NEWS

There was a Gaelic awareness day at Port Ellen primary school and all through the day we were doing lots of Gaelic activities.   Clare Jorden came in to help us sing Godred Crovan and she let us do harmonies and play musical instruments.  After lunch we had a game of Gaelic bingo and I was the first person to get a house. This is what you say when you get a house in Gaelic ‘thi’ that means house and we did exercises as well.
by Maisie, primary 5

Major General Alexander McDougall was one of the most important men involved in the American War of Independence. At Portantruan where he was born, a cairn to him was unveiled last Thursday, 1st September. This young boy, born on Islay in 1732, grew up to be a truly great man.
We went to Portantruan in a minibus and then we climbed a small hill to get to the cairn. It was overlooking the Major General’s place of birth. Lord George Robertson, people from the Bank of New York, Mr Oglivary and Mr Reavey from the Museum of Islay Life were there along with some invited guests. Lord Robertson gave a speech and then we left. The others went to have lunch.
The Major General was born in 1732 at Portantruan. His family left Islay to go to America when he was only 6 years old. When he was 14 he became a merchant seaman and then a privateer. The British put him in prison for five months because he thought that America should not be ruled by the British. After the war, he became the first President of the New York Bank. He died when he was only 53. His last act was to be carried on a stretcher to vote against paper money.
I was very honoured to have been invited to the unveiling and I thought that it was very interesting what Major General Alexander McDougall did. It proves to me that if you work really hard you can do anything you want. I wonder what he could have achieved if he had lived longer?
By Elinor Baker (P6)

On the 21st of June p4/5 and p1/2 from Port Ellen primary went to the local beach for a beach clean in the afternoon.  They picked up lots of rubbish and lots of plastic bags. They had a play after and made sand castles and then made a boat out of sand.

On Thursday 16th June 2011 primary 4/5 had a glow meet with the great author Andy Stanton, he writes Mr Gum books,they are really funny. He talked to us about his first book which was called You’re a Bad Man Mr Gum, he wrote it for his cousin 9 years ago. Then he warned us about him drinking water then going aaahhhhhh! It looked really weird, so he did that almost every 10 minutes but it was really funny and I think all of Primary 45 loved it.

by Emily P5

On Monday 20th June the first quail egg hatched it was Reece’s egg.It hatched two days early. It took the chick a long time to hatch from the egg. James’s egg was the second to hatch. James was holding the egg when it hatched Mrs McDonald also saw the egg hatch. We took the incubator which the chicks were in downstairs for school grounds open day. Alica’s egg hatched downstairs.  Now some of the chicks are in a brooder which is a box with a heat lamp. Another few chicks have hatched over night. One of the chicks died, which is sad.
Elinor.

On 20th July 2011 was Port Ellen primary schools open day.  It was a very exciting and busy day!  We had the giant monopoly, the lovely baking, a book swap and even real live chicks!  While the open day was running, Lord Robinson came to our school and he was talking to us about our school and he just wasn’t here to talk to us he was also here to judge a photo competition.  All the photos were amazing but he had to choose a 1st a 2nd and 3rd.  Mrs Cusworth came to plant her lovely tree in the front of our school, it was a weeping cherry tree and it was a very nice moment. Lord Robinson said the 3rd is Beth 2nd is Ellen and 1st is Elinor! So that was a good time for everybody.  Everybody would of been tired but it wasn’t over there was a yummy barbecue on at night! There were mums and dads selling burgers, there was nail painting, football and a big photo exhibition for people to look at.  There was also a disco on on while the barbecue was going. and there was kids dancing for a long time but then sadly it was time to go home and everybody enjoyed their day at Port Ellen primary school.

By Ellen

On Monday 20th June 3 0f p4/5’s quail eggs hatched. My egg was the first egg to hatch. When we came in it had a wee crack in it then we had to go for a business meeting and when we came back up it was hatched. A while after another egg was hatching. It was james’s egg it was 2nd to hatch. James’s hatched on his hand. Then Alicia’s egg hatched. Over night Eilidh’s egg hatched but it’s not well. When the quails came out at first they were all slimy but two hours after they get all fluffy.

BY REECE P5

On Monday 20th June it was the photography competition. It was also school grounds open day. All the children in the school took photos to enter the competition.Lord Robertson judged the competition.  Some of the pictures were of plants others were of animals there were also some landscapes. It looked like a very difficult decision Lord Robertson had to make.  Beth came in 3rd, Ellen in second and I came first. We all got a prize and had our photo taken. Ellen and Beth got sweets and I got a book token.
Elinor.

