Author: Staff 622

This week we faced yet another situation which meant that the class had to be flexible and prepared for change any moment. They have all been fantastic. especially as none of us really knew what would happen next.

Thank you for all your support this week with an ever changing school day.

As always this week’s blog is compiled by P4H

Next week’s Spelling

–le ending rule

…..where the first syllable is long vowel sound, only 1 consonant is required before adding le eg trifle

table, cable, staple, ladle, title, trifle, Bible , noble, bugle, cycle

Tricky words also, always

Literacy

We continued exploring Ottoline and being reading detectives looking for clues. The story is getting really exciting . Mr Monroe has gone undercover to try and prove the Yellow Cat is a burglar.

Group Readers

We al started new books this week and set the chapters to read.

We also predicted what our books might be like by looking at the cover and the blurb.

Some of us have Ottoline books.

Paragraphs.

We continued to practise writing in paragraphs. Writing a story is like a hamburger . The top and bottom of the roll is the beginning and end . The bits in the middle are the different stages and paragraphs in the story. Then we created our own adventure story concentrating on punctuation, grammar, layout and paragraphs. We were pleased with our finished stories and are going to assess them next.

Home Learning

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zvwwxnb/articles/z9n73k7

Numeracy

We revised subtraction with borrowing. We chose the challenge which we were happy with , using 2 or 3 digit borrowing .

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Fractions

We worked out what 1/4 and 1/3 are of a whole. We also tried written word problems where we had to divide things between 3 or 4 .Fractions use tables.

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..Money

We practised putting in the decimal point . We also tried to work out change from £5 and £10. We have to subtract to find out how much change we get.

We also did calculations using borrowing and remembering where to put the decimal point again. We found it tricky especially when it was a 0.

Home Learning

Practise fractions here.

https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/fractions-intro/latest/fractions-intro_en.html

Try these sites to practise money skills…..

https://natwest.mymoneysense.com/students/students-5-8/the-change-game/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zp8dmp3/articles/z2s6hv4

Titanic

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We continued to research information using the laptops and also pictures and information books. We added lights to our own Titanic which makes it sparkle. It was probably lit up the night of the 14th April 1912 when it hit the iceberg.

PE

We developed our bat and ball skills using tennis rackets and balls. We played with a partner and also on our own. We did keepie uppie with our rackets and balls.

Assembly

It was good to see everyone who is working at home. We enjoyed the pirate quiz . We got 9 and a half out of 10

Have a great weekend

From P4H (and Ms Hastie and Mrs Murray)

Another busy week as P4H continue to learn and develop skills across the curriculum..

This week’s blog was compiled by P4H working together,

Literacy

Next week’s spelling …..

The rule is where the first syllable contains a short vowel sound, 2 consonants are required before adding “le” eg purple

Where one consonant sound is heard eg puzzle, double the consonant by adding le ..kettle , middle. apple

trample, simple, purple, buckle, sparkle, middle, bottle, circle, puzzle, handle

Tricky words three there

Reading

We set the next chapter to read. We invented and alternative ending to the story using our imagination and remembering the story line. We also picked out interesting words and looked up their definition in the dictionary,

Grammar

We learnt how to use paragraphs in story writing and that it helps when we write out information. It will help us write stories and separates topics by time and place. Organising information makes it easier to read. They help with layout and makes it easier to understand. .

Class Novel Study

We continued being reading detectives with Ottoline , We looked at Mr Munroe’s feelings and how they changed in different places at various times. We noticed there was a difference.

Numeracy

We used our tables and division skills to help us work with fractions. We started with a half and saw the links between 2x table. Shapes have to be divided into 2 equal parts to be a half. Numbers of objects have to be shared in 2 equal piles when they are halved.

Home learning

Try some of these sites.

Fraction Circles

lhttps://www.topmarks.co.uk/Search.aspx?q=fractions

Money

We continued to count sums of money. We also learned about the decimal point and why it is important to write amounts correctly and when we do calculations.

