End of Week 5 of Digital Learning
Hello everyone and I hope you are all keeping safe and well in our continued state of lockdown. This is the end of our fifth week of digital learning at Riverbank School and once again, despite it being a short week, I am able to showcase quite a gallery of tasks completed by our pupils. It is very clear from some of the work that we, teachers, have seen that our pupils are being very well-supported by their parents and carers.
HOME BAKING
One activity or pastime that seems to be on the increase during this pandemic is home baking. Recently Gemma Watson mentioned to the pupils of P1L that she had started baking her own bread. (Beats queuing at the supermarket.) Rio in P1L and his family took this up as a challenge so prepare to have your mouth water…oh and you’ll need to get the recipes from Rio!!! I hope we’re not going to become too competitive! But it looks delicious!
I feel rather guilty that I cannot display all the work which is being sent to me. I have seen the most amazing video of one of Mrs Gregoriou’s, P2, pupils making hummus from scratch. Clearly, mum, the chef, had a big hand in helping her, sous chef, son complete the task and the video included some music. Sometimes the files are too large to load for the website but I managed, on this occasion. Other examples of completed work don’t always convert to something that can be easily seen on the website. I hope that this won’t put our pupils off from offering up their work for display. I will do everything I can to see that as many examples of our pupils’ work can be displayed as possible.
Maths Work
Miss Cody’s Primary 3C class showed with their hand ins that there was more than one way of learning and learning about your multiplication tables. They were looking at the 3x table this week. This work came from Amelia, Hamza and Nojus!
Once again, I have seen a huge variety of work being handed into the Google Classrooms. Some of the ideas that have come back from our children have been pretty amazing. This is all the more so when our pupils are accustomed to having a teacher or PSA in the background, of the real classroom, ready to lend support if required. We seem to be nurturing quite a number of Independent Igors as our resilient pupils get to grips with the tasks set for them.
Space….the final frontier……
I’m a huge fan of Star Trek in all its forms and reincarnations and especially Jean Luc Picard. I’ve got a particular liking for the 11th Dr Who…David Tennant. I do love other science fiction too but our next show case comes from Miss Littler’s P4L class. They’ve been doing lots of work on space. They’ve designed planets, look at the stars and constellations and lots more. The class also found out about mnemonics. A mnemonic is a sentence that helps you remember something. P4L made up mnemonics which would help them remember the order of the planets from the sun outwards. You can have a look here.
A big thank you to all the adults and older siblings at home who are supporting our young people post their work.As far as the teaching staff are concerned, the management team are very proud of how adaptable the teaching staff has been. It has been a very steep learning curve but I continue to see new ideas and technology being used by the teachers as they continue to support our Riverbank pupils. I joined Miss Cody’s art lesson thro’ a Google Meet and learned how to draw an elephant alongside her class. She used a program which allowed us to see what she was doing and then we could copy her! I know other teachers have used the same or similar tool.
All sorts of arts & crafts!
Once again, there was a great variety of different craft activities carried out over the first three days of the week.
Stone Painting in P1C – Miss Coyle’s Class
Natural Art also from P1C – Miss Coyle’s Class
Following a walk on the beach where Miss Howarth saw some crabs she made a crab from stones. Her example led to Ella making a spider from dandelions and a young gentleman making a rather exciting octopus.
A Drawing Lesson
Miss Cody carried out a rather special Google Meet with her P3C class. It took the form of an art class where we learned how to draw an elephant. I found the Meet really relaxing. I hope this was the case for the rest of the class.
Shadow Drawing in P1A – Mrs Arqued’s Class
This was a really interesting art activity where the children could choose items to draw, but they had to draw the shadow of their chosen items. Some people went to full-sized people! WOW!
Last But Not Least…….
The following piece of work is a digital piece from Scott in P6P – Mr Probart’s class. This piece was based on the work of Henri Matisse. Matisse was a French artist famed for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. I think Scott captured this beautifully!
