School Newsletter

February 2018

Acting Head Teacher - Elaine Page School News Letter

On Thursday the 8th of February , we were delighted to welcome the Scottish Opera to Danestone. For the last few months the children in P4/5, P5, P6 and P6/7 have been learning the songs for the show, ‘The Dragon of the Western Sea’. The story is set in 1405, the great Dragon Throne Emperor of China, Zhu Di, has decided it is time his nation expanded its influence beyond the edge of the known world and into the mysterious Western Sea. He assembles an enormous fleet of mighty ships with 28,000 crew, and fills them with all the treasure and riches of China. Enough to buy the gratitude and friendship of those unknown lands beyond the setting sun. Only one man could be trusted to lead such a dangerous and important mission, the great Admiral Zheng Ha, the Dragon of the Western Sea! The Scottish Opera staff arrived at 10am in school and straight away started rehearsals with the pupils.

Our Charities committee decided to organise a fundraising day last Friday. They wanted to raise money for the Archie Foundation and met to decide the best way to raise money and have fun at the same time. The decision was made to have a ‘Wear Pyjamas to school day’ with everyone encouraged to donate money if they decided to wear their Pyjamas. The Charities committee promoted the event at assembly and explained to all the children what they were doing and the reason behind their idea. Pupils and staff arrived at school on Friday in their Pyjamas and slippers!

Dragon of the Western Sea

Within two hours, they had put together a full performance, with singing, acting and dancing. It was starting to look very good. However, things got even better when the Opera staff let the children see their costumes!! Once the costumes and props were added, the whole performance was raised to another level and the show was ready to perform. The children put on two wonderful performances. The first for the pupils in the school and the second for their parents. We were delighted that so many parents and friends were able to come along to watch the performances. From start to finish, the pupils gave 100% and everyone was enthralled with the performance. For those of you who were unable to attend the show, clips are available to watch on Twitter. @DanestoneP. We hope to upload the entire show once our website is up and running-we will keep you posted.

Charities Committee

Pyjama Day

The day was a great success and the children had a wonderful time. They managed to raise £325. Well done to everyone involved.

Acting Head Teacher - Elaine Page School News Letter

Danestone Primary School Fairview Brae

Danestone

Tel: 01224 825062

Fax: 01224 707796

Primary 1/2 have been busy learning about Scotland and Island homes through the context of the Katie Morag series by Mairi Hedderwick. We used maps in class to plot places such as Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh and the Isle of Coll (or Isle of Struay as it is known in the Katie Morag books). We took part in traditional Scottish Country Dancing in P.E and we had a Scottish tasting afternoon in class with some traditional Scottish Fayre. We also weaved our own Scottish tartan and recreated scenes of the Isle of Struay using different materials in art. We have really been enjoying watching and listening to the Katie Morag stories and discussing how people live in different parts of Scotland.

Katie Morag and the Isle of Struay

This term we have been working on comic strips with Mrs Flint and Ms Lamont. We have practiced on sheets where we fill in the speech bubbles and then we draw the pictures. We also learned all the features of a comic, like different types of speech bubbles. Other features we have looked at are; Onomatopoeia, Captions, Short Narratives, pictures linking and titles. To finish our project, we have produced a comic book with all of our individual comics pages inside of it. Please feel free to come and see our comic wall in the P6 classroom. We have enjoyed working on comic strips with Mrs Flint and Ms Lamont and would love to do it again! By Libby Burrows and Kirsten Black

Comic Strips in P6

Lately in p6/7 we have been doing a range of things in maths and literacy….especially in literacy! This week alone we have been doing so much, like writing poems and our individual guided reading books. This whole term we have been trying out new poems like limericks, bio poems, poems with a twist and acrostic poems. All of these amazing poems have been really fun to do and sometimes really funny. This term in maths we have started to do a lot of different things. Starting new maths strategies. These maths strategies are teaching us new ways to work out sums. So far we have been learning addition and subtraction and have started a little bit on multiplying. By Nathan Begg and Tom Carson

P 2/3 have enjoyed learning all about Scotland this term. As a class we firstly studied a map of the United Kingdom and

worked in groups to locate Scotland, Scotland’s main cities and the capital, Edinburgh. We also learnt about some of the

most popular landmarks in Scotland and where they are located in relation to the cities. As a class we researched the

history of tartan and then designed and created our own tartan kilts and bookmarks. As part of the children’s homework

this term they had to research a famous Scottish person and prepare some facts which they could share with their peers.

One of the famous Scots we learned about as a class was the artistic and designer Charles Rennie Macintosh. The

children created some fantastic pieces of artwork which were inspired by his Art Nouveau style. In maths we have been

learning about aspects of measurement. The class worked in groups to make some wonderful Scottish shortbread which

was thoroughly enjoyed by all! It is always wonderful to have senior pupils supporting the younger children in their

learning and Sam Kite P4/5 did a fantastic job at helping the children to read and follow the instructions as well as

accurately weigh the ingredients.

SCOTLAND

What is happening in P6/7?

