Good morning and welcome to Health Week Thursday 🙂

It’s been brilliant to read your posts about all the activities you’ve got up to at home during our Health Week – so far we’ve had Mindfulness Monday, Tik Tok Tuesday and Walking Wednesday.  I can’t wait to hear about your adventures over the next two days, and I’m so excited for Sports Day!

Today’s challenge is a singing one.  We sing this all the time at school so make sure you belt it out, especially the whistling at the end 🙂

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73_y1ESHxqI

As always, take care, stay safe and keep in touch.  Mrs Govans x

Judith.govans@east-ayrshire.gov.uk

Please click on the links below to read a letter from Head of Campus, Mr Gilchrist, about the uniforms for the Robert Burns Academy pupils and to see graphics of the new blazers and ties. Thank you.  Mrs Govans

P7 letter

The Barony Campus Badges + uniforms

Good morning and Happy Health Week 🙂

Another glorious weekend in the sunshine – and what a great way to start our Health Week.  Staff in both the PS and ECC have great activities planned for you all every day and we look forward to hearing about your health adventures throughout the week.

Today’s challenge is another food one …

Try to think of a fruit or vegetable for every letter of your name. I’ve managed most of my name but I’m stuck on letter V!  Answers would be appreciated!

M – mushrooms

R – radishes

S – strawberries

G – grapes

O – oranges

V – ????

A – apples

N – nectarines

S – spring onion

You can’t use the same fruit or vegetable twice, and if you’ve got a short name try to do your surname too.  During last week’s food tasting challenge we discovered that Eli likes beetroot, and that I like grapefruit but not pineapple 🙁

Wishing you all a brilliant Health Week and looking forward to our Sports Day on Friday 5th June – how I wish we were all together down at Riverside Park cheering on our pupils during their races!

As always, stay safe, take care and keep in touch.  Mrs Govans x

Judith.govans@east-ayrshire.gov.uk

Good morning to another glorious Thursday morning 🙂

Your teachers are all loving their phone calls to their pupils that they’ve made so far – they’re so pleased to hear about your lockdown adventures and stories.  If your teacher hasn’t phoned you yet – don’t worry!  They’ll be phoning over the next few days and possibly into next week as they’re blethering so much that the phone calls are taking much longer than anticipated!

Back in April I gave you a Food Tasting Challenge, and I received so many brilliant success stories about foods that you now like that I’m challenging you again – but with a twist.

Today’s Challenge is a Fruit/Vegetable Food Challenge. 

My oldest son has discovered that he now likes strawberries … after years of being offered strawberries and turning his nose up at them, they are now his most favourite food in the world!

There are so many delicious fruits and vegetables in the shops right now that I challenge you to try 3 new food items that you’ve always thought you never liked, or just haven’t tasted before.  Remember to let me know if you find a new favourite fruit or vegetable.  I’m going to try pineapple, grapefruit and courgettes – I’ll let you know how I get on …

Tuesday’s Tower Challenge was a big hit – I’ve received so many brilliant photos of the most creative towers.  Well done to everyone who completed the challenge, including Jayden who was thinking outside the box by using a large laundry basket as his base item!

As always, take care, stay safe and keep in touch.  Mrs Govans x

Judith.govans@east-ayrshire.gov.uk

Good morning Tuesday 🙂

I hope you all enjoyed a lovely relaxing long weekend with your family.  I went a HUGE walk with my husband, sons and dogs and my legs are still aching …

Thanks to everyone who took part in the Animal Quiz – I’d love to hear who the winner was in your family.  Kay-Cee was her family’s winner with a brilliant score of 17/20 – great stuff!

I was tidying out my youngest son’s bedroom (AGAIN!) at the weekend and I asked him to tidy up his book shelf.  He proceeded to build a huge tower of books on the floor, and then added other items to the books to see if he could make the tower taller than himself – he did manage and then he had an even bigger mess to tidy up once he knocked the tower of books, Top Trumps cards and PS4 games over!

So today’s challenge is a Construction one – try to build a tower that is taller than yourself BUT you can’t use all the same objects!  For instance, you can’t just build a tower from Lego/Jenga blocks/storage boxes … that would be too easy.  You can only use three of the same items so you’ll need to get VERY creative and think about a wide range of items that you could use to build your tower that will safely stack on top of each other.  The taller you are – the harder the challenge!  I look forward to seeing the photographic evidence that you completed the challenge…

Also, I’ve got a wee surprise for you!  Your teachers are going to be phoning you this week for a chat – they can’t wait to speak to you and hear what you’ve been up to during this time away from school.  I know it’s exciting when someone phones you so you could maybe make a list of all that you’ve been doing so that you’re organised for when your teacher phones you.

