Tag: Learning Across the Curriculum

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P5 Weekly Blog

Here’s a summary of our slightly shorter week than usual…

Literacy and English

This week in our shared reading of Holes, Stanley Yelnats has made his escape from Camp Green Lake. He stole the water truck before ironically crashing it into one of the holes he had dug. As he struggled through the desert he has been reunited with Zero in the upturned shipwreck of Mary Lou. We’ll find out next week whether they make it to God’s Thumb or not…

In comprehension, we tackled varied questions based on our reading. Mr Logan has been impressed with the improvement in our responses to these. We have been providing evidence from the text to further explain our point and give additional detail where possible.

Our writing this week has been to apply the features of a newspaper article. We were writing our final drafts of an article about the life of outlaw Kissin’ Kate Barlow from Texas, USA. Next week we will be creating wanted posters

Numeracy and Maths

In Numeracy and Maths we have been using formulae to find the area and volume of 2D and 3D shapes. We found that the perimeter is the total distance around the outside of a shape and area is the space inside a shape. We had to show our units of measurement, formula used and all working to evidence our strategies and thinking.

To demonstrate our learning of volume we made mocktails using a recipe sheet. Have a look at the pictures of this below!

Learning Across the Curriculum

Art and Design – Our learning this week has been about an American artist called Keith Haring. He creates blob characters that move in different ways along with basic symbols. This ties in with our Science work around the human body. Bold colours are used to create contrast along with bold outlines to make things stand out. We will be completing these next and displaying our work in class.

Science – “We were building electrical circuits with Mrs Doran. We were then shown an example and started planning how to build an electrical game for P1s that contained questions, answers, titles, wires, a bulb, buzzer and motor. We had to describe what theme we wanted. My group decided on an animal quiz.” (Sarah)

P.E – “In futsal we warmed-up by playing a game of handball in teams of 6. We did this to speed up our passing, get into space, help our teammates and communicate. Then we got split into teams and given a number from 1-15. When Neil called a group of numbers you would plat against the other team to score first. In boccia, we started off by learning the rules and playing a game to warm-up. There were three different hoops and each was worth different points. We then played a proper game and were aiming for the white jack ball. Whoever got closest earned points for their team, either red or blue.” (Sarah)

Social Studies – Our work as Dr Robert Know continued this week as we studied the respiratory system of our bodies. The heart and lungs are responsible for this and we found out the journey that oxygen takes as we inhale before it is used by the body. As we exhale, we get rid of a waste product called carbon dioxide. We have been putting together Burke and Hare timelines during Social Studies this week. We researched their crimes and placed these chronologically on our design. Whilst researching, we found that some dates were unknown such as William Hare’s date of birth.

Spanish – This week we had a visit from Jessica, our language ambassador from Linlithgow Academy. She worked with small groups to consolidate our nunbers from 1-30. Next week she will be teaching us about colours in Spanish.

Coming Up

  • 14.2.20 – February holiday
  • 17.2.20 – February holiday
  • 18.2.20 – February holiday
  • 21.2.20 – Achieving Assembly
  • 4.3.20 – Reflective Reading information evening (7-8pm)
  • 4.3.20 – School Show (1)
  • 5.3.20 – School Show (2)
  • 5.3.20 – World Book Day
  • 6.3.20 – BEAR reading event (am)
  • 9.3.20 – Author visiting school (P4-6)
  • 10.3.20 – 80s Dress Down Day for Fame
  • 11.3.20 – Primary Dance Competition (selected pupils)
  • 13.3.20 – P5 Class Assembly (Sport Relief)
  • 25.3.20 – Parents Evening (1)
  • 26.3.20 – Parents Evening (2)
  • 3.4.20 – Easter Service at St Michael’s Church (am)

Enjoy the long weekend everyone!

Written by Mr Logan, Sarah and P5

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P5 Weekly Blog

Here’s what P5 have been up to this week…

Literacy and English

We have continued reading our shared texts Holes, exploring the theme of discrimination within the text. We were told of the life and crimes of Kissin’ Kate Barlow, an old western outlaw in the story. After analysing her transformation from well-to-do school teacher to notorious outlaw, we created newspaper articles about her. These had to include a headline with alliteration, sub-heading, picture with caption, columns for our text and a description of who, what, where, why, when and how?

In writing, we have also been creating Burke and Hare comic strips to summarise events between 1827 and 1829 when their crimes were committed. These were to include a number of commonly seen comic strip features including a variety of bubbles, bold and colourful titles, captions that link with illustrations and onomatopoeia. We look forward to finishing these and displaying them on our Literacy wall next week for everyone to see!

