Mrs Roy

P1R are pure dead brilliant!

As you may have guessed from the title of our blog we were celebrating all things Scottish this week. We made a class tartan using an online weaver then chose 3 colours to make our own tartans with coloured pencils to display in our classroom. In reading we heard a story aboot a wee wee moose then had a go at learning some Scots words. We enjoyed our carousel activities which included using the netbooks to play some games and listened to some traditional Scots poems and rhymes on the scuilwab website. We also listened to bagpipe music and enjoyed having a wee jig and a sing song as we made some bagpipers to add to our display. I think our favourite activity was playing Simon says in Scots-touch yer heid, yer

shooders, yer lugs- it wis guid fun!

In maths this week we continued learning about

subtraction and also learned about more than/less than using Ally the Alligator to help us.

On Thursday we discovered some funny looking elf shoes under our Christmas tree – we came up with some really good ideas about why they were there and wrote them down:

Matthew thought that the elf had dropped them from the sleigh when it was flying through the sky.

Anthony thought the elf had come down the school chimney.

Maeve thought the elf had been trying to fill the stockings under our tree but when he heard the school bell he left his shoes behind as he ran away.

When Miss Smyth came to visit we asked if they belonged to her, she tried them on but they didn’t fit, some of the children also enjoyed trying them on.

This week also marked the beginning of Advent, each day we open our calendar and take time to think of others by saying an extra prayer.

The mysterious goings on in P1R

I can’t believe the week is over, it has been so busy!!

In science this week we were learning all about forces and did some work in our talking books. We had to do an investigation about toys that moved.

We had a visit on Wednesday from Travelling Tuba which was great fun, we got to learn about different instruments and listen to some performances. Kyle was even picked to try out one of the instruments!

In phonics we enjoyed working with our friends in P1D during our carousel activities where we learning all about the ‘ee’ sound. Ask your child to tell you the Vowel House story.

As last week was Anti-bullying week we spent some time on Wednesday afternoon reading a story about Allen the Alien who had moved to planet Earth. We did some role-play with stick puppets, played with the feelings dice and used the Allen adventure app on the ipad to read the rest of the story. We learned a lot about different types of bullying.

Then the unthinkable happened….on Thursday morning we found a large, green egg in our classroom and there was danger tape everywhere. We were all very confused and sent for Mrs Purdie to help us investigate. The children decided to set up a camera overnight to try and work out who the egg belonged to, here is what we found out!!!

HIP club

HIP club has been running for 2 weeks now and it has been great to see so many children coming along to spend some time working on their homework tasks. Charlie and Aiden made some posters to display around the school to encourage children to come along. This is a drop-in club which runs every Tuesday lunchtime for anyone who needs some extra time or support with their tasks. Here are some photographs of our club…

Fond farewells and festive fun

This week saw the preparations for the festive season begin with Scottish Dancing in PE in preparation for our Christmas Party and our first full rehearsal for the nativity. The children enjoyed learning the Grand Ole Duke of York and worked well with a partner to practise their moves! On Thursday we joined up with the other children in the P1 and P2 classes to start rehearsals for the big performances in December. We were really proud of our P1 children confidently saying their lines that they had been learning in class and at home – thank you to the parents for assisting with this! I am sure some of you will be singing the songs in your sleep by the time the performances come around!!

In maths we continued learning about subtraction focusing on using a number line. We learned that it was quite easy to jump back, we used Fireman Sam and his ladder, hopscotch, a number mat and games on the smartboard to help us.

Reading was fun this week as all the children read their new stories to one another and played the games that came with their books. Here are some photos of us in action working together in pairs.

We learned more about toys in the past and decided to make our very own set of clay marbles. It was tricky rolling the clay into a shooter and some smaller marbles. Next week we will paint them then give them a glossy shine!

Finally on Friday we had to say a fond farewell to Miss Proudfoot who has been working with us for the last 4 weeks. We have all enjoyed having her in our class and she will be missed – good luck in your next school Miss Proudfoot!!

Strange goings on in P1R

What a busy, but strange week!

It started calmly with our reading lessons where we were working in teams to sequence our stories without picture clues! We were also learning about true and false with Miss Proudfoot.

In maths we continued to learn about subtraction using a bug game and a new ipad app.

In phonics we learned about the letter ‘x’ and Miss Diamond’s mum kindly donated some real x-rays for us to use.

On Wednesday we observed the 1 minute silence to remember those who died in the war, we used our candle timer as a visual reminder. Everyone was very respectful.

Then things started to go wrong…..we went back in time to the 1950’s and learned about school life in the past. The teachers were really strict, the children had to write with slates, everyone sat in rows, if you were naughty you got the belt or had to wear the dunce hat (Miss Proudfoot was very naughty and we made her sit in the corner!). We also did a drill lesson for PE and it was tough, lots of press ups and star jumps.

We also learned about playground games and had a go at different activities – hula hoops, marbles, throwing the bean bag and hopscotch. Mrs Roy loved hopscotch!

Things got even stranger on Thursday morning when we came in from break to find our classroom upside down. We came up with lots of suggestions as to what had happened – a bad man broke in through the windows, the time machine had an explosion, the naughty fairy from nursery did it!! Everyone wrote a story about their ideas (on the floor as we couldn’t use our tables), Miss Smyth and Mrs Beattie came to help us investigate, Mrs Beattie left us the good fairy in her little fairy house to help us clear the mess. Thankfully when we were at PE she must have used her magic fairy dust to put our class back to normal, phew!!!

All in all it was a fantastic but strange week!!!!!! I wonder what will happen next week??????

P1R – All things old and new!

This week P1R started their new class topic which they have decided to call ‘Time Travellers’. Miss Proudfoot had transformed the library corner into a travelling time machine for the children. On Monday we planned our topic together and the children came up with lots of things which they would like to learn about:

Ana – I want to learn about the types of toys and the materials they were made from.

Oma –I want to learn about clothes, what did they look like, what were they made from, where did they get them?

Maeve – I want to find out what my mum and dad played with when they were little.

So far the children have learned about some differences between life in the 1950’s and present day, eg. Clothing worn, music listened to, changes in technology and cars, they enjoyed listening to some classic tunes from the 50’s as they worked!

Matthew – People wore fancy clothes in the 1950’s.

Oma – Ladies wore headscarfs.

Angelina – At school the girls wore hats.

In maths the children have been introduced to the concept of taking-away and they have learned some useful strategies – crossing out, removing an item, using cubes and using fingers. Some of our bright cookies have been able to work out the answer mentally!

James – I know 8-2 = 6

Our new theme in Religious Education is God’s Holy Book – the children have enjoyed hearing some scripture stories this week – The Secret Baby and God Makes a Promise.

Ahmad – God sent the rain to make the World clean.

In literacy we learned 2 new sounds – g and d – they have probably been the trickiest sounds to say and write so far! We read our new books and practised our Fry’s words. Miss Proudfoot and I were very impressed with the children’s imaginative stories they wrote this week using the video clip ‘Dreamgiver’ as our stimulus. We had some super discussions about good dreams and bad dreams. I shared my good dream with the children which I am sure many adults will share with me – a desert island with plenty of food, drink and sunshine, no children allowed, this caused great amusement, Mrs Gardner’s dream was even better, walls made out of money!!!

Harry – The Dreamgiver had wings and gave the children their dream in a golden egg.

We are also about to begin preparations for the forthcoming Nativity which I am sure the children will tell you about next week, we’ll keep you posted!