What a busy week we’ve had for the end of term! We started the week by receiving a homework challenge – we were asked to design an underwater vehicle.  We had to make sure it met the criteria we were given – not an easy task!  The results were fantastic…

We also used the skills we have been learning in reading (skimming and scanning) to locate relevant information on the internet.  We used this information to create fact files on a sea animal.  We did this in pairs so also had to take turns using the computer and taking notes.  We all really enjoyed this activity and are really proud of our fact files.  Why not have a read to learn something new!

As this was the last week of our Oceans and Fishing topic, we had lots that we wanted to fit in before the end of term.  We found out about the effect of pollution by plastic on sea animals and decided to create posters to try and stop this from happening.  Our posters aew going to be on display throughout the school.

At assembly this week, Mrs Turnbull set the whole school a challenge… to be caught somewhere unusual reading!  If you get caught reading, make sure someone takes a photo and emails it to the school!

As you may know, raffle tickets are awarded in our class for a range of different things.  We have a raffle draw every Friday and everyone keeps their fingers crossed that they are one of the lucky winners.  This weeks winners are:

Prize from Mrs Vince’s prize box – Neve and Jay

Sitting in the pink chair – Rachael

Sitting in the teacher’s chair for one lesson – Robbie

Sitting beside the teacher at assembly – Rachael

Sitting beside a friend for one lesson – Harry

Well done to all our winners and especially Rachael who managed to win two prizes this week as she had won more than one raffle ticket!

A reminder to parents that all gym kits have been sent home today so that they can be washed over the holidays.  Please ensure that these are returned on the first day of term.  Children should have an indoor kit as well as an outdoor kit.  The outdoor kit should have trousers/leggings and a long sleeved top as it is getting colder and colder outside.  Please make sure that all kits are in a bag and all items are labelled so nothing gets lost or mistaken for another child’s.

DATE FOR YOUR DIARY!

Our class assembly will take place on Friday 11th November and will be based around remembrance. We look forward to seeing as many of you there as possible.

P5 children will be attending a Handball tournament on Wed 26th Oct.  Please ensure that all EE2 forms and permission slips are returned on the first day back after the holidays.

Have a great holiday

Mrs Vince

Just a reminder that Primary 4 are collecting donations for the West Lothian Foodbank this week. There will also be a dress down day on 14/10/16 with proceeds going to this excellent local charity.

foodbank-harvest-appeal-poster-a4-1

Wow! Last night’s Rookie Rockstars’ concert was a great opportunity for us to show everyone what we had been learning with Dave and the rest of his crew last week. We had so much fun, even though it was a little scary playing to such a large audience! We hope you enjoyed it! We are glad it’s Friday because being a rockstar certainly uses up a lot of energy and we are all a bit tired today!

Although it’s been a very short week, we have been still been doing a lot of learning. We enjoyed our careers masterclasses on Wednesday afternoon and we’ve been continuing to develop our understanding of Place Value.

Our favourite thing in class this week was learning about primary and secondary colours and Pointillism – this is an art technique created by a French artist called George Seurat, who lived quite a long time ago. Pointillism is using coloured dots to create a picture. We got the chance to try this but, instead of using a paintbrush, we used cotton buds! Mrs Stewart was very impressed with our listening skills as we followed her instructions really well. It took us a long time to work out what we might be creating with our dotty colour wheel, but finally Scott guessed correctly! You will have to wait until our assembly on the 7th October to see the completed artwork but, it will fit in well with our  ‘Go dotty for October’ assembly. You will see a lot of spots before your eyes, as we are having a whole school dress down day that day, in aid of the Royal National Institute for the Blind.

On Tuesday, 27th September, Natalie and Glynn from the RNIB are coming out to speak to us about visual impairment and show us some of the equipment that help those with sight loss – we are really looking forward to this!

Message from Mrs McGlynn –

We looked at local charities in class  and the children started thinking about what kind of charity they would create for local children. West Lothian Food Bank have kindly agreed to allow us to visit their distribution centre in Blackburn  and  talk to the children about the charity. This will be in the afternoon of 4/10/16, the usual letter and forms will be sent out shortly.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend! 🙂

First of all a HUGE thank you to all parents, carers and children to came along to the ‘Meet the Teacher’ night on Wednesday.  It was lovely to meet you all and I hope you found out everything (and more) that you hoped to.  Please remember that I operate an open door policy and encourage you to come to me with any concerns, compliments, worries or feedback on any aspect of your child and their education.  I love to hear about the positive things as well as the negative and look forward to hearing from you throughout the year.  What goes on at home has just as much, if not more, of an impact on your child as what happens in school so please keep me updated.

As always, on a Friday, the children and I spent some time reflecting on our week.  Here are the highlights from this week:

I was really excited to find out that our new topic is Oceans and fishing.  Neive

I can’t wait to start our new topic next week. – Kirstin.

