On Tuesday 20th June all of the p7’s and S1’s joined together to do a problem solving morning in the high school. We had to go round to different stations and complete lots of different challenges. After we have completed the challenges we have to get a mark form the older people that were at each station. We had to get either a mark of 0,5 or 10. You got a 10 if you figured out the answer to the problem and got it right. You got a 5 if you nearly got it and had good teamwork and talking and you got a 0 if you didn’t work together and didn’t get the answer. I enjoyed doing this because it made us think about lots of different types of questions and how to work them out. It was also good fun because it was like an early induction day and we got to meet and talk to lots of people who we will go to high school with. Doing this challenge we did numeracy and literacy. My team won the numeracy and the overall points. I think everyone enjoyed those tasks and had lots of fun.
Sports Day 2017
After several cancellations, the Port Ellen Sports Day finally went ahead! The races were hotly contested from start to finish, with Texa finally coming out overall winners. Well done to Sophie for winning the Girls Championship and Struan and Ruaraidh jointly claiming the boys title. Many thanks to Donnie MacDonald, a past Championship winner, for presenting the prizes. Take a look at the slideshow below!
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Scottish Education STEM award winners!
On Wednesday 8th June, two members of staff and three pupils from Port Ellen Primary flew to Glasgow to attend the Scottish Education Awards. The school had got through to the finals of the Science, Technologies, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Award along with another primary school and a high school. Assessors visited the school back in March to see STEM activities in class, speak to children about their experience of STEM learning and talk to staff about the development of STEM in Port Ellen.
Charlet Rose Munro, Rowan Morris and Natalie Logan were very excited to attend such a large event………and we were all even more surprised to be announced winners! The award was sponsored by BAE systems and the presenter told the girls that he was very happy to see girls being so keen on science and engineering and that he hoped he might see some of them working for the company in the future. It is predicted that the UK will have a huge shortage of scientists and engineers in the near future.
This award reflects a high level of commitment to STEM learning throughout the school, from Pre-5 to P7. We all feel that encouraging children to be curious about the world around them leads to high levels of engagement in learning and that STEM subjects promote creativity, problem solving, co-operation, resilience and reflection. The school was recognized as having ‘an adaptable and resourceful teaching team who makes best use of the local environment and technology……..and that by engaging in partnerships, the school supports and extends the development of skills for life, learning and work.’ We are all very chuffed to have achieved this recognition.
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P567 Endeavour
Every Wednesday afternoon we do Endeavour, Endeavour is a personal topic that we learn about or a year. at the end of the year we have an Endeavour fair to show what we have achieved in the year, different Endeavour topics in our class are:
Holly-birds Sophie-animations Lauren-bath and beauty
Ellie-toys from the past Kaitlyn-cake decorating Abi-photography
Sarah-giant pandas Natalie-horse care/riding Eva-beauty and skin care
Struan-the body Darren-golf history Andre-graphic novel
Aaron-art Rhys-kodu Taylor-sports
Matthew-comics Jack-golf Charlie-the Cal mac boats
Aidan- deforestation Ruaraidh-book making Rowan-magic tricks
Rebecca-Islay kids website Kaya-poetry Ciaran-engineering
Sports Champions
On Thursday 8th June sports day will be held at Port Ellen Primary School. For the sports championships we have/will be doing cross country, distance throw, football dribble, long jump, baskets, obstacle course, high jump, hurdles and on the day of sports day we will be doing 100m sprint. We are doing sports championships because we like to have fun, enjoy ourselves and to play sports to get fitter. We also have trophy’s and medals that people win for coming 1st, 2nd or 3rd. When you do the activities you get points, 1st=100 points, 2nd=75 points, 3rd=50 taking part=25 points.
Port Ellen Primary School Tapestry Time Line
On Thursday 18th May Port Ellen primary made a timeline out of tapestries. It was right from the Mesolithic times to WWII. Some of the timelines we made were The Battle of Trigh Guniart, Port Ellen in 1820s, Kildalton Cross, Finlaggan, Higland Clearenses, WW11 Boat Planes, Tuscania and Kilbride Chapel. Everyone in the school took part, with help from the Islay Quilters and other members of the local community and some people made a banner for the Feis as well. A lot of the tapestries are for monuments in the past and the timeline will help us remember our history.
