Buckstone Primary School, P1 Koalas

Primary 1M Reflective Friday 3.3.23

Hello everyone,

This week we have been learning:

MATHS AND NUMERACY

We started talking about money and watched a video which introduced British currency. In small groups we examined coins more closely and talked about the shape, colour, size, and value of the different coins. We discussed the fact that there are no coins with the value of 3p and 4p for example,  and that we have to make amounts in different ways.

THINGS TO DO AT HOME

Have a look at the coins you have around the house and help your child to identify them.  In school we have been discussing the fact that the biggest coin is not always worth the most. We will be continuing to learn about money next week and some of us will be using coins to make different amounts of money.

LITERACY

This week we introduced the sound ch. We thought of words starting and ending with this sound and practised reading and writing these words. We made paper chains in the class.

This week’s dictation practised these words as well as the tricky words: the, put, I.

We use Pink for Think and Green for Great to reflect on our learning.

We were learning to recognise and write the capital letters: D E F G H I

THINGS TO DO AT HOME

Please cut out the flashcard your child has brought home today and use it to help your child to recognise the sounds and build words.

Please continue to practise the words on the reading vocabulary card,  a few words at a time.

WORLD BOOK DAY

Thank you to everyone who brought in some of their favourite books to share with the class. We only had time to read one of them as the first one we chose was a particularly long one- but very enjoyable. If you would like to bring the books in again, we will read them over the coming weeks. It was lovely to see a mixture of fiction and nonfiction books among the selection.

Primary 6 buddies came to read to us, and the children shared the books they had brought in with them.

PE

We have been using our bodies to make different shapes and have been balancing using different parts of our bodies.

FRENCH

We have been learning to say good morning, how are you? in French and we have started to learn the words for numbers to 10. We also revised the colour words we know.

Rouge – red

Blanc- white

Noir – black

Bleu- blue

Vert- green

Jaune- yellow

Buckstone Primary School

P1B Reflective Friday 3.3.23

Good afternoon, Bright Sparks!

Literacy

This week, we learned the ‘ch’ sound. We made chains and practised blending ch words. We make sure we say ‘ch’ rather than ‘chih’! We enjoyed another new reading book this week that we took home on Thursday. Please remember to return this book on Monday! We also individually came to the teaching table to practise reading and writing our tricky words. The ones that were the hardest were ‘want’, ‘saw’, ‘was’ and ‘his’. Please practise reading these at home with the blue sheet flashcards if you ever have a few spare minutes – repetition is key! For World Book Day, some of us brought in our favourite book and we showed this to the class. Our P6 buddies then came to our classroom in the afternoon to read with us!

mark-making table – writing postcards

Maths and numeracy

This week, we continued with our money topic. We worked on adding coins, usually up to the value of 10p. We had to work out how much money was in the money jar. We remembered that if there is a 2p, we have to count that twice as it’s the same as 2 1ps. We will continue with this next week, going beyond 10p if we are able to.

Other Areas

This week, we continued with our gymnastics block in PE. We used the benches to practise balancing, and then turned them upside down so that it was trickier but we all did a fantastic job! We also made sure to bend our knees when jumping off onto the mats for our dismount. On Thursday, we did some yoga to relax and stretch our bodies. Our shoe shop remained popular this week as a roleplay opportunity, so next week we are going to transform it into a hairdressing salon which the children have asked for. Any donations of empty shampoo bottles for a little product shop (or old hairdressing gowns if we have any hairdressers!) would be most welcome.

To do at home

Numeracy: recognising the numbers 1-30, counting backwards from 20 or 30, writing the ‘teen’ numbers with the 1 first and remember it’s ‘teen’ not ‘ty’, counting on with our fingers, number bonds to 10

Maths: naming 3D objects, recognising symmetrical shapes/structures, using tally marks to count items/collect data, recognising coins, which coin is worth more?, adding 1-5p coins together

Literacy: being able to write our tricky words, confidence in blending when reading books, being able to write (as well as recognise) all of our sounds we have covered (A-Z with q as qu, ck, ee, oo, sh and ch.)

General: being able to take off jumpers and zip up coats.

General Information

Our shoe shop remained popular this week as a roleplay opportunity, so next week we are going to transform it into a hairdressing salon which the children have asked for. Any donations of empty shampoo bottles for a little product shop (or hairdressing gowns if we have any hairdressers!) would be most welcome.

