P5 Weekly Blog

Literacy and English

War Horse is our latest class novel and we have been doing some shared reading around the text. The story tells of Joey, a brave hearted farm horse, who is exposed to the horrors of war. Our initial focus was identifying themes from the text and making predictions about the outcome. We have also been analysing and annotating the text to identify key features of writing. We were able to identify and use examples of parenthesis (dashes, commas or brackets) used to provide additional information. Finally, we looked at sequential openers and connectives – firstly, secondly, then, afterwards, meanwhile, etc – before using these to make a piece of writing ‘flow’.

Question – Can you identify where I’ve used 3 examples of parenthesis in the previous paragraph?

In writing we have been note taking during our research on volcanoes, using subheadings and bullet points in doing so. We then used this information to write an informative essay on volcanoes. We described what volcanoes are, explained how they erupt, provided definitions of the terms active, dormant, extinct, gave examples of types of volcanoes and even gave key facts and information about an active volcano of our choice. Please take some time to have a read of these, they really are excellent examples of our work. Well done P5!

Numeracy and Mathematics

We are still enjoying being posed with some pictorial Number Talks that involve making estimations and reasoned guesses. These types of problem require us to show resilience through ‘trial and error’ and ‘process of elimination’ approaches. As time progresses, we are given additional clues that allow us to narrow our scope, e.g. the number is one less than a multiple of 11, the number is odd, the number does not have a 7 in the tens place.

We have finished our block of work on subtraction having developed both written and mental strategies within the operation. Mr Logan has been encouraging us to always evidence our working and strategies used in order to gain full credit for our work. We are looking forward to moving on to multiplication next week when we will be recapping on our tables knowledge, multiplying by a single-digit, multiplying by two-digits and widening our range of mental strategies.

Learning Across the Curriculum

Science and Social Studies – In Japan, we were keen to learn more about volcanoes as there are 110 active ones located there. We have been learning what a volcano is, how they erupt, what stages of volcano there are and about the main types. Following this we created annotated diagrams in our jotters. Next week we will be creating  and decorating papier mache volcanoes and making them erupt in a science investigation. Please send in newspaper, cardboard sheets or boxes, plastic bottles and milk cartons if you have them!

Spanish – Mr. Vilanova has been working on numbers and colours with us as we begin developing our ability to read, speak, write and listen in Spanish.

P.E – In basketball we have been developing our passing and movement skills within game situations. We have been attempting to move the ball quickly between all players and get ourselves high up the court to put pressure on the opposition when defending.

Achievements

Please take a look on our Twitter feed @SpringfieldP5 for this week’s achievements! There have been plenty of them!

Coming Up

  • 7.10.19 – Social Enterprise Academy visiting P5
  • 8.10.19 – West Lothian Ranger Service orienteering session
  • 9.10.19 – Harvest Assembly – remember to bring in non-perishable items to donate to the West Lothian Foodbank
  • 12.10.19 to 21.10.19 – October holidays
  • 22.10.19 – All return to school
  • 28.10.19 – Rugby session for P5 at Linlithgow Rugby Club (1)
  • 4.11.19 – Rugby session for P5 at Linlithgow Rugby Club (2)
  • 6.11.19 – Number Talks Open Morning from 9.30 – 10.30
  • 8.11.19 – Remembrance Day Assembly
  • 11.11.19 – Rugby session for P5 at Linlithgow Rugby Club (3)
  • 18.11.19 – Rugby session for P5 at Linlithgow Rugby Club (4)
  • 19.11.19 – Learning Showcase from 14.00 – 15.00
  • 6.12.19 – Christmas Fayre from 9.30 – 12.00

One week to go before the holidays!

#GoTeamP5!

P5 and Mr Logan

P7b Weekly Blog

Numeracy and Mathematics

This week we have continued to consolidate our learning of the four operations by using written methodology for long division. The children have been using two standard written methods for this, showing their working at all times to evidencing their thinking and strategies used. Following on from this, Mrs. Doran introduced us to the order of operations on Thursday using the BODMAS acronym (brackets, of, divide, multiply, add, subtract) where we were able to apply our previous learning to solve problems.

