Mrs Matos Van Den Heever

May 16, 2019

P7B weekly update

What a busy learning week we have had.

Literacy: For reading this week, we spent some time in our reading groups analyzing our class novel, Goodnight Mister Tom. We focused on characterization, settings within the novel, themes and the author’s use of language, we worked in a group to create an anchor chart of our analysis. To further develop our writing we concentrated on the importance of the style, presentation and purpose of our writing. We revised the different types of persuasive techniques and we learnt about key elements of writing a pitch. We then planned and wrote a pitch to Dragon’s Den, persuading them to invest in a redevelopment of either Blackness Road site or the Victoria Halls.

Numeracy and Maths: We are all becoming architects in the making. This week, we further developed our knowledge and skills of map reading and using scale for measure. On Tuesday we used our map skills and route tracking to complete an orienteering challenge, where we needed to use prior learning to help us to solve the different challenge cards along the route. We later designed using scale and keys to design a dream house. We agreed that our playground needed a revamp too, we used trundle wheels to measure the perimeter of the playground, we chose a suitable scale and designed a new and creative playground. It has been a busy week of design and measure.

IDL: Social Studies this week we discussed two possible land-uses in Linlithgow that we could possibly re-develop. We worked in groups and chose a specific demographic group as our focus. We needed to ensure that we considered the constraints and opportunities our development would have both on the demographic group as well as the community of Linlithgow. We worked together to create a presentation that we will present to the class and persuade them that our development is the best and why.

Expressive Arts: Art this week, we learnt the names and techniques of three different ways in which to shade a picture. We drew from a still life 3D shapes and used the shading techniques that we had learnt to shade our pictures.

RME: We learnt about religious pilgrimage, we used Ipads to identify a range of religious pilgrimages and we plotted them onto a map and explained why people chose to go to those places.

1+2: In Spanish this week, we continued to practice having a conversation. We asked questions in our conversation, such as what is their name, when is their birthday and how old they were. Please ask us to share our learning, the next holiday can be in Spain and we can do all the talking.

HWB: We learnt about tobacco this week, we were surprised to hear how many chemicals are found in cigarettes and what an expensive habit it was, we had a look at what tar looks like on a persons lungs. We discussed how smoking can affect us and our bodies. During PE this week, we practiced some athletics skills such relay races, sprints and speed bounce. We had another rugby session this week with the coaches from Linlithgow Rugby club. With Mrs. Reid we have continued with our sports management and basketball.

ICT: We were lucky to have a visit from Microsoft this week, where we had the opportunity to do some coding.

What could we possibly do next week?

Wishing all of P7b and their families a lovely weekend.

P7b and Mrs. Matos

May 4, 2019

P7B Weekly update

Another busy learning week in P7 with great opportunities to extend our knowledge outside of the classroom.

Literacy: During Literacy this week we extended and consolidated our knowledge of Homophones. We looked at the most commonly misspelled/ misused homophones. We used our knowledge to identify and correct homophones in a poem. We continued to use a range of comprehension strategies to answer questions based on our class novel, Goodnight Mister Tom. Writing this week, we discussed the features of essay writing. We chose from a range of questions and using previous knowledge of persuasive devices we wrote a persuasive essay.

Numeracy: We are continuing to extend and develop our knowledge of algebra. This week we have been solving algebraic equations using one variable.

STEM: During science this week, we were very fortunate to have Generation Science teach us some new skills in coding, it was a very fun filled learning experience – please ask us to tell you more about it. Thank you for organizing a fun and active lesson Mrs. Tulloch

SFLLW: It has been a busy and informative week about the world of work. On Wednesday we enjoyed our Farm to Fork trip. Form milkshake tasting to lettuce planting, it was a very tasty and informative event. Springfield’s careers fayre was on Wednesday night, with a range of different professionals who had come along to share the wide range of different careers options, another eye opening and informative event.

P7b and Mrs. Matos

April 26, 2019

P7B Weekly update

Welcome back to all Primary 7’s. Everyone has returned back from their Easter holidays all refreshed and eager to learn. It’s the final term of Primary 7 and we are going to make sure that we make it a term full of fun and making lasting memories.

Literacy: During this week we focused on spelling words with suffixes, ‘able’, ‘ible’, ‘ably’, ‘ibly’, we discussed noticeable patterns in these words and identified that some words ending in ‘able’ have a spelling rule which we can use when spelling words ending in ‘able’. We identified which word classes the spelling words belonged to. We picked up where we left off in our class novel, Goodnight Mister Tom, we continued to read the next two chapters of the novel and discussed and analysed how the main character William changes throughout the novel, we compared his life in London to the life he is now living in the countryside. We continue to use a variety of reading skills and strategies to answer comprehension questions based on the novel.

