesting to see how the film adapted parts of the story and how it tried to help the audience get into the minds of the characters. In class, there has been lots of good discussion about the film and the story in general. It covers very important topics such as friendship, family, bullying and self image.
Miracles at Mid Calder
A Leither who Left us all Thinking!
P7s went to the National Galleries of Scotland MOD2 on the 28th of November for a tour of Sir Eduardo Paolozzi’s studio and to explore a few of his sculptures in the gardens and cafe there. They went to explore further the work of this famous Scottish artist, born in Leith, who had great success not only in 3-D work but also in printmaking, collage and textiles.
In class we had discussed the Pop Art movement and worked on Pop Art posters with bright coloured backgrounds and collaged onto these with drawings of what they thought were the most popular cultural items of their times. Now it was time to find out from Duncan and Mo at the National Gallery more about his sculptures of man and machine such as the monumental Vulcan and The Master of the Universe.
So what did we think:
I was amazed by the fantastic responses of the children about the meaning of the artworks and what creative ideas they had. When we looked at the recreation of Paolozzi’s studio we discovered that maquettes were small models for sculptors to work from and we saw the explosion of interesting things he had around him.
Olivia enjoyed seeing the studio that Eduardo Paolozzi had and seeing all the finished and unfinished works that he made. She wants to learn more about him and how he fell in love with Art. Kiera thought it was interesting to see the artwork in his studio and there was lot to see.
Then we got the chance to “play with shapes” and were free to make our own 3-D artworks from card and tape and the pupils rose to this imaginative challenge and got the opportunity to evaluate their peers’ work. The parent helpers, Mrs Ramsay and Mrs Smith were invaluable in encouraging and supporting the frenzy of work.
Bethan enjoyed making the sculptures with her friend but wanted more time to finish them. Calum enjoyed making models and having fun with his friends.
Afterwards some of the children chose to look around some of the NOW exhibit at MOD1 and others chose to play in the sculpture garden. With a smaller group wandering through the sounds and sights of the Turner prize-winning Susan Philipsz’s work it was quite an eerie, melancholic experience with 7 turntables each playing single notes for 17 minutes and in the next room salt paintings of different kinds of tears that linked with the sad music. Really moving. Especially to see some of the least engaged pupils at the start of the day truly immersed in the experience. We had an opportunity to look into the mind and work of a great new artist and in doing so this allowed us to open our minds.
Cade liked the turntables because the men in the rooms told us about them and we got to listen to the sounds but he got bored quite quickly.
Well done to everyone! Great creative thinkers.
Primary 7 were delighted to welcome so many parents, relatives and friends to our class yesterday for our Open Afternoon. We were able to show our visitors what we have been working on in our Mid Calder topic. We have given questionnaires to our family and friends to complete to find out what businesses are missing from Mid Calder. We then used the information from our market research to create a business of our own. We are now planning what our business will look like and next week, we will be creating models of our business. Watch this space for photos of our work! Thanks to all those who made it along to our Open Afternoon!
This term every class have had a focus on Mid Calder for their Interdisciplinary Learning context for learning. Classes have investigated different aspects of Mid Calder from its location to its history, shops to services provided in our area. Thank you to everyone who came along to help us celebrate.
If you did not have a chance to complete an evaluation, please click here.
P1-7 have been entered to take part in Sumdog’s West Lothian Maths Contest. This runs from 10-16th November 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!
We are learning to create an interesting setting for our story.
I can use features specific to an imaginative story:
– exciting vocabulary in my story to engage the reader.
– adjectives to describe the setting.
– Calder House as a setting for my story.
– I can use paragraphs to organise my writing.
– I can use past tense.
As part of their IDL context for learning P7 are exploring Mid Calder. They were set the challenge to write a mystery story set in Calder House. First of all they researched Calder House and completed their plan. We then discussed different types of adjectives and vocabulary we would use to describe the house. Next they looked at an example on the board and assessed it using the Success Criteria. After that they wrote their mystery stories and self assessed them.
The Eagles had a fantastic time at Loch Insh and, throughout all of the activities that we took part in, every member of the group showed a ‘have a go’ attitude and dared to try things that they’d never tried before. Everyone demonstrated our school values throughout the trip, particularly being enthusiastic, successful and inclusive by cheering each other on, being supportive when people were feeling a little unsure and by having lots of fun and smiling.
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