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!
This week we have been extending our knowledge of capacity and volume. We started by establishing the difference between the two concepts and found that capacity is the maximum something can hold where as the volume is the amount of space that a substance or object occupies. We can now confidently compare and order different volumes of liquid using millilitres (ml), centilitres (cl and litres (l) and can successfully convert between these units of measure. We found that there are 10ml per 1cl, 1,000ml per 1l and 100cl per 1l. Having developed this knowledge we then applied our skills to play some estimate, check and record games against a partner. We chose measuring cylinders depending on the volume of liquid required and noticed that our estimates became increasingly accurate we the game progressed. Finally, to round-off our learning for the week we made ‘mocktails’ using recipes and instructions provided. In order to do so successfully, we used measuring cylinders with 1ml scales, ensured they were flat to the table and recorded the liquid line, rather than the bubbles or froth. Have a look at us in action…
Z, G and J checking their total volume of ‘Orange Fizz’
JM and JB making a ‘Blue Wave’
S and L measuring ingredients for a ‘Berry Blitz’
Literacy and English
Now that we have began learning about World War II, all of our Literacy and English work in class is based around our shared text, ‘The Boy in the Striped Pajamas’ by John Boyne. Last week we made predictions and assumptions about the plot and storyline, and continued this week with a focus on characterisation and profiling. We discussed each character in detail, including their relationships with others, behaviours, personality traits and developing roles within the story. During our discussions, we used inference to analyse each character at a deeper level and provided evidence or quotes from the text to support any statements we made about them. By skimming and scanning the text, we were able to find some context clues that clarified our thinking and highlighted some key themes. These included; persecution of others, discrimination, racism, naivety, innocence of youth, conflict, relationships and moral justice.
In writing this week, we analysed the story from Bruno’s perspective and considered the impact that moving to Out-With has had on his happiness. We wrote informal letters using the features of an email to one of his three best friends (Karl, Daniel or Martin) or his Grandmother in Berlin. Within these pieces of writing we were able to structure our work appropriately using an email format, build detail through the description of Bruno’s surroundings, apply our skills developed last week to write in the ‘first person’ and share his feelings and emotions to create reader empathy.
With Mrs. Gordon, we continued our learning in French this week by presenting our own ‘la météo’ forecasts to discuss the weather.
Health and Wellbeing
It was Safer Internet Day 2019 this week, and we have been continuing to learn about the ways in which we can stay safe online and use the internet responsibly. Our focus this week was on passwords and security to protect online accounts and data. We understand what a strong password is having looked at examples of weak ones and predicted the passwords people may choose based on some basic details about them. A strong password must contain symbols, upper case letters, lower case letters and numbers. A lot of us admitted that we may have to go home and increase the security of our social media accounts.
In P.E, we have continued with our block of dodgeball. Now that we understand the rules and roles of players within a team, we have been improving our throwing technique and playing variations of the end game to apply the skills we have developed. P7 have really enjoyed this so far, and we may well need to extend the initial 6 week block!
Maintaining possession
Spatial awareness, movement and positioning
Social Studies
This week we have been creating a World War II timeline and learning about the uses of propaganda. For our timeline, we researched key events that took place during the 6 years and a day of World War II with the aim of placing them in a chronological sequence on our wall. We heard Neville Chamberlain’s radio broadcast declaring war on Germany after Hitler refused to withdraw troops from Poland and the events which took place as a result of this. After being introduced to the definition of propaganda and discussing the themes and messages behind some examples of it, we started creating our own examples. These are looking fantastic and we will share them with you once completed. You can see our blacked-out World War II living room below with some interesting objects and artifacts from this era.
