Category: Primary 7

Christmas has arrived in P7/6 and we have based a lot of learning this week around the Christmas theme.

We started off the week by decorating our classroom door,

Jessica said – “we all decorated a bauble with our names and this was added to the display”.

We also started a wintry landscape picture.  We used Thomas Kinkade’s work to inspire us.  We discussed how to achieved depth in a picture by using darker/deeper/brighter colours in the forefront of the picture and paler/lighter/muted colours for our background.  These will be completed next week.

Our writing this week was based on a Christmas story. We used a “Story Mountain” to help us plan our work.

We watched the advert Mog’s Christmas Calamity” film clip to help inspire us to add good description and action to our work.  When we watched the clip we used the story mountain planning idea to track the action of the film, we discovered that this clip had two mountain peaks.  Have a go and watch the clip to find the two peaks.

http://www.literacyshed.com/mog.html

Maths did not escape the Christmas theme either.  We were working on symmetry and using two lines of symmetry.  One of our tasks was to complete a Christmas cracker design where we were only given one quarter of the picture and using two lines of symmetry we had to complete the cracker.  Great fun and super learning!

Well done P7/6.  Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Currie

 

 

This week we have focused on Science report writing.  We used our investigation about conductors and insulators to write our report.  We learned terms such as hypothesis, apparatus and results.  Hopefully the next time we complete a science investigation we can write the report as we work.

In maths, we have been working with percentages.  We used our number talks strategies to help us work out how much more is needed on a download percentage bar to reach 100%.  This was great fun.  The P6 children also played a game where they had to convert from a decimal number to a percentage to reach the other end of the board.  To help us with all of this learning we used the following site.  Have a go yourself with this site and blog a reply as to how you got on.

http://www.visnos.com/demos/percentage-fraction-decimals-grid

P7 children extended their learning by finding a way of converting a fraction (which did not have 100 as the denominator) into a percentage…great team work was on display.  I would say everyone gave 100% effort to their maths learning this week!

We had two special events this week, St Andrew’s Day and the start of Advent.  Miss Smyth helped us with our learning about St Andrew and we have been listening to traditional Scots vocabulary through the story “The Eejits” which is a retelling of the story “The Twits” by Roald Dahl, Miss Smyth had everyone laughing with her amazing scottish pronunciations!

Everyone is very excited about the countdown now, but we took sometime to think about the true meaning of Christmas and we have started to engage with our Gospel passages about the birth of Christ.  We completed some wordls in our journals to represent all the important words and messages that we can use in our prayers during advent.

Have a lovely weekend,

Mrs Currie

 

 

Good afternoon everyone.

It has been another fun packed week in P7/6.

Our Science topic this week was really rocking!  We learned all about the structure of the Earth and spent sometime drawing and labelling diagrams which show the inner core, outer core, mantle and crust.  From here we became geologists and learned about different types of rocks, igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic.  It was great to get a chance to touch and hold all these rock samples and not just use pictures. We were even then able to identify rocks from their colour and texture!  The rock and roll lifestyle of a P7/6!

In Maths we have continued working with decimal numbers and improved our ability to mentally add and subtract decimal numbers.  We also consolidated our knowledge of multiplying by 10, 100 and 1000.  This formed part of our Maths glass wall learning.

For our writing we completed our series of lessons on “Cool To Be Kind” and we completed diary entries from a refugee’s point of view.  We used emotional language to convey feelings and the finished result was some very powerful pieces.  These have formed a display in our classroom.

Well done P7/6.  have a lovely weekend

Mrs Currie

Here is the news from our class,

Danielle – “This week in maths we learned about co ordinates and decimals.”

Jessica- “This week in writing we have completed a report on a science carousel we  did on Wednesday.”

Darryn- This week we did writing on our science carousel. We did four activities so we had to write four sub headings in our report.”

Aurora – “This Friday I went to hot chocolate Friday because I was  good and I am proud of my self . Good good job me.”

