P1-3 enjoyed performing their nativity in St John’s Church, Port Ellen in front of a packed audience. They sang all their 8 songs and were also joined on stage by the Pre -5 and Nursery Unit.
The Fabulous Panto
The children of Port Ellen Primary School had a panto and P5/6/7 and part of P4 had most of the main parts but all the classes were on the stage at the end. The panto was called What a Knight and it was about the legend of King Aurthur. The main characters are Kitty and Watt Cobblers they are mother and son. They were played by Ruaraidh Macdonald And Eva Munro. It was on the 10th and the 11th of December 2015. There was also bad guys in it and they were the Black Knight and Ernie and Bernie Blackhead and they were evil. Then we had Princesses Alberta, Alfreda and Alice. Two of them dressed like princesses and the other one was like a peasant. And at the end we were singing with the audience Winter Wonderland and Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer. I really enjoyed it.
Muffins P5/6/7
P5/6/7 of Port Ellen primary school have been making muffins in their table groups. The table with the most profit wins. Here is what they made. One table made a mint icing Christmas tree with a chocolate sponge. The next table made Santa feet sticking out of the snow with an apple and cinnaman sponge. The next table made a snowman face with a red and vanilla sponge. And the final table used a star design with a chocolate orange flavoured sponge. Some tables spent more than others on there cakes and some tables can’t make a profit on how much they have spent. We did a taste test; first was the snow man, second was the tree, third was the star, and 
fourth was Santa feet.
Written by
Ross Thompson
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The Amazing Christmas Fair
The whole of Port Ellen Primary School will all help to setup the Christmas Fair on the 5th of December. There will be loads of cool creations to buy. P1/2 will be baking for the Christmas Fair, P3/4 will be making sweets and selling them and P5/6/7 will sell sock monsters, homeade calenders, mugs with hot chocolate,marshmallows,candy canes and also cans made into lanterns with holes that make constellations. There is a hamper with lots of biscuits, wine, chocolates, mince pies and lots of other brilliant things. Santa will also be there in his grotto and everybody is looking forward to buying loads of things. Come Along
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Training Teachers
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Space
This week p5/6/7 have started on their topic space. We have learnt about our solar system and that Jupiter is the biggest planet in the solar system. We know that here is a moon or two around a planet and there is also 8 planets in our solar system. We can’t wait to learn more!
We also made constellations from spaghetti and marshmallows. Here is a Chatterpix of the constellation Cancer:
The National Mod
We went to the national mod in Oban. Two choirs went and they were the boys choir and the mixed choir. I was in the mixed choir with lots of other people. There was only 3 boys in the choir. Everybody stayed in a hotel but there was so many people that there had to be people in the Corran House and people in a different place. The mixed choir got two firsts and either a second or a third. We had a great time and there was even enough time for shopping!
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Why is Orienteering Fun?
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The National Mod
On the 6/10/15 Port Ellen Primary School went to the National Mod and I was in the boys choir and it was our very first MOD and we came 2nd in our competition. We were in all the newspapers the ileach the Oban times. We stayed in 2 hostels then the mixed choir came in 1st and they were even on TV in the recording studios. I really enjoyed it.
ICycle Tests
On Thursday 29th October the whole of p7 did their cycling proficiency tests after practising for a term. Everybody passed the practical with an A or B, and no one got a C. Once p7 got back up to Port Ellen they did the written test and everybody passed so it was a success for p7. We also completed road safety posters as part of our learning. Well done everyone for all your hard work.
HALLOWEEN PARTY
Port Ellen Primary School had a Halloween party.We all got dressed up in our costumes and danced to spooky music in the lunch hall. First was the best costume competition. Rowan and Rebecca won for the p5’s, Murray won for the P6’s and Katie won for the P7’s. We all played Statues (when you have to stay still when the music stops) and Corners (a game when you have 4 corners and when the music stops you have to run to a corner) and finally we played musical bumps (it is the same as Statues but you have to sit down) Soon after we played Cat & Mouse. Soon after, we had a little snack and after we finished our snack. Soon after, we went dunking for apples and we ate them when we got back to the hall. We were crestfallen when we had to go home!
Our Solar System
For our topic we have been working on the solar system. So far we have learned what is the closest planet to the sun which is Mercury. In school we have been working on the eight planets they are all surrounding the sun.
We have also been learning about the rocky and the giant planets. We are going to tell you about the rocky planets. They are Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.
Now we are going to tell you about the giant planets. They are Saturn, Jupiter , Uranus and Neptune. Neptune is the furthest away from the sun it is 4.5 billion km away. Neptune has 165 years to complete orbit. We are learning lots.
