Springfield Primary School and Bonnytoun Nursery School

This week we have been learning all about our P and N sounds. Now we have learnt 4 sounds we have started to build words eg. tap, tan, nap. We learnt how to read words too. We sound them out and then blend the sounds together. For our P sound we used popcorn and pasta to make a P. We did some pompom painting. We made the letter ‘N’ out of newspaper!

In Numeracy we were learning all about the numbers 3, 4 and 5. We read stories about these numbers and did lots of fun activities to help us learn them. We played connect 4, matched the giant dominoes and learnt little rhymes to help us with our number formation. We also started learning our 2D shapes. We looked at the different features and played games outside to identify shapes. We then used the stones and sticks to make some of the 2D shapes we had learnt.

This week we launched our topic for this term. We came back to class and found a trail of glitter leading to a letter. We were all so excited!! Who could it be from?

Mrs McAulay read out the letter and it was from a friendly dragon. He had a problem because his home (Fairyland) had been destroyed and he asked us to help him. We came up with lots of ideas and we started to build a home for all of the Fairyland characters in our classroom. We read the story of Jack and the Beanstalk and built Jack his very own beanstalk. Firstly we went outside and collected leaves to look at the different colours. We then used crayons to design our own leaves. Then we twisted paper to create the stalk. We used cotton wool to make the clouds.

The infant classes have all been doing some work for Miss Baillie’s display on Beatrix Potter. Today we talked about the different vegetables Mr McGregor might grow in his garden. We then used them to to do some vegetable printing pictures.

Another busy week in P1B!

We hope you all have a great weekend.

Mrs McAulay and P1B x

What a wonderful second week we had in P1a. We are really settling in and managing well with all the new routines.

Literacy – This week we learnt our first 2 sounds “a” and “t”. We had lots of practice saying, writing, forming and making these letters and sounds.

Numeracy – Our focus this week was on understanding 0, 1 and 2 and what they look like. We explored dot patterns, numbers, written words for the numbers and counting and matching the numbers.

HWB – We continued our focus on our school values and the work we started last week on kindness. On Monday the “Kindness Fairy” wrote to us to say that she would be looking out for acts of kindness throughout the year. Lots of us enjoyed writing a letter to the “Kindness Fairy” and we hope she might reply to us next week…

Resilience – We also did a focus on another of our values – Resilience. We learnt about not giving up when things are tricky and had lots of fun with our P3 Play Buddies trying to build very tall towers, doing tricky jigsaws and making models out of junk. Can you see N’s “Leaning Tower of Pisa”?

Mrs Gordon and P1a

Numeracy and Mathematics

We continued to carry out our baseline assessments in numeracy and mathematics and use this information along with the Second Level benchmarks to set our targets for term 1. These had to be realistic, achievable and focused specifically on the areas in which we to strengthen our work. Next week, we will begin consolidating our learning of written methods of addition and subtraction. We have already spoken about the importance of evidencing our strategies through written working and understand that we will gain credit for this, even if our final answer is incorrect.

Literacy and English

Our key focus in Literacy and English this week was to carry out our first piece of extended writing in our new jotters. We wrote a reflected on our summer holidays, describing and sharing our experiences. In doing so, we attempted to make the context and events clear through the use of detail whilst describing our thoughts and feelings about our experiences. Vocabulary and interesting word choice was also used to engage our readers. From Mr Logan’s feedback and our self-assessments, we were able to see what our targets should be in writing. Mr Logan has challenged all of us to pay particular attention to our layout and presentation in any written work throughout the year. Next week, we will start guided reading and studies of fictional texts along with planning and creating and imaginative piece of writing based on a picture stimulus.

Health and Wellbeing

This week we were introduced to the 5 point scale, a new system we are using across school to teach and track the mental, social and emotional wellbeing of all children on a daily basis. Each morning when we register and throughout the day in P7a, we will be asked to rate ourselves from 1-5 depending on how we are feeling. Rating ourselves as a 1 would suggest we are happy and calm, whereas a 5 would mean things have become out of control or we are angry. We are aware that our feelings and reactions can change quickly depending on what is happening around us, but we should be able to express our feelings and talk about them if need be. P7a completed their own 5 point scales to identify what each number may ‘feel like’ and ‘look like’ for them as well as ‘chill skills’ that can be used to better manage our emotions. This is something we will be speaking about in class throughout the year as we try to foster and strengthen mental wellbeing. It is not always possible to enjoy good mental health, but if this happens we know that there is support available. Next week we will identify key adults that form our support network.

In P.E, we took part in our first session of basketball to develop our ball handling and decision making skills. Mr Logan was incredibly impressed with our sequential thinking as we demonstrated the ability to memorise and perform varied movements whilst in control of the basketball. We recapped on the 3 ways in which we can pass the ball and refined these skills in some partnership working activities. At the end of our session, we played in some attack v defence scenarios to better our cue recognition and decision making skills. This means we were to be pro-active when making decisions, for example, anticipating where to move before the ball arrives. We have been entered into West Lothian’s basketball league this session, so hopefully some members of P7a will be given the opportunity to participate in competitive games.

