On the 12th March we held our Easter assembly, we based it around the theme of helping your neighbour.
The children demonstrated how to phone for an ambulance, put someone into the recovery position and do CPR if necessary. The parents followed the instructions the children gave them and asked lots of questions about the Heart Start programme.
With World Book Day still fresh in our minds, with support from Scottish Book Trust and the PTA, three authors visited Kirn Primary School. On Monday 25th March P5 and P6 were treated to a lively session with author and publisher Keith Charters. Keith read exciting bits and disgusting bits from his books, spoke about writing books, how to get ideas, how to make an action sandwich and how he became a writer himself. He also explored our Space topic, and gave insights we may not have thought of on how to live in zero gravity, as demonstrated by Lee in “Lee on the Dark Side of the Moon”. Two lucky winners also went home with signed copies of his book. Continue reading Author Keith Charters visits Kirn Primary
Last week, Mr Henry and four lucky pupils from his class were invited to the Royal College of Surgeons and Physicians in Glasgow to see some of the amazing things that they do. They were able to watch and perform keyhole surgery (on a dummy!) and learned about travel medicine and dentistry. It was a fantatstic experience!
We have had a busy science week, which kicked off with a visit by Dr Dave Stodhart from the Fraunhofer Institute in Glasgow. Dave works as a scientist making lasers that can detect escaping gas, and talked to us about his work and being an inventor. He also showed us how to make our own spectroscopes to see the colours found in light. It was excellent. Primary 6&7 shared their learning on light with primary 3&4, who then went on to create shadow puppets with what they learned.
Continue reading National Science and Engineering Week at Port Ellen
Primary 1 pupils at Cardross Primary enjoyed an afternoon of toy testing as part of their toys topic this term. Wendy Hamilton of Grasshopper Toys devised the afternoon, allowing the pupils to experiment and and test a range of scientific and traditional toys. Some of the P1 favourites were the space rocket, eco house and the spy pens.
Continue reading P1 Toy Testing at Cardross with Grasshopper Toys
There has been great egg-citment at Toward Primary over the past few weeks. As part of our Crofting Connections project the school bought an incubator and were given some hen eggs. The pupils carefully watched over the eggs, turning them each day and ensuring they were kept at the correct temperature. After a week in the incubator the eggs were eggs-amined to see which ones were fertile. They had 4 fertile eggs and eggs-actly 3 weeks after placing the eggs in the incubator they began to hatch.
In the latest of this year’s RME conferences S1/2 looked at how people have tried to answer a question that humans have been trying to answer for thousands of years, “how was Earth created?”. The day’s theme was Creation Stories and the day began by looking at the art of storytelling and the differences between fairy tales, myths and legends. In groups students tried to re-tell some familiar fairy stories and noticed that each group told the story in a slightly different way, after working out the morals of the stories, they went on to look at myths and legends using Richard 3rd to try and find the truth between fact and fiction. Continue reading Tobermory RME – Creation Stories
Oly Hemmings from Knapdale Beavers came to visit Dalintober recently. Many classes took the opportunity to have a hands on experience. During the sessions children had the opportunity to find out about the habitat, food, tracks and characteristics of beavers. Oly helped the children to learn by investigating items and making discoveries themselves. Follow up materials were provided so that a more in depth study could be made. Continue reading BEAVERS COME TO DALINTOBER
Children of P.5 in St Joseph’s showcased their excellent creativity and design skills as part of the solar system topic. Children were challenged to design and create a space shuttle, rocket or satellite. As you can see, the finished products are out of this world! Continue reading Countdown to launch
Primary 1/2/3 in Dervaig Primary school had a very special visitor on Tuesday 27th of November, Spook, the Barn Owl. The children are currently reading The Owl Who Was Afraid of The Dark as a class novel. They are researching the different kinds of owls we have on Mull as well as exploring all of the exciting topics discussed in the book. Sue Dewar kindly brought the Barn Owl in to the class that morning for the children to see. We found out that Spook is 7 years old which is the same age as some of the pupils in the class!