Acting Head Teacher - Elaine Page School News Letter

There is always such a lot happening in nursery! First of all we want to welcome our new children to the afternoon class. They are settling in really well. After Christmas we started doing some very exciting experiments with ice! We were learning about water changing to ice and then ice changing back to water. The experiments were so interesting and we couldn’t wait to get back to nursery the next day, to see what was going to happen next!! On the 25th of January we talked about Robert Burns. Everyone went into the hall and we did some Scottish Country Dancing. That was another great day. Some of us are already talking about going to school! There is so much to talk about when we are in the story corner or as we move around the school. Soon we will be celebrating Chinese New Year! Please remember to ask for the IPad and you can see a whole range of photographic evidence of our learning. (Ask at the start of the session and we can make it available for you)

Primary 5 have been learning about food and how to be healthy. We

have learned about the eatwell plate, the different food groups and

composite dishes. We kept food diaries for a week and are now

trying to be healthier by eating more fruit and vegetables. Miss

Greenwood has promised we can do a food tasting sessions at the

end of our project. We are really looking forward to tasting new and

different foods!

This term as part of the children’s learning we have been focused on staying safe online. P4-5 have been working in collaboration with P5 to complete a range of tasks. They have carrying out a variety of internet safety learning tasks which required the children to work together in groups and exchange their views and opinions about how to stay safe online. All the pupils thoroughly enjoyed working together and there was positive feedback from the pupils about the learning tasks and the collaboration with P5. P4-5 are looking forward to more collaborative learning with P5 in the forthcoming term.

NURSERY

FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD

INTERNET SAFETY

Primary 3 have had a busy start to

Term 3 with our topic all about

Scotland. We wanted to learn about

castles and Scottish history so Miss

Taylor set us the challenge to draw

our house castle from a black and

white photograph. We practised two

skills by using black line drawings

on one half and used our

imaginations to add colour and

shading to the other half. We also

used atlases to plot Scottish cities

on a map and we have learned

some Scots and Doric phrases by

reading Roald Dahl’s ‘The Eejits’

and playing games using Doric

names for parts of the body.

SCOTLAND IN PRIMARY 3

A new year, a new context for learning in Primary One! This term our focus, which the children have had some input into, is ‘Homes and Habitats’. In Literacy, we listened to ‘The Three Little Pigs’ and lots of fun bringing the story to life with straw, stick and brick props, and story puppets. After watching the programme Come Outside ‘Bricks’, we discussed different types of building materials and what makes walls strong. We then got creative and used different patterns in our own designs – within our fine motor skills miniature building activity. In Art, we are using our context to explore the importance using feedback to improve our work - by redrafting drawings of our own homes based on suggestions from our friends. This activity is also helping us to develop our observation skills - by looking carefully ‘like scientists’ (or perhaps architects!). Later in the term we will focus on animal habitats and look forward to taking our learning outdoors. In Maths, we have started exploring number bonds to 5 and then 10 and will be using this knowledge to support us with addition and subtraction. Our handwriting is coming on beautifully and we are introducing our capital letter formation and continuing with our phonics programme. We are always busy in Primary One!

HOMES AND HABITATS

Acting Head Teacher - Elaine Page School News Letter

February 2018

Kildrummy Castle 1462 Points Dunnottar Castle 1340 Points

Fyvie Castle 1477 Points Drum Castle 1360 Points Castle Fraser 1251 Points

Crathes Castle 1400 Points

The amazing primary 4 class have been learning the 4 times table. We have been learning to recall the 4 times table as quick as lightening! The brilliant primary 4s have been learning to use exciting adjectives in our writing. For example some words we have used in our stories have been colossal, rickety, howling, strike and beautiful. The excellent p4s have been learning about the 5 food groups which we need to keep our bodies healthy. Also we have been learning about friendship in our cooperative learning groups. Primary 4 are all great friends to each other. Surprisingly P4 have been learning how to Ceilidh dance and we love it! Written by Primary 4

Primary 6 and 7 pupils work on a rota with our younger pupils during lunch times on a Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday

to lead games and activities for them. The upper stage pupils go through a young leader programme where they learn

how to work with younger pupils and how to lead fun but safe games before they start as young leaders. The young

leaders have a cart of PE resources which they use for their games which have been chosen by some senior young

pupils. The young leaders are not out every lunch time but when they are out, the younger pupils love playing the games

the upper stage pupils have prepared for them. The experience is beneficial to all because the younger pupils learn

games and get use of the young leader PE equipment. In addition the older pupils gain a wealth of real life skills which

will help them now and in the future.

Acting Head Teacher - Elaine Page School News Letter

PRIMARY 4

We have had some reports from parents that there are a lot of cars around the school entrance at the end of the day. We are aware that this is a very busy time and that the road outside the school can get very congested. Please be aware of the road markings outside the school and make sure you park safely to allow the children to leave the school and cross the roads safely. We are also concerned about the speed that some cars are driving past the school. We are aware that most of these cars don’t belong to our parents, so we are looking at different ways to tackle this issue. We have contacted the City Wardens for advice, we will keep you updated.

ROAD SAFETY

YOUNG LEADERS