Numeracy and Mathematics

In Numeracy and Mathematics this week we have been learning about the difference between volume and capacity. Capacity is how much an object can hold, whereas volume is the amount of space something occupies. We have also been ordering volume, converting between units of measurement, estimating volume and measuring accurately. Next week we are going to be demonstrating our learning when making mocktails! Here we are below attempting to measure accurately with measuring cylinders and containers. Our challenge was to estimate what 100ml, 250ml, 500ml and 750ml of water would be before checking how close we were and calculating the difference.

Learning Across the Curriculum

On Monday we endured a rather wet and windy walk along to Xcite for P5’s swimming assessments. Well done to all of the children for their lack of moans and positive attitude throughout!

Our Science has taken two routes this term. With Mrs Doran, we have continued our studies of bridges and civil engineering. On Wednesday we designed and built our spaghetti bridges which were to include triangles for extra strength. Mr Logan then worked with us to test each group’s effort and see what weight they could hold. Harrison, Jack G and Calan’s bridge managed to endure a weight of 4.5kg without breaking, brilliant effort guys! Is that a Springfield record?!

We’ve also been studying Human Anatomy in Science, taking on the role of Dr Knox as part of our Burke and Hare studies. Firstly we looked at the building blocks of the body, our cells. We compared animal and plant cells and explored the function of different parts of the cell such as the mitochondria, nucleus and cytoplasm. Later in the week, we discovered more about our circulatory system and how the heart pumps blood around our bodies. We found that the blood travels from:

right atrium > right ventricle > artery > lungs (becomes oxygenated) > artery > left atrium > left ventricle > artery > around our body > to the feet (becomes deoxygenated) > veins > back to the heart.

Ask us about this process at home to share our learning with you.

In French, we played different games to consolidate our learning as part of Scotland Loves Languages week. Nairn and Lucy did a brilliant job, leading these activities as part of their Language Ambassador roles!

We have been continuing our futsal sessions with the West Lothian Youth Football Foundation. This week was a ‘game week’ and we took part in small-sided games. It was a great opportunity for us to demonstrate the skills we’ve been developing over the first three weeks, for example, close control, use of both feet, different surfaces of the foot and accurate passing.

Coming Up

  • 14.2.20 – February holiday
  • 17.2.20 – February holiday
  • 18.2.20 – February holiday
  • 21.2.20 – Achieving Assembly
  • 4.3.20 – Reflective Reading information evening (7-8pm)
  • 4.3.20 – School Show (1)
  • 5.3.20 – School Show (2)
  • 5.3.20 – World Book Day
  • 6.3.20 – BEAR reading event (am)
  • 9.3.20 – Author visiting school (P4-6)
  • 10.3.20 – 80s Dress Down Day for Fame
  • 11.3.20 – Primary Dance Competition (selected pupils)
  • 13.3.20 – P5 Class Assembly (Sport Relief)
  • 25.3.20 – Parents Evening (1)
  • 26.3.20 – Parents Evening (2)
  • 3.4.20 – Easter Service at St Michael’s Church (am)

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

P5 and Mr Logan

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P5 Weekly Blog

What a busy week we’ve had in Primary 5, here’s the full run-through…

Numeracy and Mathematics

This week we have been making connections in our learning between fractions, decimal numbers and percentages. We are now more confident in doing so and were able to apply this learning when faced with a series of multi-step word problems.

Following on from this, we began studying weight. Firstly, we consolidated our knowledge of both metric and imperial units of measurement before estimating the weight of various objects and ordering these from lightest to heaviest and vice versa. We have also been converting between grams (g) and kilograms (kg) which involved applying our knowledge of division and place value when shifting our decimal point. Alongside this, we have been relating our learning of weight to our bridge work in Science by discussing the impact that varying loads may have on the design and capabilities of a different bridge types.

We have really enjoyed trying some Solve Me Mobiles in mental maths throughout the last couple of weeks. Please feel free to try some at home – https://solveme.edc.org/Mobiles.html

Literacy and English

We are currently reading Holes by Louis Sachar as our shared text where Stanley Yelnats is sent to a Juvenile Detention Centre called Camp Green Lake. He and the other boys there are tasked with digging holes to “build character” in the sweltering Texan desert. So far we have been predicting the outcome of the text, looking at the features of informal letters and answering a range of questions based on the text. In doing so, we have tackled literal, inferential and evaluative questions. We are becoming increasingly confident in skimming and scanning the text to find required information and also making use of context clues which are available to us. We are continuing to work on the way in which we structure our responses and giving evidence from the text when describing and explaining. For enjoyment, we are reading the World’s Worst Teachers, but thankfully Mr Logan hasn’t been mentioned!

