Tens & Units!

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Mr Flanagan’s Primary 2 class have been doing lots of works on Tens and Units during their maths lessons.

They have been able to group units into tens and units as well look at tens and units and decide what number they have.

The children have been very well engaged with this work and are making good progress with their maths work.

Mr Flanagan has sent me some super photos of the children at work. Well done everyone in P2F.

UNCRC / RRSA

Article 28 – Every child has the right to an education…..

Class Charters!

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One of the first tasks our classes at Riverbank have to carry out after the summer holidays is designing their new class charter.

The class charter is like a collection of class rules that are put together by the children in the class. They decide what the rules should be.

Over the sessions we have seen some fantastic class charters on a variety of different themes.

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Here is this year’s selection of class charters, so far, and not a Minion in sight,yet! Each child will sign up in a different way. It could be a hand print or a magic potion bottle or whatever fits the theme. I’ll add further charters to the slideshow as I receive them from the classes. I hope you enjoy the imagination that’s gone into these!

 

UNCRC / RRSA

Article 13 – Every child must be free to say what they think and to seek and receive all kinds of information, as long as it is within the law.

Another Dancing Wider Achiever!

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It seems to be a very busy time for our pupils who are participating in out of school activities. I had another young lady visit me to tell me all about her success in dancing.

Our winner with a beautiful Gold Cat brooch.

She came along with a very unusual award for coming first at her dance competition…it was the most beautiful gold cat. The cat looked very like a ‘Kelly’s Cat’. These cats are synonymous with the Aberdeen architect, William Kelly. You could see his cats spaced along Union Bridge. The gold cat was in the form of a brooch. A really splendid and unusual award.

Our dancer was so proud of her achievement and told me that she had competed in Peterhead and she had had to learn a particularly difficult dance.

Our winner from the Aviemore competition with a very tall trophy!

‘Last week I took part in a dance competition in Peterhead. I danced a difficult dance and the dance teacher awarded me a first as I did so well. I am now at Level 5 and am very proud of my achievement.’

It’s always good to hear of how well our pupils are doing in their out of school activities and we hope that this young lady continues to make good progress with her dancing. Well done, keep up the good work!

I was also revisited by one of our previous Achievers who had been successful at another dancing competition. This time she had been successful at a gathering of dancers in Aviemore. The trophy which she won was bigger than she was! Well done, young lady, and keep this up!

UNCRC / RRSA

Article 29 – Education must develop every child’s personality, talents and abilities to the full…..

Article 31 – Every child has the right to relax, play and take part in a wide range of cultural and artistic activities.

Just a Jiu-Jitsu Wider Achiever!

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This proud young Primary 3 pupil is holding her white and grey belt as this is the level she has been awarded at her Brazilian Jui-Jitsu class. She attends training at Aberdeen Fitness & Combat Centre every Monday and Wednesday.

She told me, “I love my training. We get to do fun warm ups and I’ve made some new friends!”

Well done, young lady, and I hope you’ll let us know when you move up to another new grade! Keep working hard!

 

 

UNCRC / RRSA

Article 29 – Education must develop every child’s personality, talents and abilities to the full…..

Article 31 – Every child has the right to relax, play and take part in a wide range of cultural and artistic activities.

 

Gymnastics and Dancing Share the Floor for our Wider Achievers!

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Our P6 Gymnastics Champion

This Primary 6 young lady is proudly displaying the medals which she won at a national gymnastics competition held in Edinburgh on the weekend of 28 and 29 September.

She is a member of the Beacon Rhythmic Gymnastics Club where she trains on a weekly basis.

She received a silver medal for her hoop work which she performed to a medley of songs from the film Aladdin. The songs were Friend Like Me, Whole New World and Arabian NIghts.

For her gold medal she participated in a trio which performed floor gymnastics to Putting on the Ritz.

She tells me she really enjoys her gymnastics as it gives her the opportunity to work on her own or as part of a group.

Keep up the hard work and I’m sure we’ll see you have further success in your gymnastics. Congratulations!

Our second Wider Achiever is a young lady from Primary 2.

Our little lady brought along the most amazing trophy to let me see. She won this trophy at a dancing competition in Greenock. She was dancing as part of the Dance United dance school. She is a freestyle dancer and performed both a fast and a slow routine but her winning routine was the slow one. She practises on a Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday and has been dancing since she was 2½ years old.

“I just love dancing and I’ve made lots of friends. I enjoy going to my dance classes on a Tuesday and Wednesday after school and Saturday morning.” Mum says that her daughter is just a little diva!

You are making excellent progress in your dancing and are due to go to another competition this weekend. We wish you luck and hope that you make further progress and have further success!

UNCRC / RRSA

Article 29 – Education must develop every child’s personality, talents and abilities to the full…..

Article 31 – Every child has the right to relax, play and take part in a wide range of cultural and artistic activities.

 

 

What Happened at Cromdale?