Keep all the junk coming in – it’s amazing how quickly we run out!

We have Loose Parts on Wednesday afternoon. It’s to be cold next week so please make sure your child is dressed appropriately for being outside!

Have a great weekend,

Miss Croal

Buckstone Primary School, P1 Koalas

Primary 1 Master Minds w.b. 20.2.23

This week in P1 Master Minds:

Literacy:

We learnt the new sound ‘sh’ this week. We read words and wrote words using this sound. We also read and wrote the tricky words we have been learning so far.

We have been working on our reading skills and have started taking our reading books home. Some of us said we felt happy when we were reading our books to people at home.

In writing, we made up stories about what we saw inside a shed. This helped us to use our new ‘sh’ sound.

We practised forming the letters g, y, p and q as well as beginning to look at the capital letters A, B and C.

At home: share your reading book with someone at home and talk about what is happening in the story or how the characters are feeling at different points.

Keep practising reading and building words using the sounds that we have learned so far. A sheet with the ‘sh’ flashcard was sent home today.

Maths:

In maths this week, we continued our learning on data handling and created a block graph using the results of our survey about new play areas we would like in the classroom.

We have also been working on our numeracy skills and some of us have started doing a bit more thinking around sequences of numbers backwards within 30.

At home: Practise counting backwards within 30 from different starting points.

Other Areas of the Curriculum

We wanted to know what it looked like inside Edinburgh Castle. We watched a short film. We found the Crown Jewels interesting and the fact that there were several items and not just one large jewel. The armour and the different paintings on the walls were also interesting.

We drew a picture of the castle along with someone who might have been there in the past and someone who might be there in the present day.

In PE we have begun a block of gymnastics. We performed one, two, three, four and five point balances. We also thought about and made different shapes using our arms and legs.

Some of us said we found the one point balance quite tricky.

Loose Parts Play

We were outside for Loose Parts Play on Thursday:

‘I enjoyed doing a cafe.’

‘We did a competition about who can make the biggest sandcastle and biggest piles.’

Next week: As you may be aware, it is World Book Day on Thursday. We are not dressing up this year, but if you would like to do so, bring your favourite book to school on Thursday to show the rest of the class.

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Buckstone Primary School

P1B Reflective Friday 24.2.23

Good afternoon.

Literacy

This week, we learned the ‘sh’ sound. We had a shoe shop, and had great fun measuring our feet, trying on shose and paying for them with coins. We had another new reading book this week, and we are very excited to have our reading book at home to share our learning with our family. This week, our writing prompt was “At the shops I got…”. We bought many things such as unicorns, squish mallows, dinosaurs, sweeties and notebooks!

measuring our feet
this is a shoe shop here at Comiston Road
customer services at the shoe shop!

Maths and numeracy

This week, we started our money topic. We talked about where money comes from and what we use it for. We practised recognising the different coins, thinking about their colour, shape and size. We talked about the word ‘value’, and how 1p would buy you the least amount of sweeties, but £2 would buy you the most. We found out that there is 100p in £1! We practised ordering the coins from the smallest value to the biggest value. We will continue with our money topic this week, and practise adding coins to the value of 10p.

Other Areas

This week, we started our gymnastics block in PE. We used the mats to practise different ways of travelling such as jumping and landing, and rolling. We shared our ways of travelling with the class! On Thursday, we did Creative Dance with Mrs Conlin – we absolutely loved it! We also had really creative modelling with junk and lego including a hot air balloon, a dance floor and a lego castle. Our lego table was back by popular demand too. Some of the girls also wanted a photo of their tidy book corner.

To do at home

Numeracy: recognising the numbers 1-30, counting backwards from 20 or 30, writing the ‘teen’ numbers with the 1 first and remember it’s ‘teen’ not ‘ty’, counting on with our fingers

Maths: naming 3D objects, recognising symmetrical shapes/structures, using tally marks to count items/collect data, recognising coins, which coin is worth more?

Literacy: being able to write our tricky words, confidence in blending when reading books, being able to write (as well as recognise) all of our sounds we have covered (A-Z with q as qu, ck, ee, oo and sh.)

General: being able to take off jumpers and zip up coats.

General Information

We are looking for donations of any unwanted shoes and little purses to add to our shoe shop in the classroom. Please hand them to me at the door or into the office if you have any – thank you!

