Author: Ms Whorlow

P5 and 6 were given the opportunity to visit Balgracie Dairy farm as part of a R.H.E.T. organised initiative.  The pupils were given a guided tour and an explanation of farm processes that apply technology, science and engineering to carry out tasks.  They learned about the many, many jobs that are required to keep a healthy and productive dairy stock and how farming is undertaken in an environmentally responsible way.

All the milk from Balgracie farm goes to Nestle to make Kit-Kat chocolate.  We were treated to a few ‘biccies’ to take home with us to sample after our visit!

The children then applied their recount writing skills to share their experience with their partnership Glow e-buddies.

See below for an example of recount writing from Ruby P5:

All about Balgracie Farm!  Ruby Rankin P5

Introduction:

Today P5-6 went to Balgracie farm on the 29.10.19 at the farm.  We learned about dairy farming.

Arrival:

When we arrived we had to dip our feet into a soapy bucket to kill any germs so we didn’t infect the animals.  Then, Mrs Mc Nicoll gave use a pair of gloves and we were not allowed to take our gloves off.

Baby calves:

Next, we went to see baby calves. They were all six weeks old. They had blue or red tags on their ears. Blue was for boys and red was for girls. When the calves are born they have to get colostrum milk within six hours or they get ill.

Milking parlour:

After we saw the baby calves we went to see the milking parlour. Mr Drennan showed us the milking pumps they use to automatically milk the cows.  He demonstrated the automatic nut feeder that gives the cows food to eat whilst they are being milked. He also showed us a yellow cream that you put in the udders so they don’t get bugs.

Sleeping barn:

Next, he showed us the cow beds.  They were made out of rubber.  There was a motorised pooper scooper to clean away any slurry.  The slurry is used as fertiliser for the fields.

# Successful Learners

Our partnership pupils completed a Digital Technologies pupils’ views survey recently.  The children answered responses to a range of questions and offered their feedback and comments on how they view their Digital learning experiences.

One particular suggestion from  Emma Drummond of Kircolm, spurred our Digital Leaders to organise rainy day I.C.T. clinics.  Whenever we now have a wet weather break that might keep us indoors, the pupils have the opportunity to come along and share skills and knowledge with one another.

Today’s focus was on using the Smartboard tools.  The boys and girls used both Smartboards to run two workshops.  Everyone found the sessions enjoyable and worthwhile.

# Successful Learners

P4-7 travelled to the Wigtown book festival today to participate in an illustrator workshop with successful book author and illustrator Shoo Rayner.

We learned to use basic shapes as the building blocks for illustrating characters as well as how to use guide lines to rotate faces etc.  They children practiced creating people by starting off with a stick person and ‘filling’ them out.

Shoo reinforced that everything takes practice, practice, practice, just like our school REACH character Practicing Pete.

It was a very informative and enjoyable session.

Shoo Rayner has lots of Youtube videos on  ‘how to draw’ available to watch if you would like to learn more.  Here is one example:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaQOnL-tNULRYma5nRDy1QA

# Successful Learners

P1-7 received a visit from our local Royal National Lifeboat Institute (R.N.L.I.) volunteers Kim and Johnathon yesterday.

They explained that there are over 4000 R.N.L.I volunteers in our country.  Each person gives up their time for free to help others. They work very closely with the coastguard.

We learned that the lifeboat travels at 25 knots, which is equivalent to 32 miles per hour.  The boys and girls agreed this was pretty fast for a  boat.

Kim said that the longest ‘shout’ rescue job they have been on was over 20 hours, so the job can be physically demanding. They will respond from everything to a kayak in trouble to large ferries, wherever anyone needs help at sea. She also said that every volunteer receives basic lifesaving skills training such as C.P.R.  Our P4-7 class have already practiced this skill with Tanya Ellis, our local paramedic.

Johnathon explained to everyone that if we ever fall in the water, the shock of the cold water can be very dangerous for our bodies.  He said we should all ‘starfish’ float for a minute to let our bodies adjust to the cold before we try to swim.  This safety tip could save our lives.

Johnathon showed us all the safety and protective clothing each RNLI officer has to wear when going out on a shout.  It is all designed to protect them from the cold and to save their lives if they get into trouble. Everyone got to try on the helmet and the lifejacket.  The life jacket is a very expensive piece of equipment, costing nearly £1000.

# Responsible Citizens

Photos uploaded by digital leaders Lillie and Maya

P4-7 got their sprinting shoes on this morning to work with time duration and technology.

We first estimated then measured the distance of our football pitch with a trundle wheel.  It had a length of 30 metres.

Next, using a digital stopwatch, each pupil sprinted a double run of 60 metres whilst another took a turn at timing them.

