NEWS

On Wednesday 31st of October Port Ellen Primary School had a Halloween Disco.  The pre5 had their disco in the morning and the older ones had theirs in the afternoon.  When everyone finished their lunch we all started to get dressed.

The hall was all decorated like a spooky house.  Always the very first thing we do is the best dressed competition.  In p6 Dearbhla won and in p7 Mara won and everyone who won got a bag of creepy Halloween sweets.  After that we had a game of corners; the choices were bats,witches,ghosts and skeletons.  Then we played some classic games like musical statues and more.  Finally the last thing we did was a dance competition.  At last it was time to eat we all went straight to the Halloween cakes when we finished are food and drinks we got took out class by class to go dunking for apples. Sadly all that came to a end and we had to go home but the happily thing was the after dinner we going out for Halloween!

Here is another example of gaelic poetry from Mara:

Is mise Dùn Naomhaig,             I am called Dunyvaig,

Tha mi mòr,                           I am big

Tha mi casteal,                       I am a castle,

Tha mi fuar,                            I am cold,

Tha i dorcha,                          It is dark,

Tha mi cunnartach,                  I am dangerous,

Tha mi dubh agus donn.             I am black and brown.

 

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We have been using our Castle art to create Gaelic Poetry using the vocabulary we have been learning.  Our poems were written as if we were the castle; how we felt, what we looked like.  We wrote the poems out and then used Chatterpix to record our poetry.  Here is Caitidh’s poem:

Is mise Dùn Naomhaig,             I am called Dunyvaig,

Tha mi làidir, tha mi stoirm,      I am strong, I am stormy,

Tha mi dubh agus donn,            I am black and brown,

Tha mi seachd ceud bliadhna,    I am seven hundred years old,

Tha mi fuar agus fliuch,             I am cold and wet,

Tha mi brònach, tha mi garbh,    I am sad, I am wild,

Tha mi mòr, tha mi fada,           I am big, I am long,

Tha mi dorcha.                         I am dark.

 

This year the Gaelic Choir at Port Ellen were going to Dunoon for the National Mod.  The first day of the mod we were in the bus then we went to Inveraray.  When we got to hunters quay we got to our lodge.We all went for a practice. Then we got our red and purple tee shirts. After that we went swimming and there were two pools opposite each other. One had a bridge and one was deep. We went for dinner I had chicken and it was fantastic.

The Second day of the mod we woke up at 7.30am. I had a shower then got my stuff. My nana and papa was there to pick me up in the car to the grammar school. Then we went to practice my poem then I went In. Thought I was 1st on  but I was 2nd on and I was so nervous but then I did it.  I waited for the competition to end I didn’t get a medal but I took part though.

We had lunch. Then we went to the High Kirk and we all sang two songs, our own choice and a prescribed song in the unison.  We had to go to the Queens Hall to sing one more song, the Puirt-à-beul.  We won all of the songs!  So we had to get recorded for the tv.  We went back to Islay, happy that we had achieved so much.

By Phoenix

This term p6/7 were reading books to improve their reading skills. We worked in groups. It was pretty fun. The book my group read was called Tom’s Midnight Garden which is by Philippa Pearce. This book is about a kid called Tom who, when the thirteenth strike happens on the broken old grandfather clock, enters a lovely garden full of plants in which would normally be a small pathway with some bins and flower pots. I enjoyed the book because of the fact that there was none other book like it. I also liked it because it was actually quite interesting how he realized what was happening so fast and how it has some aspect of realism in it unlike a lot of other books. It’s also good because of the twist ending in which we find out that the landlady Mrs Bartholomew is in fact Hatty. “Quite early in Mrs Bartholomew’s story Tom suddenly leaned forward and whispered: ‘You were Hatty – you are Hatty! You’re really Hatty!’” This was to show that Tom understood what she was saying and so that if the reader didn’t realize that she was Hatty they would’ve got it. Altogether I would say the book was a 4/5 because at some parts it did get a little boring and that the story takes some time to turn into something interesting. I would say that the genre is fantasy because the main character travels back in time in to a garden which is full of color although in reality it would be a small little paved garden. Altogether this book is a good read and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in books that are more than they seem and books that make you think about what is going to happen next.

As part of our Dunyvaig topic we have been learning about what castles looked like at that time and some of their key features.  We looked at lots of examples of castles and used what we knew to create our own impressions of Dunyvaig Castle using pen and pencil and oil pastels.  You can see some of the results below.

