A busy week and a half as we started P7. Last week we got our classroom arranged, rotas set up for our lunch, break and wet day duties and we started our time capsule information.
This week we have started to learn about Romero Britto, a Brazilian Artist. Found out about camp and skiing and completed our back to school checkups in maths, spelling and writing.
On Monday the SSPCA visited to talk about protecting animals and how we can keep them safe.
In Science we did a sampling session in the playground to see what was within each grid area.
Next week we are going to start our IDL topic on Brazil, complete some multi digit multiplication and division challenges and take part in a Rugby event with the SRU and Linlithgow Rugby Club.
For this event we should all come to school in our sports gear (no football colours), with a packed lunch and a full water bottle. Please pack a rain coat and sunscreen (this is Scotland after all).
We’ve had an action packed couple of weeks in school and nursery culminating in an excellent assembly led by P1B and Mrs Reid today. Children told the story of The Hungry Catterpillar and entertained us all. Well done boys and girls!
Primary 7 and Primary 6 have both enjoyed fantastic camps to Ford Castle and Dalguise. We hope that you have enjoyed seeing the photos of their adventures on Twitter.
Our nursery and P1 and P2 children have taken part in music workshops this week with NYCOS and have been showcasing their talents in this area.
Next week all children will take part in Linlithgow Book Festival and will be given the opportunity to meet authors and listen to different texts being read aloud.
We hope that you will join us next Wednesday for Sports Day (weather permitting), where children will take part in potted sports in the morning and races in the afternoon. We will have tea and coffee on sale for all adults.
Pupil Achievements:
-Well done to the lovely sisters, E in P2 and E in P4 for their success in dancing and swimming!
-Congratulations to M and A in P1 for their Enjoy-a-Ball achievements!
Have a great weekend everyone! Let’s hope that the sun manages to shine a little bit!
We’ve had a flurry of pupil achievements this week. Please enjoy reading all of the successes below:
– Well done to our school football team who performed brilliantly at the George Allan event last Sunday and also at a schools’ event at Herriot Watt this week. You are all champions!
-An amazing effort from our school netball team who won the West Lothian schools’ league competition this week! You superstars!
-A group of our P6 children have achieved success in a recent writing and art competition run by Burgh Beautiful! We are so proud of you all!
-Two of our girls have had their work published in the Marches Magazine and we couldn’t be more pleased for them! How amazing!
As always, we are extremely proud of all of our children (and our staff too!)
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.
Over the past two weeks P7a have been extending their knowledge into Third Level algebra. This has included solving equations with negative numbers and fractions and solving inequations with inequality signs. We have even been beginning to expand double brackets and carry out the inverse of this by factorising expressions.We have also been trying some codebreaker strategies that were used during WWII to intercept messages and crack codes.
Today we looked at frequency analysis, an example of mono-alphabetic ciphers, where each letter in the alphabet is replaced by another. We demonstrated resilience and perseverance to decipher a message from 1943 about merchant ships. Sophie, Erin and Nicci were the first to do so! Well done girls!
Nicci’s working
Erin’s working
Our Codebreaker task
Literacy and English
We have been continuing to read Goodnight Mr. Tom, with a particular focus this week on characterisation. This included an analysis of the ways in which two main characters, Mr. Tom and William, have evolved throughout the story so far. We have noted that William has become less anxious which has improved his level of happiness and had a positive impact on his learning. We gave supporting evidence from the text to argue this. Secondly, Mr. Tom has become more sociable and developed more of a nurturing side. Again we were able to give examples of where this was noticeable.
In writing we have been creating balanced arguments that introduced the topic before weighing up advantages and disadvantages of child evacuation during WWII. We wrote conclusions that offered our personal viewpoint on the topic with reasons for our particular stance.
Joann’s balanced argument
Zara’s balanced argument
Learning Across the Curriculum
Other learning and achievements this week include:
Basketball team qualified for the West Lothian Primary Basketball League play-offs. One of their games ended in a 16-0 victory!
The school footballers were unbeaten in the latest league meeting and bounced back from 1-0 to win on 3 separate occasions.
P7 attended our SPS Careers Fayre and impressed visitors with their knowledge of subject areas and questioning.
We attended a Farm to Fork careers event at SRUC Oatridge where we found out about a number of different career opportunities in the food, farming and agricultural sectors.
Our first rugby session took place with Linlithgow Rugby Club and we are excited for our end of year festival in June.
The netball teams remain 1st and 4th in the league after their latest round of fixtures.
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.
We have come to the end of another busy week of learning at Springfield and Bonnytoun. Our children in school had the chance to take part in a number of STEM workshops led by Generation Science.
P6-7 pupils had the chance to attend a Careers’ Fayre which was held on Wednesday night and saw a great turn out of support from our partner agencies and families. We continue to build a wider range of different partners in our local community and beyond to enhance our curriculum and help children to develop skills for learning, life and work.
The children at Bonnytoun have had a lovely couple of days this week welcoming their Grandparents into the nursery to play and learn.
Today, Miss Harrison and P3A led a highly informative assembly on endangered species. All children spoke articulately and confidently as they showcased their learning through the PowerPoint presentations that they had made.
