Tag Archives: successful learners

Orienteering @ Kirroughtree

Yesterday 20th June the Kells P1-3 class spent a fantastic day at Kirrroughtree Visitor Centre doing some orienteering with Lucy. Lucy was very impressed with the children’s map reading abilities and sent them off in small groups, each with an adult helper, to find all 14 check points around and in the forest. The children worked super hard, reading maps and finding all the check points. Of course there was then time to play in the wonderful play parks that Kirroughtree has to offer. Many thanks to Lucy from FCS and Jackie for driving the bus and being an adult helper. Thanks also to Sue for helping with the children.

 

Glasgow Science Centre

Last Friday 16th March the whole school had a fantastic day at the Glasgow Science Centre. P1-3 enjoyed a great workshop all about the International Space Station and the P4-7 saw a wonderful show about Earth in the IMAX Theatre. The GSC is a hands on science experience and the children took every opportunity to learn about energy and the human body through active participation. The Kells children did themselves proud by behaving beautifully and being respectful of others at the Centre. Well done Kells.

 

P1-3 Star Gazing

P1-3 children at Kells have been learning all about our solar system. They learned how to use a sun spotter to look safely at the sun and were amazed at how fast the sun appeared to move across the spotter. They were able to talk about how this movement was actually the rotation of the Earth.

They also spent many weeks making paper Mache planets. They wrapped paper and glue around balloons in 3 layers, then painted and decorated these to look like the planets. They made their own labels for each planet on the computer and have hung them in our corridor in their correct order.

 

maths fun with Ms Kerron

As part of maths week, the pupils invited Ms Kerron to school to deliver some fun maths activities. Ms Kerron got into the spirit of the week by arriving in a pirate outfit which the children loved. The children played the Port/Starboard active game in between answering math questions. All the children had a great time and wish to thank Ms Kerron for her time.

Maths/STEM Week

As part of Maths/STEM Week the Kells pupils took part in a week long project called ‘Boats that Float’. they learned about floating and sinking, water displacement, water tension, and all things boat related. The week culminated in the children working in groups to create boats from junk modelling materials. the children then went to the local burn to float their boats. The children had a fantastic time and learned a lot in the process. next week the children will travel to the Galloway Activity Centre to use their knowledge to create rafts that float.

Transition

The P567 class were really happy to welcome the P3’s for some transition. Lots of activities and teamwork were enjoyed.  This meant that the younger children get a taste of how their classroom will run next academic year (they also got a taste of smoothies that they chose the ingredients for and prepared, yum!). Sophie got to point out that Mister Thompson might have been wrong about something and she bravely made her point and he conceded that he most definitely was wrong  – it happens to us all!  The P567 class were able to carry on the smoothie-making theme and have designed packaging and measured ingredients to make their own recipes all with no added sugar!

P5 Glenkens Cluster Pupils at Carlingwark

Last Thursday 13, P5 children from all three Primary Schools in the Glenkens Cluster took part in the annual Residential Trip to Carlingwalk. Although it was for only one night, some children appeared to have packed enough clothes for a week!

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Once we had arrived at Carlingwalk, we had a tour of our accommodation for the night and got ourselves ready for our outdoor activities.

We spent the rest of the day in Dalbeattie Forest; enjoying Orienteering and Mountain Biking activities! All the children rose to the challenge of reading their maps in order to find the markers, hidden in the different parts of the forest and there was a lot of excellent team work so that the pairs worked well together, to try to be the first back each time.

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The boys and girls grew in confidence, handling and manoeuvring their bikes, to tackle the uneven surfaces of the forest tracks. They all enjoyed the exhilarating ride along the trails.

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After all that exercise we were more than ready for a lovely meal at The Scottish Pantry, followed by a moonlit walk back to the Carlingwalk Centre. Back at the centre the children enjoyed playing a number of games before getting showered and ready for bed.

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After a good night’s sleep (for most!) our next day of adventure began with a filling breakfast. We then put our outdoor clothing on once more and set off for the day’s challenge; to climb Screel Hill! It was great to see everyone trying hard to both climb up and scramble down the hill. Not everyone found it easy, but everyone overcame their fears and told themselves that they could do it. By the time we’d got back to the car park to get on the mini bus to take us back to Carlingwalk, the children who had found the walk the hardest were saying it was the best thing they had done during their two day adventure!

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Both Mr Gray and Mrs Turner agree that the children behaved very well and showed excellent team building skills during the trip, as well as being friendly and supportive of each other. Talking to the children on the way back to school on Friday evening, the children all agreed that they had a fantastic time!

Well Done P5s!

Visit to Scottish Dark Skies Observatory

On Tuesday 31st January, after school, pupils in P5/6/7 went on an adventure with Carsphairn Primary, deep into the Galloway Forest near Dalmellington. Their mission was to learn about how they could see more, in the night sky, using the telescopes at the Observatory.

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In P5/6/7, as part of our Interdisciplinary, Topic work, we have been learning about planets in our Solar System so, living so near to the UK’s first Dark Park meant that a trip was the ideal opportunity to learn more through a truly interactive experience.

In class we have watched films about the different planets, stars and moons in our Solar System, as well as carrying out investigations; to find out the role gravity plays in keeping planets, including Earth, orbiting around the sun. We’ve even used scaled models, to calculate and try to understand more clearly, the massive distances between planets and their distances from the Sun.

 

 

However, the joy of seeing some of these things, such as the planet Venus, in the sky above us, really impressed us and helped us with our understanding of our Solar System. We all agreed the experience of seeing how an observatory works and using a real telescope was well worth the visit.