Numeracy: We are extending our knowledge of Algebra. We have been learning the mathematical terms used in algebra, such as expression, equation, terms and value. This week we continued to simplify expressions, and we have been working on solving equations.

IDL: We have shown a lot of interest during our lessons on WWII, this week we were very fortunate to have Maureen, from West Lothian Museums, share with us some facts about the war and had some items from the past for us to have a look at. We were very intrigued by some of the items and stories from during the war.

HWB: Target setting is important for us to help us to set ourselves challenges which will help us to achieve in our learning. This week, we have set ourselves learning targets for numeracy and literacy. During PE this week with Mrs. Matos we enjoyed a game on rounders, next week we will begin to work on our fitness program.

1+2: French with Mrs. Gordon this week, we practiced some French vocabulary that we have been learning this year, we played a very fun game of ‘race dressing’, Mrs. Gordon had some dressing up items laid out, we were split into two groups, when she called out the item name in French the first group to put on the correct item would get a point for their team, it was plenty of fun, and a interesting way to help us with our French. Thank you Mrs. Gordon.

P1 Buddies: We are still getting some opportunities to spend time with our buddies, we paired up with our buddies and read a book together.

A very busy week, next week we are looking forward to our ‘Farm to Fork’, trip and on Wednesday night is the Careers Fayre.

P7B and Mrs. Matos

March 29, 2019

P7b Weekly Update

‘Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.’ Benjamin Franklin

Literacy: In Grammar this week we have been learning about Adverbials and Modal verbs. Using our class novel as a focus, we created a possibility line of what could happen next in the novel. We discussed when talking and writing that it is not possible to draw/ use a possibility line to express our thoughts or opinions of possibility, but in writing and speech we can use adverbials and modal verbs to show degrees of possibility. We continued to read Good Night Mister Tom, we have discussed the different characters and we have summarized what we have read so far. We have been using a range of different reading and comprehension skills to answer questions based on our class novel. It is nearing the end of a very long and busy term and we have noticed that some of our teachers are needing a boost – we have been busy creating a ‘Teacher-Pleaser Machine’, but to make sure that the machine is used correctly, we have used explanation writing features to write a manual for the machine, explaining how the machine operates and its special features that will help Mrs. Matos become the jolliest teacher in the school!

Numeracy: This week we have been consolidating our knowledge about symmetry. We have used shape to identify single and multiple lines of symmetry. Today we were challenged to design a kitchen by creating the scaled nets of 3D shapes. With such a challenging task Mrs. Matos was pleased to see how our school values, such as inclusion and resilience was being demonstrated.

WWII: This week we have been discussing and finding out more about the persecution of Jews during WWII. We used our note taking skills while we learnt more about the reasons why Hitler had a ‘hatred’ towards Jews and we learnt about the events that lead up to the ‘Final Solution’ – to show our understanding of what we had learnt, we created a storyboard of events. We were very fortunate this week to have Mrs. Manlove share family history, of family members that had survived the holocaust – Thank you Mrs. Manlove!

PE: More dodgeball this week, each week we are developing our skills of throwing as well the skill of dodging the ball.

1+2: From the money that was raised from our 1+2 Family Fun event held in February, we have been very fortunate to have received some new Spanish games for our classroom. This week our Language Ambassadors explained to the class how the games are played and we had a few goes at trying the new games out. Today we presented our French dialogues to Mrs. Gordan – Mrs. Gordan was very impressed with the high standard of our French. Thank you Mrs. Gordon.

P7b and Mrs. Matos

March 21, 2019

P7b weekly blog

Literacy: We continue to develop our reading and comprehension skills, focusing on skimming and scanning of a text. This week we read the story of Lily Ebert and her golden pendent, her story was very unique as she and her pendent both survived the Holocaust. After reading her story, we identified the different Parts of Speech that were used in the text. We then used our reading and comprehension strategies to show our understanding of the text, by answering some questions. Over the last few weeks we have had an insight into how life was like during WWII, we were particularly surprised with how little food rationing you would have received. We watched a short clip about one particular lady that took an interest in eating foods that would have been available during the war. Her story inspired us to do a little more research and try to take a modern or create a wartime recipe and adapt it to only using the foods that were available during the war. We found this particularly tricky and at the same time really appreciated the variety of food choices we have available to us now. Writing the wartime recipe has helped to develop and extend our instructional writing skills.

