Month: December 2010

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Electrical Christmas Models

The end of the electricity topic meant a challenge, in groups to use an electrical circuit to make a Christmas related model. The groups had to plan, design and build a model relating to Christmas using an electrical circuit. Points were awarded for excellent design, originality and good use of circuits. At the end we had a Rudolf with a light up nose, a snowman whose carrot nose glowed orange, a Stop Here Santa Sign that had Rudolf’s eyes rotating and a christmas quiz where rudolfs nose glows if you get the correct answer. The Christmas quiz was voted the winner.

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St Columba Art

St Columba came over to Scotland from Ireland in 563 AD to found a monastery on Iona. We have been hearing his life story as recorded in a book written 100 years after his death by another monk Aiden. Working in pairs to create large collages of different points in his life helped us tell his story. We also wrote a story from the life of Columba in the style of an illuminated manusscript like the book of Kells. Here are some of the stories.

Columba and the Loch Ness Monster


One night when Columba and the other monks were travelling over Loch Ness they heard wailing which often meant a death. When they got to the other side there was a funeral was tacking place.
When Columba asked what had happened a young man replied
“My dad was killed by the monster.” Columba cave him a suspicious look. He turned to Luna and said
“Swim over to the other side and get me that boat!”
Luna slipped off his sandals and took off his cloak and plunged into the water. He was about half way across when he saw the monster.
Just as it went for him Columba ran into the water and made the sign of the cross. He forced it to leave. The monster never entered the waters again.

by Scott

Eithnes Story


 One night an old man was dying in a monastery and said Eithne, your son will be a great Christian and visit my grave. That night an angel came to visit Eithne with a beautiful cloak full of flowers. The angel said it’s not yours to keep. Eithne was crying because she couldn’t keep the cloak.  Then she gave birth to Columba, who was special.
Eithne gave Columba to the monks for God and so she can go to heaven. She could only visit him1 time a month, but still loved him.
Columba heard some boys outside shouting Colm Cille, churchy Colm. Columba got really angry and chased them down to the river.  But he grew up to be a very famous Christian.

Eilidh


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Carved Stones

A long time ago people in Scotland carved stones instead of writing.  We don’t know why they did it.  Perhaps it was to mark a grave or tell people about something that happened.  All the stones have different symbols on them, each of them mean something different.  The Picts carved lots  of mythical beasts on their stones.  You can find lots of carved stones all over Scotland. In Orkney there is the ring of Brodga and there is a big hole in the middle of the stones.  Some people think a carved mirror means a woman. Carved stones are one of the only things we can get information from that time, because all the other materials have rotted away.  The Gaels carved stones had crosses on them because they were Christian.  Here are some we made in class.

Eilidh and Alicia


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Life at the Time of Columba

INTRODUCTION
In the time of Columba back in the 6th century Scotland wasn’t the same as today. Columba founded lots of monasteries to let people learn about God. He founded one on Iona in Scotland.
PEOPLE IN SCOTLAND
The Picts, Gaels and Britons. The Picts are warlike and very vicious. They speak a welsh like language. They lived in the North and East of Scotland. The Britons spoke welsh too. The Gaels spoke Gaelic and were Christian and warlike. They lived in western Scotland and they came from Ireland. They had very neat art and carvings. Columba crowned the king of the Gaels.
EVERYDAY LIFE
They lived in big round houses, and they ate meat and vegetables and barley. They used sheep wool to make clothes. Some houses were on top of water.
By Robbie

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Christmas Fair Produce

The month of March

In primary 4&5 we have been busy preparing items to sell at the Christmas fair. We are looking at money this term in maths and have set up and run our own shops to find out about profit and loss. Fot the fair we conducted some market research to find out what parents and children wanted to buy. It showed us that christmas cakes and calendars were a popular item, so we decided to make both as well as other general decorations.

We learned about weight and different types of dried fruit as we made our cakes, which we then had to decorate. Mrs Clark does a lot of cake decorating, so she helped us roll out icing and marzipan. We made our cakes look like presents with characters

Christmas Cake

on top.

For our calendar we took photos of ourselves in different poses and then drew or painted backgrounds that matched the month of the year. Mrs Clark then used photo editing software to put the children onto the backgrounds, and placed the pictures in a calendar template. All the items we made sold out at the Christmas fair.

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ELECTRICITY

In p45 we have been learning all about electricity and what a wonderful thing it is.  We have made lots of electrical circuits, created our own games using switches and found out what fun you can have with a balloon, some hair and a knowledge of the movement of electrons in an atom.  A great explanation of many of these items can be found on Youtube under Bill Nye Science Guy, so check him out!  Next week we are going to take all we know about electricity and use it to design and build an electrical Christmas Gizmo DoohDaah.

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CHRISTMAS FAIR

On Saturday 4th December we had a Christmas fair to raise money for trips and special things in school.

We spent a lot of time preparing for the fair, making things to sell.  P1,2 made sweets, decorations and willow wands, P2,3 made peppermint creams and hot chocolate mugs, P4,5 made decorations, cakes and calendars, while P6/7 made bags.

On the day there was face painting, a toy store, tombola, bottle stall, tea and coffee, treasure hunts, a hamper and guess the weight of the cake.  Santa  came in and said hello, and was in his grotto giving out presents to everyone.

I really liked the fair, it was really busy and we raised £2285.  Well done and thanks to everyone who came.

Helen

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FOOTBALL COACH VISITS SCHOOL

Martin Rae, a coach from the Scottish Football Association, visited Port Ellen Primary on  3rd December.  He came to train us  and tell us how to not get mad if the other team wins.  We were dribbling and passing the ball, and we played a game where there are two defenders and there are strikers, and the defenders have to get the ball and touch it.  You then had to put the ball up over your head and stick your feet out, and another person kicked a ball through your legs and said nutmeg to let you go free.  We went in to teams and played a game of football.  Robbie scored a hat trick and then he won a ball for the school.  It was great fun and I hope he comes back again.
By James

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