Your junk donations are always welcome, please keep them coming!

Thursday is World Book Day. Although we are not dressing up this year, please bring in your favourite book or story to share with the class.

Please see below for photos from the week beginning 6th Feb.

Have a great weekend,

Miss Croal

Buckstone Primary School

P1B Reflective Friday 10.2.23

Good afternoon!

Literacy

This week, we learned the ‘oo’ sound. We make two Os with our hands then hold them up like binoculars to looook. We made lovely moon pictures using a foil stamp to create the craters. Some of us made our own book! We had another new reading book this week, and our writing prompt was “I look at the moon. It is…”. We had pink moons, moons surrounded by shooting stars and moons with people on them!

Maths and numeracy

This week, we looked at data handling. We learned about and analysed ways of presenting data, such as pictograms and bar charts. We used language such as ‘most’, ‘least’ and ‘equal’. We made our own class pictogram about our favourite places to learn in the classroom. The P1 Area was the most popular with 6 votes! We also looked at tally marks as a way of collecting data.

Other Areas

This week, we used hOOps in PE and came up with our own activity to share with the class. We had a wide range of creativity with the hoops, including hula hooping, the floor is lava, rolling, chasing and some dance routines! Everybody had the chance to show the class what they had come up with. We learned about Scottish inventions, including the fridge, toaster and flushing toilet!

To do at home

Numeracy: recognising the numbers 1-30, counting backwards from 20 or 30, writing the ‘teen’ numbers with the 1 first and remember it’s ‘teen’ not ‘ty’ for 13-19, counting on with our fingers.

Maths: naming 3D objects, recognising symmetrical shapes/structures, using tally marks to count items/collect data.

Literacy: being able to write our tricky words, confidence in blending when reading books, being able to write (as well as recognise) all of our sounds we have covered (A-Z with q as qu, ck, ee and oo).

General: being able to take off jumpers and zip up coats.

General Information

We are looking for donations of any unwanted shoes and little purses to create a shoe shop in the classroom. Please hand them to me at the door or into the office if you have any – thank you!

We are really sorry but due to technical issues there are no photos on the blogs this week. We hope this will be sorted by next time, and I will add the extra photos from this week.

Have a great midterm holiday,

Miss Croal

Buckstone Primary School, P1 Koalas

P1M Reflective Friday 10.2.23

Dear parents,

unfortunately, due to technical issues with WordPress, we are unable to share any photos this week.

This week we have been learning:

DATA HANDLING

 We talked about surveys and asked each other questions about our favourite play areas in the classroom. We used tally marks to record this information. We discussed what we had found out and how we could show this data. We then used our results to create individual pictograms. We plan to find out what else pupils would like to play with and create a class pictogram.

LITERACY

This week we introduced the sound oo. We thought of words containing this sound and matched words to pictures, writing some words ourselves.

This week’s dictation included the tricky words we have been revising this week: was, put, his. We also included some words which had the oo sound in them.

We use Pink for Think and Green for Great to reflect on our learning.

Independent writing this week was about the moon

 and what we think about when we look at it.

THINGS TO DO AT HOME

Please cut out the flashcards your child has brought home today and use them to help your child to recognise the sounds and build words.

We are revising the Block 1 tricky words in class. These words can be quite challenging for the children to remember. Please continue to help your child to revise recognition and spelling of these words using the -look, say, cover, write check strategy. This week we focused on put, was, his.

Please continue to practise the words on the reading vocabulary card,  a few words at a time.

HOLIDAY CHALLENGE!

Can you learn to tie your shoes over the holiday? The Kidsplainer will show you how!

 BIRDWATCH

We entered last week’s birdwatch data online together and discussed what we can do to encourage more birds to the playground. We talked about the other types of birds on our survey sheets and thought of words to describe them.

PE

We played running games and team games to improve our fitness and to have fun. We performed the Highland dance steps we had been practising.

SCOTLAND TOPIC

We watched a PowerPoint which showed the many inventions created by Scottish people. We talked about the inventions we thought were the most important, but it was very difficult to decide! In our groups we discussed what we had found out about Scotland and drew pictures to show our learning.

FRENCH

We have been learning to say good morning, how are you? in French and we have started to learn the words for six colours:

Rouge – red

Blanc- white

Noir – black

Bleu- blue

Vert- green

Jaune- yellow

We hope that you all have a very enjoyable February holiday.

