All the boys and girls have been very busy applying their S.T.E.A.M. skills in the context of our Scottish Burn’s celebrations. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art & Maths)
The children were set a home challenge of producing an artistic creation to represent the theme of the Scottish poems they have each been learning. We have been so impressed by the standard and variety of entries. We have models, dioramas, fabric craft AND artwork! Our pupils have been applying a wide range of STEAM skills such as designing, selecting materials, measuring, combining, cutting, sticking, sewing, shaping, decorating and even wiring electric lights to name but a few – Wow!
The judges will have a very hard time selecting a winner from each category. Well done everyone!
Thank you to every family for their support in this challenge. We hope you enjoyed being creative together.
As part of our Scottish celebrations P4-7 has been learning about the legend of the Kelpies. Mrs Copeland, our resident art specialist, showed the children artwork and images of kelpies as depicted in traditional folklore. She then demonstrated the technique of creating tint and shade by adding white and black to, in this case, a blue pallet was practiced.
The children have now applied those techniques for themselves and have taken great care and attention with their artistic creations. They have all produced very lovely images which are now on display for all in school to see.
Thanks to the Portpatrick Community Council, our Eco committee have purchased some new gardening equipment. This will help us set up a gardening club in the summer term, with a view to holding a plant sale prior to the summer holidays. Have a peek at the photo below of our Eco committee pupils displaying some of their new gardening goodies!
Miss Whorlow had spent a great deal of time putting together a submission which shows off all the STEM work in our 3 schools. We hope that this will be verified by Education Scotland as one of the pilot schools in the STEM nation awards. The power point is all hyper linked. If you click on it, it leads onto further examples and documents of all the amazing work.
P4-7 got their geneticist heads on today. We have used our links with Stranraer Academy to borrow their Inheritance primary loan kit. The children have been learning about how lifeforms inherit their physical and biological characteristics from their parents.
Using the Academy reebop resource, the pupils selected chromosomes from a mum and dad reebop. Dependent on the combination selected, they then constructed the baby reebop traits to match the ‘building block’ code. You can see the wide diversity of appearance that our reebop babies have inherited.
P4-7 have been participating in a maths career based activity called I’m a Mathematician, Get me out of here. We have been learning about how maths helps a range of experts do jobs in different fields.
As in our science web chat session, the boys and girls interacted with the scientists, asking them a range of topical science questions on their field of expertise. The pool of scientists present in the session was varied, representing a balance of genders, a broad spectrum of ethnic groups and specialist fields. The children had an opportunity to explore the diversity of the world of work in this STEM sector.
I’m a Mathematician, Get me out of here is an online, student-led enrichment activity where students connect with people who have maths at the heart of their work.
To get our brains in gear ready for our chatroom session with experts, we watched a very entertaining Christmas Maths lecture: on the mysteries of the never ending number.
We learned about prime numbers sequences and how species of insect use prime numbers to avoid predators. This links with our science topic of adaptation and evolution. Also, we discovered more on working out formulae and the power of doubling.
We then moved on to study career profiles for two mathematicians:Chloe Martindale, a cryptographer and William Petterson, a computer scientist.The children worked collectively to compile a list of relevant questions to ask these experts to find out more about how maths is used in their careers.
We had a 30 minute scheduled chat room today session where we typed in our questions and received responses in real time.
The children were enthusiastic and even received a tip or two on how to start preparing now for a future career as a mathematician.
P1-7 gathered together to mark the final day of term with their annual Christmas party.
The children enjoyed a buffet lunch of savoury and sweet treats. This was followed by a party agenda to be proud of, as organised by our house captains, Findlay Thorburn and Lillie Baker. The boys and girls were entertained with a mix of both traditional and new games.
After the games, the children received a special visitor – Santa arrived ringing his bell. He kindly gave out presents to every boy and girl, which goes to show they must all be on the nice list! Mums, dads, grandparents and family joined us to watch the festivities.
The children sung him a song before he departed to make his final preparations for the big night.
Our naughty elves, Elvis and Coco, said goodbye to the boys and girls today. Before they departed for the North Pole, they left the children a present of gingerbread house building kits.
The school divided into small teams and got stuck in with their construction and design skills. The children quickly realised that patience and a steady hand was required to complete the challenge. They had to consider what edible materials they could use to ‘glue’ the sections together. Whilst they were waiting for the structures to stabilise, the boys and girls decorated gingerbread figures to enjoy at morning break.
Design and decoration skills were then put into action to create a pleasing, sweet treat pattern finish to their home decor.
Throughout the task, a range of soft skills were applied, such as discussion, idea sharing, encouragement and cooperation. Even when there was a collapse or two, the children demonstrated perseverance with a smile.
At the end of the challenge, ever team had successfully constructed a fine, free standing gingerbread house fit for any elf to live in.
Each group’s entry was entered into a competition where 1st, 2nd and 3rd place were awarded on the basis of criteria such as stability, resilience and presentation. Names were put into a hat and drawn for a lucky pupil to take their team’s entry home.
The whole school had a fabulous time at a Jack and the Beanstalk pantomime at the Gaiety Theatre, Ayr yesterday. The show was very entertaining with many a giggle moment. Our favourite character was Patsy the Cow.
At intermission, the children were treated to an ice-cream. Atticus was the lucky winner of a goodie bag full of treats!
After the show, everyone then went to the Stage Door restaurant for a lovely lunch.
We all enjoyed the wonderful entertainment and food.
Thank you to the Community Council for the ice cream treats and to the Parent Council for financing the bus transport. Thank you also, to our parent helpers Sian and Alan. A great day was had by all!
Once again the boys and girls of the village were treated to a special Christmas dinner party at the Mount Stewart. Diane, Graeme and all the staff were very kind and spoiled the children with a lovely dinner.
More treats were to follow. There was freshly made popcorn straight from an authentic popcorn machine for everyone to enjoy. Next, there was great entertainment when everyone jumped in to enjoy the snow machine bubbles.
The children had a surprise visit from Santa Claus too. We all song Christmas songs and had good cheer before receiving a gift for each child.
Afterwards, there were even more sweet treats – ice cream and chocolate.
Thank you to all at the Mount Stewart for a fabulous festive evening!
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