NEWS

On Thursday 21st of March P6/7’s from every school on Islay and Jura went to Bowmore Hall to dance. We started at 10am and finished at around 12pm. We did the Canadian Barn Dance, Gay Gordans, Mrs McLeod and the Bamkin. We all liked the Flying Scotsman, Strip the Willow and the Virginia Reel. They were fun because they were fast and energetic. It was really fun dancing with children from other schools and we could meet the people we will be going to high school with. Thank you to Mrs Cameron and Mrs Shaw for teaching us all the dances and Bowmore primary for supplying juice and crisps for half time.

By Eilidh and Elinor

This year the whole of Islay are putting together a big thing where all the musical groups on Islay take part, like choirs, soloist and instrumentalists.  the reason this project is taking place is because 2 years ago (2011) the Islay feis done a famous poem by an Islay bard(poet) called William Livingstone, the poem was called The Battle of Traigh Gruinart, a very talented lady called Clare Jordan put the poem to fantastic music. All the choirs will learn the song in different parts , the junior choirs will only learn some parts whereas the adult choir will learn all the songs. It will be very tiring yet very fun and exciting.

On Tuesday 23rd April, Mrs Onions came in and talked to us about art. There was lots of different artists and paintings and we had to look at the styles and textures that the artists used. We researched lots of paintings, then we would pick our favourite one and then we had to choose what we would use to colour our pictures in. Mrs Onions also set out a bottle of wine and a bowl of fruit incase we wanted to pick that for our picture. So we all picked different ones and then we started to colour them in.

Three weeks ago we started making Eco ferries for a competition. We had great time building them. We built four prototypes and four real builds as well. There was two well built boats and two boats that were falling apart. So the two best built boats were altered and entered. One was wind powered and one was paddle and part wind and propeller. They were both made out of recycled materials and glue. Lets hope one or the other wins.  We tested them in the sea.

by Ewan and Cameron

We have a visitor called Mrs Negretti and she comes from the south of Switzerland and she speaks Italian. Instead of cars to get to their house they walk or take the cable car but if they need to deliver furniture or get to the hospital they get a helicopter. They have take the cable car or walk because there are so many mountains. Mrs Negretti teaches 3 schools and teaches them all arts and crafts. Mrs Negretti loves walking, reading,cooking, singing and dancing.

Today we had a glow meet, with our partner school in Delhi in India. We partnered up with P3/4 to ask  children from India three questions. We wanted to find out about their life style, and ask quistions like, have they ever gone camping? Have they been out of India before? What is their living space like?

We found out that they live in three story buildings, their favourite food is burger and pizza, they listen to Taylor Swift and Western music as well as traditional Punjabi music, they like Hollywood films like James Bond and they do a lot of reading.  Our Gaelic folk group also performed their first international concert playing traditional Scottish music.  It was really interesting and next time we hope to do a Glow Meet where we can celebrate Holi, the Hindu festival, together.

Primary 6/7 were learning about  wave power and decided that we would make wave power devices and my groups name was called DUNLLY!!! and we tested it in the sea. Our device had one problem at the beginning of the design, we couldn’t get the LED light to work but managed to problem solve and sandpapered the wires to get the light to flash in the waves. We changed  the light around until we managed to get it to flash, it was really hard to make it generate electricity but we managed it in the end. But I think every group had a problem. When we were making the designs we got better at our communication skills, also there was another group called The DOUGHNUT Device they had a problem it sunk instead of floating, but eventually they made electricity too.

In about three weeks p7 will be having cycling proficiency with there janitor Mr Gairns and another person who is trained to help us.  Through the course we will learn to indicate and the skills we need to learn to cycle on the road. We all have a choice whether to do it or not.  We will do some of it in our school playground and some out on the village road.  I can’t wait till I start.

By Liam and Reece

On Tuesday 26th March the Port Ellen Primary school and the Pre 5 unit took part in an Easter egg competition. We do this every year and if you take part or win 1st 2nd or anything else you would get points for your house and you would also get a Easter egg! Each class has it’s own competition and if you win you get 100 points and if you get 2nd you get 75. If you enter you get 50. This year Texa and Nave both got 1100 and Orsay got 975 points. There was Egg Craft, The ReserEGGsion of Christ and Eggie the Eagle. Everybody tried really hard and we all liked looking at the different eggs!
By Danni and Elinor.

Recently we have been having lots and lots and lots of snow and wind making power lines to snap and fall over, some of us were without power for over 24 hours. The isle of Arran are STILL without power and might not have power until Friday, workers and electricians are working hard trying to get power back on the road for everyone. Port Ellen Primary School’s internet is routed through Arran and since Arran is down the Port Ellen Primary has no internet, which means we missed our second Glow meet with India. There was a weekend with cold dinners and no toast and tea but thankfully everything (apart from Arran) is back to normal.

By Emily & Cameron

On Wednesday 6th of March it was World Maths Day. This is when we go onto World Education Games and play maths games against people from all over the world. You can collect medals and try to get into the hall of fame. It’s really fun looking at peoples avatars because some have blue hair or are in the sea! Everybody loves seeing who they’re going to play against and we try to play a game against eachother.
By Elinor

This years World book day started on the morning of Thursday 7th March and Port Ellen started by dressing up as your favourite book character and bringing in your favourite book. I dressed up as Tanya from bad Girls by Jacqueline Wilson. Elinor was  Miss Marple from Agatha Christie, Ellen was Tracy Beaker from the Story of Tracy Beaker by Jacqueline Wilson and Danni was Miss Bat, the chanting mistress from The Worst Witch Strikes Again by Jill Murphy. Lots more people were also dressed up as their favourite character. Port Ellen had a great day and we all stayed in character up until school ended.

By Emily

For the the last few weeks P6/7 at Port Ellen Primary School have been doing Scottish Country Dancing. They have been learning lots of dances for a big dance up at Bowmore. At Bowmore they will be meeting lots of people from other schools and they will dance with them at the big dance off. They will be dancing the Bampkin, CircleWaltz, Flying Scotsman, Canadian Barn Dance, Strip The Willow,Virgina Reel, Gay Gordon, Saint Bernands Waltz and Miss Macloud.  Dancing is fun.

By Asher and Danni

Our new topic in science is electricity and how it is created. During the February Holidays we had homework! It was to design on paper a new wave machine device (to create electricity). When we got back to school we put our ideas together into one big one. So far we have made a power point on our own device and lots of different devices we learnt about. We have also made a big version of our new device on paper and a prototype made out of K-Nex. The 4 designs are called: The Dunlly, The Doghnut Device, The ERCEE and The Super Sweeper! We are entering the designs into the Saltire Awards JR.

By Emily Logan