Thank you for an unforgettable year Primary 6.22!

Your futures are so bright – you’ll need these sunglasses…

To round off our learning from STEM week we researched different planets in the solar system and created a whole class fact file.

We then added our fact file to our STEM Week display board ready for the showcase tomorrow!

We are so excited to show off all of our STEM Week activities to other classes 🤩🚀🔭

This morning we launched our bottle rockets outside and used our launch pad to help balance them before take off.

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We then had another virtual visit from Ross, an engineer from INEOS. We learnt all about petrochemicals and where they can be found in everyday life.

We have had a fantastic STEM week are looking forward to showing off all of our learning at our STEM showcase next Friday 🔭⚗️

Today we were very lucky to have a visit from Aeronautical Engineers, John Stevens and David Lacey. We learnt all about Mars and how space travel has developed to allow us to visit new planets 🪐 we enjoyed an interactive quiz and designing our own drone that would be able to fly on Mars 🚁

We then began our very own scientific mission by creating our own Bottle Rockets. First, we decorated and designed them using paper, straws and tape. Then we made mini pouches of bicarbonate soda and filled our rockets with vinegar. This will cause a chemical reaction when we add the pouches and help them to take off 🤩

Our launch will take place tomorrow 🚀🚀

This morning we had a visit from engineer David Ferguson, he told us all about his journey into his Mechanical Engineering and the current projects that he is working on 🚆

Afterwards we moved onto science and we made our very own Water Cycles! We will continue to make observations and watch out for the evaporation, condensation and precipitation processes for the remainder of the week 💧

We were then given an engineering challenge to create our own building using cocktail sticks and jelly tots. We considered which shapes create the strongest structure and were given 30 minutes to complete our brief  🏗

We showcased our completed projects to our class and tested the strength of the structure by placing books on top of our building 💪🏼

All groups worked well together to create a strong, stable structure! Well done to our winning group from Ravenclaw whose building held a total of 15 books (and counting) 😆

We had a very busy and exciting start to STEM week today in 6.22! This morning we began with a Maths themed investigation specifically focused on identifying symmetry in nature 🌿 we recognised that animals, flowers and plants possess symmetrical patterns and characteristics. We were then set a challenge to replicate symmetrical patterns of animals and flowers. This required attention to detail and full class focus!

We then moved into science and watched a live lesson on Space with Brian Cox 🪐🛰  he explained the development of space travel, experienced what it would have been like to travel to space on Saturn V mission and life on different planets. We then created scientific posters to showcase our learning!

In the afternoon we moved onto an engineering challenge. We were given a brief to design a marble maze using Lego. We worked together in groups to engineer and design a challenging and engaging maze that included doors, twists, turns and bridges! 🏗

We then had an opportunity to share our learning and see if we could complete other groups marble maze! We spent time reflecting on our design process and what changes we could make to improve our engineering process.

We are so excited for the rest of STEM week!

Today it was Safer Internet day 2022 and in Primary 6 we spent time exploring the importance of maintaining safe and respectful relationships online.

First, we discussed various scenarios that could occur online and how different people would feel in these situations. We highlighted that it is important to always consider how others feel before we send a message. Then, we created an ‘alternative solution’ as to how the conversation online could have been resolved by using  a kind and respectful response approach.

Afterwards, we were given the task of designing our own game that was specifically focused on forming and sustaining respectful relationships online.

We pitched our ideas to the rest of the class and even created our own logo, tag line, game background and plan for different levels.

A very successful day of discussions and pitching!

Today in our Mearns Masters we used Canva, a graphic design platform to create posters and leaflets which promote the benefits of hosting/visiting swap shops.

Over the last 4 weeks we have been learning about the shocking working conditions in factories around the world as well as how the ‘fast fashion’ industry is leading to mass amounts of clothing waste. Therefore, we decided that our campaign will be to host our own swap shop to recycle old clothes that we used to wear and give them a second home.

We will spend next week organising our clothes, preparing for our swap shop showcase and sending out invitations to invite other pupils and staff to come and shop with us in 6.22!

As important figures from all around the world arrive in Glasgow for COP 26. We have been learning about the small changes that we can make to help the environment. We each created a template of our hand and wrote 5 changes that we are going to make to help the environment!

We are planning to walk or bike to school rather than drive all of the time, we will reduce, reuse and recycle and use less plastic by bringing our re-usable bottles, bags and lunch boxes to school.

We used all of our hands to make a great helping hands display in our classroom!