On Wednesday 13th March, All the P7’s from Islay went to the High-School for a science day. There were three classes split up between all the P7’s. Mr Harrison’s class: chemistry, Mrs Moran: biology, Mr Kitching: Science.

In chemistry we had flasks with acid water stuff and different liquids and mixed them, we timed them the more high concentrated liquid the faster it changed colour. At the end there was a big glass vase with water and when we mix it it changed colour.

In Science we used Bunson Burners we connected them to a pipe then turned on the gas and fire came out. We got cabbage and water and put them on top of the Bunson Burners and got the dye and added it to other colours to mix.

In Biology we got taught about algae and made little green balls of algae  and put them in the dark and the light where they grew; the ones in the light grew and the ones in the dark didn’t

Over all we all enjoyed it and can’t wait to go to High School.

On Friday the 15th of March it was Comic Relief.  We got to wear red or spots and nearly everyone was wearing red and we sold all our red noses.  The first thing we did was a dance-a-thon using Just Dance; it was really fun and tiring. After break we did Catherine Ryans favourite cupcake challenge and sold baking to raise money, as well as a panda treasure hunt.  The day was organised by a P7 for her Endeavour.

We raised £300 for Comic Relief and had a great time doing it.

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I have now chosen my endeavour project for this year, I have chosen electrics instead of engineering. Through that I am making a remote control car. The skills I require are how to wire, how to build a remote control car, how to make myself safe when building a remote control car..

By Braeden

For my endeavour I am doing magic maths and I wanted to find out more about interesting maths facts and maths tricks to play on my friends.  I plan to do a maths magic show.  I found this really great book called Magical Maths by Dr Mark Biddiss so I decided to write to him and ask some questions.

Dr Mark Biddiss was very kind and got in contact with the school.  He offered to send us lots of lovely books he had written and also sent me my own personal signed copies, which was fabulous.   Dr Mark does science as well as maths because he is a mathematician and scientist. I felt very happy about this and now I have lots of ideas for my magic maths show. I am also going to talk to Dr Mark via a video conference using Google Meet via Glow which will be great.

 

My Teacher Mrs Clark took a photo of me with all the books on the floor (I was also on the floor) and at least it was clean!

At Robotics Club you work with robots and you code them and I feel it is really fun. There are a lot of robots like Sphero, Micro-bit, Marty, Lego Boost and more. At the club you have to be resilent and keep on trying and if you complete it the robot will be so cool and you’ll be succcessful. Here is some things about the robots, you can make rock paper scissors and a banana keyboard with the Micro-bit, you can program spheros to draw a shape and the Logo Boost can be made into a remote control car.  We use Scratch to program the robots and some people are even building their own Marty the robot from the start!

On Thursday 7th March 2019 was World Book Day and it was really fun.  In the morning P6/7 went down to the nursery and read their favourite books to them.  I had to read to Niamh and Hannah. I had fun reading to them.

Later that day in the afternoon we went down to the hall to have a chat to parents and read some books. Then we did some fun quizzes and all tables/houses went up against each other! I was on a table with Caitidh, Millie, Millie’s Mum, Aiden’s Mum, Aiden, Mya, Millie’s Granny and Alfie. We were called team tigers! For the quiz we had to guess the author, guess the book by the cover, guess the book by a character and guess the book by its first line.  After the quiz had finished Mr. Shakespeare had added up all points and the winning team was the Texans! I really enjoyed World Book Day and want to do it again!

Today at school a lady came  for P6/7 to teach us about heart start.  When we all walked in to the hall we were all confused when we saw all the dummies. Once we had got all the mats out on the floor, the lady got Mr Shakespeare to be a  demonstration.  After that she put a video on about what to do if someone is unconscious but are still breathing. After the video we got a partner to practise the recovery position on, Millie was my partner. We also watched a video on if someone unconscious ,or bleeding, having a heart attack or choking.   For the choking one we all got a dummy each. Once we got the dummies we all named them me and Millie called ours Jeffrey and we had to press them with the heel of our hands and do abdominal thrusts. Then the lady told us that we had to do mouth to mouth and  you should of seen everyone’s faces !  The first person to do it was Ellen .Then Millie’s mouth was too small. I finally I got Millie to do it. Once we got up stairs we got a certificate.  I am glad I know how to help someone in an emergency!

