Category Archives: Uncategorized

Maths & Numeracy, Primary 1, Uncategorized

P1 Counting

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We are learning to skip count.

SC  I can count forwards and backwards in twos

After reading the story of The King’s Socks, we each designed a pair of socks as a birthday gift for the King. We used stripes and spots to create patterns. We also learnt that a pair means there are two of something, and they are the same.

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Next, we sorted a big pile of real socks into pairs. Then we used them to help us count in twos. We counted all the way to 10 and then to 20. Counting back was quite tricky, but we will keep practising!

 

Anytime Anywhere Learning, Health & Wellbeing, Internet Safety, Internet Safety, Primary 1, Primary 2, Technologies, Uncategorized

P2/1 Internet Safety Day

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As part of Internet Safety Day P2/1 explored 5 different questions:

  • How do we get on to the internet?
  • What can we do on the internet?
  • What passwords do we use?
  • Why is a password important?
  • How can we keep our passwords safe?

We explored the questions in group, and then made a poster. we presented our ideas to the rest of our class.

Expressive Arts, Primary 7, Uncategorized

Drama in P7/6

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LI: We are learning to use a range of drama conventions to explore themes such as hopes, fears and desires.

SC: I can discuss what an issue might be.

I can say how a character might be feeling.

I can demonstrate how a character might be feeling.

Last week we used role play to explore issues as a starting point for our story writing.

Children worked in small groups and each group were given a scenario card. The children then had to think about and discuss the characters involved in the scenario, how they might be feeling and how they might demonstrate their feelings through what they say, tone of their voice and their expressions. Once the individual groups had developed their scenes we all got together to perform our drama for the rest of the class. Each group did extremely well in demonstrating their feelings and thoughts through the conventions of drama and the other children were able to guess what the issue was. I’m sure we have a few budding actors and actresses in our class.

Our drama lesson will now help us when we start to write our story about our chosen issue.

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English & Literacy, Primary 3, Uncategorized

Primary 3 design a menu for our Burns Supper!

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Last week Primary 3 created a menu for our Burns Supper. We had so much fun making and tasting Tattie soup and Cranachan that we decided to put it on our menu!

Learning Intention: We are learning to write a menu.

Success Criteria:

Stars writing group-

  • I can give my menu a title.
  • I can make sure my menu has three courses.
  • I can write the name of each course for our Burns Supper.
  • I can use neat handwriting. and correct spelling.

Comets and Rockets writing groups-

  • I can give my menu a title.
  • I can make sure my menu has three courses.
  • I can write the name of each course for our Burns Supper.
  • I can write a description of each course.
  • I can check my writing makes sense.

We created lovely menus with lots of description of the yummy food we will taste at our Burns Supper. Some of us even added some fancy decoration to our menus!

Star writers-

Stars: Liam Logan

Rockets: Ellie Turner

Comets: Euan Scott

Interdisciplinary Learning, Primary 5, Uncategorized

P5a Preparing for Disaster!

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L.I. We are learning to prepare for an emergency

  • I understand the difference between needs and wants
  • I can create a visual of a disaster pack and explain why I have chosen specific items

As part of our IDL topic on Natural Disasters, we learned about Earthquake Preparedness and how this is taught to children and families who live in areas which experience frequent earthquakes, such as Japan and the West coast of America. After watching a couple of drills, P5 were very keen to try it out for themselves. We discussed the need for a designated marshal, whose job it is to organise everyone if there is no adult available. We learned about Drop, Cover and Hold which is a way of protecting ourselves from falling debris – after that, all we had to do was carry on with our morning and wait for the siren! It came as a big surprise to everyone but we managed to take cover quickly and then get to a safe place.

We have also been discussing the things we would include in a disaster pack – essential things we would take with us if we had to be evacuated. It was a difficult decision as we had to really think hard about the difference between needs and wants – we found that we would have to leave many of our favourite things behind and take only the things we really need to keep us warm, clean, fed and watered.

Hopefully we will never be involved in a natural disaster, but if we are we will be prepared!