As I said previously, this week was a short week. Thursday was an in-service day and today, Friday, is a holiday for all. The teaching staff and support staff were engaged in training on the Thursday. That training was for Google Classroom. This gave some of us the opportunity to find out more and it gave the more skilled among us the chance to hone their skills further. There were lots of emails, phone calls and hangouts as people shared their knowledge or lack of it and asked their colleagues for help! It let me see how difficult it is to get help when your tutor is at the end of a computer and not in the classroom with you! So, our pupils are doing really well in coping with their work.
Some rights respecting and Global Goals Work
Mija S from Mr Probart’s P6P class drew a picture of what she thought someone who had a right to be happy. Ashton and Gary from P5B – Miss Bush’s class did some lovely work on Global Goal 14 – Life Under Water.
Have a look at Gary’s presentation by clicking on the link: Life below water below.
Following the long weekend, Team Riverbank will be back on duty in the Virtual Riverbank School! Mrs Ironside has sent out lots of useful information for those of us on Team Riverbank who may need help and support with one thing and another. Please use the GMail addresses if you need to contact us.
Mark Making Hopscotch in Numbers & Letters
Another activity from P1C Miss Coyle’s class with the help of Miss Howarth.
ACC has, through Riverbank School and Marischal College, to arrange for devices to be loaned to pupils who have had difficulty completing their work on line. Unfortunately, no-one is allowed into Riverbank School…that’s the real one….anymore, so we can still help up with devices but we will need a little time to help you. In the first instance, you should still contact Mrs Ironside or one of the staff on their gmail address. (The list of gmail addresses appears on the recently sent newsletter.) Explain your problem and she will get back to you to say whether we can help or not.
Some written work…
The work carried out by Lacey and Dominykas from Miss Miller’s P5M class were cartoons to celebrate National Cartoonists Day which was on 5th May. There’s also a video from Chloe, in the same class on the same ttheme which you will find in Video Corner.
I am a lover of trivia and we recently received an update on what’s been happening across the city regarding digital learning from our Chief Education Officer, Eleanor Sheppard. I was amazed by these figures and I’m sure you will be too. In the last 30 days 4.4 million emails have been sent via Gmail, 1 million files have been added and there have been 12,817 Google Meets! Stunning figures!
We really appreciate the continuing support of the parents and carers of Team Riverbank in helping the pupils engage with their digital learning. Remember, the pupils can do what they can and can hand it in at anytime. We are aware that some parents can only help when they get home from work or devices are being shared and so pupils can’t always do work during the normal school day. Do it when you can! If you get stuck…parents, carers or pupils, then don’t hesitate to contact the relevant staff member by their GMail address and they’ll get back to you as soon as they can.
I’ve used up nearly all our offerings, now and I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing what’s been going on in the virtual classrooms at Riverbank. I hope you are impressed as I’ve been with everything you’ve seen, but it wouldn’t be the end unless I showed you the videos…so here we go!
Video Corner
Make Your Own Hummus
A young gentleman from P2G – Mrs Gregoriou’s class, along with a great deal of help from his mum provided us with a Make Your Own Hummus Video! Hope you enjoy the hummus!
National Cartoonist Day was Tuesday 5th May
Miss Miller’s P5B carried out work on 5th May linked to National Cartoonists Day and Chloe produced her cartoon and videoed it.
Shadow Puppetry
Olivia from P1A wrote and carried out a shadow puppetry show with her mum.
Emoji Face Changers
Mrs Farquharson’s P3F class made emoji face changers for a Rainbow Time activity. Leo and Lena videoed what they’d made and demonstrated them working. They look cool and I want to know how to make one!
Lena’s Video
Leo’s Video
As promised at the beginning of lockdown we said we hoped to bring you a good selection of work that’s being carried 
out in the Google Classrooms at Riverbank Virtual School.
I never cease to be amazed by what our pupils, parents, carers and members of staff are capable of doing and many parents have commented on how Google Classroom allows them to see what’s sort of work their children are doing in class. Although it’s far from ideal working from home, we’ll continue to showcase the work of our youngsters whilst school is closed. Enjoy what you see!
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.