P1p reflective Friday 25.8.23
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In order to encourage writing in play the children have free access to notebooks and diaries in which they can ‘write’ plans and notes on their learning. To enable this we would welcome donations of unwanted/partially used notebooks or diaries. Also any enticing writing implements ( ie glittery pencils/gel pens/ pencils with feathers etc – basically anything other than standard school issue type pencils/pens) These will be used in our ‘message trolley’. The children enjoy choosing resources from the trolley to use in their independent learning, promoting markmaking and early writing skills.
In our STEM area ( Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths the children enjoy creating structures and models from clean cardboard/plastic recycling. We would love to receive frequent donations of resources to support this area of learning, no amount is too much !
Our STEM area is a core part of our play curriculum in school. The end product may not look like much, but it is the process that matters. ‘Junk’ modelling helps to develop their imagination and creative abilities while challenging them to explore, investigate and problem solve as they bring their ideas to life.
Children can work on their own or co-operate with others, learning to negociate and share ideas. When they create something new it can give their confidence and self-esteem a big boost. They can also consider how their plans have worked out as they think about what they might have done differently or how they might improve their model.
With these materials they practice complex skills from fine and gross locomotor skills to higher order executive functioning; higher order thinking skills such as sequencing, hypothesis testing, divergent problem solvng, analysis and evaluation.
If they don’t take their model home at the end of the day it doesn’t matter – the learning has already happened. If it does come home, please value the process your child has gone through more than the product itself. Thank you.
A reminder to please name all items of clothing, water bottles and shoes, and to check names on items brought home in case your child accidentally acquires an item belonging to someone else.
Our learning this week
Another busy week in P1. Please look at the blog with your child to give them the opportunity to share their experiences with you.
Literacy focus
We have been doing some baseline assessments to ascertain the children’s prior knowledge of phonics.
We did some handwriting skills development, following pathways and creating lines.
Our writing programme starts with telling stories through detailed drawing. This week our drawing prompt was ‘My family’
Maths and numeracy focus
.We are about to begin our numeracy baseline assessments.
Other areas of the curriculum
We have created our Class Charter. Our school saying is Ready, Respectful Safe and we have talked about what this means for us in class. We also referred to the UNCRC and identified some of our important rights. We wrote our name and drew our picture on leaves to show that we will try to be Ready Respectful and Safe in school.
In PE we practised following instructions, taking turns and we investigated different ways of travelling, Skipping and hopping proved quite tricky for a few of the children, so please practice this at home.
Looking ahead to next week
PE days as before.
We will share more memory boxes.
‘Homework’ ( things to practice at home)
Practise getting a straw from a small carton and piercing a hole in order to drink ( e.g. juice) this will promote independence at milk time.
Continue to develop independence with coats, zips, turning jumpers and cardigans the right way round,, and shoe changing.
25.08.23 P2MD Blog
Dear Parents/Carers,
We have had a fantastic first full week of P2!
The children have been busy learning the names of their new classmates and developing new friendships.
A wee reminder that our PE days are Mondays and Thursdays. Children are invited to come to school dressed in their PE kit on those days.
The children have decided that our class identity will be the P2 Magical Dogs. M for McFarlane and D for Davidson. We have been exploring how to make paw prints with black paint. We have also taken our learning outdoors and used natural materials to make paw prints.
We also enjoyed developing our team work skills in PE through various whole class games.
We read The Colour Monster book and discussed our feelings. We have also created a wellbeing check-in to use each morning related to The Colour Monster.
Numeracy
In our number work we have been revising concepts from P1. In particular we have been counting forwards and backwards.
Suggestions for learning at home:
Count forwards and backwards using different voices (e.g. a squeaky mouse voice, a robot voice, a lion voice). For some children this will be in the range of 0-20, others 0-30 or within 100. Play particular attention when your child is crossing the decades e.g. 31,30,29.If your child is confident in these sequences ask them to count forwards and backwards in 2s or 3s.
Literacy
In our literacy work we have been revising the sounds covered in P1 and blending these together to read words.
Suggestions for learning at home:
Click on this link
Letters & Sounds Bingo (ictgames.com)
There is no need to print the bingo cards. Use the main menu to select a set of words (CVCs which are 3 letter words or if your child is more confident, words containing sh and ch sounds).