BY HOLLY

BY ELLEN

BY ORLA

This term our reading group was reading  The brilliant world of Tom Gates  by Liz Pichon. I think the Genre of this  book is  comedy because  he is mean to Marcus Meldrew and its funny because he has illustrations like in his diary.

I love how Tom Gates  and Derek has a band called DogZombies.   Tom Gates has written a song called Delia’s a weirdo.  My favorite  quote is I call granny and grandad the fossils.

by Ellen

 

 

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I really liked my book because I think it is a comedy. With lots of pictures and funny moments like when Tom decides to join the choir and it went  horribly wrong.

I love how the author made Tom and Delia  so different  and how they never get along.  Another thing I like is  how she includes lots of people.

I think this book would be popular because the  cover stands out and the name is big and bold. But of course there is  really funny photos.

If you decide to read this book I think you will really like it.

 

I am reading the Brillant World of Tom Gates. It is about a boy who goes to school and calls some  people idiots  and is cheeky.  In the book the main character is Tom Gates.  He has friends called Amy and Derik and Mealdrew who Tom Gates calles an idiot.  Tom Gates is very mean and can get distraced in class. I don’t know what I would do without this amazing  book.  As soonas I saw it it got my atention.   It is superduper brillant.

My  favorite part in Captain Underpants is when an evil giant dandelion attacked captain underpants. I laughed so much when George and Harold did a prank because they changed the letters at the cafeteria to nasty toilet pee pee sandwiches. But my favorite part was when I read the bonus comic dogman. It was about a dog that is a cop and he stops the most wanted villain Petey who is a cat. Also dog man was the best cop and he did stop other criminals.

The author was actually a child- his name was Dav Pilkey. This author had very good description and punctuation and he made it funny and cool. With flip- o-Rama as well; here’s how it works he made it so when you turn the page fast as you can the it looks like its animated. Dav Pilkey used alot of fonts colours.  He is a very good author in my opinion .

The reason I enjoyed this book is because it has lots of laughs, a good story line, a lot  of stuff that I really like about the book. It had good description and the story was really good. My favourite charactors  were Captain Underpants because he got super powers in the book. I liked George because you wolud think he is responsible but he is not.  I like Harold as well but there are my favourite because Harold and George do really funny pranks.

At the start of this term everyone was handed out books to read, and my book was Tom’s Midnight Garden. I thought that this book was quite good because the author used excellent language, I think the story is set out very well because: everything happens in chronological order, the author often leaves things on cliff hangers which just makes me want to read on more, what happens in the book is very clever because everything adds up at the end. Like when Tom finds out that everything that happens in the garden is because Mrs Bartholomew (later found out to be Hatty) dreams of the garden and what she dreams of happens to Tom.

Although what I do not like about this book is that it is very slow moving, I say that because it goes into every tiny detail about every single thing that happens, one of the times this happens is when Tom is reading about Victorian clothing and it goes into detail about the headings and all the sub headings and it even goes into detail about all the clothes that Tom is not searching for such as men’s clothes even though he is looking for the kind of clothes that Hatty wears.

Overall I think that this is a good and it is very satisfying when you have finished it. Despite that I would recommend this to older readers who will not get bored with it and will read on.

This term my reading book for homework it was the Brilliant World of Tom Gates. At the start of the book I wasn’t sure of the book but if I didn’t  read it I would be missing out.  It is a really funny book because I think its really funny at the part when Tom calls Marcus moosy Marcus  it was funny from the start until the end and there is parts in it that you expect like how at the end when they finaly are about to go to dude 3 the dog [Rooster] eats the tickets and Mr Fullerman buys them a ticket. If I was to give the book a mark of 5 I would give it 5 out of 5. An example of the author trying to be funny is when Mrs Worththington has a moustache. Over all it is one my most favorite reading books.

This term our reading group was reading the book Mr Stink.  The author is called David Walliams and his style of writing the book was a comedy.  He also use a lot of change of text for different scenes.    The author doesn’t have a lot of pictures.  I think that because maybe he wants you to imagine it yourself.  I found the book very entertaining but I think it would be even better with a little bit of drama.  I really liked reading this book,   Because the chapter when Mr Stink got invited to the prime mister in the city was very funny and also it was very serious. The prime minster invited him because on the show everyone loved him and want him to be the political party member.When they were there Chloe didnt like the prime minster then…   Chloe decided to tell said a rude joke which got them kicked out but they were still happy  .I loved the style he use. It was entertaining and I never got bored reading it.  I would read it again and I would give it a 5 out of 5.  Also I would advise other people to read it.

