Wednesday 15th November was the Argyll and Bute swimming competition for qualifying for the nationals in Dunoon. From Islay and Jura Dolphins swimming club there was: Ross Thompson, David John Morris, Matthew Mcusker and me. The coaches were ; Karen Siddle and Allan Campbell my dad. It was my first swimming competition away from Islay and I loved it. Ross was a big help; he told me when to go up to the Marshall which is when you line up to get ready to go up to the blocks to dive off. My races was front crawl and back stroke. In my front crawl my previous personal best was 1:07.7 min but now my personal best is 47.35 sec. In my back stroke my previous personal best was 59.73 sec but now my personal best 55.34 sec. I had a great time, thanks to Karen and my dad for taking us!
Learning about Energy
 
P1/2/3 have been learning all about energy. Â They have explored lots of different toys, old and new, to see what they do and thought about what makes them go. Â They have discovered that toys can move, make sounds and light and that all of this is produced by putting energy into the toys – from electricity, by pushing, pulling and twisting. Â The children were amazed to see the liquid move when it was heated with your hand. Learning about energy is part of our Rolls-Royce Science Prize project for this year.
Curious about Cars
As part of our Transport topic, P1/2/3 wanted to find out all about cars, how they worked and what made cars go faster. Â So they wrote to Dugald McKerral and went on a trip to the garage. Â They saw a car up on the hydraulic ramp and could see the wheel axels and the chassis that they had learned about in class. Â Lots of interesting questions were asked and we are going back to class to find out more about pistons. This learning ties in really well with the Rolls-Royce Science Prize.
FARMING ON ISLAY
Islay is a beautiful island off the west coast of Scotland, and one of the reasons it is so lovely is because farmers work hard to keep the land the way it has looked for generations, conserving the environment. But the land has also influenced how and what types of farming happen on Islay. As an Island the costs of transport are also an important consideration, as is the weather. All these factors contribute to the difficulties and successes of farming beef, sheep and barley on Islay.
Farming on Islay is very important to Islay’s landscape and the farmers that work hard to get paid and have more than just one job but two! The farmers on Islay have kept the landscape as it was years ago. The farming on Islay gives jobs to many people so that they can make money and live their lives as the years pass by.
The main land types found on Islay are rough grazing, grassland, peat bog and moorland.  Grassland is low lying and is used by farmers to grow grass for silage, grass to feed animals and can also be used to grow barley; this is the most useful land for farmers, but in the winter it gets very wet and muddy and can’t be used to keep animals on.  Rough grazing land can’t be used to grow grass or crops, it tends to be hilly with plants like heather, rushes and patches of rough grass.  Animals can graze it, although it is mostly used by sheep.  Rough grazing is useful in the winter because it stays dry, drains well and you can overwinter animals on it.  It can’t be used to grow vegetables or crops because it is stoney and the soil is poor.   Peatbogs are of no use to farmers as animals can get stuck in the bogs and the grazing is too poor. Farmers on Islay often drain the land to keep it dry enough to grow grass. Because of the limits imposed by the type of land on Islay, the main farming is Beef and Sheep, with a little barley production.
Islay has a wonderful type of weather for grass which has mainly rain and wind with a tint of sunshine as there is hardly any snow or frost on the island. The normal temperatures varies as seasons pass as in the summer there is more sun and it is not as rainy as autumn or winter as in winter it is mainly rainy and windy but it is still sometimes sunny. The lowest average temperature on islay is 3’c. In autumn the weather is changing to winter and during that there is sometimes gale force winds and there is about 130mm of rain through the season. In summer the weather becomes less rainy and becomes more sunny.
Islay is an island than can only be reached from the mainland by ferry or plane. This means farmers have to pay to get their produce off the island and also pay extra to get the equipment and resources they need to farm on the island. As a result of this farmers on Islay struggle to compete financially with those on the mainland. For example, fertilizer and concentrates need to be brought over on container ships and unloaded onto lorries. This means fertilizer and concentrates cost more for Islay farmers. The type of farming that can happen here is also affected by transport; milk, soft fruits and other products will go off when transported for long periods of time so are not farmed on Islay. However, sheep and cattle are easy to transport over time, and the barley that is grown is sold locally. So farmers on the mainland have an advantage over famers on Islay.