Animations For Primary 7 Leavers Assembly
The primary 7s at Port Ellen Primary will be going to High School soon and every year when primary sevens leave the class P5/6/7 help make a video to show on the last week of school about the Primary sevens. This year we have included animations to go with the poem “If” by Rudyard Kipling. Everyone in the class created a short animation to go with a line from the poem. To create an animation we used IMotion. We had to make sure that the animations went with the line of the poem we had picked. The animations took a long time because you take a photo of something then you have to move it a little bit more then it keeps going like that. We hope you like the finished movie.
Port Ellen Community Festival
On Friday 26th may in port Ellen at the co-op beach there was a community festival. They were selling cakes, drinks and toys. Up to a certain time the burgers and drinks were free however eventually the burgers and drinks were £2.50. All the stores were giant tents and they were constantly crowded.
Most of the people from the school were there and people from all over Islay where there too. More than one hundred people were just wandering around, either playing on the beach or talking. There was about 5 people running each store and they were constantly busy.
Some people were sitting down on the beach however no one went too close too the water as everyone wanted to buy something when the lines went down. The toy store shut down at about half seven however most other stores were still running.
Most people started leaving at around about eight to either go to their home or just to have a walk around the beach. The stores started to close and go out of stock so people shut down their store which made people leave.
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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.
Digital Learning
Through this year P5/6/7 have been using lots of technology to help with their learning. Some people have been using technology for their Endeavour project like Rebecca, Rhys, Sophie, Rowan and Taylor.
Rebecca is doing A documentary on Islay and she is also making a website. Rebecca’s website has made her endeavour better because more people will be able to see it rather than her telling them. Rebecca has already made a logo and completed 4 pages, 3 more to go. She hopes it will be completed by 31st May.
Rhys is doing Kodu for his Endeavour so everything he does is on the computer. He has completed 11 levels already and is hoping to create as much levels as possible.
For Charlie’s Endeavour he has learnt about Calmac and how long it has been running and also about all the ferries and boats, and he records this in a blog.
Sophie is doing animations and has completed 10 she is hoping to complete 12 all together.
Ciaran has made a sway for his Endeavour about his Endeavour which is electricity. He has found out about what electricity is, what electrons make, how electricity travels and how fast it travels.
Rowan has made an iMovie of her performing magic tricks.
Taylor has been working on a documentary for his Endeavour, his Endeavour is on different sports you can do on Islay he has videoed himself cycling around Islay using a Go Pro.
We have used scratch with Mr Shakespeare. In scratch you can create quizzes or games and anything is possible.
Figure is an app that makes music which we have also used in class. Everyone has enjoyed using it and it has also helped us understand music a lot more like crescendos and diminuendos which has helped us learn in a more fun way.
Garageband is also another useful app you can use to make music but you can add voices into it. Eva and Natalie have been experimenting with garageband by singing gaelic songs.
There are lots of things you can do in the classroom to help you with your work and most of this is using technology and this is just some of them.
Mini Doc on our Kilbride Chapel Survey
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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.
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Computational Thinking Science
On Wednesday 15th March 2017 primary six and seven from all over the island and Small Isles went to the Islay High School to do STEM. S stands for Science, T stands for Technology, E stands for Engineering and M stands for Maths. We learned what Computational Thinking was and examples of when we can use it. An example of Using Computational Thinking is Debugging because Debugging means fixing and finding Errors and an Example of when you use Debugging is if you are coding a game and it glitches you can debug the glitch so your game does not glitch. I felt like the Computational Thinking was really helpful to understand what I was doing with technology.
