Willowbank School, KilmarnockThe Transition class were Responsible Citizens undertaking a training walk for their DofE Expedition section. The task was to do a timed walk to the Palace Theatre. Those that already hold a Bronze award helped those that were doing it for the first time. Some lovely weather helped us out. 17 minutes on the way there, 20 minutes to return (there must be more uphill on the way back!)
In cooking class this week the Transition class were Confident Individuals. They were trying out smoked sausage and deciding if they preferred it hot or cold. The first major task was removing the wrapper! Once we all had a safe go at that, we carefully sliced some and tasted it cold. After that the class very carefully fried some in a hot pan before trying again. Choices of likes/dislikes were shared. Some pupils liked it cold and some hot. We will have to keep this in mind when preparing our meals for DofE.
The Transition class were straight back to hard work this week. They were all Successful Learners working hard towards their ILP targets. Everyone was really focussed and put in their best effort.
*Responsible Citizens
We have done a few activities throughout the week to signify Earth Day. We discussed ways to save energy and recycling followed by a trip to the park where we did a nature scavenger hunt. We planted seeds and built a den in class. Inside the den we read a book by torchlight to show how difficult it would be to do things if we were short of electricity. We also made a microwave sponge which uses less energy to cook than in a conventional oven.
*Responsible Citizens* *Effective Contributors*
To celebrate Earth Day, we had a ‘no technology’ morning and enjoyed story time in a big class den. We then went on a Nature Hunt during our local walk this afternoon. Some of our pupils also took responsibility for recycling at the end of the week. Have a lovely weekend everyone!
So we stated the week with sharing what we did over the holidays. We then did some literacy and numeracy games and finished the day with play doh challenges. On Wednesday the comets were with mrs McDonald. They did some great art with her. On Thursday we had a our local walk with some road safety involved and then learning some life skills – like hoovering, washing dishes and wiping tops down. We also learned how to zip out jackets. On Friday it was earth day. We learned what earth day was, why we do it and how we can help the earth. We made our own dream catchers, did wordsearches, planted sunflowers and played earth day games. 
Responsible Citizens Effective Contributors
The Moonbeams have enjoyed learning about Earth Day. We have been making sure our lights are only on when necessary and turning off the computer screens when not in use. The children worked hard to make bird feeders out of orange and grapefruit skins filling them with yummy food for the birds. We will hang them up on Monday while at Kay Park where we are also going to litter pick.
The children also enjoyed making a dirty mud cake out of chocolate mousse and biscuits with some jelly worms on top.
We were successful learners finding out more about Earth Day this morning. We paid attention to the board when we watched our information film and then some of us could answer questions about Earth Day.
As our way to help the earth, we planted sunflowers and seedlings to transfer to the school garden next week. We all enjoyed the feeling of the soil running through our fingers and looking at the plants’ roots.
Later, we were responsible citizens and took our recyclable items from the classroom and sorted them at the school recycling container.
We all enjoyed listening and joining in with some Earth Day songs too.
Responsible Citizens
The Sunflowers have had a lovely first week back and have settled in well. Today we loved celebrating Earth Day. Everyone loved our morning walk in the sunshine and we completed a nature hunt along the way, finding butterflies, lots of different flowers, trees and leaves. Afterwards, we returned to school to complete our own Earth pictures and fine motor skills task. In the afternoon, we made use of our lovely garden by playing in the sunshine.
*Responsible Citizens*
The daisies spent some time today learning how important it is to look after Earth and the things we can do to keep Earth healthy and happy. We then made Earth paintings using shaving foam and food dye: it was super messy and super fun! 
