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P4/5 Trip to Port Charlotte
Yesterday P4/5 went to Port Charlotte. First we went to Port Mor swing park to have a play and then we went to see the chambered cairn that is in the field. I thought that it was pretty amazing that it is still there even after thousands of years.
Then we went to the museum and it was fun because we got to hold all the flint and stone hammers. There was a bit deer antler that was used as a hammer. I quite liked that we got to see the other things like the big huge lightbulb and the things from World War 2. Mara told the museum about her Grandpa Hector’s stone that he donated to the museum and they printed her off a copy of the Object Report. It said it was a flat stone with a carved cross.
After the museum we went to Port Charlotte school and we had lunch and a wee play the students showed us some Mesolithic bones and sheep hair from the past and broken pieces of pot .
By Mara and Ellen
P4/5 at Finlaggan
On our trip we went to Finlaggan and it was so nice. When we got there, there was a little cottage. It was a light brown and it looked brilliant. Me, Orla and Dearbhla got out of the car and hid next to another car to hide from the people in the mini bus. Everyone went in to the cottage and we met Mr Bell and Mr McCowan. We talked about Finlaggan and then we went to the islands.
At the little island there was once a big grey house and a Great Hall. It was amazing and cool because people where living there 1,000’s of years ago. We were put in to two groups, we went around the little Island there were lots of signs around the Island that told us lots of facts. Our group leader was Mr. McCowan. We saw old ruins and the old graveslabs. We saw where the well was and where the kitchen would have been.
After we had had the tour we got put into three groups to do some investigating of our own. We had to do measuring, maps and art. It was soon time for lunch which we had in the cottage. We also had a chance to look at some of the things that had been found during digs at Finlaggan. The most interesting thing I saw was the Lord of the Isles home.
I rely enjoyed that we got to go and see the stuff on Finlaggan
Before we headed back to school Mr McCowan and Mr Bell gave us some crunchy M and M’s – a tasty end to a great day!
Freya Porter P5
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Tell everyone about Parent Info
A number of schools have asked us about a Parent Info poster to put up around the school or send home to parents, telling them about the service.
Well, now we have one – and here it is!
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Harvest Tea
On the 12th of October at Port Ellen Primary School we had a Harvest Tea for the pensioners in the village. All the children baked cakes for all the pensioners, including ginger biscuits and tray bakes from P45, scones from P123 and iced buns from P567. They enjoyed listening to Port Ellen Gaelic choir and solos and poems from some of the pupils who are going to the Mod. P5/6/7 came down to join them and we chatted with the pensioners and we got to know them and we asked them what their school was like when they were younger and other different questions. While we chatted with them, Primary 45 read out some harvest poems they had written. P123 also read out what they had written about harvest, and they had made some lovely bunting for decoration. Next year we decided to do a bingo for everyone who comes! Everyone will hopefully take part next year as everyone had a great time and had a good laugh!
Matthew and Sarah
Stone Age Phone Age
Jack and Rowan Mesolithic Sway
Kaitlyn and Darren’s Sway
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Sophie and Taylor Stone Age Sway
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Struan and Lauren
RHYS AND REBECCA STONE AGE PHONE AGE
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Port Ellen Primary School’s Rugby Trip
On Tuesday 4th October Port Ellen primary went to Bowmore on a rugby trip with other schools on the island. First I did tag rugby and then I did skill practice and then touch rugby and then bull dogs. I learned that no matter what you have to run forward in rugby. When it was lunch time everyone ran to the grass where our pack lunch was. I had cheese sandwiches, some crisps, some ribena cartons and a banana. Then in the afternoon we only did rugby and also we got a snack which was a bottle of water and a fruit bar donated by the Islay Rugby club, who also paid for our bus which was very kind. It was very fun.
Mod 2016
This year for the Mod Port Ellen Choir are going to Stornaway. The Mod is on the 19th October. We are going to sing a puirt a bueil, and two unisons. I think we are doing pretty well so far and I am looking forward to the Mod. Some people are doing a solo, poem or a duet and I am doing the three. Soon we are going to have a fundraiser event to earn money for the costs of going to the Mod called the Pre Mod concert, we have to sing at it and some people are doing their solos, poems and duet. I am very excited to go to this mod too and I hope we will win something this year. We are going to the Mod in a short time and hopefully we will be ready for this year! We are against Bowmore Primary choir and many other choirs. We are singing at the Mod because we want to win and show people how good we are. We have learned to control our voice and to sing high and low notes very accurately a good pace when we are singing and learn and read Gaelic and sing Gaelic.