Islay Heritage
On Thursday 23rd March primary 5/6/7 walked to the ruins of Kilbride Chapel in order to survey it as part of the Islay Heritage Schools Project. For this project all the schools on Islay visited the Giant’s Grave earlier in the year and then worked with Reading University to choose a monument close to their school which they would then adopt and survey to find out more about it. Port Ellen’s site was Kilbride chapel and they surveyed the site using geophysics, archaeology photography, scale drawing and by making a documentary.
Rob showed us how to do the geophysics; there was machine and that went into the ground with electricity to see if they could find anything else about the land around the Chapel. The geophysics 
worked by sending an electrical current through the ground and if there was a higher reading then there was a rock under the ground this is because it takes more energy to get through the rock. If there was a lower reading that means that there would of been water because it didn’t use lots of energy to get through it. To use the geophysics you would stick both spikes into the ground and wait for a beep then move onto the next spot a certain distance away. We were all glad that people from the University Of Reading to come over and help us as they were very interesting and taught us lots. The data we gathered from the geophysics will actually be used in the final report on the site which is very exciting.
We were also doing archaeology photography with Alex. Before you take the picture you have to remember two things. The first thing to remember is you need to put the measuring stick onto where you are taking a picture of so you have a scale to know how big the things in the photo are, and you have to remember to use the right size measuring stick. The other thing to remember is to put a chalkboard with the sites name, where it is, what it is and what direction it is taken from. You also need to put a north arrow pointing to north. You have to fill in a register after taking a picture. You have to write the site name and the description from the chalkboard, what direction it was from and lots more. This is so that people in the future know what it was about. The site name was KIL17 for Kilbride chapel in 2017. We enjoyed taking accurate photos.
We were also did photography and filming and you had to put up a big 5m pole to sit 
the camera on and you have to make sure that the camera is screwed on properly so it won’t fall off. The archaeologists helped us with all of this. We also made a documentary and it was about what we were doing at Kilbride Chapel and we had to use a radio microphone to record. Showing us how to do things properly is one of the reasons Islay Heritage is so good.
The last activity we did was making an accurate scale drawing of the chapel with Darko. We did this by measuring all the sides and scaling it down properly on graph paper with a scale of 1:50. The picture 
looked really cool and showed us what the chapel looks like-it had really thick walls and was a lot smaller than we thought it would be. We checked our drawing was correct using a GPS positioning pole. We learned lots of new skills and at the end we got to see the results of the geophysics in school and it showed that there might have been an enclosure around the chapel and we were the people who found out that evidence which was very exciting! We then drew pictures of what we thought it might have been like in the past before it fell down.
We want to say thank you to Islay Heritage because they have helped us with all our archaeological digs and surveys by showing us what you need to know to be an archaeologist . We have also found out lots more about our local heritage and know that Islay is an amazing place with lots of history waiting to be discovered. Without them none of this learning would have been possible and they have helped us know more about where we live and what it used to be like. We appreciate all the help we get from Islay Heritage. THANK YOU ISLAY HERITAGE!
By Kaitlyn and Rowan
Comic Relief
Today the 24th of March is comic relief. We have dressed up in red and have been selling cakes and red
noses. All the money goes to Comic Relief. We are pleased to say that we raised £200!!! Hopefully we raise that much next year. Thank you to everyone who took part in this fun day and to all the people who brought some cakes in.
By Sophie and Holly
Trip To Lighthouse Glasgow for Awards
On the 22nd March 2017 two pupils from Port Ellen Primary School went to the Lighthouse in Glasgow to receive their reward for the My place photography competition run by the Scottish Civic Trust. Those two boys were Matthew Campbell, overall winner in the primary category, and Ruaraidh Macdonald, runnner up. Ruaraidh and Matthew got two canvases, one for the school and one for their family and Matthew also got a camera for himself and for the school. The two of them went up to the front one by one to accept their awards. After the ceremony Matthew had to stay for more photos with the rest of the winners from the My Place Awards and My Place Photography Competition. They both enjoyed the day and were really proud to have done so well in a national competition. To read more go to http://www.scottishcivictrust.org.uk/news/my-place-award-winners-2017/
by Ruaraidh and Matthew
