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 Art, Primary 6c have been creating a piece of artwork based on a famous artist called Katsushika Hokusai. The art piece is called The Great Wave.  First we were given a template of the wave that Miss Bell had for us. Next we extended the black lines to the edge and we then chose three beautiful shades of blue, light blue and dark blue to colour the wave. This was to help create depth in our painting. Then we designed the background with lovely watercolour paints and we did this by mixing warm and cool colours. After that we neatly dabbed on some white acrylic paint to make it stand out and look very realistic too.

On Wednesday 4th November we had Mandarin with a native Chinese speaker. She taught us how to have a short conversation in Mandarin. We also played a true or false game, to get to know her better and a game were you had to catch a cube shaped bean bag. If we caught it we would have a short conversation with her! Next week she will tell all of us our names in Mandarin.

On Friday 6th November we had a Judo lesson with Brian Long our Judo coach. He has recently fought against cancer. He taught us how to do a pin. Before we did that we all were given blue judo suits and some people were given belts.

Lastly, we had another visitor  in our class for French  called Matilde and she helped us with our French pronunciation of sports. In our booklets, we completed a task about people liking and disliking sports. Next, we started to learn about numbers in French and we played two games of bingo and the winners were Zak and Finn.

By Laura Cramb, Rhuaridh Mathieson and Connie Oberg (Bloggers) and Primary 6c.

On Tuesday 27th October Primary 6c and Primary 1b met in the atrium to share and answer each others questions about night and day. Primary 1b had prepared questions for us about the solar system. We used props to help us answer their questions.

Then we got into groups with them and showed them our art. We had used pastels to create planets in the solar system. We let them touch our art to feel the texture. One of the groups told them what the planets were called and had a competition to see who could name the planets first.

“We talked through the names of planets with the Primary 1’s. It actually helped me to understand facts better about the planets.” – Lauren

“I made a game to try to help the Primary 1’s understand the planets better.” – Joe

“We taught them some facts about the planets and then we played a quiz with them to help them remember their names.” Finn

“Myself and Eva allowed the younger pupils to feel the pastel texture on our art work. They enjoyed learning about the different colours of the planets.” –Laura

“One of the Primary 1 pupils told me lots of facts about Saturn! He had been drawing the planet at home.” – Eve

“It was so fun because it was great to share all our learning.” – Khadidja

“I really enjoyed the experience because I got to know more pupils in Primary 1.” – Amy

“I liked how the younger pupils wanted to touch the artwork, I told them all about blending!” – Kate

By Finlay McCulloch and Rose Williams (Bloggers)

The size and scale of the solar system

To learn about the size and scale of the solar system we took our learning outside. With the support of Mrs Buchanan, we calculated the distances between each planet. We divided the real distances by a thousand and then we scaled the metres to footsteps. For example our scale was: one m = one footstep.

In Art we used compasses to draw a perfect circle to represent the rocky planets and the gas giants. We talked about the real sizes of the planets and again made a scale that we could use. It was important that the diameter of a rocky planet was smaller than a gas giant. Then using different colours of pastels we blended colours together.

“With my ruler, I had to measure the radius of the planets.” – Tom

“Using a compass was a challenge but I overcame this the more I practised with it.” –Rhuriadh

“I enjoyed using the compass and I think I have learnt a new maths skill.” – Katie

“It was quite fun to use the compass but a little frustrating at the same time. My hand kept moving!” -Khadidja

“It was hard to use the compass at first but I soon became much better at it.” – Connie

An artistic and emotional response to Mars Bringer of War

In Music we listened to a piece of music called Mars Bringer of War by a composer named Gustav Holst. We used our emotions and thoughts about the music to create a piece of artwork.

“The music made me feel like I wanted to express my feelings. I used darker colours as the music got deeper.” –Imogen

“I felt that there was an actual war so I created strong patterns to show people running away.” – Eva.

“It made me felt quite nervous as the music was getting louder. I made bigger shapes as the music got louder.” – Aiden

“When the music played I felt like a Roman warrior. The rhythm of the drums helped me to create my artwork.” – Zak

“I felt anger listening to the loud music. I drew lots of different types of lines.” -Lauren

Sharing our learning with Primary 1

Today we used an area in the Innovation Space to find answers to some of Primary 1’s questions about night and day. We used books and laptops to carry out our research. We learned new facts and figures about stars including the sun! We are now looking forward to meeting the Primary 1’s and sharing our research with them.

By Lauren, Rebecca, Katie and Tomas(bloggers)and Primary 6c.

In Primary 6c, we use the ActivExpressions (Maths Pods) to practise our multiplication tables.  We use them so that we can improve on the recall speed of our multiplication tables. Each time we use the pods we try to beat the amount of questions we have answered from last time. At first we found them new and different to use but now we are experts!

“I think the atmosphere is very tense because everyone is concentrating.” – Tomas

“I like using the Pods because it is competitive.” – Rebecca

“I enjoy using the Pods because I think its improves my knowledge of the tables.” – Leeza

“I find the time limit a good challenge.” – Rose

“I like using the Pods because each week I can see my score improving.” – Connie

“I like using the Pods as it helps me to get better at my multiplication tables.” – Angus

On Thursday 3^rd September 2015, Primary 6c travelled to Sky Academy Skills Studios in Livingston. We went to make a news report on a “Mission to Mars”. It took us a while on the coach to get there but it was worth it! When we got there we went into a very colourful room and met our group experts.  They were called Cammy, Abbie, Pamela and “invisible” Alan.

The first activity that we completed with our experts was watching a few clips on one or two of the roles. This helped us understand what skills were needed to make a successful news report. The producers from each group were then called for a producers meeting. In this they talked about what each group would say and discuss in their part of the report.

After watching the clips and having the meeting, we went in to a room with different coloured doors which lead to each of the four studios. Before we went into the studios we watched another clip. This one was sent by Ashley Banjo! He was explaining to us about how important teamwork was. He also talked about other skills that you would need to be successful when we were making our news reports.

Next, we went into the studios and we made our news reports. Studio 1 had a desk in it for the reporters to sit at. They introduced the whole news report which they all got dressed up for. Studio 2 gave lots of facts about Mars as well as having loads of fun. Studio 3 talked to eyewitnesses like Angus Birnie the astronaut and Nuala Clark the boss of the Mission Control Centre. Lastly, Studio 4 talked to experts such as Doctor Imogen Robinson and Professor Alexander Bell.

After all of this tiring filming we had a well-earned snack!  Then we went to the customer service building to see all of the people that talked on the phone to the people that had Sky TV. “Invisible” Alan and Abbie took us round the customer service. We learned that they even had a V.I.P section for people like the Queen, though she would probably have people that phoned up for her!

Finally we had the chance to watch our news report. It was funny and really interesting to watch. Then we had lunch and we finally got the coach back to school.

By Rose Williams and Nuala Clark

On Wednesday 23rd September, we came together as a group to launch our class blog.

We will be posting regular blog posts about our learning. You can follow our exciting learning and progress by reading our blog!

P.S. It is going to be the best!