literacy – Page 2 – Springfield Primary School and Bonnytoun Nursery School

March 7, 2019

Primary 1B – w/e 8th March 2019

In Literacy we were excited to be learning our first trigraph ‘igh’ and the grapheme ‘y’ (as in cry). We discovered that the ‘igh’ trigraph is mainly found in the middle of words and the ‘y’ grapheme is mainly found at the end. We agreed that our language can sometimes be a bit tricky to know which word has which sound! We have also been practising our new tricky words – come and said.

In Numeracy we have been learning about fact families and how addition and subtraction are linked. We learned that there are three numbers in each fact family and saw how these numbers are related to one another. We managed to work together to write the four number sentences – two addition and two subtraction – for each family.

We continued our work on Money too, working out change due and figuring out which coins would give the correct amount. It was interesting to hear many of the children say that they had never seen change being given and weren’t sure what ‘change’ was. We came to the conclusion that this was because shopping is often paid by Bank Card.

Within our History of Transport learning this week we looked at different modes of transport from the past and compared them to their present day equivalent. We had an interesting discussion about the differences that we noticed between them.

Our class train is almost finished! We had fun painting and colouring wheels and painted the final carriage. Whilst we were painting we discovered that if we mix different colours together we can make a new colour! The favourite combinations were red and yellow, making orange and blue and yellow, making green. We have decided that we still need a funnel and a fire (made of coloured paper, of course!) for the engine as we have decided our train is a steam train.

J brought in a real piece of railway to show the class. It was very, very heavy! J also brought in train magnets for everyone. We would like to thank J’s dad for these!

To celebrate World Book Day we enjoyed some paired reading time with P3A and had fun sharing stories with one another.

Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Reid and Primary 1B

February 28, 2019

Primary 1B – w/e 1st March 2019

We have had a busy week in Primary 1b.

As part of our transport focus, we have begun to construct our class train station. We came up with lots of ideas for signs which we would need in the station. We decided we would like to build a train for the station and have had great fun painting our train engine and carriages. We can’t wait to see what it looks like when it’s finished! Construction pictures will follow next week!

In Literacy we have been practising our new tricky words – all and some – and have learned 2 new digraphs – ee and ea. We have been working hard blending words together using our magnetic letters and have successfully been matching pictures and words.

In Numeracy we have been continuing our work on Subtraction. We made a human number line in the playground and enjoyed working out who would be the answer to the subtraction questions we came up with. We also had fun working in pairs, writing our calculations in chalk on the playground.

Our first session of block play with P3 went very well. As you can see the construction was impressive!

As part of Fairtrade Fortnight, the class had a visit from the Linlithgow Fairtrade group on Wednesday and learned about different types of Fairtrade products. They had the chance to taste a little piece of Fairtrade chocolate too which they enjoyed!

Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Reid and Primary 1B

August 31, 2018

Primary 5 Blog – w/b 26th August

This week in Primary 5 we have been learning about the 5 point scale, to help us understand our own and other peoples feelings. We also completed our Class Charter, using emojis to show that we agree to keep the class rules.

In Maths we did a carousel of activities practising our tables and subtraction. In number talks, we looked at subtraction strategies.

In PE our focus is teamwork. We played a variety of games to help us with this.

In writing we wrote a story based on video clip called ‘Create’.

We also completed some dictionary work.

We read the Dr Seuss story – ‘The Places You’ll Go’ and discussed how having a Growth Mindset will help us in life.

In science with Mrs Tulloch, we created mnemonics – for the planets – ask us if we can remember these.

Have a lovely weekend.

Kind regards,

Primary 5 and Mrs Kerr

May 18, 2018

P5A Week ending 18.5.18

On Wednesday , “National Numeracy Day”, we had a visit from Mr Turtle who is a structural engineer. He did a lesson on structures and how to make them stronger after his daughter had told him about our visit to the Queensferry Crossing Bridge. This activity involved measuring to the nearest millimetre. We had to be very accurate in our measuring. We used a strip of paper, which represented an I beam, and measured, cut and glued balsa wood to the top and bottom on both sides. We predicted and then tested what would happen when you added weights to the middle. It took 100gm before the paper bent at both ends. So next we added strips of balsa to either end to make it stronger and then retested. This time it took 200gm and it bent in the middle. So we added balsa to the middle and retested. This time it took 400gm. This time it bent between the wood strengthening it so we glued wood between the middle and end. It took 700gm. Then we all tested our own and Finlay, Angus and Daniel won, as their I beam was able to take 1500gm. It was a great afternoon putting real measuring into practise. Thank you very much Mr Turtle.

