Today we were lucky enough to enjoy a Coding session using Scratch led by Karen Creighton our local RAiSE teacher.
The pupils enthusiastically logged on to the website (Mrs F had set up their logins prior to the session) and followed a set of instructions to code their sprite to do different actions! Strangely enough, the pupils seemed much more au fait with this than their teacher! Coding has become big news in technology developments and it was fabulous and that our pupils got the chanc to explore this with guidance. This is something which the class can access from home and so add to their projects. Scratch is used worldwide by schools to introduce coding to children (and beginner adults!)
The class had a great morning – thanks to Miss Creighton for her expert input!
Final event, to culminate our January focus on Scots verse and song, was this afternoon’s Showcase Assembly!
Friday
Friday brought us towards the closure of our Scots festivities with the Showcase Assembly in the afternoon. Pupils, parents and staff gathered for an afternoon packed full of winning recitations and sing-along Scots class songs.
Every class stage had been judged on their handwriting, artwork and poetry recitation on Wednesday by Mr McCracken, and those winners were presented with their certificates at this afternoon’s Showcase Assembly. The audience were entertained with very impressive poetry recitations and both classes sang their wee hearts out with their class songs; The Wee Kirkcudbright Centipede and The Proclaimers’ hit ‘I’m on my Way…’
Everyone agreed it was a lovely way to spend a Friday afternoon. Well done to all the boys and girls!
Wow – what a hardworking bunch!
Our P5 recitation winner Phoebe in action with ‘Nae Acoontin for Folk’
Our P2 winner, Alexander, isn’t keen on ‘Social Dancin’
‘The King o’ the Midden’ horrified Jenna, our P6 winner!
Malcolm, the P3 winner, told the tale of ‘Jock an’ Jean’
Kayleigh in P7, with her impressive ‘Address to a Haggis’.
P4 winner Robin looks a bit frightened when reciting his poem ‘Last Nicht’!
Hamish, our P1 winner, gave a worthy rendition of ‘An Ode tae a Spider’.
Thursday, being Rabbie’s birthday, was booked as our day for the annual Burns Lunch. We were lucky enough to have Mr Gaw as our piper and Mr Neville Wright who came along to deliver the Immortal Memory about ‘Rabbie the Rockstar!’. The P1-4 regaled their audience with ‘The Wee Kirkcudbright Centipede’ and P5-7 gave a rousing rendition of The Proclaimers song ‘I’m on my way’.  That, alongside our talented recitation winners (thank you to Jenna, Phoebe, Jack, Malcolm, Alexander and Hamish!); those entertaining class songs, Primary 7 pupils with their prepared Burns Lunch speeches and a delicious feast of haggis, neeps and tatties (washed down by that Scottish stalwart of Irn Bru), meant it was an afternoon of fun, friendship and food!
Afterwards the pupils headed outside for a break. Mr Brawls particularly liked the young man in his kilt who was enjoying his game of footie! See below for the snaps.
Check out the blog tomorrow for the final event in our Scots Celebrations – The Scots Showcase Assembly!
Enjoying lunch lads?
All smiles at this table!
The Wee Kirkcudbright Centipede
Phoebe with ‘There’s Nae Acoontin’ For Folk!’
Jenna with ‘the King O’ The Midden!
Mr Wright gave The Immortal Memory
Sisters! Aww….
P1-4 in fine voice!
Giving those actions welly!
Alistair offers his ‘Toast to the Lassies’
Kayleigh responded with a spirited reply!
Jack wasn’t feart in his ‘Last Nicht’ poem!
Hamish gave his ‘Ode Tae A Spider’
Alexander wasnae keen on ‘Social Dancin’ in his recitation!
Ethan led us in a Toast Tae The School
Malcolm regaled us with his ‘Jock an’ Jean’ recitation
Auld Lang Syne!
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet…
Sincere thanks to our invited guests!
A braw sing-along!
Scots laddie in the playground!
Fitba’ in a kilt!
Friday
Friday brought us towards the closure of our Scots festivities with the Showcase Assembly in the afternoon. Pupils, parents and staff gathered for an afternoon packed full of winning recitations and sing-along Scots class songs.
Rabbie would have been delighted! Leswalt Primary pupils, staff, parents and guests have been treated to a Scots-fest celebration over the last few days.
Pupils have been working extremely hard throughout the course of this month on a trio of homework tasks; handwriting, artwork and poetry recitation of their set poem. And what a power of work the children put in – just amazing!
