Author: Amy Dunnett

Big Burns Day Celebration: Ceilidh Dancing And Movement To Scottish Music

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Music and dance play a large part in Burns Day celebrations and in this activity there are lots of opportunities to take part in movement to Scottish music as well as try some ‘ceilidh’ dancing.

Traditional Tales For Tiny People

Traditional Tunes for Tiny People’ is a Live Music Now Scotland project aimed at teaching families and young people traditional Scottish tunes and songs.

In this video Grant McFarlane (accordion), Claire Hastings (voice, ukulele) and Ron Jappy (acoustic guitar, piano) from the musical trio Aonach Mor introduce a fun song for sharing and enjoying at home, in nurseries or in schools. ‘Jump Jim Joe’ has some simple jumping moves and actions that they will guide you through.

In this video Grant McFarlane, Claire Hastings and Ron Jappy from the musical trio Aonach Mor perform ‘A doo fell off a lum’, meaning “a pigeon fell off a chimney”. Follow their simple actions to learn a fun and interactive Scots song. The songs come with simple actions that they will guide you through with the help of props and live music.

Ceilidh Dancing

For this activity our PE teachers Amanda and Salvi have recorded 3 set dances for you. They have been recorded keeping social distance between them, but if you are at home you can choose to dance like them or you can do them holding hands with your family. The 3 Ceilidh dances are “The Gay Gordons”, “The Canadian Barn Dance” and our “Circle Dance”.

Here are some links to the Scottish music so you can dance along at home. There is the Dashing White Sergeant, the Gay Gordons, the Canadian Barn Dance and finally Auld Lang Syne, which is always the last song in our Burns Day parties!

We would love to see how you get on with you Burns Day activities so please feel free to share any photos or videos via your child’s teacher, through Google Classroom, or email Amy Dunnett (Principal Teacher Primary) adunnett@aberdeencity.gov.uk. 

Big Burns Day Celebration: Scottish Music And Dance

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As part of our Big Burns Day celebrations, we are delighted to share with you the talents of one of our Pupil Support Assistants, Claire.

Watch the video below to listen to her play some Scottish tunes on the bagpipes and see her perform some Highland dancing. Why don’t you have a clapping or playing out a rhythm along to the bagpipes? Or maybe have a go at copying some of the Highland dance moves? Just make sure that you have plenty of space first!

We would love to see how you get on with you Burns Day activities so please feel free to share any photos or videos via your child’s teacher, through Google Classroom, or email Amy Dunnett (Principal Teacher Primary) adunnett@aberdeencity.gov.uk. 

Big Burns Day Celebration: Flag Making

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Flags are an important symbol and a way of identifying a country as every nation has their own specific flag .

The Scottish flag is also known as the St Andrews Cross or the Saltire. It is very easy to recognise with it’s white cross on a blue background.

The colour white in the Scottish flag symbolises peace and the blue symbolises the virtues of justice, vigilance, and perseverance.

Why don’t you have a go at creating your own flag? You could try making your own Saltire or design your own unique flag like the ones below.

Diane, our art teacher, has made this video to show you some of the different techniques you could use to create your flag.

We would love to see how you get on with you Burns Day activities so please feel free to share any photos or videos via your child’s teacher, through Google Classroom, or email Amy Dunnett (Principal Teacher Primary) adunnett@aberdeencity.gov.uk. 

Big Burns Day Celebrations: Scottish Stories

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As part of our Big Burns Day celebrations we have two very special stories to share with you.

Hamish The Highland Cow by Natalie Russell

Hamish is a Highland cow and very hairy. He hates having baths and never cuts his hair. Why should he when his shaggy coat is the perfect place to keep his favourite sweet – toffees! But one day his friends get fed up with the increasingly smelly Hamish, and they hatch a plan that involves a hairdresser and, yes, toffees!

One of Early Years Practitioners, Lorraine, has read this story for you in Doric and there are suggestions for some props to help you recreate the tale as a sensory story. Their is also a PowerPoint with some great activities for you to try related to the story.

The Tale o The Wee Mowdie That Wantit Tae Ken Wha Keeched On His Heid by Werner Holzwarth (translated by Matthew Mackie)

You may know of a popular children’s book ‘The Story of the Little Mole Who Knew it was None of his Business’ but have you heard of the Scots translation ‘The Tale o The Wee Mowdie That Wantit Tae Ken Wha Keeched On His Heid’?

