P2MD Mrs McFarlane and Miss Davidson

P2MD Blog 2.5.24

Staff..226

Dear Parents,

We hope that you had a great week. It has been another busy one in P2!

Important Information

Learning Stories have been sent home today. They contain the termly overview and your child’s targets for term 3. Please return them on Wednesday.

P2 Listening and Talking Term 3  

In June, the pupils in P2 will be asked to give a short talk on a subject of their choice. We are making you aware of this now so that you can support your child over the next few weeks to prepare for this.  

Pupils can choose to talk about a hobby/interest, how they look after their pet, a favourite wild animal, favourite film etc.  

The focus is on selecting ideas and relevant information, organising these into a logical sequence and using words which will interest the audience. 

Please see guidance below on how best to prepare for this. 

  1. Choose a topic. 
  2. Think about the ‘W’ questions: Who (who is this about?) What (What do they do?) Why (Why is it interesting?) Where? When? 
  3. You may wish to make cards for each heading with a picture and/or key words. Don’t write whole sentences to read out loud. 
  4. Once the information is organised, practise delivering the talk to family at home. 

Thank you in advance for your support with this. 

Here is a summary of our learning.

Literacy

Phonics

This has been the final week of our focus on compound words. We have spent lots of time working on syllables which is a key element of this unit of work. This time has also provided opportunity for consolidation of the vowel digraphs. For example, when spelling rainbow, the pupils are not only learning that this is a compound word but they need to remember the ai and ow digraphs. 

Writing

In writing the focus was on creating a good setting. Our descriptions are getting better and better!

Reading

We have continued with the focus on non-fiction books. We have been learning about the special features of these texts, for example the contents page and the glossary.

Spelling

The whole class were introduced to the words picture, better and letter. Then we split into groups to work on the particular block we are focussing on.

Ideas for learning at home

Please continue to support your child to revise the spelling block that they are working on. They will know which block they are on. Here is a link to the list.

Block 1 – 8 Tricky Words single sheet (southmorningsideprimary.com)

Here is a link to a BBC bitesize page with a video clip, activities and a quiz which will reinforce our work on compound words.

What are compound words? – BBC Bitesize

Maths and Numeracy

Fractions

  • We have been finding half of a number.

Numeracy

We have been consolidating a range of numeracy skills, for example

  • Number patterns
  • Equal groups
  • Ordering numbers

Ideas for learning at home

Hit the button is a game we use on the interactive whiteboard in class. Choose ‘Halves’ option then the level most appropriate for your child.

Hit the Button – Quick fire maths practise for 6-11 year olds (topmarks.co.uk)

If your child is finding it hard to half a given number, practical activities will help to reinforce this concept. You can do lots of practical activities at home such as halving a group of toys or objects. For example children could use small food items such as raisins on a plate or you could use lego blocks.

It is also helpful to continue to practise counting in different steps. For example, counting in 2s, 5s and 10s. Once your child is confident in this try counting in 3s or 4s.

Other Curricular Areas

RSHP: Looking after plants and animals

  • We have been learning about all the things we need to do to look after plants and pets.
  • We are learning about how every living thing needs to be cared for and nurtured so that they grow and flourish.
  • We planted broad beans and will watch for signs of them growing.
  • We are looking after some caterpillars and will watch as they grow and develop over the coming weeks.
  • We also tasted a range of fruit.
  • You can be part of this learning by encouraging children to notice all the things you do at home or in the garden to look after plants or animals.

Outdoor Learning

We had a fantastic session of Loose Parts play in the playground on Thursday afternoon.

Sustainability

We have been learning more about Sustainability during assembly.

Have a great weekend,
Mrs McFarlane

P2D- Mrs DeBonrostro

P2D Reflective Friday 3.05.24

Staff..114

Dear Parents,

We hope that you had a great week. It has been another busy one in P2!

Important Information – P2 Listening and Talking Term 3  

In June, the pupils in P2 will be asked to give a short talk on a subject of their choice. We are making you aware of this now so that you can support your child over the next few weeks to prepare for this.  

Pupils can choose to talk about a hobby/interest, how they look after their pet, a favourite wild animal, favourite film etc.  

The focus is on selecting ideas and relevant information, organising these into a logical sequence and using words which will interest the audience. 