Port Ellen Harvest Tea
We invited some pensioners from Port Ellen village to come and have a little afternoon tea. We normally have a harvest assembly and hand out bags, but now we only have three classes we decided to have an afternoon tea. The choir sang some of their songs for the national mod in Oban. We also had some other people in classes doing some performances, P1/2 did a prayer, P3/4 did a song and dance and P5/6/7 set the hall up and handed out the cakes and if they wanted any more tea we would get it for them. I really liked the chocolate cupcakes!
Book Review
In September P567 started reciprocal reading groups. My group was Joe,Eva and Kaya we were reading Vivian French’s book The Robe Of Skulls. It was about a lady called Lady Lamorna and she was a woman who was buying a dress with skulls on it. She did not have enough money to buy it so she grabbed her assistant Gubble, he is a troll. She told him to get two donkeys for a journey for getting gold from castles. Eventually they introduce a girl who gets locked in a basement because of her step father Mange. Gracie’s mother had died so she lived her whole life also with her step sister except the whole story changes. They go on a quest and everyone has fun. I enjoyed reading this horror style fairytale.
The Amazing Black Tide.
Black Tide is a book by the author Caroline Clough and had lots of adventure. The main character is Toby and in the book he had to try to rescue his little sister Sylvie and his dad. They had been captured by invaders and held captive. All the people who are invaders had a NC tattoo on their wrist and Toby used that to tell who to stay away from because the invaders were after Toby as well.
At the beginning Toby had been captured but managed to escape but he didn’t manage to save his family so all through the book he was making up plans to save Sylvie and his dad. He met a girl called Natasha but all her friends call her Tash. In the middle of the book there are dogs and Toby called the biggest, fluffiest, blackest dog Cerberus after Greek mythology.
The author is Caroline Clough and she came to our class for the book fair. It was amazing when she came in and she told us about her family and her childhood and how she became an author. She said there will be another book called Silver Seas and I am really excited about it coming out!
Police And Fireman Visit
On Wednesday 28th October a policeman and a fireman came to our school to talk to us about firework safety. They told us what to do when you were finished with a sparkler which was to dunk it into a bucket of water and to wear gloves to protect your hands. They also told us what to do if an adult lit a firework and it didn’t set off, which was to stay away from it and tell an adult.
The fireman told us that they have to attend to bonfires set off by kids and since they have to attend to this, they can’t attend house fires because they will be busy putting out the bonfire. They also told us that to keep your pets inside like cats, dogs etc. They can either get frightened or hurt. So remember this information and stay safe during firework night!
Negative Numbers
P567 have been learning about negative numbers and how they are in temperature. The lowest temperature that negative numbers go down to is -274 degrees and positive numbers go up to infinity. We also learned that negative numbers can some times be in lifts like if there is a basement or a cellar in a hotel or a museum.It also appears in world temperature like the weather might say Paris is -1 degrees and Romania is 16 degrees and all the other countries might be different than Paris or Romania. This is what we have learned.
Our Halloween Pumpkin
On Friday 30th October Port Ellen Primary had a Halloween pumpkin competition. It is when everyone in the school can carve a pumpkin at home then bring and it in to school and enter them into a competition to find out who has won. There is a winner in every class and when you find out who has won the competition they stand up in front of the school and get a picture taken and a prize. The winner in pre 5 was Chloe she made an amazing owl with lots of eyelashes, in primary 1 the winner was Roman and his little sister Skyla but Skyla is in Pre 5 they made a pumpkin together. The winner in p2 was Phoenix when she found out she had won the costume competition and the pumpkin competition she was very happy. The winner in p3 had made a lovely peacock wit lots of feathers. The winner in primary 4 was Ellen and she made a sugar skull with lots of detail in it, the winner in p5 was Taylor he made a pumpkin park with a dinosaur inside a cage. The P6 winner was Natalie and she made a trick or treat pumpkin and the treat was a pumpkin cake, the trick was a pumpkin with icing bugs on it and with the word TRICK in middle. The p7 winner was Joe and he made a pumpkin house. All the winning pumpkins go to Ian Lorries in the window so that everyone in the village can see them.
Swimming
At the weekend there was a swimming competition in Helensburgh. Three people from Port Ellen primary school took part. These three people were Ross, Struan and Matthew. Islay did very well at the competition with some people getting first, second and third. At the end of the first day all Islay, Kintyre and Oban teamed together to make some relay squads to face Helensburgh relay teams. Then on the next day there was a 3 hour long training session with all people from Argyll and Clyde. It is called path finders or B squad. There is also a A squad for older and more experienced swimmers. Four people from Islay got picked and Ross was the only person from Port Ellen Primary School.
By Ross and Struan
