As part of our whole school project on marine litter, P1/2/3 are reaching out to other schools near the sea to find out if they find lots of plastic on their beaches too. Here is their digital book all about Islay. We hope that you enjoy watching it and see how lovely our island is. Please comment and let us know if you have what you can find on the beaches near your school. Thank you, P1/2/3
Moving Mythical Monsters
P4/5 have used their learning about hydraulics and pneumatics to build mythical monsters!
Rachel and Bella’s visit to Port Ellen Primary School
On Tuesday 7th February at 3PM my Mum brought my Guinea Pigs Rachel and Bella up to school for my presentation on my “Guinea Pig instruction Booklet “ I have been working on with Miss MacIntyre.
The cage was covered by a towel over it is because they like the dark and because they like it on their own. Also, Guinea Pigs can get scared easily and in new places. My class all sat around the cage quietly and waited for me to take off the towel. They were so excited and couldn’t wait to see Rachel and Bella. Ellen was jumping around on her knees she was that excited!
I carefully removed the towel and took Bella and Rachel out of the cage. My class were so happy to see my Guinea Pigs and that made me feel so happy for them. It was the first time most of them had met them and they thought they were both so cute! Most of the class preferred Bella because she is the baby Guinea Pig. I feel sorry for Rachel so I gave Rachel lots of love and cuddles as she is my favourite.
My mum also brought in the bowls, small water bottle, toys, food and the corn sticks they like to eat to show the class. I really enjoyed doing this project a lot and hope my class enjoyed learning about Guinea Pigs from me too.
by Braeden P4
21.2.2017
Green Flag Renewal
We are very happy to have had our Green Flag renewed again. Here is what the report said –
Congratulations to everyone in Port Ellen for a great whole-school effort in renewing the school’s Green Flag status. I thought your photographs showcased well all the great environmental work going on in school and it was clear that everyone had been working hard to reduce waste, encourage healthy lifestyle choices and re-develop your grounds as a marvellous resource for learning and recreation and a haven for wildlife. In so doing, you have monitored progress well, shared your successes with the wider community via your blogs and Twitter feed, and worked collaboratively with helpful partners such as Rejig, the RSPB, the Community Garden and your local plant supplier and boat builder. Eco is well- integrated into the curriculum and calendar via classwork such as your Water Cycle topic and events like your Waste and Walk to School Weeks, and you have enjoyed well-deserved success in the STEM Challenge, the Junior Saltire Award and the Pocket Picnic Garden Competition. Finally, you are to be warmly commended for your beach cleaning activities, your promotion of Fairtrade in school and your generous support of worthwhile charities such as Water Aid. Your young people are truly responsible, global citizens and I am sure you will enjoy exploring the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals as part of your ongoing Eco focus.
A Geologist Visits
Just before Christmas P4/5 were thrilled to get a visit from Miss Heads nephew Luke, who is a geologist. He answered lots of their questions about volcanoes and earthquakes. He was also very impressed by the children’s knowledge of the earth’s structure and plate tectonics.
Earthquake-proof
To complete our IDL on earthquakes and volcanoes, P4/5 have learned about the pros and cons of living in areas of the world where there are volcanoes and earthquakes. They wrote a piece of persuasive writing to convince people that living in Iceland had lots of positive aspects and found out how engineers try to make buildings earthquake-proof. The children worked in co-operative groups to build earthquake-proof buildings and then we tested them using a huge tray of jelly to be the shaking ground!
Earthquake-proof Buildings
P4/5 have been learning about the effects of earthquakes and the devastation they cause when buildings collapse. They looked at different ways of making buildings stronger and more able to withstand an earthquake. Everyone came up with their own design and then groups chose one design or a combination of features from two designs to build their model. The groups presented their buildings to the class and then we tested them in a tray of jelly to see if they would still stand up.
Coffee Tables
P4/5 were challenged to design and build a coffee table out of newspaper and sellotape today. The design criteria were that it had to hold up Mrs Harrison’s cup and be a the right height for someone sitting on a chair. There were lots of innovative designs and some excellent teamwork. Here are the winning designs. Sadly the mug got broken when one table collapsed!
Volcano Poetry
P4/5 are learning about poetry and figures of speech. Here is Drew’s volcano poem using metaphor for the first time.
Testing viscosity….pretend lava
P4/5 have just started their new topic – all about Dynamic Earth. They have built model volcanoes using paper mache and have been learning about different types of lava. Here they are investigating different viscosities and rate of flow. Our pretend lavas were water, oil and golden syrup…..the syrup was so slow flowing that the bell went at the end of the day and everyone had to go home!!
