Collaborative work on the times tables through active learning in class.
Minard’s P4 led the outdoor addition and subtraction treasure hunt for pupils of Minard and Furnace by giving clear instructions before we began and used up loads of energy racing round making sure everyone understood what they had to do! We worked together in teams to get the answers and follow the clues.
Tag Archives: Minard
Minard and Kirn Primary Pupils learning outdoor together
Argyll & Bute may be geographically vast but that doesn’t prevent us from making the most of connections between schools to allow pupils the opportunity to learn co-operatively. On Friday 21st April five P4 pupils from Kirn Primary School in Cowal travelled with their teacher Mr Mair to join the Minard Primary School pupils in some outdoor learning activities in Minard Primary, near Inveraray. The Minard pupils were delighted to welcome pupils from far flung Cowal to share in the outdoor learning opportunities which are on their doorstep.
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Sharing memories with the local community at Minard
On Tuesday 7th February 2017 some of our local community neighbours from Minard village came along to school to share some memories from their childhood. Mrs Hay and her friends brought with them things which reminded them of their childhood and our pupils brought in some things from their earlier childhood. Over teas and biscuits we all shared our ‘memories’ using our memory objects to tell stories. Our neighbours brought old coins, school photos and toys from long ago.
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Celebrating Rabbie’s Birthday at Furnace
Written by P.J Cogan P7 Minard Primary
“A highly enjoyable Burns supper was held at Furnace Primary on 25th January 2017 with all the Minard and Furnace pupils and staff. Lots of parents and members of the community came along too. All the pupils were involved in one way or another. Myself and Marie from Furnace were the MCs for the afternoon.
Minard & Furnace at large in Kelvingrove Museum
Furnace and Minard pupils headed off to Glasgow for a day at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum this week. We had a brilliant day and were so inspired by everything we saw from Egyptian “mummies” to dinosaurs, Charles Rennie MacIntosh art and the famous spitfire. We had planned our visit as part of our Scotland topic but we saw and learned much beyond our national heritage. Here are some pupils comments:
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Furnace and Minard Pupils Go Gruffalo Hunting
Last Friday, while the ‘bigger’ pupils were off learning how to become Digital Leaders, Furnace and Minard ‘littler’ pupils decided to go off on a Gruffalo Hunt to Ardkinglas Gardens to have some outdoor fun and learn some more Scots words. The crispy cold day added to the sense of adventure, especially as we had recently read The Gurffalo’s Child. We followed the little mouse’s directions past Tod’s ‘deep-dooon hoose’, Hoolet’s “tree-tap hoose” and Snake’s “log-hoose”.
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Minard PS Win CRNS School Challenge
This month Minard Primary fought off stiff competition from across Scotland to win a national competition for its innovative ways of making waste go for further.
Instead of using traditional recycling methods for disposing of waste paper, pupils at Minard Primary School have been turning it into recycled paper briquettes which can then be used in the community as fuel. As a result of this ingenious idea, Minard Primary was crowned the winner of the Community Resources Network Scotland (CRNS) School Challenge Competition.
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Minard Eco Team’s Harvest Gifts to Neighbours
On Friday 16th September 2016 Minard Eco Team delivered Harvest Gift Bags to the houses which are our nearest neighbours. We managed to fill nine Harvest Bags with produce grown by us from Spring 2016 in our school garden. Our neighbours were delighted to receive the Harvest Gift Bags of carrots, onions, potatoes, leeks and we even managed to make 2 jars of plum jam with the plums from our plum trees. One of our neighbours gave us a bowl of damsons with a note “Thank you so much for your gift and veggies. So now here are some damsons from our garden – I hope you enjoy then as much as we enjoyed your contributions. Keep gardening!” Continue reading Minard Eco Team’s Harvest Gifts to Neighbours
Medieval Historians and Firemen at Furnace Primary School
Medieval Historians and Firemen – what do they have in common? Furnace Primary children have had active learning sessions from both in the last week. Why? We have been learning about different types of careers as part of our “World of Work” topic and were visited by Dr Steve Marritt from the University of Glasgow Medieval History department (complete with armour) and we visited Lochgilphead Fire Station where we had a tour from David Gilmour the Community Safety Officer.
