Portpatrick Primary

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.

Today we learned about the custom of Shrove Tuesday for Christians. Traditionally, on this day, Christians used up the eggs and butter in their home before Lent began the following day.  This is why we make and enjoy pancakes.

In maths we applied ratio to adjust the quantities in a pancake recipe for the number of people required. There were also opportunities to multiply by 2D, factors of 10 and decimals in our calculations. Once we had calculated the required quantities for our pancake recipe we began to make them.

During the practical task we remembered our HWB food preparation and hygiene practices by washing our hands, wearing protective clothing and covering our hair. We applied our soft skills of cooperation and sharing to create the batter mixture then cooked them in a pan.  We shared them out amongst the whole school and enjoyed them with butter and jam; yum!

Portpatrick Primary had a special surprise assembly today.  A visitor had travelled from Glasgow with a special announcement for all in school.  In November pupils in Ms Whorlow’s class entered a letter writing competition, organised by Poppy Scotland.  This competition was open to all schools in Scotland and was judged by a panel including TV presenter Kirsty Wark.  

A video of Kirsty Wark announcing the winner was played to the school and parents – announcing Rowan Harbottle as the national winner!  This announcement was a fantastic surprise to all the pupils and parents.  Rowan was given a beautiful framed certificate and a mini I pad as his prize.  His letter was read out to all – demonstrating why he was a worthy winner, before many photographs were taken to mark this achievement.

One visitor to the school remarked as they left ” I thought the surprise could have been George Clooney coming into school – but this was way much better!!”

This letter writing competition happened during the term in which p5/6 were studying World War Two as their project.  So combined with this knowledge, and a fantastic vocabulary, Rowan put his literacy skills to very good effect.

Congratulations Rowan – we are all very proud of you!

 

After two years of hard work, Portpatrick Primary School has successfully renewed its Eco-Schools Green Flag Award status.  The school has to select three of ten elements each year, one of which must always be litter.  Portpatrick Primary received special commendation for linking their Eco-School’s Action Plans to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. 

 Eco Schools Scotland reported that an ‘eco’ culture is well integrated into the school’s learning and wider achievement curriculum.   Pupils were led through this renewal Eco Schools work by the p5/6 teacher, Ms Whorlow. The pupils sustained the Green flag status through a range of classroom and outdoor activities such as raising money for charity and working with organisations such as Surfers Against Sewage and Scottish Water .  Portpatrick Primary was also warmly commended for promoting Fairtrade learning in the school and for their community litter picks and beach clean activities.  Steven Harland, of Eco Schools Scotland, commented that the  pupils of Portpatrick are truly responsible citizens.

Photograph shows the pupils of Portpatrick Primary, proudly holding their Eco flag in the school playground

Today, the grandparents of Portpatrick primary pupils were all invited in to share a Burns supper lunch with the children.  A fantastic number of grandparents came along for their haggis, neeps and turnip, prepared by the wonderful school cook, Barbara Rogers.  This was then followed by some tea, coffee and homemade shortbread and tablet (again by Barbara) and some entertainment from the pupils.  The winning poet recitals performed their Scots poems and also entertained with ’10 Wee Wimmin’ and ‘Ally Bally’.

 

A wonderful afternoon was had by all.  Thank you to all who helped make the afternoon such a success.

In celebration of our famous Scots poet, song and story writer, Mr Rabbie Burns himself, Portpatrick school held a wonderful Scots Poetry showcase for all parents, carers, family and friends.  All pupils put in lots of effort to learn their Scots poems and recite them for the judging competition.  There were also prizes given for poem artwork and handwriting.

Well done to all the boys and girls for trying so hard.  (also thank you to the parents/carers who put in the effort of helping their children learn their poems!)

P1-4 have been learning about ‘growth mindsets’ in their health and wellbeing topic.  They are learning to think about what makes them a ‘good learner’ and use these things more often to ‘grow their minds’ and be the best learner they can be.  Today we were introduced to ‘Tim the Team Player’.

Mrs Henry conducted a secret experiment on the class!! She mixed everyone up in to groups and let the pupils play tricky word snakes and ladders for 10 minutes.  She watched the boys and girls carefully to see if they were being good team players e.g. taking turns, being friendly and kind, helping and supporting others, accepting winning or losing gracefully etc.  The class showed lots of these characteristic but also spoke about how they could improve in other team games and group work.

More superheroes will be introduced along the way.  Once all 8 are known to the class, we will invite parents, carers and friends in to school to learn more about them and how they can be used at home to support learning too!  Information on this will be along soon…