In writing this week, we have used features of an informal letter when sending a reply from Stanley Yelnats’ perspective to his ‘Mom’. We learned that they must include the sender’s address, the date on which the letter was sent, Dear, informal language and a sign-off. Informal language is used when you are communicating with somebody you know or are familiar with, e.g. a family member or friend. We have also been writing reports and reflecting on our learning from our visit to the Forth Bridges. We paid particular attention to the structure and content by including an introduction, main part and conclusion with detailed description of what happened and what we learned.

Learning Across the Curriculum

On Tuesday, we attended the Linlithgow Cluster Schools Handball Festival at Linlithgow Academy. We had the opportunity to demonstrate our handball skills in small-sided games against St Josephs, Low Port, Torphichen and Westfield. Scores were not kept with the focus being placed on passing the ball effectively within our teams and having fun. Mr Logan was delighted to us working so well in teams, communicating effectively, encouraging others and showing a sense of fair play at all times. Next up, we have blocks of fitness and volleyball with Mrs Reid whilst also taking part in futsal sessions delivered by Neil from the West Lothian Youth Football Foundation.

Our outings didn’t stop there, we were off out on Thursday again as we made our visit to the Forth Bridge Education and Contact Centre in South Queensferry. This followed on nicely from an incredibly informative talk delivered by Hector Woodhouse on Wednesday who was involved in the construction of the Forth Road Bridge. Here we were met by Elaine Barrie who spoke to us about engineering and the Forth Bridges before setting us off in groups in a bridge-building workshop. We were asked to construct the highest free-standing towers that could withstand different forces such as wind and the pull of gravity. We each had a different role and had to agree on a final design before constructing our towers. Despite a few failed attempts, we demonstrated resilience and worked hard to get the job done. The winning tower measured almost 1 metre in height! Well done Team Yachi! After lunch, we took a walk over the Forth Road Bridge (suspension) to have a look at both the Rail Bridge (cantilever) and Queensferry Crossing (cable-stayed). It was rather windy and we were slightly unnerved by the gaps between each section which allow for expanding and contracting when temperatures change.

Coming Up/Reminders

  • Next week we will begin our history trail studies of Burke and Hare
  • Monday 3rd February – P5 swimming assessments at Xcite Linlithgow
  • Friday 14th February to Tuesday 18th February – Holiday
  • Homework grids came home this week, due back Friday 27th March
  • Sharing the Learning sheets came home this week, have a look at other whole school events coming up
  • Remember you can also follow us on Twitter for more regular updates @SpringfieldBonn and @SpringfieldP5

Have a great weekend everyone!

P5 and Mr Logan

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P5 Weekly Blog

Numeracy and Mathematics

In Numeracy and Mathematics this week we have consolidating our learning of place value. This involved being able to explain the link between a digit, its place and its value. We reminded ourselves that a digit is a single numerical symbol whereas a number is a series of digits. When applying our learning, we were asked to find the ‘value’ of a particular digit within a number, e.g. what is the value of 7 in 37,560, to which we would (hopefully) say 7,000.

In mental maths this week we have been doing some Number Talks. This is when we are posed with a calculation and have to play with the number to increase our ‘number sense’, i.e. visualising problems, performing varied calculations quickly and being more flexible in our mathematical strategy. We were asked how many ways we could solve 357 + 444 before verbalising and demonstrating our strategies to the rest of the class. This will be a included in our Numeracy and Mathematics everyday throughout the year as a 10/15 minute warm-up. We’re hoping to become better ‘mathletes’ by the end of P5!

Literacy and English

In reading this week, we have been assigned our group novels for the term and used ‘prediction’ and ‘prior knowledge’ within group discussions. We discussed what would happen in the story and how the plot may unfold, and shared our prior knowledge of themes explored on the cover and within the blurb.

We also worked on some Japan reading comprehension after accessing an informative text about the country. We were posed with a range of literal and inferential questions and had to ensure we used the wording of the question to form our answers and full sentences at all times. The final set of questions were evaluative where we offered our own opinion and viewpoint.

Learning Across the Curriculum

Basketball continues to be our focus within P.E and we have been working on both our dribbling and passing skills during our two sessions this week. Whilst dribbling, we focused on:

  1. Using one hand at a time to avoid ‘double dribbling’
  2. Pushing the ball rather than slapping it
  3. Using both our right and left hand
  4. Making effective use of space and being aware of those around us
  5. Not bouncing the ball too high to prevent interceptions

We also used a range of passing types; chest, bounce and overhead, discussing scenarios when these would be most effective.

