Portpatrick Primary

Tuesday saw all 3 of our North Rhins partnership schools come together for a morning of exploration and an afternoon of inter-school sports fun. Pupils from Portpatrick and Kirkcolm travelled to Leswalt, who hosted the event for the first time. After arriving, the boys and girls made their way up to the Aldouran Wetlands for some fun in the gardens.

They then made their way back to school for a picnic lunch outside, and enjoyed getting to know and play with pupils from the other schools. Just as we were ready to head to the village park to begin our sports, the rain started – but it didn’t damped our spirits! Thankfully, the shower passed and it was a lovely warm afternoon for the boys and girls to cheer on their own schools – they were all getting very competitive and were keen for their school to be the overall winner of the afternoon!

There were various races for pupils to participate in, including sprint, skipping, sack, egg & spoon, distance and a relay. After counting up the points and working out the scores proportionately given the differing numbers of pupils in the 3 school, Portpatrick were the overall winners of the afternoon, with Leswalt in 2^nd place and Kirkcolm in 3^rd.

A huge thank-you must go to Lidl who supported the event for the 2^nd year running, by providing water and fruit for the pupils to enjoy – they were well in need of this after the distance race! Also to the Brown family, who transported the equipment from the school to the park for us. The pupils had a wonderful afternoon mixing with other boys and girls in their year group across the 3 schools and are looking forward to our next get together already!

Tractor Tom, aka Tom McKie (Sophia’s Papa) visited the school this week to allow P1-3 to learn more about how tractors are used to help with farming.

The children learned about the different parts of the tractor and what they are used for to lessen the workload for busy farmers.  Each pupil eagerly took advantage of the chance to sit in the tractor.  Tractor Tom then took the tractor for a quick spin and a toot in the playground to show off its manoeuvrability.

# Successful Learners

Today, P3-6 linked up with Thornton Primary STEAM Team as part of a live SSERC Cook-Along GlowMeet session.  Along with up to 100 schools throughout Scotland, we shared a video link that guided us through the science behind blasting off our home made rocket mice launchers.

The children carried out a practical science activity to explore the forces acting upon our rockets. We observed the upward thrust produced by quickly ‘clap-smacking’ our milk bottles rockets to launch our home made mice astronauts.  The quick expulsion of air from the bottles created an upward propulsion system.  We discussed  how air resistance and gravity worked against the mouse’s upward thrust.

We recycled our unwanted milk cartons to do our bit for the environment. 🙂

You can watch a replay of the launch on the video link below.

#Successful Learners

MVI_1600

Following on from our Careers in the Community assembly, Carolyne the veterinary nurse returned with vet Steve to share more of their experiences of working as a mixed practice in the Stranraer area; both with domestic and farm animals.

They were accompanied by the ever popular Dougal the Cockapoo.  Dougal kindly volunteered to let the children give him a medical assessment.  They listened to his heartbeat through stethoscopes and inspected his ears to check they were clean and healthy.  The boys and girls proved excellent vets, taking gentle care of Dougal. He was more than happy to be groomed and pampered during his visit.  He was the star of the show!

#Successful Learners

 

Primary 1-3 received a visit from the local Spinners & Weavers group today.  The ladies kindly gave up their time to show the children traditional methods of working with wool after it has been gathered from sheep.

The session included looking at different types of wool from Jacob’s to Blue faced Leicester. The boys and girls then had a demonstration of the different methods of spinning and had a chance to use a range of equipment such as an authentic spinning wheel.

Everyone had a chance to prepare the wool by brushing it to remove any knots and debris, ready to then spin.

The boys and girls have learned more about traditional cottage industries linking to their ongoing farming topic.

#Successful Learners

Portpatrick Primary held yet another successful sports day on Friday 7th of June.  Many friends and family members came along to cheer the boys and girls on in their sporting efforts.

The children competed in the following events:

• Sprint – Class winners: Carter, Scott, Sophia, Ava Lily, Finlay & Rowan
• Skipping – Class winners: Erin, Cameron, Rose, Ava Lily, Finlay & Rowan
• Sack – Class winners: Carter, Cameron, Sophia, Ruby, Robin & Rowan
• Egg and Spoon – Class winners: Erin & Carter, Atticus, Rose, Ruby, Finlay and Rowan
• Throw – Class winners: Erin, Scott, Sophia, Lillie, Finlay &  Rowan
• Distance – Class winners: Holly, Cameron, Sophia, Ava Lily, Finlay & Rowan
• Obstacle – Class winners; Erin, Cameron, Liam, Isabella, Alfie and Myles

The winning didn’t stop there.  In pole position, in the highly competitive mum’s and dad’s races, were Kerry and Steve.  In the nursery race, Adam just pipped Ivy at the finish line.

