Author: Miss McCormack

It has been a very different week this week. The children have all had lots of questions and have all done their very best to carry on with their learning. We have worked hard to stay positive and to try and keep everyone in our school family positive too!

Learning  Overview 

Literacy
Hasan – I liked doing writing – we planned a discussion about keeping animals in zoos.
Joseph – I enjoyed collating Happy News from all the classes to help with the St. Ninian’s Happy News.

Numeracy
Ola – I enjoyed the mystery maths competition. We had to solve lots of clues and my group won.
Evie – I enjoyed the revision of addition and subtraction of fractions.

Learning across the curriculum
Shannon – I enjoyed making the 3D faces.
Aaron – I liked making the cards for Mrs Campbell’s retirement.
Ailie – I liked building the power stations in groups. We used kapla, wooden blocks, sugar cubes and paper.
Levente – I enjoyed basketball in PE.
Kasia – I enjoyed meeting my new buddy
Louise – I enjoyed doing the Kahoot quizes with primary 7.
Joshua – I enjoyed playing killer in basketball.
Adrin – I liked playing matches in basketball.
Aidan – I liked when we joined with the primary 6 class to play games of basketball.

I enjoyed writing positive messages all over the playground. Hopefully they helped to brighten up everyone’s day!

Home Learning
Please ensure that your child has access to Glow at home. They should all know how to access their emails and from there can access Teams, OneNote etc.

I will update the Teams page on Monday with learning for next week. Pupils can message me on teams or send an email if they need anything.

Have a great weekend, spend time as a family, stay safe and remember to WASH YOUR HANDS!!

Miss McCormack

Learning Overview

Literacy
We have continued with writing discussion this week and focused on why nuclear fuel is an important source of energy.  This created a very interesting discussion and all pupils were able to build on their skills and use topic sentences carefully.
Private Peaceful reading group created excellent critical thinking answers this week and everyone is becoming a lot more confident in this. Wilderness reading group are continuing to build on their summarising skills and ability to relate to the characters.
We have also been focusing on our use of apostrophes. We looked at how to use them properly to show possession.

Numeracy/Maths
We have continued with our time topic this week in maths and have been using the speed, distance, time equations to solve word problems. We had to use our problem solving and resilience skills for some of the trickier questions.
In number talks we looked at doubling and halving as a multiplication strategy.
We also tried our first “chooseday” menu. There were 8 activities to choose from to consolidate our learning in fractions, decimals and percentages. Some pupils chose to work outside, on ICT or play some maths games. We are looking forward to trying this again next week.

Learning Across the Curriculum
This week we enjoyed making 3D paper sculptures with Mrs Conway in art. We learned different techniques like folding, loops, slits and slats and many more. We were very happy with our creations.
In PE we were building on our basketball skills with Mr Cummings. Basketball is a big favourite in our class!

Torness Power Station
On Monday we had a great time visiting Torness Power Station. We took part in a group challenge to create the tallest structure using paper. We had to answer questions throughout the challenge to get more materials. It was great fun and gave us an opportunity to work on our team work and leadership skills.
We also had a tour of the power station where we learned lots about how a nuclear power station works and what important jobs take place on site. There are over 700 people employed at Torness and lots of jobs available. One of the interesting jobs was the people in charge of the reactors. They had lots of monitors and buttons at their desks – we decided it was a stressful job to have but still very interesting!

Home Learning
Pupils were all very interested in our class trip to Torness. If you haven’t already, please ask your child lots of questions – it was a fascinating place!
The pupils have also been very intrigued with the news surrounding the corona virus. Try to keep up to date with child-friendly updates over the weekend and have a discussion as a family about your main concerns and what course of action you think the government should take. We have had some excellent discussion about this today!

As always, please remind your children to wash their hands!

Thanks for an excellent week primary 6/7! Have a great weekend!

Learning Overview

Literacy
In reading we have been focusing on developing critical reading skills. We have been analysing the text to look at the use of punctuation and also using evidence to support our thinking. For World Book Day this week we watched an author and illustrator masterclass with Jamie Little and Laura Ellen Anderson. We then created our own characters and listed their strengths, flaws, likes and dislikes. We are also sharing stories in class for the rest of the month as part of a World Book Day challenge. We are focusing on discussion texts in writing and will continue this for our assessment.

