Category: Family Learning

Family Learning

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. 

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. 

Autism Outreach Service – ‘Teaching Scotland’ Magazine Articles

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The latest GTCS magazine, January 21, ‘Teaching Scotland’, includes an article on autism.

The magazine is sent out regularly to members but it is also available online. If you want to have a look through back issues the website link can be found here.

An autism lens on nurture

The article is written by Lorna Johnston and Marion Rutherford from the National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT).

The authors reflect upon adaptations to nurture-focused and compassionate approaches which might be relevant to autistic children .

At the end of the article reference is made to the GTCS booklet ‘Meeting the needs of autistic learners: A Professional guide for teachers’ which we have added below.

 

Let’s not just see how it goes

This is an article from the November 2019 issue discussing six key anticipatory supports which have been found to be relevant for pupils with autism in secondary schools.

 

 

Make a change

This article was first published in the May 2019 issue. Frances Young, is a Support for Learning Teacher who is also the parent of a child on the spectrum. In the article Frances outlines her views on how you can help pupils with compliant autism in your classroom.



Art Activities: Ice Painting

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For this piece of art, you will need to start organising the day before.

You will need:

  • Blue, black and white paint or food colouring. If you are using food colouring you could mix up a little cornflour to make lighter tints, gravy browning or marmite to make darker shades. Be creative as you like!
  • Brush,
  • Ice cube tray
  • White paper

Mix up shades tones and tints of blue and freeze these in an ice cube tray.

This is a chilly piece of work inspired by stormy seas and icebergs so you will be glad you warmed up before you start!

Remember to warm up your hands and eyes before you start. Look up and down, and side to side, watch your fingers as you touch your nose, your fingertips and the top of your head. Waggle your hands and elbows! Someone might be able to help you to warm up.

Then organise your materials. You will need the shades tones and tints of paint you froze yesterday and a sheet of white paper. You may want to use a brush to push the ice cubes around the paper if you don’t like the feeling!

Here are some images of icebergs and stormy seas for inspiration but your work can be as abstract as you wish- it’s more about making a pattern with the different shades, tones and tints of blue. The process of creating an image is more important than the end product!

Remember to notice the cold hard feeling of the ice and to warm your hands up gently when you have finished!

You could try freezing other colours for different pictures you might like to make. I made far too many ice cubes – you only need a little! But as you can see from the pictures I had fun getting cold messy fingers and the effect is nice so I refroze the leftovers to do it again another time!

What have you learned about? Cold, hard, blue, shades, tones, tints.

We would love to see how you got on with your art 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. 

Art Activities: Sculpture

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Before you start, do some warm up exercises to get your hands and eyes ready to create! You might want to get some help from someone who is with you.

Try shaking your hands, then touch your fingertips together, clap your hands and touch your nose. Waggle your elbows ! Let your eyes get ready to really look. You could blink three times and look at your hands while you get ready.

When you feel warmed up, you’re ready to start!

For this piece of work, we are looking at the art of British sculptor Andy Goldsworthy. He makes sculptures using natural materials and then photographs them. The materials he uses can be leaves, sticks, rocks or snow and ice! His sculptures do not always last and he understands that the landscape and the weather will change his work.

As always whether inside or out, it is a good idea to organise your materials before you start. If you are lucky enough to be able to get outside you could collect sticks, cones, leaves or anything you find interesting.

Look really closely at the materials you will use and don’t forget to feel the textures.

Decide whether you will make your work outside or take the materials back home. Think about the shape of your sculpture – spiral? circle? line?

Arrange your materials in the shape you choose and take a photo.

If you are not able to go outside, you could use food items from your kitchen (an example is shown below).

If you want your work to be permanent you could glue it to paper or card. Once you are happy with your work, take a picture and if you can send it to me!

If you have access to the internet you might like to look at some more of Andy Goldsworthy’s work.

What have you learned about? Nature, sculpture, texture, shape, colour.

We would love to see how you got on with your art 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.