'I can sort in a variety of ways according to my own and other's criteria.'

This week in maths, we are learning about sorting, gathering information and displaying our findings.  Yesterday in P.E. we played games where we had to collect and sort objects and ourselves.  Today we worked in groups to decide how to sort different things in the classroom.  We realised we could sort according to lots of different criteria including size, colour, gender and even whether a letter was a vowel or consonant.

World Book Day

Yesterday was World Book Day and to celebrate the occasion, most of the P1s got dressed up as book characters.  All week we have been enjoying browsing the book fair in the library and buying books.  We read lots of the book fair books in class and wrote about our favourites.  Fleabag and Supertato were very popular with our class.

Today we went to the P2 assembly to hear more about World Book Day and reading.  Well done P2 - it was a very informative assembly.

Addition

P1 have started to explore addition in maths.  We have been looking at the 'stories' of  numbers for example working out how many different ways you can make 6.  This was a good problem solving activity and some people were able to find lots of ways to make a total.

We then used what we had learned to solve addition sums using cubes, counters, dinosaurs and other materials.  It is really important that children have a good understanding of what addition means and how you can help yourself to solve tricky sums.  So even if you think you might know they answer - check using your materials!

This week as homework, P1 are going to enjoy 10 minutes of reading a text of their choice with their parents.  There is strong evidence to suggest that just ten minutes reading a day with a child makes a huge difference to their learning and future prospects and helps them fall in love with reading.  This doesn't mean reading your reading book for ten minutes but reading something just because you want to!

Watch this video for some more information...

Library Competition

A few weeks ago we all designed a bookmark and entered them into a competition at the Orkney Library.  Everyone worked VERY hard on their bookmarks and made a super job of them.  There were 173 entries from children in Orkney and we are really proud that Erin Rose and Magnus G are joint winners of the competition!  Well done to them both and look out for the designs in the new library.  All the bookmark designs will be on display at the library in Kirkwall from the end of this week.

The Three Little Pigs

LO:  Through discovery, natural curiosity and imagination, I explore ways to construct models or solve problems. As part of our project this term, we have been designing and making.  Last week we used junk materials to make our own design and this week we had the challenge of using construction materials to make a house for three little pigs.  We had to plan and make our house with a partner.  It had to be big enough for the three pigs, have an exit for them but be secure enough that the big bad wolf wouldn't be able to get in.  We discovered that the stickle bricks were good to build with, the lego took a long time to make high enough and wooden bricks made quite fragile buildings.   On reflection, some thought that the next time, they would choose a different material to make their house better.

Money, Money, Money!

We have started the term learning about money.  We have learned about the images, writing and numbers on the coins and how much they are worth.  We have been busy sorting coins and playing games with them.  We all enjoyed playing a game where you move round a board and land on either 'pay' or 'pay and get change.'  It was fun being the shopkeeper.