Category: Primary

Broad General Education

The Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) is Scotland’s education framework for ALL learners; its main aim is to enable children and young people to develop the four capacities; successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors. In Orchard Brae School each learner is enabled to become as independent as possible, developing skills for life, learning, leisure and where appropriate work. Our curriculum offer is personalised to each pupil throughout their learning journey, as we maintain a focus on positive future destinations.

Our learners in P1 – S3 work within Broad General Education (BGE) at a level and pace that is suited to their individualised needs. Personalised targets focus core skill development within Literacy and Communication, Numeracy and Health and Well Being. The ethos and life of the school community is structured to enable pupils to learn and practise life skills as part of their daily routines. Through interdisciplinary approaches and specialist courses, we offer real life learning contexts, deepening and practicing knowledge and skills within Expressive Arts, RME, Science, PE, Technologies and Social Studies. Interdisciplinary learning, through ‘Our world’ contexts over a 5 year cycle, facilitates pupils’ exploration, experience and learning which is practiced within community contexts, ensuring confidence and success is generalised and secure. Family learning is a vital part of our pupils’ success and, along with our termly learning challenges, we offer a range of workshops, activity nights and holiday schemes for families. Achievement and success is recognised and celebrated.

: Engagement

: Achievement

: Creativity

: Learning together

: Problem solving

Primary Department Activities – Week Beginning 29th June

By Amy Dunnett 29th June 2020 29th June 2020 Family Learning, Primary

Wow! We’ve made it to the last week of what has been an unusual and difficult term. We would like to say thank you to all of our pupils for their ongoing engagement with learning from home as well as a massive thank you to the parents who have helped to support this while juggling the other daily demands of home and work life during a global pandemic – you are all amazing!

Your child’s teacher will be using Google Classroom to share activities with you this week but we are aware that some families are waiting on technology and other supports to enable them to access Google Classroom so we will still be posting a selection of activities here too. If you haven’t logged in yet or having difficulty accessing Google Classroom please contact your child’s teacher who will be able to offer you support and advice. Here is a short video to show you some of the exciting things happening on Google Classroom.

If you would like to share how you have got on with our activities, please share any photos via your child’s teacher, through Google Classroom, the Orchard Brae School Facebook Messenger page or email Amy Dunnett (Principal Teacher Primary) adunnett@aberdeencity.gov.uk. Downloading videos from the Orchard Brae School Facebook Messenger page appears to be working again (fingers crossed!) however if you are having any issues, please send them using a free transfer site such as Dropbox or WeTransfer.

Aberdeen Reads Challenge:

Once again Aberdeen City Libraries will run a reading challenge during the holidays. Aberdeen Reads is open to everyone to challenge themselves to explore reading this summer and will run from 27 June – 29 August 2020. People can take part as an individual or as a group, so please register and get involved!

Although library buildings are closed Aberdeen City Libraries continues to provide services 24/7 via our digital offer. There is a wide range of ebooks, eaudio books, ecomics, emagazines and online resources suitable for all ages and abilities. They will also continue to deliver regular Bookbug sessions digitally via YouTube and Facebook.

The Challenge aims to support children to develop language and literacy skills by encouraging all kinds of reading – instructions, recipes, picture books, sharing stories with younger siblings. There are a series of suggested challenges; many of which can be easily carried out as part of a daily routine; on a range of topics to inspire everyone to try different genres and types of reading.

Children and families who register will be entered into a prize draw and there will be another prize draw for those who complete 3 or more challenges/reads.

Reading activity can be recorded on a Challenge card which be printed or downloaded from the Aberdeen City Libraries website to a mobile device. Information on the Challenge and how to register is on our website www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/aberdeenreads

Story Of The Week: We’re Going On A Beat Hunt by Michael Rosen

This week’s book study is a favourite with many of our our pupils – We’re Going On A Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen. In this story, a family go on a fun day out, looking for bears and exploring a variety of wonderful places, but they’re in for a BIG surprise!

Below you can read and listen along to the author Michael Rosen retelling the story:

The book study below has some great activities for you to try at home based on the story.