Buckstone Primary School

P1B Reflective Friday 3.2.23

Good afternoon.

Literacy

This week, we learned the ‘ee’ sound. We pretend to be mice and go ‘ee ee ee!’. We made sheep and practised blending ee words.  We had another new reading book this week and did very well with our blending. Some of us just need to be more confident at taking time to sound out each sound in the word and then blend it together. We played fasted finger to see who could find the tricky word or the sound first!

Maths and numeracy

This week, we revisited symmetry and used our fingers and paint to create symmetrical butterflies. There were also some fantastic symmetrical structures made around the room. We were able to tell when our creations were symmetrical by just shape, or by colour and shape.

Other Areas

This week, we finished our Scottish Country Dancing learning by using some of the steps we have learned to choreograph and create our own dances! Each of us performed our routine to the class, and we all had a turn at giving feedback. We had another great loose parts session on Wednesday afternoon with lots of imagination, problem solving and team work. A couple of us even made a computer station! We enjoyed having the magnets back this week, see below for some of our our amazing creativity and imagination!

a magnetic village!
a granny holding a walking stick!
a modern museum!
using the fabrics in the area – here comes the bride!

Ideas to do at home

Numeracy: recognising the numbers 1-30 (the trickiest ones are 12, 13 and 20), counting backwards from 20 or 30, writing the ‘teen’ numbers with the 1 first and remember it’s ‘teen’ not ‘ty’ for 13-19, counting on with our fingers.

Maths: naming 3D objects, recognising symmetrical shapes/structures.

Literacy: being able to write our tricky words, confidence in blending 3-4 letter words, being able to write (as well as recognise) all of our sounds we have covered (A-Z with q as qu, ck and ee).

General: being able to take off jumpers and zip up coats.

General Information

Next Friday, we are going to go on a trip to the woods!

Please make sure your child has a spare change of clothes in school.

It was lovely to see some of you on Wednesday. Have a great weekend!

Miss Croal

Buckstone Primary School, P1 Koalas

P1M Reflective Friday 3.2.23

DROP IN

It was lovely to see so many parents on Wednesday morning. The children were very excited about sharing their classroom and their learning. Thank you to everyone who was able to attend.

This week we have been learning:

NUMERACY

 We have been counting backwards, starting, and ending at different numbers. Some of us were recognising numerals to 30 and some of us were trying to recognise domino patterns really quickly. Some groups were practising holding a number in their head while adding another group of objects to that number. We also practised counting arhythmic claps.

INFORMATION HANDLING

We went into our playground to record the different types of birds we could see. We took photos to help us identify them later. We used this information to create a pictogram showing the number and the variety of birds we had seen. We then went on to  create a pictogram displaying the different eye colours in our class.

LITERACY

This week we introduced the sound ee. We thought of words containing this sound and matched words to pictures, writing some words ourselves.

This week’s dictation included the tricky words we have been revising this week: I, the, to, he, me, is. We also included some words which had the ee sound in them.

We use Pink for Think and Green for Great to reflect on our learning.

We have been enjoying reading the Biff, Chip and Kipper books in our literacy groups. We are beginning to develop comprehension skills, trying to decode words, and are encouraging the children to think about the story and predict what might happen next.

We talked about what we had done after school, the day before and then drew a picture a wrote a sentence about it.

THINGS TO DO AT HOME

Ask your child to explain what a pictogram is.

You could help your child to create a pictogram of toys or objects you have in the home.

Please cut out the flashcards your child has brought home today and use them to help your child to recognise the sounds and build words.

We are revising the Block 1 tricky words in class. These words can be quite challenging for the children to remember. Please continue to help your child to revise recognition and spelling of these words using the -look, say, cover, write check strategy. This week we focused on I, the, to, he, me, is.

Please continue to practise the words on the reading vocabulary card,  a few words at a time.

EXPRESSIVE ARTS

 We learnt to sing Three Craws and Aly Bally Bee.

We created bees using lolly sticks, card, and googly eyes.

PE

We used the steps and movements we have been learning since the start of term to create our own Scottish dances with a partner. We used Scottish music to dance to and some of us showed our dances to the rest of the class.

HEALTH AND WELLBEING

We attended a P1 assembly where we were introduced to our new Building resilience unit – Have a Goal. We discussed what we would like to achieve or learn to do and drew a picture.

