Week beginning May 11th 2009…

This week we will be working hard in the build up to Open Day! Our dinosaur project is coming along well and this morning we had a special visitor to our science class…

ELP Science

In ELP Science this morning, we were visited by Mr Kiernan, who is something of an expert in fossils! He brought with him his boxes and bags of goodies – full of fossilised remains from dinosaurs, their eggs and even their fossilised poo!

ELP Gardening

We are moving our ELP Veggie Deliveries to a Thursday from this week onwards. Expect to see our smiling faces bringing lovely summer fruits and veg to your classroom doors during Period 2.

ELP Maths

We are continuing to work on our number, money and time. This week we will practise finding the missing number or predicting the missing number in a simple sequence. We will be working really hard on our quarter pasts and quarter tos. We may be taking a lovely stroll to see Robyn in her new job – and practise spending some money (on juice!)

ELP Social Studies

Dinosaurs rule again this week as we continue our work for Open Day – making book covers for our own Lost World exhibition, finishing off our Mrs T Rex model and making a start on our dinosaur landscape. Mr Kiernan has offered to lend us some of his fossils for Open Day so that we can put on a Fossil Exhibition…

ELP PE

This week the children will be out of school twice for extra PE. On Wednesday they will be going to Edinburgh fo extra swimming with the PE teacher students at Moray House and on Thursday they will be going up to Meadowmill to take part in their annual SPORTS DAY!

 

Week beginning April 20th 2009…

Welcome back to school after your Easter break – everyone in the Learning Zone hopes you return fresh and rested in preparation for the coming term.

This first week back will be one of consolidation in many subjects. What can we recall from before the break? Which things do we need to re-visit or practise?

In Maths this will mean looking at money, number and time.

In Social Studies this will involve remembering lots of interesting things about dinosaurs, prehistoric times and the plot of our special book, The Lost World.

In Gardening we will be making our “Fruit and Vegetable Alphabet”…

  

In Science we will be starting a new topic! We will spend this term exploring the world of the dinosaur from a scientific perspective. We will look at lots of different ideas about how dinosaurs may have died out. We will consider which dinosaurs are similar to animals that may still be around today. (Have you ever thought how primitive a crocodile looks? Could an elephant be a Hairy Mammoth without its fur coat on? Are some birds (or bats or even flying squirrels) a teeny weeny bit like a pterodactyl?) We will be doing some work investigating all of these ideas over the coming weeks…

 An elephant in a fur coat?

We will also be looking at how animals change sometimes to suit their environment. What animals do or have done this?

Examples of the basic adaptations that help animals survive:

• shape of a bird’s beak,
• the number of fingers,
• colour of the fur,
• the thickness or thinness of the fur,
• the shape of the nose or ears

Can you think which one of these adaptations a Polar Bear or Arctic Fox may have undergone to survive in the snowy north?

Have a look at this cute picture and see what you can come up with…

In PE we will be continuing with our badminton lessons.

In Art we will be making lovely paintings of fish.

And, speaking of fish, we will be making sure that our two new class pets, HB and Rainbow, have survived the rigours of their first school holiday living on feeding tablets instead of being hand fed by lovely smiley pupils with tasty fish food (as they are during term time)!

 

Week beginning March 30th 2009…

This week is the last week of term and we will finish on Friday at 12 noon for our annual Easter holidays. Everyone is excited and looking forward to their break – and hoping that the sun will shine for at least some of the time…

This week we will still be working hard in class and preparing for Parents Evening on Wednesday night. We are keen to show our Mums and Dads some of the exciting things we have done this term and show off many of our fabulous pieces of work. These will be found in the Learning Zone on the evening.

ELP Maths

This week in ELP Maths we will continue to consolidate our numbers 1-20, times (o’clock, half past, quarter past) and try out our new time (quarter to) again. We will use a variety of resources to undertake this work, including time dominoes, time card games and our number lines.

ELP Science

In ELP Science we are looking at the skin and considering how our bodies tell us there is something wrong. What signs are there that our skin is damaged or hurt? We will consider a number of ideas and terms including:

• pain
• scabs
• cuts
• sores
• burns
• itching
• spots
• rashes
• skin conditions

 Does this dog’s spots mean it is ill?