By Caititdh

Holes,

Louis Sachar,

Evaluating.

This book is a great book because the author has used lots of different Punctuation and describing words to write the book such as: stooped, huge, “, -, ?,., ; and !  The book is quiet funny as the author has used most of the funny parts at the end of sentences when people have finished talking.

 

I would say that the genre of this book is comedy because a lot of people characters were just digging lots of holes.  Stanley and Hector/Zero the two main characters.  Stanley and Zero saw this thing on the mountain and they thought it was a big thumb so they left camp to climb the big mountain then they found out that it was a big thumb.

One of the funny parts in the book is” Stanley had seen KB is his mothers bathroom and he also saw it in the wardens cabin. It was  halve of a lip stick tube.”  Stanley meets these new people at Camp Green Lake who have very weird names like; Zero, Armpit, Zigzag, Squid, X-Ray and Magnet. Overall I would rate this book 5/5.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This term I have been reading a book called Mr Stink. It was a brilliant book. The book was partially humorous and partially emotional. Chloe who is a 12 year old girl and Mr Stink who is a 60 year old man I felt as if their bond grew through out the story. My favorite part  is when Mr Stink gets invited on to a show called question time and he embarrasses himself (in a hilarious way) and embarrasses mother who is Chloe’s mother. Overall I really like this book and I like the way the authors styled it and I like the illustrations that the illustrator made.

Holes by Louis Sachar is a book based about unfair punishments. A boy called Stanley Yelnats is framed for stealing a pair of sneakers he did not steal. He got sent to camp green lake where he gets up to trouble.  I enjoyed very much because of the different types of characters from innocent Stanley Yelnats to the aggressive Warden.

The way the author wrote it it was like two different sides of the book; There was the joking funny sneaky boys then there was the dark side of the Warden and Mr Sir. A easy way to show this is when the boys stole a sack of seeds and Stanley took the blame. Mr Sir got angry and took him to the Warden. The Warden wears venomous nail polish; it wasn’t dry and she scratched Mr Sirs face for wasting her time.

The genre of this book I feel is adventure because Stanley and his freind Zero escape from Camp Green Lake. They have to climb to the top of a mountain. Stanley had to carry Zero to the top. The reason why they climbed to the top is because they believed there was water source at the top. I feel like it is also about freindships, because Stanley has to make freinds with the boys and they all have nicknames: Caveman-Stanley Yelnats, Zero-Hector Zeroni, Xray, Magnet, Twitch, Zigzag, Armpit and Squid they even called Mr Pendanski Mom.

Louis Sachar wrote very weirdly because there was a poem that he repeated over and over in the book.

“If only if only the woodpecker sighs,

The bark on the trees is as soft as the skies.

While the wolf waits below, hungry and lonely,

Crying to the moo-00-oon,

If only if only.”

But he changes the poem each time. He can make the book really tense. Like when the author made Stanley and Hector starving in the desert.

 

Holes which is written by Louis Sachar is about a boy getting punished for “stealing the shoes” of Clyde Livingston. Clyde is a famous basketball player. The boy in this book is called Stanley and he gets sent to Green Camp lake where he had to dig lots of holes. At the camp Stanley meets other people and starts to bond with one in particular, Zero. Zero is a boy who isn’t very smart and Stanley has to teach him to read and write. Suddenly zero tries a get away and everyone is camp tries to find him. No luck, But Stanley didn’t stop and he got his reward. He found him under a boat keeping himself alive with a gloopy juice. Stanley manages to persuade him back to camp and in no time they were back at home partying with Clyde Livingston.

The Author is trying to get a message across in this book. This message is that punishments can get as bad as this         (digging holes all the time). He has got very good description for example his “no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-Grandfather.” He also has lots of characters in the book ( Stanley, Squid, Clyde Livingston…) which needs to have good description. He has put two stories into one book because of when he tells the story of his Grandfather. I would say this is an adventure book because of the adventure Stanley goes on and all through the book where Stanley goes through different stages.

Personally I liked the book and I would rate it 4 1/2  out of 5. I liked this book because there was lots of description and there was never nothing interesting going on. So for example Stanley is always digging and finding something interesting. At the end of the book it is a surprise because He ends up sitting next to the person that he got accused of stealing his shoes. I would read this book again.