We also added and subtracted. We found the carrying and borrowing ones tricky and had to remind ourselves what to do. We will be practising more of these next week

Home Learning

Try some of these games

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zx982hv/resources/1

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/7-11-years/money

Titanic

We continued to research the Titanic by using laptops and reading articles which we downloaded. Each group has almost enough information to make our information posters.

We have almost finished our own Titanic ship.and put information labels on it.

We read more of the Titanic Detective Agency . Bertha is still very suspicious of some of the passengers and has begun to make a list of clues. Johan was sea sick but still wants to find out what is map means. It is getting very exciting.

Outdoor Leaning

We used our magnifiers to look at living things on the ground in the woods. It was mainly flies and d bugs we found but they looked huge when magnified! Some of them looked really weird!

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Art

We had fun after a heavy down pour of rain. We looked at the effects of water on chalks . The colours are much brighter . We discovered they disintegrate and becomes very mushy. This is because they partly dissolves in water. It became very messy!

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Have a sunny weekend!

by P4H

( and Ms Hastie and Mrs Murray)

It has been another busy week of learning in P4H, developing various skills across the curriculum. Our research has stirred our curiosity and after discussion we have decided our investigations will shape our learning over the next few weeks.

Literacy

Next week’s spelling

We are continuing to explore words which have silent letters.

Silent ‘b’ as in ‘mb’ or ‘bt’

Silent ‘g’ as in ‘gn’

Lamb

crumb

thumb

plumber

doubt

comb

gnome

gnaw

Tricky words form from

Reading

We continued working on our group readers. We set the chapters to read .

We chose 2 characters and used our detective skills to find words in the text to describe them. We compared them using our skills.

Literacy Evolve Novel Study.

We continued being reading detectives to explore Ottoline and the Yellow Cat”

We had to find clues from the adverts in the text . Then we could work out the suspicious buildings and try to solve the mystery.

Numeracy

We continued to practise division using our knowledge of tables and number fact families.

We began a topic of money and looked at the value of coins. We sorted money into values and added heaps to make totals.

We decided we would start a shop and use the junk boxes to sell. We plan to organise this next week .

Titanic

During Skills time some of us built Lego Titanics. We decided to see if they would float or sink. It has stirred our interest in water and why things float . We are going to investigate this more over the next few weeks

Here are the results

Group 1 (A,W,E)

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Groups 2 (I,T) and group 3 (W,H)

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ICT

We divided into groups and began to create information posters to display.

They are First class, Second Class, Third Class , the Captain and crew , icebergs and the shipbuilders. We searched the internet for information and photos to help us We were doing historical research and discovered some amazing facts which we did not know. We used our reading and comprehension skills alongside computer skills to find information. We printed out some photos . Next we will combine all our research to make information posters,

Here we are working together …..

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Home Learning Retell someone the facts we discovered through our research

Art

We worked in groups and began to make our own fabulous Titanic .We looked at photos and videos as part of our research. We combined our skills and painted, cut, drew and designed our own ship.

PE

We played rounders and developed our throwing , catching and running skills. We needed to work as a team

Fun from the health week activities .

Guess which event Ms Hastie was standing at?!

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We finished with relay races…..

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Enjoy the long weekend with Monday holiday

by P4H and Ms Hastie

This week the emphasis has been on healthy living and we have enjoyed developing our understanding through a variety of activities in Health Week..

We have also carried on learning across the curriculum.

Today’s Blog has been complied together by P4H

Spelling for week beginning 17th May

Silent ‘k’ followed by ‘n’ – kn

and remembering that plurals change ‘f’ to ‘v’ before adding ‘es’ – knife – knives

knee

knight

knot

knead

knew

knowledge

knives

kneeling

knitting

knocked

TRICKY WORDS

know   no

We wrote stories using a suitcase as a starting point. We thought about characters, setting , time, and what happened. We used our imaginations .It was part of Big Writing. We remembered to use punctuation and tried to include interesting adjectives ,connectives and openers.