Pressing the red button will generate words for your child to practise reading.
Here are a few photos from this week.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs McFarlane
P2D Reflective Friday 25.08.23
Dear Parents/Carers,
We have had a fantastic first full week of P2!
The children have been busy learning the names of their new classmates and developing new friendships.
A wee reminder that our PE days are Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Children are invited to come to school dressed in their PE kit on those days.
The children have decided that our class identity will be the P2 Dolphins. P2D D for Mrs De Bonrostro. We have decorated our own dolphins and made a lovely display.
We also enjoyed developing our team work skills in PE through various whole class games.
In our number work we have been revising concepts from P1. In particular we have been counting forwards and backwards.
Suggestions for learning at home:
Count forwards and backwards using different voices (e.g. a squeaky mouse voice, a robot voice, a lion voice). For some children this will be in the range of 0-20, others 0-30 or within 100. Play particular attention when your child is crossing the decades e.g. 31,30,29.If your child is confident in these sequences ask them to count forwards and backwards in 2s or 3s.
In our literacy work we have been revising the sounds covered in P1 and blending these together to read words. We also have written our first piece of writing: ‘I feel happy when’.
Suggestions for learning at home:
Click on this link
Letters & Sounds Bingo (ictgames.com)
There is no need to print the bingo cards. Use the main menu to select a set of words (CVCs which are 3 letter words or if your child is more confident, words containing sh and ch sounds).
Pressing the red button will generate words for your child to practise reading.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs de Bonrostro
P1 Koalas Reflective Friday 25.8.23
Hello everyone.
We have had a good first full week in school, the children have settled well and are getting to know each other and become familiar with the class routines.
This is what we have been learning:
LITERACY
We have been speaking to the children individually to assess their prior knowledge of phonics.
We talked about our families and drew a detailed picture of the people who live in our house. If they were able, they wrote their names, or the start of their names, beside the drawing.
We have been sharing the ‘Frog is…..’ books by Max Velthuijs which look at a range of different emotions in an engaging and humorous way.
NUMERACY
Again, we have started speaking to individual children to assess their knowledge of number so that we can start their learning at the correct level for them.
PE
We had PE outside in our playground and in the new hall. The children were learning to share their space and listen to instructions in order to stay safe during PE. We played some warmup games and then tried different ways of travelling in the space.
On Tuesdays and Wednesdays please send your child dressed for PE.
Some examples of learning from this week:
We hope you all have a relaxing weekend.
Thank you to everyone who has sent in tissues for class use.
P2 Reflective Friday 18.8.23
Dear Parents,
Welcome to our P2 blog!
In our weekly blog you will find information about the learning that has taken place at school during the week, ideas of learning activities to do at home and relevant information for P2 parents.
We hope you enjoyed your visit to your child’s classroom this morning. It was lovely to meet you all.
This has been a very short week and we have focused on settling in, getting to know each other, learning P2 routines and, of course, making new friends. The children have settled quickly and have enjoyed their first week back at school.
We have agreed our class charter: Ready, Respectful and Safe: what those words mean to us in P2 at Buckstone. We have been learning about the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and how some of those rights are linked to our class charter.
Useful information:
- PE days:
P2MD Monday and Thursday
P2D Tuesday and Wednesday
- Please ensure all your child’s items are labelled: water bottles, lunch bags, coats, cardigans, shoes,…everything!
- Your child needs indoor and outdoor shoes. We recommend trainers as indoor shoes as it gives good support to the child’s feet and we will use those shoes for indoor PE.
- Remember to bring a change of clothes for your child: all labelled, it doesn’t have to be school uniform items just a full change of clothes (t-shirt, trousers/leggings, pants, socks, jumper/sweatshirt). This change will be kept at school until the end of term (unless needed before).
- In P2 the purple folder should be carried to school each day. You can pop your snack in your folder to bring it to school, but please refrain from putting water bottles in the bag in case of leaks.
The folder will be used to send home any paper communications necessary, and children may also bring home any drawings they do in school and wish to keep. Please check and empty folders daily to avoid a build-up of paper perhaps hiding an important letter.
