Primary 6 have been sharing our learning with the primary 1s. We have been learning about the British astronaut Tim Peake, and we have also been learning about how to teach the primary 1s. We had to think carefully about the words that we used so that they could understand us. They were showing us their drawings of spaceman and we were showing them PowerPoints about the ISS and Tim Peake we were also using posters to catch their little eyes! We showed them our Sky Studios video about a mission to Mars. We enjoyed sharing our learning with the primary 1s and would love to do it again!

By Alice and Natalya

On Friday I went to karate because it was my grading. A grading is a week where you can move up a belt. I moved up to a purple belt 2 tabs. I am very excited to be a purple belt. I have been learning karate for four years. At my karate grading I did kata.  Kata is a bunch of karate moves in a row. We also did compound steps. Compound steps are moves like step punch block. I also did free fighting in free fighting you can punch and kick which is soft touch.

Julie P6a

Today, we acted out an improvised  drama scene about a rocket launch! First we took part in a 10 second shape warm up game. Miss Bell asked us to create a shape of an object as a group. It was so exciting! For the main activity, we were each learning in different roles. For example: astronaut, doctor, meteorologist and mission control commentator.  It was loads of fun being able to improvise and act in character because we got to use our voices and bodies dramatically!  We were very happy with the results and had loads of fun!

By Zak and Aiden (P6C)

In Global Citizenship a person from Mary’s Meals charity came in to talk about what they do. Before the lady came in we did some research on Mary’s Meals and if we had any questions we put them on a Microsoft Word document. We worked on our own for this but if you were an older pupil you could choose to go with a younger one so I chose to go with a girl called Olivia Prentice [P1a]. At around about 1:30 the lady arrived and showed us a PowerPoint then she asked us some questions. Most of the Global Citizenship representatives knew all the questions. Aafter all the questions were answered we put our painting shirts on and got into groups of three to paint a bag for Mary’s Meals to take away and sell. I went in a group with Olivia again and a boy called Charlie Annad [P1b]. A photographer came in from the Evening Times and took a photo of the three of us painting the bag and asked for our names. After we had finished and tidied up some of the older ones took back the younger ones. I had a great afternoon and really enjoyed working with different people from around the school.

Thomas (P6a)

On Thursday 19th November Primary 6c made rockets. All week, we have been discussing Tim Peake’s mission to the International Space Station. So in groups of three we designed rockets to launch outside. We created interesting designs including four fins and a nose cone. To make the rockets launch, we mixed 1 Alka-Seltzer tablet and 4 table spoons of water in a film canister. Then we went outside and launched one of the rockets. The rockets went so high; it went over the nursery! This reaction happened because the carbon dioxide realised from the tablet created a lot of pressure in the canister. Then the force of thrust was greater than the force of gravity and air resistance. Next week, we will all be launching our own rockets.

By Lauren and Rhuriadh

On Sunday the 15^th of November I did a cross country in Gourock. It was very muddy and there were steep hills, most girls slipped on the hills – luckily I didn’t . When I was walking the mile my foot got stuck in a mud hole – funnily enough it had a pile on leaves over so I couldn’t see it!

No girls over took me except at the start of the race when the man shot the airgun in the air – that’s why I was thirteenth. I have already improved my time by 15.1 seconds so I’m very proud of these achievements, I can’t wait to achieve more!

By Ruby White P6a

On Thursday 12th November P6  performed their version of ‘Mars’ by Holst. We wrote a few lines to chant about the planets and Mr Watson showed us the notes and beats we were supposed to play on the glockenspiels, drums and our own instruments like guitars, flutes and clarinets. Our practise paid off and our performance went successfully. The P3s, 4s and 5s watched us and we were glad when they gave us feedback – they thought we were outstanding! It was a fun, great experience.

Holly

On Friday the 13^th we had Children in Need day where we dressed in the opposite way. You could dress for night time, be a baby, an adult, as a girl if you were a boy or  be a boy if you were a girl. We asked people to donate one pound for Children in Need. After donating a pound we hopefully had enough money to buy a Pudsey biscuit – 35p – at tuck. The pupil council collected all the money – and counted it. At the end of the day we raised a grand total of £678.90! We all enjoyed the experience and would like to do it again.

Cameron (Pupil Council, P6a)

PRESS RELEASE

Monday 16^th November 2015

 Netherlee Primary 6 pupils to grow seeds from space!

Pupils at Netherlee Primary School are preparing to become space biologists and embark on a voyage of discovery by growing seeds that have been into space.

In September, 2kg of rocket seeds were flown to the International Space Station (ISS) on Soyuz 44S where they will spend several months in microgravity before returning to Earth in March 2016. The seeds have been sent as part of Rocket Science, an educational project launched by the RHS Campaign for School Gardening and the UK Space Agency.

Netherlee Primary School will be one of up to 10,000 schools to receive a packet of 100 seeds from space, which they will grow alongside seeds that haven’t been to space and measure the differences over seven weeks. The pupils won’t know which seed packet contains which seeds until all results have been collected by the RHS Campaign for School Gardening and analysed by professional biostatisticians.

The out-of-this-world, nationwide science experiment will enable the pupils to think more about how we could preserve human life on another planet in the future, what astronauts need to survive long-term missions in space and the difficulties surrounding growing fresh food in challenging climates.

Miss Bell, a class teacher at Netherlee Primary says: “We are very excited to be taking part in Rocket Science. This experiment is a fantastic way of teaching our pupils to think more scientifically and share their findings with the whole school. Next April, we hope to plan an Astro Garden or a Table Top Greenhouse to provide quick growing, tasty crops to feed an astronaut.”

Rocket Science is just one educational project from a programme developed by the UK Space Agency to celebrate British ESA astronaut Tim Peake’s Principia mission to the ISS and inspire young people to look into careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects, including horticulture.

Applications to take part in Rocket Science are still open and will close in March next year or until all packs have been allocated. Schools and educational groups can apply at rhs.org.uk/schoolgardening.

Follow the project on Twitter: @RHSSchools #RocketScience

– Ends –

By Zhi En Wong and Amy Watson

In Community Time we have been doing lots of things. Everybody is doing one of these activities -Knitting, orienteering, new sport, cooking, Spanish, coaching, japan, animation, unusual careers, urban myths and legends or Famous artists. Stuart Mckerlie did orienteering. Stuart says “I learnt how to use a compass point on a map, I enjoyed using the maps,” and Thomas Motler was doing New Sport he says, “I think it is good that we are learning new sports. I have learnt about curling and am going to learn about lacrosse next.”

By Thomas and Stuart