Please see guidance below on how best to prepare for this. 

  1. Choose a topic. 
  2. Think about the ‘W’ questions: Who (who is this about?) What (What do they do?) Why (Why is it interesting?) Where? When? 
  3. You may wish to make cards for each heading with a picture and/or key words. Don’t write whole sentences to read out loud. 
  4. Once the information is organised, practise delivering the talk to family at home. 

Thank you in advance for your support with this. 

Today Friday 2nd May your child will take home their learning story (look on the purple folder). You will be able to see: evidence of your child’s learning from last term, our term overview (what the children are going to be learning this term) and your child’s targets for the last term. Please return them to school on Wednesday 8th May.

Here is a summary of our learning.

Literacy

Phonics

This has been the final week of our focus on compound words. We have spent lots of time working on syllables which is a key element of this unit of work. This time has also provided opportunity for consolidation of the vowel digraphs. For example, when spelling rainbow, the pupils are not only learning that this is a compound word but they need to remember the ai and ow digraphs. 

Writing

In writing the focus was recount a story. We we worked on ‘The Three Billy Goats Gruff’ story.

Reading

We have continued with the focus on non-fiction books. We have been learning about the special features of these texts, for example the contents page and the glossary.

Spelling

The whole class were introduced to the words picture, better and letter. Then we split into groups to work on the particular block we are focussing on.

Ideas for learning at home

Please continue to support your child to revise the spelling block that they are working on. They will know which block they are on. Here is a link to the list.

Block 1 – 8 Tricky Words single sheet (southmorningsideprimary.com)

Here is a link to a BBC bitesize page with a video clip, activities and a quiz which will reinforce our work on compound words.

What are compound words? – BBC Bitesize

Maths and Numeracy

Fractions

  • We have been finding half of a number.

Numeracy

We have been consolidating a range of numeracy skills, for example

  • Number patterns
  • Equal groups
  • Ordering numbers

Ideas for learning at home

Hit the button is a game we use on the interactive whiteboard in class. Choose ‘Halves’ option then the level most appropriate for your child.

Hit the Button – Quick fire maths practise for 6-11 year olds (topmarks.co.uk)

If your child is finding it hard to half a given number, practical activities will help to reinforce this concept. You can do lots of practical activities at home such as halving a group of toys or objects. For example children could use small food items such as raisins on a plate or you could use lego blocks.

It is also helpful to continue to practise counting in different steps. For example, counting in 2s, 5s and 10s. Once your child is confident in this try counting in 3s or 4s.

Other Curricular Areas

RSHP: Looking after plants and animals

  • We have been learning about all the things we need to do to look after plants and pets.
  • We are learning about how every living thing needs to be cared for and nurtured so that they grow and flourish.
  • We planted broad beans and will watch for signs of them growing.
  • We are looking after some caterpillars and will watch as they grow and develop over the coming weeks.
  • We also tasted a range of fruit.
  • You can be part of this learning by encouraging children to notice all the things you do at home or in the garden to look after plants or animals.

Outdoor Learning

We had a fantastic session of Loose Parts play in the playground on Thursday afternoon. We had a super challenge and all the children worked as a team!

Sustainability

We have been learning more about Sustainability during assembly.

Have a great weekend,


Mrs de Bonrostro

P1 Koalas

P1 Koalas 3.5.24

Staff..294

Hello Everyone

Here is what we have been learning in P1K this week:

Literacy

We have been working on new reading books this week which will be going home on Friday, as usual. Some of us have been reading in pairs, taking turns to read each page.

We have been working on our handwriting, revising the letters, a,c,d and g, and writing the capital letters D,E,F and G. We have also been writing numerals in the teens, taking care to write the 1 first and to write the other numerals the correct way round.

Activities to try at home:

Share your reading book with someone at home. You may wish to take turns reading a page each or you might like to read the whole book yourself.

You might also try to:

Identify rhyming words or think of words that would rhyme with words in your book.

Talk about your favourite part of the book. Why do you like it?

Decide what you would write on the next page of the book or talk about what might happen next in the story.

P1 Talks – please prepare your talk about your favourite place by Wednesday 8 May. Please have a look at the previous blog post for more information.

