P4-7 used our Higher Order Thinking Skills to create wands with two methods today.

The children painted and decorated the sticks gathered from our woodland walk on Friday.

In addition, we decided to do a touch of wood working wand making.  We:

• Measured half way on a 60 cm dowling rod
• Sawed the rod in half using a junior hacksaw
• Sanded the ends smooth
• Carefully used a hot glue gun to create handles and patterns on our wands
• Painted and decorated the finished wands

The children independently worked safely and sensibly with equipment.

Independent Learners

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.

Successful Learners

 

 

 

We have been learning that the Mandragora is a powerful ingredient in restorative potions. In Harry Potter, the cry of the younger versions of this plant will render the listener unconscious.

We modelled our own mandrakes using two materials – modelling clay (P1-4) and home made play dough (p4-7).

We are sure you will agree that artistic talent abounds in our budding sculptors.

Pupils at Portpatrick Primary have had a fun day by receiving both an acceptance letter from Hogwarts AND a letter sent from J.K Rowling herself along with an amazing poster which we can hang proudly in the school in memory of our Harry Potter Day.

There was so much excitement during today’s build up – we can’t wait for the big day on Monday!

Watch this space for “mischief managed”

Excited pupils in Primary 1-4 receiving their Hogwarts acceptance letter and platform 9 3/4 ticket through the virtual fireplace !

Hogwarts Delivers !
Special delivery for a special little boy.  Looking forward to having you back on Monday Stephen.

 

 

The Children enjoyed foraging and even spotted a little toad hiding in the undergrowth.

 

Usually at the end of the year, we’d have an assembly to celebrate all of the successes in the school – but obviously we were unable to back in June (pesky Covid!!).  But we didn’t want all of the hard work and effort of pupils last session to go unnoticed! So on Wednesday, we celebrated our Star Readers for 2019-2020 who were awarded with certificates. Have a keek below to see all the delighted faces getting the recognition they deserved!

After preparing our marrow yesterday with salt to draw out the moisture, we were ready for the next step in our ‘team chutney’ challenge.

Sian and her neighbour donated a variety of tomatoes.  Izzy and Alba brought in apples from their trees at home too.  The rest of the ingredients were bought in store.

The boys and girls chopped and prepared the following ingredients and added it to the washed and drained home grown marrow.

• Apples
• Tomatoes
• Plums
• Sultanas
• Ginger
• Malt Vinegar
• Demerara Sugar

We applied our maths skills to the task too.  We used division to reduce recipe quantities.  We also practised weight and capacity to measure dry and wet ingredients by reading scales for quantity. Everything was then mixed together and simmered slowly for several hours to thicken and blend.

We then enjoyed the chutney with a mix of crackers .  The children really liked the flavour.  There were seconds and even thirds devoured!

Here is our recipe:

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/marrow-chutney

Effective Contributors

 

 

In preparation for our Harry Potter day on Monday the 14th September, we took  walk down to the woods to try and find the perfect wizard wands. Apparently, Ollivanders Wizard Wand Shop was closed because of Covid.

The children had great fun exploring outdoors! After we had found our wands the children burst into some spontaneous imaginative play. Pupils started creating broomsticks, fires , dens and fairy huts. The boys and girls were delighted to explore the outdoor space and we are looking forward to some more visits in the near future.

Below are some photos of our Wizard Wood Walk !

Yesterday the boys and girls in Primary 1- 4 took a quick trip outside to explore our garden area. Below are some photos of us having fun in our outdoor space. We thought these photos were just too good not to share !

After yesterday’s bounty of a massive marrow from our very own vegetable patch, the children thought about ways to make best use of our whopper vegetable. We decided that we’d like to have a go at making marrow chutney.  This will teach us about preserving food to avoid food waste.

We all helped at each stage of the preparation process.  Some washed and chopped our marrow.  Others added salt to draw out moisture from the marrow. They then mixed it all together.  We left it for many hours for the salt to do its job.

At every stage, hygiene was maintained, with hand-washing before and after and all equipment carefully washed after use.

Tomorrow, we plan to proceed with stage two of our chutney making challenge, which will be another team effort.

Effective Contributors