Investigating wheels
    
As part of our transport topic, P1/2/3 wanted to find out about wheels. Â They found lots of tyres out in the garden and checked out wheels on cars in the car park and bikes in school. Â They found out that wheels are attached to axels and have written to Mr MacKerrell at the garage to see if they can find out more about how cars work.
DELVE INTO THE PAST AT THE ISLAY & JURA SCHOOL’S HERITAGE EXHIBITION!
   Over the past year all the primary schools on Islay and Jura have been involved in an Island wide history project in conjunction with Islay Heritage and archaeologists from the University of Reading. 
The children have been learning about their history and heritage, as well as the many STEM skills required to be an archaeologist. The results of their learning are now on display in the Gaelic College, Ionad Chaluim Chille Ile, in the Islay and Jura School’s Heritage Exhibition.
The project started with a party from every primary school on Islay visiting the Giant’s Grave site, 90 children in all. This involved a lengthy walk from Nerabus up through the forestry to the site, where the archaeologists were excavating and surveying. The children were then able to experience the different fieldwork techniques, from geophysics to troweling to photography. They learned about life in the early Neolithic period, and discussed with the experts what the grave was for, how it might have looked and how the people at the time lived. They then returned to the classroom to continue the learning, carrying out many different tasks; timelines, brochures, reports, sways, story telling videos, den building, pot making, art and imaginative writing. Some of these can be seen on the Islay Heritage site, as well as at the exhibition.
Then in late March the archaeology team returned for phase 2 of the project, in which schools adopted their own local monument and carried out surveys. Children applied some of their previous learning on Geo-physics and photography, whilst also learning how to make scale drawings and documentaries. They then got to see the results of the survey transferred into 3D representations of the site. Bowmore surveyed Cill a’ Bhulig, the remains of an old chapel, Port Charlotte surveyed Carnduncan, a Bronze Age burial cairn, Port Ellen surveyed Kilbride Chapel and Small Isles and Keills surveyed a crannog at Loch nan Deala.
It has been a great learning experience for all involved and made us grasp just how much fascinating history we pass on Islay everyday without even realizing it. The process of revealing Islay’s past through the use of modern archaeological techniques has been a truly great experience, and the children have a far better understanding of their Island as a result. We would like to thank all those involved for providing us with the experience, including the Mactaggart fund for enabling the project to take place. We hope people will visit the exhibition over the next two weeks for a unique insight into Islay’s past.
Scottish Maths Challenge Success!
Every year Mrs Clark’s class take part in the Scottish Maths Challenge, a competition where you have to complete tricky maths problems that require you to think outside the box. It is a great way to improve your maths problem solving skills and learn to apply strategies to help you work out the answers. Children can opt to take part in the challenges, and there are three sets of questions over the year. One of the questions this year was:
Colin and Tom are on a camping holiday and, at their campsite, they make friends with Fiona. They ask her when her birthday is but, being a bit of a joker, Fiona tells them only that it is one of the following;
May 14, July 12, May 15, May 18, June 16, June 19, July 15, August 12, August 14, August 16.
She then tells Colin the month of her birthday, but not the day in the month, whilst she tells Tom the day in the month, but not the month.
Immediately, Colin Declares “Well Tom certainly cannot know for sure when Fiona’s birthday is.”
to which Tom replies “Ah, but now I do.” “And now I know when it is as well,” comes back Colin.
When is Fiona’s birthday? Explain your reasoning.
Quite tricky!
The children who took part have been very successful and should be proud of their perseverance and skills. Ellie and Matthew have achieved a bronze medal and Eva, Ruaraidh, Rowan, Rebecca and Kaitlyn achieved a silver medal in the competition. Kaitlyn and Rebecca missed out on the gold by one point! Well done everyone.
Craters
P4/5 have been investigating 
how craters are made. They thought about the different variables that might change the size of the craters – things like the size of the meteorite, the weight, the shape and even the angle that it hits the surface. Here they are testing out their predictions.
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!
Shinty
On Thursday 17th of November P567 was doing Shinty with Euan McMurdo the shinty development officer. He taught us different skills you need when playing shinty, like stopping the ball with your feet. We also got to play shinty which was very fun and everyone enjoyed playing shinty and look forward to playing it again soon.