I loved getting my head teacher’s award this week. – Kaiden

I really liked getting to create tally charts and bar charts this week. – Brooke

I really enjoyed going to the meet the teacher night this week. – Neve

Our Pokemon class charter looks really cool. – Joshua and Harry

Our new ‘Birthday Board’ display looks great! – Liam

I still really like doing the cursive handwriting.  A’s and C’s are my favourite so far. – Scott

I was really pleased to win the chance to sit on the pink chair in the raffle this week. – Layla

I’m delighted to have been picked to be a class rep for the pupil council. – Emma

P.E. with Mr Richards was great fun on Wednesday. – Robbie

My favourite thing this week was getting to choose the colour and pattern for Mrs Vince’s nails.  We even created a bar chart to show which one was most popular. – Esme

The children decided that my nails should be blue with flowers.  We decided this by conducting a survey, creating a tally chart then displaying our results on a bar chart.  They were all really excited to see them on Thursday morning and were delighted with their choice – as was I!!

Homework for next week

Children will be focusing on place value for the first 6 week block.  To help them consolidate their learning in class homework this week will be an online game.

http://www.topmarks.co.uk/Flash.aspx?a=activity03

This is a super way for the children to improve their skills and understanding in a fun way.

Thank you to everyone who has covered their homework jotters already.  This will help protect them between home and school.  For anyone who hasn’t done this yet, please ensure it is done by Friday of next week. (09.09.16)

Reading and spelling homework will be allocated next week for all children so look out for this.  Spelling homework is due to be handed in on a Thursday but reading homework varies from group to group. (Please see the inside cover of your child’s homework jotter for further details.)

Talk homework will be sent home as normal on Monday.  The topic for the week is ‘My first day at school.’  This could be their first day at a new school, first day in their new class, first day in P1 or whatever is easiest for them to write about.  I was really pleased with the writing this week so look forward to seeing what they can do!

One or two children still do not have an outdoor gym kit and/or indoor shoes.  Please ensure your child has these as soon as possible.

Have a fantastic weekend, whatever you’re doing.

Mrs Vince <3

Well, we have reached the end of our first successful week in P5/4.  The children have all really enjoyed lots of things that we have worked on but here are a few of our favourites:

I like having Mrs Vince as my teacher. – Anna

I really enjoyed completing my ‘All about me’ challenge and listening to what everyone else did. – Esme

Golden time was great! – Jay

The classroom scavenger hunt was the best thing.  It was really good fun. – Emma

We got to do a raffle on Friday before Golden Time.  We get raffle tickets for lots of different things. – Layla

The tic-tac-toe game in PE was really good.  It was my favourite thing. – Scott

Next week we will have an equally busy week.  From this week, look out for listening and talking homework which is related to our writing which will take place in class on a Thursday.  The title of this week’s writing is

‘The best day out – ever!’

The children will be writing a personal piece where they will be asked to tell the reader about a day out they have taken part in that they particularity enjoyed.  I will be looking for appropriate punctuation, descriptions and use of connectives.  You can help your child achieve success by speaking to them about the day out and getting them to make some notes in their homework jotter to help jog their memories when it comes time  to complete the writing task.

P.E. for P5/4 will take place every Tuesday and Wednesday.  On a Wednesday this will take place OUTSIDE with Mr Richards.  Please ensure that your child has an outdoor P.E. kit (jogging/tracksuit bottoms and a jumper or tracksuit top are ideal) in school as well as their traditional indoor kit.

We have been working hard to create our class rules and class charter.  As these are almost complete, look out for a copy being sent home.  I would appreciate you going over these with your child to ensure that they are familiar with them and they fully understand the expectations.

I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible on Wednesday evening (4pm – 6pm) at our ‘Meet the Teacher’ event.  Come and have a look at our classroom and find out they types of things your child will be learning about this term.

Have a great weekend!

Mrs Vince

What a great first day with P5/4.  I really enjoyed getting to know the children better and look forward to working with them.  Keep checking the blog for photos, information and homework.  Please get in touch if you need to speak to me about anything.

Mrs Vince

Not put off by less than fantastic weather, Murrayfield Primary School Sports Day 2016 went ahead. Pupils from each class took part in a wide range of athletic challenges to earn points for their house, Bruce, Douglas, Stewart or Wallace.

After a titanic struggle the results are as follows:

1st Bruce – 1740 points

2nd Douglas – 1710 points

3rd Wallace – 1660 points

4th Stewart – 1640 points

Well done to everyone who took part and a big congratulations to everyone in Bruce for their winning score.

And finally a massive thanks to all the parents and carers who turned up on the day to support the event.

Our learning this week

• We had a money challenge in maths, we had to budget for a birthday party.
• Practised our athletics, javelin, shot put and relay racing
• Learned all the steps of the Gay Gordons in Scottish country dancing and demonstrated them to P5
• We started making windsocks.
• Carried out dissolving/soluble experiments in science.
• Made a weather chart using appropriate weather symbols.
• Kirstin and Chloe celebrated their achievements in football and bike racing.
•