Tag: Numeracy and Mathematics

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A busy week in P4A!

This week we have been working really hard on our division skills. We have explored different strategies and used concrete materials to help us see when there is a remainder and some of us have also begun working on short division.  In number talks we have started to look at negative numbers. We have also started learning the 7 times table and had fun singing and moving along to this video – try it at home!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/supermovers/ks2-maths-the-7-times-table-with-moonbeam/zjp8y9q

We enjoyed another session of hockey on Monday and played a game which helped us work on scoring.

We worked in pairs to come up with an idea for an event and then we designed a poster advertising our event. We made sure we included the place, date, time, cost and any other important information. We have continued our learning about the Vikings and have found out more about their daily lives. We wrote a diary entry from the perspective of a Viking child and decided we are very lucky to be children in 2020 rather than Viking times! We revised counting to 20 in French and played a game of bingo and a game called Killer 12 – this was a fun way to improve our fluency!

We have also worked together to come up with some new class rules and we created a superhero themed Class Charter to reflect our rules and remind us of our rights.

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P5 Weekly Blog

A short week in P5, feels like it’s over before it even started…

Literacy and English

In writing this week, we have been participating in BBC Radio 2’s 500 Words competition. We were challenged to write a creative and imaginative story based on a specific object or image. In our planning we had to consider what our image symbolises, who the characters associated with this image are what their backstory might be. Following this, we also considered what the main events of our story could be, produced a detailed description of our main setting and looked at the features of ‘flash fiction’ writing in more detail. We discovered that although these stories are short, they still need to be interesting, engaging and include things such as figurative language and imagery. We’ve completed our first drafts and will be editing and improving these next week before submitting them ahead of next Thursday’s deadline!

Numeracy and Mathematics

This week we have started learning about coordinates. We began by reading coordinates which involved moving “along the corridor before going up the stairs”. We established that as we  move horizontally we are travelling along the x-axis. Then, when we move vertically, we are on the y-axis. The way to remember this is by saying “x is a cross, y to the sky”. These phrases have been helping us to work accurately and minimise errors. We found out that the grids we were using are called Cartesian grids, named after René Descartes, a French mathematician during the 17th century. We also had a go at plotting some points to create 2D shapes. Next week we will extend our learning further by creating our own grids and more complex shapes, and working across four quadrants with negative numbers.

Learning Across the Curriculum

  • PE – In futsal this week we worked on passing the ball accurately to hit targets using different surfaces of our feet.
  • PE – In volleyball with Mrs Reid we were given a basic introduction to the sport and learnt about some of the rules and principles.
  • Science – We continued working on our electrical circuit games. These have been created for P1 and involve a series of questions. If the correct answer is selected, the light shines. If the incorrect answer is selected, the buzzer sounds.
  • Technologies – We have been improving our word processing skills when preparing the final drafts of our 500 word pieces of flash fiction.

Achievements 

  • Harrison was surprised to open his latest Beano comic to see himself! Well done on accumulating so many copies!
  • Ava has passed her latest dancing exams with distinction and brought her medals, certificates and trophies to show us!
  • Sofia showed us the Blue Peter badge she got for music which was designed by Ed Sheeran! Excellent achievement!
  • Calan brought in his football trophies that he got whilst playing for Falkirk FC. Superb work!
  • Christopher has levelled up in his indoor climbing at Alien Rock! Fantastic news!
  • We’ve been bringing in our homework bridge designs to display in class. They are absolutely brilliant, well done to you all. Howie and Eva managed to put 12.1kg of weights on theirs without it breaking! Unbelievable!
  • Jack G was our values certificate winner for Confidence! Great job!

Have a relaxing weekend everyone.

P5 and Mr Logan

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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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Number Talks Open Morning

Dear Parents, Carers and Families

Thank you to those of you who attended our Number Talks Open Morning earlier today, we hope you found it beneficial and enjoyed seeing the children in action!