Literacy and English

The atmosphere was tense in class on Wednesday as we came to the end of our class novel, ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’. We were both shocked and saddened by the way in which the story concluded, and strongly agreed that no other human being should ever be discriminated against for their race, religion or skin colour. At Springfield, we try to promote our core value of respect and celebrate the diverse world that we live in. In grammar last week, we consolidated our learning of using a thesaurus to find synonyms and up-level pieces of written text. Most groups have come to the end of their group novel and have now selected a text of their choice to study between now and the end of term. The children can read this at their own pace, and will be posing literal, inferential and evaluative questions based on these using our Yammer discussion groups. Please ensure they take some time at home to read this each week, with the target being to complete it by the end of term. Class talks start next week, and I am greatly looking forward to the children’s presentations on an aspect of World War II.

World War II

I am hugely impressed with the level of creativity shown in making P7b’s Anderson and Morrison shelters over the last three weeks for homework. These are now proudly displayed in our classroom for everyone to see, showcasing the children’s hard work to present such wonderful, and realistic models. Please have a look at them in the photos below, I’m sure you’ll agree that they’re fantastic! We also extended our knowledge of rationing this week; taking brief notes in our own words as we watched some archive footage from the Imperial War Museum and organised this information to identify key points for a ‘Rationing Fact File’.

Health and Wellbeing

Our taster sessions for rugby and golf continued this week as we further develop our skills in both activities. We have two more weeks of golf lessons to follow and one week of rugby. Thank you to our coaches Ross and Dougie from Linlithgow Rugby Club, and Jane and Stewart from the SG Foundation for providing this opportunity. In P.E, we carried out our fitness circuits and have been enjoying playing rounders now that the better weather has arrived. Here’s hoping for some more fun in the sun next week. On Thursday we heard from Aileen who visited us from Stramash to deliver a presentation about our residential visit to Oban in a couple of weeks. We can’t wait to go now! Finally, a huge well done to both our footballers and cheerleaders who represented the school magnificently today at the George Allan tournament at Linlithgow Rose’s ground. What a talented group of children we have in P7b, you fill me with pride boys and girls.

Have a great weekend!

P7b and Mr. Logan

After School Football

Quick reminder that tomorrow’s football training session will be for P7 only with next week’s session for P6. See below for upcoming sessions and league meeting dates:

  • Monday 22nd January – P7
  • Monday 29th January – P6
  • Monday 5th February – P7
  • Monday 19th February – League meeting 2 @ Xcite (P7)
  • Monday 26th February – P6
  • Monday 5th March – P6 and P7
  • Monday 12th March – League meeting 3 @ Xcite (P7)
  • Monday 19th March – P6 and P7

    Kind regards

    Mr. Logan

P7 Skiing (week 1)

Today P7 enjoyed their first of four sessions of skiing at Midlothian Snowsports Centre. Once we arrived, we were kitted up and out onto the slopes in our groups. These depended on whether we had skied lots before, a little bit or never at all.

Group 1 were on the nursery slope today getting used to the putting on and taking off of skis, beginning to balance on both one and two skis and moving down a slight decline before stopping. Groups 2 and 3 moved slightly further up the main slope to the blue line and were attempting to gain some speed before coming to a stop. Group 4 were on the main slope and developing their ability to use snow plough turns whilst group 5 made their way to the very top where they focused on their pole planting and parallel turns.

Already after one week we are seeing huge progress with each child and look forward to seeing them further develop their skills and confidence in skiing over the next three sessions. The instructors were incredibly complimentary of the behaviour and positive attitude demonstrated by all of the children. Well done P7, we’re so proud of you all! Have a look at this week’s pictures below…

P7, Mr Logan and Mrs Gordon

P7b Weekly Blog

Numeracy and Mathematics

In maths this week we have been comparing costs to find the cheapest option or best buy. We discovered that buying in bulk can often reduce the price per item and lower costs. Knowing this was beneficial when ordering resources this week for our enterprise projects. In order to ensure we maximise our net profits, we have been sourcing materials for the best price online through comparisons between different retailers. This week we have also been using written methods to divide sums of money, with a remainder on occasion. Long division forms part of the S1 assessment in maths and this will ensure we have a secure knowledge of this area before our transition. Our Standardised Assessments indicated that we needed some practise and consolidation of interpreting written word and multi-step problems. We have been working hard to read questions carefully at all times, take note of key information and use working to tackle this style of question step-by-step.