Numeracy/Maths
In maths we have been working on time. We have been calculating elapsed time and are improving at this. We took our maths lesson outside this week and worked with a partner to measure how far we could run, hop and jump in 5 minutes. It was very tiring but great fun! We have now moved on to calculating speed, distance and time using the d=s x t formula. We also played a maths game this week and had to estimate how long we would take to complete a task then time ourselves to see how close we were.

Learning across the curriculum
In PE we have finished our gymnastics which has been loads of fun. We are now working on basketball with Mr Cummings. This week we played some games and practised some skills.
In RE we have been making posters about life choices and who God wants us to be. We presented our psoters to the class and explained the possible life choices we could make.
In art we went outside and collected different materials we could use to make cave drawings. This was inspired by our class novel. We used mud, leaves, grass and petals. When we came back to class to “paint” we flipped our desks on their sides and stuck our paper to them so that it was like doing a real cave painting on the wall.

Home Learning

As we have moved on to time in maths in would be great if parents could encourage this learning at home. Some ideas would be to ask your child to tell you the time in  words, in 12 hour and 24 hour clock.  If you are going on any journeys ask them to work out your average speed, distance traveled  or time taken. The pupils have been using the distance = speed x time formula in class and would benefit from continuing this at home.

The characters the pupils created whilst taking part in the masterclass for world book day were fantastic! Ask them about their character and create an imaginative story at home!

Pupil Voice
Kacper: “I really enjoyed RE because we got to present posters about the possible life choices we could make”.
Emma: “I have enjoyed our gymnastics block in PE, I liked making up the group floor routines best”.
Sean: “I enjoyed basketball this week with Mr Cummings. We played games and practised our dribbling skills – focusing on keeping our head up”.
Joseph: “I enjoyed our outdoor maths lesson. We were recording how far we could run, hop and jump in 5 minutes.”

Reminder

We will be visiting Torness Power Station on Monday to support our learning in science about energy and electricity.
All pupils should bring a snack and a packed lunch.
Pupils should not bring devices. Devices are not allowed on the tour. I suggest devices are left at home on Monday or left at the office as there will be no one in the classroom.

Have a great weekend!

Learning update for the past 2 weeks in primary 6/7.

Learning Overview
Last week we visited Sky Skills Studios. Each group worked together to create a movie trailer. They were all great and everyone learned loads about movie making. We all got given a USB at the end so we can watch our trailers at home.

We also had volunteers from The Royal Bank of Scotland visiting us to help us with a MoneySense workshop. We worked in groups to solve a case of fraud. We looked in to why it is very important to keep all our personal details safe and what information we should and should not share with others. It was great fun. Our volunteers also answered lots of questions about working in the bank and what they do everyday.

This week in P.E we did gymnastics routines with a theme that was supposed to be guessed by our P.E teacher Mr. Cummings 

Team 1: Floor is lava
Team 2: James Bond
Team 3: Ninja
Team 4: Video Games 

 In art we were getting ready for Fairtrade fortnight! We made Fairtrade logos for the Fairtrade assembly and looked up some Fairtrade foods we could bring in for our tuck shop therefore our school is making a tuck shop. 

In maths we have finished our fractions, decimals and percentages work and have started looking at time. We will continue to work on time in the upcoming weeks. 

In literacy we have continued with our group novels and class novel. We have started looking at discussions in writing and will write our own next week. 

Pupil Voice
Louise:i enjoyed doing PE gymnastics my favorite part is using the apparatus.

Ola:I enjoyed reading wolf brother chapter 8 and 9 because it was very interesting and intense.

Huda;I enjoyed planning for writing .

Home Learning
The pupils have been enjoying learning outdoors this term. They have asked for their home learning activities to be outdoor this week! (good luck)
Weather depending…. Wrap up warm and go for a walk outside. We have been focusing on taking a moment to help deal with emotions during our building resilience lessons. Being outdoors is a great way to focus and reconnect with ourselves and each other. Spend some time outside and have a chat about the learning we have been doing. If you live close by the pupils can even show you their clan tree!

Have a great weekend!!!

Learning Overview

Maths and Numeracy
We have been continuing our learning on money. We have focused on the differences between credit cards and debit cards and why people might use them. We calculated interest rates on credit cards using our knowledge of percentages. We have been revising multiplication this week, challenging ourselves to multiplying larger numbers.

