Final week before our October break, and there was still so much learn. It’s been a busy week, but everyone has been working hard, and I am sure can not wait for a lovely relaxing week long break!
Numeracy: This week in Numeracy we have been learning how to use the Formal written method to solve division problems. We have found using this method as a quick and easy method, but again we have realised how important it is for us to learn and know our timetables. We have been practising our timetables in class and Mrs. Matos has set us the challenge to continue to practice at home. To consolidate all our learning from this term, we completed a variety of different word problems and we needed to use our skills of numeracy vocabulary to know which number operation we needed to calculate. We used the formal written method for all four number operations.
Literacy: As we draw to an end of our Brazil study and comparison, we learnt about deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest. As a writing activity we wrote an essay on deforestation and the effects it has on the Amazon Rainforest. Our essay needed to be written in paragraphs, show our understanding of deforestation and the effects it has, as well as sharing our opinion and ideas. We were so engaged in learning about deforestation , that we held a small debate. The class was divided into four groups, each group was representing a party ( Greenpeace, Large Meat company, Traditional medicine and a travel agency), each group needed to use persuasive language on why they would need a section of the rainforest. It was a very interesting outcome.
Each party presenting their speech before the debate.
HWB: This week we learnt about food hygiene during the preparation of food. To help us to put what we had learnt into practice we made some Brazilian muffins. We made sure we cleaned our surface areas, washed our hands , wore gloves, wore hats and aprons. With only 4 ingredients it was sure something very different to what muffins usually taste like.
Home learning: Over the last few weeks, Mrs. Matos has been so impressed with the high quality of home learning that the children have been brining in. From using ‘junk’ materials to create Favela’s to filling a shoe box with items that relate to a book that they have been reading.
In writing this week, we made posters to advertise our Shoe Box Appeal. We watched a video about the Shoe Box Appeal, looked at what to include and what not to include in a shoe box and which date our shoe boxes need to be ready for so that we had all of the important information needed on our posters. We also looked at features of an effective poster and we made sure that our posters were clear and easy to read, bright and eye-catching and that we included all of the important information. We worked with our learning partners to make our posters. They will be displayed throughout our school to encourage people to bring in a shoe box and help children in areas of the world who might not get as much as we do at Christmas. We are looking forward to organising and leading the Shoe Box Appeal at Springfield.
In Numeracy and Mathematics this week we revised rounding to the nearest 10 and we learned how to read and write number names. On Thursday, we were learning how to select and use the most appropriate way to gather and sort data. We revised how to use tally marks. We are very confident with using tally marks since we use them to record our house points. Afterwards, Miss Harrison asked us what our favourite Australian animal was and we used a tally mark chart to record our data. To present our data we made bar graphs. We had to include a title and labels!
This week we looked at Indigenous Australian Art. We listened to an Indigenous dreaming story and then we looked at different examples of Indigenous Australian Art. We looked at dot painting and then we created our own paintings of Australian animals using a dot style. We worked really hard with our art work and our paintings look fantastic!
On Thursday we started to explore the natural environment of Scotland. We looked at photographs of native Scottish animals and with our learning partners, used the internet and fact sheets to find information on our chosen Scottish animal. After the holidays we will begin to compare the Scottish animals to the Australian animals.
In French this week we learned the names for parts of the body. We listened to a song about parts of the body, watched a video on High Five French which taught us five different body parts and played ‘Simon Says’ using our new vocabulary. We also did ‘Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’ in French!
On Friday we went to our P1-3 Pupil Voice Committees. There are six committees; Play, Eco, Health and Wellbeing, Pupil Council, Reading and 1+2. We will be helping to make important decisions and we will be involved further in the life of the school.
Thank you for reading our blog post. We hope that you have a lovely October break.
In our Reading Groups we have been focusing on trying to improve our comprehension skills by looking closely at the text to try and find all the clues to answer the questions.
In handwriting we have been working on our ascenders and descender’s and trying our best to keep our work very neat. We have also been working on our pencil control techniques to help us.
In Maths we have been working on our problem solving skills by working with a learning partner to solve some mystery maths and word problem activities.
In RME we have been continuing our work on the Ten Commandments. We have made illustrations to represent some of them and have also been making up some of our own for the class.