Reading

We set our reading target together in our groups and discussed the story so far..

We continued our class novel. the Titanic Detective Agency and have learnt about 2 of the main characters, Bertha and Johan . By looking for clues in the text we have built up an idea of their class, their family, where they have come from and why they were going to USA.

Numeracy

We developed our division skills and shared objects equally in groups. We made links between the tables.
e.g 2 x 5 =10. 10:- 2 =5 10 :- 5 =2

We divided the stations of the 2 and 3 times tables equally, without remainders, using our knowledge of multiplication facts. We made the link

Some challenged themselves even further with the 6 times table .

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Choose your level

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/number-facts/number-fact-families

https://nrich.maths.org/13788

Practice your tables recall and division skills with

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/daily10

Outdoor Learning

We used natural objects to practise division.

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Health Week

Mrs Murray told us all about First Aid and we learned what to do if someone was cut, choking, had a head injury , burns, bleeding, broken bones. She also told us how to use first aid

We talked about Healthy diets and how to look after ourselves safely.

We talked about our bodies and what we could see on the outside. We measured our height and our shoe size. We realised we are all different.

Resisilence

We learned the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset

A fixed mindset avoids challenges, gives up easily, gets frustrated and ignores feedback and feels threateneed by others’ success

A growth mindset never gives up, takes on challenges, learns from others’ successes. It is good to have a growth mindset .

Home Learning Explain what the power of yet is about

PE

We looked at what makes a good runner and discovered with was our best foot for a standing start. We improved our technique.

We found out that using your arms helped you jump further as it pushes your weight forward. We learned how to mark how far you have jumped.

We practised for the “sports” at the Waterboard Field

At the Waterboard Field Mr Segall set up 4 stations. We divided into 4 groups and went round the 4 stations

They were shuttle run, speed bounce, target throwing and standing long jump. We had about 6 minutes at each. At the end we took part in running and obstacle relays.

Photos to follow next week!

Titanic

We explored the lives of the passengers . We learned that there were different classes in 1912 and that people were not treated equally. Some children had to leave school to go to work as the family needed money.

We found out what it was like living in Belfast in a ship builder’s family in 1910.

We researched how the ship was divided and discovered the Upper classes had the most space and the crew had the least.

Have a good weekend!

P4H and Ms Hastie

This week has been short but busy as ever!

Today’s Blog was compiled together!

Spelling

Next week’s rule

Over the years, the sound of words have changed and some letters are still in the spelling of words which are no longer sounded.

Silent ‘w’ followed but ‘r’ makes ‘wr’

Core wrong, wren , wring, wrist , wrap

Challenge. Wreath, wench, wreckage, shipwreck

Tricky words Right , write

Learning stories.

We looked at the targets for this term and worked out our star steps.

Numeracy

We practised our tables

We plotted points on grids and also revised angles . We had fun with a treasure map. Some of us found countries on a world map grid.

Titanic

We looked at ship building and how and where the Titanic was built. We researched texts to find out information and how long it took to build and what it was like being a ship builder in 1911

Our new class novel is the Titanic Detective Agency by Lindsey Littleson

PE We made up our own games in groups and then it started to hail!

Loose Parts.

Here are the photos from last week’s session. We worked together sharing ideas and reflecting and modifying as we went along.

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Enjoy the weekend!

by P4H

It has been another busy week in P4H, full of learning.

Apologies for the delay in last week’s Blog. For some reason it didn’t actually post despite the class completing it on Friday!

Hopefully you have caught up now!

Thank you to everyone who entered BGT. The standard of talent was very high and all the acts were fantastic. We were impressed the imaginative ideas and finding venues! It was a very hard decision for all of us to vote for the 2 winners to represent us in the Final which will be judged by the Senior Leaders next week!

Today’s blog is compiled by P4H

Literacy

Next week we will revise tricky words as well as the common words. The lists can be found on our Teams.