Be Resilient!

Education Scotland, in conjunction with Aberdeen City Council, produced a Resilience Alphabet full of fun think, say, do activities designed to promote resilience and develop coping strategies. There are a series of activities for each letter of the alphabet, so pick a letter and give it a go!

https://education.gov.scot/improvement/scotland-learns/health-and-wellbeing-activities/resilience-alphabet/

Learning Grid: Life Skills

Here is a learning grid for Life Skills. It contains 16 activity ideas for you to help develop and promote your child’s independence in a range of household and life skills tasks.

These activities are only suggestions and we would recommend that, where appropriate, you adapt these activities to meet your child’s ability level.

Learning Grid: Get Active!

Here is a learning grid for Getting Active! It contains 16 activity ideas for you to help promote physical activity both in and out of the home on a daily basis.

These activity are only suggestions and we would recommend completing one activity each day. However, we would love to see what other creative ways you and your family are using to Get Active daily!

Links to YouTube Channels and websites can be found below.

Oti Mabuse Official YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/mosetsanagape

Joe Wicks – Body Coach YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/thebodycoach1

Cosmic Kids Yoga: https://www.cosmickids.com/

Cosmic Kids Yoga YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/CosmicKidsYoga

Learning Station YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLearningStation

Bumble Bee Physio: https://www.facebook.com/bumblebeephysio/

Virtual Sports Day

By Clare Russell 26th June 2020 26th June 2020 News, P.E., Primary, Secondary Department, Specialist Areas

Huge thanks to Amanda and Salvi, our PE teachers and Scott, Active Schools, for organising our Virtual Sports Day, and thanks to everyone that took part. Pupils and staff have been joining in over the course of the week to complete up to 8 challenges. It’s been fun seeing how you’ve been getting on, how things have been adapted to support our individual strengths, and also to see some healthy competition within your families! We hope you enjoy the photos. If you’ve not had a chance to get involved yet, why not try out some activities over the weekend, or even in the summer holidays?

Beat the Goalie

We set up our own goals and took on a challenge. The different options suggested were:

Kick from further back
Kick backwards
Pass to someone before trying to score
Kick blindfolded

Obstacle Course

Your challenge was to be creative and have fun, using various objects around the house and garden to build obstacles.

Throwing

We practised throwing with different challenges for anyone finding it easy:

Throw from further back
Throw backwards
Throw under leg
Throw blindfold

Water Run

Always a popular activity on Sports Day, thankfully we’ve had some sunny weather! As you can see, some of us really entered into the spirit of things and got very wet! Trying out the different options, you can see we had some team work in action:

As a team
With obstacles
With holes in the cup
Add food colouring to water

Egg and Spoon

A sports day classic, this can be adapted by using a frying pan or plastic bowl instead of a spoon. All sorts of things can be improvised in place of an egg, such as a potato, a scrunched up sock, newspaper, and anything else you can think of!

The options included:

Race against each other
Add obstacles
Time yourself

Bowling

Our challenge was to practise bowling using empty plastic bottles as the target – a good way of re-using plastic. Keeping things safe for indoors, rolled up socks, a toilet roll or even a teddy were suggested alternatives to a ball.

Again, different options to increase the challenge:

Bowl from further back
Bowl from sitting
Bowl standing
Bowl blindfold

Running

The only event I personally tried, again there were options to make things a bit more interesting:

Have a race against each other
Run backwards
Shuttle run with toys
Run with obstacles (hurdles)

One inventive Grandad even encouraged running by turning on the garden hose!

Tower Building

This activity allowed us to be even more creative, using any number of objects to:

Build a tower and push it down
Shuttle run to build a tower
Build a tower as high as you can
Build a tower as a team

It looks like good fun was had by all.

A fabulous effort! We hope you had fun. You’re all winners!