Learning Across the Curriculum

We have continued to support our P1 Buddies this week and worked with them on Friday to complete their wellbeing questionnaires. We explained in child friendly language to them what is means to be safe, healthy, active, nurtured, achieving, respected, responsible and included.

Throughout P7 we will be given many opportunities to develop our leadership skills. We decided what roles we would like to take forward on Wednesday and completed application forms specific to these roles. Some of us even agreed to take on the additional responsibility of House Captain.  From sports leaders to digital leaders and newspaper writers to numeracy champions, we will all be finalising our remits next week before starting to develop these areas across school. Our House Captains have received their badges and are ready to begin carrying out their duties. Stay tuned for some news about exciting changes to our House Points system in school!

Finally, we made our way out to the Outdoor Classroom to bury our time capsule. This will remain untouched until Friday 28th June 2019 when we will dig it up and reflect on what is sure to be a fantastic final year at Springfield Primary School!

On Friday there was just enough time to do some pop art self-portraits before our ‘Safe’ assembly with Miss Baillie. Have a look at some examples of this below:

Have a great weekend everyone!

P7a and Mr Logan

” Learning and teaching is messy stuff. It doesn’t fit into bubbles.” Michele Forman.

Literacy: This week in Literacy we had discussed and identified the key elements of an autobiography. We discussed and compared the difference between an autobiography and a biography. We had an opportunity to use our knowledge and skills to write our very own autobiography, this was a good opportunity for us to remind ourselves of the importance of grammar and the use of using interesting vocabulary to keep our readers interested. It was also a chance for us to share a little about ourselves that maybe some of our class mates may not have known about us.

We had our first experience at the ‘Word Café’ where we had a three course book tasting. It was a fun filled experience, where we had took the time to discuss in our groups which reading novel would interest us. After discussing the front cover, title, reading the blurb and the first few pages of the different readers, as a group we chose our reading book for the next few weeks. It was important for us to make the choice, based on our interest and understanding, as this year we are really going to focus on reading for enjoyment. (Book tasting photos to follow)

Numeracy: During numeracy we used some prior knowledge to show our understanding of the four operations of number as well as completing some Maths concepts too.

HWB: PE with Mrs. Matos this week, we have been working on skills that will help to improve our basketball playing. We have also been learning this week the importance of our emotional wellbeing. We are now using the inspirational 5point scale in our classrooms, to help us to identify, discuss and manage our emotional well being. Mrs. Matos has been very pleased to see some of the children already using the scale this week, and seeing the benefits of talking about how we are feeling.

Class Charter: We have been focusing on our Rights as a child. We discussed the importance of knowing our rights, but also that we have certain responsibilities too. Together in groups and as a class, we created our very own class charter, and we linked them to the different children’s rights articles. For our class charter character theme, we chose animals. We used the netbooks to help us draw and create our animals for our class charter wall display. Please have a look out for it at your next visit to our classroom.

Leadership: Primary 7 is an important year for us, a year where there are some big expectations of us. One of these expectations are taking on a leadership role for the year. This week, we discussed the different leadership roles, and we spent some time completing a leadership application form. We needed to identify which role was of interest, but also which skills we can offer to that particular role. House Captains have received their badges this week, and will begin their duties next week. Next week we will begin to establish the remits for our leadership roles.

Buddy Time: We have received a lot of positive feedback regarding our buddy duties. We have enjoyed spending time with our buddies, and welcoming them into the Springfield Family. This week Mrs. Matos gave all of P7b the inclusive value certificate, for all our hard work, enthusiasm, and kindness towards our buddies. On Friday is our special time, where we get to spend some time with our buddies in their classrooms, this week, we assisted our buddies with completing their wellbeing questionnaire, we explained to our buddies what the different wellbeing indicators meant.

Time Capsule:One of the highlights this week, was burying our P7 Time Capsule. We have buried our capsule out by the outdoor classroom. We are looking forward to digging it up again at the end of P7!

Walk a mile: We have re-launched walk a mile this year. We have all set ourselves a target. We have 15 minutes, seat to seat, to complete a mile. Mrs. Matos was very impressed that this week, some children managed to complete the full mile and some more, within  those 15 minutes. Keep up the enthusiasm and persistence.

Learning Targets: We learnt  how to set S.M.A.R.T goals this week. (Ask us what SMART stands for). This week, we set ourselves learning targets for Literacy, Numeracy and Maths for term 1. We are all going to show our resilience and confidence this term, and really work hard to achieve our targets…watch this space.

Just a reminder that football starts again on Monday afternoon and Netball on Wednesday, everyone is welcome to come along and try out.

Mrs. Matos and P7b

Guess who got class of the week? You guessed right, it’s our very own P4 class!  The P4 children were rewarded an extra 10 minutes of golden time.

This week the children have been busy writing character profiles and setting the scene for their story writing task.

For numeracy, the class did revision work on multiplication, understanding of place value as well as symmetry.

For ICT, the children completed an online survey relating to their health and well-being.

We started using “5 point scale” for emotional regulation.   This will hopefully promote social and  emotional literacy.