Portpatrick Primary

Mr Bennis from Scottish Water visited Class 2 today.  This supported our learning on ‘Life in our Local Area’ as part of our Social Studies this term.  We are considering how the services of our community are served. Mr Bennis gave the pupils input on where and how the water in our area is treated to be made safe for our community.  He also supported our Water Eco-Learning by advising us on how we can protect our environment and preserve our natural water resources.  The children became more aware of how to be responsible citizens.

Today the boys and girls had a fantastic last day of term 3.  After a wet and rainy start to the day, the sun came out just in time for their take away lunch.  Barbara served sausage and chips or fish and chips in take away boxes and the school had lunch in the sun outside.  Mrs Henry even joined them too 🙂

P1-4 took part in an Easter Maths Challenge Hunt too!  Unfortunately the rain did stop them doing this outside but we did it around the school instead.  Finlay and Liam P were the winners with 10/10 in the questions!

At the end of the day, the children decorated their own Easter eggs and had an egg rolling competition.  This was to remind them of why Christians celebrate Easter – to remember when Jesus rose from the dead in the empty tomb.  The eggs symbolise the rolling away of the stone!

P5/6 participated in the annual Rhins school cross country tournament held at Green Valley. Every pupil gave each race their all, competing against high numbers. Our boys and girls gave an excellent performance in determination and were ranked as high as 5th and 6th position for their year group.

Portpatrick Primary pupils had some swashbuckling escapades as they entertained audiences with their Easter production of Pirates vs Mermaids. They ‘heave-ho’d’ with sea shanties and mermaid invaded adventures on the ocean waves. The boys and girls presented two performances for family and friends of Portpatrick. It was a real community affair as local senior citizens were invited to enjoy the entertainment and refreshments provided. The actors swaggered and sparkled to everyone’s delight.

On  Friday for Red Nose Day, all the pupils donated money to come to school wearing ‘something silly’.  P1-4 also took part in ‘Portpatrick’s Got Talent’ where they followed this year’s theme of ‘Making their laugh matter’ by telling jokes.  Some hilarious jokes were told and Barbara and Larraine judged and placed the top 3 comedians.

1st place went to Finlay Schofield P4 for his tongue in cheek jokes about school teachers which included;

‘How many teachers work at this school?’ ……………… ‘About half of them!’

2nd place went to Isla Davidson P1; ‘Why are teddy bears never hungry?’………….. ‘Because they are always stuffed!’

3rd place went to Olivia Johnstone P1; ‘How do bees get to school?’…………….. ‘On the school buzzzzzz!’

The children also enjoyed some red nose day cupcakes provided by P1 parent Kim Stevenson.  The staff enjoyed them too!  Thanks  🙂

Class 2 were treated to a musical experience in a live session with Pitch, Pulse and Magic today.  The musicians demonstrated a range of brass instruments; playing contemporary and classical pieces for the children’s entertainment.  There was even a demonstration of playing a tune on a common garden hose!

Class 2 participated in a live link with the Tim Peake Primary Project today.  There were about 40 schools selected from across Britain to take part.  The children gained insight into life on the International Space Station (ISS).  We carried out practical and learning activities covering aspects such as:

• Manual dexterity in space suits
• Reaction times
• The effects of zero gravity on the body
• Using a model to visualise the distance between the Moon & Earth
• The importance of maintaining physical fitness in space
• Observations of Earth from the surface and satellite
• Tim Peake – selection, training and missions

The children were all inspired and I think there may be a few future astronauts in the making!

Zoolab visited the whole school today and brought along some real life rainforest animals for the children to learn about.  There was a friendly lizard called Ziggy, a tarantula, Shelby the tiny tortoise, a scorpion, a frog, cockroaches and even a bull snake!  The children were allowed to carefully handle and stroke some of the animals (the more friendly ones!) which they absolutely loved.

They also learned about which layers of the rainforest the animals would normally live on, whether it be on the forest floor, in the emergent layer or within the canopy.  They were also told about the types of food which the animals eat.  I think the most memorable fact was that cockroaches will literally eat anything… even your socks and shoes if they were hungry enough!

Following on from the session, P1-4 recapped on the main learning points from the visit as part of their rainforest topic.  They will use some of this information to inform their powerpoints and facts files over the next few weeks.  P5/6 also created reflections on their learning too!

Mrs Henry was very impressed with all the children’s bravery in handling lots of the animals (as she hid at the back of the hall!) 🙂

Further to the fantastic coverage in the Free Press yesterday of Rowan winning the national letter writing competition organised by Poppy Scotland, there are some great pictures and coverage on the Poppy Scotland website ;

http://learning.poppyscotland.org.uk/winners-runners-up-announced-in-letters-home-competition/

Click on the link above and have a look and see all the happy faces!

Later today, they are planning to publish Rowan’s letter online.