Our knowledge of Japan has been built upon this week as were introduced to key information about the country before using our notes to create fact files. We used headings, sub-headings and an appropriate layout to display this information is a clear way. Next week, we’ll be digging further into life in Japan and how this differs from life here in Scotland.

Achievements

  • A huge well done to Finlay M who shared his Canal Fun Day successes with us! He showed resilience when telling us of how his boat sank after 1 minute but it didn’t spoil the fun!
  • Lily was lucky enough to meet the Scotland Rugby team after their squad was announced for the upcoming Rugby World Cup in Japan, and brought in her signed flag to show us. What a lucky girl!
  • Mairi D, Jude and Cori took part in a Clarion cycling event on Wednesday and managed to complete the hill climb! Great effort guys, maybe there’s still time to make Team GB’s Tokyo 2020 squad…

Coming Up

  • 13.9.19 – ‘Responsible’ Assembly
  • 16.9.19 – Holiday
  • 17.9.19 – Holiday
  • 18.9.19 – ‘Liaise with Leadership’ from 4-5pm
  • 27.9.19 – European Day of Languages
  • 30.9.19 – 8 week block of Futsal sessions from WLYFF commence
  • 2.10.19 – Parents Evening from 5-8pm
  • 3.10.19 – Parents Evening from 3.45-6.45pm
  • 8.10.19 – West Lothian Ranger Service orienteering session (pm)
  • 11.10.19 – Harvest Assembly
  • 11.10.19 – All break for October holiday

Have a great weekend everyone!

P5 and Mr Logan

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P7a Weekly Blog

Numeracy and Mathematics

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.

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)…

Health and Wellbeing

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.

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.

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
  • 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

Hope you’ve all had a fantastic weekend!

P7a and Mr. Logan

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P7a Weekly Blog

What a busy week in P7a! Here’s what’s been going on…

Numeracy and Mathematics

Our learning this week has allowed us to extend our knowledge of angles. We started on Monday by recapping on our prior knowledge of angle types and identified examples of these in school, the playground and the wider built environment. These were acute, right angles, obtuse, straight lines, reflex and complete turns. Following on from this, we were able to measure and draw angles of varied sizes using a protractor. Angles can be named using the letters representing the arms (lines) and vertex (where the lines meet). The vertex must always represent the middle letter, e.g. < ABC where B is the vertex. We have also been introduced to complementary, supplementary and vertically opposite angles. Complementary angles add up to 90°, supplementary to 180° and vertically opposite angles are always the same.

Literacy and English

Yesterday, we finished reading Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which has been our shared reading text over the past few weeks. We discussed different symbols within the text and the themes that they represent. For example, Ethan commented on the fact that the striped pajamas symbolised the persecution and dehumanisation of Jewish people. A fantastic and worthy contribution! There were a number of context clues within the final chapters which we used to infer what was going to happen. We found the ending to the story incredibly powerful and rather upsetting. Although it was hard to listen to, we all agreed that the key learning point to take from the story relates closely to the final line; “Of course, all this happened a long time ago and nothing like that could ever happen again. Not in this day and age”. Always be kind to others and treat people fairly. Race, religion, skin colour, gender, physical appearance and sexual orientation are irrelevant. We are all human beings, so celebrate diversity and allow equality to prevail. On Thursday, Miss Baillie and Mr. Ritchie visited class to see what a writing lesson looks like in P7a. We were writing letters from the perspective of a child evacuee in WWII whilst attempting to portray their feelings and emotions during this traumatic experience. Finley was chosen as our Star Writer for February and we’re incredibly proud of him. What a great addition he has been to our class and school!

Health and Wellbeing

Our football season kicked off on Tuesday at Xcite, with 30 of our footballers in action. Mr. Logan was incredibly impressed with the positive attitude, enthusiasm, sense of fair play and skill level demonstrated by all children. He’s incredibly confident that it will be another successful year for our football teams, as they follow in the footsteps of last year’s trophy winners. Thank you to Miss Baillie, Mrs. Tomczynski and our former pupil Robbie Tomczynski who assisted with the coaching on Tuesday afternoon. We couldn’t have managed without them!

In P.E this week, we were continuing to develop our skills in dodgeball before applying these in different match adaptations. Below you can see some of us practising our throwing and catching. In between each throw, we had to create a finger-tap sequence (our fingers were numbered 1 to 4) before catching the ball. As we improved our ability to do so, we added in 5th and 6th numbers to our sequence before sharing these combinations with a learning partner. In game situations, we developed the accuracy of our throw by not only trying to eliminate opponents but also striking targets on our opponents’ side of the court. Next week we aim to further improve our peripheral vision, spatial awareness and positioning.

