On Monday 20th febuary the primary school had Martin Ray. we played matches for fifteen minutes. At the end of the football coaching he told us about sports leaders and warm ups you could use.We done diffrent types of rela races one of them you had to run backwars round a cone run back down.We got to do dribbling with the using the skills that we were thought.We also done warm up activities like farmers and foxes and stuck in the mud.
My Kodu Endeavor
At Port Ellen primary school my endeavor is Kodu Gamelab. Kodu is a game to learn the physics of coding however ignoring writing things down like regular coding. You can do all sorts of things like build a world, create objects and robots, create hills and more. You can “program” anything as long as it is a object and make it do almost whatever you want.
For my Kodu endeavor I am doing different levels. For my first level I made a time challenge. You have three minutes to either do a hard jumping challenge or to do a race. when you complete a challenge you will be transported to the next level. In the 2nd level there will be 11 trees. 10 trees will give you a game over but 1 tree will transport you to the next level. In the next level there is a maze where there are 5 red apples and 5 black apples. The black apples give you minus 10 points but red will give you plus 10 points. Getting minus points will result in game over however getting 50 points will give you a win.
For my 4th level (which is still in development) I am making a space invaders game. There will be a light spawning in stars which will shoot at you and if you run out of health you lose. If you destroy a certain amount of stars you will win. For the 5th level I am thinking of doing a plat former level where you have to jump on blocks and try to reach the top while trying to beat a computer controlled robot which is also going to the top.
Citizenship
Every Friday Port Ellen Primary School has a Citizenship afternoon. There are 7 different Citizenship groups and they all have there own aims. The Culture Vultures have been planning world book day which will hopefully be super fun and exiting for all the children. The Sport Stars are planning to do a sponsored run to raise money for the schools sport equipment. Digital Dynamos are planning to raise money for Comic Relief. The Green Gang are trying to keep doing regular litter picks around the school. The Earth Watchers have been selling Fair Trade products and are planning to keep on going because it has been popular. The Mindfulness Minions have been helping run Breakfast Club every Wednesday Morning.
Game design
P5/6/7 have been doing a topic on game design using Kodu which is an app you can get on a computer. We have been learning how to program so that we can make games and learn everything that you can do on Kodu. You can make your character shoot and many other things. I think it is amazing because you can program your character to do just about everything. You can add hills and even make your land be flooded with huge waves and there is a lot more things you can add to your world. There is a lot of different patterns you can do with Kodu to program him. We have made lots of progress through our learning in Kodu but we have also had lots of fun through playing Kodu. By Holly and Ciaran
Afterschool Sports Club
Yesterday Gregor Mitchel came in to do an after school club.Its on from 3:30 – 4:30. He does a football club for P4 to P7 this club is on every wednessday. We done two warm ups one was a run around the pitch then we said go and people from the came to the front.The second one was two vs two and the first one to score won the game. At this moment everyone wanted to do matches so we Gregor changed on to matchesThen everybody felt happy. At the end of the day the score finished at 4-4 then everyone went in to get changed. Then we went home
Burns Day
On 25th January 2017 everyone celebrated Robert Burns’ birthday. We celebrated by having lovely haggis for lunch and also mince and tatties and we also had a Burns ceilidh. These are the people who won the Burns poem competition.
In P1 it was Dylan Macdonald who won.
In P2 it was Mya Munro who won.
In P3 it was Pheonix Davey who won.
In P4 it was Dearbhla Newman who won.
In P5 it was Ciaran Middleton who won.
In P6 it was a draw between Rowan and Rebecca.
In P7 it was Eva Munro who won the competition.
At the ceilidh the pipers piped in the haggis which the P7 pupils addressed. Also there was highland dancing by the pupils and also Scottish country dancing and everyone could do that if they wanted to. We did the Gay Gordons, Strip The Willow, Canadian Barn Dance, Dashing White Sergeant and the Virginia Real. Everyone really enjoyed joining in with the dances some of the parents were even dancing.
Here are the P7 pupils addressing the haggis.
My Place Photography Competition
On Monday 20th February primary 5/6/7 had to guess who won the My Place Photography Competition
and Mrs Clark said that there was a winner and a runner up in the class. So we went through all the photos and Mrs Clark told us if we were right or wrong. We were told that the runner up was Ruaraidh MacDonald and the winner was Matthew Campbell. They were absolutely shocked and they were very happy and exited. On the 22nd March they will go to Glasgow and get presented to and interviewed by the press. Our photos will be blown up and put with all of the other winners and runner ups. They will get to see a private viewing of all the winners and runner ups from the past years. Then they will go back to Islay that night and they will tell their school the next day when they go back in.