ELP Social Studies

Mrs B, Mrs T (Rex) and the dinosaurs will be exploring the scary world of the Tyrannosaurus Rex. This will include our T Rex model project – making a giant model of The Lost World for display in the front hall at Open Day in May.

ELP CDT

The rattles are painted and on display this Wednesday evening at Parents Night.

ELP PE

S2s have continued this week with a PE badminton block, whilst S1s are still having swimming lessons at the local pool

ELP Gardening

Recycling the rubbish – this week we will be looking at how we can use old Christmas and birthday cards in two ways. One will be to make a lovely garden related collage for our classroom wall, the other is to make our own papyrus for writing on…it might look a bit like this

 

The circle of life…the butterfly

This week in Gardening and Science we have taken the opportunity to look at a process that relates well to our investigations into birth, growth, puberty and reproduction (Science) but also is extremely relevant to our work in the garden to try and ensure we encourage “helpful insects” that pollinate plants (See “Be Good To Bees” post for more information)…

The life cycle of the butterfly is a process that the children were readily able to explain as simple fairytale-like stories (some even related it to the tale of the Ugly Duckling). Their obvious prior knowledge of the famous Eric Carle book “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” was a huge support in tackling the concept.

We told lovely tales of how the mother butterfly lays eggs on leaves, these eggs hatch and a baby caterpillar emerges and eats the egg shell. Excitedly we spoke of how the caterpillar is something of a “gannet” and goes on to eat and eat and eat – and as it grows and grows and grows, gets too big for its “clothes”! At last, we were told, the caterpillar gets so big it wants to go to sleep and does so in a special bed. We were delighted that the children were able to confidently call this bed a cacoon. One pupil excelled, telling us they knew the correct term was a “chrysalis”. After his sleep, the caterpillar wakes up. However, during his nap he has somehow turned into a beautiful butterfly!

We made stunning model butterflies and placed them on a wall poster to show everyone else what we know about their life cycles. Please feel free to come and have a look!

Finally, we spoke about other animals who go to sleep for extended periods of time. One pupil had asked if the chrysalis stage of the cycle was like a bear hibernating and so we expanded on that lovely question to work out for ourselves if they were the same thing…or something quite different. The animals we considered as sleepy heads included:

• bears
• hedgehogs
• squirrels
• snakes
• some small rodents
• tortoises

We know what we think about whether this cute little furry friend is sleeping for the same reasons as a caterpillar in a chrysalis – but what do you think?

Congratulations to a very special young man…

 

We are delighted to be able to record the most wonderful achievement by one of our pupils, Dale.

Such is his modesty, that he has not publicised his achievement in any shape or form. This touching humility is nonetheless typical of him.

The whole school award for the Most Improved Rugby Player in 2008-09 was presented recently to Dale at the school Sport Personality of the Year Awards, is now in his possession – and we are all absolutely delighted for him. We know that his mainstream PE teacher, Mrs Pike, is rightly proud of him too.

Well done, Dale. We have always known that you are just champion – and now you have the silverware to prove it!

S2 ELP Parents Evening…

 

The S2 ELP Parents Evening will be held on Wednesday April 1st, 2009. All parents and carers are very welcome to come in and discuss the pupils’ progress. Appointment cards are in circulation and we thank you for being so quick in confirming times via the pupils.

The ELP consultations will be held in the Learning Zone, though some of the mainstream teachers will be found elsewhere in the school. A map is attached for your information on the appointment literature.

We look forward to seeing you all next Wednesday evening!

 

Do you think he saurus?

In the coming weeks in ELP Social Studies and ELP Science we will be looking at the life of dinosaurs. This project will dovetail with the work going on for One Scotland that involves reading  Arthur Conan Doyle’s much loved book, The Lost World.

In Social Studies our angle will be an historical one – when did the dinosaurs live, how did they live and why did they disappear? We will consider different species of dinosaur and spend our time being detectives finding out as much as we can about them from the internet, books, models, fossils, experts and our own prior knowledge (of which there is an awful lot!).

In Science we will concentrate on the idea of survival and adaption. We will look at dinosaurs and compare them with other creatures who may still be around today. The crocodile will feature heavily in our investigations, as will various fossils and other information about how different species have become “extinct”.

