Industrial Revolution Moodboards - Progress

Our mood boards on the industrial revolution are coming along great! Here is Jacks.






Christopher also produced a good Mood board, looking at the pro's and con's of life before the industrial revolution.




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P7 Newsletter Committe

As part of their language programme, the P7 class are producing the termly newsletters for parents and friends this year. We have begun researching and writing for the newsletter that will come out in October. We will be producing four over the course of the year and each one will have two editors. Editors for this first edition are Mete and Christopher.
At the moment the team are selecting interesting articles for the newsletter and interviewing staff and pupils before writing the first draft of articles.
It is another example of how wonderful it is to have the iPad in front of each child as it makes the whole process so much easier.

Co-Operative Learning Industrial Revolution

Today in Language P6 were in co-operative learning groups as we looked at the industrial revolution. We were discussing words to describe the time when machines began to take over many of the jobs that men had previously done.
The children worked well in their groups and produced some great work!

Primary Planning Evening

Today the primary staff are meeting for a twilight planning session. We are transferring our existing planning formats to new Curriculum for Excellence templates that we've been working on over the past few months. A productive night, helped by a wee Chinese carry out! :)


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Industrial Revolution Moodboard

We are looking at the Victorian period this term trying to answer the question:
'Which is more important, the industrial revolution of the 19th century or the digital revolution of our day?'
We've started by creating moodboards of the industrial revolution thinking about words, pictures and phrases connected with the changes that machines brought to everyday life in the Victorian period.

Choir Warm Up

Just for your interest I thought I'd upload a wee video of our P2-7 school choir. This is a fun warm up song and the kids had a great time singing it.

Interesting Communications

In P6/7 this week we have been having interesting communications with various people. Aimee is preparing her presentation for the Apple Store on Wednesday and has been in touch with artist Amanda Kavanagh. She is a very interesting artist who has done some great work using the same art application we use - 'Brushes'. Here are some great examples of her work.

























You can view Amanda's portfolio here.


She has emailed Aimee back with some really interesting comments for her presentation. Thanks Amanda!


Mete has also been in touch with one of our Danish visitors, Catrine Berglund. She has been asking interesting questions about the school and feeding back some really cool stuff from Denmark. It's so good to have people in other parts of the world 'coming into the classroom'.




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Dr What and the Victorians

This morning P6/7 began rehearsing our Victorian play, Dr What and the Victorians. The play centres around the Victorian era and introduces characters like Dr Barnardo, Prince Albert, Queen Victoria and Charles Dickens. We hope to perform the play to the school on Friday 8th October. This will be our history day. We will be making a huge timeline and fitting in the Romans (p4/5), the Vikings (p2/3) and of course, the Victorians.
Today we opened the script for the play in PDF on our iPads and had our first read through.

Location:Patrick St,Greenock,United Kingdom

Gymnastics Progress

Today we are at the penultimate week of our gymnastics block. We are all working very hard this week to complete the remaining outcomes of our British Gymnastics Association badges.



Today was a very full on session as out instructor Debbie assessed us to see whether we had done enough to deserve our awards. Have we?
We'll all find out next week.







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Location:Glenacre Dr,Largs,United Kingdom

... Cedars iPad Orchestra!

The iPad Orchestra!




On Wednesday 6th October, P6/7 are at the Apple Store to present to the staff there. We are then collaborating with the staff there to get to know some fantastic music apps on our iPads. We will be forming a great iPad band. There are some fantastic musical applications for the iPad which enable students to learn complex musical concepts but remove the barrier of difficult fingering or notation.
The ultimate aim of this music input is to perform as Cedars School iPad Orchestra and accompany our primary Christmas Play which is coming up next term.
Just wait till you hear us!







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Presenting.. At the Apple Store

Next Wednesday, the 6th of October, P6/7 are taking a special trip to the Apple store in Buchanan St, Glasgow. We have taken groups of students there before on field trips where we have learned valuable skills in a whole host of computer applications.
This trip will be different.
This time we have been asked to take the children from P6/7 so that WE can present to the Apple Store staff the work that we have been doing on the iPad!
First the P7s will be giving their presentations and then we are kicking off one of the most exciting ventures in Cedars School for ages...


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Pupil of the Week

Today hearty congratulations are due to Cayman who is the Pupil of the week in P6/7. Cayman gas produced some great work in maths and language and language and thoroughly deserves to be our Pupil of the Week. Well done Cayman!


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'Time Shift'

Yesterday in P7 the language task focussed on the use of adjectives, similes and creative language. We were focussing on incorporating these in a piece of writing that would 'unlock the reader's imagination'.
We read a piece from the opening of 'Tom's Midnight Garden' where the boy goes to investigate an old clock that he hears chime thirteen, only to find himself back in a bygone era.
For our task we stole the idea of the clock and wrote the introduction to our own stories, taking particular care with our creative language.
We wrote our work using Pages on our iPad which was great as we could check our spelling and re-draft as we went.
Every few minutes we reviewed our writing and peer assessed each others work.

Was the reader's imagination unlocked? You tell us...

Here are some results:



Time shift

I woke up suddenly, I felt the frozen breeze from the open window. At that moment I heard the deep chime of the grandfather cloak striking 13. That's odd I thought, I got up and went
down the stairs and there was a diabolical smell like a untreated toilet, I looked out of the window , the land was covered in jet black smoke-like fog. And something seemed different a bit creepy. All the houses were strangely sort of old, like something that had come from a hundred years ago people like shadows in black atmosphere. The street was lit with old fashioned gas lamps that twinkled like fireflies.

The floor in the kitchen was wooden and icy on my feet. But the most spectacular thing was that the grandfather clock was no longer old and dust-covered or had wood rot in places, it was truly grand and shone like the moon outside which was barely visible through the terrible thick, smog, which was like oil in the clouds.

The horrid smell was coming from the road which was covered in filth and muck which made my stomach churn violently.

The garden too had changed. It had a big oak tree in middle with enormous iron gates at the end of a finely cut grass lawn with spectacular flower beds on ether side. Before it had been a mud covered place with boring concrete walls and dispense.

I was sure that I was having a weird dream. I kept rapidly blinking to try and and wake up.

Sent from Lyle's iPad.







Time Shift

I woke up as the old dusty grandfather clock struck thirteen with a frightening clang. I sat up straight in my bed and switched on my little camping light,as it suddenly refilled my bedroom with light and colour. I got up to get some water.

I quietly sneaked down the hall into the kitchen but stopped, dead on the cold,hard,wooden floor.There was something weird about the view from the window,and so suddenly I noticed that the yard had,had transformed!

As I stared out into the magnificent, moonlit night I thought I could see angels, hovering in the heavenly garden.Could it resemble Eden?it wasn't like this before,it a filthy,overgrown wreck!Was I dreaming? was I going mad? god knows.

Stunned, I hesitantly stepped barefooted into the moonlit wonder.The smell of freshly mowed grass,the nectar and dew from the flower beds and the sharp,strong smell of little pines assailed my nostrils.

"Amazing,"I said, as I caught by breath. My voice carried across the soft cool breath of the night."Amazing," I said again.I felt tired all of a sudden.I collapsed into the soft,fresh grass, and fell sound asleep.

Sent from Mete's iPad.




Time Shift

I lay still, wide awake on my bed. The exciting events of the day flew round and round in my mind like newly woken butterflies. Dad had returned home with a new grandfather clock about the same time as a letter had arrived from Uncle James telling me he was coming over from America to stay with us in the October break.

Then, just as the thoughts in my head grew slow and sleepy I heard the grandfather clock strike in the hall downstairs. One, two, three... ten, eleven, twelve... thirteen?
Thirteen?
In an instant all thought of sleep was gone and I was caught in a strange fascination that seemed to come from nowhere and caused my heart to beat faster.
I crept downstairs to investigate. One foot at a time, making sure I avoided the creaks in the stairs. Then I stepped slowly onto the hard cold floor I looked out into the garden and I got the fright of my life.
Instead of a small postage stamp of muddy green there was a beautiful long ribbon of grass which disappeared lazily into the distance like an emerald river waiting to be explored. Nearby there was a magnificent stone archway with dozens and dozens of red roses climbing up it like an army of scarlet soldiers. Beside the archway was a small path which wound it's way to a big flowerbed filled with purple heather.
I stood in awe questions immediately filled my mind. What had happened to my garden? How could it be that in it's place I had a garden which was fit enough for Queen Elizabeth herself!
Dazed, I turned around to go back into the house and I saw a maid come out of one of the rooms it was the room we usually use for visitors. She was dressed all in black apart from a white apron round her waist and a small cap on her head she was carrying a little baby dressed in a white frock. It looked as delicate as a spider's web.
I walked over to her and in a voice gruff with amazement asked her where I was. She replied, "Well it's Master John's house of course".
"Who's Master John",I asked.
She gasped "Only the most important man in London!". " He's a member of Queen Victoria's Parliament !
"Queen Victoria! What?" I stuttered.


Sent from Aimee's iPad.


