What a great virtual sports week we had last week! Huge thank you to Mrs Reid for organising our daily sports challenges and gathering together all of our scores and also to our class teachers for sending out lots of fun and engaging sport-related tasks and activities for us to try.
Well done to all of our pupils, parents, carers and families who got involved, it was lovely to see photos and videos of what you’ve all been getting up to! We’ve had over 180 pupils submit scores, 1,800 daily challenges completed and travelled the equivalent of Edinburgh to Leicester in the house distance challenge! That’s a massive 391 kilometres!
I’m sure you’re all eager to hear who is this year’s winning house and the new holders of the House Cup, but there’s one more little step to take before you can find out. Click on the link below to see the results from the week, including: our winning house, the highest scoring pupil in each class, the winners of the house distance challenge and even our top 3 parents!
From Monday 15th of June – Friday 19th June I would like to invite all our pupils and families to take part in our Virtual Sports Challenges.
For each challenge you complete you will score points for your school house and at the end of Virtual Sports Week we will have a winning house for 2020.
Each slide in the attached Powerpoint will explain one of our 11 challenges and give details on how to score points for your house.
Keep a note of your score for each challenge and then fill in the score form attached and send it back when all your challenges are complete! This can be done using the Forms link on the final slide.
Everyone in your family is welcome to get involved so lets get active and have lots of fun!
Click on the link to access the Powerpoint with all the information you need – Virtual Sports Week
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.
A windswept P5 on the Forth Road Bridge!
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
We are absolutely delighted to inform our pupils, parents, carers and families of the exciting news we received today. Springfield Primary School and Bonnytoun Nursery have been awarded a sportscotland Gold School Sport Award for 2018-2021!
The Gold School Sport Award is recognition of the school and nursery’s achievements in putting sport at the heart of our school’s planning, practice and ethos. It highlights that as a school we have shown excellent practice across the core areas of the Award and demonstrated an ongoing commitment to increase our young people’s opportunities and engagement in physical education, school sport and leadership. We aim to build upon and further improve our existing provision of sport whilst creating clear pathways for lifelong participation.
We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has played their part in achieving this award, we really couldn’t have done it without you. This includes; our wonderful staff and P.E specialist who ensure that our children participate in 2 hours of high quality P.E per week, those who volunteer to give up their time every week to provide an extra-curricular club, the parents and volunteers who assist with school sport and our committed P7 Sports Leaders. Last but not least, thank you to our Sports Committee for all of their hard work towards achieving this award and to all of our pupils across both the school and nursery for their boundless enthusiasm towards all things sport at Springfield.
“It’s not always the team with the best players that win. It’s the players in the best team that win. Together, everyone, achieves, more.”
Over 35 of our P7 pupils enjoyed their second session of golf at Kingsfield Golf Range today, provided by the Stephen Gallacher Foundation. The boys and girls who attended were working on their chipping this week, using wedges and lofted clubs. We started off with a game of ‘Rory Says’, which followed the same rules as ‘Simon Says’, to get warmed-up before splitting off into teams of 3 for a competition. Each player had to hit towards a small square target 15 yards away, with the aim being to land the ball inside this zone. If we were successful, we had to place one of the golf balls behind us on the noughts and crosses board to earn points for our team. It was great fun, and a huge thanks again to Jane and Stewart our coaches for all their hard work in planning and delivering these sessions!
JG chipping towards his target.Racing to the correct station in ‘Rory Says’.Getting warmed up and ready to play.
It was a successful weekend for SF and P7b and NP in P7a, as they both competed in the local derby match between a Linlithgow schools select and Bo’ness schools select. Linlithgow came out victorious and you can see the boys pictured below with the trophy. SF and NP are just two of our talented footballers we have at Springfield Primary School, who’ll also be representing us in the George Allan tournament this Sunday 20th May at Prestonfield. Kick off is at 9.00am if any of our pupils, parents, carers and families would like to come along and cheer the boys and girls on!
Well done you two! A great achievement and one you should both be extremely proud of!
Our Primary 6 and 7 school footballers are continuing to train hard ahead of their upcoming league meetings and cluster tournaments. We are currently still training indoors on Mondays from 3.15-4.15pm but will be returning outside on Monday 5th March, at which point both P6 and P7 will train together again. Any P6 and P7 boys and girls are more than welcome to attend, just let Mr. Logan know if you would like to join.