Learning Across the Curriculum

As part of the Developing the Young Workforce initiative (DYW) our Skills for Learning, Life and Work programme continued this week with four more visitors in class. We welcomed in Marlous Peterse (a Theatre Manager), Ben Johnson (an aircraft engineer), Joe and Claire from Sygenta (agrochemicals) and Iain Fyfe (volunteer in school, retired HR Manager and ex-professional referee). These visits have been a fantastic learning experience, allowing us to extend our knowledge of the variety of careers, occupations, business and workplaces out there. The important message this week was not to assume that everyone leaves school, goes to college or university then finds a job in that field. Our visitors alluded to the fact that everyone’s journey into work takes a different route and there really is no right or wrong way to get there. Find something which is suited to your unique skill set and make sure you’re passionate about it! We look forward to hearing from more visitors next week including a Procurator Fiscal, Defense Lawyer and Policewoman.

Coming Up…

Here are important upcoming dates for the P7 diaries…

  • 4.3.19 – Deborah Demick (Procurator Fiscal) and Neil Hay (Defense Lawyer) visiting P7 for SfLLW programme
  • 4.3.19 – After school football outdoors from 3.15-4.15pm
  • 4.3.19 – Football kit to be returned please
  • 5.3.19 – Scottish Opera workshop (all day)
  • 6.3.19 – Claire MacPherson (Police Scotland) visiting P7 for SfLLW programme
  • 7.3.19 – P6 Fairtrade Bake Sale
  • 8.3.19 – World Book Day assembly
  • 8.3.19 – Pupil Voice Committee meetings
  • 11.3.19 – Relationships, Sexual Health and Parenthood lessons begin in Health and Wellbeing
  • 11.3.19 – Fidelma Guest (Dietician) visiting P7 for SfLLW programme
  • 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
  • 14.3.19 – P7 Information Evening for children, parents and carers at Linlithgow Academy
  • 15.3.19 – Natalie Boyle (Eye Surgeon) visiting P7 for SfLLW programme

We’ve lots to look forward to! Have a great weekend everyone!

P7a and Mr. Logan

 

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P7a Weekly Blog

A short week in P7a this week, but still lots of learning to report on…

Numeracy and Mathematics

As we progress towards the end of term 3 and our transition to S1, we have been introduced to some areas and concepts that will be covered within Third Level Numeracy and Mathematics. This week we have continued learning about algebra and solving equations. We began by discussing what algebra we had already been exposed to (without even realising), such as ‘number machines’ and ‘missing value’ type questions. Having consolidated our knowledge of these it allowed us to further extend our learning to replacing values with symbols, finding the value of ‘x’ (or an unknown quantity), simplifying expressions by collecting like-terms and evaluating expressions by substituting known values such as a, b or c. We discovered that one theory behind the use of ‘x’ to represent an unknown quantity came from a 17th century French philosopher, scientist and mathematician called René Descartes. Can you find the values below?

Literacy and English

In Boy in the Striped Pajamas this week, Bruno encountered Shmuel, a prisoner at Out-With, whilst exploring and we have been drawing a comparison between them. Although the boys share the same birthday, we discovered that the similarities stop there. We examined extracts of their conversations and journeys made from the text, highlighting evidence and annotating points of interest.

Another journey we have found out about this week, is that of child evacuees during World War II. Whilst being introduced to Operation Pied Piper we used bullet points to take notes relating to key information shared. These notes will be used to inform our writing planning next week when we write letters from an evacuee’s perspective. To begin entering this mindset, we prepared and delivered a short drama in groups that portrayed the experiences and emotions of these children.

Learning Across the Curriculum

As part of our Skills for Learning, Life and Work programme, we had Pamela Barnes and Teresa Waddington in class to speak to us this week. Pamela works with a local community development trust and Teresa is a Plant Manager with Shell.

We have been continuing to rehearse our songs for our Scottish Opera performance, 1719, which commemorates the Jacobites’ risings where they fought alongside the Spaniards against the Hanoverians. The singing sounds fantastic as we look forward to our workshops and final performance in March.

In Science with Mrs. Tulloch, we completed our STEM invention drawings and continued to construct our moveable buggies. In the coming weeks, these will be finished and our buggies judged on whether they can make it up a series of ramps with varying gradients. A huge thank you to Mrs. Tulloch who works tirelessly to spark our interest and curiosity in engineering.

Finally, it was sad to say goodbye to M last week who moved to her new school. We wish her all the very best and thank her for being such a kind, lovely and warm-hearted member of P7a. We will all miss her!