Tom’s Midnight Garden is a book I have read by Philippa Pearce. It was published in 1958 so the language in it is different from what we would see today. The genre is adventure, as Tom goes on an adventure around the garden. It is about a boy named Tom who has to go to his aunt and uncle’s house to stay temporarily because his brother, Peter, has measles.

When Tom first goes to his aunt and uncle’s, he was bored, but curious because there was a grandfather clock with a “13th hour.” He missed his brother and he couldn’t get to sleep, and when he saw the 13th hour on the clock, he sneaked out to the garden.

In the garden, he met a girl named Hatty, who ends up being one of the main protagonists in the story. Hatty says she is a princess, even though she is not, however that isn’t important the story. Time moves faster in the garden, so he can stay in there for a long time, even though it’s just an hour.

He ends up going to the garden every night, and something completely new happens every night. He meets someone called Abel, who is extremely protective over Hatty. Since everything moves faster in the garden, some big and important things an happen very quickly. A fir-tree that previously had an effect of the story came down, leaving it to never be mentioned again.

The book is quite a serious book, and doesn’t have much humor, but a funny bit in the book is when Tom and Hatty are fighting over which one of them might be a ghost.

At the end of the book, Tom and Hatty go skating down Ely, in one of the frostiest winters Ely had ever had. It didn’t take long to become winter, as it started of in summer, but became winter in only a couple of months.

A interesting quote from the book is: “Nothing stands still, except in our memory.”

In conclusion, I would rate the book 4/5, as it is a good and exciting book, but it can get boring sometimes.

When I got back to school I was given a book that is named holes. It had 50 chapters, every week I would read 8 chapters, It is a very interesting book that makes you want to read more. Holes had a lot of good VCOP and one of the best books Ive read so far! My favourite part of the book was when at the end Zero and Stanley get out of the juvinial camp and ended up rich because they found treasure and Stanleys dad made a deodrent for peoples feet and they get to meet clive livingston. This is an exaple of Mr sir being sarcastic “This isnt girl scouts,is it?” I would recomend reading Holes by Lewis Sachar, I give the book a 4/5!

This Book Review is about Captain Underpants, it is the 3rd epic novel by Dav Pilkey.

This Book was about a battle between Evil Cafeteria Ladies and Captain Underpants and he has 2 children called George and Harold from a school to help him.   At the start Captain Underpants Is a head teacher called Mr Krupp and he hated George and Harold but when one of the boys snapped their fingers he turns into Captain Underpants.

This book was very funny because of there was comics and this thing called Flip-o-Rama which is basically when you flip the page back and forth and in between you can add sound effects.  One of the funny jokes in the book was “I was at the shoe store buying a cheese burger” said captain underpants.

I would rate this book almost excellent because it’s so hilarious and I would recommend it to children and I think they will find it very funny.

On Wednesday 3rd October Port Ellen primary invited the older generation in the village into school to enjoy a lovely afternoon tea. There were scones and pancakes prepared by P1-3, sandwiches made by P4-6 and cupcakes made by P67 as well as shortbread made by Anne Holyoake. Children helped serve the tea and sat and chatted with the visitors, and they entertained them with dancing, singing, poetry, music and talks about their learning. More than 50 people came along, and there were 4 people over 90 present that afternoon, and the children really enjoyed spending time chatting and performing. Everyone joined in with a singalong of Birlinn Ghoraidh Chróbhain and a medley from WW1, while the gaelic choir practiced their songs before the Mod. The children even got to enjoy some cakes at the end too!

We have been learning the gaelic song Birlinn Ghoraidh Chróbhain as part of our Dunyvaig learning.  Godred Croven was one of the earliest settlers on Islay and probably used Dunyvaig as a base.

When the mighty Norwegian King Harold Hardrada was killed in battle in 1066, his Chief of Staff was Goraidh Crobhan (Godred of the white hand), who escaped and made his way to the Island of Islay, where his reputation as a clever and fearless warrior had gone before him. Men flocked to join him, and he was victorious in his battle with Fingal, King of Man and the Isles. He also fought successfully against Malcolm Canmore.  In our animation you can see him travelling a Birlinn to Islay from the Isle of Man.

Ghoraidh Chróbhain is best known on Islay in a legend where he cleverly kills a dragon that was eating people and cattle, so we decided to have him slay a sea monster in our video, xan you spot it?   He died in 1095 as a result of the plague that was sweeping the area and is said to be buried on Islay.

We used stop motion animation to film the story of the song, and also recorded us singing along.  We hope you enjoy the animation!