We have been working on our French language skills by learning how to say our names and introduce ourselves to people.
In our topic this week we have been learning about natural disasters that occur in India such as Monsoons. We then discussed the damage they cause and who might be able to come and rescue us. We also looked at what we might need for our family to survive for three days.
In Music we were learning how to play the tabla drums from India to beat out a rhythm. We made a graphic score to help us.
In Science we have been observing our plants growing in the different areas of the school and recording the results.
In Writing we wrote stories about Lakshmi and Sundari who took part in the elephant festival. Sundari was the very first girl to become a mahout to take part in the parade with her elephant called Lakshmi. Our fantastic stories are now all on display in the classroom as part of our main India topic.
In Art we designed “Tuck Tuck’s” and “Kilted Tatties” to record facts about the two countries and added this to our classroom display.
In PE we have been taking part in mini badminton games but we still need to work on our service to make sure we get the shuttle in the correct part of the court.
We also welcomed our French visitors who came to visit our school and find out what we were learning and what it was like to be a pupil in a Scottish Primary School.
In our class novel entitled “School Ship Tobermory” Ben went down to the lower deck because he heard footsteps and went to investigate. He found Fee talking to Poppy who was holding something mysterious behind her back! Ben was also chosen to be an extra in the movie they are making on board the ship called The Albatross.
Today our Rights Respecting School Committee came together and worked together in groups to brainstorm some ideas on how to raise awareness of Rights and Responsibilities with pupils, parents and staff. It was a very productive meeting with lots of fun and exciting ideas. We are planning for our next meeting to compile an online survey for pupils and staff to complete, we will then analyse the data and compile our action plan.
Brainstorming ideas to raise awreness for pupils, staff and parents.
This week we learnt 2 new sounds “o” and “d”. We had a lot of fun making dinosaurs, octopuses and owls. We did some more dictation and used our magnetic boards to make words. Some children even wrote a sentence, they had to think about capital letters, finger spaces and full stops.
Numeracy
Our focus was on mathematical language. We talked about more, less, before and after and then used them to solve problems. We found that one more and the number before was quite tricky. We used lots of concrete materials to count and make dice patterns, this helped us to visualise. We also did more work on 3D shape by looking at whether shapes could slide, stack or roll and why….We then built some objects with our shapes. Have a look below.
A made a train
L made a rocket
A made a bridge
Counting and number patterns
Counting and number patterns
French
We learnt 3 new colours today vert (green), jaune (yellow) and orange. Camembear got us to play “passe le cadeau” (pass the parcel), when the music stopped we picked an object from the box and had to say the colour.
HWB
Today we talked about what makes us special, and thought about things we were good at. We are learning to celebrate our achievements and successes by sharing them with the class.
I accompanied some of our P7 pupils along to the Daycare Centre today for their regular visit and had a wonderful time.
It was heartening to see how strong our link with the Centre is, as staff, clients and children effortlessly interacted. I was so proud of Joseph B, Jayden, Finlay C and Finlay B who approached the elderly clients with kindness and first class manners. You were a credit to your parents and to Springfield boys. Well done!
We had fun planting bulbs together and then the children enjoyed a cup of tea and playing games alongside the elderly visitors.
Thank you so much to Mrs Graham, one of our fantastic Pupil Support Workers who has maintained a strong link with the Centre and taken many children to visit over the years.
P7a have been writing essays this week on deforestation and extending their knowledge of how human behaviour is impacting on the natural environment, particularly in the Amazon rainforest. We were staggered to learn that 13 million hectares of rainforest are destroyed worldwide every year which equates to 8.5 million football pitches a year, or 23,483 per day! It’s safe to say that we were united in our disapproval of this and used our essays to further discuss; what deforestation is, why it is happening, the impact of it and what can be done to protect these areas. Finally, after considering the information found from our research, we offered our own viewpoint and suggested potential solutions to this global issue.
We have also been continuing with our group novel studies in guided reading. Take a look below at what we have created at home. These shoe boxes hold items that represent key themes within the text we are studying. For example, in Tales of Beedle the Bard friendship and good vs. evil is prevalent, the Hunger Games explores power, identity and politics whilst Anne Frank’s Diary exposes sacrifice and religion.
