On Tuesday 3rd October 2017 primary 6/7 made a delicious buffet for elders in the local community. Some of the delicious food that were available: Bramble muffins, pancakes, tomato soup, egg sandwiches, nettle soup, bramble meringues, oat and apple cookies, bramble and apple cakes and jam sandwiches. After everyone got welcomed and took a seat the P6/7s told everyone about the feast. While everyone ate some people from the class were on a table with each other and we had to talk to the people on our table. Soon after everyone had had a wee bit to eat the Gaelic choir sang some beautiful songs and some of the choir did poems and solos. After the Gaelic choir sang the Primary School band played some songs. The instruments that were played were the flute and the clarinet. The final thing that happened was primary 1,2 and 3 did some poems and they sounded lovely. Everyone had a great time, enjoyed the entertainment and very much appreciated our lovely foods.
Sarah
In Port Ellen Primary there were new captains chosen for the different houses. Most houses have one captain and two vice captains but this year Nave, one of the houses, had three vice and one captain. All the houses are based on an Island around Islay. Orsay’s captain is Rowan Morris and their vice-captains are Matthew Campbell and Sophie Macdonald. Texa’s captain is Rebecca Morris and their vice captains are Jack Shaw and Abi Logan. Nave’s captain is Lauren Macdonald and their vice captain are Sarah Maclennan, Taylor Swanson and Mara Magilvery. All of the houses have chosen a foundraiser and a sport for each tearm.
On Friday 30th September an author came in to p6/7 called Barbra Henderson and she talked to us about her books and one of them was called Fir For Luck. She also talked to us about her newest book called Punch and it is not out in the real world yet but we are the first to hear it. We have heard the first chapter of it. She also choose some of us to act out some of the parts of the story. At the end she gave us all a bookmark and the choices were Punch or Fir For Luck. I loved acting out one of the parts in Fir For Luck. I learned that one of her books had 37,000 words. We also learned she has writen more that ten book but not all of them are published. We enjoyed the author coming in and we hope that another author comes in soon.
 
In class we all researched an engineer. I researched aerospace engineering. To be an aerospace engineer you have to have a lot of qualifications such as: Software engineering, electrical engineering, you need to know mathematics, you need to have applied some physics, manufacturing engineering and you need to have completed some space related courses. They also need to have a lot of different skills like: To be able to think creatively, problem solving, strong knowledge of aerospace systems, organizational skills, time-management and writing skills. This job includes: applying science and technology to create aircraft, researching and developing designs.It also includes taking part in flight test programs to measure take-off distances, measuring and improving the performing of aircraft and investing aircraft accidents. Now I definitely know more about aerospace engineering that I knew before. I was very interested when I was learning about it and I would like to do it again.
We have been finding out about different types of engineering. An auto engineer is an engineer that works with vehicles. This job involves working on computers and fixing cars. The average salary is up to £28,000. To be an auto engineer you need to be good at maths and be good at dealing with technology, but most important you have to have good group work to get the job done. You would also have to think about seeing when working with Vehicles. It would also help if you had a degree. I thought that it would be good to be an auto engineer because you always have a task to get done with a team.
We have been learning about Engineering. We have been looking at the Engineering habits of mind here are some and what they mean. Curiosity: asking lots of questions about something. Open- mindedness: showing and telling new ideas. Resilience: don’t give up. Resourcefulness: always organized. Collaboration: able to work in a group. Reflection: look back at your work and rethink your ideas. Visualising: think in your head about what you think your idea is going to turn out like.  We have been learning these because the whole schools topic is Engineering. I think that I have learned how to work in a group, how to ask questions, to keep working hard and never give up and how to look back at my work and improve it to make it better. I also learned that Engineers are not just men some engineers are women as well.
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.
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.
    