As always, take care, stay safe and keep in touch.  Mrs Govans x

Judith.govans@east-ayrshire.gov.uk

Well done to everyone who participated in the Animal Quiz – I’ve been sent lots of emails/photos of answers …

Check your answers against the list below and let me know how you got on.  No cheating!!

1. What’s the fastest land animal? CHEETAH
2. What’s the biggest animal in the ocean? A BLUE WHALE
3. What’s the only poisonous snake native to the UK? AN ADDER
4. How many lives is a cat said to have? NINE
5. What do you call a baby kangaroo? A JOEY
6. Do polar bears live in the Arctic or the Antarctic? THE ARCTIC
7. What do you call a group of sheep? A HERD/FLOCK (either is acceptable)
8. How many legs does a spider have? EIGHT
9. Is a koala a real bear? NO, IT’S A MARSUPIAL
10. What’s the tallest animal in the world? A GIRAFFE
11. What kind of animal is Shere Khan in ‘The Jungle Book’? A TIGER
12. What is an alicorn? A WINGED UNICORN
13. How many horns did a triceratops have? THREE
14. What bird, with a distinctive call heard at the start of summer in the UK, is famous for stealing other birds’ nests? A CUCKOO
15. What’s the name of the cat in ‘The Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch’ book? HAMISH
16. Nala and Simba are what kind of animal? LIONS
17. What type of dog is Marshall from ‘Paw Patrol’? A DALMATION
18. How many brains does an octopus have? NINE
19. What’s the slowest animal in the world? SLOTH
20. A group of which species is known as a Parliament? OWLS

Wishing you all a lovely long weekend with your family 🙂

Mrs Govans x       

Good morning Thursday 🙂 (although I’m cheating a wee bit by posting this on Wednesday night as I’m working in the hub today)

Mrs Schendel and I have enjoyed speaking to lots of parents/carers and pupils this week during our phone calls, and it’s been great to hear how pleased and proud everyone is with your report cards.  We’re looking forward to catching up with everyone else over the next few days.

Today’s challenge is … an Animal Quiz.  When I was a pupil at Catrine PS there used to be an annual interhouse quiz called ‘Top of the Form’ – hands up if you remember it?

There’s 20 animal questions and you can either have one quiz master asking all the questions, or you can split the people in your house into teams and play together.  I’ll post the answers up on Friday afternoon so that you can work out who are the winners. Good luck!

Animal questions

1. What’s the fastest land animal?

2. What’s the biggest animal in the ocean?

3. What’s the only poisonous snake native to the UK?

4. How many lives is a cat said to have?

5. What do you call a baby kangaroo?

6. Do polar bears live in the Arctic or the Antarctic?

7. What do you call a group of sheep?

8. How many legs does a spider have?

9. Is a koala a real bear?

10. What’s the tallest animal in the world?

11. What kind of animal is Shere Khan in ‘The Jungle Book’?

12. What is an alicorn?

13. How many horns did a triceratops have?

14. What bird, with a distinctive call heard at the start of summer in the UK, is famous for stealing other birds’ nests?

15. What’s the name of the cat in ‘The Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch’ book?

16. Nala and Simba are what kind of animal?

17. What type of dog is Marshall from ‘Paw Patrol’?

18. How many brains does an octopus have?

19. What’s the slowest animal in the world?

20. A group of which species is known as a Parliament?

Last week I set a Wheely Good challenge, and Sophie and Connor aced it by building the best wee bogie in Ayrshire! Their mum sent me great photos of them sawing, hammering and drilling bits and pieces together to create their masterpiece – take at look at their hard work.

As always, take care, stay safe and keep in touch.  Mrs Govans x

Judith.govans@east-ayrshire.gov.uk

Good morning, and welcome to another week of home learning.

I’ve received some lovely emails from parents/carers/pupils stating how proud they are of their school report – it’s always nice to hear from our families.  I hope you liked the wee hug too 🙂

Today’s challenge is another singing one. 

With the recent change in the weather (where has the sunshine gone?!) I’m finding it a wee bit harder to get out of bed in the morning so this song is going to kickstart my day.  We sing this song at assembly on Monday mornings to get our week started, so I hope you feel energised and wide awake after singing it today.  We do have some actions for the song and it would be great if you could make up your own at home too.

As always, stay safe, take care and keep in touch.  Mrs Govans x

Judith.govans@east-ayrshire.gov.uk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5idAk316hpY

Good morning.  I hope this finds you and yours safe and well.

