Author: wls.alloway-mudd@glow

This week we have been doing a book study on a story called ‘Dogs Don’t Do Ballet’. We did many lessons linked to the story and covered concepts such as; gender stereotypes, our dreams for the future and feelings/emotions. The dog in the story was very sad that everyone kept telling him he was not allowed to follow his dream of being a ballerina. Biff arrived in our class looking very upset so we decided to write him a letter giving him advice on his problem. We really caught the letter writing bug, so ended up writing lots of different letters to Paddington, our friends and Miss Mudd. We also worked in groups to write stories about other things that dogs can’t do eg. dogs can’t fly aeroplanes!………..or can they?!

In our phonics this week we have been looking at the ai/ay digraph. We learnt how to use the spelling rule to help us identify which one to use. The Blue group have been revising some of our key digraphs from this block and used them to write some very tricky sentences.

We have been supporting each other with our reading this week. We were given reading buddies and were encouraged to help each other sound out and blend. We talked about the stories we were reading and shared our ideas and opinions.

In Numeracy we were learning how to read and write number names. We have also been learning about ordinal numbers and participated in the snail Olympics. We have continued to work on different subtraction strategies, this week focusing on bridging ten and chunking up numbers to help us subtract quickly. We used our number tiles to help us do some jumping subtraction. We jumped back to help us count back when taking away. For our ‘Outer Maths’ we continued with our learning about money. We have been tap counting to help us add the value of coins together.

In PE we played lots of parachute games.

In IDL this week we went back in history to look at the types of transport that the Vikings used. We looked at the features of Longships and have started creating our own Viking Longships with very scary heads to scare away our enemies.

What a wonderful week in P1/2!

Have a fantastic weekend.

Miss Mudd and P1/2 x

It may only be a short week but it has been packed full of fun activities in Primary 1/2 this week. A strange parcel arrived in our classroom on Monday. It had a big sticker on it saying ‘Fragile’ and ‘Heavy’. Miss Mudd peered inside and found the one and only Paddington Bear staring back at her!

The Brown family were moving house so he needed someone to look after him. He had heard all about our wonderful class so came to stay with us. He brought a letter with him asking us to help him find a way to get back to Peru. Luckily, we are learning all about transport so we can help him with this.

He is going to set up weekly challenges for us to help with our learning. This week we had to help him pack his suitcase and write lists of things he would need to take. We then had to see if we could fit it all in! It was quite tricky.

We have also started learning about money. We used the story ‘The Great Pet Sale’ to help us understand how money is used. We have been identifying coins and using these to make a different totals. We made posters advertising our own pets to sell. We used describing words and a new traffic light system to try and push ourselves with our writing. We had to ‘go for green’ to try and improve our sentences. We also wrote labels for our toy pets and set up our very own pet sale.

We hope everyone has a wonderful few days off! Enjoy the break.

Primary 1/2 and Miss Mudd

In Literacy we have been learning all about the alphabet. We used Lego bricks, alphabet stones, clothes pegs and flashcards to practise putting the alphabet in the correct order. We were using our fine motor skills to shape foil into letters. We used our magnetic boards to order the alphabet and even had to dig in the sand to find our letters and sort them all out!

The Red group have also started learning their digraphs, looking at sh and ch this week. The Blue group have been sorting words with different spellings. We have all enjoyed writing silly sentences using our new sounds. We have started to give each other feedback and identify next steps.

In Maths we have been learning about odd and even numbers. We created stories about Odd Todd and Even Steven. We had to work in groups and listen to each other’s ideas.  It was hard to make decisions as a group so we talked about how we could prevent arguments. We then went on to design houses for our characters. Odd Todd only liked things that were 1,3,5,7 and 9. Some of us put 3 doors, 5 chimneys and 7 flowers. Even Steven only had items that were 0,2,4,6 and 8. We used number sponges to order even numbers and used the story of Noah’s ark to look at the animals going in their pairs onto the ark.

We have also been learning about patterns. We used the story ‘Aliens love underpants’ to look at different patterns then design our own underpants.

In IDL we were learning about our famous Scot-  James Watt. We were very brave and stood up in front of the school and shared all of our learning. We were comparing trains from the past and present. We looked at the similarities and differences between our lives today and the lives of people in the past.

We have been designing and making junk model trains. This was a very tricky task as we had to think about the different shapes we were using and work out how to attach them together. A big thank you to Mrs Miller for helping us for the afternoon.

We have been studying the story of ‘The Train Ride’. We are now writing our own books based on this story. We have created our own train journeys and thought about the different things we would see on our journey.

Miss Mudd’s friends the MacDougall family have donated more toys and dressing up costumes to our class. We had some very unusual visitors to our train station including a princess, some superheroes and an elephant!

The most exciting thing to happen this week had to be our visit from Google. We went on a google expedition under the sea and we loved it!! We felt like we were actually there. What a cool experience.

What a busy 2 weeks!! Thank you to everyone for helping bring in bits and bobs for our junk model trains. They were fabulous! We hope everyone has a lovely weekend.

Primary 1/2 and Miss Mudd

 

What a busy week in Primary 1/2! We have finally finished our role play area and it looks fantastic. We have really enjoyed playing in our train station and our cafe. We have practised writing lists, menus and taking orders. We have also been using our maths skills to sell train tickets using the cash till.

In PE this week Miss Mudd was teaching us some new team games. We used the giant ball to practise dribbling and had to use our listening skills to identify the different instructions. We learnt how to support our team mates and how to motivate and encourage them.

In Maths we have been learning about our numbers to 20. Miss Mudd put out some new activities to help us practise ordering, sequencing and comparing. We were learning how to count bigger numbers with accuracy. Miss Mudd set us a tricky challenge to practise our fine motor skills. We had to turn a number card over and carefully count that amount of cheerios onto the stick. It helped us with our precision and co-ordination.

