P7 had a very exciting afternoon with some S6 students from James Young High School (JYHS) today. We were lucky enough to spend the afternoon being scientists! The S6 students shared their knowledge of the scientific method and helped us to write up an aim, hypothesis, method and conclusion for our experiment. The focus was the impact exercise has on the heart rate. We took our resting pulse and compared this to our pulse after completing different exercises. We are really looking forward to them coming back next week to do some more, possibly messy, experiments!
Who knew Fairytales could help you learn about shapes?!!!
Another exciting afternoon was had by all in Primary One today. While we were outside enjoying the rain the Friendly Dragon popped in and left us another letter. He told us all about his favourite story ‘Hansel and Gretel’ and how it helped him to learn about 2D shapes. We then went to work creating witches and houses using circles, squares, rectangles and triangles to help us. Our classroom is looking fantastic and we can’t wait to show you our Fairyland later this term. 
P5, P6 and P7 are WINTER READY
As the weather has finally turned on us (have you got your extra layers on?) it’s time for us to get WINTER READY.
In the unfortunate event of a snow day we have included suggestions for activities for you to complete. These activities vary in challenge and offer a range of different approaches to the curriculum. We are sure you will inject enthusiasm and creativity into these tasks (if we have a snow day!) while of course having lots of FUN and keeping SAFE in the snow.
Christmas Home Learning Activities P5, P6 and P7
A Reminder to all Children in Primary 5
We will be conducting a filtration experiment tomorrow (Thursday, 19.11.15) and we still need resources for it.
If possible can you bring in :
* a small amount of sand and/or stones
* an empty juice bottle
Thank you Mr Brice & Miss Watt
Digital Technologies in P6
P6 have been exploring using digital technologies across the curriculum to enhance teaching and learning.
We have particularly loved using Stop Start Animations to help us with our story writing.
Have a look at how you could use this to help you here…
http://www.culturestreet.org.uk/activities/stopframeanimator/
You could even try it at home!
Book Project – P4 and P6
Primary 4 pupils have been working with their friends in Primary 6 to jointly write a story book called “Zero to Hero” with the theme of Growth Mindset. The author Mary Turner Thomson is supporting the children in the creative writing process. We are all looking forward to seeing the final book and becoming published authors! The book will be on sale to the school community in the near future. Watch this space!
Superheroes in Primary 5
We have started our Health and Wellbeing topic, Superheroes.
We received letters from someone called Not-So-Super-Stan. He told us that he would like to become a superhero but doesn’t know how. In his first letter he asked if we’d accept his challenge of helping him become a superhero, which of course we accepted!
In Not-So-Super-Stan’s second letter he has asked us to find out about how superheroes gain their super powers. We discovered that Spider-Man gained his powers after being bitten by a spider and Superted got his powers when Spottyman sprinkled cosmic dust over him in the attic where he had been left.
Not-So-Super-Stan suggested that we make comic strips explaining how a character of our choice got their super powers. We had so much fun creating them that we’ve uploaded some photos of our comic strips. We hope you enjoy them 🙂
Surprise, Surprise for Primary 3/2, 2, and 2/1
Primary 3/2, 2 and 2/1 were all surprised to come back after lunch one day to find a special letter from Mr Minute. He needs us to help him open a clock factory. We had a think about what we would need to learn to help him. Over the next few weeks we will learn all about job roles, time and shape.
In Maths Primary 2 and 3 are learning all about fractions. We have had great fun folding and cutting shapes. I wonder how many fractions we can spot when we are out and about.
Great fun was had by all at our Children in Need assembly. We enjoyed dressing up in our pyjamas, taking part in competitions and dancing at the dance-a-thon.
Congratulations to all the budding dancers.
Space exploration in the Nursery
Another busy week in the nursery! Following on from our pupils thinking about light/dark through talking tubs, floorbooks and3D mind-maps, the predominant theme arising was ‘Outer-space.’
The pupils identified a variety of learning opportunities and were active participants of organising materials, discussing ideas and evaluating and modifying their choices relating to the Space theme. We have had groups of pupils researching all of the 9 planets, discussing their shape, size and colours to then make their own. We cut out various sized circles and organised trays of shaving foam, mixed with splashes of paint, to then see what happened when we placed the circles on top of the foam. This created a fantastic textured effect which we will use to build up our big display of the solar system. We now want to learn a song to help us identify the planets! Some other children tried to recreate the solar system by mixing paint and water in a spray bottle, then spraying the contents over a piece of black card, this was also really effective as the children are now keen to add their own symbols of space: aliens, rockets and astronauts, just to name a few.
We have also read ‘On the Moon’ which stimulated some further thinking to recreate the moon on one of our activity trays. Pupils discussed how we could make the white dusty moon surface and what materials would be good for craters. After considering the ideas of using flour or white paper the pupils decided to mix sand and flour to get a slightly rougher texture. We experimented with paper plates for the craters but this didn’t work quite as well as we hoped. Next week we are thinking about using the junk to make rockets, moon buggies and flags to add to our moon.
One of our pupils has asked his fellow pupils if they could make the role play area into Jupiter. Many pupils helped to research the colours of Jupiter and what might be included in the area. We are continuing to develop a space rocket control panel and will to add more features of Jupiter and our space rocket next week.
Our number rockets have also been very popular this week with groups of pupils playing a game of ordering the numbers to then help the rocket to BLAST OFF! This has been helping to develop number recognition and ordering.
During gym, we have been continuing to practise our balance skills. We have worked with a partner to throw and catch a beanbag whilst one foot is on a bench. We have also been walking the plank, following the lines in the hall to help us concentrate on the positioning of our feet and stability of our core.
We are in to full swing with preparations for out Nativity. Each day we are practising the songs and beginning to work out the roles we might like to play.
As a nursery team, we are continuing to support the children in leading their own learning. Through the Outer-space topic, the enthusiasm and active engagement has dramatically increased with the pupils having greater personalisation and choice over activities across all areas of the nursery.
General Housekeeping:
Can all parents, carers and children please try their best to keep the cloakroom tidy as some items of clothing and footwear are getting mixed up. Gym rubbers should be returned to individual bags at the end of each day and ALL items of clothing should be clearly labelled.
Please ensure payments and any paperwork is returned ASAP for the nativity, panto and the Christmas party.
As the weather begins to deteriorate, please ensure your child comes dressed appropriately. We will strive to have the outdoor space open in all weathers and encourage messy and explorative play.