To all of P7a’s parents, carers and families, have a lovely weekend!

P7a and Mr. Logan

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P7a Weekly Blog

Literacy and English

In grammar and punctuation, we have been consolidating our knowledge of past, present and future tense verbs this week. After reading jokes written in the past and present tense we were asked to convert and rewrite them in the future tense. Following on from this we came up with some of our own jokes using varied verb tenses.

Ahead of November 11th, we extended our knowledge of Remembrance Day and the reasons as to why this commemoration came about. We explored different informative texts before responding to varied questioning to demonstrate our knowledge of events that took place. It is important to remember those who died in the line of duty and sacrificed their lives in order for us to live as we do today. We read For The Fallen, a poem by Robert Laurence Binyon, which stirred our emotions and promoted our thinking on the subject. P7 will be coming round classes each day over the next 3 weeks to sell poppies for the Scottish Poppy Appeal. Please give generously to support war veterans and their families. Minimum donation is 20p.

Next week we will be beginning our literacy book focus on Holes by Louis Sachar. We are looking forward to reading this text and will begin by analysing the initial chapters and predicting events in the story next week. Why are the boys sent to Camp Green Lake being asked to dig Holes in the searing Texan heat? We will find out in due course…

Finally, a quick shout out to Joanna who wrote an essay titled ‘My Inspiration’ for the Rotary essay writing competition. Joanna structured her work well and explained in great detail why she has been inspired by Elaine Thompson, a famous sprinter, to take up athletics. She has been chosen as P7a’s Star Writer for October. Well done Joanna! We’re very proud of you! Have a read of her essay below.

JB’s fantastic essay entry for the Rotary’s ‘My Inspiration’ competition

Numeracy and Mathematics

This week we have been reintroduced to fractions, which we will be learning about alongside decimals and percentages in the lead up to Christmas. We began by finding the fraction of a set using Skittles. After counting the number of each colour we were asked to write this as a fraction before simplifying it if possible and answering word problem type questions based on our findings. We have been ensuring that we use mathematical language at all times; the top number is the numerator, the bottom number is the denominator and the line separating the two numbers is called the vinculum. As well as finding the fraction of a set, we have also been ordering and sequencing fractions. Next week we will consolidate our learning of simplification and equivalence.

During Big Start activities we have been applying our learning of our times table facts. One example we tackled this week was a Mystery Matrix. Well done to Lily, Millie, Luke and Sophie who managed to solve the matrix and fill in every missing value. Next week we will begin to discuss this year’s Christmas Fayre enterprise work. Once we have considered who we would like to work with, we will be deciding on our product or service and beginning to put together a resource order form. Each group will be working on a strict budget of £20 with the aim of making the greatest net profit. We are aiming to develop our entrepreneurial skills, experience running a small business and increase our financial awareness. The Fayre will be on Friday 7th December, so please put it in your diaries to come along and support P7. All money raised will be put towards our Leavers 2019 events.

Health and Wellbeing

Below you will see us participating in our third session of futsal. This week we were developing the ability to pass accurately to our peers through the use of varied parts of the foot and communicating effectively. Next week is a games week where we will be able to demonstrate the skills we have developed so far in small-sided match situations.

Congratulations to PM below who brought in his Linlithgow Fun Run achievements to share with me. He placed highly in the race given his age and continues to excel in all things sport. P is one of our new Sports Leaders, a member of the Sports Committee and integral part of our school football team. Well done P!

Finally, FB and RD have also won medals for their efforts at rugby. They attended at tournament in Musselburgh recently; winning every game, scoring tries and working well as part of a team. Excellent job boys, keep up the good work! RD is our current Sports Committee Chairperson whilst FB is an enthusiastic member of our Sports Leaders group. Great examples of young sportsmen for their peers from P1-6.

Learning Across the Curriculum

Lastly, we ended the week with a trip to Lady Haig’s Poppy Factory on Thursday. We had a brilliant day and found the experience to be incredibly informative and thought-provoking. The morning began with a WWII presentation from Peter, an ex-Sergeant Major, who put us through our paces and certainly woke anyone up who may still have been half-asleep! This included Mrs Manlove, our parent volunteer, who was dressed up as a paratrooper deployed behind enemy lines. JS demonstrated confidence to come forward and dress up as a Commando and was one of our values certificate winners this week. Well done JS! We then went back downstairs and managed to manufacture over 2,000 poppies in a short space of time. ZP and SK gathered these in a huge box as these poppies will be sent out during next year’s Scottish Poppy Appeal. Some of the boys asked to be shown round the factory and had a look at the various pieces of machinery used to create poppies, wreaths and other items. We’d like to say a huge thank you to all of the workers here for being so friendly and welcoming during our visit. P7a demonstrated our school values throughout the morning and were an absolute credit to us all! Have a look at the happy, smiling poppy makers pictured underneath.