Some of us were learning about subtraction. We got to play skittles and had to write subtraction sums to show how many had been knocked down. We also played ‘subtraction smash’ with the playdough and got to squish the balls as we subtracted them.

In Literacy we were learning the ‘qu’ and ‘x’ sounds. We used our bodies to make a giant X, as well as treasure maps with our X to mark the spot. We made crowns and pretended to be queens for the day for our ‘qu’ digraph.

We also played common word splat. We used a spatula and had to splat the common word that Miss Mudd shouted out. It was a race! We loved it.

We were busy doing some Winter art work. We looked at mixing colours and thoroughly enjoyed creating all of these wonderful new and interesting colours.

After our visit from the RSPB we were inspired to try and help the birds this winter. We used lard and bird seed to make our own bird feeders that can be put in our gardens.

We also conducted some science experiments to look at how animals keep warm in the winter waters. We learnt that they have a layer of fat under their skin to help insulate them. We tested this out using bags of lard and oil and discovered that these fats did help keep our hands warm in the icy water.

Wow! We are tired out just telling you all about our week.

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

From Primary 1/2 and Miss Mudd

In P1/2 we have been learning about new year and have a little song to wish you all a very happy 2017!

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In Maths we have been learning about the months of the year. We have used songs and actions to help us remember the order. Here we are doing a little sequencing activity. We also made some wonderful collages for our homework. Miss Mudd has put them up in the classroom to show off our artistic skills.

We have also been learning about 3D shapes. We went on a shape hunt around the school and were using the different shapes to construct bridges, trains and rockets.

We even went outside to make spheres out of snow!

We have continued working on our numbers to 20 and our addition this week.

In Literacy we have been learning our new sounds. The Red group made some fantastic yellow submarines and zebras. The Blue group have been doing lots of sentence sorting. We looked for the full stops and capital letters to help up get our sentences back in the right order.

We have used our new sounds to write some tricky sentences too!

We had a lovely visit from the RSPB this week which got us out and about in our local environment. We really enjoyed hunting for beasties and looking for signs of wildlife. A big thank you to the RSPB for coming and delivering such a wonderful workshop.

Our classroom is looking a little bit different these days. We have been helping Miss Mudd make a train station and cafe in our classroom. Here are a few pictures to show you what has been happening.

 

We still have some work to do but we love our new role play area!! You can watch the transformation throughout this term. It may give you a little clue as to what we might be learning about.

It is great to be back at school and seeing everyone so enthusiastic about their learning.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Primary 1/2 and Miss Mudd

 

We have all been getting into the Christmas spirit this week in Primary 1/2. We started the week with a shadow puppet show after reading an information book all about shadows, practising our ‘ow’ digraph.

In phonics we have learnt our new sounds ‘j’ and ‘v’. We made beautiful vases and jellyfish to help us remember our sounds. We have been writing sentences using our new sounds and digraphs. This week we put a lot of effort into reading and writing our tricky words. We were determined not to let them trick us!

In PE we played Christmas themed games. We had to practise following instructions and learnt how to take turns. We played musical chairs, musical bumps and Christmas corners. To finish off, we played sleeping reindeer to help us relax and cool down.

We have been very busy making Christmas cards for our wonderful families. Miss Mudd showed us 4 different designs to choose from and we used finger prints to create our beautiful cards.

We have been working hard on our addition this week. Miss Mudd has seen huge improvements with our mental recall of key number facts. We are still working on getting our numbers all the correct way round so Milkshake Monkey set us a challenge to help him this week. He also set us a challenge to put all of the Christmas objects into the correct size order.

Miss Mudd has been incredibly proud of our ‘Trapped in a Snow Globe’ writing. We have spent the last few weeks working away on our secret project and today they will be sent home to be enjoyed with our families. We discussed what a snow globe was and looked at different examples. Then, we had to create our own snow globes using chalk. We used our fingers to blend and create different textures. We then had to use our imagination to pretend we were actually inside the snow globe. We put all of our new writing skills to the test and Miss Mudd loved seeing us all supporting each other and sharing our ideas. Here is a sneak preview of some of our work.

We finished the week with a special ‘Stick Man’ afternoon. We read the wonderful story and looked at the rhyming words. Miss Mudd set up 4 stations for us to try out different activities. We put on a puppet show, created a cartoon strip, drew pictures of the setting/characters and wrote a postcard from the Stick man himself.

What a wonderful week we have had in Primary 1/2. We are all very excited for the Christmas holidays to arrive and we wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy new year.

Primary 1/2 and Miss Mudd

This week we had a special visit from NYCOS (National Youth Choir Of Scotland) to do a workshop with us looking at rhythm and steady beats. We absolutely loved the games and activities and had so much fun. We want to say a big thank you to Tracey for coming to teach us. You can download the short video to have a look at what we were doing.

In Literacy this week, both groups have learnt their new sounds and we have been using the stations set out to practise using our sounds. Each week we do activities to help us say, make, blend, read and write our new sounds.

Some of us were doing activities where we had to read the sentence and write in the missing word. We have been using our new spelling rules to help us know which digraph to use. We have then applied our new learning to our sentences.

We have also been working hard on our CVC words so we can write short sentences more independently.

In Numeracy this week we have been consolidating our understanding of addition. We have looked at number facts for 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15. We will continue to work on our numbers to 20 to speed up our recall. We have also looked at doubles and will be going on to use our knowledge to help us with near doubles.

Our Nativity rehearsals have been going very well this week. We are keeping it all top secret so it is a surprise for all of our parents. Thank you to all of the parents who have helped us with props, we are very grateful.

We hope you all have a lovely weekend

Primary 1/2