Our blacked out WWII living room with games, paperwork, news articles and artifacts
Our display beginning to come together with leader sketches and timeline skeleton
Coming Up…
11.2.19 – Skills for Learning, Life and Work programme begins
11.2.19 – After school football for P6 and P7 outdoors from 3.15-4.15pm
14.2.19 – Rotary Quiz for selected pupils
25.1.19 – Academy staff to visit P7 re. S1 transition
26.2.19 – Football league meeting (1) at Xcite from 4-6pm
5.3.19 – Scottish Opera workshop for P6 and P7 pupils
13.3.19 – Scottish Opera performance of 1719 for parents, carers and families at 2.30pm
14.3.19 – Parental Information Evening at Linlithgow Academy re. S1 transition
26.3.19 – Football league meeting (2) at Xcite from 4-6pm
27.3.19 – Ford Castle P7 camp information evening in school hall at 6pm
3.4.19 & 4.4.19 – Parents Evenings
4.4.19 – Skills for Learning, Life and Work programme ends
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.
MH and LG worked hard to solve the Mystery Matrix
One of this week’s Big Starts
Skittles fractions
Skittles fractions
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.
Communicating with peers to pass the ball successfully
Futsal passing exchanges
PM Fun Run achievement
RD and FB rugby achievements
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.
“Can we stay here for the rest of the day?”
Happy boys at this table
Working hard to manufacture poppies for the 2019 appeal
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
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!
Futsal week 1
Dangerous situation response flow charts
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.
Leadership in action
Food chains
Structure of plants
Inspiring leaders
P7a junk material favelas
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!
To tie in with our Brazil learning, this week we have been creating rainforest tankas in writing. Tankas are Japanese poems, similar to haikus, but have two additional lines. They have 5 lines split over 2 verses and always add up to a total of 31 syllables. Often tankas are written about nature, love or sadness and portray strong feelings or emotions. We discussed deforestation and the feelings that this may evoke for both the animals and indigenous tribes living there, as well as the impact that this is having on the natural environment. When reading examples, we also identified the regular use of simile, metaphor and personification within tankas and were encouraged to incorporate figurative language into our own work. Please read one or two of our efforts below:
We have also been working as groups to research the Brazilian city that our tables are named after. Firstly, we had to identify the location of our city on the Brazilian map before marking this on our class wall display. Using our notes and relevant information from our research, we started creating informative posters about each city that detailed various aspects of life in that location. Some of us chose to focus on landmarks and places of interest, whereas others opted for a focus on the natural environment or the artistic influence that can be seen there. These will be completed next week and we will share some photos of the finished articles in our next blog post.
Z and J passing on their knowledge of tanka poetry to M, J, L and F
Numeracy and Mathematics
This week we celebrated Maths Week Scotland as well as continuing to extend our knowledge of multiplication. On Monday and Tuesday, we consolidated our learning of multiplying 4 or 5-digit numbers by a single digit using a standard written method before applying specific rules to effectively multiply by 10, 100 and 1,000. To build on this further, we multiplied decimal numbers by 10, 100 and 1,000, paying particular attention to how many places our decimal place would move to the right. Next week we will continue to strengthen our knowledge and understanding in multiplication before making the link the the inverse operation, division. As part of Maths Week Scotland, we took advantage of the good weather on Wednesday morning to team up with P7b and do some multiplication orienteering. Various multi-step word problems we positioned in 15 different locations around the school grounds where we worked with a partner to solve these using the written method taught earlier in the week. If we failed to do so, or did not include units of measurement, we were given a time penalty or asked to recalculate. Zak and Ambra were our winners, just pipping 2 other groups to the prize.
Health and Wellbeing
We have been focused on one value this week in P7a, resilience. Throughout the week we took the time to refine our class assembly and develop our confidence when presenting to an audience. We hope that you all enjoyed it and would like to thank you for coming along to support us. If you couldn’t make it along today then please feel free to have a look at our presentation by clicking the link (P7a Class Assembly). Resilience is something we are all looking to build during P7 as we prepare for our transition to S1. Next week, we are looking forward to a visit from the RNLI to speak to us about water safety as part of our Keeping Myself Safe learning with Mrs. Newton. We are hoping to further our knowledge of how to respond in an emergency situation near water.
On Wednesday, we teamed up with those in our leadership groups to finalise what our remits will be for this year. From newspaper writers to sports leaders, we’ve got a number of areas in which we will be working hard to develop across school. Each group will be allocated one hour per week to carry out their responsibilities and we’ll keep you updated with our progress over the coming weeks and months. As our new upper school display states there really is a leader in all of us, and we’re beginning to demonstrate the skills and qualities that a great leader might possess:
Effective communication
Enthusiasm
Boldness
Self-assurance
Intuitiveness
Teamwork
Empathy
Charisma
Thank you for all showing up in such numbers for both Meet the Teacher and our class assembly this week. Both the children and I appreciate it.
