Mid Calder Primary School Learning Blog

February 18, 2019

Primary 3 are extraordinary!

On Friday, Primary 3 shared their learning about what it means to be ‘extraordinary’ with their parents/carers, family and friends, as well as the rest of our school, at their class assembly. They told everyone all about their IDL context, Extraordinary Humans, and taught their audience about some of the challenges that the people they have met and been learning about have overcome. They explained what gender stereotypes are, described challenges like dyslexia and autism, and discussed some physical disabilities, ultimately teaching everyone to break down these barriers because all of these things can make people extraordinary!

Check out their fascinating documentary, Extraordinary Earth, which is all about gender stereotypes and is led by the trusted explorer, Smavid Battenborough:

A big part of our IDL context has been looking at what makes Primary 3 extraordinary too, and celebrating how amazing it is that we are all different and unique. We created a music video for one of our favourite songs, Different, by singer, Tom Fletcher.

Primary 3 did a fantastic job at teaching their audience that everyone should have an equal place in society, and that being different really is what makes us extraordinary!

February 18, 2019

Extraordinary Homework in P3

At the beginning of our IDL, Extraordinary Humans, P3 were given the challenge to choose an extraordinary human that we wanted to learn more about at home. We could choose someone famous, or a family member or friend. We were also able to decide how we wanted to present the information that we found out, making sure that we included how the person has inspired us, and what challenges they have overcome in their lives. Last week, we shared our learning with our classmates and gave each other peer feedback based on the success criteria. We did an extraordinary job and we taught each other lots of new and interesting facts about a range of different extraordinary humans. Well done Primary 3!

February 13, 2019

Mardi Gras Carnival and Celebrations for Scotland Loves Languages Week!

Pupils in P6/7 and P7 have participated in a week long programme of learning opportunities, incorporating many different skills for life and learning, across curriculum areas. We have been focusing on applying our spoken French language skills, whilst learning about French culture and celebrations. We have created elaborately designed masks for Mardi Gras; we have used and learned French vocabulary for describing our school, resulting in a fantastic “Voici Mon Ecole” video; we have learned how to participate in a Mardi Gras carnival procession, including our drumming and dancing skills; and finally have been learning how to cook crepes!
Lots of very exciting IDL learning, shared also with Mrs Green from the 1+2 Modern Languages development team, who brought her conversational French skills into our classes! We loved speaking French with her!

January 29, 2019January 29, 2019

Burns Day 2019

A big thank you to all those who took part in our PSA fundraiser by wearing tartan or dressing down to celebrate Burns Day on 25th January. We raised a fantastic £130.12 for the school.

January 29, 2019January 29, 2019

Extraordinary Humans in Primary 3

As part of our IDL context, Extraordinary Humans, Primary 3 have been learning all about different people who have not let a physical disability affect their confidence, strength, or their ability to believe in themselves and become extraordinary.

We have been learning all about the Paralympic swimmer, Ellie Simmonds. We used fact sheets and online search engines to find out about her childhood, achievements and life after the Paralympics. We organised our notes under subheadings and then used Microsoft Word to create a biography about her. We tinkered with the features of Word before using it, learning how to layout our biographies neatly, add an image, how to change the fonts and colours, and how to use bold and underlining to make our headings and subheadings clear. As our final subheading, we had to explain why, in our opinion, Ellie was extraordinary, and our reasons were something that we should all aspire towards.

Last week, we also had a talk from Linda, who told us all about how her granddaughter had the life threatening liver disease, biliary atresia. Linda explained how, despite having gone through many challenges in her 9 years of life, Alesha is always a fighter and has an enthusiastic and positive outlook on life. She left us with the message: Stay strong. Stay beautiful. Be yourself. Believe. Another extraordinary human!

January 29, 2019January 29, 2019

Breaking Gender Stereotypes in P3, 4 and 5!

As part of their IDL context, Extraordinary Humans, Primary 3, 4 and 5 have been learning about gender stereotypes. Over the last few weeks, we have visited by two people who have broken down these stereotypes and now have jobs and take part in hobbies that they love, regardless of their gender.

Miss Walkingshaw came to speak to us about her passion for playing football, and the journey that she has been on as a girl who wanted to play. Unfortunately, it wasn’t always easy for her to join a team, and people thought that she wouldn’t be a talented player because of her gender. Now, she has represented Scotland, has played for two very well known football teams and regularly appears on TV. What an extraordinary human!

We were also visited by George who came to tell us all about how he was inspired to become a nurse after being cared for by a male nurse when he became ill as a child. He explained that some of his family were against his choice of job in the beginning, and that they told him it was a ‘girl’s job.’ Despite being the only man during his training, and being the only male health visitor in West Lothian at the time, George didn’t let it put him off. Another extraordinary human!

Supporting our learning at home:

P3, 4 and 5 have all been set a homework to prepare and present information about an Extraordinary Human of their choice. This could be someone famous, or could be a friend of family member. The talks should last between 2-5 minutes and can be presented in a format of their choosing. It would be great if you could support your child with their research, and let them practice at home. All of the success criteria for the talks can be found here.

January 18, 2019January 29, 2019

Primary 4 learn about gender stereotypes

Through our topic ‘Extraordinary Humans’, the boys and girls have been finding out about people who have overcame obstacles in their lives to become successful.

This week we learned about gender stereotypes and explored the different ways that people can face obstacles in their life simply because they are a boy or a girl. When people use gender stereotypes, they make assumptions about people because of their gender.

The boys and girls believe that a gender stereotype is not a good thing because it encourages us to believe that boys can do things that girls can’t and girls can do things that boys can’t. We decided to make posters to show the different things that boys and girls can do regardless of their gender stereotype.

We were also lucky enough to have a visit from a female footballer this week. Miss Walkingshaw talked about the obstacles she faced as a female footballer and how she overcame those obstacles by not giving up. She gave a positive message to the that children you shouldn’t let gender stereotypes stop you from being who you want to be! Check out our football squad!

January 18, 2019January 18, 2019

Primary 4 go bananas!

As part of food technology, the boys and girls in Primary 4 have been developing their peeling, slicing and chopping skills using bananas, carrots and potatoes!

We looked at how to prepare food safely and hygienically as well as techniques for preparing food before it is used for a meal.

First, we had to wash our carrots and potatoes using a colander and running water: