You are here: Home / Staff / About Us

About Us

 

P1/2

We have loved developing skills at Racquet Buddies over the last few weeks. The sessions were aimed at developing a love for racquet sports as well as building the skills necessary for such sports. The sessions were fun and engaging with a range of games and exercises tailored to develop the specific skill we were learning that week but also recap on previously taught skills.

The moves we developed were overheads, forehands and backhands and we used big balloons and racquets to do it. Sometimes we had to do a combination of two or three hits. There was always a bit of a competition to see who can hit the balloon the furthest!

We also developed our stamina and perseverance required for such high energy sports, just like the athletes on TV. We focused on developing speed and agility by completing activities that got our heart rates up such as ‘step ups’ and ‘ladders’. Our hand-eye coordination, gross motor and listening skills improved week on week.

Reflecting on our learning each week helped us to identify the skills we were developing, discuss next steps and set ourselves small targets.

 

P2/3

Last term P2/3 were extremely busy in class. During our maths and numeracy lessons we learned how to use different strategies to help us count. This included number lines, hundred squares, Numicon, Deans blocks and practical materials like cubes.

We learned our number bonds to 20, how to round numbers up to 100 to the nearest 10, how to estimate the position of a number on a number line, halves and doubles, odds and evens and how to use the greater than, less than and equal to symbols. AS if this wasn’t enough, we did a lot of work on our tens and ones, learning how to partition and order numbers up to 100. We even had a go at vertical calculations!

Our focus during literacy lessons was descriptive writing. To begin with, we learned about nouns, verbs and adjectives. We practiced identifying these within texts and then tried using these to extend simple sentences to make them more exciting. We combined this with our work on alliteration, opposites and poetry to create our own poems based on ‘The Magic Box’ by Kit Wright. We also learned how to scan texts, looking for key words or pieces of information and how to plan a story using storyboarding.

We developed out social skills through our topic based around the book ‘Stone Soup.’ This book taught us about sharing and working together. As part of our castle topic, we developed three research skills. These were: Listening, reading and searching for information.

Other learning highlights include using word processing software such as Textease and Microsoft Word. We learned how to change the size, colour and font or text and to insert images. We created 3D pop art words and pop art buildings in the style of James Rizzi. We also learned about staying healthy, the circulatory system and what effect fat has on our bodies. A big well done to everyone for working so hard!

 

 

P4

We were looking at Harry Potter as a context , we started reading the first book and watched the video . We were doing  descriptive writing using adjectives to describe the characters ,  reading descriptions and drawing the characters . We made our own owls using paper plates . We were practising our addition with carrying  and our multiplication tables . We also started to visit the local library to choose our own books to read for pleasure .

 

P5

In maths, P5 began to investigate the link between fractions and their percentages. We also practiced number patterns and learned how to explain the rule we are using. In literacy, we analysed different pieces of text and learned how to ask and answer literal, evaluative and predictive questions. We also learned about figurative language and practiced using personification, similes, metaphors and hyperboles in our writing. In science, we investigated micro-organisms and used a 'glow box' to view bacteria before and after washing our hands. We also conducted a 'mouldy bread' experiment to investigate the difference in bacteria growth on dirty and clean bread. In ICT, we learned lots of different techniques to create games and animations on Scratch such as adding 'sprites' (characters), different backgrounds, recorded sounds and more. We also discussed the importance of online safety and how to report any concerns we may have. 

 

P6

Primary 6 had a fantastic time taking part in the Guildry Enterprise last term. We were given £200 and the aim of the project was to come up with and then create a product that you could see in order to make a profit. We thought that since we all loved being from Dundee and wanted to keep it local, we would go with a Jute, Jam and Journalism theme. We planned to make jam to sell. We set about conducting market research and found out that people were most likely to buy strawberry jam for less than £2, this gave us the information we needed to start making our own as we know what kind to make and how much to sell it for. 
We were fortunate enough to be visited by a very successful man called Derek Shaw. He used to run the Keillor’s Factory and is now a consultant to the biggest confectionary companies in the world. We really enjoyed meeting him. 
Ultimately, we decided that we couldn’t make jam because it would be too expensive and we would lose money instead of making it. We decided to hold a raffle, with some really amazing prizes. Our raffle was very successful and we made over £900 which we donated to Dundee Food Bank. We worked very hard and are very proud at what we managed to achieve in such a short period of time.
 
We also learned some British Sign Language with Mrs Scott, including lots of common phrases which will help us communicate with people who have hearing difficulties. We looked at how to develop characters and settings and came up with fantastic characters that could rival any famous author’s!
In numeracy, we were learning about fractions and although it was tricky to begin with, we all persevered and by the end of term, we were able to solve lots of fractions based problems, as well as decimals and percentages.   
 

P7

As a result of a successful enterprise project selling toast and raffle tickets at break times, primary 7 made it to Inverclyde Sports Centre for their residential trip. While there, we took part in a variety of activities such as gymnastics, archery, den building, badminton, basketball, team building and even our own set of Olympic games. This allowed us to develop our existing skills as well as learn some new ones along the way. We were also lucky enough to take part in our own game show and have a walk to the beach for an ice cream after a very busy and tiring day. 
 
Prior to our residential we had been learning all about Mary Queen of Scots and her tragic life. To do this, we created a class timeline to display the events that we had learned about such as her birth, her move to France, her return, her marriages and her imprisonment in Lochleven castle. Our Mary Queen of Scots topic also allowed us to debate our points of view on particular events throughout her life which everyone seemed to enjoy.