Everyone demonstrated great determination and team spirit.

The day was rounded off with an ice lolly treat.

#Effective Contributors.

P1-3 donned their wellies for a visit to High Airyolland as part of their learning about the farming industry.

Mr and Mrs McQuistin kindly took the children of a tour of their farmstead to give the children a sense of land use.  They all went up to the top of the hill to view the layout and different usage of the areas such as grazing and a wind turbine.

Dallas the sheepdog was a big hit as he demonstrated herding the sheep under the commands of Mr McQuistin.

The boys and girls observed Highland cows in the fields and learned from Mrs McQuistin that the shorter the horns, the younger the animal.  One old girl was 16 years old!

Back down at the main farm area, Mr McQuistin explained the different breeds of sheep – Beltex and Blue Faced Leicester.  They also have cross bred sheep from the two which has the lovely name of a Bluebell cross.  Mr McQuistin then gave a sheep sheering demonstration.  He told the children about how the wool is used. This will link in with the upcoming visit from weavers into the classroom.

Environmental responsibility was discussed as it was explained to the children how any plastic waste on the farm is responsibly disposed of.

No farm visit is complete without seeing a tractor up close.  The boys and girls were able to explore it.  Mrs McQuistin explained that because farms are so mechanised, you don’t have to be strong to be a farmer and that it can be a career choice for anyone.

The day was a great success, with just about everyone now wishing to become a farmer!

#Successful Learners

Click on each photo to have full view 🙂

 

P4 -7 became geologists today by modelling the rock cycle.  The natural rock cycle can take millions of years to achieve.  We simulated this entire process in an afternoon using chocolate.

Sedimentary Rock

We started off by making sedimentary rock that had been broken down into smaller pieces by the elements.  To do this, we:

• Grated milk and white chocolate into flakes to represent different rock types
• We built up our sediment in a pile on tin foil
• It was then compressed by pressing down on the flakes wrapped in the foil
• The resultant sedimentary rock sample can be seen in photographs below
• The separate sediment deposits can be observed as white and dark sections.

Sedimentary Changing To Metamorphic Rock

We then simulated high pressure and heat being applied to our sedimentary rock sample.  We achieved this by:

• Putting our sample in a bag along with whole chunks of chocolate.
• We squashed and squeezed the sample and let our body heat do the work
• The results can be seen below. A harder, grainy texture is achieved as a result of changing from sedimentary to metamorphic rock.

Metamorphic rock changing to Igneous Rock

To model the change from metamorphic rock to igneous rock, we:

• Melted the chocolate over a Bain Marie.
• The metamorphic rock melted as if it was exposed to extreme heat under the crust of the earth, becoming magma.
• The melted sample was then cooled and formed in a flow, just like lava erupted from a volcano.

The cycle will start all over again with igneous rock breaking down to form sedimentary rock and so on…

P4-7 ended the Outdoor Learning Day’s activities by partaking of a relaxing yoga session in the sunshine.

We learned traditional yoga poses such as the tree, mountain, chair and warrior.  These positions help build core muscle strength.

We rounded off at home time with a mindfulness, calming visualisation activity; relaxing on the grass.

Everyone had a thoroughly enjoyable day packed full of purposeful activities.

P1 – 3  got their gardening gloves on to care for their vegetable patch.  They carefully weeded and tended the wide range of vegetables that are coming along nicely.  We have spring onion, beetroot, potato, onion, turnip, carrots and potato plants!

They then progressed to observational art.  The children made a close study of the flowers growing naturally around the mound area.  They then focussed carefully to produce their own impressions of these flowers.

Meanwhile Robin and Liam helped Mrs Henry distribute posters around the village as part of our ‘Eco’ litter campaign.  Local businesses have been very supportive, offering to display them predominately, to encourage us all to keep Portpatrick tidy.

# Responsible Citizens & Effective Learners