Literacy
In writing this week we were working on explanation. We explained how energy is transferred and how all energy comes from the sun.
Private Peaceful reading group are continuing to analyse the text and build up an understanding of the characters.
Wilderness reading group carried out research on Lapland as the characters are about to go on an adventure there. They created leaflets for tourists with information on places to visit and how to get there.

Outdoor Learning
We continued our outdoor learning in our Literacy Clans this week. We visited our clan trees and created group poems about our trees. We have added our poems to our class display.

Science
We learned how to make a series circuit. We used wires, batteries, switches and bulbs. We built the circuits and then drew diagram using the component symbols. We can explain the energy transfers that take place in the components.

Pupil Voice

At the careers  fair we went round different people with different NHS jobs and learned a lot about how to help old or young people get up if they have fallen or of they’re choking or something.
My favourite part of the careers fair was the occupational therapy because we put on rubber gloves and tried to open up a lolly to see how hard it was for people with arthritis – Shannon
At the careers fair I enjoyed going round all the stations learning about all the different NHS jobs – Aidan
Inside the careers fair building the station I enjoyed the most was the occupational therapist: you had two games to show what it’s like to have either one hand or a jumbled up memory. First there was a game to try and open a tub with one hand, next was a memory game, you would get shown items then one would be taken away, you would then have to say which one was taken away. Over all it was really enjoyable – Joshua
I really enjoyed writing about energy transfer because I got to learn about science which is my favourite subject -Kacper
I loved the NHS careers because I got to see all sorts of therapists which is the career I would love to have as an adult-Jan

Home Learning

Continue to revise multiplication strategies at home. Try to use the grid method and standard written method to check your answers.

Next week we will be focusing on internet safety. Please take this opportunity to discuss staying safe online with your children, especially safe and responsible use of social media. There are resources available here: https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/advice-centre/parents-and-carers/resources-parents-and-carers

A reminder that next week we will be continuing with outdoor learning on Monday and visiting Sky Skills Studios on Thursday.

Have a great weekend!

Learning Overview

This week in numeracy we have been focusing on converting fractions, decimals and percentages. We completed fraction walls for our jotters to help with calculating percentages of amounts. We have also started our money topic and looked at calculating hire purchase costs and working out profit or loss.

In literacy we went outside to set up our literacy clans based on our class novel Wolf Brother. We are split in to four clans and we all have a clan name, symbol, call and a tree. We have created posters to display this information in our classroom. We have also started new reading books this week, primary 7 will be reading private peaceful and working towards writing a critical essay. Primary 6 will be starting Wilderness. In writing we have been focusing on explanation. Our first explanation was all about why animals hibernate.

To celebrate Burns’ we looked at the poem Tam O’Shanter. We enjoyed the story, even though it was a bit strange! The primary 6 pupils created comic strips to retell the story and the primary 7 pupils created their own replies to Tam from his poor wive, Kate.

In PE we are working on floor sequences in gymnastics. We will be performing these to the class very soon.

Primary 6 were all part of the Scottish Celebration today. They have been working hard to learn their lines and their songs. The show was fantastic!!

Family learning

Have a go at some Scots poetry this weekend. See if you can find some fun poems to read as a family.

We all enjoyed our outdoor learning this week. Try and spend some time outdoors as a family. Ask your child to name trees, plants or features in the landscape based on the wolf’s descriptions.

Pupil Voice

Kasia – I enjoyed PE this week with Mr Cummings. We got to use some of the equipment to do some sequences.

Shannon – I enjoyed writing the poem reply because it was fun to try and write in Scots.

Sean – I enjoyed writing the explanation about hibernation. It was an interesting topic to find out about and write about.

Emma – I enjoyed taking part in the Scottish Showcase today. It was really fun learning all the songs!

Reminder

We will be taking part in outdoor learning every Monday. Please remember to come prepared and with appropriate clothing! 

Weekly overview

This week in maths we were calculating percentages of an amount, for example find 37% of 529ml. We were also converting fractions, decimals and percentages using the 10-5-1 rule. (Ask primary 7 about this at home). We also used our knowledge of fractions, decimals and percentages to order sets of fractions and to calculate costs of hire purchase.

In writing this week we have been focusing on descriptive writing. We had to use adjectives, adverbs and figurative language. We uses our class novel, Wolf Brother, for inspiration and described the setting, the main character and the demon bear.

