Capturing the Decisive Moment

Second Level have been working on digital photography leading up to and during Digital Learning Week. Primary 5s led the way after their successful photography trip to the National Museums. The latest challenge involved the young photographers looking at the work of French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson who specialised in street photography in Paris and who was describes as trying to capture ‘the decisive moment’.

They went round the school trying to hunt down interesting subjects and then had the advantage of digitally manipulating their efforts – a luxury in the digital age of i-pads and apps that Cartier-Bresson did not have. They used Art Set, Snap seed and Photoshop express to change a few selected images. The children had to narrow down their winning shots to one and these were then printed off for a school exhibition. They were helped by the Technical troopers from P6 and P7 and Miss Sherlow was on-hand to offer advice on downloading and printing.

A lot of the school-life images focussed on portraits and here is what the pupils said, thought and felt. Some captured the moments of school life in black and white just like the master himself.

Primary 7 Digital Learning Week 2018!

In P7 this week, we have completed lots of different exciting tasks using digital technologies to enhance our learning!

We completed a VR session with P1 and P3 all about space.  We looked at the International Space Station and taught our P3 buddies how to use the VR headsets.  We also looked at a variety of castles with P1.

Calum – “It was very fun teaching the P3s how to use the VR headsets and seeing their faces when it came up!”

Jamie – “It was good listening to what they thought about the VR headsets.”

Zachariah – “It was an immersive experience.”

We also had a teaching session from a young, budding teacher – Miss Murchison – who taught P7 and P3 about how to access and use Glow FORMS.  We learned how to create a range of questions, upload them our Yammer page and how to answer the surveys we had created focused on our transition to high school.

We also spent some time on our newly formed class Yammer page – which will be used until the end of term as an excellent way to share our learning and successes in P7.

#ndlw18

 

 

 

JYHS Transition reminder

  • For pupils going to James Young High School from August 2018

Thursday 17th May – Health Day.  Pupils should arrive at JYHS for 9.30am, dressed and ready in PE kit and suitable footwear.  Outside jackets may be required as some activities will be outside.  (It is preferable that they arrive dressed in PE kit, although there will be changing rooms available).

Pupils must all take a packed lunch as they will not be able to purchase food from the school dinner hall that day.

The event will end at 2.30pm.

Pupils should make their own way to and from JYHS.

EE2 forms should be completed and handed to Miss Smith (Mid Calder PS PSW) on arrival at JYHS.  We will arrange for any medication to be at the school that day too and it will be back at Mid Calder PS on Friday morning.

 

 

Thank you for your continued support.

Active Alfie!

To develop our understanding of the well being indicators the children created names for them one being ‘Active Alfie.’ We spoke about how we keep ourselves active during nursery by taking part in enjoy a ball sessions,  sticky kids and our outdoor activities. We know that this is a good way to stay fit and healthy but the most important thing is that we have fun.

 

An out of this world week in Primary 3!

On Tuesday 2nd May, we had a very exciting visit from Cosmos Planetarium, a state of the art, 360° theatre experience. We were transported on a journey through our solar system and beyond – from flying through Saturn’s rings to diving into Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa, to search it’s vast ocean for signs of life. We learned about the first moon landing, as well as what life might be like on the moon in future and were able to share our knowledge of Neil Armstrong from the biographies we wrote about his life and experiences. We also took a virtual tour of the International Space Station and learned more about what life would be like in space. To continue this learning when we got back to class, we got to try astronaut food. Some of us loved it, others…not so much.

After that, Steven Gray from Cosmos Planetarium, who is also a STEM ambassador, led us in a rocket making challenge. You can check out what we got up to in this amazing video made by Rose and Zoe:

To top it all off, Primary 3 shared all of our learning through our IDL context, NASA Juniors: Mission X with our parents/carers, families and friends in our assembly. We also blasted our audience back in time to meet Neil Armstrong and some other famous astronauts from throughout history. So fasten your seat belts, check the oxygen levels and prepare for lift off….

P5A and P5C Visit the National Museum of Scotland

On Monday 23rd April Primary 5 visited the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh to photograph some of the exhibits and to view the 2018 Wildlife Photography Exhibition. We were welcomed by Ms Gill (Theo’s Mum!), who gave us a very interesting insight into her role as a director of the museum and really inspired us to get the most out of our visit. P5A visited the exhibition first and were amazed by the clarity and composition of the many forms of wildlife which were on show. Some of the photographs were even taken by children their own age or younger! While P5A were visiting the exhibition, P5C got to explore the wonders of the museum…

Some favourite exhibits were Dolly the Sheep and the human hamster energise wheel within the Science and Technology installation. We were also blown away by the Natural History section, where we saw dino skeletons, sharks, narwhals, elephants, wildcats, big, cats, giant pandas….the list is endless.

Afterwards, P5A explored the museum while P5C went to view the wildlife photographs. Some of our favourites were the photos of animals interacting with their young, animals playing, animals hunting, underwater shots and so much more. There were also some images of animals which are hunted by humans, showing us the devastating effect we can have on wildlife.

Some of us made sketches of the exhibits; we are continuing to work these up back at school with Miss Brolls and we are adding more detail to these as we go along.

We had a fantastic day at the Museum and would highly recommend it as a day out, especially as it’s completely free!

Have a great holiday weekend,

Miss Anderson and Mrs Campbell

STEM workshops

Primary 6 and 7 had a real treat this morning when they were visited by four parents working within STEM careers. The pupils had the chance to take part in two workshops, learning about different jobs through a variety of  presentations and activities. It was great to see the pupils learning about the world of work and engaging with issues they had little previous experience of. I’m sure many were inspired to keep learning about STEM subjects and build on the skills they have already developed. As discussed with one of our visiting parents, pupils are preparing for jobs that perhaps do not even exist yet! The world of work is constantly changing and developing. Thank you to all those involved in making the event happen and well done P6 and P7 for listening well and engaging with the workshops.

Primary 4 learn about the phases of the moon!

Primary 4 have been enjoying taking part in their NASA Juniors Missions over the last few weeks. In their last mission, they learned about the phases of the moon during a lunar month. We learned that:

  • The Moon reflects the Sun’s light. What part we see of the Moon depends on where the Moon is when orbiting the Earth.
  • ‘Waning’ means we can see less of the moon.
  • ‘Waxing’ means we can see more of the moon.
  • There are 8 phases of the moon in a lunar month.
  • The moon takes approximately 28 days to orbit the earth.

Have a look at the children creating their own representation of the phases of the moon using Oreo cookies!

 

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