This week we have been finding out about what Magic Grandad’s school day was like. We were amazed to discover that Magic Grandad had assembly every day. The assemblies were quite different and achievement certificates were only given once a year!! The children had to sit in rows and were not allowed to move around the classroom. There were no games and activities to help the children learn and the whole class did the lesson at the same time. Next week we will be learning about objects found in Magic Grandad’s classroom. If you have any junk at home please send it in for us to recreate some of these objects.
P4 Beasties Poetry
P4 have been busy writing poetry about “beasties” using Scots words. We used dictionaries and wordbanks to find Scots words to use. Some of us even used playdough to model the “beasties” first for inspiration. What do you think of our work?
Scottish Week in the Nursery
This week the Nursery are learning about all things Scottish. Today many of the children tried a traditional Burns Supper at snack time. Children enjoyed dancing to Scottish music and created some Scottish themed artwork at the creative table. Later this week we will be learning some Scottish songs and some Scots language through stories and rhymes. The children have been engaging with our interactive Scottish display and some have dressed up in the tartan clothes in the role play area. We will be making our own shortbread over the next week or so – yum!
Our next topic is ‘People Who Help Us’. If you have an interesting/helpful job you think the children would be interested in, please speak to a member of staff.
P5 Scottish Poetry
Primary 5 have been using Scottish vocabulary to describe our much needed and much loved items of winter clothing. Come and read our work at some point and remember to wrap up warm. We are sure you will be impressed.
WPS Garden of Values
Check out the new display showing our school values – it’s wonderful! The display shows our Williamston Values and features artwork by the Art After-School Club. The children have done a great job! Please note that the “Value of the Month” for January is “Tolerance” and we are looking forward to learning more about this value in assemblies soon.
P4 Author Visit (2)
P4 have had their second workshop with the author Mary Turner-Thomson. The focus was on developing two characters for the story – a Scottish boy and girl. First we considered different personality types and worked out our own – that was interesting! Then we worked in groups to plan different features and personality traits of a character for the story. Mary will now help us to put these together into two main characters. We will be working on the storyline next – how exciting! Here are some of our character ideas….
Trout Eggs Arrive in P4
Jo from Forth Fisheries came in on Friday to deliver 250 trout eggs to our tank in the classroom. We will be looking after them for the next few weeks as they hatch into Alevin and then become Fry. We will then be releasing them into Murieston River.
Validated self-evaluation (VSE)
We will be engaging in a process of validated self-evaluation (VSE) during the next two weeks, as part of our commitment to continuous school improvement. This process will involve a team of two head teachers and an education officer from West Lothian Council who will work with us to observe learning and teaching, engage in discussion with groups of staff, pupils, parents and partners and consider the varied evidence produced across the school. The purpose of this approach is to support, extend and challenge our own self-evaluation and to work with us to refine our points for action and further improve the quality of our provision and outcomes for learners. We welcome the opportunity to work in partnership with the external team, to hear the views of the various focus groups and to engage meaningfully in a process which will give us added insight into whole school effectiveness.
Super Gran visits Primary 1
This block Super Gran will be helping us to learn about the past. We made a time machine to go back in time to see what homes were like when Gran was a little girl. We looked at different types of houses and what they are made of. We can’t wait to find out what different rooms in the house looked like in the past and compare them to our rooms today!
Watch this space for more information about our topic.
P4 Chinese Workshops
Primary 4a and 4b were delighted to welcome Annie from China to their classes. Annie will be giving us two presentations about her home country of China. The first covered locating China and its major cities on a world map, the Chinese flag and some historical aspects including buildings and clothing. We also learned how to say hello and some simple phrases in Chinese, with the help of Annie’s panda friend. We are looking forward to the second workshop!
