Our P4 Handball teams competed in the P4 Cluster Handball Festival recently. We have all been learning handball with Mr Muldoon in P.E. in P4 and the teams had extra practise sessions with some helpers from JYHS. All our teams did really well and won lots of games. We demonstrated good sportsmanship too!

The rest of the class took part in a Fair Trade afternoon workshop where we prepared for our P4 Cluster Fair Trade service which is next week. We split into groups to research Fairtrade products using I-Pads and laptops and find out where they come from. Everyone had a different role in the groups – painting pictures and flags, making PowerPoint slides and writing words for the script. We presented this at the school’s Fair Trade assembly and we are now ready to do it for the other P4 children at the Lanthorn Centre on Tuesday 21st February (please return permission slips asap and parent helpers needed also).

Our Brown Trout are progressing well as alevins and soon they will turn into fry and be ready for release. We are continuing to chill the water with ice bottles twice a day and monitor the temperature.

In Maths, we are now focusing on division and linking this with multiplication and times tables. We have explored division using cubes, pegs, people (!) and other objects and we are developing our understanding by drawing pictures. We have also been using different types of calendars to find special dates and work out how long things are in days and weeks.

In Language, we had a reading assessment to test our comprehension skills in finding facts and opinions, identifying the writer’s purpose and point of view, and finding causes and effects. We studied the Robert Burns poem Willie Wastle and used Scots wordbank sheets , dictionaries and the internet to work out what the Scots words meant. We showed we had understood the poem when we drew a picture of Willie Wastle’s wife and cat. We then wrote our own Scots poems about a “beastie” or animal, again using the Scots wordbank sheets and dictionaries to help. We are also working on the presentation of our writing by re-drafting our work and learning to join letters.

We are busy preparing for Parents Nights next week. We have been setting and evaluating our targets and identifying our next steps in learning. We have also done lots and lots of I-JournAL filing! We look forward to sharing our I-JournALs with our parents and carers soon.

We are delighted to announce that most of our Brown Trout eggs have hatched and have turned into alevins. We are doing a good job of looking after them and making sure their tank is cold. Amy from Forth Fisheries visited us and delivered another batch of alevins too – so now we have hundreds!

For the I-Solve morning with parents and carers, we focused on problem-solving strategies. We did some activities and games that required us to work with others to solve a problem. In Number Maths we looked at the 5 and 10 times tables. We discovered that the 5 times table is half of the 10 times table and this can help us to multiply bigger numbers by 5. In Topic Maths, we have been using our calendars and practising finding dates and working out durations of time in days and weeks.

In Language, we wrote a story about our personal experiences of a time when we have had to persevere at something. This linked to the “Value of the Month” for January – Perseverance. In Reading, we focused on identifying facts and opinions in texts.

Futsal has continued with Laura. We practised our dribbling skills and were competing against each other. Soon some P4s will be taking part in a Handball Festival with other schools so this week those involved had a practise session led by pupils from James Young High School. We now have our SHANARRI display up in the classroom – this shows lots of ways that we can keep safe, healthy and happy at home and at school.

Some of us performed at the Scottish Evening – and we were fabulous! Emma did some Highland Dancing, Hailey recited her Scottish poem and our drama group performed Address to the Toothache by Robert Burns.  In Art with Miss Trotter, we started our wave paintings using shades of blue.

Our Skype session with our partner school in Mumbai was a big success! One of our groups presented their poster about saving water, as did a group from P4b. The children in India also presented their work and posters on saving water. It was fantastic to see them and talk to them in real life!

We are pleased to announce that we have now received the brown trout fish eggs and they are in our tank! Forth Fisheries delivered the eggs last week and it is now our job to look after them! We have to keep the water cold and we do this by using bottles of ice which we change twice a day. We are looking forward to seeing them grow…

One Day Creative, the drama company, worked with us on Robert Burns’ birthday, 25^th January. We took part in a half-day of drama workshop about the life of Robert Burns and Burns Night. We practised our dancing and acting skills and worked together with others. At the end of the day we teamed up with P4b to present a short play to the rest of the school.

We have been learning the Robert Burns poem Address to a Toothache with Mrs Thomson our drama teacher. Some of us will be performing this at the Scottish Evening soon. Well done to our finalists in the P4 Scottish Poetry competition – Hailey, Rocco and Patrick. We are so proud of you all!

In Maths, we have been focusing on developing our problem-solving skills. We have been exploring different strategies for solving problems and working with our peers to share ideas and support each other.

In Futsal, we have continued to practise a variety of skills and we are now playing mini-games. Team spirit is important! We are getting better at participating calmly in our meditation and yoga sessions. We are focusing on our breathing and holding poses for longer.

In Science, we carried out an experiment to see what solids dissolve in water. We made predictions and then tested these out.

We have now finished our posters about saving water and have been presenting these to an audience in our groups. We will soon be sharing our learning with our partner school in Mumbai when we hold a live Skype meeting. One group from our class will present to the children in India in an online meeting and we look forward to seeing their presentations too.