For those of you who couldn’t attend, here is a copy of the presentation:

Springfield Number Talks

Kind regards
Mr Logan

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P5 Weekly Blog

Literacy and English

We are continuing to read War Horse with an emphasis on analysing plot, character and setting. This week we built up a word bank of adjectives that could be used to describe the main character, Joey. We highlighted which 4 best described him before scanning the text for evidence of where he has demonstrated this particular skill or quality. For example, Joey demonstrated empathy when he felt the pain of Topthorn’s illness and nursed his wounds.

Whilst reading chapters 14 and 15, we summarised the main ideas and events by note taking. We discussed the features of good note taking and how we can do so more effectively. This included using bullet points, not writing in full sentences and drawing out the key information.

In writing, we wrote instructions of how to create a volcanic eruption. This style of writing required us to apply various features such as sub-headings, a numbered list and sequencing openers and connectives (e.g. firstly, next, afterwards, finally). Next week we will carry out our volcanic eruption experiments and write a scientific report based on our findings.

Numeracy and Mathematics

We have been continuing to use written methods for multiplication and will shortly be introduced to the inverse operation of division. This week we consolidated our learning of our 6, 7, 8 and 9 times tables before multiplying 4-digit numbers by a single-digit and multiplying 2-digit numbers by smaller 2-digit numbers. Here’s a reminder of the method we’ve been using…

Learning Across the Curriculum

Social Enterprise – This week we will be meeting up with our group’s to prepare a Dragon’s Den style pitch for Mr Logan. In this pitch we will set out who our group are, what cause we want to raise money for, why it’s important to us and how we intend to go about raising the money. There have been lots of exciting suggestions so far. Keep an eye out for information on the Christmas Hampers we will be organising for the residents of St Michael’s Day Care Centre and what we’ll be doing at this year’s Christmas Fayre.

P.E – In P.E we have been introduced to the basic rules and principles of handball. This is going to be our focus in P.E up until January as we prepare for our Linlithgow cluster schools handball festival. We watched this video to introduce us to the rules of the game…

Art and Design – We have been using layers and textures of paper this week to create Remembrance Day artwork and reading the poem ‘In Flanders Fields’ by John McCrae. These will be displayed in class, come and have a look at them next week and ask us what the poppy symbolises.

Our News and Achievements

We’ve been super busy over the October break, here’s what we’ve been up to:

  • Jude has been on his travels to Castle Douglas and brought in various types of stone to show us including rainbow quartz.
  • Freya shared her news about her trip to Oban over the holidays.
  • Sofia told us of her trip to LEGO Land and showed us the brick she created.
  • Eighlin went to visit Eilean Donan castle which is what she was named after.
  • Nairn had a tour at Manchester United’s stadium and brought some items to show us.
  • Ava continues to excel in gymnastics and has a number of upcoming national competitions.
  • Lucy told us about her visit to a lighthouse and seeing her Grandparents.
  • Finlay B and Jack G attended the Hearts v Rangers match which, luckily for them both, was a draw.
  • Oliver travelled down south to Northumberland and Manchester over the holidays.
  • Eva told us all about her sister’s birthday and what they got up to.
  • Finlay M was also in Northumberland over October for his Gran’s 70th birthday.
  • Mairi flew to Copenhagen and visited a number of attractions whilst there including the original LEGO shop.
  • Megan spoke about her segway tour and her trip to watch Scotland beat San Marino 6-0.

Coming Up

  • 10.19 – Rugby taster session (1), sports gear to be worn to school
  • 11.19 – Homework grids for Term 2 to be sent home, due for 13.12.19
  • 11.19 – Rugby taster session (2), sports gear to be worn to school
  • 11.19 – Golf session (1) with Stephen Gallagher Foundation at Kingsfield
  • 11.19 – Open Morning (Number Talks) at 09.00
  • 11.19 – Remembrance Day Assembly
  • 11.19 – Rugby taster session (3), sports gear to be worn to school
  • 11.19 – Golf session (2) with Stephen Gallagher Foundation at Kingsfield
  • 11.19 – Rugby taster session (4), sports gear to be worn to school
  • 11.19 – Golf session (3) with Stephen Gallagher Foundation at Kingsfield
  • 11.19 – Learning Showcase event at 14.00 – 15.00
  • 11.19 – Golf session (4) with Stephen Gallagher Foundation at Kingsfield
  • 12.19 – Christmas Fayre event at 09.30 – 12.00
  • 12.19 – Christmas Church Service at St Michael’s
  • 12.19 – Christmas Carol singalong event
  • 12.19 – 6.1.20 – Christmas Holidays

Have a great weekend everyone!

