skiing – Springfield Primary School and Bonnytoun Nursery School

December 17, 2017

P7b Weekly Blog

It has been another exciting week in P7b. On Monday we started off by creating a Christmas haiku poem. We have now come to the end of our poetry block of writing. This was followed by guided reading and continuing with our group novel studies. After break we got into our enterprise groups and figured out the gross and net profit that we had achieved from the Christmas Fayre. In total we made £1,186 and £851 of this goes towards our end of year Leavers 2018 trip. Our P.E session of Monday was basketball in the Community Wing and it was really fun. We were playing small sided games to demonstrate the skills we have been developing since October.

On Tuesday we started off our brilliant day by reading in our groups while the rest of us started our reading tasks and completed our grammar and punctuation. We have been using connectives, they are used to join up sentences and extend/vary the length of them. We were asked to up-level our connectives, for example; meanwhile, additionally and furthermore. Near the end of the day we started on algebra in maths, we were talking about number machines. The very last thing we did on Tuesday was practising Last Christmas by Wham! and Feliz Navidad, a Spanish Christmas song, for Carols Around the Tree next week. Please come along and watch us perform at 10.25am on Friday!

Then on Wednesday we had more algebra. We tackled some problem solving questions with a partner and these were from the GCSE tests from England, some of the questions were really tricky but we enjoyed the challenge and were pleased when we got to the correct answer. Later on in the day, we had science with Mrs Tulloch, some of our parents came in to see us learning about chemical and physical changes.

On Thursday morning we went to Midlothian Snowsports Centre in Edinburgh for our second skiing session. We’re all getting better each week and can’t wait for the next one. It was snowing all morning and made us feel Christmassy! After skiing we had our Christmas lunch in Mrs Gordon’s classroom. Both classes were here so it was packed, but the food was great. Thank you Jessie and the kitchen ladies.

Then on Friday, we had singing practise in assembly and after break we had committees . The Sports Committee were tidying and reorganising the P.E cupboard as it was a bit of a mess!

We hope you all have a nice weekend.

Struan, Ailsa and Ross Wi

November 30, 2017

P7 Skiing (week 1)

Today P7 enjoyed their first of four sessions of skiing at Midlothian Snowsports Centre. Once we arrived, we were kitted up and out onto the slopes in our groups. These depended on whether we had skied lots before, a little bit or never at all.

Group 1 were on the nursery slope today getting used to the putting on and taking off of skis, beginning to balance on both one and two skis and moving down a slight decline before stopping. Groups 2 and 3 moved slightly further up the main slope to the blue line and were attempting to gain some speed before coming to a stop. Group 4 were on the main slope and developing their ability to use snow plough turns whilst group 5 made their way to the very top where they focused on their pole planting and parallel turns.

Already after one week we are seeing huge progress with each child and look forward to seeing them further develop their skills and confidence in skiing over the next three sessions. The instructors were incredibly complimentary of the behaviour and positive attitude demonstrated by all of the children. Well done P7, we’re so proud of you all! Have a look at this week’s pictures below…

P7, Mr Logan and Mrs Gordon

November 25, 2017

P7b Weekly Blog

Numeracy and Mathematics

In maths this week we have been comparing costs to find the cheapest option or best buy. We discovered that buying in bulk can often reduce the price per item and lower costs. Knowing this was beneficial when ordering resources this week for our enterprise projects. In order to ensure we maximise our net profits, we have been sourcing materials for the best price online through comparisons between different retailers. This week we have also been using written methods to divide sums of money, with a remainder on occasion. Long division forms part of the S1 assessment in maths and this will ensure we have a secure knowledge of this area before our transition. Our Standardised Assessments indicated that we needed some practise and consolidation of interpreting written word and multi-step problems. We have been working hard to read questions carefully at all times, take note of key information and use working to tackle this style of question step-by-step.

Literacy and English

On Thursday we embarked on our first Big Writing adventure with Mrs Doran. We further explored the issue of deforestation in the Amazon rain forest, carrying out various written tasks in response to a reporter on location. Our whole class targets in writing are to continue using an ambitious range of VCOP to make our writing exciting for the reader and developing the ability to proofread, self-check and up-level our work where appropriate. Mr Logan has been pleased with the level of description and detail we are beginning to incorporate into our work. Our focus in grammar and punctuation has been to use adjectives along with examples of figurative language such as simile, metaphor and personification. In shared reading this week we all examined the features of charity appeals. We were able to highlight simple features such as bold titles and thought-provoking images, but also looked deeper into ideas such as the way in which such adverts affect our emotions and influence our actions. P7b were able to identify persuasive language used throughout the text and used a dictionary to define unfamiliar words such as ‘malnutrition’, ‘irrigation’ and ‘supplements’. There was also a vote for our new class novel this week, and Ailsa’s choice of Maze Runner, a post-apocalyptic science fiction novel, was chosen by the majority of pupils.

Health and Wellbeing

We have two weeks remaining of futsal, and are grateful to our specialist coach Neil from the Livingston Youth Football Foundation for his continued commitment to the programme. In P.E next week we will be developing our passing and dribbling skills within basketball, our latest block of P.E, and applying these skills within small-sided game situations. Our after school clubs are going from strength to strength, with a huge number of pupils across all stages of school benefiting from the provision of various activities. A huge thank you goes to all of the teachers who are giving up their own time to deliver such high quality sessions. We really are doing our utmost to develop every aspect of our children’s Health and Wellbeing at Springfield Primary School and their continued participation in these activities is one way to ensure we do so. Next week, P7 are looking forward to the start of our skiing sessions as Midlothian Sports Centre. No matter what ability level, each of our pupils will be given the chance to either learn to ski or build on their previous experience. Mr Logan, Mrs Gordon and Miss Baillie are also looking forward to taking to the slopes! Thank you in advance to those parents who will be assisting us over the 4 weeks of lessons. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Coming Up

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

We hope you’re having a great weekend!

P7b and Mr Logan