Aberdeen Reads: Join the Summer Reading Challenge

By Clare Russell 26th June 2020 6th July 2020 Early Learning and Childcare, Family Learning, Howes House, Literacy and Communication, News, Nursery at Ashgrove AM, Nursery at Ashgrove PM, Nursery at Howes Road AM, Nursery at Howes Road PM, Primary, Room 10, Room 11, Room 12, Room 13, Room 13, Room 14, Room 15, Room 16, Room 17, Room 18, Room 19, Room 2, Room 3, Room 4, Room 5, Room 6, Room 7, Room 8, Room 9, Secondary Department, Senior phase

Aberdeen City Libraries have announced an exciting new reading challenge for the summer. Starting tomorrow (27th June) and running until 29th August, everyone is welcome to register as an individual or family / group. Register for the challenge online: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=aw-pJD2_E02ip4k2nOs16xSlCSTRm75Nn6t-EpSexzdUN0kySlJWRlpJUEdRSEdZUlhLRTczUDZDTSQlQCN0PWcu

There are 9 reading related challenges and you can choose those that appeal. Full details of all the challenges are on the Aberdeen Reads website:

There is something for everyone!

Some ideas of how you might use the challenge are:

Places

Read some of your favourite stories that are set in other countries (real or imaginary). Two of my personal favourites are:

Where The Wild Things Are (Maurice Sendak), a lovely picture book for younger readers, and The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (C S Lewis) for older readers.

Get Creative

Across the school we’ve seen lovely photos of our children and young people engaging in Life Skills and Arts & Crafts during our period of remote learning. Why not challenge yourself to bake or cook something new? You might find a no-cook recipe that will encourage even greater independence. Try a new craft project and make something useful, or use some of your old junk to create something inspired by a book. Lots of exciting crafty projects can be done using recycled materials and this helps our environment.

Ec0-Friendly

Use recycled materials to create a favourite character or a scene from one of your books. One young man from Room 14 did this previously, creating his favourite scene from Harry Potter.

Cover Versions

Some of our Secondary pupils enjoy the Harry Potter books. These are magical stories to escape into and are very enjoyable to read aloud. Why not compare the film and the book to find out which you like best? Horrid Henry is always a favourite and episodes can be watched on TV. Do you like the TV episode or the story best? Popular with many of our younger pupils is Disney Cars or any other Disney movie. Again, see what you like best – the film or the book. There are also lots of E-comics on the library website, including Disney.

Favourite Place

Try reading in different places and find out what your favourite place to read is. I like to read in the garden, particularly on a fine day.

Let us know how you get on and feel free to share with your teachers the stories that you have enjoyed.

Primary Department Activities – Week Beginning 22nd June

By Amy Dunnett 22nd June 2020 22nd June 2020 Family Learning, Health and Well Being, Literacy and Communication, Numeracy, Outdoor Learning, P.E., Primary, Technology

Our Google Classrooms have gone live! Your child’s teacher will be using Google Classroom to share activities with you but we are aware that some families are waiting on technology and other supports to enable them to access Google Classroom so we will still be posting a selection of activities here too. If you haven’t logged in yet or having difficulty accessing Google Classroom please contact your child’s teacher who will be able to offer you support and advice. Here is a short video to show you some of the exciting things happening on Google Classroom.

Virtual Sports Day:

This week we are holding our first ever Virtual Sports Day and we would like to thank our PE teachers, Amanda and Salvi for organising this. Our Virtual Sports Day will start on Monday 22nd June and we would love for as many of our pupils, families and staff as possible to join in.

There will be 8 challenges for you to try at home and you will have the whole week to complete as many challenges as you can. Each challenge will have a short video clip which will include a demonstration of the task and suggested equipment to use. Challenges can be copied, adapted or you can even devise your own.

If you would like to participate, please check your child’s ab-ed.org email where you will find an invitation to join and access the Virtual Sports Day Google Classroom.

Story Of The Week: The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister

This week’s story is a wonderful shimmering underwater adventure – The Rainbow Fish. Troughout this story, the Rainbow Fish gradually realises the importance of friendship and sharing!

Using the link below you can watch and listen to the story:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifXlc0QI2kY

The book study below has some great activities for you to try at home based on the story.