Literacy and English

On Thursday we embarked on our first Big Writing adventure with Mrs Doran. We further explored the issue of deforestation in the Amazon rain forest, carrying out various written tasks in response to a reporter on location. Our whole class targets in writing are to continue using an ambitious range of VCOP to make our writing exciting for the reader and developing the ability to proofread, self-check and up-level our work where appropriate. Mr Logan has been pleased with the level of description and detail we are beginning to incorporate into our work. Our focus in grammar and punctuation has been to use adjectives along with examples of figurative language such as simile, metaphor and personification. In shared reading this week we all examined the features of charity appeals. We were able to highlight simple features such as bold titles and thought-provoking images, but also looked deeper into ideas such as the way in which such adverts affect our emotions and influence our actions. P7b were able to identify persuasive language used throughout the text and used a dictionary to define unfamiliar words such as ‘malnutrition’, ‘irrigation’ and ‘supplements’. There was also a vote for our new class novel this week, and Ailsa’s choice of Maze Runner, a post-apocalyptic science fiction novel, was chosen by the majority of pupils.

Health and Wellbeing

We have two weeks remaining of futsal, and are grateful to our specialist coach Neil from the Livingston Youth Football Foundation for his continued commitment to the programme. In P.E next week we will be developing our passing and dribbling skills within basketball, our latest block of P.E, and applying these skills within small-sided game situations. Our after school clubs are going from strength to strength, with a huge number of pupils across all stages of school benefiting from the provision of various activities. A huge thank you goes to all of the teachers who are giving up their own time to deliver such high quality sessions. We really are doing our utmost to develop every aspect of our children’s Health and Wellbeing at Springfield Primary School and their continued participation in these activities is one way to ensure we do so. Next week, P7 are looking forward to the start of our skiing sessions as Midlothian Sports Centre. No matter what ability level, each of our pupils will be given the chance to either learn to ski or build on their previous experience. Mr Logan, Mrs Gordon and Miss Baillie are also looking forward to taking to the slopes! Thank you in advance to those parents who will be assisting us over the 4 weeks of lessons. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Coming Up

  • Skills for Learning, Life and Work focus group on 29.11.17 at 7pm
  • Skiing block begins on 30.11.17 at 8.30am – 1.15pm (4 weeks)
  • PTA Glitter Ball and Christmas Dress Down Day on 1.12.17
  • Nativity performances on 6.12.17 and 7.12.17
  • Christmas Fayre on 8.12.17 at 9.30am – 12 noon
  • Learning Showcase in classes on 13.12.17 at 1pm
  • Christmas Service at St. Michael’s on 19.12.17 at 6.30 – 7.30pm
  • Carols Round the Tree and Christmas jumpers on 22.12.17
  • Christmas holidays from 22.12.17 – 9.1.18

We hope you’re having a great weekend!

P7b and Mr Logan

P7b Achievements

I am delighted to share two P7b sporting achievements today. Firstly, Danielle recently competed in an ice skating competition at Murrayfield Ice Rink and managed to come in 3rd place winning bronze. Well done Danielle, what a fantastic achievement. Keep practising and I’m sure there will be some silvers and golds on the way!

Danielle with her bronze trophy

Secondly, a huge well done to Sam who last night was selected to be ball boy at Andy Murray’s Live Event at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow. Sam was positioned at the net during Murray’s match versus Roger Federer and was lucky enough to get both of their autographs at the end. You’ll also see from the picture below that Sam is wearing Federer’s headband that he wore for the match. If you want to watch the highlights from this and see him in action, you can find them here:

http://video.eurosport.co.uk/tennis/kilts-wigs-and-world-class-shots-andy-murray-and-roger-federer-leave-scottish-fans-spellbound_vid1015215/video.shtml

