Headteacher’s Challenge #18

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

 

 

Headteacher’s Challenge #17

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

 

Report Cards

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

Headteacher’s Challenge #16

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

Image preview

Millie in P3/4 created a  beautiful Fairy Garden

Headteacher’s Challenge #15

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 🙂

Headteacher’s Challenge #14

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

Headteacher’s Challenge #13

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

Headteacher’s Challenge #12

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

 

 

Headteacher’s Challenge #11

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

 

Headteacher’s Challenge #10

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

 Calvin and his homemade doughnuts 🙂

Mini First Aid Live Workshop

If anyone is looking for something different to try tomorrow, Mini First Aid are doing a Live kid’s workshop at 11am.  It’s all about what you would need to do if you found someone unconscious.  It would be an amazing new skill to learn.  You’ll need to visit their Facebook page to get all the details and to take part.

https://www.facebook.com/minifirstaid/

 

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