Billie-  “This week we have been learning how to turn fractions into decimals. It was very fun and hard.”

Thank you to these children for volunteering to share their highlight of the week on the blog post.

As was mentioned we completed a four station Science carousel lesson on Wednesday afternoon.  The learning intention was to find out about electrical safety and how to build a circuit.

Station 1 – Building a simple circuit.  The children used the electricity kits in school to build a simple circuit with a battery, bulb, wires and a switch.  When the switch was closed the bulb would light.  Then we took the switch out of the circuit and they had to use a variety of different items (metal spoon, plastic spoon, peg, paper clip, balloon) to put into the circuit to see if the bulb would light. The children learned the vocabulary conductor and insulator.

Station 2 – Matching game.  The children had to match photographs of different circuits to circuit diagrams.  To be able to complete this they had to learn the electrical symbol for the various components.

Station 3 – The Electric Detective.  This is a short film showing the dangers that electricity can pose when not used correctly.  If you want to have a watch click on the link below.

Station 4 – Switched On Kids Website.  The children used this website to learn about electrical safety as well as other facts and information about electricity, such as how it is made?, how do we get it into our homes?

http://www.switchedonkids.org.uk/

As you can see there was a lot of learning going on and the children were developing their collaboration, team work and problem solving skills, which are are all part of our focus from the Skills Framework for this term.

In Maths we have been converting decimals to fractions and looking at the second decimal place (hundredths).  We have been working using pictorial guides and locating these on a number line.  Our interactive Maths wall focused on strategies used in our Number Talks mental addition calculations.  Some of us used partitioning, tower calculations, friendly numbers and so on.  Next week the Number Talks focus will be subtraction.  Have a go at this one and for an extra Dojo point post a response of the strategy you used.

91 – 19

Have a lovely weekend

Mrs Currie

I would like to start this blog post off by saying a huge well done to all the children for their amazing assembly that they put on this morning.  I was so proud of the effort from everyone.  If you did not get a chance to come along and see it our assembly was based around the main idea of a News Channel.  We had two presenters in the studio (Freya and Luke) and then different segments in the programme.  These segments included,

• a wonderful weather report from Billie, Broady and Isabella where they described how to make a tornado in a bottle which was linked with our learning about the USA
• a sports round up from Tristan and Jack, which showcased some of the football skills we have learned during our PE block
• an entertainment review from Danielle and Sophia, of the novel “The Squint” by Leslie Howarth which had been our focus for the first six weeks of this session
• a roving reporter, Mark, and his interviewees, Jessica, Oskar, Mikolt and Aurora who all described life in P7/6 (and Aurora revealed the identity of the Friday Hot Chocolate thief!!!)
• a Foreign Affairs report from Kornelia and Rachel who described how we have been learning Spanish in class
• a look forward into the future from Ross and Aaron, explaining our focus for this term
• and that’s not all folks, a presentation to Miss Ross who will be leaving our class today to go and work with one of our infant classes (there was a tear in her eye!) from Colin and Moiz

And then back to the studio!  As you can see we packed a lot in and every child participated at a level they were comfortable with.  This type of event really allows the children to develop their skills of being effective contributors and confident individuals.  Well done!

Apart from rehearsing for our assembly this week we have also been busy with other areas of our learning too.  In our writing we used the theme of Fireworks to write some poetry.  We chose to complete a shape poem and within our piece the challenge was to use as many interesting and amazing adjectives as possible!  All jotters have gone home this weekend in preparation for parents meetings next week, make sure to look out for this piece of work.