Giant’s Grave Archaeological Dig
On the 25th of August, Port Ellen Primary along with their teacher Mrs Clark, Mr Gairns, Mrs Logan and Struan’s dad Mr Colthart, went to a fascinating archaeological trip to the Giant’s Grave. We were going there because we really wanted to learn about Islay History. As we got onto the bus, I was filling up with excitement. We were in the bus for quite a while until we got to Nerabus. As we got off the bus, I couldn’t wait to start walking to the Giant’s Grave. Also, Professor Steven Mithin walked with us.
On the trip, we walked one hour and ten minutes to the Giant’s Grave. Before we got there, my friend Abi fell into a big stream and got soaking wet. When we were all set we started walking again. On the way, we saw loads of blood red and white mushrooms. They looked really interesting. Finally we got to the Giant’s Grave. I thought it looked amazing and very inspiring. It was as peaceful as the sun crawling up a hill. As we were strolling to the heart of the dig I gazed at the awesome rocks forming the Giant’s grave.
After we had our break, we got up and circled around the Grave. We listened to the archaeologists from Reading University explain about the Giant’s Grave and what they think it used to be six thousand years ago. After they told us about the Grave, we split up and got into partners to work with the archaeologists to help with the Grave. Rebecca and me went to Tom who told us that he worked in the muddiest corner to dig out the peaty mud that could be burying important artifacts. We got a shovel and started to dig the icky sticky mud.
When we were told to move we really enjoyed helping Tom with the mud and digging. When we moved over we went to a lady named Sarah who helped us take pictures of the site with her. We learned that it was a hard job getting the right angles when you take the pictures. We also took stalk photos when we creep up to the others and take pictures of them. Then, with a heavy heart, we went back to the others and sat in the gazebo. We listened to a Dendrochronologist speak about his job as a person who looks at tree rings on the trunk to see how old it is. I thought that was fascinating that you could calculate how old a tree is by looking at the lines.
After we had our lunch, we said goodbye to the people there and we left the Giant’s grave. I really enjoyed myself and I really hope that I could meet them again soon on a different dig. I thought that the dig was phenomenal and I really hope to go again.
By Kaya Middleton P7
Pesach Sway
Here is our Sway on the Jewish Festival of Pesach.
Wesak Sway
Hi, Here is mine and Rebecca’s Sway on Wesak, a buddhist festival.
WINNERS!
 
Last week Joe, Bronagh, Kaya and Murray traveled with Mrs Clark and Mrs Leask to Glasgow and Edinburgh to take part in the Celebration of Science and Engineering run by @scdiYESC at the Glasgow Science Centre. They were finalists in the Junior Saltire Awards with their Wave Islay design, made with help from Bronagh’s dad Gus, an excellent boat builder. They tested their devices at the Flowave facility in Edinburgh along with 6 other primary schools and 5 secondary schools, before attending the event and presenting to the judges. They also took part in STEM challenges as a team, with around 40 other schools, where they had to correct a listing oil rig, calculate pH for crops, stabilize a bridge, build a train and identify oil products. When we got to the awards ceremony the Imax cinema was full. We were shocked and amazed when Heather the weather announced the winners of the primary STEM challenges as Port Ellen Primary School! We got a great trophy and went and sat back down, only to discover we had also won the Primary Junior Saltire Awards! What a day! Above is a video of our Junior Saltire Journey.
Junior Saltire Awards
A few weeks ago p5/6/7 worked on designs for a wave power device for the Junior Saltire Awards, which is a national competition for school children to design and make their own devices to promote the use of renewable energy. The group that built the device was called Wave Islay, and included Bronagh, Joe, Murray, Kaya, Abi and Ellie. We researched renewable and non renewable energy and learned about wave powered devices. Bronagh’s dad came in to help us build our device. When it was finished we went to test it in the sea and it worked. We had to fill in some papers to send away. Later on we found out that our device was in the finals. Now we are working on improvements to make it better! Bronagh, Joe, Murray and Kaya get to go to Edinburgh for the awards on the 9th June, where we will test our device in the Flo Wave facility at Edinburgh University. It is all very exciting!