Here are some important dates for the footballing family calendars:
Monday 12th February – HOLIDAY
Monday 19th February – Football league meeting (2), letters to follow
Monday 26th February – P6 training (indoors)
Monday 5th March – P6 and P7 training (outdoors)
Monday 12th March – Football league meeting (3), letters to follow
Monday 19th March – P6 and P7 training (outdoors)
Monday 26th March – HOLIDAY
Monday 2nd April – HOLIDAY
Monday 9th April – Football league meeting (4), letters to follow
Monday 16th April – NO TRAINING
Monday 23rd April – P6 and P7 training (outdoors)
Monday 30th April – P6 and P7 training (outdoors)
Monday 7th May – HOLIDAY
Monday 14th May – P6 and P7 training (outdoors)
Monday 21st May – P6 and P7 training (outdoors)
Monday 28th May – P6 and P7 training (outdoors)
Monday 4th June – NO TRAINING (P7 Camp)
Monday 11th June – P6 and P7 training (outdoors)
Monday 18th June – P6 and P7 training (outdoors)
Monday 25th June – End of year awards ceremony in P7b’s classroom
It’s been another busy week in P7b, so here’s a brief summary of the goings-on…
Numeracy
P7b have been working hard when applying their decimals knowledge when using money. This week we have been focusing on bills and calculating total costs through various word and multi-step problems. Our enterprise projects have allowed us to use these skills in a practical context when resourcing items required and providing Mr. Logan with a total cost for our order. In doing so, we were asked to make price comparisons and attempt to gather quality resources at a reasonable price. On Tuesday we were lucky enough to have Mr. Fryer (Lois’s Dad) in to visit both P7 classes. Mr. Fryer works as a Senior Mortgage Manager for TSB was was able to share his wealth of knowledge around budgeting. He worked closely with each enterprise group, discussing their projects and offering some support to the calculation of their costs and potential gross/net profits.
Literacy
We are continuing to enjoy our group novels in guided reading; from Adolphus Tips to Alex Rider, and Gangsta Granny to The Hunger Games. Now that some groups have finished their first novel, they have been given the choice as to what text they read next. In P7b we promote an enjoyment of reading through the opportunity for personalisation and choice. Mr. Logan has been impressed with the level of expression we are beginning to use to engage our audience when reading. On Wednesday, we looked at our first ‘shared reading’ text as a whole class. We were studying a poem called ‘Wind’ by Dionne Brand. The poem was written in the first person and brought human-like qualities to the wind through repeated uses of personification. The higher order discussion was great to hear and we were amazed by how many features of the text came to our attention the more we read. On Thursday, we began using our new Big Writing Adventures resource with Mrs. Doran and look forward to more of these lessons in the coming weeks!
Health and Wellbeing
This week was our anti-bullying and racism focus in school. With kindness being one of our school’s values, we must always ensure we treat each other with the utmost respect and in a way which we would like to be treated ourselves. Mrs. Matos delivered our first two Respect lessons where we discussed gender equality and what respect means to us. We compared our definitions with the dictionary definition and rewrote what this looks like in our classroom. This will be used throughout the year to refer back to and promote positive behaviour and relationships in the classroom. We demonstrated kindness by dressing down and donating money to Chlldren in Need on Friday. Thank you to Mrs. Gordon and the Pupil Council Committee for organising such a successful event, and of course to those who baked. The cakes and sweets were delicious! We will let you know in due course how much we have raised.
Coming Up This Term
Road Safety Week next week
Enterprise project orders to be placed next Monday
Pupil Voice Committees next Friday
Big Write event in class on Tuesday at 9.30 – 10.30am
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
To all our parents, carers and families, have a fantastic weekend!
I am delighted to share two P7b sporting achievements today. Firstly, Danielle recently competed in an ice skating competition at Murrayfield Ice Rink and managed to come in 3rd place winning bronze. Well done Danielle, what a fantastic achievement. Keep practising and I’m sure there will be some silvers and golds on the way!
Danielle with her bronze trophy
Secondly, a huge well done to Sam who last night was selected to be ball boy at Andy Murray’s Live Event at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow. Sam was positioned at the net during Murray’s match versus Roger Federer and was lucky enough to get both of their autographs at the end. You’ll also see from the picture below that Sam is wearing Federer’s headband that he wore for the match. If you want to watch the highlights from this and see him in action, you can find them here:
A HUGE well done and thank you to all of our children and wonderful staff who took part in our Sport Dress Down Day yesterday. We saw many different sport stars, from footballers to gymnasts, rugby players to cyclists. Thanks to everyone’s efforts and generous donations we managed to raise a grand total of £264.70! This money will all go towards brand new sports equipment to enhance both the delivery of P.E and our after school programme activities.
Well done to P7b for confidently delivering their class assembly on Health and Wellbeing at Springfield. It was great to hear about all of the exciting things we can look forward to throughout the year. Improving our children’s health and wellbeing is a key priority this session as we look to promote successful learning through developing social, emotional, emotional and physical wellbeing. Our school is a nurturing and caring learning environment where we promote confidence and positive relationships through kindness and mutual respect. We want all of our pupils to have knowledge that will allow them to make healthy lifestyle choices now and in the future.
It was great to see both P7 classes encouraging their buddies to exercise and get active with some Zumba after P7b’s assembly. They enjoyed taking part in some guided dance to improve their coordination, gross motor skills and body awareness. Other classes across school participated in Joe Wick’s (The Body Coach) Schools Fitness Week by tuning in for a live workout each day.
Phew! Think we all need our long weekend now. Have a safe and restful one and we’ll see you all next Wednesday.