Reading We started our group readers and discussed what we thought they were about from the information in the blurb and the front cover. We have predicted what they will be like to read.

Home Learning Ideas. Retell what you have read so far to someone at home..

We began our new Novel Study together called Otteline and the Yellow Cat by Chris Riddell

It sounds like it might be a mystery story and with detective work. The first chapter was interesting and we got an idea about the main characters who are Otteline and Mr Monroe and Robert. It is a clever mixture of writing and drawings. The illustrator is also the author and he only uses one colour, which is red.

We have been looking at homophones and connectives to help our story writing. Connectives are sometimes called conjunctions They join sentences together and help make our writing flow. Some are ….for, so , because , and , or, when

Homophones are words which sound the same but are spelt differently and have a different meaning

eg hear, here, night , knight , bare , bear, there, their, they’re, two, too, to, buy, bye, by

Home Learning Ideas Think of other homophones and explain their different meaning.

We made up descriptions of Spring using similes.

We did a comprehension about the Titanic . We had to be reading detectives and look for the clues in the facts and figures of the text.

Numeracy

We continued with the 3 times table and progressed onto 6 and 9 times table .We are all at different stages but we are practicing recall. We used time table grids and lists to help us.

At home, keep practising all the tables out of sequence. If you know them, then try to speed up your recall. here’s a good site to use.

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/daily10

We were able to multiply using our tables , using the traditional method with carrying .

We continued working on grids and coordinates . We learned that to read coordinates it is important to read the x axis first ( which is the bottom or horizontal line) and then the y axis (which is the vertical line) We write them like this ( B,3) Here are some examples of our work plotting colours on a grid, by following the coordinates.

Home learning Ideas. Draw a grid and labels the axis . Remember to use letters on one and numbers on the other. Can you plot colours like we did in the class.

Titanic

We decided to chose the Titanic as our IDL subject

We discussed what we already knew about it . Then we made a list of questions asking what we want to know and find out in our research.

We started to explore facts and figures about the Titanic and have begun to get an idea of how the ship sank. We are all very exited to find out more.

PE

We divided into groups and practised skills using different equipment at each station We rotated our groups

Outdoor Learning

We explored the signs of Spring in the playground looking for birds, leaves, buds, footprints, signs of growth We had to look hard, up and down.

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Today we had a session with Loose Parts developing many skills like pushing, constructing, teamwork, imagination, looking and listening, sharing ideas, compromising, pulling, balance, strength and coordination.

Photos to come next week !

Have a lovely holiday weekend.

School returns for pupils on Wednesday.

by P4H

Welcome back to term 3 We have a busy term ahead but it is lovely to be working together in school.

Reminder that any entries for Buckstone’s Got Talent should be brought in school next week so the class can select who will represent us.

As usual we have been very busy working across the curriculum developing skills.

Reading

This term, we will be reading within groups but at school. There will be no reading books going home. Covid restrictions made group reading tricky so we will be reading our novels daily and working on various tasks relating to the group reader.

Today’s blog was complied by P4H who have been working hard developing our skills across the curriculum

Literacy

Our class novel is The Bolds by Julian Clary. It is about people who are not really people as they are hyenas . It is very funny because the hyenas make lots of mistakes pretending to be humans.

There are several books in the series.

Spelling

This week we revised all the tricky words from last term. Keep practising at home

Use, just, find, kind, buy, by, heard, herd, even, different, threw, through

Next week’s spelling

Super graph, sphere, phrase, physical, elephant, dolphin

Fantastic phonics, paragraph, nephew, telephone, orphan, alphabet

Spectacular photograph, autograph, atmosphere, pheasant, pharmacy catastrophe

We created our own Haiku poems .These are short poems which come from Japan We developed our knowledge of syllables from last term This is a poem that has 3 lines with 5 syllables in the first and 3rd line and 7 syllables in the 2nd. We used clapping to help us.

