Category Archives: Uncategorized

Maths & Numeracy, Primary 1, Uncategorized

P1b Information Handling

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LI: We are learning how to display information on a bar graph.

SC: I can identify the title, x axis, y axis and labels on a bar graph.

LI: We are learning a how to interpret information on a bar graph.

SC: I can analyse information on a bar graph using the y axis to help me.

Through the context of our Toys topic, Primary 1b have been learning about different ways to collect, sort and display information.

We have:

– Carried out surveys, recording our results with tally marks;

– Sorted our toys and other information on Venn Diagrams using our own and given criteria; and

– Displayed information about our favourite toys on a block graph.

On Friday, we learned about bar graphs. We created a copy of the block graph which we made on Monday, to allow us to transform it into a bar graph. First we drew around the outline of each tower of blocks, and imagined that we were melting blocks of chocolate into long bars of chocolate.

Then we realised that we could no longer count how many people voted for each toy. After some brainstorming, Oscar suggested that we needed to put numbers on our graph. That’s when we learned about the purpose of the y axis.

We used our bar graph to answer interpretation questions. Amorie analysed the bar graph and told everyone that dolls were the most popular toy, and Isla MacKinnon told everyone that construction toys were the least popular.

Finally we applied what we had learned in order to interpret a variety of other bar graphs online.IMG_8461

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West Lothian Council Parental Involvement Strategy

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The West Lothian Council Parental Involvement Strategy group request that all parents/carers completed an online survey to help inform an updated West Lothian Parental Involvement Strategy.

The survey contains only five statements to rate strongly disagree to strongly agree – there is also space to add comments if you wish:

·         Communication is effective between my child’s school and home.

·         My child’s school provides me with the information I need to help my child learn at home.

·         I feel confident supporting my child’s learning at home.

·         I am aware of West Lothian’s complaints procedure.

·         I know how I can become involved in my school’s parent council.

 You can access the survey on:

https://www.esurveycreator.co.uk/s/PIStrategySurvey

Please complete this survey by 11th December.

Achievements, Events, Maths & Numeracy, Primary 5, Primary 7, Uncategorized, Useful Websites

Sumdog’s West Lothian Maths Contest

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A huge well done to all the children in Primary 5-7 that took part in Sumdog’s West Lothian Maths Contest last week. Each person that contributed was to answer 1000 questions on a variety of topics within maths and were then ranked based on how many questions they answered correctly. Out of the 743 children that took part, Mid Calder had 10 pupils in the top 50! A fantastic achievement, and a brilliant opportunity to build upon your mental maths skills. Congratulations! 

English & Literacy, Interdisciplinary Learning, Uncategorized

P4 Week ending 20th November 2015

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In P4 this week the children have been working hard on their IDL project linked to our Roald Dahl topic. In the spirit of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the children have worked in a group to set up a company. The aim of the company is to design a chocolate bar which will be a top seller for Willy Wonka! The companies are currently very busy conducting market research. Mrs Mackie.

In  P4 we have been learning about Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake.

In maths we learned how to measure water using a scale. In our  project we got a letter from Mr Willy Wonka . Jamie Hardie

We have been learning about our body in class. Lucy Paris

English & Literacy, Interdisciplinary Learning, Primary 5, Uncategorized

P5/4’s Confectionery Creations

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Inspired by Roald Dahl’s book ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’, P5/4 have been inventing their own confectionery products.

Learning intention – We are learning to use our market research create our own confectionery product.

Success Criteria – A successful product will reflect the findings of our market research.

A successful product name will be catchy and memorable.

Firstly, we created our own market research questionnaires about the choices that other children in the school make about confectionery (e.g. Are you allergic to anything? What colour of packaging would you prefer? Do you like chocolate/sweets?). We sent these questionnaires to Miss Sherlow’s class and they answered them for us.

Next, we studied the responses carefully and collected information from the questionnaires. We used this to invent our own confectionery product.

Soon we will be designing logos and packaging for our products.

Fraser: ‘This is a fun and exciting task!’

Freya: ‘I am excited about the challenge.’

Ryan: ‘I think the challenges will be fun and I am looking forward to building my skills from P4.’

Mhari: ‘I enjoyed coming up with a product name.’

Lewis: ‘We used the research to figure out what we were going to do.’

Natalie: ‘I enjoyed making the questionnaire because we got to create lots of questions to help us make our product.’

Expressive Arts, Primary 7, Transition, Uncategorized

Transition: Dazzling Dazzle Camouflage Art – P7 Art

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P7 Art-Ms Thompson

Ms Thompson comes to Mid Calder Primary from West Calder High School every Monday and Thursday to work with all the Primary 7’s. This is part of our transition to High School and to make it easier to experience what it might be like when we go up to High School next August.

In P7, we have been learning how to draw Dazzle Camouflaged Spitfires. The Dazzle technique was used in World War 1 and 2. They put it on ships to confuse the enemy of what speed the ship was going, what side was the front and which was the back and what side the ship was from. (The Germans or the Britains)

L.I: We are learning to draw spitfires and camouflage them using the Dazzle technique.