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!
We have been learning about weight and measure this week, firstly using the comparative size of familiar objects to make reasonable estimations, check these using an appropriate measuring device, read scales accurately and record our results in the correct unit. As we extended our knowledge of weight, we linked this learning to rationing during World War II by researching the amount that each person would have been allocated of specific items per week in ounces (oz). Ounces (oz), pounds (lbs) and stones are examples of imperial units of measure which would have been used in this era, which contrasts to the metric system of measurement used more regularly nowadays, e.g. grams (g) and kilograms (kg). Once we found out how much of each item was rationed, we used formulae to convert these amounts using decimal notation from ounces to grams by multiplying by 28.3, and then from grams to kilograms by dividing by 1,000. This allowed us to consolidate our knowledge of place value as we moved the decimal point three places left.
Literacy and English
Now that we have finished reading The Boy In the Striped Pajamas, our group text, we have been studying it in more detail to further extend our comprehension and understanding whilst developing our reading skills and strategies. We began by discussing the most prevalent themes throughout the story, coming up with some excellent suggestions such as the loss of innocence, friendship, relationships and family, division, good vs. evil, abuse of power, leadership, religion, war and conflict. From this we analysed a chosen theme in greater detail by examining where this was explored in the text. This week we accessed the story through an ebook to vary the way in which we interpret information. We were also introduced to the notion of cause and effect; the cause being why a key event occurs in the story and the effect being how this impacts upon characters and triggers other events as a result. This is often referred to as the ‘butterfly effect’. When reading various statements, we distinguished between fact and opinion before providing our own examples of these. Hitler expressed a number of strong opinions during World War II, but there was no evidence to suggest these were true or factual. Finally, we tackled a range of questions based on the text and word processed our responses within our reading group’s Yammer page. This opened up some interesting dialogue between the class to promote further discussion and debate.
Health and Wellbeing
The second workshop of our tobacco education delivered by Michelle from West Lothian’s Drug and Alcohol Service took place on Monday. We further explored the damaging effects that smoking can have on our bodies and were able to witness this first-hand. Through our research, we found that chemicals such as butane are found in cigarettes. Butane is flammable and also found in petrol, and is created as a bi-product of smoking to ensure a cigarette stays lit. ‘Smokey Sue’ was setup in the front playground with a test tube of water to replicate the moisture in our lungs before smoking one cigarette. We were shocked to see that the water was turned yellow as a result, and a build-up of tar could be found on the glass. Michelle also posed us with various ‘tempting situations’ and we were asked to move to the left if we were not tempted to smoke, or to the right if we were tempted to smoke. The idea of peer pressure was mentioned, and the children assessed the impact that risk-taking behaviour such as this could have on their health.
Have a relaxing weekend everyone! P7b, make sure you rest and recuperate before school camp next week! No late nights!
Our key focus this week has been our class talks, on an aspect of World War II that particularly interests us. We carefully selected and summarised our personal projects, contributing a number of relevant ideas, information and knowledge when engaging confidently with our audience. Our presentations were clear, expressive, organised and delivered in a logical order with an introduction, main part and conclusion. Cue cards and brief notes were used to prevent us from ‘reading’ our talk and we used signposts to give a basic structure. We are continuing to enhance our communication and ability to engage others through appropriate use of eye contact, body language, emphasis, pace and tone. The props and resources we used were thought-provoking, and we allowed opportunities for the audience to interact during our presentations. There was a marked improvement in our use of higher order questioning which promoted further discussion and interaction at the conclusion of our talks. Mr. Logan was blown away by the standard of our presentations, and was thrilled to see such a vast improvement in our confidence levels.