The Scottish Mathematical Challenge
This year pupils at Port Ellen primary school took part in the Scottish Mathematical Challenge where they had to answer problem solving questions 3 times over the year showing their working out. To get a bronze award you couldn’t lose more than 10 points, to get a silver award you couldn’t lose more than 6 points and to get a gold award you couldn’t lose more than 3 points. Rebecca, Katie, Ross and Matthew got a bronze award and I got a silver award missing out on a gold award by only one point! I feel happy because I got a silver I am also very surprised because I didn’t think my problem solving was that good. One of the questions was “Maureen, Alice and Siobhan are three young sisters, in that order of age. Alice is two years older than Siobhan. Each year, their wealthy aunt gives each of them, for each year of her age, as many pounds as she is years old. For example, on her first birthday a girl would receive one pound and on her third birthday nine pounds. The aunt has promised to continue this family custom with each girl until her twelth birthday. This year Maureen received as much as Alice and Siobhan put together.
How much will Siobhan receive next year?” I found this quite tricky. There was also a question about a diagram that represents a rectangular net, which is made from string notted together at different points. Another one was about a diving competition where there are 5 judges that each awards a whole-number from 1-10 and you had to work out all the possible scores awarded. It was really challenging but helped me get better at my maths problem solving. There is an award ceremony in June in Glasgow. Next year I will try to get a gold.
Investigating Microclimate
P3/4 have been investigating the microclimate in the school grounds. They used digital thermometers on loan from the Royal Meteorological Society to record the temperatures at different places in the school grounds. It was a great way to consolidate all they had learned about maps as part of their orienteering. They then worked in the group to produce a scientific report complete with prediction, method, results, bar chart and explanation. A great piece of work!
British Science Week Parent Afternoon
After a week of science learning at Port Ellen we invited parents in to find out more about Rocks, Floods and Boats.
In P567 we have been doing geology this term, finding out about Islay’s interesting rocks and how they are formed. Parents got to make rocks out of food, saw a cake model of the earths crust, our map of Islay’s geology and identified different types of rock by testing them.  They asked lots of interesting questions!
In P34 parents were presented with flood proof housing and has to test the houses to see if they worked!
In P123 they had to build waterproof boats that didn’t sink out of different materials and they also made paper.
Our Solar System
For our topic we have been working on the solar system. So far we have learned what is the closest planet to the sun which is Mercury. In school we have been working on the eight planets they are all surrounding the sun.
We have also been learning about the rocky and the giant planets. We are going to tell you about the rocky planets. They are Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.
Now we are going to tell you about the giant planets. They are Saturn, Jupiter , Uranus and Neptune. Neptune is the furthest away from the sun it is 4.5 billion km away. Neptune has 165 years to complete orbit. We are learning lots.
The Amazing Black Tide.
Black Tide is a book by the author Caroline Clough and had lots of adventure. The main character is Toby and in the book he had to try to rescue his little sister Sylvie and his dad. They had been captured by invaders and held captive. All the people who are invaders had a NC tattoo on their wrist and Toby used that to tell who to stay away from because the invaders were after Toby as well.
At the beginning Toby had been captured but managed to escape but he didn’t manage to save his family so all through the book he was making up plans to save Sylvie and his dad. He met a girl called Natasha but all her friends call her Tash. In the middle of the book there are dogs and Toby called the biggest, fluffiest, blackest dog Cerberus after Greek mythology.
The author is Caroline Clough and she came to our class for the book fair. It was amazing when she came in and she told us about her family and her childhood and how she became an author. She said there will be another book called Silver Seas and I am really excited about it coming out!
Police And Fireman Visit
On  Wednesday  28th October a policeman and a fireman came to our school to talk to us about firework safety. They told us what to do when you were finished with a sparkler which was to dunk it into a bucket of water and to wear gloves to protect your hands. They also told us what to do if an adult lit a firework and it didn’t set off, which was to stay away from it and tell an adult.
The fireman told us that they have to attend to bonfires set off by kids and since they have to attend to this, they can’t attend house fires because they will be busy putting out the bonfire. They also told us that to keep your pets inside like cats, dogs etc. They can either get frightened or hurt. So remember this information and stay safe during firework night!
Negative Numbers
P567 have been learning about negative numbers and how they are in temperature. The lowest temperature that negative numbers go down to is -274 degrees and positive numbers go up to infinity. We also learned that negative numbers can some times be in lifts like if there is a basement or a cellar in a hotel or a museum.It also appears in world temperature like the weather might say Paris is -1 degrees and Romania is 16 degrees and all the other countries might be different than Paris or Romania. This is what we have learned.
