End of Week 4 of Digital Learning
Well, here we are at the end of our 4th week of digital learning. I can hardly believe we have had two weeks of school since the holidays.
I am pleased to report that the Riverbank Community seem to be, generally, keeping fine and safe and our pupils are, in the main, participating enthusiastically in their Google Classrooms!
The Written Work Warren!
I am repeating myself but I can’t begin to tell you how impressed I’ve been with the wide range of activities which I have seen in the Google Classrooms. I feel privileged to be able to visit the classrooms, especially during Google Meets. Everyone involved in the Meets; pupils and staff, seem to enjoy these opportunities to meet, speak to and see their friends, PSAs and teachers. During the course of the week I have taken part in a Disney quiz, a Show & Tell session and heard about a meet the pet. In fact, I met two beautiful guinea pigs which were keen to join in the Meet! I had to remind them that only staff and pupils should be in the Meet. Sadly, one of them used some inappropriate language when I asked them to leave and I noticed that the other one wasn’t dressed properly! I hope that if they have to enter a Meet again, that they will heed Mrs Ironside’s and P2F’s Video Codes of Conduct and keep our Google Meets safe places to be!
The Riverbank Art & Craft Gallery
Mrs Ironside has been on duty again, to help our pupils who are having difficulty connecting to the digital classrooms. I would ask parents or carers who need help to gain connectivity to use the list of e-mail addresses which we have published in our newsletter. These e-mail addresses all finish with ab-ed.org and you can e-mail the class teachers or any member of the Management Team if you require help. For those of you who are waiting for devices etc, Mrs Ironside is doing her very best to help you out but, please, use e-mail if you want to get in touch with us.
Also on our website you will find lots of useful contact telephone numbers for agencies you may require to contact. I hope that you can find what you’re looking for.
Miss Miller’s P5M Drawing Lesson
In the gallery below you can see some examples of a drawing lesson that P5M took part in. Miss Miller told me that the class did a draw along activity for art using Rob Biddulph’s videos. The children picked one of his illustrations to try and followed along to create their own drawing. Here are some of the lovely finished pieces from Oskar, Chloe and Sophie.
We really appreciate that it can be difficult to juggle work, childcare and home school: some of our staff are in exactly the same position but we really need the pupils to login to Google Classroom on a daily basis. I won’t bore you by posting the attendance procedures again, but I would remind all parents and carers that Groupcalls and telephone calls from members of the Management Team will continue if we don’t see our pupils participating in some way or another.
A Mixture of Activities
Some parents and carers have asked about work packs, however we are phasing these out as the vast majority of pupils can, now, access the digital classrooms and if they can’t then they should be able to do so very soon! If parents and carers or even pupils want a hard copy of some of the work, then it can be downloaded and printed off at home. Unfortunately, it is not possible for our staff to go into school and print off packs due to the trials and tribulations of Covid19.
Everyone’s Heard of Captain Tom!
P1C and Miss Howarth paid tribute to Captain Tom by designing their own medals to celebrate Captain Tom’s achievement and his 100th birthday! I feel certain Captain Tom, now honorary Colonel Tom, would be dlighted with these! I know I would be.
Mrs Baxter Learns How to Embed a Google Slides Presentation Thanks to P3F!
You learn something new everyday and it’s a true saying. The children are great at showing us adults how to do things and after receiving a Google Slides Presentation from P3F, I decided I’d have to find out how to show you their fantastic ‘Big Art Work’. I hope this works!
The Riverbank teaching staff had a staff meeting by Google Meets on Tuesday and I made the mistake of saying that I was looking for examples of work that had been handed in during the course of the week. Oh my goodness! I have been swamped! I will try and display the work throughout this post. By the time you’ve reached this point, I’m sure you’ll have seen some of it already!
Video Corner!
I can’t believe how many videos have been submitted. I apologise, in advance, for not being able to display them all as space is a problem and some of the vidoes were to big in size and some were just too many. I think we have lots of parents and carers who are budding film directors…eat your heart out Sir Ridley Scott.
Oh! and wee word of warning/advice, some of these videos are better viewed full screen, in order to see everything. There is a whole screen icon on each video for you to use.
How to Play Hide & Seek
Our first video has two of Mr Flanagan’s P2 pupils explaining how to play Hide & Seek. The lesson instruction was to explain in written form, diagram, photograph or video how to play a game. One of the videos had a young lady from Mr Flanagan’s class explaining how to play Uno. Her instructions were amazing but, unfortunately, the video was too large to upload. Thanks to the mum of our two P2s for allowing the showing of the good hiding places in her house.
Making Pasta with Mum
Our next video shows one of Miss Cody’s P3 boys making hedgehog pasta with mum. I never thought of using a grater!
A New Teacher Arrives at Riverbank During Lockdown
Miss Bush and Mrs Carr better watch out as this young lady from their P5B class was revising the work she had done on angles. What better way to do it than as the class teacher.
Pop See on Go Noodle
This video sees a young gentleman from Mrs Gregoriou’s class carrying out his exercise activity suggested by his teacher. Now we all know how tricky following the exercise teacher can be and just when you’re getting the hang of things, the class is over! My thanks to his mum for sending us the video.
Keep Safe & Well & We’re Missing You!
This final video comes from Primary 1C, Miss Coyle’s class with the help of Miss Howarth. They have sent you a message, watch and look carefully! The children have used a variety of media to produce the words for the message. I think they speak for all of Team Riverbank in saying how we all miss each other and hope to see each other, again, soon! My thanks to EYP, Michelle Howarth for forwarding this to me.
As lockdown continues, our Team Riverbank will continue to work together to support our children to the absolute best of our ability. We are indebted to the parents and carers of our pupils as they continue to 
support them in completing work and encouraging the children to participate in their online tasks.
I would remind everyone that there is an In Service Day for all staff on Thursday 7th May and Friday 8th May is a public holiday, so there will be no Virtual Riverbank or Google Classrooms on those two days.
Finally, I hope everyone has a good weekend and I look forward to the rest and break over the weekend and being back in class on Monday.
Keep safe, everyone!
UNCRC / RRSA
Article 3 – The best interests of the child must be a top priority in all things that affect children.
Article 24 – Every child has the right to the best possible health. Governments must work to provide good quality health care …..
Article 28 – Every child has the right to an education.
Article 31 – Every child has the right to relax, play and take part in a wide range of cultural and artistic activities.