Primary 1-3 received a visit from the local Spinners & Weavers group today. The ladies kindly gave up their time to show the children traditional methods of working with wool after it has been gathered from sheep.
The session included looking at different types of wool from Jacob’s to Blue faced Leicester. The boys and girls then had a demonstration of the different methods of spinning and had a chance to use a range of equipment such as an authentic spinning wheel.
Everyone had a chance to prepare the wool by brushing it to remove any knots and debris, ready to then spin.
The boys and girls have learned more about traditional cottage industries linking to their ongoing farming topic.
Portpatrick Primary held yet another successful sports day on Friday 7th of June. Many friends and family members came along to cheer the boys and girls on in their sporting efforts.
The children competed in the following events:
Sprint – Class winners: Carter, Scott, Sophia, Ava Lily, Finlay & Rowan
Skipping – Class winners: Erin, Cameron, Rose, Ava Lily, Finlay & Rowan
Sack – Class winners: Carter, Cameron, Sophia, Ruby, Robin & Rowan
Egg and Spoon – Class winners: Erin & Carter, Atticus, Rose, Ruby, Finlay and Rowan
Distance – Class winners: Holly, Cameron, Sophia, Ava Lily, Finlay & Rowan
Obstacle – Class winners; Erin, Cameron, Liam, Isabella, Alfie and Myles
The winning didn’t stop there. In pole position, in the highly competitive mum’s and dad’s races, were Kerry and Steve. In the nursery race, Adam just pipped Ivy at the finish line.
Everyone demonstrated great determination and team spirit.
P1-3 donned their wellies for a visit to High Airyolland as part of their learning about the farming industry.
Mr and Mrs McQuistin kindly took the children of a tour of their farmstead to give the children a sense of land use. They all went up to the top of the hill to view the layout and different usage of the areas such as grazing and a wind turbine.
Dallas the sheepdog was a big hit as he demonstrated herding the sheep under the commands of Mr McQuistin.
The boys and girls observed Highland cows in the fields and learned from Mrs McQuistin that the shorter the horns, the younger the animal. One old girl was 16 years old!
Back down at the main farm area, Mr McQuistin explained the different breeds of sheep – Beltex and Blue Faced Leicester. They also have cross bred sheep from the two which has the lovely name of a Bluebell cross. Mr McQuistin then gave a sheep sheering demonstration. He told the children about how the wool is used. This will link in with the upcoming visit from weavers into the classroom.
Environmental responsibility was discussed as it was explained to the children how any plastic waste on the farm is responsibly disposed of.
No farm visit is complete without seeing a tractor up close. The boys and girls were able to explore it. Mrs McQuistin explained that because farms are so mechanised, you don’t have to be strong to be a farmer and that it can be a career choice for anyone.
The day was a great success, with just about everyone now wishing to become a farmer!
P4 -7 became geologists today by modelling the rock cycle. The natural rock cycle can take millions of years to achieve. We simulated this entire process in an afternoon using chocolate.
Sedimentary Rock
We started off by making sedimentary rock that had been broken down into smaller pieces by the elements. To do this, we:
Grated milk and white chocolate into flakes to represent different rock types
We built up our sediment in a pile on tin foil
It was then compressed by pressing down on the flakes wrapped in the foil
The resultant sedimentary rock sample can be seen in photographs below
The separate sediment deposits can be observed as white and dark sections.
1 – Breaking the chocolate into mixed sediment2 – Compressing the sediment3 – Sedimentary rock is formed
Sedimentary Changing To Metamorphic Rock
We then simulated high pressure and heat being applied to our sedimentary rock sample. We achieved this by:
Putting our sample in a bag along with whole chunks of chocolate.
We squashed and squeezed the sample and let our body heat do the work
The results can be seen below. A harder, grainy texture is achieved as a result of changing from sedimentary to metamorphic rock.
4 – Applying heat and pressure to sedimentary rock5 – Sedimentary rock changed to metamorphic rock
Metamorphic rock changing to Igneous Rock
To model the change from metamorphic rock to igneous rock, we:
Melted the chocolate over a Bain Marie.
The metamorphic rock melted as if it was exposed to extreme heat under the crust of the earth, becoming magma.
The melted sample was then cooled and formed in a flow, just like lava erupted from a volcano.
6 – Heat changes metamorphic rock to igneous rock
The cycle will start all over again with igneous rock breaking down to form sedimentary rock and so on…
P1 – 3 got their gardening gloves on to care for their vegetable patch. They carefully weeded and tended the wide range of vegetables that are coming along nicely. We have spring onion, beetroot, potato, onion, turnip, carrots and potato plants!
They then progressed to observational art. The children made a close study of the flowers growing naturally around the mound area. They then focussed carefully to produce their own impressions of these flowers.
Meanwhile Robin and Liam helped Mrs Henry distribute posters around the village as part of our ‘Eco’ litter campaign. Local businesses have been very supportive, offering to display them predominately, to encourage us all to keep Portpatrick tidy.
The whole school participated in an Eco-based science lesson to construct bug hotels using a range of natural materials to create a natural habitat.
The children were required to follow and process verbal and written instructions to produce a hotel fit for bug royalty. They were challenged to make and implement design selections from two options.
Everyone used the soft skills of cooperation, negotiation and sharing to complete the task. The hotels were positioned throughout our grounds and even had a ready made food source of a sugar lump treat for the new residents.
P1 -3 had a sensory journey around our outdoor area. P1 were looking for objects of different colours and materials. P2-3 were using their 5 senses to locate a variety of objects
P4-7 used their engineering skills to combine and construct a ‘Des Res’ for a mini resident. They used natural materials to build a free standing structure with a door way, walls and roof for their little owners.
The children then used their persuasive writing techniques to market their home through an estate agent ‘For Sale’ advert.
The whole school took to the outdoors for a glorious start to National Outdoor Learning Day.
P1 – 3 applied measure through the science of plant care today. They measured and recorded the growth of cress, previously planted, in their cress diaries. Later that day, they also applied measure to fitting sticks into their bug hotels.
P4 were foraging for what they could find in our playground. They sorted their collected objects into frequency tables and produced a bar graph of their results to find the most common objects.
P5/6 used a method to measure the height of trees and plotted their data on a bar graph, applying features.
P6/7 measured the height and girth of our trees and plotted a line graph to identify the correlation between the two factors. They determined that the taller the tree, the wider the girth of it’s trunk.
P4-7 have donned their movie maker caps to produce a short film on William Wallace. This is part of a Dumfries and Galloway collaborative video challenge, and also fits perfectly with developing the children’s digital technology skills.
To mark the 150th anniversary of the Wallace Monument, and the introduction to heroines to the Hall of Heroes for the first time, schools across the region have been invited to make a 60 second video on our Scottish heroes. We were quick to grab William Wallace from the list of famous people from our history, having learned about his life in the past.
The children self-managed presenting, videoing, lighting and editing our video. The design of the film is through personal selection and choice. We did have credits, but had to remove them for splicing with other school’s contributions.
We are proud of the finished product and have already been told it will be showcased across the STEM yammer group to promote and encourage participation in this worthy activity.
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