Guided Reading – Springfield Primary School and Bonnytoun Nursery School

November 25, 2017

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

November 17, 2017

P7b Weekly Blog

It’s been another busy week in P7b, so here’s a brief summary of the goings-on…

Numeracy

P7b have been working hard when applying their decimals knowledge when using money. This week we have been focusing on bills and calculating total costs through various word and multi-step problems. Our enterprise projects have allowed us to use these skills in a practical context when resourcing items required and providing Mr. Logan with a total cost for our order. In doing so, we were asked to make price comparisons and attempt to gather quality resources at a reasonable price. On Tuesday we were lucky enough to have Mr. Fryer (Lois’s Dad) in to visit both P7 classes. Mr. Fryer works as a Senior Mortgage Manager for TSB was was able to share his wealth of knowledge around budgeting. He worked closely with each enterprise group, discussing their projects and offering some support to the calculation of their costs and potential gross/net profits.

Literacy

We are continuing to enjoy our group novels in guided reading; from Adolphus Tips to Alex Rider, and Gangsta Granny to The Hunger Games. Now that some groups have finished their first novel, they have been given the choice as to what text they read next. In P7b we promote an enjoyment of reading through the opportunity for personalisation and choice. Mr. Logan has been impressed with the level of expression we are beginning to use to engage our audience when reading. On Wednesday, we looked at our first ‘shared reading’ text as a whole class. We were studying a poem called ‘Wind’ by Dionne Brand. The poem was written in the first person and brought human-like qualities to the wind through repeated uses of personification. The higher order discussion was great to hear and we were amazed by how many features of the text came to our attention the more we read. On Thursday, we began using our new Big Writing Adventures resource with Mrs. Doran and look forward to more of these lessons in the coming weeks!

Health and Wellbeing

This week was our anti-bullying and racism focus in school. With kindness being one of our school’s values, we must always ensure we treat each other with the utmost respect and in a way which we would like to be treated ourselves. Mrs. Matos delivered our first two Respect lessons where we discussed gender equality and what respect means to us. We compared our definitions with the dictionary definition and rewrote what this looks like in our classroom. This will be used throughout the year to refer back to and promote positive behaviour and relationships in the classroom. We demonstrated kindness by dressing down and donating money to Chlldren in Need on Friday. Thank you to Mrs. Gordon and the Pupil Council Committee for organising such a successful event, and of course to those who baked. The cakes and sweets were delicious! We will let you know in due course how much we have raised.

Coming Up This Term

Road Safety Week next week
Enterprise project orders to be placed next Monday
Pupil Voice Committees next Friday
Big Write event in class on Tuesday at 9.30 – 10.30am
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

To all our parents, carers and families, have a fantastic weekend!

P7b and Mr. Logan

March 17, 2017March 17, 2017

P7b Blog

Numeracy and mathematics

Our focus in numeracy over the past few weeks has been fractions, decimals and percentages. We have been working hard to establish the link between these and apply our learning in different, real-life contexts. This week we were asked to prepare a timetable for the S1 pupils at Linlithgow Academy based on the information provided by Mr. Logan. For example; 20% of our timetable had to consist of English, 0.1 had to be for the teaching of P.E whilst 0.05 of the timetable was to be assigned to Spanish. We were successful in doing so, quickly realising that showing our working and reading the question carefully were also important. In West Lothian’s contest on Sumdog, we managed to place in the top 100 schools, with some pupils scoring highly on the individual leaderboard.

Literacy

We are coming to the end of our group novels for Guided Reading and will be saying goodbye to Alex Rider, Harry Potter and The Eejits (The Twits by Roald Dahl converted to Scots). This year, we have been accessing a variety of texts and sources of information and continue to enjoy exploring reading in different ways. During comprehension we looked at a shared text, analysing a newspaper article before identifying and discussing key features and characteristics of the text. For example, we found it interesting that Spider Man’s character was in fact inspired by a fly crawling up a wall, as opposed to a spider. He also has a real address in Forrest Hills, New York, unlike other superheroes. Having carried out our reading this week, we composed 5 higher order questions that we could challenge the peers in our reading group with. These were posted to Yammer, and we had fun logging on to tackle other people’s questions. Finally, we will all be submitting entries to the Young Writer of the Year Competition and having completed our plans and first drafts, we are now moving on to word process our final drafts. Everyone is creating a text of their choice, we have some short stories, poems, newspaper articles and even one or two comic strips. You can look forward to seeing the end products, I’m sure they will be fantastic.

IDL

Our learning theme of World War II continues to interest us, and we have been demonstrating our wealth of knowledge through the creation of a personal project. Each pupil chose an aspect of World War II as the focus for their study and has used the findings from research to begin putting together their final project. From aircraft and naval fleets, to the role of women, the use of propaganda, forms of communication and children during the war, we certainly have a wealth of subtopics covered. These personal projects will form the basis for a class talk which we will deliver during the final term of P7. I’m sure this won’t phase any of our confident individuals and effective contributors here in P7b. Watching The Great Escape has provided a welcome break from our personal projects and we are intrigued as to whether the prisoners-of-war will pull off the finest escape in military history from Stalag Luft III…

Parents’ Evenings

Thank you to those of you who attended our parents’ evenings earlier this week. Both the children and I greatly appreciate the huge role you play in the learning partnership here at Springfield Primary School. On a similar note, thank you to our House Captains and P7 Leaders who volunteered their own time to assist on both evenings. The other teachers, staff and parents were singing their praises and complimenting the mature and sensible manner in which they conducted themselves. I’m incredibly proud of them all.

Next Week

– No homework next week due to ongoing personal projects, these can be submitted to me on Friday 31st March or the first day back after Easter Holidays.
– Academy staff will be here at Springfield P.S to discuss transition and ensure this is a smooth step for all pupils.
– School football training on Monday, 3.30-4.30pm outside. Friendly match against Linlithgow Bridge Primary School on Monday 27th March, letters to be distributed next week to those playing.
– Red Nose Day next Friday 24th March, organised by Pupil Council Committee. ‘Mad Hair’ Dress Down Day, bring £1 along with a bake sale. Please send in any baking bagged and priced, and remember these are to contain NO NUTS. The children may bring money to purchase these on the day.

We hope you enjoyed reading our blog and have a great weekend.

Primary 7b and Mr. Logan