Author: Mrs McIntyre

Over the last 3 weeks Primary 7 have been learning about Civil Engineering from our STEM ambassador Mrs Lauryn Steele.  This week we had the grand finale which was to build an amazing full size bridge in our PE hall!  The children were split into 2 teams and given important roles within the group as either deck, cable or pin workers.  The team work was fantastic, as well as the learning gained about the different forces of tension and compression, as well as the different types of bridge structures.  This particular bridge was a Cable Stay bridge but the children have made truss, suspension and cantilever bridges too with the K-Nex in class.  They really enjoyed the challenge to build the strongest structure and it was the Arch bridge built by Harvey, Reign, Freya and Bobbi that actually held the most weight of 4kg!  What a fantastic project this has been for us!

On Thursday 30th March P7 went across to St Josephs to complete a design project.  The used a computer graphics programme to create a 3D image of their pencil holder to exact dimensions and experimented with the software to change the colour, material and shape of their design.  They then created the pencil holder in the technical department.  They got to use lots of tools and equipment that they would normally not experience until 1st year so it was a fantastic opportunity.  Everyone came up with their own unique design from wolves, to sharks or unicorns.  We even had an aptly named Designosaurus! Well done to the St Joseph’s staff who made this possible for us. The children have been so enthusiastic about the day as I’m sure you will have heard!  There was even the chance to meet and have lunch, chats and football with some of the children from St Columba’s and St Teresa’s who will also be starting S1 in August.

  P7 organised a great day for the whole school to raise money for SCIAF. The morning was great fun with various stalls and games then we had a very competitive and exciting staff against P7 football match.  We were really put through our paces but ended on a respectable score of 5-5!

On Monday 27th March our P7 Pop lacrosse team went up to Dumfries and Galloway College to play in the regional tournament.  I am so proud of the way our pupils conducted themselves, their lacrosse skills and team work were so impressive.  We won all of our games against Troqueer, Kirkpatrick Fleming, Newington and came first place after an exciting game with St Teresa’s Primary.  They too had 14 points but we won on goal difference, I could barely watch it was so exciting! Well done Ben, Bobbi, Callum, Ethan, Jodi, Kerra, Harvey, Louise, Reign, a great achievement!

On Thursday afternoon P7’s from St Columba’s, St Teresa’s and St Andrew’s Primaries all competed in the St Joseph’s Science Fair.  It was a fantastic afternoon.  We had all sorts of experiments from testing the affect of different types of vinegar with bicarbonate of soda, testing the longest lasting lipstick, measuring the size of explosion when mentos are dropped in different fizzy juices to measuring the affects of storing popcorn in different temperatures on the number of kernels that pop.  It was all very fun and interesting.  The children presented their work really well!

P7 joined their nursery buddies on World Book Day to make puppets of the characters from their favourite books.  They have been enjoying O.S.C.A.R. (Our School Cares About Reading) on Mondays and Thursdays when they spend time reading with their buddies and helping them with their reading homework.  There are some lovely expressive readers and they take on their new responsibilities so well.  The nursery children look forward to them coming.

Here are some of the spoon puppets, it was a fabulous morning!

Primary 7 had a great show of their learning this term on Wednesday 8th of February.  They did a fantastic job of showing off their French speaking as well as their style in the fashion show ‘Defile de Mode.’  The science demonstrations kept everyone very interested and informed especially the fake blood making!  Some of you were even put through your paces with Reign and Ben’s shape quiz.  Thank you again for coming along.  The children really enjoyed the afternoon and did so well.

P7 have been raising funds for their end of primary school trip.  We have been decorating mugs with Scottish designs including our own family tartans and crests.  On Thursday we went across to St Joe’s and Mrs Chalk taught us how to make shortbread to sell with the mugs.  Thank you to everyone who supported our Enterprise, it’s been fun and very worthwhile.  Here’s a few photos of us baking!

In Primary 7 we are learning about shape this term.  We worked cooperatively measuring carefully to make 3D shapes such as triangular prisms, cubes and cuboids.  The play dough shows up the vertices nicely and it helped us to see the properties of shapes. We worked on our mental maths calculating the exact length of straw used to make each shape too. Great work P7!

This week the secondary science department will be launching the Science Fair.  A competition at St Joseph’s for P7 and S1 children to take part in.  More information will follow soon.  Meanwhile, P7 have been creating their own blood this week (of a messy kitchen kind!) We  used marshmallows, yellow and red colouring, cheerios and oats to represent the red blood cells, plasma, white bloods cells and platelets.  No children were harmed in this experiment!!