On Wednesday 15th June 2011 all the children and parents came to the school to join Mrs Cusworth’s retirement concert at 6:30. during the night we had piping,highland dancing,solo singing,class songs and duets. The whole night was wonderful, at the end Mrs Cusworth was in tears but she still read out her speech that she had written that morning and for the finally we got a bunch of people from the school,2 from each class went up behind the stage and got her presents.we got her a big weeping cherry tree,a wooden chair with a brass sign so that she can remember us , we got her a box of chocolates and a really big card.the whole night was absolutely fabulous and we hope that Mrs Cusworth had a really great night.by Emily P5

On Saturday 4th June we went to the Islay Mod. It was an exciting day, people shivering with tension. ELLEN-I did a solo and a poem, and it was the best experience ever. The choir sang 4 songs, and won three firsts. We really liked the 2 part.
It was amazing to win so much and sing in the concert. It was such a thrill.
Ellen and Helen

Click below to hear a gaelic poem read by Ellen and Ruby

Gaelic Poem Read by Ellen and Ruby

On the 9th June me and Scott went to the Science centre in Glasgow along with Ellen, Emily, Ewan and Eilidh. We did a presentation in front of 4 judges of our Mission SOS topic. Afterwards we did some STEM challenges, they were fun and quite tricky. After that we went to the Imax to find out we had won an amazing prize of £250 for the best presentation on the day. It was a really great trip.
Jason and Scott.

On Friday 10th June schools from all over Islay went to Bowmore for multisports day. We did lots of different sports, for instance football, touch rugby, hockey, sprinting and handball. We all enjoyed it very much and it was very good fun.
By Elinor

At sports day it turned out to be a good day to have races. We had the three legged race and of course the relay and much, much, more. I really enjoyed the three legged race because me and Reece won for the second time in a row. In the relay all the houses took part and Orsay won all three relays. In the senior championship Bailey and Anna won the trophy. I thought sports day was great.
By Calum and Robbie

P4/5 have been doing a topic about life cycles.I am doing a topic on a rose life cycle.I am doing it with Calum and he is doing a penguin.P4/5 is doing life cyles and we went on brain pop.We all got partners to do the life cycles.We are all enjoying it and having great fun.

In the classroom we have our very own Quail eggs. We each have our own one. We put them in the incubator to hatch. Once the quails come out of the egg they are all slimey. A few weeks after they grow feathers.  Our eggs will hatch on the 23rd of June.

Alicia and Reece

On the 28th of April 2011 Port Ellen Primary had a royal wedding lunch. There was lovely roast beef and bright orange carrots. But my favorite bit was the beautiful chocolate ice cream and chocolate fudge cake, it was great fun.

By Liam

I went to the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh for the Inspired Get Writing Awards. I was awarded with a special merit which means I was in the top ten. I really enjoyed the day.

By Scott

To make your own piggy bank you blow up a balloon and cover it in layers of newspaper. Let it dry and paint it and add accessories and you’ll need to make a coin slot.

By Calum Campbell

Lots of exciting things have been happening in P1/2 since Easter. We found a map of The Land Of Me in our classroom and we drew what we thought the places on the map might look like. We then worked together to plan how we could recreate each of these areas within our classroom transforming it into The Land Of Me.
We had to be very organised and collect lots of materials.
We invited our mums and dads to come and help us make The Land Of Me on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Everyone was very excited as we worked together making, painting, building and designing. It was great fun having so many of our mums and dads working with us.
We worked really hard and our classroom looks fantastic! We even have a real forest and a cave which we can play in.
Some of the animals who live in the Land Of Me have come to stay in our class for a wee holiday and want us to teach them all about the wildlife of Islay so we are going to be very busy!

It was science week last week, primary 4 to 7 were doing a lot of science on the 17th March. We were trying to solve Japan’s horrible earth quake by trying to separate a handful of the dust from the quake. It was so hard! We were learning how to separate mixtures. I have learnt so much from how to separate mixtures. It was so fun!

By James and Ellen

On the 23 of March some people came in to talk to us about submarines. There was a lot of information. The royal navy submarine was the same length as a football pitch. They had no phones so they could not contact their family. And they had to share a bathroom, and a bed, but not at the same time! I think it would be not good to be in a submarine. Because they didn’t get to contact their family. The royal navy helped us with our round house. They painted our benches brown. We got some gifts from them. We got a hat and a picture of their submarine and a sticker. I thought it was brilliant.
By Alicia