We thought about the signs of Spring and used our ideas to create the poems

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Similes We learned what a simile was and created our own. We listened to Roger McGough reading his poem called The Writer of this Poem

We were able to make up our own comparisons using similes. We changed traditional similes using modern comparisons.

At Home Ideas
Try making up some similes comparing things around your home

Numeracy

We revised the 3 times table and tried to speed up accurate recall with activities and games. We were making links between times tables. We worked in partners and on our own

At home ideas

Practice your 3 times table here :-

https://www.timestables.co.uk/3-times-table.html

We made a compass and went outside to plan journeys for our partner to follow. We were working out left and right turns. We found out about the points on a Compass and when we might use a Compass. We used North , South , East and West in our directions.

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At Home Ideas

Try planning a route and see if someone at home can follow it. Were your instructions clear enough? Can you use the language we have been learning in class? For example – full, half, quarter turns, right, left, anti-clockwise, clockwise, 90 degrees, 180 degrees, 360 degrees and the Compass Points for an extra challenge.

We began to look at grids and how coordinates work . We learned about the axis and how to plot points on a square in a grid . In outdoor learning we chalked our own grids and put stones and twigs down . Our partner had to work out the coordinates

We learnt to read the horizontal axis first.

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Other areas

Art We made pencil drawings of daffodils and then added detail with black pens. We followed a video to help us but created our own individual ones. We discovered there are many varieties of daffodils.

Can you retell the story form Greek mythology about Narcissus?

PE We did fitness exercises and then used basic equipment to develop our skills and work as a team.

We also developed our climbing , coordination and balance skills on the climbing frames and ropes.

We learned how to play Cat and Mouse

RME We talked about Ramadan and heard what it is like celebrating Ramadan . It was interesting and we had lots of questions. We are looking forward to hearing about Eid..

Problem Solving The Mystery of the Missing Daffodils

We had to use our problem solving skills to work out different numeracy clues to solve the mystery. Some were tricky.

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Have a lovely weekend

P4H ( and Ms Hastie)

Here we are at the last day of what has been a very different term. Thank you again for all the support over the weeks.

This week’s learning has been centred around Easter. We have explored the Easter story through activities across the curriculum using cartoon strips, word searches, videos ,quizes and science.

We also have had fun playing Chinese Whispers.

Today we had a few pranks for April Fool’s Day!! It was funny!

Enjoy the Easter holidays . School returns on Tuesday 20th April

The highlight was our STEM challenge to create a parachute for an egg. We designed , constructed , modified, reflected, adjusted and finally created a parachute with a carrier for an egg, Then we tested them outside. We worked in groups or on our own . It was fun but a challenge.

Here we are in stages .

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Stage 2 We tested them before we modified them

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Stage 3 Then we went outside to launch them

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Have a lovely Easter holiday!

by P4H and Ms Hastie

It has been another busy week of learning in P4H and we have been developing a huge number of skills.

Our Blog is a combination of our reflections .

Literacy

Reading We have reshuffled our reading groups and renamed the. We will be developing literacy skills with a combination of reading independently, out loud and reading activities as a groups.

Spelling This weeks sound is ir

first, third, birthday, thirteen , thirst, girl, thirsty, squirrel, squirt, firm

We also practiced Hallowe’en words

ghost, broomstick,spider cauldron, toffee apple, witch, scary, terrify, pumpkin

Storm .It is such an exciting book which we finished this week. It is good to follow the text as a class. We had lots of discussions with our learning partners about what we thought about the ending and what might happen next. We thought it should have a different ending. We looked for clues in the text.

We were reporters and wrote about our holiday week . We used adjectives and thought about our feelings.

We wrote an Autumn poem. We looked at poems and learned they have shorter lines, have a rhythm and often rhyme . We made a list of adjectives and Autumn words to help us. It was a bit like writing a song.

Home learning . Practise writing out the spelling words in different colours.

Look at other poems and see whether they have rhyming words.

Maths

We looked at symmetry all around us. We used mirrors to help us to see if the shape was symmetrical .We tried to draw the other half of pictures to make them symmetrical.