P5 and Mr Logan

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P5 Weekly Blog

Literacy and English

War Horse is our latest class novel and we have been doing some shared reading around the text. The story tells of Joey, a brave hearted farm horse, who is exposed to the horrors of war. Our initial focus was identifying themes from the text and making predictions about the outcome. We have also been analysing and annotating the text to identify key features of writing. We were able to identify and use examples of parenthesis (dashes, commas or brackets) used to provide additional information. Finally, we looked at sequential openers and connectives – firstly, secondly, then, afterwards, meanwhile, etc – before using these to make a piece of writing ‘flow’.

Question – Can you identify where I’ve used 3 examples of parenthesis in the previous paragraph?

In writing we have been note taking during our research on volcanoes, using subheadings and bullet points in doing so. We then used this information to write an informative essay on volcanoes. We described what volcanoes are, explained how they erupt, provided definitions of the terms active, dormant, extinct, gave examples of types of volcanoes and even gave key facts and information about an active volcano of our choice. Please take some time to have a read of these, they really are excellent examples of our work. Well done P5!

Numeracy and Mathematics

We are still enjoying being posed with some pictorial Number Talks that involve making estimations and reasoned guesses. These types of problem require us to show resilience through ‘trial and error’ and ‘process of elimination’ approaches. As time progresses, we are given additional clues that allow us to narrow our scope, e.g. the number is one less than a multiple of 11, the number is odd, the number does not have a 7 in the tens place.

We have finished our block of work on subtraction having developed both written and mental strategies within the operation. Mr Logan has been encouraging us to always evidence our working and strategies used in order to gain full credit for our work. We are looking forward to moving on to multiplication next week when we will be recapping on our tables knowledge, multiplying by a single-digit, multiplying by two-digits and widening our range of mental strategies.

Learning Across the Curriculum

Science and Social Studies – In Japan, we were keen to learn more about volcanoes as there are 110 active ones located there. We have been learning what a volcano is, how they erupt, what stages of volcano there are and about the main types. Following this we created annotated diagrams in our jotters. Next week we will be creating  and decorating papier mache volcanoes and making them erupt in a science investigation. Please send in newspaper, cardboard sheets or boxes, plastic bottles and milk cartons if you have them!

Spanish – Mr. Vilanova has been working on numbers and colours with us as we begin developing our ability to read, speak, write and listen in Spanish.

P.E – In basketball we have been developing our passing and movement skills within game situations. We have been attempting to move the ball quickly between all players and get ourselves high up the court to put pressure on the opposition when defending.

Achievements

Please take a look on our Twitter feed @SpringfieldP5 for this week’s achievements! There have been plenty of them!

Coming Up

  • 7.10.19 – Social Enterprise Academy visiting P5
  • 8.10.19 – West Lothian Ranger Service orienteering session
  • 9.10.19 – Harvest Assembly – remember to bring in non-perishable items to donate to the West Lothian Foodbank
  • 12.10.19 to 21.10.19 – October holidays
  • 22.10.19 – All return to school
  • 28.10.19 – Rugby session for P5 at Linlithgow Rugby Club (1)
  • 4.11.19 – Rugby session for P5 at Linlithgow Rugby Club (2)
  • 6.11.19 – Number Talks Open Morning from 9.30 – 10.30
  • 8.11.19 – Remembrance Day Assembly
  • 11.11.19 – Rugby session for P5 at Linlithgow Rugby Club (3)
  • 18.11.19 – Rugby session for P5 at Linlithgow Rugby Club (4)
  • 19.11.19 – Learning Showcase from 14.00 – 15.00
  • 6.12.19 – Christmas Fayre from 9.30 – 12.00

One week to go before the holidays!

#GoTeamP5!

