Our Weekly School News – Sharing our learning with the School Community.
School News
School and Nursery Inspection
We were informed this week that we will be welcoming an Education Scotland Inspection Team to the School and Nursery very soon after the start of the new term. In preparation for the Inspection there are electronic surveys for parents, P4-7 pupils, staff and partner groups to complete. The link to the parent surveys will be sent out as soon as possible so could I please ask that you check your email inbox during the holidays.
Drama Club
Our Drama Club members from P5-7 have been working very hard on Monday evenings and Wednesday and Thursday lunchtimes this term to prepare for the upcoming production of Mary Poppins Jr. Preparations are underway to build the set and props also. We’ve had lots of fun with the painting! Tickets will be on sale after Easter.
School Uniform order forms for next session will be given out to children on the first day back to school after the holidays. Please note that all completed orders and payments should be returned to the school office by Tuesday 14th May to allow us to have delivery back to school before the summer holidays.
Easter Holidays
We go on holiday today for our Easter Holiday. We return on Tuesday 23rd April for the Summer Term. Our pupils and staff have worked very hard over the long winter term and I hope that everyone has an enjoyable holiday.
Thank you
D Tyson
Headteacher
We try our very best to upload a weekly post for each class but this is sometimes not always possible. Please have a read and a chat about what some of our classes have been up to this week.
Primary 1a
This has been the last week of our Bear topic – one we’ve really enjoyed! We welcomed lots of wonderful homework projects into our classroom on Monday, which people have been admiring throughout the week. Thank you to everyone who came to see them on Thursday afternoon, and a big thank you to everyone who helped make our dens!
Darla: My bear was sitting in my bear den.
Luke: I made a polar bear den. It was made out of lego.
Riley: Me and my Mum put bears in it and cotton wool.
We also finished off our topic by learning more about polar bears. We all participated in the Polar Bear Experiment. We covered one hand in lard to act as the ‘fat’ under the polar bear’s skin. When we put both our hands – one with the blubber covering and one without – in the ice cold water, we realised how the bear stays warm living in the Artic! We really enjoyed this activity!
Ethan: I liked the way that my hand with nothing on it wasn’t even cold.
Amelia: We had bags on our hands. We were polar bears.
Poppy: The loved the fat. It felts so squishy.
Have a lovely holiday, everyone!
Primary 1b
We really enjoyed sharing our bear dens with our friends and families this week.
Well done to all of the children for their hard work – the dens are fabulous! The children said they had lots of fun making them with their families.
Ziya: “my bear den had a zip line”
We have been practising our colours and numbers in French through different games in PE.
Charlotte: “Vert is green.”
William “Bleu is blue.”
Brodie: “Rouge is red.”
Primary 2
We went outside to look for signs of Spring. We looked closely at the trees and carefully drew exactly what we could see. Then we went back to class and created Spring trees using a selection of media. We also made colourful Easter pictures.
Cara did really well when she read part of the Easter prayer in church on Friday.
Ferne was chosen to take part in the silent obstacle course in church.
Primary 2/3
This has been the last week of our Night and Day topic and we have been busy building homes for Plop and learning about the stars.
Maisy – We made houses for Plop in the nature garden. We all looked at each other’s and said what we liked about them.
Gregor – We worked as a team.
Aiden – We made clay owls and waited for them to dry to paint them.
Rory – We have been learning about different types of stars.
Zoe – The star that I like is the big dipper, I like the shape it is.
Gregor – It also looks like a baseball cap.
Lewis – We have been learning about planets that go round the sun.
Brooke P – We have been learning to order the months this week.
We have just finished a block of work on gymnastics.
Alexander – We were jumping, rolling and balancing. I like jumping best because you go high.
Primary 3 and P3/4
We loved sharing our Spring Singalong performances with you this week! We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!
We have been exploring the story of The Velveteen Rabbit this week and thinking about the signs of Spring all around us. We enjoyed telling our friends about our own special toys that we have at home, just like the little boy in the story.
We worked in pairs on Friday to take part in an Easter Egg Hunt with P3/4. It was our own job to hide the egg from our partner and then think of a clue for them to solve in order to find it. We managed to find some egg-cellent hiding places and we had to make sure that our clues gave enough of a hint, without giving away the hiding place!
Happy Holidays!
Primary 4
Harry Potter needed our help this week to create a new potion. He had found lots of materials that he could use however the material could only be added to the potion if they could dissolve in warm water. We decided to test the materials after making our own predictions using probability and chance words. Kacie used the words “possible, likely and even chance”.
To make sure our investigation was fair, we had to make sure things stayed the same. Before we began, we agreed on the following.
“Amount of water” Alfie
“Temperature of the water” Leo.
“How we mix it” Ben W.
“All stirring the same” Saffron.
“Time” Amelia.
“Amount of material” Riley.
We used words to describe what we saw happening in the beakers as part of our team observation. This helped us better understand the terms soluble and insoluble.
“Getting smaller and smaller” Blaine.
“Fades” Amelia.
“Melts” Pawel
“Loses its colour” Ben R.
