Author: Ms Whorlow

P4-7 have been participating in a maths career based activity called I’m a Mathematician, Get me out of here.  We have been learning about how maths helps a range of experts do jobs in different fields.

As in our science web chat session, the boys and girls interacted with the scientists, asking them a range of topical science questions on their field of expertise.  The pool of scientists present in the session was varied, representing a balance of genders, a broad spectrum of ethnic groups and specialist fields.  The children had an opportunity to explore the diversity of the world of work in this STEM sector.

I’m a Mathematician, Get me out of here is an online, student-led enrichment activity where students connect with people who have maths at the heart of their work.

To get our brains in gear ready for our chatroom session with experts, we watched a very entertaining Christmas Maths lecture: on the mysteries of the never ending number.

https://www.rigb.org/christmas-lectures/watch/2006/the-num8er-my5teries/lecture-1

We learned about prime numbers sequences and how species of insect use prime numbers to avoid predators.  This links with our science topic of adaptation and evolution.  Also, we discovered more on working out formulae and the power of doubling.

We then moved on to study career profiles for two mathematicians:Chloe Martindale, a cryptographer and William Petterson, a computer scientist.The children worked collectively to compile a list of relevant questions to ask these experts to find out more about how maths is used in their careers.

We had a 30 minute scheduled chat room today session where we typed in our questions and received responses in real time.

The children were enthusiastic and even received a tip or two on how to start preparing now for a future career as a mathematician.

# Successful learners

 

P1-7 gathered together to mark the final day of term with their annual Christmas party.

The children enjoyed a buffet lunch of savoury and sweet treats. This was followed by a party agenda to be proud of, as organised by our house captains, Findlay Thorburn and Lillie Baker. The boys and girls were entertained with a mix of both traditional and new games.

After the games, the children received a special visitor – Santa arrived ringing his bell. He kindly gave out presents to every boy and girl, which goes to show they must all be on the nice list! Mums, dads, grandparents and family joined us to watch the festivities.
The children sung him a song before he departed to make his final preparations for the big night.

Wishing everyone a Very Merry Christmas!

Our naughty elves, Elvis and Coco, said goodbye to the boys and girls today.  Before they departed for the North Pole, they left the children a present of gingerbread house building kits.  

The school divided into small teams and got stuck in with their construction and design skills.  The children quickly realised that patience and a steady hand was required to complete the challenge.  They had to consider what edible materials they could use to ‘glue’ the sections together. Whilst they were waiting for the structures to stabilise, the boys and girls decorated gingerbread figures to enjoy at morning break. 

Design and decoration skills were then put into action to create a pleasing, sweet treat pattern finish to their home decor.

Throughout the task, a range of soft skills were applied, such as discussion, idea sharing, encouragement and cooperation.  Even when there was a collapse or two, the children demonstrated perseverance with a smile. 

At the end of the challenge, ever team had successfully constructed a fine, free standing gingerbread house fit for any elf to live in.

Each group’s entry was entered into a competition where 1st, 2nd and 3rd place were awarded on the basis of criteria such as stability, resilience and presentation. Names were put into a hat and drawn for a lucky pupil to take their team’s entry home.

# Successful learners

The whole school had a fabulous time at a Jack and the Beanstalk pantomime at the Gaiety Theatre, Ayr yesterday.  The show was very entertaining with many a giggle moment. Our favourite character was Patsy the Cow.

At intermission, the children were treated to an ice-cream. Atticus was the lucky winner of a goodie bag full of treats!

After the show, everyone then went to the Stage Door restaurant for a lovely lunch.

We all enjoyed the wonderful entertainment and food.

Thank you to the Community Council for the ice cream treats and to the Parent Council for financing the bus transport.  Thank you also, to our parent helpers Sian and Alan.  A great day was had by all!

 

Once again the boys and girls of the village were treated to a special Christmas dinner party at the Mount Stewart.  Diane, Graeme and all the staff were very kind and spoiled the children with a lovely dinner.

More treats were to follow.  There was freshly made popcorn straight from an authentic popcorn machine for everyone to enjoy.  Next, there was great entertainment when everyone jumped in to enjoy the snow machine bubbles.

