Today on Friday 9th March Port Ellen Primary School had Elaine Johnston come and help the whole school create art. Primary 6/7 did an engineering abstract picture where we drew things that related to engineering like screws, cables and cogs. We used the art Eduardo Paolozzi as an inspiration for our work. We then had to paint them in only black, white and yellow we were allowed to mix the colours together. Once the paint had dried we outlined the picture in black and used metallic pens to add effect and texture to our pictures. It was a lot of fun and we would like to say thank you to her for helping us. The pictures will be on display for our year of engineering. 
Ryan Van Winkle
A couple of weeks ago a poet called Ryan Van Winkle came into the P 6/7 class and helped us to write a good poem and think of ideas. Ryan Van Winkle went to all the schools on Islay and he will be putting together all of our ideas to make a poem about World War 1. We learnt how to make good similes, metaphors and personification, we wrote on the board all the things that human can do and objects can’t do. We also wrote down about the objects senses, I decided to write about the table and how it is annoyed how it has to lift all the pots and how it hurts when people lean on it. After we then wrote a poem about Islay and what we would miss about it if it was during the war. I said I would miss all of the nature although I wouldn’t miss the smell of fish. Ryan Van Winkle had a fidget spinner and he dabbed and everyone in the class laughed.
Imagineers Presentation London Trip
On Saturday 18th November I went to London as a finalist for the Tomorrows Engineer competition. In the competition there were 10 finalists from all around the UK. All the finalists had to meet up in the Science Museum to present their invention in front of 4 judges and the audience. We had professional posters made to show our inventions. My invention was the Scaredy Sheep, a device that would bark like a dog and is attached to the sheeps ear so when sheep get stuck on their backs they are scared into jumping up again.
When the finalists first arrived we went down into a room where the judges were and we got to talk to them and the host so we weren’t as scared to talk about our inventions in front of them. We also had to get head sets on so we could do a sound check. After the break we all went down and sat down. The first thing that happened was a balloon experiment and a bubble experiment. In the bubble experiment a lady got bubble mixture and big bubble stick. Another lady came out and got another bubble stick and each side of the room did a bubble competition. The balloon experiment was really cool because a lady put a balloon on fire and it made a REALLY loud bang.
Then the first finalists went up to present their ideas. Then we got a quick break to explore the museum. After about 15 minutes we had to go back and on my way in their was a robot called Oscar who walked into me. Oscar was a really cool robot because he speaks to you and hands out chocolates and lollipops. Finally we got into the room and sat down and then there was another quiz. Then it was lunch and after we got to have a quick demonstration on how the body digests food. It wasn’t a good sight at all!
After the disgusting demonstration I had to go up and present my idea. I was nervous but excited and was proud of explaining my invention. Then the judges came out and the host announced the winner, and the winning design was an excellent hover wheelchair. We all congratulated the winner and then we got to explore more of the museum. After a long day I went back to my hotel. I really enjoyed the competition and I would like to be an engineer when I grow up. While I was there I learnt that to complete something you have to stick with it and keep trying.
School Waste Week
Two weeks ago when we were doing citizenship the green gang did a waste bin survey for all the classes. In each class there is a paper bin and a general waste bin. The green gang collected the waste in a bin bag but we separated the paper and the general waste in different bags. We then put one bag at a time in to a scale and measured. We then wrote the measurements down and we then put it onto Exel in a chart. There was a measurement for each class and each bin in each class.
The results show what class is the best at putting the right waste in the right bin. The red bar is the general waste and the blue bar is the paper bin. P1/2/3 class paper bin weighed: 60g. The general waste bin weighed: 150g. P4/5 paper bin weighed: 20g. The general waste bin weighed: 750g. P5/6/7 paper bin weighed: 120g. The general waste bin weighed: 140g. The class that had the lowest paper bin weight was P4/5 and the class that had the lowest general waste bin weight was P5/6/7. The things P1/2/3 had in their paper bin were wrapping paper and paper so they had good things. In P1/2/3 general waste bin they had sand, stickers, an apple and a bottle so they had good things again. In P4/5 paper bin they had newspaper, glue stick, sticks and crisp packets. P4/5 had one bad thing which was the newspaper because it should have been in the paper bin. P4/5 paper bin they had string, wool and paper. In P5/6/7 general waste bin there was crisps, paper towels, tissues and kinder wrappers. The bad things were the tissues and paper towels. Then in the P5/6/7 paper bin there was a bottle lid, pencil and mechanical pencil. The bad things there were the bottle lid, pencil and the mechanical pencil. The class with the least bad things in each bin was P1/2/3. Well done P1/2/3 keep up the good work.
By The Green Gang.
Matthew and Sarah
The Beach Clean
On Friday 4th March our school had a beach clean. The beach clean was for a very special reason, it was because it was the Queen’s 90th Birthday.
The Queen asked everyone to help clean Scotland instead of sending her birthday cards because that would have meant a lot of stamps! So our school went down to the Co-op beach. The Primary 1s were very excited was because it was their first beach clean.
I think we made a big difference.
Weather
Primary 34 topic this term is weather. They have been finding out which clouds are which, facts about storm Henry and they have been making graphs on excel about how high wind speeds are. We have made rain gauges and anonometers to measure the wind speed. We have also made an animation of the water cycle. It was very interesting to learn about.
Endeavour
This term is the time our class is really starting going with Endeavour. Endeavour is when you choose a topic to do by yourself and our class have written a letter to someone who could give us advice on our topic. Here is an example of our topics; Book writing, Card making, SSPCA, RAF and baking.
Our Halloween Pumpkin
On Friday 30th October Port Ellen Primary had a Halloween pumpkin competition. It is when everyone in the school can carve a pumpkin at home then bring and it in to school and enter them into a competition to find out who has won. There is a winner in every class and when you find out who has won the competition they stand up in front of the school and get a picture taken and a prize. The winner in pre 5 was Chloe she made an amazing owl with lots of eyelashes, in primary 1 the winner was Roman and his little sister Skyla but Skyla is in Pre 5 they made a pumpkin together. The winner in p2 was Phoenix when she found out she had won the costume competition and the pumpkin competition she was very happy. The winner in p3 had made a lovely peacock wit lots of feathers. The winner in primary 4 was Ellen and she made a sugar skull with lots of detail in it, the winner in p5 was Taylor he made a pumpkin park with a dinosaur inside a cage. The P6 winner was Natalie and she made a trick or treat pumpkin and the treat was a pumpkin cake, the trick was a pumpkin with icing bugs on it and with the word TRICK in middle. The p7 winner was Joe and he made a pumpkin house. All the winning pumpkins go to Ian Lorries in the window so that everyone in the village can see them.
The New Citizenship Groups
At our school every friday in the afternoon we have citizenship groups. The group names are Media, Crofters, Vice- captain and captian group, Eco, Global citizens, Book club and enterprize. The media group write blogs, the crofters group go up to our croft that p3/4 last year fixed and the crofters go up and plant stuff up the croft and down the front of the school, the book club sort out the libary out in the upstairs corridor they also organize the book swap and they preswade people in the school to read morel, the enterprise group they organize the fair trade tuck, the vice – captain and captain group is for the vice – captain and captains to do all there duties and the eco group their doing the eco wall.
All The Groups Have Fun
