We had a fantastic workshop run by Generation Science on Thursday at the Village Hall. We learned all about magnetic fields, the North and South Pole of magnets and how our Earth is one big magnet!

The children were able to investigate these things through lots of activities. We hope to continue this learning in school by having a ‘Marvellous Magnets’ activity station from group time in P2-4.

In P2-4 this week :

Harry and Charlie : Yesterday (Thursday) we went to Marvellous Magnet and we did this thing where you get a magnet and you get a ring and you put the magnet next to the ring to test the magnetic field.

Yesterday in Maths Jake, Darwin and the Circles were practising our money skills. The money activities were Mrs Legge testing us with a café menu, using the computer to practise paying for the things in the best way and a shop to practise working out change from a £1.

Olivia and James: On Thursday in Marvellous Magnets they told us when the solar wind hits the planet it bounces off and makes the Northern Lights.

You would put your magnet on the middle of the mat and use a ring to see if we could feel the force of the magnet pulling the ring.

Peggy, Ben and Joe: In reading skills we were practising predicting after the story had finished.

In gym we were learning how to do long distance running.

In gym we learned one of the training exercises that athletes do- one person walks round the track and the other person jogs, when the jogging person tags the walking person they swap round.

Keira and Alexander: I have learned in writing that you can use openers to write a report.

In writing the P4s have been learning a juicy paragraph. The first sentence is called the topic sentence and this is like the top bun of a burger.

Serena and Darwin: In the magnet science we learned how to make magnets float by putting the same poles together.

In gym we did running round an oval shape and we did an activity which was running round and the person who was running touches the other person on the other side of the oval and then they run across the middle of the oval.

Sam and Jake: On Monday we made a puppet show to tell the parables and miracles of Jesus.

In Marvellous Magnets we were given magnetic field detectors and a small ball that represented the Earth and we could investigate how strong the Earth’s magnetic field was.

Carlo and Emma: The P4s went swimming this week and they learned how to swim for endurance and we swam as many lengths as we could.

On Thursday we wrote about the two churches that we went to last week.

Lolly:We are writing ‘Partner Stories’ with Mrs Brunton. We are using all the things we have learned in our language lessons to make them as good as we can.

Harrison: We opened our library yesterday and lots of people came for the afternoon. It is great, we have loads of books for all different stages.

Elise: We also have a new ‘Outdoor Storytelling Area,’ which has wooden benches and a storytelling chair. We can now do lots more learning outside.

John: The Fractions math group have learned about Pie Charts.

Josh: In maths the Decimals group were making line graphs to tell people all about our new P 1 intake and classes for August 2014.

James: Everyone has been designing a bookmark for the World Book Day competition.

Dougal: We have finished our canvases for the library. It was hard to get all the detail painted in.

Wendy: In gym we are practising for a cross country run. Most people are getting better and fitter.

Seth: Yesterday we did four different activities for world book day and the opening of our library-we love spending time in our new library-it is lovely and peaceful.

Chris: We also dressed up as our favourite book characters and our parents came to the library and chose a book.

Harry: Yesterday we opened our new Library in our school and everybody chose a book.

Charlie: In Maths the Circles are working on change up to 50p or a £1. If you give the shopkeeper too much money they have to give you some back.

Joe: On Wednesday the P4s did Cross Country, we had to run from cone to cone 32 times on the field. It was really fun.

Peggy: In gym we were doing athletics. We were practising jogging and jumping.

Olivia: In spelling we have been learning words with the letters ‘or’ such as fork, stork, storm.

James: On Wednesday we finished off our change from 50p and a £1 worksheets. We used a purse of money and a numberline to help us count forwards to work out the change.

Alexander: In swimming the P4s and 5s have been learning how to do the butterfly stroke.

Keira: I learned the sound ‘or’.

Jake: In handwriting we learnt to join o onto n and e and m and e (one, ome).

Emma: In maths we have been learning how to count money and the best way to do it is to add up the biggest coins first.

Serena: In swimming Mrs Anderson took groups out and we  had to do a maximum of 20 lengths- I did 20 lengths!

Darwin: In maths we learned different ways of counting up to different coins to work out change and we got little purses and got 50p, £1 or £2 and we had to work out the change.

Ben and Charlie: The P4s went swimming on Thursday and they learnt to tred water and then we had to do it cross-legged and then wave our hands. The P3s were doing their PIPs test which helps the teachers know what we have learned and what we need to work on.

Keira, Joe and Olivia: We are learning about the author’s voice. We were looking at 2 snake poems and 2 singing poems. They were different because one of the author’s was happy about singing and the other author was sad. We were finishing off our writing about how to play chess games. We wrote our snake poem in joined up writing (P2s and 3s).