We contined to practise the 3 times table.

Home learning .Try to find examples of symmetry in your home and play this game https://www.topmarks.co.uk/symmetry/symmetry-sorting

Practice 3 times table.. Ask someone to give you the answer and work out the sum eg 15 is 3 x ?

Art We made a pumpkin using orange and black paper. It was symmetrical. The skills we used were cutting,gluing , drawing , creativity, concentration, focus and patience ( Ms Hastie and Mrs Tulloch were very impressed with them)

PE We divided into groups and practiced a mixture of skills using the equipment.at different stations. They were bat and ball, ball skills, skipping , throwing, target practice and running .It started to rain so we had to abandon and run in very quickly!

Outdoor learning We looked for symmetrical shapes all around the playground , but then it started to rain.

HWB We looked at “The Boy, the Mole the Fox and the Hound” by Charlie Makesy . We discussed how we could make a difference and drew pictures in pen showing that.. We are going to display them next week .

Mrs Tulloch’s Lunch time chats were about how Halloween started and traditions and Mary Queen of Scots playing tennis.

Pumpkin Trail We went on a pumpkin trail to see all the fantastic pumpkins. Here are some from our class

Have a Happy Hallowe’en!

by P4H (and Ms Hastie )

Another busy week in P4H bringing this very different term to end, I have been really impressed with the way that the children have settled into our new normal and worked together as a class team. Thank you for your understanding at the beginning with the constant changes. After 10 weeks I think we are all ready for a holiday . I hope you all have a lovely Half Term

As usual today’s blog is compiled with P4H based on their reflections of the week

Spelling

We looked at ar/or words where you need to sound out each letter.

Super/Fantastic yard,shark,artist,alarm,carve,cork,forty,orbit,horse,sharp

Spectacular alarmed, enlarged,artistic, corkscrew,information,fortieth, uniform

Tricky words little , only

Home learning

I have attached the 100 high frequency words to practice

Storm .It is becoming very exciting and we have been looking at the way the author uses adjectives to create the atmosphere. We talked in partners and groups trying to predict what will happen next We have looked at the text and talked about whether the Highwayman is really a ghost.The book has really got us thinking, It is a real mystery with exciting twists. We are all enjoying it.

We continued working on adjectives .We substituted words for more powerful adjectives which makes sentences more interesting.

Home learning Think of powerful adjectives for big, small, nice, old, fast,hard ,angry,good

It is Autumn so we looked for signs outside and found out information by reading texts. We pretended to be detectives again looking for the answers to questions in the texts.

Numeracy

We continued to learn how to round numbers up and down to the nearest 10. We remembered that numbers up to 4 round down and from 5 -9 round up. As a challenge we tried rounding to nearest 100

We used our addition and subtraction skills in rounding too. We had to estimate .

We practised the 3 times table and tried to do sums out of sequence

We did Autumn number puzzles. We had to do addition and subtraction.

Home learning

Rounding -use the digits from a phone number or any long number.. Write as many 3-digit numbers as you can. They round each of these numbers to the nearest 10 and record them like this: 486 → 490

IDL We looked at the landmarks in Scotland . Some of us had visited them. We labeled a map and found out the names of the islands and seas around Scotland .

Art Our class novel is a funny story about Nessie. We looked at photos and clips of possible sightings of the Loch Ness monster and drew our own pictures using pastels

PE We set up fitness stations and worked at each for 30 secs. It was quite hard but fun when it started to rain.

Outdoor Learning. We looked for signs of Autumn. We worked in groups to play colour bingo searching for natural objects to match the colours on our sheet. We did a scavenger hunt for things on our list.

Lunchtime Chats At lunch we have to stay in our own seats to keep in the guidelines. Mrs Tulloch has been telling us an interesting fact every day like things about earthquakes and explosions in WW1.. We all enjoy learning these facts while we are eating.

Home learning Can you tell someone the interesting facts?

Have a great holiday

from P4H and Ms Hastie