Links and additional documents to support the activities can be found below:

Activity 1: Fish Outlines

Activity 3: Aquarium Sensory Bag

Activity 5: Fishy Biscuit Recipe

This recipe can also be found at https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/easiest-ever-biscuits

Other Activity Ideas:

Be Resilient!

https://education.gov.scot/improvement/scotland-learns/health-and-wellbeing-activities/resilience-alphabet/

Learning Grid: Life Skills

Here is a learning grid for Life Skills. It contains 16 activity ideas for you to help develop and promote your child’s independence in a range of household and life skills tasks.

These activities are only suggestions and we would recommend that, where appropriate, you adapt these activities to meet your child’s ability level.

A Busy Week In Primary

By Amy Dunnett 20th June 2020 20th June 2020 Family Learning, Primary

All the staff at Orchard Brae are missing seeing all our pupils every day and we are always eager to see and hear what you’ve been up to. We love seeing what everyone has been busy doing while they are at home and we have some wonderful photos to share with you this week.

If you would like to share what you have been up to at home, please send any photos or videos via your child’s teacher, the Orchard Brae School Facebook Messenger page or email Amy Dunnett (Principal Teacher Primary) adunnett@aberdeencity.gov.uk. Downloading videos from the Orchard Brae School Facebook Messenger page appears to be working again (fingers crossed!) however if you are having any issues, please send them using a free transfer site such as Dropbox or WeTransfer.

Google Classroom

It’s been an exciting week with our Google Classrooms going live and there has been lots of fun activities and Google Meets happening over the week. If you haven’t yet signed up, here’s a little video to show you some of the things you can find on Google Classroom.

If you are having any issues logging into Google Classroom or would like further help, please contact your child’s teacher who will be able to support you.

Magnificent Minibeasts

We’ve loved seeing how much fun some of you had exploring minibeasts this week. You went on minibeasts hunts and found some on your travels…

…you got creative and designed your own…

…and you also enjoyed making art with things you found in nature.

Working Hard

You’ve continued to wow us with the amazing work you’ve been doing at home, practising your fine motor skills through writing and painting…

…reading a story…

…sorting by colour, and ordering numbers…

…and identifying shapes and sorting money.

Life Skills

It’s been a busy week for you all, exploring and developing your life skills. We were really impressed with how you’ve been helping with the shopping! And one pupil got a special visit from the tooth fairy.

And Always Remember…

…keep having fun!

We can’t wait to see what you get up to next week!

Online Learning Survey

By Clare Russell 17th June 2020 17th June 2020 Howes House, News, Primary, Room 10, Room 11, Room 12, Room 13, Room 13, Room 14, Room 15, Room 16, Room 17, Room 18, Room 19, Room 2, Room 3, Room 4, Room 5, Room 6, Room 8, Room 9, Secondary Department, Senior phase

We’ve now been learning remotely for more weeks than we care to remember! This week is particularly exciting with the launch of our Google Classrooms (GSuite) and it’s great to see so many families getting involved with this.

As always, our aim is to support our children and young people as best we can, and we have a Leadership Group working together to focus on how do this as we move towards ‘blending learning’ from August. In order to support their work we’d really appreciate your thoughts on what we have offered so far, any issues or difficulties you’ve experienced, and what you would like to see as we move forward.

All feedback is welcome so please take a few minutes to share your views if you have not already done so. Thank you.

https://forms.gle/oparbBDTDzYbex8Z7

Google Classroom

By Amy Dunnett 15th June 2020 15th June 2020 Family Learning, News, Primary, Secondary Department, Specialist Areas

We are very excited because today is the day that Google Classroom goes live at Orchard Brae and huge thanks to everyone who managed to log into their Google Classroom accounts last week. And for those of you who haven’t managed to log on yet here is a video of some of the fun and exciting things you’ll find in Google Classroom!

If you are having any difficulty accessing Google Classroom or require any further supports and advice, please contact your child’s teacher who will be happy to help you.