Joint Choir
Every Monday after school Port Ellen and Bowmore choir join together to learn and sing the two part. Every week Bowmore and Port Ellen take turns to go over to each others schools. We get over on the bus, but Port Ellen leave school fifteen minutes earlier to get to Bowmore in time since Bowmore finish earlier. It isn’t only good for singing in the choir it gives Port Ellen and Bowmore a chance to know each other before going to high school. We all enjoy going and every week we sing two different two parts. Each two part has sopranos and altos, which are two different kinds of singing. Even though the choirs are joined together, there are still two separate choirs and they are still competing against each other in the Mod. I think that this is a great opportunity to meet other children from Bowmore and is great to improve our singing.
By Ellie and Kaya Middleton
Lunchtime Clubs
We have started lunchtime clubs that are run by the children in P5/6/7.
On Monday there is Rounders club that is for P4-7 and that is run by Rebecca, Sarah and Abi.
On Tuesday there is a Table Tennis club that is for P4-7 and that is run by Matthew, Jack and Holly.
On Thursday there is orienteering which is club for P4-7 and it is run by Ruaraidh, Charlie and Aidan.
On Friday there is two clubs n they are Rugby club and that is for P5-7 and it is run by Taylor, Darren and Struan. There is also Dance club for the wee ones P1-4 and that is run Kaitlyn, Rowan and Eva.
Everyone is really excited to be going to these clubs. There was a dance club last term and the wee ones loved it so we decided to keep doing dance club. Also for Rounders we wanted to do that last term but the weather was not suitable to use the grass so we decided to do Rounders club this term.
By Kaitlyn and Rowan.
Feis Music
P1-3 had a very enjoyable afternoon learning aboit Traditional Scottish Music with some of the Feis musicians. We had a turn playing the fiddle, accordiand and tin whistle. Everyone played a wee note or two and some of us were determined to attend the Fies Workshops during the February Holidays.
Rachel and Bella’s visit to Port Ellen Primary School
On Tuesday 7th February at 3PM my Mum brought my Guinea Pigs Rachel and Bella up to school for my presentation on my “Guinea Pig instruction Booklet “ I have been working on with Miss MacIntyre.
The cage was covered by a towel over it is because they like the dark and because they like it on their own. Also, Guinea Pigs can get scared easily and in new places. My class all sat around the cage quietly and waited for me to take off the towel. They were so excited and couldn’t wait to see Rachel and Bella. Ellen was jumping around on her knees she was that excited!
I carefully removed the towel and took Bella and Rachel out of the cage. My class were so happy to see my Guinea Pigs and that made me feel so happy for them. It was the first time most of them had met them and they thought they were both so cute! Most of the class preferred Bella because she is the baby Guinea Pig. I feel sorry for Rachel so I gave Rachel lots of love and cuddles as she is my favourite.
My mum also brought in the bowls, small water bottle, toys, food and the corn sticks they like to eat to show the class. I really enjoyed doing this project a lot and hope my class enjoyed learning about Guinea Pigs from me too.
by Braeden P4
21.2.2017
The Real Me: why feeling good about yourself does you good
The Real me: why feeling good about yourself helps children thrive. Advice from the Dove Self-Esteem Project
Building self-esteem
Parent Info has partnered with the Dove Self-Esteem Project to you build your child’s body confidence and self-esteem.
Skin Care And The Beauty Industry Endeavour
Endeavour is a long term personal topic that has to be ambitious. For my Endeavour I have chosen to do skin care and the beauty industry because I want to learn how to look after my skin and learn about beauty. I have learnt about animal testing and different ingredients in beauty products. I have also looked at bad/harmful ingredients. I have done a leaflet on different allergic reactions you can get when you use the ingredients in natural lip balm. I have also written a letter to Ailsa Hayes and written a recipe for a breakfast themed face mask. I have also started a sway that I will hopefully keep adding to as I progress with my learning.
Bird Endevour
Today February 1st 2017 David Wood from the RSPB came into the nursery to talk about birds to them and I was there. He talked to me about my Endevour project and he awnsered some of my questions like where certain birds go to migrate, what bird he thinks I should reasearch,how the RSPB finds out about where certain birds go and the birds behavior and he also told me about what the great British bird watch was all about and why they do it. We also went outside in the school grounds to watch all the birds there and record how many different kinds of birds were there. I saw lots of different kinds of birds like Rooks,Robins,Chaffinch,Chiffchaff,Blue tit,Herring gull,House sparrow,Black bird,Greenland white fronted geese.
Safer Internet Day 2018: a parent’s guide
All you need to know about the global initiative that encourages safe internet use.
