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Room 12 Kirklandneuk

Friday 14 October 2011

End of Our First Term

Wow what a busy and exciting first term we have had in Primary 5!



We have been enjoying looking at our topic on France and how it compares to Scotland. We have enjoyed numerous fun activities to help us learn all about France. We learned about the different areas in France through various mapping activities such as through the beebots and through connect co-ordinate games. Primary 5 learned about the differences between French schools and Scottish schools by watching a documentary called "Etre et Avoir". The children thoroughly enjoyed comparing and contrasting Kirlandneuk to the French school in the village.


In addition to this Primary 5 enjoyed art activities with Mrs Sloan where they were focusing on Monet's 'Water Lilies' painting where the children used pastels and watercolour to create some fantastic effects! The class also contributed to some group technology tasks where they created models of the Eiffel Tower from newspaper. Primary 5 also built some models of others famous landmarks in Paris from wood using tools.


Primary 5 have enjoyed writing poems about France and the sights, sounds, smells and tastes they would like to experience if they went to France. The children wrote factual newspaper articles about the capture by pirates of the French woman sailing the Caribbean seas with her husband. They were excellent!

During our Numeracy time, the children imagined that they were travel agents and they calculated the cheapest of three options for a family of four to travel to Paris for a week! It was great fun! The class also calculated the costs involved in selling food.

There was a focus during the term on an imaginary ski resort which was due to be built in an idyllic village in the alps. The children looked at how this would affect the villagers and the environment. They created symmetrical logos for the ski resort and took part in dramas where they were imagining how the ski resort would impact on the environment. They created advertisements trying to convince Mr Rich that the ski resort would be a terrible idea. Following this, the children created persuasive campaign posters detailing the negative effects of the new ski resort.

Closer to the end of the term the children learned the famous French song 'Frere Jacques' to perform in front of their parents at the French cafe. What fabulous voices primary 5 have! :) There were a lot of preparations for the French cafe which the children thoroughly enjoyed taking on. The class created symmetrical logos and banners for the French cafe, 'Le Petit Cafe'. We also had to make the food for the cafe. The children rolled and filled croissants with chocolate chips to make delicious pain au chocolat style pastries! They were delicious! As a final preparation the children dressed in typical French dress wearing striped tops and berets! They looked great!

Le Petit Cafe was a great success with the children acting as maitre d', waiters and waitresses, kitchen staff and working on the till! Alana, Scott-Ross and John-Paul were excellent maitre d's where they welcomed the parents and grandparents of primary 5 to the cafe and showed them to their seats! Meghan and Rachel worked well pouring drinks and getting the correct orders for the waiters and waitresses! Emma and Ebony used their skills in maths to calculate the change due to parents when they had paid for their orangina and croissant. The rest of the class were fantastic waiters and waitresses who tended to the every need of the customers!

The turn out for the cafe was fantastic with a large number of parents and grandparents with visits from Mrs Wieland and Jennifer the janitor! It was a fantastic afternoon and a great end to the French topic! :) We are now looking forward to a break for a week to relax.