compete and perform – Springfield Primary School and Bonnytoun Nursery School

Numeracy and Mathematics

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!

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.

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.

P7a and Mr. Logan

Numeracy and Mathematics

This week in Numeracy and Mathematics, we have been continuing with our work finding area and perimeter. Our work this week involved us applying our skills in real life contexts using floor plans for different properties. We successfully measured the perimeter of individual rooms, found the length of missing sizes and dimensions using the information provided, calculated the area for flooring needed with costs and examined proposed extensions to existing buildings. Next week we will further extend our learning and the use of appropriate formulae in order to calculate the volume and capacity of varied 3D objects.

Literacy and English

Having previously taken notes with Mrs. Doran, we used these to begin creating a different text in the form of a written report. This was based on the Winter Olympics which have been taking place over the past couple of weeks. These will be completed next week before carrying out a self-assessment of our work against our writing targets and success criteria. In grammar, we enjoyed learning more about prefixes and suffixes. These are used to extend root words and alter their meaning. A prefix is a letter(s) placed before a root word, for example, play > replay. A suffix is a group of letters placed at the end of a root word, for example, playing. Have a look at examples we came up with below.

Health and Wellbeing

In football for P.E this week, both our feet and brains were put to the test. After getting some great ideas from the teachers’ Better Movers and Thinkers session last Friday, Mr. Logan used these to get us moving and thinking in a more cohesive manner. Now that we have developed the ability to dribble confidently with good close control, we were given the additional challenge of rotating a tennis ball around our waist in a clockwise and anti-clockwise direction. Whilst doing so, we had to take 5 touches forward, sideways, backwards then repeat. We also tried dribbling whilst tossing the tennis ball in the air in one hand and swapping both balls with a partner. Finally, when the whistle was blown we stopped our football, threw our tennis ball up and had to complete different clapping sequences before catching it. We needed a good rest afterwards! Here are our schools footballers in action on Monday.

The Lion King

Mr. Logan’s programme team polished off their final draft this week and it is looking superb! Well done to the pupils involved for creating such an impressive piece of work, it looks very professional. With just 2 weeks to go, our rehearsals continued this week. Mr. Logan was blown away by our rehearsal on Friday, everyone has done so well to remember their lines and deliver these in such a confident manner. It’s lovely to see every child beginning to enter their character and contribute to what is going to be a fabulous peformance in their own individual way. Keep up the hard work and stay calm P6 and P7, you’re going to be fantastic! Here are some of the talented pupils we have playing main parts in P7b!

Have a great weekend!

P7b and Mr. Logan

P7a Weekly Blog

P7b Weekly Blog