On Friday 31st August we had an author named Stacey McLean come for a visit. Stacey came in to our class and had a power point on where she is from; New Scotland also known as Nova Scotia in Canada. Her Gaelic was not the exact same as ours because it is Canadian Gaelic but it was close enough for us to understand.
When Stacey came in I was very excited I think everyone else was to. First we learned some things about Nova Scotia. We learned a game but it was actually a way of teaching the children of Nova Scotia Gaelic. The teacher would hold up a number of fingers 1-5 and then say something in Gaelic and then the kid would guess. If the kid got it wrong they would not get supper their head will be put on a stake!(According to the rhyme!)
I found it very interesting and then we watched a video of milling. Milling is the Canandian name for Waulking where you try to shrink woolen things, so the girls would sit on the floor or at a table and would grab the blanket or whatever you are milling.  You would grab it and push it in and out in out then they change it so it is in out in then you pass it to the next person and get your next bit. She gathered us on the floor and we milled lots of sheets tied together. It was fun and we got to sing along in Gaelic. It was very interesting meeting Stacey.
On Thursday 29th August Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre came in to the school to do some activities with us and talk about their books. They started off talking and reading their newest book called Kevin the Flying Pony; it was very interesting and I would recommend it.
This year for the Leavers Assembly the theme is superheroes. We have made up our own superhero names and outfits. We are having our Leavers Assembly on Wednesday 26th June. The starting song that we are singing for the Assembly is Superheroes by the Script and the sad song that we are singing is Somewhere only we know. We have an I-movie to show what we have done through out the years that we have been in this school for. We also wrote speeches for the Assembly to say what we have done from Nursery to P7. We would like to say thanks to the Teachers and all the staff in the school. We would also like to say a little thing to the rest of the school pupils as they make their way through the next few years that they have in Primary. Good luck P7s in High School.
My Endeavour is bread around the world and I have achieved one of my posters which has the history of bread on it and my other poster about facts about bread. I have also done a book creator about all the bread that I have done and made. I was inspired by my dad and my Uncle Chris because my dad is always making sourdough for the house and my Uncle Chris is a chef and really good at bread. I wrote a letter to Paul Hollywood to get information on the best bread to make and top tips on kneading but sadly he never replied.I have made all sorts of bread such as Foccacia which is Mediterranean and Islay garlic butter baguettes which is from Islay.
My endeavor is sea life. I was inspired to research sea life because my dad used to be a fisherman but still goes fishing. I thought he could help me if I chose this topic. I also wanted to do sea life because last year I researched whales and dolphins and wanted to learn even more about the ocean. The first thing I did was research how to set up and aquarium and got lots of information. My goal by the end was to have a working aquarium with sea creatures. Everyone wrote a letter to someone about there endeavor I wrote to Fiona McGillivary and I asked her some questions. I wrote to her because see works at the sea life centre in Port Charlotte. So far I have an i-movie,poster,fact file and I am making a wee game were you have to guess the names of the shells for the endeavor fair. In my aquarium I am thinking of having just some crabs , including hermit crabs. My aquarium is 29 litres which is not that big so can have only a few sea creatures in the tank. I can only have a few because if I have lots it will get hot quickly and the sea creatures may die. My i-movie is a few minutes long, showing how you set up an aquarium and where to get all the best sea creatures. My fact file is all the basic things you need for an aquarium. My poster shows my aquarium and what it will look like.The only thing I have left to do is my game and set up my stall. The endeavor fair is on Friday the 14th of June.
My endeavour is Ancient Egypt. I have completed my poster. I have also completed a cardboard pyramid, Tutankhamun mask ,cnopic gars and a mummy. I would like to complete my fact book and my Egypt flag. I would also like to complete panting my cnopic gars that are at school. This Thursday I want to complete my cnopic gars and some blogs. I would like to complete my fact book. next week I will try to complete half of my stuff then I will do the rest at home so that I am ready for the Endeavour fair. I think that I will be organised for the Endeavour and I think it will go well. In the week end I am going to make some flat bread and that is what the Egyptians use to eat and I will bring it into school and let some students and teachers try the bread. Me and my mum are in the middle if making a cover of Egyptians paper out of paper mache then I will let it dry and write a pretend letter for Tutankhamun.
Sports championship is all about doing your best to win points. There is 9 events each one is for points for your total score. You get 100 points for 1st 75 points for 2nd and 50 for 3rd. We did hurdles and long jump on the beach hurdles Dearbhla got first for hurdles for the girls and for the boys it was Aaron. long jump girls Freya and boy Donald, the second day we did cross country and basketball for cross country we did four laps around the school and on baskets we had 20 shots and we had to see how many we could get in. For boys Braeden and for girls Holly won baskets. For cross country girls Holly won and Aaron for boys. The last 2 events we have done so far is football dribble and distant throw, Holly won distant throw for girls and Aidan won for boys. Are last and final event we have done is football dribble, for girls Charlet and Jack won for boys the only events we need to do is the high jump and the 100m sprint.
On the 16th of May All the primary 7’s in Port Ellen went to the high school for a robotic trip in the hall. When we got there they showed us what the robot was (the robot was made of cubes which had different purposes which were magnetic) we were told that the blue cubes were the power cubes, the black were the sensors, The white cubs were the cubes that moved or made noise (action cubes,) The red cubes were reverse cubes and the green cubes were for decoration. At first we were told to make cubes that moved and made sound but after the first task was complete the second was different, we were told to make robots that could fall over or move without falling over. At the third test we had to make something that was like a motorcycle and could move. At the final test we were told to make a robot that could move and make art with a pen while moving. Altogether I thought the event was very enjoyable. by Alexander and Ciaran
Recently we had a Glow meet with two scientist that are working about Whalesharks mainly around the Maldives. Their names where Alina Wieczorek, and Giulia. They were also telling us about; Plastic turns into miniature microplastics, and then when whalesharks eat their food, they can be possibly eating tiny microplastics which can damadge their bodies, and it can lead to death sometimes. Whalesharks eat plankton.
As a whole school our topic is Pollinating. We will be learning all about the different species of bees and flowers that are around the school grounds and all over the island and maybe the whole world. Every Monday we have been having visits from Fiona MacGillivray who is part of the Islay Pollinators project and is from the Islay Natural History Trust. Yesterday Mrs MacGillivray came into the school to do the project. When Mrs MacGillivray came in yesterday we were looking at all the different types flowers up the back of the school. Yesterday we also looked at all the different flowers that were in the Quadrants on the hill behind the school. We found the following plants up the back of the school:
We drew Botanical drawings of the flowers that we found. Here are some facts about pollinators/ pollinating;
On Tuesday 14th May we had a glow meet with Alina Wieczorek and Giulia Donati. Who are part of the Maldives Whale Shark Conservation. There are 200 islands in total and 100 are used for tourists and the other hundred are just normal islands for the people who grew up in the Maldives. They answered a lot of our questions and we also found out a lot of new facts. We learned that whale sharks can live for up to a century and in rare cases over a century, we also learned that the reason they are protecting this fascinating creature is because it is endangered and if it were to become extinct its loss in the ocean would have repercussions on many of the other marine animals. In the end we thoroughly enjoyed learning many interesting facts from this experience and we all will be sure to watch our use of plastics and will also help contribute to saving these magnificent creatures and all the others who share the ocean.
As part of our ongoing plastics topic we are holding a Google Meet with scientists from the Maldives on Tuesday, linkng 3 different countries in order to find out about the latest research into the effects of plastics on our oceans from another island nation.
Primary 6&7 have been using a great resource so they can look at data from around the world and use it to compare life in different countries.
