We had a very interesting maths lesson last week, when some of the children in Mrs Millar’s group went to do some shopping down at the Mill Centre in preparation for the arrival of our French visitor, Mme Savoie on Thursday.  It turned into an experience which taught us lessons on lots of different levels.

We did mental maths in Scotmid, calculating the best prices for fruit.  Would it be better to buy pre-packed apples or buy them individually? Could we estimate how much money we were going to spend?  How much money would we save if we bought multi-packs?  What would the change be at the till?  Was Liam strong enough to carry both baskets of fruit or would someone else step up and help him..?

On the way home, we popped in to Blackburn Library, where we signed up for a library card and then were treated to a “private viewing” of the mobile library van.  The driver, Carol, explained about her previous jobs and how the experience of driving a whole range of vans and lorries helped her in her job.  She told us about the pros and cons of the different jobs she’d done and gave us an insight into what it was like to drive the mobile library van.  She also gave us a quick introduction on how to use the Dewey System to find books.  (I’m a teacher and I like the added extras!  I was also thinking that it would be good to see how well they were listening and wondering if I could ask them to tidy up the school library when we got back to school.)

Thank you to everyone who helped to make our trip into our local community so welcoming and interesting.  We are looking forward to going down to the library next term to do some research and to find out how they will be able to help the children with their school work as they transition from Murrayfield to their local Secondary Schools, Bathgate Academy and St Kents.