Sam with his signed tennis ball and headband worn by Roger Federer

Mr. Logan

P7b Weekly Blog

Numeracy

Last week in Numeracy and Mathematics we came to a conclusion with our work using decimal numbers. Whilst establishing the link to both fractions and percentages, we have been adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing decimal numbers through the use of written methods. We understand that ahead of our transition to S1 it is of great importance to show our working and verbalise the strategies we are using when completing written calculations or developing our mental arithmetic. Even if we don’t find the correct answer, we will gain credit for the steps we have taken in getting there. As it was Halloween on Tuesday, our problem solving this week was titled ‘Murder at the Movies’. We had to apply our knowledge of decimals in order to cross off names from the suspects list before eventually finding the culprit. Next week we will be further developing our knowledge of decimal numbers as we move on to look at money. This will be good practise ahead of our Christmas Fayre enterprise work where we will need to use money to purchase resources, work to a budget and hopefully calculate eventual gross and net profits.

Literacy

In spelling we are continuing to challenge ourselves with tricky spelling rules and patterns. Mr. Logan has been thoroughly impressed with the scores in our spelling test each Friday and the ability to demonstrate our understanding of these words’ definitions in our ambitious, up-leveled sentences. On Thursday we used mind maps as a tool for planning our Poppy Factory visit recount writing. This allowed us to note down key points and phrases that would aid the flow and structure of our work. These pieces of writing will be continued next week where we also have our Big Write event to look forward to. In this time we will be writing some rainforest tanka poems. Our guided reading timetables have been altered as we move onto new group novels, and we ended this week by entering discussion groups on Yammer. This online space within Glow was used to answer a range comprehension type questions posed by Mr. Logan and discuss our novels in greater detail with our peers.

Health and Wellbeing

In P.E, we have been practising ahead of our Linlithgow cluster Sportshall Athletics festival next Wednesday. The events we have been working on are speed bounce, chest push, standing long jump, vertical jump, javelin and relay races. If we are successful at the cluster event, we will move forward to West Lothian finals and Mr. Logan believes we have every chance of doing so judging by the level of performance he has seen. The Sports Committee had their second meeting of the session on Friday and pupils worked hard to design a new logo that will be displayed on any Sports Committee work around school. We will be voting for our winning design at our next meeting in December. Finally, Sam had some fantastic news to share this week as he has been selected to ball boy in Andy Murray’s Live Event next Tuesday. Murray will be facing Roger Federer amongst other matches at the SSE Hydro and you can tune in on Eurosport from 7pm for a chance to see Sam in action!

Coming Up This Term

  • The Great Kapok Tree book study next week
  • Enterprise project for Christmas Fayre begins on Monday
  • Big Write event in class on Tuesday at 9.30 – 10.30am
  • 4 x P7b pupils to attend St. Michael’s Day Care Centre on Tuesday at 1.15 – 3.15pm
  • P7 Sportshall Athletics festival at Linlithgow Leisure Centre on Wednesday at 1.10 – 2.50pm
  • Anti-bullying and racism focus starts in class week beginning 13.11.17
  • Liaise with Leadership on 15.11.17 at 5-6pm
  • Children in Need on 17.11.17
  • Last session of futsal on 27.11.17
  • Skills for Learning, Life and Work focus group on 29.11.17 at 7pm
  • Skiing block begins on 30.11.17 at 8.30am – 1.15pm (4 weeks)
  • PTA Glitter Ball and Christmas Dress Down Day on 1.12.17
  • Nativity performances on 6.12.17 and 7.12.17
  • Christmas Fayre on 8.12.17 at 9.30am – 12 noon
  • Learning Showcase in classes on 13.12.17 at 1pm
  • Christmas Service at St. Michael’s on 19.12.17 at 6.30 – 7.30pm
  • Carols Round the Tree and Christmas jumpers on 22.12.17
  • Christmas holidays from 22.12.17 – 9.1.18

Thank you for reading!

P7b and Mr. Logan

P2/3’s week.

Daniel won a medal for the best Barbarians team at an Edinburgh and The Lothian’s chess competition on Sunday. Well done, Daniel!

The children were doing an art lesson on Victorian silhouettes and went outside to look at shadows first.

World Book Day parade.

Fabulous effort and lots of interesting characters!

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