Primary Department Activities – Week Beginning 15th June

By Amy Dunnett 15th June 2020 15th June 2020 Family Learning, Health and Well Being, Healthy Schools, Literacy and Communication, Numeracy, P.E., Primary, Technology

Today’s the day … our Google Classrooms have gone live! Your child’s teacher will be using Google Classroom to share activities with you but we are aware that some families are waiting on technology and other supports to enable them to access Google Classroom so we will still be posting a selection of activities here too.

If you would like to share how you have got on with our activities, please email any photos via your child’s teacher, through Google Classroom, the Orchard Brae School Facebook Messenger page or email Amy Dunnett (Principal Teacher Primary) adunnett@aberdeencity.gov.uk. Downloading videos from the Orchard Brae School Facebook Messenger page appears to be working again (fingers crossed!) however if you are having any issues, please send them using a free transfer site such as Dropbox or WeTransfer.

Story Of The Week: ‘The Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch’ By Ronda and David Armitage

Click below to watch and listen to the story on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46wCRq50Wwg

The book study below has some activities for you to try at home based on the story.

Links and additional documents to support the activities can be found below.

Activity 1: Template For Lighthouse

Other Activities: Story Word Mat

Dimensional Lighthouse Model

Be Resilient!

https://education.gov.scot/improvement/scotland-learns/health-and-wellbeing-activities/resilience-alphabet/

Learning Grid: Life Skills

Here is a learning grid for Life Skills. It contains 16 activity ideas for you to help develop and promote your child’s independence in a range of household and life skills tasks.

These activities are only suggestions and we would recommend that, where appropriate, you adapt these activities to meet your child’s ability level.

Learning Grid: Get Active!

Here is a learning grid for Getting Active! It contains 16 activity ideas for you to help promote physical activity both in and out of the home on a daily basis.

These activity are only suggestions and we would recommend completing one activity each day. However, we would love to see what other creative ways you and your family are using to Get Active daily!

Links to YouTube Channels and websites can be found below.

Oti Mabuse Official YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/mosetsanagape

Joe Wicks – Body Coach YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/thebodycoach1

Cosmic Kids Yoga: https://www.cosmickids.com/

Cosmic Kids Yoga YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/CosmicKidsYoga

Learning Station YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLearningStation

Bumble Bee Physio: https://www.facebook.com/bumblebeephysio/

imoves.com also have lots of fun exercise activities for you to try at home. Here are some of the challenges and the links to access them:

Mountain Bike Challenge: https://imoves.com/home-learning/723

Exercise And Health: https://imoves.com/home-learning/1272

Wellness Warrior – Fruit And Veg Dance: https://imoves.com/home-learning/1332

Positions And Directions: https://imoves.com/home-learning/1334

Samba Carnival: https://imoves.com/home-learning/1340

Disco: https://imoves.com/home-learning/1346

Balance Challenge: https://imoves.com/home-learning/964

Strong Core: https://imoves.com/home-learning/1393

A Busy Week In Primary

By Amy Dunnett 14th June 2020 14th June 2020 Family Learning, Primary

Birthday Boy!

It was fantastic to see how one pupil celebrated his birthday this week. We hope you, and everyone else who celebrated their birthdays last week, had a wonderful time!

Working Hard

You’ve continued to impress us with your hard work at home, whether it be developing your writing and fine motor skills…

…engaging and listening to your teacher reading you a story…

…sorting by colour and ordering by size…

…or exploring familiar stories using your senses.

Out And About

It’s been great seeing where you’ve been visiting when you’ve been out and about in your local communities and all the fun things you’ve been up to.

Life Skills

It’s been a busy week for you all, exploring and developing your life skills. We were really impressed with how you’ve been helping around the house with the cooking and cleaning – even some of your toys got a bath!

Getting Active

Working on developing your core strength and movement skills is so much more fun when you’ve got company!

Sensory Fun!

It’s always fun to explore with your senses, and you’ve had a great time this week creating sensory artwork, playing in pools full of water and balls, getting messy and listening to music.

And Always Remember…

Remember to have fun together and keep smiling.

We can’t wait to see what you get up to next week!