Pupil Achievements this week:
– Well done to F in P4 for winning a medal for running! Great effort F!
-Congratulations to B in P6 for her certificates gained through skiing and horse riding!
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.
‘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.
We have been further exploring concepts of Shape, Position and Movement this week in Numeracy and Mathematics, with a particular focus on both symmetry and 3D shape. At the beginning of the week, we took some time to consolidate our existing knowledge of symmetry by identifying both single and multiple lines of symmetry across different axes. We understand that ‘perfect symmetry’ is only achieved if both sides (or quadrants) are mirrored or reflected to create two sides that are exactly the same. After doing so, we created our own symmetrical designs across both a horizontal and vertical axis. Alongside this, Pythagoras group were working on using angles of elevation and depression to create scaled drawings. The conversion from the scales provided was tricky and we were surprised at just how precise we had to be when measuring both angles and lengths. To end the week, we were presented with a 3D shape design challenge. Mr. Logan asked us to design a new kitchen and produce a scaled version of this using the nets of 3D shapes. The appliances, storage and additional features had to match his exact specifications. We did an excellent job for him and you can see some pictures of these below!
E, N, J and S responded creatively to the design brief
F, S and Z preparing appliances for their 3D kitchen
Boys are happy with their kitchen design
Kitchen design challenge
Literacy and English
We’ve continued reading Goodnight Mr. Tom this week and used this context when learning about adverbials and modal verbs. These can be used to assess the likelihood of something happening and allowed us to rate the probability of our predictions transpiring within the text. An example of this would be; Willie’s Mother probablywon’t bother to write him many letters. Probably is an adverbial and won’t is a modal verb. This is something we’ve probably always used within our own writing, however, we weren’t actually aware of what this sort of ‘likely language’ is referred to as.
In writing this week, we created explanation texts to convey information to a reader and explain a process. We all drew detailed, annotated diagrams of a ‘teacher pleasing’ machine that would make the lives of Mr. Logan and Mrs. Matos easier. Following on from this, we used visual organisers to plan for our writing with a clear structure before giving a detailed, step-by-step account of what our design actually does. Coffee on draught and a feature that marks all of our work instantly? Mr. Logan is sold, where can he purchase one?!
Mr. Logan has been particularly impressed with the quality of questions posed to our visitors in class and the higher order discussions which have been taking place around our shared reading of Goodnight Mr. Tom. We have worked hard throughout the year to articulate our ideas and contributions clearly and involve ourselves more actively in class questioning and discussions.
Health and Wellbeing
Both our footballers and netball team were in action this week with league meetings taking place against other cluster schools.
On Monday, the netball teams played in their first competitive fixtures of the year and were a pleasure to watch. Springfield 1 sit top of the league currently after winning every game, and Springfield 2 lie in joint 3rd place after showing real grit, determination and team spirit. Well done to all concerned, it was an absolute joy to see you all excelling in these games and proudly representing the school! Your training and hard work has paid off; thank you to Mrs. Matos and Miss Harrison for leading this.
Meanwhile on Tuesday, the football teams also performed well in our second league meeting of the year. We have a mix of boys and girls from both P6 and P7 playing and there was a significant improvement in their play from 4 weeks ago. Mr. Logan was impressed with the fluid, passing football, creative flair and willingness to win in every match against some strong opponents. Again, well done to all of you and thank you for being such assets to our school.
Learning Across the Curriculum
We’re beginning to get excited for P7 school camp at Ford Castle and heard more at this week’s information evening. More information is available on their website (https://www.ford-castle.co.uk/) if anyone would like to see more of what we’ll be getting up to! Here’s the link for anyone who missed the presentation:
In Social Studies this week we had Mrs. Manlove, Paul’s Mum, in to speak to us about some members of their family who survived The Holocaust and the ways in which these Jewish people were persecuted because of their race. It was a fascinating yet horrifying insight into how people were treated by both Germans and the British during this era.
As part of our Skills for Learning, Life and Work programme this week we have been visited by Mrs. Guest (a dietitian), Mrs. Burgess (a Secondary Teacher at Linlithgow Academy), Professor Manlove and Sofiat (University of Glasgow – Computer Sciences and Maths) and John MacCartney (GE Power). Thank you to all of you for agreeing to visit us!
Mrs. Manlove speaking to us about three stories from WWII
Shelters WWII
Shelters WWII
Shelters WWII
Sofiat, a PhD student from University of Glasgow
Professor Manlove from Computer Sciences and Maths at University of Glasgow
Mrs. Guest, a dietitian
Mr. MacCartney from GE Power
Coming Up…
1.4.19 – After school football training from 3.15-4.15pm outdoors
2.4.19 – P7a pupils (x4) to St Michael’s Day Care Centre
3.4.19 – Linlithgow Academy blazer fitting (optional purchase) at 10.45am
3.4.19 – P7a park visit as House Treat for all reaching 1,000 Springs
3.4.19 – Parents Evening from 4.30-7.30pm
4.4.19 – Parents Evening from 3.30-6.30pm
5.4.19 – End of term 3, Easter Holidays begin
One week to go… Keep up the great work P7a, I’m incredibly proud of you all!
