Author: Katie Lynn

On Wednesday March the 2nd the whole school went on a trip to Bruichladdich. Why we went is because we are doing a topic on distilleries. 

 

First when we got there we learnt about foraging. There were different types of plants on the table like gorse, bog myrtle, spearmint, and a lot more! After we learnt about foraging, we made our own jar of dried plants. I put some different plants in my jar and crushed them all up which made a sweet minty smell. To forage they use a secateurs which is like a pair of pliers to cut the plants. Once they collected all the plants, they put them in a bag that works like a tea bag. Eventually they put them on a shelf to dry in a warehouse. 

 

After that we went up to talk with Adam and Julie. Adam talked about the process of whisky and Julie talked about the jobs. We talked about what we were good at, then the jobs that you could do that involved distillery jobs. I would be good at designing labels and bottles. Next, we smelled whisky scents. The first one I thought was pineapple, but it was Lemon; it smelt good. The second one I guessed was honey and it was honey! The third one I guessed was vanilla extract, but it was just vanilla. 

 

Thirdly we went on a tour. The class went to the Malt room first. It was where all the barley is fermented with yeast. We got to smell some barley as well. There was the first normal barley that smelt good. Then the next barley was smoked barley, so it smelt much stronger. The next place we went was the mash tun. It was cool and they had an open one and there are only five in the world! The masher is 108 years old. There was a big mixer in the masher to mix all the boiling water. The next place we went was the wash backs. The wash back is where the alcohol finds its way into the distillery’s whisky. The wash backs go right down to floor ground because the floor is lifted to the roof. After the wash backs it was the still room. There were stills that are 148 years old! There is a still that is called ugly Betty too! Lastly on the tour was the barrel room with barrels that are so old! 

Lastly, we did some maths to do with distilleries, so we measured the alcohol in the drink, and it showed on the thermometer. Then we hopped on the bus and went to Port Mor for lunch. Port Mor also gave us cakes and drinks! Then we hopped back on the bus and went to the museum. 

At the museum we had to find some old distillery stuff. I found a bottle of whisky and a illiat still which is illegal and way more. It was interesting looking at all the old stuff. 

Overall, it was a fun and interesting experience and I really enjoyed it. The distillery people were really kind, the same as Port Mor and the museum.  

By Katie 532 words    

 

On Wednesday we took part on a Edinburgh national art gallery competition. We have been doing a topic on observational drawing with Mrs. Brown that I really enjoy! Observational drawing is were you look at something and draw it.

First Mrs. Brown set up fruit and plants on a table. We all put our tables round the fruit like a bonfire so we could all se it at different angles. We first got to practice our shading on a wee set up of fruit. Then we got A2 paper to do the real drawing on. I sketched all out. Then I started to paint with water colors. Then did some shading with pastels. I finally finished after a long two days.

I waited till I forgot that we did it! Then Mrs. Brown announced that someone in the class won! We all gave a long drum roll then she said “Katie won!” I was over the moon with joy!

 

We are doing citizenship which is were there are groups that are going to help the school. We are the mindful group which is going to help kids be more calm and work harder on there work. It will be during morning break. We will also be doing healthy tuck.

The people that own the group is Katie, Chloe and Duncan.  Chloe is the magnificent manger, Duncan is the radical researcher, Katie is the radiant reporter! Chole and Duncan made an amazing sign for mindful group and our moto is lend a helping hand.

For tuck we are going to make smoothies and raspberry cookies. We went round every class seeing what everyone’s favorite fruit is. The most popular was strawberries. Then after the survey we went down to Mrs. Holyoake to see the amounts we need. Once we got all the ingredients we told Mrs. Clark and she bought all the ingredients away. Today we are going to make our smoothies for tuck we will be using strawberries, blueberry’s and bananas. The tuck is going to be free up in the fab lab.

My Endeavor is making sculptures out of driftwood. Endeavor is a project you want to learn to do. You get to do Endeavor for four months and at the end of the four months you get to show what you have learnt to people some people get to sell things they made for there Endeavor.

My Endeavor is making lots of things out of driftwood. Driftwood is wood that has been bashed around in the sea for many years then washed up on the shore. I find most of my driftwood at Kilnaughton beach. How I made one of the fishes is I first gathered all the drift wood I need to build the fish. Then I use a hot glue gun to make a sculpture of a fish. Lastly I stick a pebble on the wood for a eye.

The people that helped me is my papa, my auntie Lynn and my Mum. My Papa taught me how to use tools I might need safely.  My auntie Lynn helped me to get a good layout for what I am making and what I should make. My Mum helped me use the hot glue gun and buy all the things I need. By Katie

We were doing outside learning and we were learning about fires. We went out to the playground to do it. The people that where teaching us were Dolton and Danny they are amazing at teaching us how to make fires with outdoor equipment. What we did first is we gathered dry grass and sticks in our groups. Then we learnt how to make a safe fire! When we did it is was very fun because it was a bit windy we got to have warm smores. Why we did this it is to teach us to learn how to make a fire with outdoor equipment safely.

My class did a Mesolithic topic and in out topic with an archaeologist called in ” Dr Darko “.

We learned lots and lots of facts. Some of those facts are ” We don’t have evidence of people in Mesolithic times because they would not leave anything around” and that” Mesolithic people would meet together to trade with other clans. We also learnt that there was a huge tsunami that nearly made Britain an Island

 

 

We are learning about Shanarri in class because it is very important to know what we need and what other people need. All our class made a mini movie about shanarri we were all a bit of shanarri what we had to do was pick a section from shanarri i was safe so what we had to do was go outside and make a mini movie about safe then we would put all the videos together and make a movie about shanarri.

There was also people vandalizing our school so we had to send the Ileach writing about the vandalism. I am going to show you what shanarri.

Shanarri Stands For:

SAFE, HEALTHY, ACTIVE, NURTURED, ACHIEVING, RESPECTED, RESPONSIBLE, INCLUDED

Safe: You should have a safe house with a good shelter.

Healthy, you should be allowed to have fruit and vegetables daily.

Active, you should have the right to exercise and go out and play

Nurtured: you should have a right to have a loving family.

Achieving, You should have the right to

Respected, you have the right to be respected by your family, friends and anybody.

Responsible, you should have the right to be responsible and know what to do when you are injured.

Included, You should have the right to be included in party’s and so on.

 

We were leaning about shanarri. Shanarri is import because its child’s rights and the child’s rights is very important.

 

Lock down was not the best but not the worst, what I mean is we couldn’t leave the house but that was alright because me and Kayla had our own ways to entertain ourselves with our families. Lock down stopped us from going to school which was not  the best but now we are glad to be back at school!

To start things off with some great news from lock down Kayla got a new puppy called Thora, who just happened to be Odin’s sister from another litter and he was really excited. I was really happy when lock down rules were eased I got to see Mya and Callie but before that we both were not happy because we couldn’t see friends. Kayla also got a new headset so she could talk with step brother Riley.  My cousin in Ireland got baby chicks too.

Then the bad news from lock down.  1 week in lock down my mum and dad were not too happy because Jess our dog is very old and she can not really get out side so she pooed all over the house. Kayla’s new dog Thora also learned to jump the out side fence so that was not good.  But overall we are glod to be back in school!