Next Week

  • SNSA testing all week in P7
  • Monday 29th October – Homework grids (term 2) and Sharing the Learning Overviews in school bags
  • Monday 29th October – NO school football
  • Tuesday 30th October – JASS Parent Launch event (see app)
  • Wednesday 31st October – P7 NHS dental checks
  • Thursday 1st November – Mr Logan in class, futsal session
  • Friday 2nd November – Deadline for skiing EE2 forms, payment can be made before Tuesday 27th November

Have a great weekend everyone!

P7a and Mr Logan

 

Posted on

P7a Weekly Blog

Literacy and English

P7a have been writing essays this week on deforestation and extending their knowledge of how human behaviour is impacting on the natural environment, particularly in the Amazon rainforest. We were staggered to learn that 13 million hectares of rainforest are destroyed worldwide every year which equates to 8.5 million football pitches a year, or 23,483 per day! It’s safe to say that we were united in our disapproval of this and used our essays to further discuss; what deforestation is, why it is happening, the impact of it and what can be done to protect these areas. Finally, after considering the information found from our research, we offered our own viewpoint and suggested potential solutions to this global issue.

We have also been continuing with our group novel studies in guided reading. Take a look below at what we have created at home. These shoe boxes hold items that represent key themes within the text we are studying. For example, in Tales of Beedle the Bard friendship and good vs. evil is prevalent, the Hunger Games explores power, identity and politics whilst Anne Frank’s Diary exposes sacrifice and religion.

Novel study theme shoe boxes

Numeracy and Mathematics

In Numeracy and Mathematics this week we have continued to consolidate our learning of formal written methods. After finishing our block of work on multiplication, we are now studying the inverse operation of division. We have been using both short division and mental strategies to tackle various questions and problems this week. Next, we will be applying our learning from division when developing our knowledge of fractions, decimals and percentages. In the collage below, you will see that Paul has already been finding real-life examples of fractions at home and converting these into percentages.

When learning about Brazil in our ‘Near and Far’ comparison, we found that the currency used in Brazil is the real (ray-al). One Brazilian real is exchanged for approximately 20p and you’ll see below that we have been creating a currency conversion chart for someone travelling here. We have also been drawing a comparison between Scottish and Brazilian culture and society using a Venn diagram. Well done Nicci, whose examples are displayed below!

Venn diagrams, currency conversion and real-life fractions

Health and Wellbeing

Our current block of basketball is coming to an end next week and we have been beginning to apply our skills developed in small-sided game scenarios. The key focus this week was on inclusion and passing within our team, ensuring that all players received a pass before points could be scored. We also played took part in some 1v1 scenarios to develop both our attacking and defending skills as well as our hand-eye coordination. In the pictures underneath, you will see us taking part in our first futsal session delivered by Kieran from West Lothian’s Youth Football Foundation. Futsal is a Brazilian variation of football which is both fast-paced and exciting to watch. We developed our dribbling skills and close control of the futsal, ensuring it remains on the floor. This is made easier by the fact it has fluff inside to weigh it down!

We have been continuing to work on ‘Keeping Ourselves Safe’ with Mrs Newton and for homework, we created flow charts that illustrated how to respond in varied dangerous situations. Mr Logan has shared a few examples of these below because the standard of work and effort put into them was so incredibly high. Ewan carefully detailed how to respond when smoke is detected in your home and Joseph M when you find a casualty who is unconscious. Excellent effort boys!

Learning Across the Curriculum

Our leadership groups are now up and running as we undertake different activities to lead learning across the whole school. Our Numeracy Leaders have been setting challenges for the younger classes, Literacy Leaders preparing to start paired reading with the infants and Digital Leaders creating posters to be displayed in all classrooms that promote internet safety. As well as this, our Buddies have been working within our infant classrooms to support their learning, and similarly, the Sports Leaders led two sessions of P.E for both P1 classes. We can also announce that the first edition of Springfield Times will be coming your way in November courtesy of our hard-working Newspaper Team. For homework, Rory also took the time to write about an inspirational leader of his. He chose Scottish rugby captain John Barclay and listed the skills and qualities that he demonstrates in his role. Great effort Rory, and well done to you and Finlay B for your victory last weekend!