We then used software to plot and display our data graphically.  We discussed which type of graph would be most suitable. The class agreed that a bar would be the best to show each individual time.

The children then selected to use either Microsoft Excel or 2SimpleGraph to enter their data.  We remembered to give our graphs a title and label each axis.

We then interpreted our results. Using our HOTS analysing skills to consider whether our results supported the questions that:

• The oldest/youngest runner was the fastest/slowest
• The tallest/smallest runner was the fastest/slowest

Our results did not support these statements, demonstrating that we are all unique.

As an extra challenge we calculated the speed of each runner using the D=S x T formula transposed to S = Distance/Time

# Successful Learners

Free resources to learn together

Portpatrick Primary is happy to support families to learn more about digital technologies.  P4-7 pupils are using Office 365 through Glow in school.  If you would like access to this software at home, it is available free to use through the children’s Glow accounts.  The children have added the ‘app’ tile (shown below)  to their launch pads to make it easy to locate.

Should you need to locate it for yourself, once your child has logged in, simply click on the black flag on the left hand side of the screen and type Microsoft into the search app box in the top right hand section of the screen.  This image can be enlarged  by clicking on it.

 

Free online tutorials are available from the Microsoft Training Centre at the following address:

https://support.office.com/en-gb/office-training-center

Click on each software icon to reveal instructional videos by task.

 

We hope this is useful for you.

# Successful learners together

Portpatrick Primary opened its doors to family and friends this afternoon to share our learning on digital technologies and coding as part of Digital Coding Week.

There were many activities for everyone to participate in.

P1-3 were set the challenge of programming a code-n-go mouse to navigate a large scale map of Portpatrick village.  Everyone had to estimate and try step quantity and direction to reach landmark destinations the children had reproduced on the map.

P4-7 practiced and shared their skills on digital coding, using the free online courses available on www.code.org (select projects tab).  These are available to explore further at home.  The pupils are signed up for differentiated levels of challenge.

They also continued with their musical composition using Soundtrap; sharing and collaborating on making tracks.

The pupils practiced their keyboard skills by using www.dancemattypying.com. (This is also available online at home).

Throughout the range of activities, the children were applying their computational higher order thinking skills of:

• tinkering
• collaborating
• using logic
• creating algorithms
• perseverance
• debugging

Digital technologies and computational thinking are at the forefront of the skills demand for the future world of work that our pupils will be entering.  We are committed to helping our children prepare for the challenges and opportunities that are ahead of them.  By embedding digital technologies within our curriculum, we hope to support them in this goal.

Why not watch the Socialnomics 2018 video below to see for yourself the powerful message on how our world is changing?

# Successful Learners

 

P4-7 received a special visit from Paramedic Tanya Ellis today.  We learned a great deal of information about the role of emergency services, why we would contact them and what we would say if we had to call in an emergency.  The pupils considered carefully the dangers of making hoax 999 calls.

The workshop then moved on to practicing placing an unconscious person in the recovery position. All the boys and girls were able to achieve the required pose for their unconscious casualty.

Tanya then demonstrated carrying out C.P.R. on a dummy.  The children practiced performing compressions on the dummy for themselves.  We learned that the sequence is 30 compressions to 2 breaths.

The class then shared their knowledge on how to treat a range of injuries and emergencies such as burns, asthma attacks, breaks, bites and bleeding.

# Responsible Citizens

P4-7 are continuing to explore instructions through a range of mediums.  Today, we used our STEM craft skills to construct a paper hat.  We were required to:

• Sequence diagram images in the correct order
• Carry out the construction stages to make a paper hat
• Record each step with a clearer, digital photograph
• Create a fuller, instruction text with all the required features i.e. Title, equipment, tips, stage photographs, written commands, sequencing connectives and imperative verbs.

The children then experimented with using ‘Sway’ to create their instruction text publication.  Here is an example made by Findlay T – P7. Click on the link below then select play.

How To Make A Paper Hat

Created by Findlay Thorburn p7

Go to this Sway

# Successful Learner

As part of learning about instruction texts, P4-7 were set a technical challenge ‘a la British Bake Off’ style.

The children were given a pared down recipe instruction for pancakes with some basic instruction text features omitted from it.  The recipe did not detail equipment needed, had incomplete steps and no sequencing connectives etc.

We used the real-life experience of making the pancakes for ourselves to ‘debug’ the instructions provided.

The children will follow up the activity by creating their own improved recipe instructions using I.C.T. technology.  They will use the digital images we took in the activity to enhance their recipe with photographic illustrations.  They will then add in features such as sequencing connectives, imperative (bossy) verbs and fuller, step-by-step stages.

We shared our pancakes with the whole school.  They were our taste test judges and the verdict was they were all ‘Star Bakers!’

#Successful Learners