Numeracy

Across the class this week, our numeracy learning has included practicing adding amounts as well as saying number sequences forwards and backwards, sequencing and ordering numerals and describing equal groups.

Activities to try at home:

Practice counting forwards and backwards from different starting points (in the 1-30 range, or in the 1-100 range if you feel confident with 1-30).

Choose one of these games to help you practise your addition skills:

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/addition/addition-to-10

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/Flash.aspx?f=PostSortingcalculationsv2

PE

We have been practising our running and throwing skills this week in PE,

Expressive Arts – Music

We had our final session with our visitor from YMI this week. We sang the songs we have been learning and had some fun using a parachute to help us learn about tempo.

We began thinking about what we would like to find out about in our topic, ‘Looking After Plants and Animals’. We spoke about what animals need and went outside to create shelters for a small animal of our choosing.

IDL

Learning Through Play this week:

Have a lovely long weekend!

P1 Koalas

P1K Talks

Staff..294

We would like you to prepare a short talk on the topic ‘My Favourite Place’.

The place you choose can be anywhere. For example, it might be a room in your house or a spot in the garden. It could be a park you enjoy visiting or a town you have been to.

We will begin listening to talks from next Wednesday (8 May). Not everyone will present their talk on that day, but should be ready to do so.

You can present your talk to the whole class, but there will be an option to speak in front of a small group instead, if you let one of us know that is what you would prefer to do.

Please try to do the following in your talk:

Begin your talk by telling everyone your favourite place. Add a sentence or two to describe the place and explain what it is you like about it. You might also want to talk about who you like to go there with and what you do or look at when you are there.

You should also try to:

Organise your talk in an order that makes sense to your audience.

Speak clearly, and loud enough for everyone to hear.

Make eye contact with your audience.

Try and remember what you would like to say, rather than using a written script. You may wish to bring one visual aid to help you. This might be a picture you have drawn, a photo, or an object that reminds you of your favourite place.

Please be prepared for your classmates to ask you questions at the end of your talk.

We hope you have fun with this task. If you have any questions, please just ask Mrs Munro or Mrs Bailey.

P1 Pandas

P1 Pandas homework task

Staff...685

As we work towards achieving the Early Level talking and listening outcomes, we would like the children to deliver a ‘talk’ to the class next week.

The title of the talk is My Favourite place. The children should come prepared to speak to the whole class about a favourite place that they have chosen. It doesn’t have to be anywhere amazing -for example it could be a holiday destination, the dentist, granny’s garden or their bedroom.

As it is a talk, they should not bring a script to read out, but can, if they wish, bring one photo or drawing to share.

As a rough guideline the talk should include the opening line ‘My favourite place is ……., followed by a couple of sentences describing the place and an explanation of why they like it”

Success Criteria for the task :-

  • Organise your talk so that it makes sense
  • Speak clearly so that everyone can hear
  • Make eye contact as you speak

We will pick people at random to present their talks starting next Wednesday so they have a week to get ready.

Thanks for your support

UNCRC Rights at Buckstone

We are a Silver Accredited Rights Respecting School!

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We are proud to share that we have been accredited as Silver: Rights Aware from the UNICEF!

The Silver Accreditation Report is available to read below:

buckstone-primary-silver-accreditation-report-march-24-sw-1Download

The Rights Respecting Schools Award is granted to schools that show commitment to promoting and realising children’s rights and encouraging adults, children, and young people to respect the rights of others in school. Silver is given to schools that make excellent progress towards embedding the principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child into its ethos and curriculum. The Award recognises achievement in putting the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child at the heart of a school’s planning, policies and practice. A Rights Respecting School is a community where children’s rights are learned, taught, practised, respected, protected and promoted.

“The development work towards our achievement of our Silver RRS Award has impacted extremely positively on the whole school community. Our learners are aware of their rights as a child and our parents/carers and school staff have an increased knowledge and understanding of children’s rights. Our learning activities are now linked to the Rights of the Child across the school. The positive learning environment within the school has been strengthened by our Rights Respecting Schools work and children have an increased opportunity to lead changes to improve the school.” Mrs Imrie

Buckstone Primary School, P1 Koalas

P1 Koalas Reflective Friday 26.4.24

Staff..469

Hello everyone,

This is some of our learning from this week:

LITERACY

We were blending and building words with the initial consonant blends: cr and br.

