Literacy – Page 10 – St Ninian's Primary School

Sailing on the seven seas…

What a hardworking crew we have in P1R, it’s been another busy week!

At the beginning of the week we had a visit from our local librarian, Mrs Campbell to read us a story, we all had to vote for a book which she then read to us. We’re hoping to visit the library shortly to have a look at all the other books they have.

In maths we started a new topic learning all about shapes, we spent lots of time exploring 2D shapes. We used the feely bag to try and feel the shapes then describe them to our partners. We sorted shapes using the smartboard and flashcards, Mrs Roy was amazed at how quickly we could sort them! Our challenge of the week was to think of other 2D shapes and where we might see them in the environment.

We received another letter from Captain Pete this week who was delighted with the applications we had completed for homework to join his crew. He asked us to build our very own ship to use on our Pirate Adventure which we were really excited about. We had to learn about the different parts of a ship and try to recreate this in our design. Our crew have had great fun using the ship for pirate play. We also learned about Pirate life and spent an afternoon trying out some activities which pirates would do in their spare time – playing music, dancing, making things out of wood, playing cards, reading, etc.

The Olympics are beckoning for some of our budding gymnasts, we were are getting really good now at using the large apparatus. This week we focused on being responsible, leadership and core strength.

We ended the week with Ninian’s Natter where every child had a learning conversation to discuss their goals and progress. I will send a photograph to the parents who were unable to make it today of your child with their goal. You can use this as a tool for discussion at home.

Reading books… what a hoot!

Mrs Wassell and some of primary 1 had a fantastic first week at the lunchtime book club. We read the story ‘The Gruffalo’! Some children had heard the story before but were delighted to hear it again as it was “OUR FAVOURITE”

We could recognise the rhyming patterns and the link the animals to the sound they make.

Anna: “This has been the best ever! I can’t wait to come back!”

Julia: “I loved listening to the Gruffalo!”

Leo: “The book was fantastic!”

We can’t wait to see what the story will be next week!!

P1R are going to blow your socks off this year!!

Happy New Year to everyone, we’ve had a very busy start to the year in P1R!

In maths we have started a new topic – division. We have been learning how to share objects fairly and had great fun sharing out sweets and toys.

On Wednesday we received a mystery message in a bottle, we were very puzzled and came up with lots of suggestions as to be what it could be and how it got in our classroom:

Maeve thought it might be a letter from Trex, Ahmad thought it was a special letter, Angelina thought it was a letter from a pirate because that’s what pirates do!

When we read it we discovered it was from Pirate Pete Pigeon, he has asked us to join him on his pirate adventures and we accepted immediately. Here is the plan we made with all of our ideas.

In PE we started a gymnastics block of learning and teaching, this week we were focusing on travelling and balance.

As this week was Vision and Values week we spent a lot of time discussing our school values and what makes our school unique. The children selected one of the values to illustrate in their Learning Journal. We also made a new class charter and used the theme of pirates to make a fantastic entrance display to our class.

In writing we had to think of how we were ‘going to blow your socks off in 2016’, there were some super ideas:

Oma is going to exercise more and become really fit.

Maeve is going to have the neatest handwriting.

Ahmad said we were going to be the best behaved class in the school ( I think we’re already that!!!)

The end is near….

This week has been very busy in and out of school. Well done to all the children for being such fantastic performers at our 3 Nativity shows! Photos will be uploaded by Mrs Purdie.

In class we enjoyed playing a game called Hit the Button, we had to try and find the doubles as quickly as we could.

In reading we worked independently to unscramble the words and make sentences. The challenge was then to read our sentences!

We continued to learn more about science this week using our Talking Book and focused on electricity. We used a super website to learn about electrical safety in our homes then we had to find the hazards hiding in the picture.

Friday was dress as your future job day and we had some great outfits, keep an eye on the school facebook page to see them all, here is a sneak preview of some our ours…

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!!!

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??????

What’s your child’s favourite bedtime story?

A woman reads a story to her child. A recent survey found that a third of parents never read a bedtime story to their children.

In our November newsletter I shared an article from The Guardian newspaper which outlined research around bedtime stories being key to developing a love of reading in children and key to their literacy progress. The article can be found at http://gu.com/p/4cjj3/sbl .

I absolutely love that special time in the evening with my little girl when we read (and re-read) her favourite bedtime stories. It’s great to see her so positive about books at such an early age and I love when she ‘reads’ the story back to me! Her favourite story just now is Paper Dolls by Julia Donaldson. Have you read it? It’s a really catchy story with beautiful illustrations and a wonderful ending.

What’s your child’s favourite story? I’d love to hear all about it!

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!