Numeracy and Maths : This week we have been continuing with data handling, as well as reading and drawing bar, line and pie graphs. We have been learning mathematical terminology, such as dependent and independent variables, trend, peak, trough, mean, mode and range – please ask us to explain any of the new terminology that we have learnt and ask us to show you our understanding. Using ICT this week, we researched data of our interest and displayed our research on a line graph, bar graph or pie chart using Microsoft Word.

1+2: During Spanish this week, we recapped on our greetings and introducing ourselves. We are getting particularly good with our counting and we can now count from 1-30 in Spanish and we impressed Mrs. Matos by counting backwards from 10! We learnt this week the days of the week and the months of the year. Using what we have learnt, we practiced asking and replying in Spanish when is our birthday – ask us at home what we have learnt, it will help us to practice and you would learn some Spanish too.

PE: During PE this week, we practiced our dodgeball and football skills and played a few competitive games against each other.

Science: We continuing to work on our buggies this week, and we have impressed Mrs. Matos and Mrs. Tulloch with our handwork and determination to get our buggies to move and to go up a ramp.

P7B and Mrs. Matos

March 7, 2019

P7B weekly update

Another busy, fun filled week of learning.

Literacy: We have come to the end of our class novel, The boy in the striped pyjamas. Although a sad ending, we have had a lot of meaningful discussions around the different themes of the book, in particular the theme of friendship. Developing our reading and comprehension skills further we answered the last few questions based on the novel. We reviewed the features of a book review and the use of persuasive writing to write a book review on the Boy in the striped pyjamas. This gave us the opportunity to reflect on what we have read, and to share our thoughts and opinions.

Numeracy and Maths: A fun week, where we all felt very confident about what we were learning. We focused on the use of mathematical language and learnt words such as, axis, plotting, coordinates, cartesian and quadrants – ask us to explain these terms to you. We learnt how to read and write coordinates, and we practiced plotting coordinates on a grid.

IDL: Continuing with food rationing this week, we created a 7 day food menu for our family, using the food pyramid to help us to create a balanced and healthy menu, using the food that we would have had during WWII. We found this really tricky, and while researching we discovered some interesting recipes which we weren’t too sure if they would be to our liking, what we do know is that we are very pleased food is not still being rationed today.

PE: This was the last week of our 8 sessions of Futsal, we have had a lot of fun during these sessions and have learnt a lot of new skills. Extreme dodgeball was a ‘hit’ this week, we played a few games where the winner stays on the court.

Expressive Arts: We are developing our sketching skills, linking our art to our class novel and the theme of friendship, we have started to think and talk about what we can sketch that will symbolize the friendship between Bruno and Schmuel. We are focusing on correct proportions and shading.

Next week Wednesday, 13th March we will be showing off all our handwork and showing our Scottish Opera talent.

P7B and Mrs. Matos

February 28, 2019

WWII, Angles and Letter Writing -P7B

‘The capacity to learn is a gift; the ability to learn is a skill; the willingness to learn is a choice.’ – Brian Herbert

Literacy: We have been enjoying reading our class novel – The boy in the striped pyjamas. Although a book full of emotions and themes such friendship kindness, innocence and so much more we can not get enough of it. Through the novel we have been using our skills to improve our reading and comprehension of a text. We have been using the novel to identify the grammar, vocabulary and language that the author uses. During writing this week, we practiced spelling words that are linked to WWII and we used the dictionary to help us find to definitions of unfamiliar words. We managed what it would have felt like to have been a child evacuee during WWII and using the spelling we had learnt we planned and wrote letters home describing our journey to the country side, and how we have settled in our new homes. During writing we focused on a letter layout and grammar such as writing in first person, chronological order and past tense.

Numeracy: We have been identifying angles in and around the school. We have been learning to name angles and use the correct mathematical terms, such as arm and vertex. We have been learning to use the protractor accurately and correctly to measure and draw a range of different angles. Ask us what we can tell you about vertically opposite angles, supplementary angles and complimentary angles.

IDL: Continuing with our study of WWII we worked in groups and discussed what we thought are essential items to be packed into a child evacuees suitcase. To get a better understanding of what it may have felt like, we worked in groups and created a short child evacuee performance. Food rationing has been an eye opener for how lucky we are, we have discussed the reasons why food and clothes were rationed, we had a look at ration books and coupons that were used. We worked out how much our own families would have received, and have created a menu based on the rationed food.

PE: During PE this week we played a 5 a side football game, and this week it is our second last session of futsal.