OUTDOOR LEARNING/ LOOSE PARTS

Instead of Loose Parts on Friday 10.2.23, we will be going for a walk in the woods beside the playground.

Have a lovely weekend.

Buckstone Primary School

P1B Reflective Friday 27.1.23

Good afternoon.

Literacy

This week, we learned the ‘qu’ and ‘x’  and ‘z’ sounds. We found ‘qu’ quite tricky to remember that after a q there is always u!  We practised filling in the sound spaces for qu words. We found words around the room that end in x, like mix and box, and on Friday we found zoo and Zoë!  zoo We had a new reading book this week and did very well with our blending. We played fasted finger to see who could find the tricky word or the sound first!

Maths and numeracy

This week, we worked individually at the teaching table to practise our counting (especially backwards!), doubles and using our fingers for sums. The most common things to practise at home are at the bottom of the blog.

Other Areas

This week, we continued with our Scottish Country Dancing, but In PE on Monday, we did dancing to celebrate Chinese New Year. We had to make up dance moves for cleaning the house, opening the windows, hanging up lanterns and cooking a yummy meal! We made Chinese dragons, and worked on our fine motor skills with cutting and folding the dragon body. We had a fantastic loose parts session outside too!

To do at home

Numeracy: recognising the numbers 1-30 (the trickiest ones are 12, 13 and 20), counting backwards from 20 or 30, writing the ‘teen’ numbers with the 1 first and remember it’s ‘teen’ not ‘ty’ for 13-19, counting on with our fingers.

Literacy: being able to recognise and write our tricky words (we are good at recognising them but need practise to write them!), blending 3-4 letter words by saying the sounds slowly in one big breath, being able to write (as well as recognise) all of our sounds we have covered (A-Z plus ck with q as qu).

General: being able to take off jumpers and zip up coats.

General Information

We have loose parts on Wednesday next week, please make sure your child is dressed appropriately.

Please make sure your child has a spare change of clothes in school.

Please ensure your child is coming into school with a waterbottle.

Looking forward to seeing some of you at the drop-in on Wednesday morning,

Miss Croal

Buckstone Primary School, P1 Koalas

P1M Reflective Friday 27.1.23

Hello everyone, this is what we have been learning this week:

NUMERACY

This week we have been:

Writing the numerals 1-10 correctly

Counting backwards from 20

Counting forwards to 30

Naming the number which comes before a given number

Counting a collection beyond 10, making sure we are counting carefully

Recognising numerals to 20

Using our fingers to keep track of a sequence of claps

LITERACY

This week we introduced the sounds qu  x and z. We thought of words beginning or ending with those sounds and learned songs and actions to help us remember them. In small groups we used magnetic letters to try to blend sounds together to read and build words.

We are continuing our  weekly dictation using the sounds and words we have been learning in class.

We use Pink for Think and Green for Great to reflect on our learning.

We have been enjoying reading the Biff, Chip and Kipper books in our literacy groups. We are beginning to develop comprehension skills, trying to decode words, and are encouraging the children to think about the story and predict what might happen next.

This week we wrote about Scotland after watching a short film and discussing it in our groups.

We read the story ‘Giraffes Cannae Dance’ and listened to the poem ‘Wee Rid Motor’.

THINGS TO DO AT HOME

Please practise careful counting of any coins, counters, or other materials you may have at  home. We are encouraging the children to count beyond 10 with accurate 1-1 correspondence.

Please cut out the flashcards your child has brought home today and use them to help your child to recognise the sounds and build words.

We are revising the Block 1 tricky words in class. These words can be quite challenging for the children to remember. Please continue to help your child to revise recognition and spelling of these words using the -look, say, cover, write check strategy.

Please continue to practise the words on the reading vocabulary card,  a few words at a time.

EXPRESSIVE ARTS

We participated in a dance/drama session all about Chinese New Year. Many of us took part in the Chinese New year art activities which were set up in the area.

PE

As well as dancing the Gay Gordons, this week we started to learn the Dashing White Sergeant and The Flying Scotsman.

Some examples of independent play taking place this week:

OUTDOOR LEARNING/ LOOSE PARTS

Our next two sessions of Loose Parts will take place on Wednesday 1.2.23 and Friday 10.2.23.

Have a lovely weekend.