Numeracy and Mathematics
We have been continuing to investigate the order of operations, using the BODMAS acronym to remind ourselves of this. Having consolidated our learning of the four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division), we are now applying this learning further when tackling varied expressions and equations. We have introduced how brackets can change the emphasis when carrying out calculations and have demonstrated our understanding of this concept through verbalising our ways of thinking and strategies utilised. Next week we will continue to work on this with Mrs. Doran whilst beginning to study weight and measure with Mr. Logan.
Health and Wellbeing
On Monday we welcomed Michelle into class from West Lothian’s Drug and Alcohol Service. She is their Young People’s Tobacco Prevention Worker and discussed the negative impacts that smoking and tobacco can have on our health. We shared some of our prior knowledge on the subject and were given the opportunity to further develop our understanding of this topic. P7b were shocked by the facts, statistics and information she shared in our first workshop but understand the impact that these substances can have on our health. We have a greater knowledge of the ways that culture, the media and peer groups can influence our own decisions and risk-taking behaviour, and we are learning to manage this. Did you know there are 4,000-5,000 chemicals and toxins in a single cigarette? And, smoking 20 cigarettes per day costs people around £3,000 per year? As a result, we have all pledged to give up one thing we can’t live without for a week and replace it with a healthy alternative. We will report back to Michelle with our progress next Monday. Will the Xboxes, PS4s, sweets and fizzy juice make way for outdoor play, water and fruit? We shall see…
Next Week
28.5.18 – P7 Leavers Trip EE2 forms sent home, return by 1.6.18
28.5.18 – Tobacco Education workshop (2)
29.5.18 – No golf sessions next week, last session to be rearranged
29.5.18 – Parent Council AGM
31.5.18 – Minikickers for P2-3, P7 Sports Leaders required 3.15-4.00pm
1.6.18 – All medication for school camp to be handed to school office
This week we have continued to consolidate our learning of the four operations by using written methodology for long division. The children have been using two standard written methods for this, showing their working at all times to evidencing their thinking and strategies used. Following on from this, Mrs. Doran introduced us to the order of operations on Thursday using the BODMAS acronym (brackets, of, divide, multiply, add, subtract) where we were able to apply our previous learning to solve problems.
Literacy and English
The atmosphere was tense in class on Wednesday as we came to the end of our class novel, ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’. We were both shocked and saddened by the way in which the story concluded, and strongly agreed that no other human being should ever be discriminated against for their race, religion or skin colour. At Springfield, we try to promote our core value of respect and celebrate the diverse world that we live in. In grammar last week, we consolidated our learning of using a thesaurus to find synonyms and up-level pieces of written text. Most groups have come to the end of their group novel and have now selected a text of their choice to study between now and the end of term. The children can read this at their own pace, and will be posing literal, inferential and evaluative questions based on these using our Yammer discussion groups. Please ensure they take some time at home to read this each week, with the target being to complete it by the end of term. Class talks start next week, and I am greatly looking forward to the children’s presentations on an aspect of World War II.
World War II
I am hugely impressed with the level of creativity shown in making P7b’s Anderson and Morrison shelters over the last three weeks for homework. These are now proudly displayed in our classroom for everyone to see, showcasing the children’s hard work to present such wonderful, and realistic models. Please have a look at them in the photos below, I’m sure you’ll agree that they’re fantastic! We also extended our knowledge of rationing this week; taking brief notes in our own words as we watched some archive footage from the Imperial War Museum and organised this information to identify key points for a ‘Rationing Fact File’.
Health and Wellbeing
Our taster sessions for rugby and golf continued this week as we further develop our skills in both activities. We have two more weeks of golf lessons to follow and one week of rugby. Thank you to our coaches Ross and Dougie from Linlithgow Rugby Club, and Jane and Stewart from the SG Foundation for providing this opportunity. In P.E, we carried out our fitness circuits and have been enjoying playing rounders now that the better weather has arrived. Here’s hoping for some more fun in the sun next week. On Thursday we heard from Aileen who visited us from Stramash to deliver a presentation about our residential visit to Oban in a couple of weeks. We can’t wait to go now! Finally, a huge well done to both our footballers and cheerleaders who represented the school magnificently today at the George Allan tournament at Linlithgow Rose’s ground. What a talented group of children we have in P7b, you fill me with pride boys and girls.
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