A song for Europe...

"Write the words, compose the music and record a song about a European country of your group's choice. Your group must have at least one guitar player and one other instrument."


This project is still underway so audio will be a wee while in coming along but the groups are well on the way to Eurovision glory (!) with songs about Italy, Russia, Switzerland and France.


With a number of talented musicians in the class (guitar, bass, fiddle, clarsach, accordion and tin whistle all feature in the repertoire of the collective) it was important to spread the skills amongst the groups. There are quite a few choir members in the class too and their vocal talents have featured heavily. The groups have been multi-stage composites, like the class itself, and have approached thier work in different ways as they try to master the art of songwriting.


With many of the children being involved with the local Feis music initiative, this is a good chance for them to show their peers what they can do.

"Showing off" talents in PE

Speaking as one with a vested interest (should that be running vested? Sorry) in PE as part of ACfE, it was heartening to see the children showing others what they could do this week in PE. The focus of the lesson was on balancing and partner work but the enthusiasm of one or two balancers caught the imagination of the rest of the class and when I turned round, this was happening:

One of the learning targets for the lesson was:

"We are learning to:

* explore the different ways our body can stretch and balance"

Job done I'd say.

Audio Book Reviews...

Following on from a really good session yesterday where we decided WHAT make a good book review, today the four reading groups in the class are recording their reviews onto Podium Podcasting Software.

Everyone in the class is working together to script and write the reviews and our learning targets are giving clear direction.

We are learning to:

• talk about books
• review books for the benefit of others

We'll know we've succeeded if:

• we can script and record a podcast to share our views which: is honest and makes a recommendation

Audio to follow shortly but here are the children in action...

Skype me!

Hard to be sure exactly where to put this one but here's what we thought of our "Skype" session with BBC's Eorpa team (5th February)...

How is this going to work?

I'm not entirely sure of the best format for this, though I suppose I'll learn as I go along and amend procedures accordingly, in line with the very best principles of formative assessment and A Curriculum for Excellence, I'm sure you'll agree.

What I think I'd like to do is to put up postings which share the learning intentions and success criteria of a "learning experience" and to accompany this with photos/videos/podcasts showcasing what the children have been doing and how they've interacted with the experience.

This will allow me to make evaluative, formative statements or comments and this will - hopefully - enable me to inform my future practice.

Well, it sounds good...