Emma and Carlo: On Thursday we went on the computer to find out more about the Bible. Some of us finished our wizard’s capes.

Harry and Alexander: We did a chess book to tell other people how to play chess. In maths the whole class has been learning about money and change. The Squares have also been learning about decimal points and pound signs. The Circles have been learning how to use a decimal point and pound signs too.

James and Peggy: In gym we have been running and jumping to help us improve. It was athletics.

Darwin and Jake: In gym we practised different types of jump such as 1 to 2, 2 to 2 and a leap. The Primary 2s and 3s have been doing football with Henry and we’ve been learning how to do a drag back and we were learning how to score a goal with people attacking.

Sam and Serena: We looked up different Bible references to find animals. There are 66 books in the Bible. We read the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son.

Olivia, Keira and Joe: We painted our wizard cloaks. We were learning about the colour wheel and how to mix colours.

Sam and Serena: Our project is Christianity and we have learnt a little about what it’s like to be a Christian.

Harry and Alexander: In writing we have been writing about how to play chess. It was fun and hard because you had to think and remember all the rules.

James and Peggy: On Thursday the P2s and 3s were doing football. We were passing the ball with the side of our foot.

Darwin and Jake: We have learned how to total money and how to pay with the least number of coins.

Ben and Charlie: The P4s went swimming and we were learning breaststroke. In maths we have been learning the pound sign (£) and the decimal point (.)

Emma and Carlo: The P4s in handwriting have copied out our poems. In reading we were learning how to read the ‘author’s voice’.

Jake: I enjoyed being the Wee Imp and the Wizard in our drama lessons.

James: I enjoyed listening to the Whuppity Stoorie story and I enjoyed acting as Whuppity Stoorie and the Poor Woman.

Emma: I enjoyed acting out Assipattle and the Stoor Worm.

Harry: In art we have been designing a new wizard’s cape because the Wee Imp stamped his cloak in the mud.

Charlie: In drama we made a Stoorworm out of the class- I enjoyed it!

Olivia: We made a silhouette of the Stoorworm.

Serena: I enjoyed writing about our made up mythical creature.

Sam: I enjoyed in drama acting out the Selkie of Sanday.

Joe: I enjoyed pretending to be Assipattle’s brother in a news broadcast.

Next term we are going to be learning about Christianity and we might have a wedding at Stenton!!

Her hair is dirty because she doesn’t have any shampoo. She has a patch on her ragged top. She has

a spider on her dress. Her shoes have holes in because her shoes are old. She has a scar. Her trousers are

ripped. There is a spider web on her dress. She likes to go to the forest. She picks hay. She goes home and

gives it to the pig. She is kind. She is poor.

Keira was writing a character description about the poor woman character from the Scottish story called Whuppity Stoorie. She was one of our star writers this week.

Joe, Keira and Olivia: We did a story from the Wee Bannock. We were trying to put in lots of describing words and details. We made silhouettes of the Stoorworm to go onto our marbling pictures. We did some drama and we were really still like statues making pictures of the characters in the Stoorworm story. We read the Selkie story.

Harry and Alexander: In drama we made the stoorworm by using our bodies to make the shape. We also went to the Library in Dunbar and the whole school got a book.

Ben and Charlie: In writing we were writing about the wee bannock. In the big class we were writing about either a mouseman, a troll or a giant.

Darwin and Jake: In gym we did jumping on a bench to a carpet but making shapes in the air. When you get on the carpet you did a pencil roll, a forward roll or a cartwheel.

Peggy and James: In gym we practised our balancing on the bench.

Sam and Serena:  In the Fractions we were doing volume, measuring water in jugs.

Emma and Carlo: In maths the Circles did problem solving. You have to read the problem, underline the keywords and numbers, cross out useless information, choose the right operation so it makes sense, solve the problem and then check it.

Here is an excerpt from “The Wee Bannock” written by Olivia Massimo (P2):-

Then the wee bannock blasted into the room. Next the old man screamed and said “What was that?” “It was a wee bannock” said his wife “Catch it quick!” shouted his wife. “You always wanted to have a wee bannock”. The wife said “Throw your trousers at it”. The wee bannock thought that the long woolly drawers smelled like mint sweeties. The woman was confused because she thought that she had got him stuck under the long woolly drawers and so the woman chased the wee bannock round the room. The wee bannock was too fast and in a flash he zoomed out of the door. With that, he ran straight into the woods.

Here are some pictures of the children recreating scenes from the Scottish folk story “Assipattle and the Stoorworm”.