Wednesday
Wednesday saw the dawning of judgement day. Mr McCracken was invited in for the unenviable task of judging each class stage – a he had quite a job! The high standards of creativity within artwork, beautifully presented handwriting and the expression and gusto with which the poems were recited meant that Mr McCracken found he had very tricky decisions to make. But make them he did – and the very worthy winners within each category are listed below! Well done to ALL pupils for their effort – we are all very proud of you!
P1 – ‘Ode tae a spider’ – Recitation winners : 1. Hamish McGregor; 2. Cara Jamieson, Carys McHallum &
P1-4 got their inventing hats on this week to design and create a kite as part of a Technology challenge linked to their Weather topic. They had a range of materials to choose from and were encouraged to think about the best shape to make their kite too. Enthusiastically, the pupils got busy in the morning, working individually, to plan and make their creation. The P1 pupils buddied up with an older classmate to make theirs. Then, in the afternoon the whole class headed outside clutching their kites to test them out. The challenge wasn’t particularly to see whose kite flew furthest, but to reflect on the materials used and their properties; why did some fly further than others? why did the shape make a difference?
The results were fascinating! It’s fair to say that some pupils may have more hope as a kite inventor in the future than others (!), but everyone worked really hard and all learnt lots about their use of materials and how to reflect and improve on their initial plans from this task. What the material is made of, rather than the colour, will have more impact on how successful the end result is! Aidan and Robin really thought about the task and reflected maturely on the outcome. Well done!
Kayleigh and Finlay’s names were selected from the hat to represent the P7s of Leswalt Primary at the annual Rotary Lunch in the North West Castle hotel today. They met Greg Drummond, a curler who won a silver medal at the Winter Olympics! They really enjoyed listening to him. Mrs Baillie was so proud that Kayleigh and Finlay were such a delight to take along to the meal. Their behaviour represented the school perfectly.
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Our report on our trip to the North West Castle.
Yesterday me (Kayleigh) and me (Finlay) went to the North West Castle to represent the school for The Rotary lunch. We were delighted to be going – it was really nice and the food tasted lush! We heard from an Olympic curler Greg Drummond about his experience at the Winter Olympics 2012. We got a picture taken with him and his silver medal which was surprisingly heavy and thick but really cool. We really enjoyed our trip to the Rotary lunch and we are very grateful that we could get the opportunity to go!!
Wow! What a show Leswalt Primary put on! Entitled ‘It’s Chriistmas!’, it told the Christmas Story through the guise of a chart show presented by some very glamorous hosts, produced by a bossy director and assistant director and featuring all the Nativity favourites. The songs were strangely recognisable, all being based on a well-known tune, and the children acted their hearts out. From heavenly angels to grumpy landlords, rocking shepherds to hippy animals, boyband ‘Wise Guys’ to Herod the baddie and his suave backing singers all topped off by cheery hosts, bossy producers, dancing camels and that extra pizzazz the children always add to their stage productions! The singing was uplifting and the roof of the village hall was well and truly raised! Well done to all involved – we’re very proud of you all!
The P7 pupils enjoyed a delicious meal at Papa Rab’s as part of their Christmas celebrations last Thursday. The five of them looked fabulous as they headed out for a spot of socialising. Judging by their chat last Friday morning, they all had a brilliant time and lots of giggles! Many thanks to the Parent Council for paying towards the bill and to the mums (Gillian, Linda, Kim and Mary) who headed along to enjoy the banter! Good times!
The whole school enjoyed an afternoon of festive party fun starting with a wonderful buffet in P1-4 classroom. Everyone enjoyed a variety of savoury snacks provided by the school lunches and the Parent Council –  then lots of tasty sweet treats provided by the parents of the school.
Party games then began in the hall including Musical Arms, Build a Snowman (hilarious!), some social dancing, Christmas Corners and Pass the Parcel.
At 2.30pm, a very special visitor arrived….. SANTA!!! He came bearing lots of gifts for the children too, as they had been all very good boys and girls 🙂
What a fantastic afternoon. Thank you to all the parents for helping out too and making it run so smoothly.
Well done to the four pupils from Leswalt school who went to the Academy last week to represent their school at a fun Maths Transition challenge. The team consisted of Charlotte Gaw, Euan McCredie, Ethan Smith and Megan McIntyre. The challenge began with an Activity Pack full of Christmas themed maths puzzles and problem solving, as well as a complex cube building challenge and a ‘Tarsia’ hexagon challenge.
Following this, the teams were given a pack of spaghetti, tape and one sheet of paper and tasked with creating the tallest tower. This was very entertaining! Unfortunately, Leswalt’s tower collapsed near the end of the time but this did not knock their confidence… the bounced back and had another attempt – that’s what we like to see! 🙂
The event was a great success and we look forward to participating in the challenge again next Christmas. Kirkcolm and Portpatrick School joined in the fun as well.
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