Our tricky words this week were: do and you.

This week we were writing sentences using the word you. We were describing somebody, and our friends had to guess who that person was.

 We started sharing a new reading book in our groups. These books have come home with your child today, please return them to school on Monday.

THINGS TO DO AT HOME

The consonant blends are quite challenging and any further practice at home is really helpful.

Some words to use

Bran broth brick brush broom

Crab crack crop crash crush creep

Write out some words which have the consonant blends we have been learning this week. The child can try to sound out the word using the pure sound of each letter to blend together to read the word.

The adult can say some of the words we have been learning  and the child writes them down.

Write down the tricky words on a piece of paper or card, hold the cards behind your back then show them to your child and ask them to read the word you have shown them. Your child could practise writing these words, forming the letters the way they have been shown in class.

(If you are unsure about correct letter formation, please speak to one of us at the end of the day).

Please share your child’s reading book with them.

Next week we will be starting the Scottish National Standardised Assessments in literacy (SNASAs), so there will be no new sounds or tricky words for the next few weeks.

NUMERACY AND MATHS

We were learning to display data in graphs and charts. We compiled a whole class pictogram showing the different eye colours within the class. We asked each other questions to gather data to find out what pupils enjoyed playing with in the classroom and what pupils would like to have in the classroom. We will use the data to create bar charts.

THINGS TO DO AT HOME

Please continue to practise number bonds to 10.

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/mental-maths-train

PE

Our focus this term is on athletics – run/jump/throw.

FLUFFY!

Thank you so much for all the entries in Fluffy’s journal. It has been lovely to see the children’s enthusiasm and eagerness to take him home. The children have really enjoyed listening to Fluffy’s different adventures. Everyone in the class has now had a turn with Fluffy, we will continue to draw names from a hat so that all the children can have a second turn with him/her but we will put the jotter in our reading corner so that the children can enjoy reading about his/her adventures.

RSHP

We have started learning about pregnancy and looking after a baby and were very lucky to have Lottie’s mum visit the primary one classes. She showed us her scan photos and we listened to the baby’s heartbeat. The children got the chance to ask some questions. We really appreciate Lisa sharing her pregnancy experience with us and the children were very engaged with what she had to say and listened really well.

LOOSE PARTS

Lots of exploration and cooperative play going on in loose parts yesterday.

Next date for loose parts is Friday 17 May.

Some examples of other learning taking place this week:

CLASS PHOTOGRAPHS

Unfortunately, there was a problem with the photographer’s lens when the photographs were  taken on Wednesday, this resulted in a slight haze on the photographs. The photographs will be retaken on Tuesday 30 April. Please dress your child in school uniform and we will adjust PE accordingly. Thank you.

Have a lovely weekend.

P2MD Mrs McFarlane and Miss Davidson

P2MD Blog 26.4.24

Staff..226

Dear Parents

We hope you are well.

We had a great week at school. We have enjoyed performing our assembly and the good weather!

Important information

  • Loose parts on Thursday 2nd May. Please come dressed for the weather.
  • Class photos will be taken again on Tuesday 30th April. See information on the homelink.

Literacy

This week our focus was on reading non-fiction/fact books. When reading a non-fiction book children should be able to understand the information read and make connections with their previous knowledge about the given topic.

We have continued to work on compound words.

Our tricky words for this week are: follow, different and small (Block 7). We have been working on reading and writing different blocks. Please continue to work on these at home.

In writing we have written a story based on a short clip that we watched.

Ideas to do at home:

Please practice your tricky words (reading and spelling).

Ask your child to read the book that we have read in school this week. Ask your child questions about the book.

Compound words hunt: Do a hunt around the house or/and outdoors and create a list with them. You can use two colours to point out which to words make the compound words. Count the syllables. The children loved this video:

Maths

We have continued to work on our number skills counting forwards and backwards, number before and number after a given number, counting in 2s and 5s (3s and 4s for some).

We have started to work on fractions: understanding what a whole and a part means. We have learned what a half is: we have used shapes and halved them. We know that ½ means a half (the number at the top means that I have one part and the bottom part means that the whole has been split in two parts)

Ideas to do at home.

