We have had a busy few weeks at Westfield Primary. Monday 17th June was our sports’ day and we had the races in the morning and potted sports in the afternoon. The rain stayed away but it was really windy.

As part of our healthy three weeks, we had a ballerina called Phoebe Welsh in school to teach us Balletcise which is a mixture of ballet steps and exercise. Some joined in more than others.

We also had a football coach come to teach us skills and referee our matches. We had a great time and improved our skills along with learning new ones.

A rugby coach from Linlithgow Rugby Club came for a few weeks to teach us about non-contact rugby. We really enjoyed the games as they got our hearts racing and it was fun taking people’s tags from them.

Miss Allan took us for gymnastics where we learned how to keep our balance when doing different movements. We were also learning how to land as a gymnast does. We had four different stations- beam, mats, vault and skipping. We had a warm up at the start and a cool down at the end.

We went to a Book Fair in Linlithgow where we met the author Lauren St John. She told us about her life, how she got into writing and her work with the Born Free Foundation. Her talk was interesting and opened our eyes to the plight of wild animals in captivity. We have a lot to think about and try to do something to help.

Our topic this term is Body Systems. We are finding out what they are made of, their function, how to keep them healthy and what to do if something goes wrong with them. We have been looking at the skeletal and muscular systems. You have 206 bones in your body but have 300 when you are born.You have over 600 muscles in your body when you’re fully grown. The biggest/longest bone in you body is your femur, you have 3 different types of muscles:your smooth, your skeletal and your cardiac.Your ribs protect your lungs, organs and your heart. Your cardiac muscle are the walls of your heart and the heart as well.

Meah-I enjoyed helping the nursery with taking stones out of their vegetable patch to soon be building a mini green house out of the left over plastic bottles.

Lewis-I enjoyed the Maths that we were doing because it was quite easy and it was fun to put percentages in to decimals and fractions.

Ava-I enjoyed doing our own story about a skeleton in writing. It was a lot of fun to make up our own story about a skeleton.

Toby- As well as Meah I liked lifting up the stones which was very hard because I had a plastic mini spade, trust me its hard!

Melissa- I like every Wednesday afternoon because we go to the nursery and help them with decorations and things like that. The first week we were designing a music wall but another group were doing something else. Then this week we were creating a race track for the nursery kids.

Alexander -In math we have been learning about percentages ,decimals and fractions we have been learning how to make a fraction to a decimal to a percentage I found it really easy to make it from a fraction to a percentage or a decimal you had to divide the top number in the fraction by the bottom number in the fraction and that’s your percentage.

On Tuesday 22nd January a lady from Scotch Kitchen came in to teach us how to cook beef fajitas but first we learned what labels to look for on food.After that Melissa was chosen to come up to look out pictures and words on how to keep healthy.When the lady started to cook Meah, Toby, Tilly and Jack were picked by Miss Allan to go up and help. We were given aprons and started cooking the fajitas made with beef, lettuce, guacamole, yoghurt, peppers(green, red and yellow), garlic and two different spices. The four that were up each got to make a fajita and most the class took two slices each. Tthere was even enough for Miss Allan, Ms Mathieson and Mrs Agini.

Since returning to school after the Christmas holidays, P5/6/7 have been hard at work in all areas of the curriculum.

In Math/Numeracy we have been looking at adding and subtracting decimal numbers mentally, in our Number Talks, and using other methods. Some of us have been recalling and calculating equivalent fractions, decimals and percentages, which has proved challenging to some of us. Others have been calculating a fraction and percentage of a number and yet others have been comparing and ordering common fractions showing equivalent and simplified of a fraction. Phew!! you can see how busy we have been and are able to say why we are learning this in Math using TIB – ‘this is because’ as all our learning gives us skills for life and work.

As part of our Health and Wellbeing, a lady from the West Lothian Drug and Smoking unit came to school to inform us of the dangers of smoking. She had examples in jars of what our lungs would have in them if we smoked. She drew around Jamie and then got us each individually to give our ideas on what different things can affect our bodies by smoking. We soon filled up the body who we called Smoky Simon. We learned a lot and it made us think. She is coming back for a second session and we are looking forward to learning more.

In Primary 5/6/7 we have been learning about Scottish Inventors and what they invented and the impact each has had on Scotland and the rest of the world. It was interesting to find out that Scotland has produced so many inventors and showed us that  we could easily be Scottish inventors in the future.We also created a caricature about the inventors we researched in ID after watching a  video that showed us how to step by step. Some of us then thought that we could use this skill to become cartoonists or illustrators later in life.