1+2: French with Mrs. Gordon we have been learning words, phrases and pronunciation of the weather, we worked in groups and our dialogue was filmed, so that we could watch it back and self and peer assess.

SFLLW: This week we have been fortunate to have talks about a wide range of different careers, such as HR management, Theatre production and Jet2 Engineering. We have found this very informative and interesting, please remember to ask us about what we have heard.

P7B and Mrs. Matos

November 17, 2018

P7b ‘Work hard, be kind and amazing things will happen’ Conan O’Brien

It has been a very busy time in Primary 7, we apologies for the delay in posting our updates, but we will fill you in on what we have been doing over the last two weeks.

Literacy: It was lovely last week to have some parents come along and to take part in our active spelling activities. During active spelling we play a range of spelling games, that helps us to consolidate our knowledge on spelling rules and tricky common words that we often spell incorrectly in our spelling. During active spelling we use our weekly spelling words and we play hangman games with our partners and we play scrabble to help us to extend and build on our vocabulary. This week in active spelling we used our weekly spelling words to create a crossword puzzle, reinforcing how the words are spelt as well as testing our knowledge on the definition of the words.

A couple of weeks ago we had a lovely visit to the Poppy Factory, during literacy we consolidated our understanding of writing a recount, we used the features of recount writing and wrote about our trip to the Poppy Factory. In our recount we concentrated on our vocabulary, punctuation, the use of figurative writing, writing in past tense and first person, it was such an enjoyable visit that we all enjoyed writing about our experience and describing our emotions, sharing our opinion.

Over the last few weeks we have been reading the class novel, Holes. We are all getting really stuck into the story and with every chapter that we read we are getting more and more drawn into the story. Over the last two weeks we completed two pieces of writing which was inspired from the novel. We learnt about persuasive devices and how they can be used to persuade an audience to buy an invention that we had created. In our novel, Holes, the main character writes a letter to his mum. After discussions on different purposes and types of communication, it was very clear that letter writing was not the preferred form of communication. None the less, we stepped into the shoes of the main character, Stanley, and wrote a letter to our ‘mum’. We focused on the layout of an informal letter, the language that is used and rhetorical questions. Perhaps this will inspire more letter writing to friends and family in the future.

During guided reading we have been concentrating on punctuation. We have been identify the types of punctuation that is used in a text, why it has been used and how it can be used in our writing.

Numeracy: We have been very busy during numeracy, extending and consolidating our understanding of fractions. Over the last two weeks we have worked on identifying and simplifying fractions, we have been adding and subtracting fractions with the same and different denominator and this last week we have been multiplying fractions and calculating ratios. It has been a challenging two weeks, with a lot of different ‘rules’ and calculations that we have had to learn, but with a confident attitude and resilience we have been doing great. Please ask us to show you what we have learnt.

Enterprise: With only 3 weeks to go till the Christmas Fayre, we have been working hard on our enterprise projects. It has been challenging at times, but we have learnt the importance of patience, team work and accurate resource ordering and budgeting. Over the last two weeks, we worked with our chosen groups and decided on a product or service we would like to sell at the Christmas Fayre, we had a budget of £20 to buy all our resources. We needed to research products and their best prices, and together we needed to calculate how much we will be selling our product for, making sure that we will make a profit. We have been discussing adverting and the use of persuasive devices to help us to promote our product or service.

HWB: #hecanshecan… during health and wellbeing we have been discussing gender stereotyping and respect. We all designed a poster which will be entered into the West Lothian #hecanshecan competition. Through a lot of discussion it was clear that we all agreed that gender equality is important and that all genders require the same amount of respect, but we are also very aware that gender equality is still not happening all the time and that we need to raise awareness and show our respect to all.

PE: Over the last two weeks we have been practicing our athletics skills with Mrs. Reid. Last week Thursday these skills were put to the test at the Cluster Athletics Festival. Mrs. Matos and Mr. Logan were so proud of all the Primary 7 children that took part, it was a fantastic afternoon, where everyone who took part, showed kindness, confidence and resilience. Way to go Primary 7!!

Leadership: During leadership this week we discussed the importance of planning and organization. Mrs. Matos gave each leadership group their own folders and jotters, where we will be keeping a record of all our planning and activities that we do. It is also important that to be a great leader we need to evaluate our leadership skills and activities that we have been doing. We found this a very difficult task to do, but with support from Mrs. Matos and Mr. Logan as well as good communication with our team, we identified our strengths, things that have not gone well and things we would like to improve on.

1+2 French: French with Mrs. Gordon we learnt vocabulary to use when we want to say that something is sore. We would just like to thank Mrs. Gordon for taking the time to teach us in a fun and exciting way each week.