By Rowan and Kaya.
P5/6/7 Mesolithic Quest Tales
On Monday 3rd October P5/6/7 wrote Mesolithic quest tales for their clans. The clans are Orca clan, Golden Eagle clan, Artic Fox clan and Red Deer clan. Each clan had a different tale to work on and we had to have a hero to overcome a problem in the tale. While writing the quest tale we learned how to add onomatopoeia, personification, similes and metaphors into our writing and include paragraphs. Everyone in each clan gets filmed when they are telling their part of the quest tale.
Our Trip To The Woods
On Wednesday 5th October, P5/6/7 from Port Ellen Primary School went to Cairnmore woods to live in Mesolithic times. At school we all have four clans, The Golden Eagle Clan, The Arctic Fox Clan, The Orca Clan and the Red Deer Clan. In our clans we got given a leaf and we had to find out what tree the leaf came from and then when we were at the woods we had to find a tree in our clans that aaas the same tree as the leaf. We then made a den at the woods. We made a model of a village for our clan and an actual den. The Golden Eagle clan had a beach tree. The 
Arctic Fox clan had a sycamore tree. The Orca clan had an oak tree and The Red Deer clan had the ash tree. The Golden Eagle Clan had a tree and they made their den under it and made the model outside. They also had a spy hole where they could see the Orca clan who had a mud trap near them. The Arctic Fox Clan’s base was a fallen over tree that we could get over to get to our den but the rest of our base had a massive mud pile in and we used some of the mud to make our mini village. We did a hunt for sweets, this was to improve our hunter gathering skills. The Orca clan got the most sweets. We also made clay tree spirits to leave guarding our dens. We had really good fun. We learned to observe objects better than we did before. We hope to go back soon.
Making a Fire and Gutting Fish
On Wednesday 5th October p5,6,7 went on a trip to the woods. After we had made our dens and completed some challenges we went to have our lunch near the beach. When we went to the beach Mr Gairns had set up a fire for us to have our lunch round, and we had brought firewood from the woods to put on our fire. When we had finished all our lunch some of us went to gut some trout so we could put it on the fire to cook and we also got to roast home grown apples as well. We put the trout and apples on sticks to cook them and when they were cooked they tasted delicious. We also got to try other Mesolithic foods for our lunch, cockles and nuts. Not many people liked the cockles but we did like the trout and apples. It was interesting to see what food would have been like in Mesolithic times.
Percussion at Port Ellen
Port Ellen Primary School have just got some colourful, outdoor drums for our playground. The drums have been put in beside our stage which has just been done up. They look good together as they are both bright and beautiful. Ellen and Morgan think they are loud, popular and FUN! There are five sizes of drums and they all make different sounds. All the pupils and staff are very happy with them.
The school got a grant of £500 from the Fourteen Fund and the same from Diageo. The drums cost £1600 so the rest of the money came from the Parent Council. The school paid for the stage to be fixed. The pupils and staff would like to say a huge “Thank You” to everyone who helped to make it possible.
The drums are a great addition to the playground and the pupils think they are amazing.
Aiden Munro (P4) said “The drums are really good to play with because they make different sounds”. Mrs Campbell (Treasurer from the Parent Council) said “The drums look and sound fantastic”.
By Rhuraidh Blair (P4) and Aiden Munro (P4)
Primary Rugby festival Bowmore 4th October 2016
120 Children from across Islay and Jura took part in the Active Schools Primary Rugby Festival. Having already taken part in a series of coaching sessions with Allan Wright Rugby Development Officer over a series of weeks the children were looking forward to the festival. Children from P4/5 and P5/6/7 from Port Ellen took part.
During the day the children took part in several drill’s and games to develop their skills. These sessions were refereed by nine of the Islay High School Sports Leaders. The Children’s skills noticeably improved as the day progressed. A special thanks goes to the Islay Rugby club for organising some of the travel and snacks for the Children who attended.
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