Please look out for your child’s report card in the post this week.

I was very proud reading through their teacher’s comments and remembering all of their successes throughout this year, and I know you will enjoy sharing their report with your family.  We’ve certainly managed to cram a lot into every school day from August 2019 to March 2020 🙂

Also, Mrs Schendel and I will be phoning parents/carers for a  blether again this week.  Mrs Schendel will be phoning P4/5, P5/6 and P7 parents and I’ll be phoning P1, P2 and P3/4 parents.  Please remember that our call will come up on your phone as NO CALLER ID – please answer as it’s only us looking for a wee chat!

Wishing you a great week.  Mrs Govans

Good morning on another glorious Thursday morning 🙂

Well done to everyone who completed Tuesday’s Wheely Good challenge, and got out and about on their bikes and scooters – especially Daryl in P5/6 who sent us a photo of the epic bruise on his knee because he fell off his scooter…

Hannah in P2 built an awesome bike ramp in her garden, and Lauren in P4/5 built a lego house complete with pram with wheels – great stuff!

Today’s challenge is all about Shapes.

Sitting here at my kitchen table I can see ..

a circle – the kitchen clock

a square – a photo frame on the window sill

a rectangle – an envelope waiting to be posted

Try to find as many different shapes as possible around your home and make a list of them all.  Shapes can be either 2D (flat) or 3D (solid). Challenge family members to make their own shape list and see who can find the most different shapes.  Look very carefully at small items – the lids of pens, keys or coins as they usually have some unusual shapes hidden away on them.

I look forward to seeing how many different shapes you can find around your house and garden.  Post your lists on your blogs or email them to me @ Judith.govans@east-ayrshire.gov.uk

As always, take care, stay safe and keep in touch. Mrs Govans x

Millie in P3/4 created a  beautiful Fairy Garden

Good morning and welcome to Tuesday (apologies for the late posting of today’s challenge – ICT issues!)

This challenge is a wheely good one …

Today, try to use something that involves wheels.  You could go out on your bike, trike or scooter.  You could practise going your bike without stabilisers, if you’re still using them.  You could build a car/truck/cart for your toys using Lego or sticks – as long as your finished model has wheels and can move.

When I was wee I used to love building a ‘bogie’ with my Granpa Young in Cumnock. We used old pram wheels, cardboard boxes and odd bits of wood for the base, a skipping rope for steering and my feet were the brakes ….

How about asking an adult to help you build a ‘bogie’ (trailer/cart – you can call it whatever you like) for your toys to use in the garden?

So, today’s focus in all about wheels and I can’t wait to see your photos of what you get up to – remember to wear your helmet if you’re out on your bike!

As always, stay safe, take care and keep in touch.  Mrs Govans x Judith.govans@east-ayrshire.gov.uk

Aimee in P4/5 getting ‘help’ from wee sister Ruby to do her schoolwork on her laptop 🙂

A lovely Thursday morning to you all.  I’ve had a great laugh reading through some of your jokes from Tuesday’s HT Challenge.  Here are some of the jokes pupils have been sending me …

Harry P2 – What do you call a bear with no teeth?  a gummy bear!

Lexie P4/5 – How do you stop an astronaut’s baby from crying? You rocket!

Sophie D P5/6 – Why did the scientist remove her doorbell?  She wanted to win the ‘no-bell’ prize!

Connor P2 – What do you call an exploding monkey?  a bab-boom!

Aren’t they brilliant?  Keep them coming if you have any favourites you’d like to share.

Tomorrow is an important day in Britain’s history as it’s VE – Victory in Europe – Day, celebrating 75 years.  All classes have work on their class blog relating to this and , as tomorrow is a holiday, there will be no work posted by teachers, so have a wee read through their VE Day activities.

Today’s challenge is another singing one .  We sing this regularly at assembly, all up on our feet, moving around and being VERY loud and expressive – so make sure you and your family put 100% effort into singing this today.  Remember each verse gets faster so you might need to practise a few times to get it right ..

I would love to see some photos/videos on your blogs of you and your family pulling all these funny faces and dance moves.

As always, take care, stay safe and keep in touch.  Mrs Govans x  Judith.govans@east-ayrshire.gov.uk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv3JjtQzvUc

Good morning to you all on this sunny Tuesday morning 🙂

As I never managed to speak to all of our parents/carers in P5/6 and P4/5 last week I will be phoning again today, and I look forward to having a good blether with some of you.  It’s always great to hear how everyone – our pupils and their families – are getting on.  Remember, you can email us at any time with any issues/concerns.