An awfu stramash befaws the wee mowdie, yin bricht sunny morn. It looks a bit like a link sasser, an the warst o’t is – it faws richt ontae his heid. Oor gallus wee hero gangs oot tae speir wha’s keeched on his heid. 

This version, read by one of our teachers, Anne, was a hit during our bedtime story series in the first lockdown. Why don’t you watch the video and maybe have a go at some of the activities? And don’t worry, there’s even a glossary to help if you’re unsure of some of the dialect!

We would love to see how you get on with you Burns Day activities so please feel free to share any photos or videos via your child’s teacher, through Google Classroom, or email Amy Dunnett (Principal Teacher Primary) adunnett@aberdeencity.gov.uk. 

A Busy Start To The Term In Primary

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It has been an unusual start to the term as we returned to learning during lockdown. However, everyone has been very busy and working hard on learning and developing their skill whether they be at home or in school.

Here are a few pictures and videos to show you what we’ve been up to since we went ‘back to school’.

Karen’s Creative Challenge

Each week Karen, the Head of Primary, will set a creative challenge. The first challenge she set was all about building towers. As you can see, we had lots of fun, building (and knocking down!) towers. We made them out of wooden blocks, lego and other things we found around the house, such as cushions.

Learning At Home

There has been lots of wonderful work going on at home. Some of you are joining in activities through your Google Classrooms and others are working on resources that have been sent home. However you are accessing your learning, remember we are always here to support you in any way we can.

Keeping Active

It is always important to keep active, whether it be exploring equipment in gym class, practising your ball skills, playing at the park or exploring the great outdoors with family and friends.

Celebrations

One pupil enjoyed celebrating her birthday at home with her family. We hope you had a wonderful day!

Fine Motor Skills

Many of you have been working on developing your fine motor skills. You’ve been practising your switch work, manipulating blocks and other materials and working on your pencil control.

Life Skills

We have been very impressed with how well some pupils are progressing in the development of life skills. You’ve been very busy setting tables, cooking lots of yummy looking treats and it certainly looks like you enjoyed tasting what you made.

And Finally…

We love seeing your enthusiasm and how you are engaging with your learning. If you would like to share what you have been up to please feel free to share any photos or videos via your child’s teacher, through Google Classroom, or email Amy Dunnett (Principal Teacher Primary)  adunnett@aberdeencity.gov.uk. 

Letter to Parents/Carers – 22nd January 2021

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Dear Parent/Carer

Here we are at the end of week 3. The First Minister announced this week that the national lockdown is to continue until mid February. The stay at home message has been reinforced and schools continue to deliver online learning to the vast majority of children and young people across Scotland. The next review will be on the 2nd of February and the government hope to be able to give parents/carers and schools at least 2 weeks notice of a planned return.

Our teachers and class teams have been working hard to deliver online learning as well as providing a range of supportive materials via email as well as personalised packs being delivered to homes as appropriate. I would like to thank you all for your continued support as I now home learning has many challenges and changes in routines for families create all sorts of demands on yourselves.

I get daily reports from the authority of the number of children that have logged into google classroom which gives a snapshot of numbers at a certain point in the morning. We are usually sitting between 30% and 40% each day. We have more chromebooks going out to families this coming week to assist with online access.

If your child does not have a device to access google classroom please let your child’s teacher know and we will arrange for a device to be made available as soon as possible. BT are offering hot spot connection to any families that do not have access to wifi/internet. We can apply on your behalf for these vouchers to support your child to access online learning. If this is something that you need please contact Amy Dunnett our PT Primary on ADunnett@aberdeencity.gov.uk

Thank you to everyone who has been completing the daily check in form as I understand you all have very busy days so your help is very much appreciated. This information has been requested by the Scottish Government on a daily basis. Here is the link https://forms.gle/vsuT6tE3TwNm3pju6 

Northsound Cash For Kids, supported by the Scottish Government, have opened applications for their Winter Fund Grants. Grants of up to £100 per child or young person are available to support the purchase of food, heating, toiletries or other basic essentials to meet the individual needs of the families and children experiencing hardship in these very difficult and challenging times. If you feel that your family would benefit from this support, please contact the school and we will be happy to discuss this further with you.

There will be a revised school lunch menu being introduced from 1st February. We will post this on our website.