We will take the opportunity to explore the ideas put forward by Charles Darwin in the year that sees a celebration of the 150th anniversary of his Origin of the Species. (Perhaps as much an excuse to look at pictures and information about the many wonderful species that inhabit the Galapagos Islands! See below)

Week beginning March 23rd 2009…

S2 ELP report cards will be due out in the coming week – can parents please keep an eye out for them in their child’s school bag. Thank you for helping us complete appointments for next week’s Parents Evening, we are very much looking forward to talking to you all on the 1st April about progress this session.

ELP Maths

This week in ELP Maths we will be continuing to use our Maths Tracker scheme to work on sequencing and understanding numbers. We will also be practising our times and this will include the new time of “quarter to”. We would ask all of our ELP parents and teachers to continue to help the children practise their time telling at home and in other subjects (thank you Dr Voge!)

ELP Science

In ELP Science, to finish off our interesting tour of the human body we will looking at the skin! So often overlooked in favour of more exciting organs such as the heart or lungs, we will be giving it centre stage this week and next. What does the skin do? How does it work? What can affect it? What would happen without it?

Next term, after the Easter break, we will be moving on to look at survival and adaptation in conjunction with our project for One Scotland on those amazing and exciting creatures…the dinosaurs!

ELP CDT

In ELP CDT we have almost finished our rattles! The construction part is now over and we are at the stage of painting them in our favourite team colours. Mr Cruickshank wants to paint them all red and take us up to Pittodrie in the school minibus…can you imagine that? We can’t!

ELP Social Studies

The world of the dinosaur continues to occupy our thoughts as this week we look to the world of the carnivore. “Mrs T Rex” might come in handy to help us find out about the big meat eating creatures who roamed the planet a long time ago. What were their bodies like? Why were their teeth, claws and leg shapes so important to how they survived? What did they eat and how much did they need to consume to survive? And more importantly, how could other animals escape their clutches…

This fantastic spinosaurus front claw might give us some clues!

ELP PE

In ELP PE this week the S1 ELPs continue with swimming at the local pool whilst the S2 ELPs persevere with their much loved dancing.

ELP Gardening

Last week Mrs B received a special present courtesy of BBC television programme, Blue Peter! It was an exciting occasion – we were very keen to open the mail when we saw the programme logo on the envelope. Inside we found a packet of seeds, some stickers and information leaflets about the Blue Peter “Be Good To Bees” campaign. Preston Lodge ELPs are now part of this initiative and this week we will be doing our bit to help make the Preston Lodge gardens more bee-friendly places.

We can help save Britain’s bees. These precious creatures are at risk of dying out because of viruses, wet weather, parasites and lack of food. In the past year alone, we’ve lost a quarter of all bees in hives – that’s 2 billion bees. Bees are vital in helping produce food and flowers. Without them, our environment could change drastically.

So Blue Peter are giving away 75,000 free “Be Good to Bees” packs of wildflower seeds. We will plant them in a suitable container in our school gardens, and they’ll soon grow into very special place where bees can hang out.

You could send away for these seeds for your own garden at home. Why not complete the application form at the BBC website? Helping bees makes a lot of sense for the  future.

ELP One Scotland

Mrs B and Miss S are currently planning a trip for the pupils into Edinburgh during school exam leave. This trip will take the pupils to some of the places they are currently investigating for the One Scotland project in conjunction with the Lost World Literacy initiative being run by Edinburgh Schools for the 2009 Year of Literacy. We will take the No 26 bus up to Picardy Place where we can visit the birthplace of Arthur Conan Doyle and see the statue of Sherlock Holmes that is placed there in his memory. We will then wander up to the Old Town to see where he studied to be a surgeon at the university School of Medicine. Next stop will be lunch at the Scottish National Museum and a rummage round the fossils before finally heading down to the Grassmarket to the fossil shop. More information will be provided after the Easter holidays. In the meantime, you might like to chat with your child about any aspect of Conan Doyle’s work that you may be familiar with – Sherlock Holmes seems to be a very good starting place! Thanks.