In maths we are learning about capacity and volume and in number we have completed our fractions focus and started work on decimal. We are looking at the relationship between them.

In literacy we have been learning about the difference between possessive s and plural s. In pairs we worked to find out the difference and now it is much clearer. We will continue with this on Monday. Within our literacy circle groups we are starting to familiarise ourselves with the different roles and there was super dialogue about the different main characters.

We started the Big Writing Adventure and were looking at what makes a superhero. Now we are using interesting vocabulary to develop our own characters.

Half the class went to the triathlon on Thursday. The pupils were a credit to the school and performed very well at the different sports. The weather was perfect and it ended with a potted highland games. Mr Logan is going to post the photographs taken.

The rest of the class continued with Scratch and helped Mr Ritchie’s class. They designed posters for Transition Linlithgow with regard to the use of plastics.

April 13, 2018

Week ending 13.4.18 5A

Hello and welcome back to everyone after our Easter holidays.

This week, in number we have started division sums by 1 digit. It has been quite challenging but with practice we are making good progress.

During our reading, we talked about literacy circle and chose from a wide selection of novels. We should be ready to start this in 2 weeks.

We copied our Babbington Plots onto aged paper ( which smelt of coffee). We wrote thank you letters to Mr Woodhouse, Elaine at the Queensferry Crossing and the Linlithgow Primary Palace guides.

In science we have started our new topic of light and had great fun investigating light sources and reflectors under cover. We took photos but all you can see is us under the sheets!

At last we got into the PE hall and were able to shoot at basketball – Harlem Globe Trotters look out.

We had music with Mrs Bain this week twice and really enjoyed the different activities.

February 2, 2018

Primary 6B – 2nd Feb 2018

As a new month starts, our learning continues.

This week we have consolidated our learning around negative numbers and the children have completed a pre-topic assessment for money and finance, which we will begin to explore next week.

In literacy, the children have used Scot’s language to rewrite either part of the script from The Lion King or a scene from The Broons. They had great fun using Scot’s Dictionaries to discover some new words. Ask them which new words they have discovered!!

We have also written an imaginative story, with our main focus being the way sentences are started. We have learned that sometimes we need to restructure the sentence in order to open it with an interesting word. Ask your child which sentence openers they used this week!!

We have continued our preparations for The Lion King show, rehearsing and singing.

Have a lovely weekend

Primary 6B and Mrs Kerr

November 10, 2017

P5

Last week, we were very busy practising for our assembly and making props! For Halloween, we made Frankenstein and Mummy styled egg boxes. We created dangly monsters. We did a Big Maths Beat that Challenge. We worked on alliteration for Halloween words.

This week, we have completed a bird survey outside in the school grounds. We designed a bird feeder. We worked with a partner to create bird leaflets/fact files on the netbooks.

P5 have made rockets with Mrs Tulloch. P5b have tested their rockets. Lewis’ rocket went the furthest- from the P1 door onto the pitch! P5a are going to do their investigation next week.

We took up the challenge of the Sumdog competition. We had Finlay complete all his questions- Fabulous! We have been finding out about 3D shapes in and around school. P5a have made some 3D shapes from resources outside in the environment. We have looked the nets of 3D shapes.

We have continued working on alliteration and did some work on The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark linking in with Bonfire night. We welcomed our parents into our class to see our writing.

P5 organised the collection of the shoe boxes. We had several parents help us to sort them out. On Thursday, 125 boxes were sent on their way! A BIG THANK YOU to everyone!