Green Flag Renewal
We are very happy to have had our Green Flag renewed again. Here is what the report said –
Congratulations to everyone in Port Ellen for a great whole-school effort in renewing the school’s Green Flag status. I thought your photographs showcased well all the great environmental work going on in school and it was clear that everyone had been working hard to reduce waste, encourage healthy lifestyle choices and re-develop your grounds as a marvellous resource for learning and recreation and a haven for wildlife. In so doing, you have monitored progress well, shared your successes with the wider community via your blogs and Twitter feed, and worked collaboratively with helpful partners such as Rejig, the RSPB, the Community Garden and your local plant supplier and boat builder. Eco is well- integrated into the curriculum and calendar via classwork such as your Water Cycle topic and events like your Waste and Walk to School Weeks, and you have enjoyed well-deserved success in the STEM Challenge, the Junior Saltire Award and the Pocket Picnic Garden Competition. Finally, you are to be warmly commended for your beach cleaning activities, your promotion of Fairtrade in school and your generous support of worthwhile charities such as Water Aid. Your young people are truly responsible, global citizens and I am sure you will enjoy exploring the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals as part of your ongoing Eco focus.
A Geologist Visits
Just before Christmas P4/5 were thrilled to get a visit from Miss Heads nephew Luke, who is a geologist. He answered lots of their questions about volcanoes and earthquakes. He was also very impressed by the children’s knowledge of the earth’s structure and plate tectonics.
Earthquake-proof
To complete our IDL on earthquakes and volcanoes, P4/5 have learned about the pros and cons of living in areas of the world where there are volcanoes and earthquakes. They wrote a piece of persuasive writing to convince people that living in Iceland had lots of positive aspects and found out how engineers try to make buildings earthquake-proof. The children worked in co-operative groups to build earthquake-proof buildings and then we tested them using a huge tray of jelly to be the shaking ground!
Helping your child stay safe from cybercrime
Cybercrime: a parent’s guide to keeping your kids safe
Burns Ceilidh
Our Burns celebrations were a fantastic affair filled with dancing, music and poems. There was a great turn out from the local community – many thanks to our judges and Nigel Morris. Well done to the children for dancing so enthusiastically and performing so well!
How our swimming lessons went
On Tuesday p5-7 went to swimming lessons it was really fun p5 done multiple things like simon says, rockets whilst p6 done diving and stuff p7 done the same and we all got fun time at the end.
Culture Vultures Book Swap
On the 20th of January 2017 the Culture Vultures a Citizenship group held a book swap at lunch time. We thought it went well and we swapped quite a few books. We hope to have more book swaps before the end of term.
How can your child deal with in-game bullying?
Expert advice on how to cope with this common form of cyberbullying.
Photo Fundraiser
After the fantastic Nativity performance, we are selling a range of prints. There are also some group photos from the Christmas Disco. Please refer to your letter from the school for how to order. Enjoy!
school swimming lessons
I think the swimming lessons are good because most of the population know how to swim but the other part doesn’t know so its for good learning. I also think that it is good because it makes you more successful at swimming even if you are good at swimming. Our swimming lessons start on Tuesday 17 Jan. I think its going to be fun but challenging.
By Aaron and Andre
Science Club
On every Wednesday at school we have a science club. science club and at science club. At the first week of science club we had to find out who put a white powder in Mrs. Clark’s hot chocolate. It was great fun. We had to find it by going to different parts of the kitchen and finding out who’s mark matches the criminals mark. There was finger prints, bites on cups and we had to see what what pen was the same as the one the criminal used. The second week we got to make crystals. We made the crystals by putting in over salted water and food coloring to make them look good. On the last week of science club it was really disgusting because we were dissecting a fish and at the very end we dissected a deer heart. Although earlier before we were naming body parts and we got 2 chocolates out of an advent calender. We would like to thank the people from the high school for coming over to help us and we would really like it if science club is on again.
By Rebecca and Rowan
Cooking Club
During this term cooking club has been run by Mrs Harrison on a Monday after school. It was run from 3:30 to 4:30. Every week we made different foods. The first week we made a scone recipe choosing some ingredients to put in. The next week we made pizza using the scone recipe as a base and made our own tomato sauce. The next week we made a pasta bake to take home and share with our family for dinner. We boiled pasta then made sauces, there was a cheesy sauce and a tomato sauce. The last week Mrs Harrison thought of something more exciting so we made pancakes. We made apple flavour which was from Jamie Oliver’s recipe and we also made a thick and thin pancake recipe. We then shared the pancakes and put our own favourites on them. We had jam, butter, golden syrup, maple syrup and some bananas. We all enjoyed making our recipes and going to cooking club.
By Kaitlyn and Ellie.
Craft Club
On our first week we were in partners we had to research nice things to make for the Christmas fair. We made soaps in our partners both people chose what the soaps were going to look like then one person chose the scent and the other person chose the colour.On the second week we got things to draw around one was a star, a Christmas tree and a stocking we drew around them in pen on felt. then we sold our products at the fair and got to take some home for Christmas.
sports club
Every day on Monday after school Mr Shakespeare runs a sports club. Loads of people in the school go to sports club and enjoy it. We have been doing lots of different activities such as football, shinty, hockey handball, dodgeball and eliminate frisby. It is great fun.
