Winter-Spring 2024

It feels as if the Winter holidays were just the other week but here we are about to be off for our Spring holidays once more!

This blog post will have a run down of everything that has been happening since we came back to school.

Literacy

We have been exploring poetry writing, looking at a range of different types of poems for ideas and inspiration.

The pupils have also been learning about context clues. Context clues are when you are trying to find out what the main word means but you need to look around at the clues to find out what it's actually meaning. Olivia M

The Boy at the Back of the class - I think it is quite exciting because its about different things. The different chapters all cover different important topics like helping a friend, news and media, the main character fainting. We found out at the end the main character was a girl, I think it made it exciting to find out at the end. No of the other chapters said if they were a girl or boy so it really made you think about it and we were eager to find out. I think the book is telling us how hard it is for refugees and what they need to go through just because they want safety. Robyn

The Borrowers - The Borrowers is about quite a few people, little tiny people, they steal pins and different things to decorate and use. One of the humans (humanbeans) knows about them and I think she can talk to them and sees them, I think her brother got turned into a Borrower. Olivia M

The Fox and the Ghost King - The foxes like leicester city. We meet Dad fox, mum fox and the little fox. Dad and little fox find a ghost king who is buried under a car park and he wants their help. Ismail

Numeracy

We have been exploring angles in the class currently. One of our groups has been learning how to measure and draw angles from 0 degrees up to 180 degrees, they have had to learn quite quickly how exact and careful they have to be when doing this. They have been able to use their ability to estimate to check if they think they have managed to measure correctly.

Another group has been learning about the properties of triangles along with finding the internal angles of a triangle and quadrilateral. They have to remember that the internal angles always add up to 180 degrees in a triangle and 360 degrees in a quadrilateral.

Another group has been exploring the link between compass points and angles. They have been using this knowledge to follow directions and to direct their peers. They have also been able to explore complementary and supplementary angles and finding the missing angles. Complementary angles add to 90 degrees while supplementary angles add to make 180 degrees.

Robert Burns

As part of the celebrations of Burns Night we were learning some Scots words and created our own Scottish flags that were filled with Scottish words. I liked learning the Scots words because it was like learning a new language. Yahia

We also created art inspired by Gillian Kyle who creates art pieces focussed on Scottish products, she will use the patterns and colours from the product throughout the art.

We were fortunate enough to be able to watch the Primary 4s perform some Scottish poetry and even teach us a few Scottish songs. They had so much fun and we also had a lot of fun watching it! Yahia

Lunar New Year

All of Primary 5 took on the task to learn about the traditions and practises of Lunar New Year and were able to go and share this knowledge with the younger class. The class split into groups and were tasked with researching about Lunar New Year and then creating a interesting and engaging presentation to share with the other classes.

"I found it really fun to present to them and work with the little ones." Olivia M

"I loved teaching the little kids stuff about Lunar New Year, I found it really really fun and would like to do something again. I like helping younger ones to understand stuff." Ayma

Fischy Music

The Fischy Music group kindly spent some time with the upper school and were able to spend the day learning the songs and then were able to share with the adults the songs they had learned. From this experience Mrs Black was so impressed by the musical ability of the pupils that we are now working towards becoming a singing school! We will be learning songs, practising in class and singing at our assemblies.

"I really enjoyed performing in front of the adults and found it really fun. I was a bit nervous to perform but it was still fun!" Olivia M

" I liked that we got to learn the actions and sing along and they were really fun songs!" Isla

Skills Pathway

The pupils in the upper school have started to take part in our new Can-Do Curriculum! They have been learning more about the world around us and the changes we can make to help ourselves and the planet.

Responsible consumption - We had to learn about how companies waste lots of clothes and they go to dumps. If we know to not make as much waste in the dumps it would be better. We were learning how to sew so we can fix and remake things. We were making stuffies and tote bags. I liked that we got to use the fabric we wanted and learnt how to thread a needle. Isla

Water consumption - We were learning about how far people would have to walk to get water in the past. We learnt how to clean the water, we made water filters to send to other countries so they have fresh water to drink and won't get sick. A lot of children die every day because of dirty water so it's important we don't waste any water. Turn of the taps while brushing teeth and when not in the water or bath. Monisha and Jessica

Sustainable cities - Our aim was to make a sustainable city so we had to learn the structure of a sustainable city. How it would be sustainable and what we can do to make Maidenhill more sustainable. We made our own sustainable cities in groups out of cardboard and paper, we had to think about how it was going to stay standing, how it was going to be suitable and how can we make it pretty. Calum

Food hygiene and safety

The pupils have been learning about the importance of a balanced diet, the role of each food group and why we need to eat a wide variety of things to stay healthy.

Along with this we were bundling the experience with technologies in order to look at the skills required to prepare food safely.

Steps for good food hygiene

Wash hands - Louise

tie back long hair - Ayma
Remove any jewellery or watches - Yad
Clean all surfaces before starting - Elayna
Different chopping boards for foods like meat and vegetables - Robyn
Wash your hands after touching raw meat - Lexi
Always make sure raw meat is stored in the lower shelf of the fridge - Ifrah
Wearing aprons to keep yourself clean and stop food being contaminated - Mustafa

Fruit salad

We had to share the food equally, Louise
We had to carefully cut the fruit and mix them making sure not to cut our fingers.

Burrito

We needed to peel carrots and be careful because it could have cut our fingers - Jessica
We had to use the grater and had to make sure your hands didn't get stuck on them - Jamie.
We also had to cut the vegetables and then the burrito in half
The grownups helped keep us safe
We had to make sure it wasn't too full because then we couldn't wrap it and stuff would fall out

Glasgow Science Centre workshop

We were fortunate enough that Glasgow Science centre were able to come and visit the school and teach us about the digestive system. One of our very own ended up being involved with the impossible challenge of eating a cracker in under a minute. It was really funny when he was trying to eat the cracker so quickly, he had to be careful not to choke. The videos of the organs were really gross.

Antibullying workshop

The Primary 7 pupils worked hard to create a workshop sharing information about how you can help others if they are being bullied or what you can do to help yourself. We got to go and talk and listen to the P7s, they had lots of different things for us to do.

Tennis

We have been developing our skills in tennis, working hard to develop our footwork and swings. We had to learn how to have control of the ball, how to stay safe and think of our safety, how to aim. We learnt new tricks and got to play games. I really enjoyed it and got to teach others. Calum

Responding to Emergencies

Most recently we have been learning about how to respond to emergencies. We learnt how to correctly make a call to the emergency services, how we can call on a locked phone and what information we need to try and tell them. After this the pupils researched a range of emergencies and how to appropriately respond to each emergency. They carefully created leaflets and posters that we can share around the school. We were very grateful to receive a visit from two doctors who showed the pupils the correct way to respond to a cardiac arrest, ensuring that you are keeping yourself safe while trying to save the other person. The pupils got to practise giving CPR to the test dummies Bob and Rob and then got to practise putting each other in the recovery position. Just like practising fire drills, practising responding to a medical emergency increases the chances of the person making a recovery/surviving. It also reduces the chances of you panicking if you are ever in that situation. Make sure at home the pupils know how to use any phones to call for an emergency, they know the address and any other key information they may need to know if they were ever in the situation that they would need to call for help.