On Monday 25th January we are hosting a whole school event celebrating Burns.  Our BIG BURNS DAY will be delivered through our new whole school google classroom.  There is a suggested timetable of activities for the morning however you can of course choose as appropriate to your child’s and family’s needs. 

The school community have pulled together to bring you some fun learning stimulus;

  • Art teacher Diane making Scottish flags (get some glue and paint ready)
  • Claire Spiller (Rm 10 PSA) playing two tunes on the pipes and dancing the highland fling in full costume.
  • Scottish stories recited by Rm 12 teacher Anne Meale and Lorraine Ritchie (Rm 15 EYP) which have linked activities.
  • PE teachers Salvi and Amanda have pre-recorded socially distanced Scottish dances for you to practice.
  • Lia and Grace our HE team have provided a symbol supported recipe for making Shortbread (get prepared with butter, sugar, flour). 
  • Keith has produced an introduction video to start the day, where the Senior Leadership team share some unique Burns Inspiration!

In the afternoon we will have live sessions:  

  • Keith will take the Giant Drum starting at 1pm (get ready with either a drum or a tin/tub that you can drum on)

Followed by:

  • A ceilidh at 1.30pm where Keith and Emmeline will play live for us. 
  • At 2pm a chance to join in with Makaton choir singing and signing Scottish songs.

And finally

  • Emmeline will end our BIG BURNS day for us with Auld Lang Syne at 2.30pm.

This is a day for pupils both at home and in school to participate in Burns days celebrations.  It is a chance for our whole school community to share and engage in common learning and we hope it will bring a familiar sense of community despite the online platform. 

We hope you can join us for all/part/some of our BIG BURNS day!  We look forward to feedback and we are always delighted to see photos and videos of your home learning. Your child’s teacher will email the details for joining these events.

Please take care everyone and stay safe.

Kind regards

Caroline

Big Burns Day Celebrations

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Monday 25th January, is Burns Day, celebrating the birthday of the famous Scottish poet, Robert ‘Rabbie’ Burns. To celebrate, we have a day of fun-filled activities planned for our pupils and families to take part in.

Come along and join in the festivities through your Google Classroom. We look forward to celebrating with you all!

Art Activities

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This week we have two art activities for you to try.

Activity 1: Ice Cube Icebergs

This is a little follow up to the iceberg/ stormy sea art we did last week .

I still had the frozen paint and really liked the patterns it had frozen into . I thought the cubes looked like little icebergs!

So using the iPad I took photos of them as they melted onto paper. My kitchen was warm so they melted fast!

You could take some photos using your ice cubes or make a collage using different pictures. When the ice was melted I used my fingers to pull the paint into different patterns – I still have blue fingers! You could use a cocktail stick or a fork or something else.

Remember to warm your hands up afterwards.

Activity 2: Northern Lights

There have been several sightings of the Northern Lights over the last couple of days and I loved the pictures I saw reported online and in the papers. I wanted us to have a go at making an impressionistic rendition of this wonderful natural phenomenon.

Have a little warm up by wiggling and shoogling as before – get someone to help if you like.

Concentrate on the visual stimuli in the picture below – they are beautiful pictures and really show Scotland off! Really look at the colours!

For this one I’ve used paint with a brush and with a sponge to print. You may want to use a resist technique (as we have done before) with crayons and watercolour. Chalks would also work really well. For the foreground, you could rip paper or cut out shapes and stick these on. You might like to splatter white paint on at the last stage for stars in the sky (remember to pull your fingers towards you across your brush or you will splatter yourself!) Whatever you decide to try , remember that the process is more important than the end product. Really explore the materials and media that you have to work with whatever they are!

Give it a go and let me know how you get on !

What have you learned about? Colour, impression. wet on wet painting, personal choice, printing, process

Home Economics Activities

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This week, we have a recipe for pizza that you can try making at home.

No Yeast Pizza

If you like this recipe, here are some other pizzas recipes you might like to try.

Quick Pitta Pizzas:

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/pitta-pizzas

Tortilla Pizzas:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/makes/tortilla-pizza

Muffin Pizza

We would love to see how you get on with you Home Economics activities so please feel free to share any photos or videos via your child’s teacher, through Google Classroom, or email Amy Dunnett (Principal Teacher Primary) adunnett@aberdeencity.gov.uk.