We were delighted to receive a beautiful bouquet of ‘Gryffindor’ roses and a stunning hand made card from Ava Lily and Atticus’ family this morning. These were given as a thank you for our Hogwarts event yesterday.
We are sure you will agree that Ava Lily and Atticus’ uncle, Thomas Nguyen, is indeed a very talented artist.
The message inside made us all smile. Your thoughtfulness and consideration is greatly appreciated by our wee team. It was certainly our pleasure to host the event yesterday. It was hard to tell whether the children, or the grown ups had more fun!
Pupils had lots of fun trying to create the finger puzzle. This was very tricky and we had to practise using our scissors again as well as following instructions and folding. This can be very tricky for some pupils but it’s a great activity for fine motor skill development. Pupils had lots of fun and now have a great game they can play and a little memento from our day at Portpatrick Hogwarts.
Pupils in the younger class had a little try at writing with quills, chalk and slate. This tied in nicely with their current topic of school long ago. We disused how quill writing and writing on slate with chalk was how pupils were expected to write long ago. Pupils used the Hogwarts writing paper to practise handwriting and while we didn’t have real ink – we did have a try at writing with the quill and some black paint. Some pupils found the quills a little big for their tiny hands which resulted in a few tickles under their noses.
Physical Education also took a magical turn today as pupils took part in a Quiddich target practice and Dobbies Sock Toss- Hosted by our very own Dobbie !
Pupils were split up into the four Houses ( Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw) before the games began. On this occasion Gryffindor did not win and in an unusual twist it was in fact Slytherin who won the Dobbie Sock Toss and Ravenclaw who won the Quidditch target practise. In the spirit of things all staff were in on the action and were assigned to a team. All the boys and girls were in good spirts and had lots of fun as well as learning a few things about the different types of throwing and catching techniques too.
First order of the day was to put on our Harry Potter glasses and start making our cloaks. Pupils were given instructions which they had to read and carefully follow. Younger pupils worked together to support the reading side of things. This involved some cutting which some found difficult given the material. However in the end we all made some fantastic Harry Potter capes and we headed outside to take a quick photograph.
Cloak Making Instructions
– Cut the bottom off a bin bag
– Open the bin bag up
– Cut along the top of both tie handles
– Lay the bag out flat with both of the top tabs facing you.
– Cut the bag from top to bottom on both sides
– You should now have two capes. Tie the tabs together.
Finally, enjoy your Hogwarts cape.
Capes everywhere
Say Cheese
More wide angle fun! We can play around with digital technology tomorrow to enhance this photo I think 😀
P 4- 7 decided to use air dry modelling clay to shape the Harry Potter Sorting Hats. We used rolling, flattening and shaping to form the hat. We then used a range of tools to imprint the face and wrinkle detail onto our creations.
When they are fully dry we will see if we want to paint and varnish them with P.V.A. glue to seal them.
To get their bodies and minds moving, the children were set a challenge of completing an observational scavenger hunt on two themes.
Luna’s Nature Spotters:
Twig
Leaf
Clover
Pebble
Dobby’s Magical Mysteries:
Sock
Pine Cone
Golden Snitch
Chocolate Frog
There were mad dashes, here there and everywhere as everyone gathered in at least one of each of the above and placed them in our sorting hoops back in school.
The spoils were then divided up equally as a a reward for their physical effort.
Pupils arrived at school today to see that a spell had been cast on the school. Instead of the usual entrance to school- pupils had to burst through platform 9 ¾ and into a magical world. Dobbie was spotted in the throne of the great hall. Ticket inspections were taken. Theme tunes were played and pupils spent the first 10 minutes exploring in awe of their new classrooms.
Ms Whorlow’s Classroom
Miss McGeoch’s Classroom
Fireplace Display
It looks just like the real Hogwarts
Platform 9 3/4
Our Letters and Tickets
Display
Display
Flying letters on arival
Potion Station
Mandrake Potting Station
Levitating Beetle Eyes
Dobbie on the throne in the grand hall !
Some familiar faces
Ollivanders Wand Making Station
Books and Hedwig
Have you seen this Wizard ?
Platform 9 3/4
Upper Class
Pupils loved the floating letters
So much imagination !
All together
Say Cheese
More wide angle fun! We can play around with digital technology tomorrow to enhance this photo I think 😀
Our Potions Masterclass required the children to apply both their chemistry and maths thinking in two experiments.
Polyjuice Potion:
Everyone needed to measure out the correct capacity of liquids and add just the right amount of powder to create a bubbling, effervescent experiment in our mini cauldrons.
25ml of Dragon’s Tears (distilled vinegar)
25ml of Elixir of Life (water)
1 heaped tsp of Powdered Pixie (bicarbonate of soda)
P 1-4 used 25ml cylinders to measure the liquid ingredients. P 4- 7 had an extra challenge of working with different capacity scaled cylinders to add the correct quantities. It was very entertaining watching the cauldrons foam and bubble over.
We chatted about how combining the vinegar (an acid) with the baking soda (a base) results in an entirely new substance – carbon dioxide gas. As this gas quickly forms it creates bubbles.
Levitating Bat Droppings:
To conduct this magical, visual trick, the children had to add bat droppings (small raisins) to Frog’s Urine (lemonade) in a glass. They then had to chant Wingardium Leviosa and watch the droppings rise and fall repeatedly.
We had an interesting discussion as to the cause of this phenomenon. We learned that carbon dioxide gas bubbles in the lemonade attach themselves to the body of the raisin. They act as swimming arm bands, raising the raisin to the surface of the liquid. Once the bubbles burst at the surface of the glass, the raisin sink until new bubbles form on it’s surface area and the process repeats.
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