Here’s what we’ve been up to in P7b this week…
Literacy and English
Our key focus this week has been our class talks, on an aspect of World War II that particularly interests us. We carefully selected and summarised our personal projects, contributing a number of relevant ideas, information and knowledge when engaging confidently with our audience. Our presentations were clear, expressive, organised and delivered in a logical order with an introduction, main part and conclusion. Cue cards and brief notes were used to prevent us from ‘reading’ our talk and we used signposts to give a basic structure. We are continuing to enhance our communication and ability to engage others through appropriate use of eye contact, body language, emphasis, pace and tone. The props and resources we used were thought-provoking, and we allowed opportunities for the audience to interact during our presentations. There was a marked improvement in our use of higher order questioning which promoted further discussion and interaction at the conclusion of our talks. Mr. Logan was blown away by the standard of our presentations, and was thrilled to see such a vast improvement in our confidence levels.
Numeracy and Mathematics
We have been continuing to investigate the order of operations, using the BODMAS acronym to remind ourselves of this. Having consolidated our learning of the four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division), we are now applying this learning further when tackling varied expressions and equations. We have introduced how brackets can change the emphasis when carrying out calculations and have demonstrated our understanding of this concept through verbalising our ways of thinking and strategies utilised. Next week we will continue to work on this with Mrs. Doran whilst beginning to study weight and measure with Mr. Logan.
Health and Wellbeing
On Monday we welcomed Michelle into class from West Lothian’s Drug and Alcohol Service. She is their Young People’s Tobacco Prevention Worker and discussed the negative impacts that smoking and tobacco can have on our health. We shared some of our prior knowledge on the subject and were given the opportunity to further develop our understanding of this topic. P7b were shocked by the facts, statistics and information she shared in our first workshop but understand the impact that these substances can have on our health. We have a greater knowledge of the ways that culture, the media and peer groups can influence our own decisions and risk-taking behaviour, and we are learning to manage this. Did you know there are 4,000-5,000 chemicals and toxins in a single cigarette? And, smoking 20 cigarettes per day costs people around £3,000 per year? As a result, we have all pledged to give up one thing we can’t live without for a week and replace it with a healthy alternative. We will report back to Michelle with our progress next Monday. Will the Xboxes, PS4s, sweets and fizzy juice make way for outdoor play, water and fruit? We shall see…
Next Week
- 28.5.18 – P7 Leavers Trip EE2 forms sent home, return by 1.6.18
- 28.5.18 – Tobacco Education workshop (2)
- 29.5.18 – No golf sessions next week, last session to be rearranged
- 29.5.18 – Parent Council AGM
- 31.5.18 – Minikickers for P2-3, P7 Sports Leaders required 3.15-4.00pm
- 1.6.18 – All medication for school camp to be handed to school office
Wishing you all a relaxing and restful weekend!
P7b and Mr. Logan
