Diana Balfour, a lady from Humbie, who ran with Olympic torch kindly let us see and hold her torch at our olympic assembly. The staff were just as excited to be holding a piece of history in the making.
Olympic Torch comes to Saltoun
4,000,000 words!
Over 4,000,000 words have been read this term by P4-7. We set this ambitious target in April: we read in our teams, as a class and in our personal time. We were rewarded with a pink lemonade and glazed doughnut party. This was the food and drink that Basil Wrathbone fed his victims in our class novel. It sounded delicious and today it tasted delicious but thankfully it didn’t turn us into plastic toys as it did the characters in the novel. Well done P4-7 so proud of you, special mention to Dylan who personally read over 1,000,000.
MP Visits Saltoun Primary
As part of our global citizenship project “Send My Friend to School” we had a visit from Mrs Fiona O’Donnell (MP). We have been working on messages to send David Cameron and other world leaders on the issue of “Education for All” We prepared presentations, refreshments(delicious smoothies) and questions. Murdo P4 remarked: “she was down to earth”. Another pupil commented on the fact they felt their opinion was heard. Fiona told us about her work on this campaign and about her job in Westminster. We grilled her with questions and she even told us her favourite sweet. You will need to ask someone from P4-7 for Fiona’s response!
Biodiversity Officer
Stuart Macpherson, East Lothians biodiversity officer, visited our class to tell us about how we can be a biodiversity champion. We also discussed food chains and pyramids and how the environment has changed in the last 50 years.
Personal Biodiversity Plan (click here)
Extreme Reading in the Sun
Before the sun got too hot we split into our reading teams and found a spot in the school garden to read aloud. In our teams we decide on our roles for the day. This means we are all actively involved in reading at one time. Roles include: summariser, predictor, clarifier and question master. The pupils will be able to tell you all about what these roles involve.
Jubilee Mini Topic
Next week P4-7 are undertaking a mini project on the jubilee. See below the details:
Some of learning we will cover:
I can discuss why people and events from a particular time in the past were important, placing them within a historical sequence. SOC 2-06a
By considering the type of text I am creating, I can select ideas and relevant information, organise these in an appropriate way for my purpose and use suitable vocabulary for my audience. LIT 2-26a
Through observing and recording from my experiences across the curriculum, I can create images and objects which show my awareness and recognition of detail .EXA 2-04a
Activity: The class are split into group or pairs, each one has been assigned a decade from Queen Elizabeth’s reign. They will need to research, using books and the ‘ to find out what the queen did in that decade and think about the effect that would have on society back then. Pupils will also be able to research other major events, fashions, foods, schooling, music and politics from that decade. They will display the information on a 6 foot banner in an artistic, colourful, innovative way that would make an audience want to look at it and read it.
Most of this work will be done in class time, parents and the community will be able to see the banners in the community hall as part of the schools effort to decorate it for the Jubilee School Fair on 9th June.
Please see the homework sheet sent home today (Friday ) for more details.
BAT EVENT
For those people who have a ticket for the bat event on Friday we are going to meet in the school grounds at 8.30pm. We probably won’t be able to see bats until after 9pm so the rangers will do a few activities with us before we go out. This event, at the request of the school, is being run by the East Lothian ranger service. As with all their bat events it is important to know that the accompanying adults are responsible for the children in their care, not the rangers or any school staff present. The rangers have also asked that each family bring a torch with them and to have suitable footwear and clothing. This should be a great night and a late night! See you at 8.30pm.
Due to the nature of the event we had to limit the number of tickets sold to 45. I know this caused disapointment for some families, be assured we did try to hold 2 events this session. The rangers have said that they could offer another session in September, which we can hopefully arrange.
Regards
Pamela Currie
Scale Drawings
We have been learning about scale in a very real context. The Eco Committee need to know the size of the area where we intend to plant the wild flower meadow so the correct amount of seedlings can be bought. We are mapping our schools grounds very accurately using scale drawings and we will be learning about area to give an accurate answer. We discussed proffesions and other contexts where we need to use the skill of scale drawings. I told the class about the scale drawings I did of their classroom during the summer holidays so I could decide the best use of furniture and space in their room.
Send My Friend to School
We are taking part in a brilliant Global Citizenship project that can make a real difference: SEND MY FRIEND TO SCHOOL
See this link: http://player.vimeo.com/video/40647232
We have started learning about schooling and life in Tanzania and comparing that to what our lives are like.
“All children should have the right to go to school” Naomi P6
“Now I know how lucky I am to go to school.” Ross P5
” I want to help the people who can’t go to school” Eloise P4
” Now I realise how lucky we are” Jessica P4
We will be taking part in the 2012 campaign and have a visit planned from an MP in June who will take our messages to David Cameron the Prime Minister. We will keep you updated on our progress.
FRUITY MONDAYS & FRIDAYS
After consultation with the school community the eco committee have decided to introduce “fruit & veg” only snacks on Mondays and Fridays They are asking all pupils and staff to bring fruit & veg as a snack on these days. We plan to start this initative on Monday 14th May. Please help support this healthy venture.