P5 and Mr Logan

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P5 Weekly Blog

I can’t believe we’ve reached the September weekend already! Time flies in P5, here’s what we’ve been up to this week and a look ahead to next…

Numeracy and Mathematics

In Numeracy and Mathematics we have been applying our learning of place value when using written methods of addition. Firstly, we ensured that our 3-digit numbers’ columns were lined up correctly and that we had noted which operation was being used with an addition sign (+). We reminded ourselves that when we have 10 or more in one column we have to ‘bridge’, ‘carry’ or ‘regroup’ by passing our tens to the left. When reading questions, we realised that a lot of mathematical words and phrases for addition mean the same thing; both, altogether, how many, find the total, plus, combine, increase, find the sum of and join. Next week, we will be furthering our knowledge of written methods when we look at the inverse operation of addition, subtraction.

We’ve also been doing some Number Talks this week to improve our mental agility. Mr Logan has been calling us the ‘Mathletes’ and asking us to verbalise varied strategies used to tackle addition problems. For example,  when posed with ’20 x 25′ we were able to find the solution in a number of ways. We decided that the most efficient method was to multiply 25 by 10 then double our answer.

Literacy and English

Whether it’s an ocean quest with Magnus Fin, seeing the world through August’s perspective or studying Sputnik’s Guide to Life on Earth, we’ve been getting excited about reading this week in P5!

Mr Logan has been springing reading time on us with the use of some acronyms and images, e.g. ROBOTS – read one book off the shelf, BEAR – be excited about reading. We’ve enjoyed dropping everything and having some quiet time to immerse ourselves in a text  that we really enjoy. It doesn’t matter what this is, it could be an atlas, a newspaper, a fictional story or comic! Whatever the text is, it’s important that we want to read it and get excited before turning each page. We’ll be studying a range of texts this year and looking to develop our reading skills and strategies to better understand them.

In writing this week, we’ve been finding out about Japanese poems called haikus. Haikus are usually written about an aspect of nature, e.g. the seasons or a particular animal, and express different feelings and emotions associated with these themes. The structure of a haiku is important; there must be 3 lines and a total of 17 syllables. The first line should have 5 syllables, the second 7 syllables and the third 5 syllables. There is no need to use rhyming but some of us chose to try this with the final word of the first and third lines. We’ve been word processing these and adding some relevant images. You’ll be able to see them on our Literacy wall, come and have a read!

Learning Across the Curriculum

Our focus in P.E this week has been control and maintaining possession of the basketball. We worked on the height at which we bounce the ball and using our body position to shield the ball from opponents. After some skill practises we tried to apply our learning in small-sided games.

We’ve been researching Japanese landmarks this week and taking clear and concise notes on these using bullet points. We’ve travelled from Mount Fuji to Kinkaka-Ji and on to Nara Park and Hiroshima Peace Park. In groups, we began creating informative posters which we will present to the rest of the class next week.

Mr Logan met with Claire Fraser from the Social Enterprise Academy this week about a project that P5 will be starting in October. Stay tuned for more information on what P5 will be doing to raise money for a worthy cause in the local community!

Achievements

  • Sarah and Olivia – Well done for your solo and partnered successes in gymnastics!
  • Lucy – Fantastic achievement completing the 10 mile Pedal for Scotland cycling event!
  • Finlay B – Good job on starting football with Hibs! Keep training hard!
  • Cori – Great work in getting two 2nd place finishes at your swimming gala!
  • Mairi D – Super effort cycling 30km at the weekend! What a distance!
  • Sam – Second place at Inchcoonan’s cross country horse event. Fantastic!

Super proud of all my P5 superstars! Keep bringing in any of your recent achievements to share with us!

Coming Up

  • 16.9.19 – Holiday
  • 17.9.19 – Holiday
  • 18.9.19 – Liaise with Leadership 4-5pm (P3 classroom)
  • 18.9.19 – Parent Council AGM 7-8pm (library)
  • 25.9.19 – Monitoring and Tracking of Wellbeing 6-7pm (hall)
  • 27.9.19 – European Day of Languages
  • 30.9.19 – Futsal with WLYFF begins for P5
  • 2.3.19 – Parents Evening 4.30-7.30pm
  • 3.3.19 – Parents Evening 3.30-6.30pm

Have a relaxing and restful long weekend!

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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