On Monday 3rd October P5/6/7 wrote Mesolithic quest tales for their clans. The clans are Orca clan, Golden Eagle clan, Artic Fox clan and Red Deer clan. Each clan had a different tale to work on and we had to have a hero to overcome a problem in the tale. While writing the quest tale we learned how to add onomatopoeia, personification, similes and metaphors into our writing and include paragraphs. Everyone in each clan gets filmed when they are telling their part of the quest tale.
Our Trip To The Woods
On Wednesday 5th October, P5/6/7 from Port Ellen Primary School went to Cairnmore woods to live in Mesolithic times. At school we all have four clans, The Golden Eagle Clan, The Arctic Fox Clan, The Orca Clan and the Red Deer Clan. In our clans we got given a leaf and we had to find out what tree the leaf came from and then when we were at the woods we had to find a tree in our clans that aaas the same tree as the leaf. We then made a den at the woods. We made a model of a village for our clan and an actual den. The Golden Eagle clan had a beach tree. The 
Arctic Fox clan had a sycamore tree. The Orca clan had an oak tree and The Red Deer clan had the ash tree. The Golden Eagle Clan had a tree and they made their den under it and made the model outside. They also had a spy hole where they could see the Orca clan who had a mud trap near them. The Arctic Fox Clan’s base was a fallen over tree that we could get over to get to our den but the rest of our base had a massive mud pile in and we used some of the mud to make our mini village. We did a hunt for sweets, this was to improve our hunter gathering skills. The Orca clan got the most sweets. We also made clay tree spirits to leave guarding our dens. We had really good fun. We learned to observe objects better than we did before. We hope to go back soon.
Making a Fire and Gutting Fish
On Wednesday 5th October p5,6,7 went on a trip to the woods. After we had made our dens and completed some challenges we went to have our lunch near the beach. When we went to the beach Mr Gairns had set up a fire for us to have our lunch round, and we had brought firewood from the woods to put on our fire. When we had finished all our lunch some of us went to gut some trout so we could put it on the fire to cook and we also got to roast home grown apples as well. We put the trout and apples on sticks to cook them and when they were cooked they tasted delicious. We also got to try other Mesolithic foods for our lunch, cockles and nuts. Not many people liked the cockles but we did like the trout and apples. It was interesting to see what food would have been like in Mesolithic times.
Percussion at Port Ellen
Port Ellen Primary School have just got some colourful, outdoor drums for our playground. The drums have been put in beside our stage which has just been done up. They look good together as they are both bright and beautiful. Ellen and Morgan think they are loud, popular and FUN! There are five sizes of drums and they all make different sounds. All the pupils and staff are very happy with them.
The school got a grant of £500 from the Fourteen Fund and the same from Diageo. The drums cost £1600 so the rest of the money came from the Parent Council. The school paid for the stage to be fixed. The pupils and staff would like to say a huge “Thank You” to everyone who helped to make it possible.
The drums are a great addition to the playground and the pupils think they are amazing.
Aiden Munro (P4) said “The drums are really good to play with because they make different sounds”. Mrs Campbell (Treasurer from the Parent Council) said “The drums look and sound fantastic”.
By Rhuraidh Blair (P4) and Aiden Munro (P4)
Primary Rugby festival Bowmore 4th October 2016
120 Children from across Islay and Jura took part in the Active Schools Primary Rugby Festival. Having already taken part in a series of coaching sessions with Allan Wright Rugby Development Officer over a series of weeks the children were looking forward to the festival. Children from P4/5 and P5/6/7 from Port Ellen took part.
During the day the children took part in several drill’s and games to develop their skills. These sessions were refereed by nine of the Islay High School Sports Leaders. The Children’s skills noticeably improved as the day progressed. A special thanks goes to the Islay Rugby club for organising some of the travel and snacks for the Children who attended.