In Science with Mrs Tulloch during term 1 we have studied animals and food chains, and we consolidated this learning at home by drawing our own annotated food chains to represent the network of links between different species. We will also be moving on to study plants in society, and as you can see below, we have already began working on this with our labelled diagrams of plant structures. Our STEM challenge has been to create junk model shanties and we have since turned the back of our classroom into a Brazilian favela. A special mention to Millie for the graffiti and artwork on her outside walls and to Luke for the level of detail in his design.

I look forward to seeing you all at parents’ evening next Wednesday and Thursday.

Have a great weekend everyone! We’d also like to wish the lovely Millie a Happy Birthday for tomorrow!

P7a and Mr Logan

Posted on

P7a Weekly Blog

Numeracy and Mathematics

This week we have been consolidating our learning of addition and subtraction. We understand the importance of using particular written processes and were able to select those which would be most efficient and save us time. When reading word problems, we have been demonstrating our understanding by identifying which operations and approaches we need to use. We were able to articulate our choices with clarity and explain our reasons for doing so. Mr Logan has been pleased to hear the increased use of mathematical and specialised vocabulary in numeracy lessons. We have a greater knowledge of the words and phrases which can also mean add or subtract, for example, find the total or find the difference.  In mental maths, we have been doing 10-a-day to become more confident in our ability to use a range of strategies and discuss these. On Thursday, we carried out some problem solving exercises with Mrs Newton.

Literacy and English

Our Guided Reading timetable began this week and we have all been given some reading to complete as part of our home learning for next Monday. We are studying fictional texts to develop our reading skills, for example, skimming, scanning, predicting, clarifying and summarising. Alongside this, we shall be using Yammer in class to discuss and analyse these texts in greater detail with members of our reading group. Not only should we be able to answer literal questions, but we should also now be developing our ability to respond to inferential questions by reading between the lines and evaluative questions by offering our own opinion.

In grammar, we have been using the thesaurus to find synonyms, or similar words, before putting these into a contextualised sentence. We were asked to apply this skill when producing a creative and imaginative piece of writing on Wednesday. Mr Logan revealed a stormy picture of Rio de Janeiro as a stimulus on the SMARTBoard and we were tasked with writing a story around this image. We ensured that our writing was presented well, that we incorporated detail through description of both setting and character and that our writing was structured to include a suitable opening, turning point and climax or cliffhanger ending.

Our Literacy Corner and library area in class have been re-organised after deciding on the texts we would be most inclined to pick up and read. So far, none of P7a have managed to solve our Literacy Corner riddle or conundrum. Can anyone help them?

Riddle – What do an island and the letter ‘t’ have in common?

Conundrum – U D R S U C I L O

Health and Wellbeing

We have been continuing to complete our Daily Mile as we work hard to increase our lap count, and ultimately our fitness levels. It was lovely on Wednesday to complete this alongside some of our Buddies from P1a.

In basketball we responded to both verbal and visual cues with and without the ball before pairing up for some passing and ball exchange work. We are continuing to practise our two step lay-up in order to get ourselves as close as possible to the net before shooting. During small-sided games, Mr Logan has been encouraged by the teamwork and effective communication shown. It is important that we always demonstrate a sense of fair play and sporting integrity.

With Mrs Begarnie on Tuesday, we created our ‘trusted hands’ (below) which detail the 5 key adults that we would speak to or confide in if ever we were sad, worried, anxious or angry. This ties in with our introduction of the 5 Point Scale across school and we will be making reference to these with class as and when needed. On Thursday we continued to work with Mrs Newton to explore the ways in which we can keep ourselves safe in a variety of dangerous situations.

Learning Across the Curriculum

Finally, a huge congratulations to Sahasra for her inspirational piece of writing which was judged to be the winner of Strangely Maigcal’s Fox and Gazelle Top Trumps competition. You can read her winning entry below in which she discusses the beauty of diversity of the power that kindness from those around you can have. She is also pictured collecting her values certificate at Friday’s assembly for confidence. Well done Sahasra, we’re all so proud and you’re a credit to Springfield Primary School!

Coming Up

  • 11.9.18 – Meet the Teacher – 6.30-7.30pm
  • 14.9.18 – P7a Class Assembly (Resilience) – 10.00-10.30am
  • 17.9.18/18.9.18 – Holiday
  • 10.10.18/11.10.18 – Parents Evenings (appointment info. to follow)
  • 13.10.18 – 22.10.18 – Holiday
  • 25.10.18 – Poppy Factory visit (EE2 forms to follow, parent helpers required)

Have a great weekend everyone, and I’ll hopefully see you on Tuesday at 6.30pm for Meet the Teacher!

P7a and Mr Logan

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