In Maths we are continuing to look at decimals and fractions.  Our work this week for the P7 children were to add and subtract two numbers with up to two decimal places mentally.  There was a fabulous board game, matching game and connect four game to deepen their skills in this area.  P6 were focusing on converting a mixed number (wholes and tenths) into a decimal number and they used various resources such as the online resource Education City as well as cut and stick exercises to learn this skill.  I have included a link to the BBC bitesize teaching site which has a section all about fractions, it covers some of the aspects we have looked at but also goes on to look at finding equivalent fractions so that fractions can be ordered from smallest to largest.  These are all concepts which will be covered over the next few weeks so you can get a head start by having a look at this.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks2/maths/number/fractions/read/6/

As part of the homework set this week everyone was asked to log onto the SumDog online resource.  This looks like it will be a fabulous resource to help boost mental agility in Maths.  Passwords are glued into the back of the homework jotter.  If for any reason you cannot get onto SumDog at home there is a class only homework club every Tuesday at lunchtime where the i-pads will be available specifically for those children who are not able to access it at home, so please come along.

Have a lovely weekend,

Mrs Currie

It has been a fantastic STEM week!  We looked at James Dyson and some of his inventions and improvements that he has made to everyday pieces of equipment such as the vacuum cleaner and wheelbarrow.

With Miss Ross the children have been building bridges out of straws.  The children have learned about team work, logical thinking and problem solving through this activity.  Everyone’s bridges managed (some only just!)to hold 1.5kg.  Well done.  On Thursday we had a visit from a Civil Engineer called Alison.  She helped us understand about good bridge design which we then were able to use to help us build our straw bridges.

TALKING is going to be a major focus this term in Literacy.  Next week will see the introduction of talking homework.  The purpose of this is to encourage the children to construct coherent and informative arguments and statements orally so that in turn they will be able to write in well constructed sentences.  There is no need for the children to record anything in their jotter about this homework, but they will be asked to contribute to group and class discussions throughout the week.

Homework club will start up again on Tuesday in class at lunchtime.  Anyone who needs support or extra time to complete their homework should make use of this opportunity.

In Maths this term we will be focusing on fractions, decimals and percentages.  Already the children have been looking at the link between fractions and decimals by converting tenths from one form to another.  Everyone has enjoyed good success with this so far.  Here is a game for you to continue to practise and extend your skills with this concept.

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/mathgames/decimals/DecimalModels10.htm

http://www.topmarks.co.uk/Flash.aspx?b=maths/decimals

Well done class,

Mrs Currie

It has been such a quick first term and we have achieved so much.

Thank you to everyone for preparing and delivering their presentations on a chosen country this week.  Everyone has received feedback on their presentations.  Next term there will be another opportunity to build upon these skills and act on the feedback you were given.

In Maths we have rounded up our work on BODMAS and division by six.  The P7 children really enjoyed the BODMAS song.  Click the link below to hear it.

Our glass maths wall showcases our learning well.  Well done to those who completed the challenge question!

When we return to school after the break we will be have a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) focus for the first week.  I can’t wait, these are my most favourite subjects!

Have a great holiday everyone

Mrs Currie

 

This week as part of our topic we have been learning about weather systems, and in particular hurricane Matthew.  We have worked hard with Miss Ross and learned about how weather systems such as tornadoes and hurricanes form.  We produced our own tornado in a bottle which was great fun (and very wet!).

We have also had the opportunity to discuss and create our own survival kits and an evacuation plan, which we know people in Florida are having to do right now.

In Maths we have combined our knowledge of working out the area of a right angle triangle and a rectangle and applied this to find the area of a composite shape.  Some of us worked with Mrs Miller and produced metre squares.  Using these we made large shapes/patterns.  To complete this exercise we had to use team work and measuring skills as well as understand about area.  It was great to see the size of a metre square as it helps us visualise real life area.

In writing we began redrafting our letters to President Obama and we hope to post these away before the October holiday.  We have practised the skill of proof reading and editing to help us with the redrafting process.

We are always looking to make links in our learning and activities and even at Golden Time Sophia couldn’t help herself as she tried to recreate the Statue of Liberty!  

Have a lovely weekend

Mrs Currie