Swimming
At the weekend there was a swimming competition in Helensburgh. Three people from Port Ellen primary school took part. These three people were Ross, Struan and Matthew. Islay did very well at the competition with some people getting first, second and third. At the end of the first day all Islay, Kintyre and Oban teamed together to make some relay squads to face Helensburgh relay teams. Then on the next day there was a 3 hour long training session with all people from Argyll and Clyde. It is called path finders or B squad. There is also a A squad for older and more experienced swimmers. Four people from Islay got picked and Ross was the only person from Port Ellen Primary School.
By Ross and Struan
ENDEAVOUR
P5/6/7 have recently started Endeavour. They all get to pick there own topic for 6 months and before they get started they always get a computer to do there plan for the 6 months, so for instance you can plan what you would do January to February. You have to make your Endeavour ambitious. It has to be something that you can write and research about. Your Endeavour has to be something achievable. Then if you can do the six months complete your teacher will call you a star.
Compass Points
We have been learning about compass points because it helps us with our orienteering because you need to know your compass points to get to the markers. All the compass points are north represented by an N then there is north-east represented by an NE after that there is east represented by an E then there is south east represented by a SE then there is then there south represented by an S and that is half the circle. Then on the other half of the circle, there is south west represented by SW then there is west represented W then there is north-west is represented by NW then is north again. There is a degree for each compass point which helps you to know if you’re facing the right way. When you change the degrees to north to east or to east to south you add 45 degrees on because each turn you do you add 45 degrees. North is either 360 or 0 and north-east is 45 degrees. East is 90 because 45 add 45 is 90 degrees. South east is 125 degrees. South is 180 degrees. South west is 225. West is 270 degrees and north west is 315. Then back to north which is 0 degrees.
Bearings
The bearing of a point is the angle measured from the north line. Bearings help you find your destination so if you are new town bearings can help you around the place.
This diagram shows compass points and the bearings plus the angles of a compass. You can see the bearing of A from B is 065° and from B from A is 245°.
This is a triangle that is labelled a to b b to c and c to a.
A to B = South West
B to C = South East
C to A = North West
This is a hexagon labelled a b c d e f: A to B =south west
B to C= South C to D = South East D to E = North East E to F= North F to A =North West
By Ruaraidh and Rowan at Port Ellen Primary School
Maps, Grid References And Coordinates
There are 2 lines that are on all maps and they are called the vertical and the horizontal lines. They are always in a straight line and they either go up and down or across the way. Grid references are between the lines which make it look like a maths square that has numbers. The difference between grid references and coordinates is that coordinates are where the lines meet and grid references are in between the lines. We are learning about grid references in school and we already know six figure grid references and four figure references. Every ordnance survey map in the world has a six figure grid references and a four figure grid references for every place. We also learnt about coordinates. We played battleships to help understand grid references. We know you say the horizontal line first and the vertical line after. The horizontal line is the X axis at the bottom and the vertical line is the Y axis.
We found a map of the school and we thought it would be a good map to use for orienteering because the one we have is old and things aren’t in the same place anymore. Then we realised we didn’t have some things on the new map so we went outside and measured the things that weren’t there by how wide they are, how long they are and how far away from some things like the school and the fences area. After that we measured them to scale and put them on our map. Now we use the map to make up orienteering courses. This is the map we use and we use it to do orienteering in school.
The Mile Walk And Run
P5/6/7 wanted to do a mile walk or a mile run to improve our fitness. But first we had to calculate and measure how long a mile is. We had to use Google maps to see how much it takes for a mile from up the path and back. We were going to go up the path but we did not want to go 2 miles so we used Google maps to see how it is a 
mile from somewhere on the path and back. Our class found out that it stopped at a wee bay right beside a stone wall. We thought if we go around the school a lot of times we could measure the school and see how many time it would take to do a mile. For the run we had to time each other to see if we improve each week. For the run we had to run around the edges 4 times. We know that running around the school 4 times because we measured it on the app called Map My Walk.
Reciprocal Reading
This is how you do reciprocal reading.
You read some of your book and you choose an activity. Then you write about it after that you talk about it to the rest of your group. The activities are Predicting, Clarifying,  Questioning, Summarizing, Connecting, Visualizing, Inferring, Evaluating. This is how you get better at understanding what you read. We are reading Cool by Michael Morpurgo.