“Shrinks” Kianna.
“Disintegrates” Callum.
“Separates into bits and goes away” Kelvin.
“Disappears” Lexi.
To share our findings with Harry we drew him a diagram. Becky made a Carroll diargam and Fraser made a Venn diagram.
On Thursday we were challenged to create a ramp using junk modelling materials that would make an Easter egg roll as far as possible. In teams we could choose the height of the ramp and surface of the ramp. To do this successfully we had to know about forces.
“Forces make things move” Adam.
“Push, pull, friction and gravity are forces” Lewis.
“Friction pushes against the egg, it’s when two things rub together” Kacie.
“Smoother ramps had low friction” Leo.
“Carpet samples had high friction” Freya.
Wider Achievement
This week we said goodbye to our fabulous S6 students Erin and Kirsty. Both girls have been helping P4 with their learning and will be missed by all the children. Thank you for all your help!
Primary 4/5
This week we listened to the sequel of our class novel Light on Dumyat. It is called The White Stag Adventure and was also written by Charlotte and Alexander’s Grandpa. Half way through, we predicted what was going to happen next. We had great fun, coming up with lots of alternative endings.
The P5s spent some time researching Scotland’s mountains, beaches and wildlife. They presented what they found to the rest of the class. We have really enjoyed our topic this term on Scotland.
Brooke – I have enjoyed learning about different landmarks in Scotland.
Freya – I liked presenting my topic on the Scott Monument to the rest of the class.
Skye – Learning about The River Dee was interesting.
Coll – I learned about different types of trees on our trip to Threave Nature Reserve.
Ollie – I learned that Balmoral Castle has 775 rooms!
Charlotte – The Glenfinnan Viaduct is featured in the Harry Potter films.
Lily – We watched the local wildlife enjoying life on The River Dee.
Lhlyaijana – It was interesting to know that you can’t build anything on a flood plain, unless it is on stilts.
Wider Achievement
Skye has been awarded the Jobs and Zero Waste badge at Brownies. Well done.
Last weekend Freya played at a football festival and won some matches.
Callum has learned to play the full scale on the chanter.
Reminders
Please remember to bring in an empty shoebox for a project we are beginning at the start of next term.
Our Ferry Science Visit payment is due to be paid by the end of May. Remember, this can be made in small weekly instalments if preferred.
Have a lovely Easter break.
Primary 5/6
Please see our Twitter feed for our class news.
Primary 6
Primary 6 have been finishing off their Space science experiments this week. We had a group competition on Monday to see how far we could launch a plastic bottle rocket fueled by water pressure. We made a launch pad too. The thrust made from the air and water pressure when the bicycle pump jumps out of the bottle pushes the rocket the other way.
Some of the rockets shot along the ground but we did have a few lift off. We tried again on Thursday this time trying to get them launch straight up. The best rocket went at least 4 metres up in the air!
We also finished our Feis Rois traditional music sessions this week. Thank you to Ruth and Kate who have taught us many songs such as Herring Heids which is a working song from the Orkney Islands.
Thank you to our families who came along to hear us perform with P5 and P5/6 yesterday. Mr Tyson told us how much he enjoyed the tone of our singing – it was great!
Primary 6/7
This week P6/7 have been learning more about the Blitz during WW2 – see our Green Screen video to listen to some of the most interesting things that we learned.
We also have been working on some Blitz inspired art work. We have been learning to mix and blend colours and create silhouettes of the London Skyline. We have included some modern day features of the London skyline also like The Shard and The London Eye as well as Big Ben, London Bridge and Buckingham Palace. Our artwork is the backdrop for our Green Screen video.
For a bit of fun this week we are holding a decorated egg competition! Happy Easter, everyone!
Reminders
Reminder that there will be a Mary Poppins rehearsal during the Easter Holidays on Tuesday 16th. Please check your slip to see when you’ve to attend. Remember also to wear old clothes so that you can get involved in the set build too!
Primary 7
On Wednesday some of the class went to a Cross Country competition:
Me, Ollie and Rory T won the team event. – Sami
I think I did really well because it was quite tough and I kept going. – Jayden.
I came 34th and I’m really proud of myself because I didn’t give up or stop running. – Neave.
The children have been working really hard at Show Club:
I have been practicing my song, I am singing on my own and I have been perfecting it. – Morven.
I know all my words and can now perform without looking at the script. – Ryan K.
We finished off our Indian elephant art work this week:
Indian elephants are pregnant for almost 2 years! – Sam.
We were learning about Indian arts and crafts:
We learned about henna. We drew designs and I chose to do an elephant on mine.- Daniel P.
Wider Achievement
Two weeks ago I participated in a gymnastics competition. I got medals for 2nd on vault and 3rd on the floor. – Sophie. Last Friday I went for tri-outs for a new squad and I got in. – Sophie.
Reminders
The rota for our Sponsored Row and Cycle event will be sent home after the holidays.
Sponsor forms and raised money should be returned to the school after the event.
Show Club Easter holiday practice is Tues 16th April.
