11.3.24

The children were excited to arrive at Lendrick Muir this morning. They firstly had lots of fun singing on the bus as they made their way from school. On arrival they had a tour of the site, allocated activity groups and played a wide game called Octoball!

It was soon lunch time and on the menu today was sandwiches, crisps and a chocolate biscuit. The children also were able to select as much fruit as they would like.

After lunch they all took part in a Sustainability activity and investigating the grounds before working in groups to build a mini town design challenge from any materials on the forest floor. They presented their models before a disaster struck and their towns may be hit by a natural disaster such as a flood or mudslide. They had to quickly build defences and were happy to report that the population of their mini towns all survived!

The children enjoyed some free time in their rooms and found out who they’d be sharing with for the next two nights! They then enjoyed dinner time before heading down to the camp fire! They sang songs, told jokes as well as toasting marshmallows or milky ways! Lots of smiling faces around the camp fire.

They had a spot of supper, some relaxing movie time and are now in bed! Plenty of rest before making more fantastic memories tomorrow!

Good night! From P7

Please click the following link to find out more about  ASN friendly winter activities running across West Lothian this winter

WL Winter Activities Flyer_Education Support Service

Here are some ideas of things you can do with your child to help them develop literacy, numeracy and independent skills as they get ready to move into Primary One.

• Play “I spy” but spell out the word instead of just saying a letter  e.g. p-e-n and see if your child can slide the sounds together to make the word. Make sure you use letter sounds rather than alphabet names for this activity
• Point out environmental print that they see around them (signs on shops, brand names on tins or cereal) Can they recognise any of the letters?
• Share a picture book with them and ask your child to tell you what is happening using the pictures, what do they think will happen next? What do they like or not like about the story?
• Encourage them to draw and add detail – drawing and mark making develops writing skills
• Talk with your child about their interests, drawings and games
• Play dice games – help your child to recognise the dots on a dice by counting them first to learn the pattern for each number
• Encourage your child to use their fingers to show numbers, can they show them in different ways? e.g. – five can be made with two fingers on one hand and three on another or four on one hand and one on another
• Count aloud numbers from 0-10 and beyond. Count forwards and backwards together. Stop and start on different numbers
• To build independence support your child to get changed independently, open snacks, zip up coats and put on shoes

At Uphall Primary School we use a range of learning programmes to support children as they learn new skills.

Literacy and Language

• We use the Vowel House and Colourful Consonant approach when learning phonics. This approach links colour, actions and shapes to help children learn new sounds and blend them together to read words.
• We use phonics based books to support the development of reading skills
• To support children to develop their detailed drawing and writing skills we use Foundations of Writing and PM writing.
• At Uphall we teach cursive handwriting throughout our school

Numeracy and Mathematics

• This session we have been using the Numberblocks to support children learn about how numbers are made
• We use a SEAL (stages of early arithmetical learning) approach to the teaching of numeracy skills using counters, dice patterns, rods, Numicon and Rekenreks to develop children’s understanding.
• We make the most of our outdoor space and real life contexts to support the development of mathematical skills

Health and Wellbeing

• At Uphall we use Emotion Works and the Zones of Regulation to support our children to identify and talk about their emotions using visual prompts to discuss feelings and possible solutions
• All of our children have identified trusted adults that they can talk to
• We use our outdoor space to build dens and explore nature
• Children participate in PE indoors and outdoors, learning and developing their skills

More information about these learning programmes and ways you can support your child at home to develop their learning will be issued during the school session