Update on last week’s Food Tasting Challenge …

Beans – still a no-no from me, I’m afraid (yuck!) Coffee – another nope – couldn’t get past the smell.  Weetabix – I could maybe eat them for breakfast, occasionally, if there was absolutely nothing left in the cupboard.

I was glad to hear from some pupils that they tried my challenge and have discovered new foods to enjoy – Daryl now likes pies, Robbie likes noodles and Lauren likes her dad’s curry.  Success!

I’ll try another three food items this week and let you know how I get on.

Today’s challenge – make today a ‘Tell A Joke Day’. 

Whilst helping my youngest son to clean out his room we discovered a Joke Book, and then spent the rest of the day telling each other corny jokes and making up our own puns.  So, Google ‘kids jokes’ and then share as many as you can with your family.

When Charlie was facetiming his papa later that day, he shared some of his jokes with him – it was great to hear them both laughing so much, and I’m going to use my dad’s joke to get you started on your Tell A Joke Challenge today.

Knock knock

Who’s there?

Disease

Disease who?

Disease wee troosers fit me?

I look forward to reading some of your jokes later on your blogs or emails – we love when you share your work with us online.

As always, take care, stay safe and keep in touch.

Mrs Govans x    Judith.govans@east-ayrshire.gov.uk

Good morning and happy Thursday to you all.

There’s been a wee change in the weather this week – yesterday I had to put the heating on for a wee while as we were all frozen.  I much preferred last week when we were sunbathing in the garden … bring back the sunshine please!

My youngest son has always been a fussy eater, and we’ve had a breakthrough this week as he has discovered that he likes sausages!  He has been offered them loads of times but always insisted that he didn’t like them – even though he had never actually tried them. So, after giving them a go, he’s decided that they’re actually quite good!

So today’s challenge is a Food Tasting Challenge – I’d like you to try three things today that you’ve always thought you didn’t like the taste of and see if you’ve changed your mind.

The three things I’m going to try are – coffee, Weetabix and beans.  I’ll let you know how I get on in my next post on Tuesday …

Check with your family first about the three things that you’re going to try, and maybe even get them to identify  three food items to taste.  I look forward to hearing from you about the new tastes that you’ve discovered!

As always, take care, stay safe and keep in touch.  I’m off to put the kettle on to make a cup of coffee – wish me luck!

Mrs Govans x   judith.govans@east-ayrshire.gov.uk

Good morning and welcome to Tuesday 🙂

Just before the schools closed in mid-March we held another very successful Scholastic Book Fayre and we talked at assembly about the importance of reading in our everyday lives – in school, at home and when we’re out and about.

In your Home Circles we listed some reasons why it’s so important that we learn to read …

‘to fill in job and college applications’

‘to read bus, train and plane timetables’

‘to read texts and emails from friends and family’

‘to do our jobs properly when we’re working’

and my most favourite answer EVER

‘to be able to read bedtime stories to our weans when we are mums and dads’.

So, today’s Challenge is – to share/read a book with someone.

You can choose to read a book aloud to someone in your family, or you can take turns to read a page aloud each, or you can read the book yourself and then encourage someone else to read it so that you can discuss it together later. 

Find a nice, comfy, quiet place and time, get cuddled in and simply enjoy reading your book.

I would love to see some photos of the book you’re sharing with your families.

When my two boys (now aged 16 and 11) were wee, their favourite books were ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ and ‘Charlie Cook’s Favourite Book’ – I’ve still got these books and I’m going to read them aloud today and I just know that they will enjoy hearing me reading these books (even though they might pretend that they’re not listening …)

As always, stay safe, take care and keep in touch.  Mrs Govans x

Good morning and welcome to another glorious Thursday morning 🙂

It’s been lovely to hear from some of you this week via email and through your updates on your GLOW blogs – it’s great when you keep in touch with us in this way.

Today’s challenge is another singing one.  As the weather has been so lovely, lots of us have been spending time in the garden.  I’ve enjoyed planting lots of bulbs (under the careful instruction of my mum via Facetime!)

So today we’re going to get your family singing The Seed Song.  We sing this regularly at assembly so organise your family into two sides, the same way we do at school.  The first team sings the first line, with the second team being the ‘echo’, and then both teams come together for the last line of each verse and the chorus.  Remember to get them moving at the instrumental section.  It’s easy!

I’ve attached a wee video of the song and the words – I guarantee you’ll be whistling this tune all day!