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Coding at Minard and Furnace Primaries
Pupils at Minard and Furnace Primaries were very fortunate last week to have developed their coding skills through two mini-technology days led by Steven Simpson of Argyll & Bute Council. The technology days came about as a result of pupil feedback saying they were really keen to learn more about coding. Steven came along to both primaries armed with Raspberry Pi, Lego We Do 2.0 (programmable lego) and ‘Flying Spiders’ (drones). Steven also showed us how to make mini-film trailers using Ipads.
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Furnace and Minard’s Art Exhibition
Last Wednesday evening the children of Furnace and Minard primaries put on an art exhibition for parents and the community in Furnace Primary. It was well attended and bidding was fierce during the silent auction!
There was a variety of work on display but all were particularly proud of the watercolour landscapes they had worked on with Mrs Cindy MacDonald. These were also turned into cards and prints were available.
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Author visit in Mid-Argyll
On Thursday the 31st of March children from across Mid-Argyll in P4 and 5 enjoyed a workshop with children’s author, Emily Dodd.
Emily, whose books include, ‘The Mouse and the Grouse’ and ‘Can’t Dance Cameron’ worked with the children on how to write a good story. She used the two book characters, ‘Book Buddy’ and ‘Reading Rhino’ that the children in Mid-Argyll had voted on for our recent Reading is Fun competition.
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Mid-Argyll pupil council ‘Reading is Fun’ event
The children in the Mid-Argyll pupil council have been working together over the last few months to organise a ‘Reading is Fun’ event.
They ran two competitions, one for children in 1st level and one for 2nd Level to come up with a book character to encourage reading in these age groups.
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Minard and Furnace perform ‘The McTivity’
The children of Minard and Furnace Primaries performed their version of the Nativity on Wednesday the 16th to friends and families in a packed out Minard village hall.
The show was called ‘The McTivity’ as it tells the Christmas story in Scots. The children had been studying the Scottish language and enjoyed writing stories in Scots. Finding the ‘McTivity’ to perform was a good follow up drama activity.
Storytelling at Minard Primary
Recently Minard Primary children welcomed Mrs Linda Williamson to their school as part of their ‘Scottish Traditions’ topic. Mrs Williamson is the wife of the late Duncan Williamson, storyteller, who had connections with the area. We spent the morning listening to Linda’s stories and hearing about her life then were joined by the children from Furnace Primary and members of the community for more stories and fun. We hope to welcome Linda again soon.
Minard’s annual Duck Derby is a great success!
Minard held their annual Duck Derby on Friday the 29th. Thankfully the weather held while the races were on. There were 17 races with 20 ducks per race. The winners of each race then took part in the grand final! The prize, lunch for two at the George Hotel, was won by Heather Miller and the runner-up was Adam Barclay. He won a £30 voucher for Dewars store in Inveraray.
Furnace children joined them for the afternoon.
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Tayvallich win the Mid-Argyll inter-school quiz
On Tuesday the 12th of May Tayvallich and Ardrishaig competed in the final of the resurrected Mid-Argyll inter-school quiz. After a hard fought final Tayvallich emerged the winner. It was a very exciting final and the teams were only a point apart before the final round. Congratulations and well done to both teams for their hard work. The final was held in Kilmory Chambers and vice-provost, Dougie Philand, presented the shield to the winners and the salver to the runners-up.
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Friendship across the miles!
Calling all 9 year old children in Argyll!! Would you like to have a friend from another country? Lesley Goodwin,principal teacher at Minard Primary started writing to her friend Carla Perkins when she was 12 years old and this friendship has continued by snail mail, phone calls,texting and currently Facebook. On April 3rd 2015 Lesley travelled to Columbia, Kentucky, USA to finally meet up with her friend and her family.
The BarrowBand
Did you know broccoli comes from Italy? Or that carrots came from Afghanistan? Primary 1-4 pupils in the Mid Argyll area learned these and many other interesting facts about fruit and vegetables thanks to The BarrowBand. The BarrowBand’s goal is to ‘inspire a new generation of people (especially children) to love, understand and demand fruit and vegetables as part of their diet and lives.
Outdoor Learning at Minard
The children at Minard Primary School have been using their grounds to enhance their learning. Recently they have been hard at work designing a trim trail round the playground using natural resources. The children do laps at least three times a week and then convert the metres into kms then into miles. Next, they mark their progress by plotting the joint distance travelled on a map of Scotland. They hope to reach John O’Groats by the summer holidays! (They’ve reached Cairndow so far.)