 

Week beginning March 16th 2007…

This week sees the celebration in Ireland (and in other countries) of St Patrick’s Day. Some of our penpals in America will be enjoying the festivities this week, as many of them are descended from Ireland a long time ago. We have spent a lot of time this year looking at Scottish culture and the celebrations for our own patron saint, Andrew. This week we will have a brief chat about it being Ireland’s special day…

ELP CDT

In ELP CDT this week we will be continuing to make our football rattles. We have cut and sanded the MDF and have drilled the holes for our dowling. The next job is to start to put all the bits together…so we can make a fabulous racket!

ELP Maths

In ELP Maths we have continued to concentrate on money, number and time. Early in the week we practised our money skills using educational shopping games. Later on we will be working on our new time, “quarter to” and trying to practise our numbers over 30. One or two of us will be extending this work to include numbers over 100.

ELP Science

In ELP Science this week we have been talking about how babies are made and born. We have discussed various aspects of reproduction in a differentiated and sensitive manner, using materials appropriate to the stage of the group. We have looked at how a baby grows inside its mother, how long it takes for this to happen and what happens when baby is born.

ELP Social Studies

In ELP Social Studies this week we will be looking deep into the world of the dinosaur. Using our lovely new model dinosaurs (thank you Mrs Hoban!) and our fabby dinosaur identification posters (thank you Miss Strachan!) we will be exploring the world of the carnivore dinosaur…starting with the most magnificent Tyrannosaurus Rex. Mrs Binnie will be greatful for the opportunity to tell even more rotten jokes about dinosaurs (like the dino who has poor eyesight…the “doyouthinkhesaurus”).

ELP RME

Our Dolphin Island display is looking fab and we are enjoying our work setting up this wonderful community. Our rules can now be seen displayed in a special document called a “charter”…and Miss Strachan is still the cleaner.

ELP ICT

As part of our One Scotland project, we have been using the internet to help find out information about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Like his famous character, Sherlock Holmes, we have become detectives!

ELP Gardening

In ELP Gardening this week we are being given a special treat by Mrs Christie. The PE Department have some special dancers in this Tuesday when we would be in the garden but we are being given the chance to spend an hour with the dancers. That is a lovely surprise. The remainder of our time will be spent looking at the Blue Peter campaign to plant more flowers that are “bee friendly”. Mrs Binnie has been sent some special seeds by Blue Peter and is looking forward to helping us plant them in our school gardens. We will also be finding out why it is so very important that we look after the bees…

Week beginning March 9th 2009…

This week on the ELP programme we will be making lots of contributions to the school efforts for Red Nose Day!

In Social Studies we will be spending time making our now famous Red Nose Day cakes, so that we can sell them on Friday. Last week we made a trial batch and market tested them with randomly selected pupils and members of staff. This week we will go into mass production, turning out dozens and dozens of them. The ingredients we are using are FAIRTRADE goods – underlining our commitment to this concept, after weeks of finding out about the reasons behind FAIRTRADE systems. Look out for us on Friday morning selling our goodies!

ELP Maths

In ELP Maths we will be concentrating on time, money and number again. On Monday we were given a shopping list by Mrs Pow and asked to go to Scotmid to buy some messages for her. We were given the list and money and had to find the right things in the shop before buying them with an appropriate amount of money. We then needed to ensure we looked after the change and receipt before bringing the goods back to school. Later in the week we will be revisiting the time “quarter past” and practising our numbers above 50 with a variety of maths games and strategies.

ELP Science

In ELP Science this week we will be looking at reproduction in humans and animals. How are babies made? How many babies do mothers typically carry? Do mother animals have the same number of babies as us? How long does it take to make a baby elephant?

ELP Gardening

We will be using some of our gardening time this week to keep our Red Nose Cakes going, in addition to helping Mrs Hunter with the weekly vegetable bag preparation and deliveries.

ELP RME

Our adventures on Dolphin Island continue – the rules are made, the sanctions decided and the King and Queen in place. Now we set about making the backdrop to our work, with special help from Ms Strachan and Art teacher, Mrs Kazimoglou…

ELP CDT

This week in CDT we have begun a new project – making a rattle!

Not a rattle for our respective baby brothers or for a music lesson but a rattle for the school football match between the staff and the pupils. Our rattle is seemingly only to be used in support of Mr Cruickshank! Hmmm…

ELP PE

This week in ELP PE some of us are playing badminton (and tiring Karin out!) whilst one of us has a swimming module at the local pool.