Ask your child to give half of items ( and write ½ or /and a half):

  • Use Lego or Duplo and your child will need to find two pieces that make one.
  • Half a slice of bread, fruit or other food.

Other areas

PE focus on athletics: javelin throw and races.

We practiced our First Level assembly, we finished the posters and decided what we knew about our given topic. We performed for P3 and P4 children.

Here are some photos from this week.


Have a wonderful weekend,

Mrs McFarlane

P2D- Mrs DeBonrostro

P2D Reflective Friday 26.04.24

Staff..114

Dear Parents/ carers

We hope you are well.

We had a great week at school: we have enjoyed performing our assembly and the good weather!

Important information

  • Class photo on Tuesday 30th May ( please see information in the school Homelink sway )
  • Loose parts on Thursday 2nd May.

Literacy

This week our focus on reading is non-fiction/fact books. When reading a non-fiction book children should be able to understand information read and make connections with their previous knowledge about the given topic.

We have continued to work on compound words.

Our tricky words for this week are: follow, different and small (Block 7). We have been working on reading and writing different blocks. Please continue to work on these at home.

At writing we have written a story based on a short clip that we have watched

Ideas to do at home:

Please practice your tricky words (read and write).

Ask your child to read the book that we have read at school this week. Ask your child questions about the book.

Compound words hunt: Do a hunt around the house or/and outdoors and create a list with them. You can use two colours to point out which to words make the compound words. Count the syllables. Children loved this video:

Maths

We have continued to work on our number skills counting forwards and backwards, number before and number after a given number, counting in 2s and 5s (3s and 4s for some).

We have started to work on fractions: understanding what a whole and a part means. We have learned what a half is: we have used shapes and halved them. We know that ½ means a half (the number at the top means that I have one part and the bottom part means that the whole has been split in two parts). Our focus has been on halving a shape.

Ideas to do at home.

Ask your child to give half of items ( and write ½ or /and a half):

  • Use Lego or Duplo and your child will need to find two pieces that make one.
  • Half a slice of bread, fruit, other food or/and playdough

Other areas

PE focus on athletics: race starts ( looking at our dominant leg, foot and hand position).

We practiced our First Level assembly, we finished the posters and decided what were going to say about our given topic. We performed for P3 and P4 children.

Have a wonderful weekend,

Mrs de Bonrostro

P1 Pandas

P1p reflective Friday 26.4.24

Staff...685

School photographer re-take next Tuesday – please see email for details.

Ask me –

  1. to tell you some signs of spring.
  2. to spell the words you and her.
  3. to tell you about short strides and long strides.

Please continue to send in your clean recycling.

Our learning this week


Here are some photographs of us developing our skills through our independent learning opportunities and experiences this week. Please take time to share these photographs with your child so they can share their learning with you.


Literacy focus


This week we have been learning to identify the cr and br consonant blends

Tricky words

Our new words this week were you and her

Please find below a list for reference with block one and block two words introduced so far

Block one – I the to was saw put he he me is his want

Block 2 so far- you her she we be all are they come some said one were there into here

Maths and numeracy focus


We have been learning about two, three and four digit numbers

Other areas of the curriculum

In PE we started our block of athletics ( run. jump, throw) and we were investigating efficient running technique.

As part of our RSHP curriculum we have learning about pregnancy. Lottie’s mummy came to talk to us about the baby in her tummy.

We also read the story There’s a house in my mummy.


We used ink and tissue to create some spring blossom pictures. Blowing the ink was very hard work !

Looking ahead to next week

Class photos on Tuesday ( please wear school uniform clothing and we will modify our PE lesson accordingly). Loose Parts on Thursday.

We will begin our Scottish National Standardised Assessments ( SNSA ) in Literacy.

‘Homework’ ( things to practice at home)

Look for any photographs of you as a tiny baby. Talk to a grown up about what you were like as a newborn baby. Do you still have any of your old baby clothes ?

Play this game. Choose addition or subtraction and then set your level of challenge – there are lots of options to try !

Use our class spelling city page to play games which will help you to learn to spell our block one and two tricky words. Follow this link and then choose the list you would like to practise.