Category Archives: P5

Dear Parents…

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Dear parents,

You might be inclined to create a minute by minute schedule for your kids. You have high hopes of hours of learning, including online activities, science experiments, and book reports. You’ll limit technology until everything is done! But here’s the thing…

Our kids are just as scared as we are right now. Our kids not only can hear everything that is going on around them, but they feel our constant tension and anxiety. They have never experienced anything like this before. Although the idea of being off of school for weeks sounds awesome, they are probably picturing a fun time like summer break, not the reality of being trapped at home and not seeing their friends.

Over the coming weeks, you will see an increase in behavior issues with your kids. Whether it’s anxiety, or anger, or protest that they can’t do things normally – it will happen. You’ll see more meltdowns, tantrums, and oppositional behavior in the coming weeks. This is normal and expected under these circumstances.

What kids need right now is to feel comforted and loved. To feel like it’s all going to be ok. And that might mean that you tear up your perfect schedule and love on your kids a bit more. Play outside and go on walks. Bake cookies and paint pictures. Play board games and watch movies. Do a science experiment together or find virtual field trips of the zoo. Start a book and read together as a family. Snuggle under warm blankets and do nothing.

Don’t worry about them regressing in school. Every single kid is in this boat and they all will be ok. When we are back in the classroom, we will all course correct and meet them where they are. Teachers are experts at this! Don’t pick fights with your kids because they don’t want to do math. Don’t scream at your kids for not following the schedule. Don’t mandate 2 hours of learning time if they are resisting it.

If I can leave you with one thing, it’s this: at the end of all of this, your kids’ mental health will be more important than their academic skills. And how they felt during this time will stay with them long after the memory of what they did during those weeks is long gone. So keep that in mind, every single day.

Stay safe. x

From all of us in the Loanhead Primary Community

19.3.20 NEW update from Midlothian council regarding school closure

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The following statement was sent to schools this evening. At the bottom of the statement are links to parental guidance and advice which will be very useful in this time. We will keep you updated as, and when, we know anything else.

All schools will be closed to Primary Pupils and S1-3 Pupils with the following exceptions:

· Saltersgate School will remain open to support our children with severe and complex needs. The Head Teacher will be in contact with individual families outlining the individual arrangements which will be in place.

· All Secondary Schools will be open to S4-6 Pupils only in order to complete any SQA mandatory coursework and assessments prior to the published deadlines. Please refer to individual High School Websites for further updates. We are planning a phased approach to distance learning however priority will be given to S4-S6 to begin with.

· We are now focussed on planning for the families of staff belonging to the following groups key worker groups: Emergency Services, NHS, Health and Social Care Partnership including Care at Home, Teachers and Council Staff who have requested assistance with Childcare in order to ensure that we deliver critical services. This requested provision will be delivered through 4 secondary and 4 primary schools acting as Hubs. Individual Schools will be in touch with the individual families to alert them to the arrangements which will be put in place.

· Free School Meals: We are currently working with catering services in order to finalise arrangements for the distribution of food for children entitled to free school meals and further information will be communicated as soon as plans have been finalised.

Public health advice and guidance should continue to be followed for staff and pupils with underlying health conditions and self-isolation.

As you will appreciate there is significant planning needed to move this forward and we will continue to update our website to keep you informed.

You can listen to the Deputy First Ministers announcement at this link:
https://news.gov.scot/speeches-and-briefings/statement-on-covid19-managing-the-impacts-on-scottish-education

Andrew Sheridan
Schools Group Manager (ASN & Inclusion)

Guidance for parents and carers in the event of school closure due to Coronavirus

A1 – Midlothian SLT Telephone Helpline info 2020

COVID-19 Information and links for parents/carers

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COVID-19 Information and links for parents/carers

When the school closes on Friday, pupils will be sent home with learning packs for the next week which should be done at home.  The weeks to follow (except for holidays) will involve digital learning via Glow-Google classroom.  Our staff have varied experience with this and we all learn and teach differently both in the classroom and online.  We appreciate your support, patience and understanding during this time.

As well as digital learning passwords, this letter was sent home on 18th March to give information about how to access Glow and Google Classroom within Glow. Digital Learning Letter 18.3.19 Pupils/Parents have teacher emails and can contact their teacher during school hours.  If you have any technical issues or questions please contact Mrs Hinton who will try her very best to help you. k.hinton@mgfl.net

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A list of websites that you can use to support learning can be found in pupil packs or Click here 

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Midlothian Speech & Language Therapy Department offer a weekly telephone help line, for parents and professionals to ring us to discuss any concerns they have about a child’s speech, language and communication skills.

INFO POSTER CLICK HERE

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Digital learning update

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Digital learning update

This week most pupils should bring home their digital learning passwords for Sumdog, Glow and Education City.

In class, pupils will practise logging into these and using them to enhance learning.

Google classroom is an app within Glow Scotland where each class has a ‘google classroom’.  It works best on Google chrome and is accessible on most devices.

There are also tiles on the Glow home page for typing, maths, literacy games and activities too.

Pupils are asked to have a play about with these at home but also have passwords in school bags every day. This will be a learning curve for many and we appreciate your support, patience and cooperation at this time.

