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.
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!
We have been continuing to extend our knowledge of Information Handling this week whilst using a variety of methods to present samples of data, including frequency tables, cumulative frequency tables, bar graphs, line graphs, comparative line graphs and pie charts. We carried out surveys recording tally marks and frequencies before looking at the ingredients for a successful bar or line graph. These included a title, labels for the x and y axes, an evenly distributed scale, accurately plotted points and a key if required. To create pie charts we used a protractor and compass to do so precisely. This required converting a number from a sample of data to a percentage or fraction before converting this to an angle within a full rotation. Tricky! We ended the week by using Microsoft Word to present data of our choice. We carried out research online into a subject of interest before presenting this in an appropriate way.
S’s use of a protractor and compass to create pie charts
N’s beautifully presented data
J presenting samples of data using bar and line graphs
Literacy and English
We have started a new text study this week, Goodnight Mr. Tom. A young boy, Willie, has been evacuated to Little Weirwold and ended up with Mr. Thomas Oakley. Willie had been subject to abuse from his Mother in London, and life with Mister Tom may provide a welcome escape from this. We have inferred that Mister Tom is disgusted by how Willie has been treated and truly wants to care for him, however, this is reminding of his late son who died at a similar age to Willie. We’ve created mind maps to record our initial thoughts, ideas, questions and predictions about the text and we’ll add to these as we read on. We’re looking forward to seeing how their characters and relationship develops as the story progresses. Ask us to summarise the key points from our reading so far!
Rationing was the focal point for Social Studies this week through our World War II learning context. We were exposed to the basic rations a person, or family of four, would receive on a weekly basis between 1939-1954 and drew comparisons to what we eat each week. Any meals we would still have been able to enjoy were highlighted, however, these were few and far between and we were surprised at how little food people survived on. Our challenge based on this information was to create a recipe using only rationed ingredients or those that could have been grown through ‘digging for victory’. We had to include a catchy, persuasive title, ingredients lists with bullet points, equipment, a step-by-step method with numbers and extra, optional elements. Within our instructions we used sequencing connectives such as firstly, meanwhile and finally, and in our ingredients list we used past tense verbs to improve clarity, e.g. chopped, diced or grated. Next week we will be voting for and preparing the winning recipe(s)…
S’s rationing recipe – ‘Jazzy Jazzy Pizza Salad’
E’s rationing recipe – ‘A Traditional Scottish Treat’
We’re coming to an end with our block of dodgeball in P.E and were looking to further develop our accuracy and throwing technique this week. We worked in trios to pass the dodgeball through hoops of various sizes at various heights determined by the middle player. We also played some 1v1 accuracy games by aiming to land the ball in the opponent’s hoop. If we won our 60 second mini-game we moved up, but if we lost we moved down. We then applied these skills within adaptations of our main game by aiming for end targets and targeting identified players on the opposing team.
We have also been learning about Relationships, Sexual Health and Parenthood this week; one of the 6 key organisers for Health and Wellbeing.
F and R improving underarm throw accuracy
1v1 accuracy games
G concentrating hard to ensure an accurate throw
L, N and J working hard to get the ball through the target
Learning Across the Curriculum
Finally, this week we’ve had another wave of interesting and insightful visits as part of our Skills for Learning, Life and Work programme in P7. Mr. Vereker, a Rope Access Engineer, spoke to us about his aspiration to Spiderman and how his job allows us to ‘access the inaccessible’. We continue to promote varied types of engineering in school as part of our STEM programme and national drive to get more females into these workplaces. Mrs. Schofield delivered a hands-on presentation about kilt making. We were shown the length of material needed for just one kilt and saw demonstrations of how different part of this manufacturing process take place.
On Friday our Sports Committee members carried out some self-evaluation into the P.E and sporting opportunities we provide at Springfield. We are continuing to improve and enhance our sporting provision and are already looking ahead to our priorities for session 2019/2020.
Sports Committee 2018/2019
Mr. Vereker discussing how to “access the inaccessible”
The full length of one kilt
Mrs. Schofield demonstrating part of the kilt making process
Coming Up…
25.3.19 – Fidelma Guest (Dietician) speaking to P7 for SfLLW programme
25.3.19 – NO after school football training
26.3.19 – Luisa Burgess (Secondary Teacher) speaking to P7 for SfLLW programme
26.3.19 – David Manlove (University of Glasgow) speaking to P7 for SfLLW programme
Football League Meeting (2) at Xcite Linlithgow from 3.45-6.00pm
27.3.19 – John McCartney (GE Power) speaking to P7 for SfLLW programme
27.3.19 – Ford Castle P7 Camp Information Evening from 6.00-6.30pm in hall
28.3.19 – Carolynn Manlove speaking to P7 about WWII at 2.00pm
29.3.19 – ‘Being Responsible’ assembly
1.4.19 – After school football training from 3.15-4.15pm outdoors
3.4.19 – Linlithgow Academy blazer fitting (optional purchase) at 10.45am
Our learning this week has progressed from angles to compass points before rounding off the week with coordinates. We have been reading and plotting points in a single quadrant which we discovered is called a Cartesian grid system, based on the theories and work of mathematician René Descartes. It was important to remember to mark our x and y axes with an evenly distributed scale, label them and plot our points precisely. The line where the two lines meet is called the origin (0,0) and a point will never be named O to avoid confusion. We extended our learning to reading and plotting points in four quadrants using negative coordinates before reflecting across both the x and y axes.