Here are the words:

Hóbhan na hóbhan hó, hi horó na hùbhan,
Hóbhan na hóbhan hó, Air Birlinn Ghoraidh Chrobhain

Fichead sonn air cùl nan ràmh,
Fichead buille lùghmhor,
Siùbhlaidh ì mar eun a’ snàmh,
Is sìoban thonn ‘ga sgiùrsadh.

Suas i sheòid air bàrr nan tonn !
Sìos gu ìochdar sùigh i !
Suas an ceòl is togaibh fonn,
Tha Mac an Righ ‘ga stiuireadh !

Dh’ fhàg sinn Manainn mòr nan tòrr,
Eireann a’ tighinn dlùth dhuinn,
Air Ile-an-Fheòir tha sinn an tòir
Ged dh’ èireas tonnan dùbh-ghorm.

Translation:

Hóvan, na hóvan ho,
Hee horó, na hóvan,
Hóvan, na hóvan ho
The barge of Gorrie Cróvan

Behind the oars, a score so brave,
A lusty score to row her,
She sails away like bird on wave,
While foaming seas lash o’er her.

Up she goes on ocean wave !
Down the surge she wails O,
Sing away; the chorus, raise,
A royal prince; he sails her !

The towers of Man we leave away,
Old Erin’s hills we hail O,
On Islay’s shore her course we lay
Though billows roar and rave O.”

 

On Wendnesday 29th August we went on a bus to go to Finlaggan. When we got there our class was the first to go and see all of the old buildings and island in the middle of the Loch.  When we were finished outside we went inside to see a lot of old things that the Lords of the Isles would use and other things they used in the medieval times and the family tree of one of the familys that lived there and facts about Finlaggan. When we were done that we got back on the bus but the bus was leaking oil so we had to drive to mundells yard to get a new bus and came back to school.

I enjoyed learning facts about Finlaggan and the best part was when we got there.

We have been learning about Dunyvaig Castle.  Our class did a lot of research and had learned what life was like in Dunyvaig castle.  Also what they wore and what they did in a castle.  We also went to the dig at Dunyvaig and include some of the facts we learned.  After our weeks of research we had to imagine we were someone in a castle writing a letter to a family member or a close friend. When we wrote the letters some of us wrote it from the time 1593 which someone at Dunyvaig found a seal with that date on it.  All of us used all the facts we had learned through are topic about Dunyvaig into our letter and when we went to the dig.  A few people in are class choose a mother or a father but the other people choose some people like Lord Campbell.

Dear Daughter

I have regretted switching clans this place is falling to bits. Because of those attacks from Lord Campbell. At the moment our leader is planning in the great hall are next attack on the Campbell! So many soldiers have been tacking out of the war and have been sent to the wise woman. If I was them I would not go and see her people have went in with two arms and have come out with one. Our leader is so mad with Lord Campbell.

Today the hunters have come back to the castle with a magnificent deer for dinner tonight. They were very quiet on their horse with the long bow ready to shoot. Everyone was setting the Great Hall up for the feast tonight. The minstrels were ready to sing and dance. At the moment my favourite song is Birlinn Ghoraidh Chrobhain.Finaly they have put the dear on the spit over the burning hot fire and ready to eat.

Yesterday we had a terrible storm we needed five men to close the sea gate. All of our Birlinn got destroyed our lead was so annoyed he said “What are we going to do if the Campbell’s attack us we have no escape boats until next week! “When the storm wa s happening all of the women went up to the solar room to sew a tapestry. It was a beautiful tapestry the embroidery thread added some colour into the castle. Currently everyone is really busies since that storm carpenters are making some more Birlinn in case of a battle. And the Black Smiths are making daggers, swords and spears. That is all for now I will keep you up to date with what is happening. 

Your Loving Mother                                                                       

 

 

 

In class we have been researching famous people from the time of Dunyvaig and Finalggan, from Godred Croven to John the II of Islay.  We have learned what life was like at the time and the family tree surrounding the lord of the Isles.  We created posters of the famous figures; below you can see our poster for Godred Croven and Somerled, two of the earliest characters associated with Islay.

 

 

 

 

P67 at Port Ellen have been recreating a letter from the time of Dunyvaig castle. They had to imagine a letter that might have been written and had a seal attached.  This is because there was a seal from 1593 discovered at this years dig at the castle; seals were used with wax to seal letters to make them official.  We have been using a seal in class to add to our letters, which we have aged using cold tea.  We melted wax in a spoon over a candle and then used a tree of life seal to imprint in the wax.  We think they look very authentic!