By Caitidh

From Monday to Thursday  P6/7 Texa house were making Fair Trade tuck. The reason we where doing fair trade  and using Fair trade chocolate is because the people who make the chocolate get paid hardly any money and we wanted to raise peoples awareness.  Also the money we raised is going to the basketball hoops in the playground.

On Monday we were making cracknel and it was really yummy. The next day which was Tuesday me and Donald made coffee brownies. At first I thought I wouldn’t like the taste but I loved them. Then on Wednesday Evie and Jack made hot chocolate and put mini marshmallows I didn’t have any but Evie said it was delicious. Thursday was the last day it was chocolate chip cookies and they were good.  So remember to buy Fair trade chocolate to help farmers around the world!

  Today our school had a visit from AFRIS, Astronomy for Rural and Island Schools.  We got to learn all about space, constellations, light, robotic telescopes and space exploration which was really interesting.

P123 learned about night and day.  P456 learned about the stars adn we learned about Light.  The fun part was when Alexander had to hide behind a container of cola and then the man from AFRIS used a special infra red camera to show that you could see Alexander through tht ecoke on the camera when you could not in real life.

Chris also showed use some beads that reacted to ultra-violet light from the sun. If they change colour it means you need sun cream.

I felt amazed beacuse it was fantastic and it was magic.  After school their was another meeting and parents came in and did you know JK Rowling got Harry Potter names from constellations.  Thanks AFRIS!

 

Here is Ciaran’s Sway…

Here is Orla’s Sway…

Here is Rhys’ Sway on maths around me.

 

Here is a sway by Aaron on Maths facts he has found out.

 

In Port Ellen Primary School we have created clubs to teach other people skills and also to improve leadership skills. The clubs and their leaders are:

• Kodu club, run by Rhys, Aidan, Donald and Ciaran
• Playground Games club run by Ellen, Caitidh and Millie
• Board Game Club run by Charlie, Scott and Drew
• iMovie club run by Alexander, Evie, Braedan and Rhuraidh
• Mindfulness club run by Mara, Charlotte, Dearbhla, Orla and Harmoni
• Football club run by Jack, Holly, Aaron and Freya

The whole school is learning their Burns poem and primary 6 have Auld Lang Syne to learn and primary 7 have the poem that they do every year and it is Address To The Haggis.  We got our poems 3 weeks before the day that we have to say the poem so we had quite a lot of time to remember there poems and by now most of the people know there poems and they are working on there expression and there Scottish accent. Burns day is on the 25th of January but we have to say our poems to the judges in the morning. The address to the haggis is the most difficult one to remember. Every year we invite the locals to come up to the school and we have a good time and sing songs and first place in each poem has to go on the stage and say there poem. We always decorate the hall and we have a burns dinner.

This is Address to a Haggis poem by Robert Burns

 

On Wednesday I went to see Annie at Islay High School.  The director of it was Mr Weatherhogg, who also played the piano for some of the songs.  The main charater was Annie who was played by Katie Mactaggart; she must have been very brave because she had to sing by herself.   By far the best song was It’s a hard knock life.

Annie(Kaite Mactaggart)is an orphan who’s been searching for her parents for 11 years.  But she can’t do much because of Mrs Hannagin who dosen`t  let them out.  But one day she escapes in the laundry.  I wasn’t exited to go because I don’t usually like musicals, but I loved it because it turned out to be funny.  Then she meets a billionaire called Mr Warbucks played by Lewis Davey.  He was a really good actor.

In the play Liam,Kai and Nick did the backround with the prejector.  I was amazed how quick they changed the scenes.  My favourite scene was when they were in the mansion with Mr Warbucks.  They must have had to practice a lot to get the timing so perfect.

So I would definitely buy tickets if I was you; it is a great play, also anyone could watch it.  If you are having a bad day just watch it.  Katie Mactaggart was brillant . I enjoyed it so you probly will.