L finding the missing coordinates of quadrilaterals.
F has drawn 3D shapes using coordinates.
M has drawn a picture using a list of coordinates.
Literacy and English
The two reading techniques we have explored this week are pathetic fallacy and dramatic irony. We found that dramatic irony is when the reader of a text is aware of something that the character isn’t. For example, in Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, we used context clues to infer that Bruno should not enter the concentration camp but he was naive as to the dangers that this entailed. We found that pathetic fallacy is when the author reflect human emotions and the mood through inanimate objects, such as the weather. In the penultimate and final chapter of the novel, John Boyne builds tension and atmosphere through persistent heavy rain and a storm approaching.
In writing this week, we have been compiling book reviews of Boy in the Striped Pyjamas that incorporate persuasive techniques and include the main features of this genre of writing. We used questions at the beginning to hook the reader and ensured there was a short summary of events within our initial paragraph. Without giving away the ending, we described the plot and main characters through the use of powerful verbs and adjectives. To conclude, we provided the reader with our personal opinion on the text and gave examples of what we had particularly enjoyed. I think we’d all agree that Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is well worth a read for older children and adults alike!
Health and Wellbeing
In P.E this week we have been developing the accuracy of our slingshot and underarm throw within dodgeball whilst incorporating some thinking skills through Better Movers and Thinkers work. We played in 1v1 situations to strike a central target using both our stronger and weaker arm to throw before moving up or down the league depending on our success. Whilst exchanging dodgeballs we had to ensure that both our feet were off the ground as we received the ball. This led to some interesting methods of catching, including sitting on the ground with our feet up to do so!
The Sports Committee were defining ‘achievement’ this week within a sporting context and coming up with examples of what this may look like. For example, Ellie has achieved through leading her peers, Callum achieved by showing bravery and courage to try a new discipline within fencing and Sarah achieved by persisting for over a year to master a move in gymnastics. We collated our ideas on the board and came up with a ‘recipe for success and achievement in sport’ at Springfield Primary School. This will be displayed in our gym hall in the coming weeks.
Developing accuracy in dodgeball during 1v1 games.
F and J developing their throwing and catching.
Sports Committee defining achievement and collating the ingredients for success in a sporting context.
Learning Across the Curriculum
Here are some photos from our learning across the curriculum this week, including STEM and Skills for Learning, Life and Work…
M testing his buggy on a gradient.
LR and SW piloting female engineering!
E delighted with his progress made!
FA engrossed in his STEM work.
Sergeant B maintaining order!
Sergeant R ready for action!
Sergeant MacKenzie from Police Scotland visiting P7a.
Lawyer J and Procurator Fiscal N.
Lawyer F and Procurator Fiscal LR.
Coming Up…
Here are important upcoming dates for the P7 diaries…
11.3.19 – Relationships, Sexual Health and Parenthood lessons begin in Health and Wellbeing
12.3.19 – Grant Armstrong and Scott Brown visiting P7 for S1 transition talk
12.3.19 – Deborah Paton (Sustrans) visiting P7 for SfLLW programme
12.3.19 – Jennie King (NHS – Nurse) visiting P7 for SfLLW programme
12.3.19 – P7a pupils to St. Michael’s Day Care Centre (x4)
13.3.19 – Scottish Opera performance from 2.15-3.00pm (1 x guest per child)
14.3.19 – P7 Information Evening for children, parents and carers at Linlithgow Academy
Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) is a seven-year programme (2014-2021) that aims to better prepare children and young people aged 3–18 for the world of work. This year, we will once again be running a Skills for Learning, Life and Work programme for our P7 pupils which will culminate in a Careers Fayre in May. We aim to help our children develop and acquire skills across all areas of the curriculum that are transferable to a workplace whilst broadening their knowledge of different jobs, careers and opportunities for further academic study.
Over the last two years we have welcomed in a number of our parents and carers as well as representatives from local businesses, organisations, colleges and universities to deliver a short presentation on their career, line of work or establishment to our P7 classes. This could be anything from 15-30 minutes in length with the opportunity for the children to ask some questions at the end. The programme of visits will run between Monday 11th February and Thursday 4th April.
If this is something you would be interested in helping us with, please contact Mr. Logan via email (ewan.logan@westlothian.org.uk) to arrange a suitable date and time to come in.
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