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Visitors from Denmark

Today in school we were delighted to be visited by a group of teachers and educationalists from Sweden and Denmark. Our visitors were keen to see the iPad deployment in Cedars school and to talk to the teachers and staff. They spoke to children in various classes throughout the school and were very impressed with what they saw. We have taken some email addresses to keep in touch and find out why life is like in Scandinavian classrooms. We had a very interesting discussion session t lunch following their tour round the school. All in all, a very interesting day!









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Exercise on a Blustery Day

Today our regular gymnastics slot at Inverclyde Sports Centre was cancelled as they had a residential group booked in. Instead, we went to Largs and had a workout in the park! It wads blustery, windy day but we all had fun practicing cartwheels and balancing on a variety of play equipment!


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Pupil of the Week

This week big congratulations go to Matthew who is Pupil if the Week in P6/7. Matthew has produced some great work this week, particularly in maths. He has also worked very hard with his homework. Well done Matthew!


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School Bank Begins!

Today we were visited by Linda Bardelli from the Royal Bank of Scotland. Linda is the lady that is helpin us to set up our school bank. The school bank will be run by P7 and will be open to the children in P4 and up. The bank operates as a real branch of RBS and is open in the school from 9.15-10.15 every Thursday starting on the 4th of November. The school bank is a fantastic way for the children to learn the value of money and see the benefit of saving. We are all really enthusiastic about the project and the staff are also looking forward to saving in school. We have given each child from P4-7 a permission slip to have signed and brought back to school to get a savings account set up for each pupil. It would be great if we could have these back as soon as possible. Linda will be back in class later in the month to train P7 as bank tellers, marketing staff and manager and to provide some financial education lessons to P4-7.
What a great way to get saving!


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P7 Present...

Over the next little while some of the P6/7 class will be showcasing their presenting skills to various other class groups round the school. Today it was the turn of Lyle and Mete who gave their presentations to an audience of S1/2 children in Miss Rukin's Social Studies class. The boys remembered the feedback they had been given from our own class and tried to work on the points for improvement they had been given. By all accounts they were a resounding success! Well done Lyle and Mete!
I have copied Miss Rukins's blog post from the Arts blog below to show how well they boys did.

Mr J

We had a great lesson this morning when Lyle and Mete showed us their iPad presentations. Lyle told us about the American Civil War, whilst Mete explored the usefulness of the ipads in school! Both boys spoke confidently and clearly and had prepared excellent, informative presentations. Well done Lyle and Mete!






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The Moated Grange - Victorian Gates

Today in art we are again looking at one of the pictures by Victorian painter John Atkinson Grimshaw. He loved painting gates and trees. Today we are using 'Brushes' on our iPads to produce our own Victorian gate pictures. We are focusing on exploring the visual elements of line and tone. It is an interesting twist to use the iPad for this lesson.



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Writing Fractions as Decimals

Today in maths we are working on fractions as decimals. We've started the year looking at enormous numbers right up to millions and now we are going the other way and looking at fractions of whole numbers and how we can represent them as decimals, right down to thousandths of a second. We talked about how important decimals are in our world, especially in the world of sport.
Everyone is doing so well coming to grips with this tricky new learning!

Fractions

Today in maths we are looking at fractions and decimals. We are using a great little app called (appropriately enough) 'Fractions.' It gives examples and pictorial representations of various fractions and is a good way if reinforcing the learning from our class lesson today. Thanks iPad!


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Location:Patrick St,Greenock,United Kingdom

Gymnastics badges

Today we are working through some of the early outcomes for our gymnastics badges. In order to pass we need to pass 8 out of 10 activities. We certainly made a good start on the vault and floor work.








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Maths Bingo!

One of the great new apps on our iPads is called Math Bingo. It is a fantastic aid to mental maths skills and is already helping chidren in P7 'up-skill' in tables and other operations. When you perform well you gain a little creature known as a 'bingo bug.' The driving ambition of P6/7 is to beat Mrs Speirs, who is the owner (?) of 104 bingo bugs!
Top of the class so far is Robert who has 52!

Pupil of the Week

Big congratulations for this week go to Olivia who has made an excellent start to this year. Olivia was recommended by Mrs Speirs for her helpfulness with the new P1's as well as her hard work in her language and maths work.
Well done Olivia!


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Chimney Sweeps on iPad!

Today we are discussing what life must have been like for a young chimney sweep in Victorian London. We were imagining all sorts of adjectives to describe their lives. Some of the pupils came up with some great descriptions. First we split into co-operative learning groups and put our heads together to come up with words. Then we used a fantastic little app called TypeDrawing on the iPad to 'draw' our chimney sweep pictures using only the adjectives we had come up with. The results are below.