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Our previous post about Cromdale showed our Primary 7 pupils setting off on their residential trip to Cromdale. Whilst there, they participated in gorge walking, abseiling, mountain biking, swimming and lots of other outdoor activities. Our slideshow below shows some of the fun they had…oh and some of the chores they had to carry out. Hope some parents realise how good their children were at hoovering!

This marshmallow looks hot!
Toasting the marshmallows.
Round the fire.
Oops…thei looks like a burnt offering.
Maybe a bit better.
These look like they need more toasting.
The fire is burning nicely.
Gathering round the camp fire.
Still toasting.
The toasting begins. Yum!
It’s all too much.
The fire still hasn’t started.
Yet another person tries to start the fire.
Someone else has a go at fire lighting.
Still no fire.
Trying to light the fire.
Shelter building.
A group of four.
It’s just a walk in the woods.
I hope they’re not lost in woods.
Getting ready for abseiling.
Is this abseiling or tree hugging?
Almost on the way down.
Another pupil gears up for another abseiling adventure.
Getting ready to go.
Setting off.
On the way down.
Is that the headteacher.
Getting some instructions.
This looks like good fun.
Away on a hike.
The weather doesn’t look great.
Someone who’s a whizz with a hoover.
Lots of brushes and mops on the go here.
Finishing up the chores.
More fun outside.
Nothing like a game of table football at the end of a long, tiring day.
On the bus!

UNCRC / RRSA

Article 29 – Education must develop every child’s personality, talents and abilities to the full.

Article 31 – Every child has the right to relax, play and take part in a wide range of cultural and artistic activities.

The Learning Pit!

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Miss Coyle’s Class’ Learning Pit

Some of our readers may have, already, heard about The Learning Pit! I’m sure that some of our children will have been speaking about the Learning Pit. What is it?

The Learning Pit is part of the strategies from Visible Learning. The teaching staff at Riverbank has been working on the theory and practice of Visible Learning.

Visible Learning is the brainchild of John Hattie and ​​​​​​Visible Learning is all about children taking ownership for their learning. Visible Learning is the result of the research undertaken by John Hattie to understand what provides the most success in learning. It is based on over 68,000 studies and 25 million students.

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The “Learning Pit” is an analogy used to represent challenges in learning. Taking on a challenge is like getting into a pit. At first we may feel unsure and confused and this may reach a point (the bottom of the pit) where we feel we can’t succeed (get out). The children are encouraged to use a variety of strategies to find their way out of the pit and therefore succeed in the learning challenge. By making reference to the Learning Pit children come to understand that being confused, making mistakes and using familiar strategies are all part of good learning.

Each class has a ‘Learning Pit’ and the children are encouraged to say where they feel they are in their learning. We hope that taking responsibility for their learning will build confidence in our pupils and help them become successful and independent learners.

 

UNCRC / RRSA

Article 28 – Every child has the right to an education. Primary education must be free……Discipline in schools must respect children’s dignity…..

Riverbank Pupils Use Democracy To Decide House Captains!

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My thanks to Mrs Robb for providing this article.

UNCRC / RRSA

Article 12 – Every child has the right to have a say in all matters affecting them, and to have their views taken seriously.

Article 13 – Every child must be free to say what they think and to seek and receive all kinds of information, as long as it is within the law.

 

Article 15 – Every child has the right to meet with other children and to join groups and organisations, as long as this does not stop other people from enjoying their rights.

 

Outdoor Learning in the Courtyard!

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I was fascinated to see quite a number of our younger pupils surrounding one of our apple trees in the courtyard. They were studying something on the leaves very closely.

When one of the children knocked on my window and asked me to join them I was intrigued enough to accept the invitation. I really wanted to find out what was causing the intense excitement.

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There was a fair bit of finger pointing and some of the children knew exactly what this object of interest was. One of our pupils said that they had remembered seeing them in nursery and that they turned into butterflies. “It’s a caterpillar!” they said.

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An impromptu lesson on the life cycle of a caterpillar then took place. The children went back each day to see if the caterpillar was still there.

And who said the courtyard was a boring place!

UNCRC / RRSA

Article 28 – Every child has the right to an education…..

Article 29 – Education must develop every child’s personality, talents and abilities to the full. It must encourage the child’s respect for……the environment.

Article 31 – Every child has the right to relax, play…….

 

Our First Wider Achiever of the 2019-2020 Session

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This young gentleman came to show me his green belt and certificate which he had been awarded for kickboxing. He is a dedicated kickboxer, attending sessions on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

When I asked him about his hobby this is what he told me, “I enjoy meeting the new people at kickboxing. When you reach green belt, you become a Ninja. Before that you are a Little Dragon and after the Ninjas you become a Cadet. There are lots of activities . It’s fun!”

Well done, young sir, and I hope you’ll let us know when you move up to another new grade! Keep working hard!

UNCRC / RRSA

Article 29 – Education must develop every child’s personality, talents and abilities to the full…..

Article 31 – Every child has the right to relax, play and take part in a wide range of cultural and artistic activities.