We would ask that children do not routinely bring a large schoolbag , only when necessary for example when we need extra layers and waterproof clothes for a trip to the woods or if they need it for other reasons (e.g. childcare or clubs after school, etc.)
- Please send a change of essential clothes ( socks, pants, trousers), ideally in a ziplock or small canvas or drawstring bag which will be stored in the class for ease of access when required.
- We would be delighted if you could provide empty boxes, junk, etc…for our stem area.
Thank you for your support.
P2 Team
ELC Newsletter 18/8/23
P1p reflective Friday 16.8.23
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A reminder to please name all items of clothing, water bottles and shoes, and to check names on items brought home in case your child accidentally acquires an item belonging to someone else.
Our learning this week
We have had a great week settling into P1. The children have been fantastic, taking the new routines in their stride and enjoying exploring the classroom.
Please check this blog every Friday as we will share the learning from the week. We would encourage you to look at it with your child so that they can talk to you about their experiences in class. The blog post may also include ‘homework’ activities or suggestions of things to try at home.
Maths and numeracy
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No information this week
Looking ahead to next week
PE days will be Tuesday and Wednesday. Children should come to school dressed ready to participate as we will not change clothes in school -e.g joggers/leggings/shorts and a T shirt with a Buckstone jumper on top.
As far as the weather will allow, Tuesday PE will take place outdoors so outdoor shoes on that day would ideally be trainers if possible.
Other areas of the curriculum
‘Homework’ ( things to practice at home)
Continue to develop independence with coats, zips, turning jumpers and cardigans the right way round,, and shoe changing.
P1 Koalas Reflective Friday 18.8.23
Welcome to our first Reflective Friday blog, this will be where we share our weekly learning and information about what is happening in P1. Please find some time to talk about the blog with your child so that they can share with you what they have been learning that week.
We have had a fantastic start to P1, the children are able to follow class routines already and have managed so well in the dinner hall. We have been busy learning through play, making friends and understanding the school day.
We have been talking about our class charter – Ready, Respectful, Safe and we used our hands to show that we will try to follow this charter in school.
Can you please make sure that every item of clothing is named so that we can find its owner should it go missing. Please put names on lunch boxes and water bottles too.
Our PE days will be Tuesdays and Wednesdays, Tuesdays will be outdoor, and Wednesdays will be in our new hall. Please dress your child in clothes suitable for PE on these days: shorts, t-shirts or joggers can be worn with a school sweatshirt.
Thanks so much to all parents who have sent in tissues, we always need plenty of tissues in Primary One , especially as we move towards the colder months. All further donations gratefully received.
We hope that your child has had a happy start to Primary One, we are available to talk to parents and carers at the end of the day if there is something you would like to discuss. We hope that you all have a lovely weekend.
P2M Blog 23.06.23
Dear Parents/Carers,
As this is the final blog post for the year I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for all your support this year. It has been a pleasure teaching your children and I will miss them very much! I look forward to seeing them around school when we return in August.
Things to remember for next week:
- Loose parts on Monday 26th June
- School finishes on Wednesday 28th June at 1.00 pm
- Please send in a carrier bag on Monday
We have had a busy week with transition activities. As part of this we have been working on the story: The Koala Who Could.
This is a story about a koala who is scared and a bit worried about things changing and trying new things.
The link is below.
The Koala Who Could – YouTube
We are fast approaching the summer holidays which is exciting, but it can also be a nervous time for some as we are starting to think about moving onto our new teacher and classroom in August.
As Kevin learns in the story, change can be scary but also exciting and fun.
Have a chat with an adult at home about how you are feeling about moving into P3. What are you looking forward to? What are you unsure of? It is important to share how you are feeling with someone as that often makes us feel better. Can you think of another time where something new was happening or something was changing? How did you feel after it happened? e.g were you nervous to start Brownies but now you love it and can’t wait to go every week?
The end of term is also a time to look back and reflect on the year we’ve just had.
Can you think of a time in P2 when you were really proud of yourself/really happy?
Can you think of a time in P2 when you found something tricky but you managed to overcome it?
What are some of your favourite memories of P2?
You can talk to your adult, write down or draw some of your memories from Primary 2.
Wishing you all a wonderful summer!
Mrs McFarlane
Buckstone Primary School 