P5 🙂

November 5, 2017

P7b Weekly Blog

Numeracy

Last week in Numeracy and Mathematics we came to a conclusion with our work using decimal numbers. Whilst establishing the link to both fractions and percentages, we have been adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing decimal numbers through the use of written methods. We understand that ahead of our transition to S1 it is of great importance to show our working and verbalise the strategies we are using when completing written calculations or developing our mental arithmetic. Even if we don’t find the correct answer, we will gain credit for the steps we have taken in getting there. As it was Halloween on Tuesday, our problem solving this week was titled ‘Murder at the Movies’. We had to apply our knowledge of decimals in order to cross off names from the suspects list before eventually finding the culprit. Next week we will be further developing our knowledge of decimal numbers as we move on to look at money. This will be good practise ahead of our Christmas Fayre enterprise work where we will need to use money to purchase resources, work to a budget and hopefully calculate eventual gross and net profits.

Literacy

In spelling we are continuing to challenge ourselves with tricky spelling rules and patterns. Mr. Logan has been thoroughly impressed with the scores in our spelling test each Friday and the ability to demonstrate our understanding of these words’ definitions in our ambitious, up-leveled sentences. On Thursday we used mind maps as a tool for planning our Poppy Factory visit recount writing. This allowed us to note down key points and phrases that would aid the flow and structure of our work. These pieces of writing will be continued next week where we also have our Big Write event to look forward to. In this time we will be writing some rainforest tanka poems. Our guided reading timetables have been altered as we move onto new group novels, and we ended this week by entering discussion groups on Yammer. This online space within Glow was used to answer a range comprehension type questions posed by Mr. Logan and discuss our novels in greater detail with our peers.

Health and Wellbeing

In P.E, we have been practising ahead of our Linlithgow cluster Sportshall Athletics festival next Wednesday. The events we have been working on are speed bounce, chest push, standing long jump, vertical jump, javelin and relay races. If we are successful at the cluster event, we will move forward to West Lothian finals and Mr. Logan believes we have every chance of doing so judging by the level of performance he has seen. The Sports Committee had their second meeting of the session on Friday and pupils worked hard to design a new logo that will be displayed on any Sports Committee work around school. We will be voting for our winning design at our next meeting in December. Finally, Sam had some fantastic news to share this week as he has been selected to ball boy in Andy Murray’s Live Event next Tuesday. Murray will be facing Roger Federer amongst other matches at the SSE Hydro and you can tune in on Eurosport from 7pm for a chance to see Sam in action!

Coming Up This Term

The Great Kapok Tree book study next week
Enterprise project for Christmas Fayre begins on Monday
Big Write event in class on Tuesday at 9.30 – 10.30am
4 x P7b pupils to attend St. Michael’s Day Care Centre on Tuesday at 1.15 – 3.15pm
P7 Sportshall Athletics festival at Linlithgow Leisure Centre on Wednesday at 1.10 – 2.50pm
Anti-bullying and racism focus starts in class week beginning 13.11.17
Liaise with Leadership on 15.11.17 at 5-6pm
Children in Need on 17.11.17
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

Thank you for reading!

P7b and Mr. Logan

October 27, 2017

Primary 6B

A busy week in Primary 6B.

We have continued to explore shape, looking this week at 3D shapes and their properties. We have discussed the language used by mathematicians and found the names for some unusual 3D shapes.

In literacy, we have looked at Diary writing, using one of the characters from our class novel ‘Wonder’, as the author of the diary.

September 15, 2017September 18, 2017

P5a and P5b

This week, we did the SCOOT challenge, where we needed to find fraction cards and answer the questions individually. For our chilli challenge, we looked at shaded fractions and fraction number lines.

We brought in storyboxes on Monday and we retold our stories to a partner. On Thursday, P5a joined with the Nursery to tell them their stories. On Tuesday the 26th of September, P5b, are going to join the Nursery then, to do their retelling. We had a range of stories from Harry Potter to The Paper Dolls, with people being very creative, imaginative and inventive.

On Wednesday, we took part in Roald Dahl Day and we made dream jars after getting inspiration from the BFG. We watched a live feed about Roald Dahl and the illustrator of his books, Quentin Blake. Also, an inventor, called Colin Furze, who showed us a flame throwing guitar to represent one of the dangerous monsters in Billy and The Minpins. We tried to find a Phizzwizard but we haven’t caught it yet………..

Please remember that the children are on holiday on Monday and Tuesday 🙂