By Caitidh

 

On Wednesday 5th December Laphroaig distillery were holding a Christmas fair.   Port Ellen Primary were selling a few items such as aprons, tea towels, shopping bags and cookbooks.  Laphroaig were selling candles, photo frames and hamper tickets. In the school all vice captains and captains were allowed to go up and try sell our items but were taken up in different groups. The 1st group was Morgan, Dearbhla and Harmoni and they sold quite a bit, they sold out on 2 items which was brilliant. Then Aidan, Ellen and I (Orla) were the 2nd group to go take over the 1st group. When we arrived it wasn’t that busy so we didn’t end up selling anything. We got to have a drink when we got there.  I thought the Laphroaig Christmas fair was fun and it was beautifully decorated. Then when we went back to school the 3rd group came and the people were Millie, Jack and Charlet but they sold a few things. I enjoyed the Christmas fair and I’m sure others did too.

by Orla P6

On Saturday 23rd November, at the playing fields the primary school teams played from Port Ellen and Islay Youth.  Port Ellen had a great line up of:

Ronaldo: Goals, Cormick: Captain, Jack, Oliver, Aaron, Scott, Oscar, Rhuiridh, Finally  Mathew Campbell: REF

Port Ellen’s girls team was also playing with their line up being:

Holly:Captain/ Goals, Sophie, Lauren, Freya, Rebecca, Rowan, Sarah, Abi, Callin, Ellen

We played both Islay Youth teams. The boys from Port Ellen won every match. The Girls from Port Ellen tied in every game except against Port Ellen Boys when we won 2-0.

Port Ellen’s Junior Boys team then played Islay Youths  Older team our line up was:

Ronaldo: Captain, Aaron, Oliver, Jack, Ryan, Shay, Struan, Toby, Darren,  Mathew REF.

We sadly lost this game 5-1.

The whole tournament was really fun and I we are doing another 5-a side game soon that I am looking forward to.

 

On Saturday the 1st of December Bowmore had their lights turned on. It was very busy at the lights but I enjoyed it and it was cold  so everyone had to wrap up warm and there was burgers as well and music. I feel so excited for Christmas and the lights just make me more excited, the lights got turned on at 6:00pm. I felt like we were going to be late but we got there early and it was like 5:30pm. There were lights on the giant Christmas tree and on the lamp posts, there was a lot of people and we went home at 7:00pm.

Thanks to Islay Blog for Photo.

By Alexander Mctavish.

For the School Christmas Fair we got into teams and had to design a company, adopt roles and do market research to make products to sell.  The process of making all the items, cakes and everything else took 2 weeks.  We had a budget of £20. The first thing we did was get into our roles. We were each assigned to the roles we would be good at. Next we had to make our team name/logo. We made our name “The Merry Marauders” and our logo was a gingerbread man.

We then chose what products would make us a profit, and if we would be able to make it in the given time and budget we have. Our first idea was to make cushions, so the manager brought in a lot of stuffing and the school had a sewing machine that we could use. The cushions had  pictures on the top that were also sewn on, however they weren’t very Christmas related.

We needed more items however so we went to make some charm bracelets. We went on Word and made 24 charm bracelet notes out of card, then we got string, put it through a hole in a charm, and tied it around the middle of the charm bracelet note. The charm was a dandelion. We made two more things after that.  We also made wooden decoations.

The next thing we made some dog biscuits. We got some whisky tins, covered them in card which has painted paw prints on, put on a label that says “Santa Paws Christmas Treats” and filled it up with homemade dog biscuits. After that we made one more product. We got small jars, put a wish inside, then put them in a box. We put all of this in a balance sheet, which managed what we have purchased, it’s cost, how much we got for it and the overall profit. We managed to make £44.31. Our group won the competition on who would make the most profit.

Port Ellen Juniors is a grassroots team that anyone from the age of 4-15 can join. Every Sunday there is a training session for everyone in the team, so that we can get good enough to travel away to the main land and challenge other team’s.

Near the end of November the entire club went away to Bowmore to go and play on the twin-track, in the swimming pool. At the swimming pool everyone was racing each other across the twin track and trying to push each other off or pull someone into the water. It was fun.