Thanks

Mrs Hinton

 

P5 News and Information 16th March 2020

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This week we will be re issuing Online Learning passwords.  These are for Education City, Sumdog and Glow.  These are all subscriptions, paid for and used by Midlothian schools. P5 should be familiar with these and we encourage them to log on at home and let us know if they experience any issues.  Look out for a green card with 3 passwords on them – this should be in school daily!

Over the past few weeks, Mrs Hinton has begun to use Google Classroom with pupils during ICT time.  There will be more practise on this during this week.  Pupils should log into Glow CLICK HERE and from there they can use Google Classroom to access resources and work.  Glow also has links to Maths games, typing games, and Doorway Online which we use to Practise spellings.

We are continuing to regularly clean and wash hands.  I appreciate that this means some little hands are becoming irritated – please bring in hand cream as necessary.

WATER BOTTLES – Please can these be cleaned daily, they should also have  a lid on them to ensure cleanliness.

Homework this week – The next Alien activity, daily reading, spelling words and sentences.

Please can pupils also log into the Sumdog challenge and Google Classroom at home. – This can be accessed on phones, tablets, laptops, computers and consoles.

We are following government guidelines, please check their website and follow directions.  Do not come to school if you think you should be self isolating.

 

Many thanks

Mrs Hinton and M,rs Cumming

Primary 5 news and information week beginning 2nd March

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Pupils  have daily reading homework which should be part read aloud for most children and discussed with parents.  All groups also have spelling words and are required to write each word 3 times and then write them in sentences/story/funny paragraph/letter – to show they understand the word in context.

Pupils also have Week 2 of their Alien literacy homework due for Friday, each child has a copy of the 6 week homework block but you can also Click here for more info .  This can be done in  jotters, on a computer and emailed to k.hinton@mgfl.net or pupils can share with me on GLOW -Pupils all have passwords to access this at home. The standard of week 1 homework was out of this world! 🙂

MATHS – Pupils all  have goals in numeracy – they will have specific learn its or times tables to learn and are required to practise these at home regularly.  Try also counting up in 6’s, 7’s and 8’s starting from random numbers e.g. 17 and see how fast they can do it forwards and backwards.

Pupil Presentations – some of the class did their homework and provided a “Big Question” for their presentations.  They had first choice of dates.  All pupils have been given a date – see below

P5 PRESENTATIONS

WORLD BOOK DAY IS THURSDAY – Pupils will not be dressing up but are required to bring in a model of their favourite character/setting/book – see the other post about this.

Primary 5 homework and information 25th February

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This week we have PE Monday and Tuesday and we have a block of Rugby on Thursday too.

Pupils also have daily reading homework which should be part read aloud for most children and discussed with parents.  All groups also have spelling words and are required to write each word 3 times and then write them in sentences/story/funny paragraph/letter – to show they understand the word in context.

Pupils also have Week 1 of their Alien literacy homework due for Friday, each child has a copy of the 6 week homework block but you can also Click here for more info .  This can be done in  jotters, on a computer and emailed to k.hinton@mgfl.net or pupils can share with me on GLOW -Pupils all have passwords to access this at home.

MATHS – Pupils all  have goals in numeracy – they will have specific learn its or times tables to learn and are required to practise these at home regularly.  Try also counting up in 6’s, 7’s and 8’s starting from random numbers e.g. 17 and see how fast they can do it forwards and backwards.

Pupil Presentations – Presentations will take place between 11th March and the end of term.  Pupils have sheets home to create a “big question” – see my example below.  For Friday they should bring their big question to discuss with me and then they will choose their date.  This is part of our literacy curriculum and is a requirement to pass First level and beyond.  All pupils will be supported to present to their peers as this ensures consistency, fairness and learning.

Dolphin presentation example (1) Mrs Hinton

 

Loanhead’s got talent is on Friday – £3.50 a ticket, please come along and support the children and raise money for the Parent Council funds.

 

Primary 5 week beginning 3rd Feb 2020

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This week is Miss Clements last week in Primary 5, we are all sad to see her go but wish her all the best in the nursery and primary 2.  Miss Clements will be teaching this week and pupils are learning about the layers of the ocean, note taking and Henri Rousseau.

WRITING -Last week we did some digital literacy on the music video for Titanium, and as a result the writing which came from it is excellent.  Pupils had homework to take this home and edit it – make changes in order to up level it.  Changes should be made in green and their work should have lots of green changes visible – this is an important step in the writing process before publishing.  ALL pupils have this to share with you and I have asked for a parent signature to show that they have discussed this with you.

READING – DAILY home reading for every pupil

SPELLING – Write words 3 times and write 10 sentences to include the words.

MATHS – Pupils have Sumdog challenges and maths targets to work on and if they forget, they should ensure knowledge of all the Learn its – please click the link to see the LearnIts-progresion fromP1-P7. 

LEARNING TRIOS – Take place on Thursday and Friday this week – please email or call if you cannot make your allocated time (k.hinton@mgfl.net)

Have a restful and fun holiday! We return back on Feb 17th and the first week back is our health week on substance misuse and emotional wellbeing.

 

Mrs Hinton and Mrs Cumming