We have also started our new science topic this week: Energy. We have learned about different types of energy and about energy transfer. We looked at household appliances and discussed the energy transfer taking place. We also made a paper helicopter to look at the transfer of potential energy to kinetic energy.

In PE we have been focusing on floor sequences with Mr Cummings. We were using a range of rolls and balances whilst working in small groups.

Pupil Voice

Robbie – I enjoyed learning about fractions in maths.

Ola – I enjoyed practising for our upcoming p5 & 6 showcase.

Ailie – I enjoyed making sequences in PE

Louise – I enjoyed converting fractions, decimals and percentages with Mrs MacDonald.

Family Tasks

Have a look out for any discounts using fractions or percentages whilst you are out shopping or any adverts you see on tv or in the paper. Ask your child to show you how they would calculate the new cost.

Pupils have been using a new app called Flipgrid to create videos about their learning. Ask them to sign in online to show you their Spanish conversations and I Have a Dream Speeches.

Learning overview

We have had a busy week in primary 6/7 and have completed lots of assessments.
We were able to show our knowledge of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. We have to remember our mathematical vocabulary to help us to understand questions. We are continuing to work on calculating sale costs using our knowledge of fractions, decimals and percentages.
We are nearly finished our group novels and will be ready to start new books next term. We will continue to focus on using evidence from the text to support answers and start to analyse the texts further.

Everyone has been working hard in Scottish Dancing and we are prepared for our Christmas parties next week. We also had the opportunity to help the nursery with their dances which was lots of fun!

Primary 7 also had the opportunity to go swimming at St. Margaret’s on Monday. Everyone enjoyed playing games in the pool and especially using the floats!

We celebrated the 2nd week of Advent today with a Mass led by Fr Kenneth. Tho whole class took part in preparing for mass; our readers and IT team were excellent today – well done!

It was great to see so many families at our Cake and Carols event today. Everyone enjoyed singing along with the audience – thank you!

Next Steps

Continue to work on calculating sale prices at home and the next time you are out at the shops. We have also been discussing best value and why some special offers aren’t always that great! Try to find some examples when you are out and about.

It would be great if some families could take part in the family activities for our Rights Respecting School Award. Mrs Conway has been posted these each month and they have been shared on Twitter – have a look and share your responses with us here!!

A reminder that next week is party week!!!

Primary 6 will have their party on Wednesday afternoon and primary 7 will have theirs on Thursday afternoon.

Have a great weekend!!

This week in literacy primary 6/7 we completed our writing assessment. We had three different options for questions to write our exposition about. They were: Should children wear school uniform; Is climate change caused by humans and Should children get outdoor play during school ours? We also focused on Time and Sequence words and using conjunctions.

Message from Miss McCormack

A big thank you to all the pupils who came to help at the Christmas Fair! Everyone was very impressed with your hard work and your amazing attitude! Well done!

A reminder that primary 7 will be going swimming at St. Margaret’s on Monday morning, leaving at 9am. Please remember swimming kit! This is to replace the session we missed during out transition visit.

Class News

This week we have been celebrating Catholic Education week. We have focused on the Gospel Values and the importance of being kind. This tied in very well with our learning about small acts of kindness last week and also with what we have been working on during our Pope Francis Faith Award sessions. We have discussed how our School Values reflect the Gospel Values and what we can do to ensure we are always being as kind as possible.

We have also been reminded about the importance of Road Safety for Road Safety Week. Our newly appointed Junior Road Safety Officers delivered a very informative assembly to the whole school. Well done Ola and Orla! We are looking forward to finding out who has won the competitions!

In literacy we have started a new writing genre – exposition. Can you remember all the sections of the next? 
Four our first exposition we were writing about children having protected time to play during school hours. This has caused much debate in our class and also ties in with our new ‘play’ area in the upper area.
Family Discussion Point – Should children have additional time to play during school hours? Let us know your views as a family in the comments. 

Pupil Voice:

We enjoyed the last week of Rugby because we did a big tournament. We have really enjoyed our rugby block! (Mark, Evie and Adrin)

In bike ability this week we went on the road. We had to follow all the traffic rules and use our hand signals. It was very important to listen to the teacher at all times to keep ourselves safe. (Robbie and Levente)

We enjoyed creating our ideas for the mural competition in art this week. We also enjoyed creating our Beatitudes posters for our kindness display. (Louise and Ailie)