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Primary 7, Uncategorized

Primary 7 IDL Learning

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Learning Intention:

We are learning to develop our understanding of what the role of the Scottish Parliament is and what is meant by democracy.

Success Criteria:

  • I can say what democracy is.
  • I can participate in a group challenge to promote values.
  • I can develop my understanding of how a parliament works.
  • I can identify the different roles of people in parliament.

Primary 7 have begun learning about the Scottish Parliament as part of our IDL context for learning. We took part in a group challenge which was designed to help our understanding of what democracy is.  One group had a leader who made all of the decisions for the group, dismissing people who did not participate to their liking and used only their own design ideas.  The next group asked all members of the group to make and contribute decisions, whilst voting on the best solution throughout the task  – all members of the group designed and worked together at the same time with a common goal.  The final group split in two parts and delegated work and roles to different group members, each making contributions but sticking only to their individual roles.

What an interesting session we had!  Each group went about their task in very different ways and each had a very different experience – this led to some interesting discussion about the different types of governments around the world and how they can be run.  Pupils were able to apply some of their knowledge about WW2 leaders (our previous IDL context for learning) and current news topics during the discussion, drawing upon current world political problems, asking challenging questions throughout.

Community, Events, Health & Wellbeing, Outside of School, Technologies, Uncategorized

P4A Visit to Fork and Field

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This week we have been fortunate enough to visit the ‘Fork and Field’ restaurant as part of our Field to Fork topic. We were able to learn and ask questions including; how the restaurant was developed, how the restaurant works and the responsibility of all the staff.  We had a practise at holding heavy meals and ordering food. It was fantastic to visit a local restaurant and it was a great way of learning in a real life context. Additionally we had a representative from Scottish Beef to educate us about healthy eating.

LI:We are developing our understanding of restaurants

Success Criteria

I am aware of the various job roles within a restaurant and why they are important.

I understand the different responsibilities of a waiter/waitress.

I can use the skills learned in an imaginary restaurant situation.

We have thoroughly enjoyed meeting people that work in the food industry  this week and look forward to making our own food and creating our own restaurants next week, with all the skills we have learned.

Nursery, Uncategorized

Days of the Week

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For the last 2 weeks the children in nursery have been learning the days of the week. We have been singing songs to practice the cycle of the days and it has helped us learn the day before and day after. We read ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’ and discussed what he ate every day. At the Art and Craft table some of the boys and girls painted a caterpillar and placed a day of the week card on each part of his body. We then put the days in order and attached the food that he ate on the correct days. As a team, we also completed a jigsaw and looked at the different things the children did on different days. The boys and girls can now complete this independently or with a friend.

At home the children could sing you the days of the week songs and try to talk about what day it is today, tomorrow, yesterday.

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Achievements, English & Literacy, Events, Primary 1, Primary 2, Primary 3, Primary 5, Primary 7, Uncategorized

Mid Calder celebrates Robert Burns in style!

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On Friday 20th January, pupils from across each class demonstrated their Scots skills by participating in our annual Robert Burns assembly.

Two pupils from each class recited their poem in front of the audience, led by our House Captains.  We learned a little information about Rabbie Burns himself and we were treated to a real celebration of Scots culture, when girls from P6 and P7 performed some Highland dancing.

Niamh Sher, Cailin McKenna and Zach Paris will now go forward to represent Mid Calder Primary at the West Lothian Burns Recital competition later on this term.

ALL boys and girls who took part were a real credit to themselves – their use of Scots language was outstanding and dedication to learning their poems off by heart was fantastic.

Thankyou to our judging panel, Mr MacFarlane, Mrs Bokhari and Mrs Mackenzie had a tough job choosing a representative from Primary Five to Seven.

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English & Literacy, Primary 1, Primary 7, Uncategorized

Primary Seven get buddying!

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Primary Seven pupils enjoyed their first buddying session with P1 pupils on Wednesday afternoon.

The focus for the afternoon session was developing Literacy skills – pupils from P2/1 were up leveling their sentence work in their fabulous stories about an ice castle.  P1 spent some time completing paired reading with their buddies to practice reading skills.

This was a fun session and Primary Seven are looking forward to their next visit in two weeks.

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