Primary Department Activities – Week Beginning 8th June

By Amy Dunnett 8th June 2020 8th June 2020 Eco Group, Expressive Arts, Family Learning, Health and Well Being, Healthy Schools, Home Economics, Literacy and Communication, Numeracy, Outdoor Learning, P.E., Primary, Technology

Here are some fun activities for you to try at home this week.

If you would like to share how you have got on with our activities, please send any photos via your child’s teacher, the Orchard Brae School Facebook Messenger page or email Amy Dunnett (Principal Teacher Primary) adunnett@aberdeencity.gov.uk. Downloading videos from the Orchard Brae School Facebook Messenger page appears to be working again (fingers crossed!) however if you are having any issues, please send them using a free transfer site such as Dropbox or WeTransfer.

Story Of The Week: ‘Hamish The Highland Cow’ By Natalie Russell

This week’s story is all about Hamish the very hairy Highland Cow who hates having baths and doesn’t like getting his hair cut!

Click below to watch and listen to the story on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02IDS8Bp0-E

However, one of our teacher’s, Jessica, has also made a lovely video of her reading this story, which is a favourite in her classroom!

The book study below has some great activities for you to try at home based on the story.

Links and additional documents to support the activities can be found below.

Activity 1: Messy Play

https://www.learning4kids.net/2012/05/02/how-to-make-gloop/

Activity 2: Farm Games

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/Flash.aspx?bbc=i-went-to-visit-a-farm

Activity 4: Make A Picture

Activity 5: Milk Experiments

https://littlebinsforlittlehands.com/magic-milk-a-classic-science-experiment-for-kids/

Science: Minibeasts

This week we are going to continue looking at animals known as minibeasts, which you can find in your garden or local area. Here is some interesting information about minibeasts. The download links can be found below each activity.

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/t-t-10435-minibeasts-and-their-micro-habitats-powerpoint

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/t2-s-1165-insects-photo-powerpoint

Now that you know a bit more about minibeasts, why don’t you try these activities?

Minibeast Interactive Game:

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/t-t-5145-minibeasts-what-am-i-interactive-powerpoint-game

Sorting Activity:

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/t-t-5064-minibeasts-legs-or-no-legs-sorting-activity

Description Game:

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/t-t-19367-minibeast-description-cards

Classification Game:

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/t-t-12808-minibeast-classification-game

Minibeast Hunt:

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/T-T-019-Minibeast-hunt-sheet

Challenges:

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/cfe-t-2546706-active-homework-grid-minibeasts-themed-home-learning-challenges

Make Your Own Minibeast Hotel:

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/t-tp-523-the-cautious-caterpillar-codys-minibeast-hotel-activity-sheet

Be Resilient!

https://education.gov.scot/improvement/scotland-learns/health-and-wellbeing-activities/resilience-alphabet/

Learning Grid: Life Skills

Here is a learning grid for Life Skills. It contains 16 activity ideas for you to help develop and promote your child’s independence in a range of household and life skills tasks.

These activities are only suggestions and we would recommend that, where appropriate, you adapt these activities to meet your child’s ability level.

Learning Grid: Get Active!

Here is a learning grid for Getting Active! It contains 16 activity ideas for you to help promote physical activity both in and out of the home on a daily basis.

These activity are only suggestions and we would recommend completing one activity each day. However, we would love to see what other creative ways you and your family are using to Get Active daily!

Links to YouTube Channels and websites can be found below.

Oti Mabuse Official YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/mosetsanagape

Joe Wicks – Body Coach YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/thebodycoach1

Cosmic Kids Yoga: https://www.cosmickids.com/

Cosmic Kids Yoga YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/CosmicKidsYoga

Learning Station YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLearningStation

Bumble Bee Physio: https://www.facebook.com/bumblebeephysio/

imoves.com also have lots of fun exercise activities for you to try at home. Here are some of the challenges and the links to access them:

Mountain Bike Challenge: https://imoves.com/home-learning/723

Exercise And Health: https://imoves.com/home-learning/1272

Wellness Warrior – Fruit And Veg Dance: https://imoves.com/home-learning/1332

Positions And Directions: https://imoves.com/home-learning/1334