Novel study theme shoe boxes
Numeracy and Mathematics
In Numeracy and Mathematics this week we have continued to consolidate our learning of formal written methods. After finishing our block of work on multiplication, we are now studying the inverse operation of division. We have been using both short division and mental strategies to tackle various questions and problems this week. Next, we will be applying our learning from division when developing our knowledge of fractions, decimals and percentages. In the collage below, you will see that Paul has already been finding real-life examples of fractions at home and converting these into percentages.
When learning about Brazil in our ‘Near and Far’ comparison, we found that the currency used in Brazil is the real (ray-al). One Brazilian real is exchanged for approximately 20p and you’ll see below that we have been creating a currency conversion chart for someone travelling here. We have also been drawing a comparison between Scottish and Brazilian culture and society using a Venn diagram. Well done Nicci, whose examples are displayed below!
Venn diagrams, currency conversion and real-life fractions
Health and Wellbeing
Our current block of basketball is coming to an end next week and we have been beginning to apply our skills developed in small-sided game scenarios. The key focus this week was on inclusion and passing within our team, ensuring that all players received a pass before points could be scored. We also played took part in some 1v1 scenarios to develop both our attacking and defending skills as well as our hand-eye coordination. In the pictures underneath, you will see us taking part in our first futsal session delivered by Kieran from West Lothian’s Youth Football Foundation. Futsal is a Brazilian variation of football which is both fast-paced and exciting to watch. We developed our dribbling skills and close control of the futsal, ensuring it remains on the floor. This is made easier by the fact it has fluff inside to weigh it down!
We have been continuing to work on ‘Keeping Ourselves Safe’ with Mrs Newton and for homework, we created flow charts that illustrated how to respond in varied dangerous situations. Mr Logan has shared a few examples of these below because the standard of work and effort put into them was so incredibly high. Ewan carefully detailed how to respond when smoke is detected in your home and Joseph M when you find a casualty who is unconscious. Excellent effort boys!
Futsal week 1
Dangerous situation response flow charts
Learning Across the Curriculum
Our leadership groups are now up and running as we undertake different activities to lead learning across the whole school. Our Numeracy Leaders have been setting challenges for the younger classes, Literacy Leaders preparing to start paired reading with the infants and Digital Leaders creating posters to be displayed in all classrooms that promote internet safety. As well as this, our Buddies have been working within our infant classrooms to support their learning, and similarly, the Sports Leaders led two sessions of P.E for both P1 classes. We can also announce that the first edition of Springfield Times will be coming your way in November courtesy of our hard-working Newspaper Team. For homework, Rory also took the time to write about an inspirational leader of his. He chose Scottish rugby captain John Barclay and listed the skills and qualities that he demonstrates in his role. Great effort Rory, and well done to you and Finlay B for your victory last weekend!
In Science with Mrs Tulloch during term 1 we have studied animals and food chains, and we consolidated this learning at home by drawing our own annotated food chains to represent the network of links between different species. We will also be moving on to study plants in society, and as you can see below, we have already began working on this with our labelled diagrams of plant structures. Our STEM challenge has been to create junk model shanties and we have since turned the back of our classroom into a Brazilian favela. A special mention to Millie for the graffiti and artwork on her outside walls and to Luke for the level of detail in his design.
Leadership in action
Food chains
Structure of plants
Inspiring leaders
P7a junk material favelas
I look forward to seeing you all at parents’ evening next Wednesday and Thursday.
Have a great weekend everyone! We’d also like to wish the lovely Millie a Happy Birthday for tomorrow!
One more week before the children can all have a little rest. We’ve been learning about bigger and smaller numbers within 100 and some of us have had the challenge beyond 100. Also we have been adding and taking away in 10’s from tens and units numbers. The children have done a brilliant job.
In my Phonics group we’ve looked at oa/ow sounds and where we usually find them in words. We enjoyed games of Bingo, designing a Graffiti wall and other activities.
We have learnt how to draw shells and also drawn pictures of harbour scenes inspired by Paul Burnsall. We have been thinking of our favourite places by the sea and describing why we like them.
We have been practicing how to say Hello and Goodbye in French, as well as some other greetings.
So on that note I’ll say Au Revoir and have a good weekend.
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