In Maths we have been working on calculations involving money and finding out the cost of different items and then working out the various ways we could give change. In addition to this we have also been revising our rounding skills by rounding up the cost of different items and estimating the total cost.

On Wednesday we went to the handball festival at Linlithgow Academy. It was very exciting playing all the cluster primaries and there was excellent sportsmanship and skills displayed. We were exhausted by the time we got back to school. We are not sure yet of the final results so watch this space for further news!

In Literacy this week we listened to and then selected Scottish poems to learn. We will then recite these next week, to our class and other classes in the school to showcase our Scottish language skills.

We also looked at the work of the Scottish writer Lari Don who wrote a book entitled “The Secret of the Kelpie”. We listened to her reading an extract from the book and discussed how she built “suspense” into the story.  We used these techniques to write a story based on the Kelpie, or a mythical creature of our own choice.  Some of us challenged ourselves even further by writing a poem.

In Science we are continuing on work started in P4 on floating and sinking and we are now up levelling to look at the force of buoyancy after having completed work on gravity and air resistance.

On Friday we practised our mental mats skills by completing the BIG Maths challenge and also tested our spelling patterns which we learned for homework.

The whole class was super when our visitors came to see us and spoke knowledgably about the work they had been doing and were able to answer their questions confidently.

Have a super weekend!

Mr Ritchie and P5B

This week in Primary 5A we have been studying the life and work of Charles Rennie Macintosh. We have looked at his paintings, furniture and architecture. We practised different techniques and experimented with colour to paint our own Macintosh style paintings. We got into our own art zone listening to relaxation music while working and our VSE visitors were really impressed with our artistic talents.

At IT we had researched Macintosh and then had the choice of working with a partner to produce a power point or word document about his life and work. Next week well will be presenting these to our peers and we will be giving good constructive feedback.

Our handball festival was very exciting playing all the cluster primaries and there was excellent sportsmanship and skills displayed. We were exhausted by the time we got back to school.

During our literacy work we also discussed and chose Scottish poems to learn and we will recite these next week to our class and then other classes in the school.

Money is the main focus for maths and we have used different notes and coins to give change. It would be great if the pupils had opportunities at the shops to practise working out their own change.

In Science we are continuing on work started in P4 on floating and sinking and we are now up levelling to look at the force of buoyancy after having completed work on gravity and air resistance.

The pupils were super when our visitors were in and spoke knowledgably about their work and were able to answer all their questions confidently.

Thank you.

Jean Tulloch

In Maths this week we have been using our knowledge of number, co-ordinates, time, addition and subtraction to solve some Murder Mystery Maths worded problems. The children worked in teams as Maths detectives to work through the clues using their maths skills to find the culprit.

To start off our Scottish topic we held a brainstorming session to find out how much we knew about famous Scottish artists and inventors.  We also thought about the different ways we could learn and find out information about these famous people.  Next week we will start looking at the work of the famous Scottish artist Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

On Wednesday we had a visit from “Travel by Tuba” who entertained us by demonstrating a range of instruments and playing a variety of songs which we could sing along to.

In writing we used a picture of a *mysterious door” as a stimulus for writing an imaginative story and working on improving our VCOP strategies to help us with our writing. After this we also reviewed our writing targets and set new ones for this term.

We have also been taking part in some “getting to know you” activities with Mr Ritchie who has now taken over the class.

Our new reading books have been issued and we will begin to explore the stories and the techniques used by the different authors next week in our reading groups.

We also challenged ourselves on Friday by completing mental maths activities using BIG Maths.

On Thursday 14th of December, Primary five choir members visited the Michael’s Day Care Centre. The journey wasn’t as easy as we had hoped due to the ice, but this only added to the excitement of the outing. We sang our school choir set and then sang some Christmas carols which everyone joined in with. The pupils sang beautifully, some of the people at the Day Care Centre were even moved to tears. Everyone then had a snack and pupils chatted with the people at the Day Care centre, who were very grateful for the visit. All in all, the trip was a huge success and Mrs Hogg was very proud of the pupils who behaved brilliantly and sang beautifully. Thanks also to our ice spotting parent helper who helped us walk there and back as smoothly as possible.

 

Dear Parents/Guardians,

It has been a busy few weeks in Primary Five.

In Maths we have been practising our mental maths skills and also learning about co-ordinates, angles and how to use compasses and protractors.

In Literacy we have been using thesauruses to up-level our vocabulary in our writing. We have been enjoying ‘The day the world went Loki’ book and all associated tasks.

We designed and built bird boxes and found out some interesting facts about birds then typed these into fact files.

We are enjoying learning about advent and the Christmas story. This was particularly useful during our R.M.E workshop with Bubblegum ‘n’ Fluff, where we learned more about the Nativity and Christmas Story. We also made decorative tiles to show aspects of the Christmas story. We have been enjoying our class advent calendar too.

In art we have been creating lovely festive arts and crafts. We also learned more about colour mixing when painting the Three Wise Men for the infants nativity performance.

During our Music lessons we have been listening to classical music including ‘The Hall of the Mountain King’ and played instruments such as drums, xylophone, symbols and maracas. In class we have been practising our Class Christmas songs and also church Christmas songs.

The Primary five pupils from the school choir are practising hard for their performance this Thursday at St Michael’s Day Care Centre. They are all looking forward to performing at this.

Have a great week everybody.   🙂