Last week EM took part in a 5k run with her mum. EM brought along her medal and some photos and shared her experience with us. It was her first 5k run so a massive well done to EM and mum too!!

Active Spelling- Learning spelling rules boardgame

Active spelling – splat common word game

P7b and Mrs. Matos

November 4, 2018

P7b weekly update.

Numeracy: This week Miss Devonshire taught us about number sequences, we learnt about triangular and squared numbers. After this we made sequences with our partner and we had to guess the pattern of them.

We also learnt about equivalent fractions and simplifying fractions. Mrs. Matos has been encouraging us to use concrete materials to help us to understand better. – Emily

Enterprise: This week P7 have started to organise their enterprise projects for the Christmas fayre. Some groups are thinking about doing fake tattoos, face paints and sweet treats. We are very excited about our projects. This week we decided on who we would work with, and on the product or service we going to provide. In the coming weeks, we will need to prepare a presentation and a business plan to Mrs. Matos and Mr. Logan. Next week, we will begin to research and cost our products/ services. – Evie & Esme’

Leadership: This week was very exciting. The newspaper leaders completed and issued their very first school newspaper. Well done to all involved, it was amazing! All other leadership groups have also been working hard on all their projects and activities. We love our new senior roles within the school. We are building our confidence and resilience! – Evie & Esme’

PE: Athletics has been our PE focus this week. We will all be attending the P7 Cluster Athletics Festival on the 15 November; Mrs. Reid has been helping us get prepared for this. This week we concentrated on throwing a ball, but with only using our arm strength. We have all enjoyed PE this week, and are looking forward to more athletics practice next week. – Adam

French: In French this week, with Mrs. Gordon, we moved onto a new topic – ‘la corps’. To help us practice, ask us at home if we can remember and name some parts of ‘la corps’. Our lesson on Friday was filled with mispronounced words and lots of help from Mrs. Gordon, but with resilience we all ‘picked’ it up in the end!– Dayna

Poppy Factory: This week we were lucky enough to go to the Poppy factory in Edinburgh. After our 45 minute long bus drive, we were welcomed with a very friendly and entertaining talk and demonstration by Sargent Major. Matthew, Adam, Esme’ and even Mrs. Matos got to do a little bit of dress up and role play and had the opportunity to experience what it would have felt like during the war. During our visit we were split into three groups, we were given the opportunity to help make some poppies, which will be sold next year to help raise funds, and we were given the grand tour of the factory, where we got to meet many friendly volunteers. It was very interesting to hear that all the volunteers were in some way disabled and some were former marines, soldiers or worked in the air force. It was such an honour to meet so many friendly people, to hear some of their stories and to see how every poppy and wreath is made by hand. It was definitely a day to remember. – Anna

P7b and Mrs. Matos

October 26, 2018

Welcome Back P7b!

After a lovely week long October break, we were back on Tuesday and ready to learn.

Literacy: This week in Literacy we have been thinking about who inspires us! We have entered the Jim Clark Memorial Writing Competition. We brainstormed our ideas on what, who, when and how we have been inspired. The title for this year’s writing competition is ‘My Inspiration’. While writing, we concentrated on using interesting and descriptive vocabulary. We focused our writing on emotive writing, to help give the reader a sense of how we felt about our inspiration.

Numeracy: Who knew fractions could be so ‘sweet’? During numeracy this week, we completed some fraction introductory activities. Using real life items that Mrs. Matos brought in, we discussed and shared what we understood about fractions and how using concrete or real- life items can help us with calculating fractions. The highlight of our week was using skittles to show our understanding of fractions. Next week we will be learning about equivalent and simplifying fractions. Challenge this week, to see how many times you would use or see fractions around the house, at the shops etc.

Sweet Fractions – Using skittles to show our understanding.

HWB: It’s a new term and a new start. We spent some time this week to evaluate our targets that we set for ourselves in Term 1. We discussed with our partner what went well and learning we may need to improve on. We set new Numeracy and Literacy targets for Term 2 – we all very determined to work hard and reach our targets, using confidence and resilience.

PE: During PE this week consolidated and played our ‘Final’ rounds of basketball. This term our PE/ active focuses will be Athletics and Skiing.

1+2: In French this week we are revising the objects of the classroom. We had the privilege of being joined by an S6 language ambassador from Linlithgow Academy, Alexander. Thank you Mrs. Gordon for all your help in making sure we are ‘French’ ready for the Academy. ( Dayna – Language Ambassador)

P7b and Mrs. Matos