Spook was brought to Sue when he was just 3 weeks old which means that he thinks he is human and that Sue is his Mum! In the wild Spook might only have lived to 3 or 4 years, however in captivity owls can live much longer. Continue reading Spook the Dervaig Owl
On Friday 9th November, friends and families joined Primary 4 and 5 at Inveraray Primary School to celebrate their ‘Mother Earth Planet Event’. This marked the end of an extremely interesting topic based on environmental issues. Each group of children were given an issue, these included – Pollution, Over and Destructive Fishing, Trophy Hunting, Animal Crime UK, Habitat loss and Invasive species and Global warming. Each group had to research their issue in depth and create an informative display which shared their extensive knowledge. The children also organised a Coffee Afternoon where they raised money for WWF and the SSPCA. Continue reading Mother Earth Planet Event at Inveraray
On Friday 23rd November Ardrishaig Primary School held a presentation on Climate Change. As the whole school have been studying Climate Change with each class looking at a different aspect, there was a variety of interesting information presented to an appreciative audience. Continue reading ARDRISHAIG PRIMARY CLIMATE CHANGE PRESENTATION
As part of their topic work on Polar Lands, children from Barcaldine Primary were lucky enough to enjoy a workshop with Dr Tim Boyd of SAMs. The experiment involved them decorating polystyrene cups which Dr Boyd then took with him to the North Atlantic. These cups were lowered to 1000 metres depth along with exploratory equipment and then retrieved at the end of the trip. As you can see the change was amazing. The cups shrank but remained perfect in every detail. Continue reading Polar Lands
Clachan and Skipness Primary pupils enjoyed a fantastic electricity workshop last week.
They were able to construct electrical circuits using batteries, bulbs, motors and buzzers.
Pupils worked together with solar panels, making use of the sunshine outside.
Many thanks to Pat for providing us with so many opportunities for active learning. Continue reading Electricity Workshop inspires pupils!
As part of Benmore Botanic Garden’s School Week P1-P3 from Dunoon Primary School, as part of their Curriculum for Excellence Art and Science Work, were introduced to Special Places & Art and the Garden. P4-P7 were Mapping Our World through Science and Art.
A great day was had by all!
Please find attached the latest copy of the STEM North of Scotland newsletter for schools, with news, articles and features on STEM activities and events your school can get involved with. You can also catch up with all the latest news on the STEM website.
http://www.stemnorthofscotland.com/buzz%3chttp:/www.stemnorthofscotland.com/buzz
There is a new arrival to Kilchrenan Primary’s P1 class, much to delight of one particular pupil.
During the Oban Festival of the Sea, the P1/2 class visited the Hutton Institute’s displays on windpower, the Marine Lab’s exhibition on algae and seaweed, and the land of Japan through the story teller. As part of the event, pupils were asked to suggest a name for a very desirable seal & pup soft.
The winner of the competition was Sarah MacIntyre who received her toy, Mr Cuddles, through the post on Thursday. And yes, we realise that it might be Mrs Cuddles!
The P4-6 pupils from Ashfield Primary School experienced two visits to the Lochgilphead Joint Campus.
Investigations into ‘Materials in our World’ were taken into a real Science Laboratory in the Campus and the children undertook experiments with the guidance of Dr O’Donnell and Mr Rocket. Chemicals were used to make ‘smelly’ mixtures and the highlight was the competition to make the longest nylon string! Continue reading Fun in Science and Technology
On Friday 8th June five children from P6/7 – Aileas, Dan, Elinor, Ewan and Jason – went to the Celebration of Science & Engineering at the Science Centre in Glasgow. They were there to showcase the science and technology we have done in school and science club over the year; the Forces in Motion topic for National Science & Engineering Week; the wave power generator that we designed for the Saltire Award; and Jason’s individual pyropyramid.
Continue reading Port Ellen Primary – Celebration of Science and Engineering
An exhibition was held recently in Oban’s Corran Halls celebrating the artwork and music created during the CAST project ‘Composition to Exhibition’. The project involved secondary art and music pupils from Islay, Tiree, Bute, Mull and Oban and the theme was tidal energy. . The exhibition featured fabric art, stained glass, printing and collage as well as original soundtracks from each school. The project was funded by Argyll & Bute Council and ‘Scotland’s Islands’. Continue reading CAST & ‘Festival of the Seas’ Exhibition.