The children had a surprise visit from Santa Claus too.  We all song Christmas songs and had good cheer before receiving a gift for each child.

Afterwards, there were even more sweet treats – ice cream and chocolate.

Thank you to all at the Mount Stewart for a fabulous festive evening!

As part of learning about the Victorian era, P4-7 have produced fantastic results in a S.T.E.A.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths) challenge.  The pupils were given an open ended brief to design, construct and evaluate a resource that depicts an aspect of Victorian life.

As always, the children impressed with their imagination, creativity, and attention to detail.  The standard of entry and the enthusiasm of the boys and girls was lovely to observe.  Barbara judged the entries and awarded the following:

1st Place – Ava Lily with her Victorian home with fine detail

2nd Place – Liam with his Victorian camera, complete with bellow style covering

3rd Place – Maya with her historically accurate coloured and shaped Victorian post box

All agreed that every entry was of a very high quality.  Thank you for all of the family engagement and support that made this possible.  Why not pop in to see our terrific table top display?

# Successful Learners

 

The whole school has been enterprising ‘Christmas Crazy’ this last little while preparing lots of lovely crafty gifts to sell at Sunday’s Portpatrick Christmas Fair.

The pupils (and Barbara) have made peppermint sweet gift boxes, shortbread gift boxes, salt dough tree ornaments, wrapping paper, photo snow globes AND Christmas tree & Snowmen decorations.  They all look fabulous and will help decorate your home, ready to get you in the festive spirit.

The children have used this as an Enterprise project to help raise funds.Please do come along and support our wee school.  Thank you.

Ho, Ho, Ho!

# Effective Contributors

After 12 weeks of learning and practice, P4-7 gave a musical performance to the whole school and family members this afternoon.  The children performed a range of traditional Scottish songs sung both in Gaelic and English whilst playing the tin whistle.  The boys and girls were accompanied by Wendy and  Kate of Feis Rois, who have delivered excellent instruction to the pupils.

The audience thoroughly enjoyed the talents of the pupils and a great morning’s entertainment was had by all.

Have a listen to a couple of the musical performances below to see the skills our boys and girls have mastered.

# Successful Learners

P4-7 got creative to find ways to support the community Christmas fair.  They decided to make sweets to sell.  The class made peppermint creams by following a simple recipe.  We initially weighed quantities, but after experience we were able to use ‘ready reckoning’.

We applied strict hygiene standards throughout the task, wearing hair nets and aprons and making sure we had squeaky clean hands.

The group were able to calculate the amount we had to sell each pack of sweet for to make a profit.  We added up the total cost of the ingredients and divided that number by the quantity of sweets we were able to make.  This was then multiplied by how many sweets would be in a pack.  We now know how much we must sell each gift pack of sweets for to generate a profit sale.

The boys and girls used paper craft to create decorated presentation gift boxes.  They will make a lovely present for someone at the Christmas Fair.  We hope you would like to buy them.

# Effective Contributors & Successful Learners

Lauren Steel, Principal Technician: Structures & Engineering Design for Communities with Dumfries and Galloway Council joined us today to deliver a P4-7  engineering workshop, in collaboration with the Institute of Civil Engineers (ICE).  Lauren volunteers her time to help develop children’s learning in S.T.E.M across the region.

Lauren talked to the children about different designs of bridges that can be found in the world.  The most common in Dumfries and Galloway is the masonry arch bridge.

Working in small groups, the children were given the challenge of initially designing and sketching a bridge that would be capable of being load bearing.  They then had to select materials and combine them to meet the brief.

The boys and girls used a wide range of Higher Order thinking skills to problem solve.  They had to plan, select, estimate, combine, construct, modify, improve and adapt and test their bridge construction.  Further, they had to apply their soft skills of cooperating, negotiating, discussing, sharing and agreeing to complete the task – phew!

All children were completely absorbed by the task at every step of the process.  They collaborated effectively in their teams and rose to the challenge. Every bridge constructed was successful in supporting a heavy load of a filled water bottle.

Future engineers in the making!

# Successful Learners