In P.E we have been taking risk assessments on the bars in our gymnastics block. We have also been challenging ourselves to achieve new skills adding to our prior learning. We also enjoyed working on the different apparatus that was out in the hall. These skills could help us to follow in Mr Cox’s footsteps and become medal winning gymnasts.

During math the pentagons and squares have been learning quick and easy strategies for mental math and have been learning how to use B.O.M.D.A.S properly. The triangles have learned how to use a compass to draw circles and name different parts of the circles. They have also been learning how to multiply 3 digit numbers by 6 and 7. The rectangles have been working on writing, ordering, adding and subtracting decimals and relating their learning to money problems.

We did an outdoor literacy lesson which focused on our spelling. One group used chalks to write their words in different ways. The other group had to make their words using natural things found on the ground. We had the words with us to help but not many of us needed them.

We are still having futsal on a Friday morning, building up our skills to play more effectively in games. It is such a fun time as well as learning a new sporting skill.

In Health in the Hall we have been learning how to celebrate differences in each other, recognising that everyone is unique and must be respected. We got into groups and played team building games to help everyone feel respected and included. They were fun and we all got on really well.

We have been continuing to learn about the Jacobites, writing a biography about Bonnie Prince Charlie and a newspaper report on the Battle of Culloden. We had to write in the appropriate form and use adjectives. We had our VCOP pyramids to help us.

In math and numeracy the Pentagons and Squares  have been calculating the volume of solid shapes and the capacity a container can hold. This would be helpful if we wanted to be a pharmacist. The Rectangles have been working on measurements. This is a good skill to have for many jobs and accuracy is paramount. The triangles have been looking at different kinds of triangles, their names and properties. We have been continuing to do Number Talks and are finding the division ones tricky.

In art we did black line drawings on the battle of Culloden and drew a landscape picture of the battle scene, taking perspective and colours into account.

We have been learning how to play Futsal from a specialist coach on a Friday morning. It originated in Brasil and is mostly played on sand. The ball has to be on the ground most of the time and you can’t touch it with your hands. It is fun but exhausting. It is a game for practising skills. Here are some pictures of us having fun.

In our reading groups we have been using Bug Club and learning to show understanding of a text. We are working on recalling and summarising what we have read. We can predicate what will happen next and are learning to critically evaluate what we are reading giving reasons.

Melissa- In reading I am in vert and we are reading a really good book called Mobile Fear. It’s about a boy that is very good with electronics but what he doesn’t know is that the phone could bring him great danger…

Sophie Lee- In reading I am in the group rouge and we are reading The Curse Of The Highway Man. It’s about three friends that go on an adventure into an abandoned pub which it is covered in spiders and spiders web and dust. They also do a play which makes Zac change completely…

Alexander- In reading group jaune, we  are reading the Queen’s Spy. It is about a boy called Edward and his sister Bridget. He finds out that they havebeen kidnapped by a queens spy and they become friends. He was found in the barn when Edward went to get some fire wood and he gets pulled to the ground by Cobbley (his name is cobbley). When Edward finds out about him his sister comes in the door. Cobbley hides in time but when she heard Edward speaking she knew there was someone in there. She finds out and gives him food. However will they be caught…..?

In PE we have been learning football skills to help us play skillfully in games. Controlling the ball and dribbling are essential to play the game well. We play a game called corners and it helps you with controlling the ball and taking the ball off of other people in challenges. The whole class likes this game and we are having fun at the same time as learning. We also have to work together as sometimes two people come up from each team to play the game.

In our class we have doing lots of interesting learning since we last posted on the blog.

Last week was Maths week and we did lots of activities using our prior learning on tables and problem solving. With the tables activities we were able to multiply using a variety of methods and strategies. In the K’Nex challenge we had to work together, reason logically and guess check and improve to create a structure. Here are some examples of our work below.

Good morning 5/6/7. The weekend is nearly here so
before it arrives here are a few things to do to keep
you going.
Go onto Bug Club second level and find an online
book about Winter, snow or Ancient Egypt and read it
writing a brief summary of what you have read.
On sumdog, find a game to with whole numbers
or scale depending on which group you were in and
play, recording your progress.
Complete HAM games I’ve allocated each group.
Your snow challenge today is:
A Headless Snowman
Make a snowman without a head. Then take turns to stand behindthe snowman as if your head belongs to the snowman. Have arange of props such as wigs, hats, scarves, sunglasses to wear.Take photos of each other doing different poses.
or
White Hunter
Collect together and hide a range of white objects in the snow.Can your friends find what you have hidden? Are all the objectstruly as white as snow?
Enjoy, keep safe and warm. see you Monday. Have a
great weekend.
Mrs Agini