As always, take care, stay safe and keep in touch. Mrs Govans x

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IcsyVVHHYc

 Calvin and his homemade doughnuts 🙂

Good morning Tuesday 🙂

Welcome back to Term 4.  It’s been lovely hearing about what you’ve been up to over the Easter holidays and, as usual, I’m very impressed with how creative you all are!  I’ve been sent photos of brilliant trampoline dens, some delicious home baking treats and some beautifully decorated Wishlist Jars, full of ideas and adventures for when the lockdown is over.

Today’s challenge is … take time to play a board or card game with your family. 

With a pack of cards you can play Snap, Gin Rummy, Pairs, Solitaire, Twist – I’m sure there are loads of card games that your family members can teach you.  You could maybe FaceTime your grandparents/family members and ask them to teach you a game that they know. 

Board games – this could be a great time to learn to play Monopoly or Scrabble or any other games that you’ve got in your house.  Again, it might have been a while since you’ve played so take time to learn the rules and get everyone involved.

One rule – NO FALLING OUT!  In my house, Monopoly usually ends up with a bit of an argument with someone accusing the Banker of stealing money …  try not to let this happen 🙂

Have fun, get out in the sun to play, try to do some schoolwork that your teachers have organised for you on GLOW, stay safe, take care and keep in touch.    Mrs Govans x

Miss Robb and her family busting some moves

Good morning and welcome to a beautiful Thursday 🙂

Mrs Schendel and I have been phoning all of our parents/carers this week and we’ve both enjoyed having a wee blether with all of our families – and even some of our pupils, which was just lovely.  If you receive a call with ‘NO Caller ID’ – please answer as it might be Mrs Schendel or I just phoning to have a wee check-in chat.

I’m planning to go on a bike run today with my boys – it’s been quite a while since I was last on a bike so wish me luck …

Today’s challenge is another practical one – it’s to learn a new skill in the kitchen.  Every one is having to help out more around the house so it’s important that we take on new responsibilities, whatever our age.

Your new kitchen skill could be buttering your own toast, putting your milk in your cereal independently, making a cup of tea for your family, washing the dishes, stacking or emptying the dishwasher, peeling potatoes, boiling an egg … the list is endless!

Safety first – talk through what your new responsibility in the kitchen could be with your family members, as they know what jobs are suitable for you. Let them show you how to do the job properly and help you out the first few times, and then it’s over to you.

I’m sure lots of you are already great helpers in the kitchen so this is a chance to be set a new challenge and try something different.

I’m off to enjoy my breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast – prepared for me by Charlie, aged 11 🙂

As always, take care, stay safe and keep in touch.

Mrs Govans x  

Good morning and welcome to the second week of our Easter holidays.  I hope you all had a lovely weekend, eating chocolate in the glorious sunshine.

Today’s challenge is based around one of our Outdoor Learning Day activities.  It’s called Big Art Outdoors – I’m challenging you to create a piece of art without using any typical art supplies like paints, colouring pens, pencils or chalk.

Instead, you’ve to use outdoor materials like stones, twigs, leaves, flowers, weeds – anything you can find in your garden  – and use it to make a picture.  You can be very creative and also use bits of string, cloth and wood to help make your masterpiece.

Two of our Houses have enjoyed this task during our Outdoor Learning Days in September and October last year, and I know that lots of you have tried this activity with your teachers outside in our playground too.

So, get everyone in your house involved and I look forward to seeing some of your fantastic creations on your blogs.  Remember to keep posting your photos to show off your work!

As always, take care, stay safe and keep in touch.

Mrs Govans x

(Easter fun at Mrs McKenna’s house)

Good morning  and welcome to Thursday 🙂

The weather this week has been just gorgeous and I’ve enjoyed spending time out in the garden reading my book, and watching my husband work his way through the list of jobs I’ve helpfully written for him …  it’s all about the teamwork!

Today’s challenge is totally stolen from Miss McLean in P2.  She encouraged her class to create a ‘Wishlist Jar’ and I’d like to borrow her idea and suggest that we all create our own version.

The idea is that when you think of an activity or event that you can’t do right now due to the restrictions in place, write it down on a wee piece of paper and pop it into your Wishlist Jar.  Then, when we’re all back to normal go through your wishes and make them happen.

Your wishes can include – sleepovers with family or friends, picnics up the water, days at the beach, trips to the swimming pool, baking with your gran, going a walk with your papa, going to the pictures with your cousins … the list is endless.

So, find a jar or tub with a lid (I’ve washed out a beetroot jar) and then make a fancy label for it.  All of the people in your house can add their wishes and it’s something to look forward to.

Have a lovely Easter weekend, and, as always, stay safe, take care and keep in touch.

Mrs Govans x