S.C: We will be able to successfully complete our Dazzle Camouflage Spitfires and make them into models out of clay.

The skills we need to use are: concentration, listening, sketching, respect (to Ms Thompson) and a steady hand.

Firstly, Ms Thompson explained what Dazzle camouflage is, then we got all of our necessary equipment (A pencil, tracing paper and a picture of a spitfire) and we traced the picture of our chosen spitfire. Then we drew a grid on a fresh piece of paper and our tracing paper, we then transferred our tracing to the other piece of paper. We drew in all of the details and then we were on to drawing our design. We then got a piece of paper and drew our Dazzle pattern in black pen; it included a lot of different and unique pretty patterns. Next we had to block our design to ensure we could camouflage it correctly. Finally we had to transfer our design on to our spitfire drawing.

We know that our next step is to start modelling the clay into the spitfire shape. The clay has ARRIVED!

“It’s really enjoyable and it is preparing me for High School” Laura Mackay

“It is good fun and it calms me down” Lachlan McGukin

“It is super fun and it’s getting me excited for High School” Olivia Jones

“It is a fun experience and gets us ready for High School” Romany Moffat

“It’s very enjoyable and making me more confident in art” Neve Cormack

“I love to make the designs on the Spitfires and now I really, really like art” Millie Thomson

“Art is fun and it gets you thinking at the same time” Caitlin Black

“It is exciting but challenging” Andrew Vince

“You can imagine what you are going to make” Callum West

Maths & Numeracy, Primary 7, Supporting homework, Uncategorized

Taking Maths Outside

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We are learning to work out and record my division calculations in a variety of different ways. MNU 2-03a

  • I can explain mental strategies for answering division questions.
  • I can explain and demonstrate written strategies for answering 3 digit by 1 digit division problems with remainders.

Today we  took our mental maths outside. First of all we had to see who could recall and write out their 6 times tables most accurately. We know that accuracy is important with our times tables because we want to be correct and quick.

Then we had our number talks session outside. This week we have starting taking part in Number Talks each day for 15 minutes. During number talks we mentally calculate the answer to three sums which get more difficult across the lesson and week. The most important part of Number Talks is we discuss the different strategies we used to get the answer. Today we wrote down the answer and then explained the strategy we used to our peers. We have only been using Number Talks for 3 days and already we feel:

  • ‘Mental Maths is more fun!’
  • ‘We feel more confident because we discuss strategies more’.
  • ‘We are getting quicker at answering sums’.
  • ‘We can use other children’s strategies’.
  • ‘It helps us with our number work’.

We moved on to look at how to use written strategies to find the answers to division sums with bigger numbers. Some of us were the teacher and shared our strategies on the whiteboard then we had three activities to complete:

  • Sum Dog division and multiplication challenge
  • 3 in a row game: We had to pick a 3 digit number, our partner gave us a 2 digit number using a spinner and we had to calculate the answer. If we got it correct we put a counter on the gameboard.
  • Division assessment

We now feel more confident about the process of division because of all the different activities we have taken part in this week.

 

Homework help: You can support your child at home by continually asking them to say their times tables as a sum, for example 6 x 5 = 30 and asking them the related division fact, 30 divided by 6. Also encourage them to take part in the Sum Dog competition online, a different competition is set each week related to the concept they are learning in class.

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P1b Addition with 1p Coins

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LI: We are learning how to add.

SC: I can find totals using 1p coins by making each amount in 1p coins and then counting how many there are altogether.

SC: I can use the + and = symbols correctly.

Primary 1b have been learning how to add using lots of different strategies. They can draw pictures, count their fingers, use a variety of concrete materials and apply their knowledge of doubles. On Wednesday they used 1p coins to support their addition. After choosing two items to pay for, they counted out the correct number of 1p coins to pay for each item. Then, the children counted how many 1p coins they had altogether to work out the total amount required to pay for both. Whiteboards were used to record their work, and the children peer assessed each other’s work using their thumbs.

The children also revisited paying for one item using 1p coins while they worked in pairs on our classroom laptops. Further, they applied their learning in order to choose and pay for two items in the role play shop.

We are looking forward to developing our understanding of subtraction and our recognition of other coins next week.

 

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Achievement Awards, Events, Health & Wellbeing, House Points, JRSOs, Nursery, Primary 1, Primary 2, Primary 3, Primary 5, Primary 7, Uncategorized

Term 1 Achievement Assembly

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On Friday we had our first Achievement Assembly of this session. Each class nominated one pupil to receive the Achievement Award for their class and parents and carers were invited along to watch the assembly.

We also gave out Star Writer Awards, Top Scorer prizes, JRSO certificates and announced the winning house for the term. 

Well done who everyone who received an award!

 2015-10-16 achievement assembly nominees