Class of 2021c

Primary 7c have had an eventful month!

Our class have continued with our Mandarin lessons. It’s great having a teacher in China to guide our learning. We have been learning about family as well as food and drink – two important aspects of both Chinese and Scottish culture. P7c produced some brilliant paintings to illustrate our Mandarin learning.

A class discussion identified some areas that we all wanted to learn about before our time at St. Cadoc’s comes to an end. One of these areas was the Scottish Justice system. We used our learning to create information leaflets about Justice of the Peace Courts. We also developed our notetaking skills on another popular subject – Alexander Hamilton.

Primary 7c showed their competitive drive and had a fantastic time at sports day. The weather stayed dry and the class supported each other in the heats and final races. There were some individual performances to be incredibly proud of. Mr Harkins had some tricky decisions to make as a few of the heats ended in real photo finishes.

We have continued preparing for Confirmation and are looking forward to celebrating this together very soon.

Primary 7c are ready for their last month at St. Cadoc’s and looking forward to sharing some fantastic times together and making some more amazing memories together.

As part of our writing this week P7c have written a blog to tell you about what we have been doing. We were really keen to share our voices with you.

Reading the blogs, how happy everyone is to be back really shines through.

Our selected highlights from March and April follow…

“Primary 7c were happy to hear that they were going back to school and also excited to see their friends.”

 “When P7c came back to school we were all excited to see all of our friends again and to work in a class with our teachers and not virtually on Google Classroom.”

“We felt a little weird coming back to school, we were all a little nervous.  Once we stepped inside though it was like we had never been away.”

 “We are all happy that we got to come back to school and be here in person again”

“It’s great to be back at school because I get to see all of my friends and my teachers.”

“We are delighted to be back at school together and seeing each other.”

” So EXCITED to go back to school!”

 “We’re back and better than ever!”

“We are so happy to come back and learn in class instead of being on remote learning. It has been great to see Mr Harkins again and for us to see each other.”

“We are thoroughly enjoying being together again.”

“Our schedule changed around slightly in March. We began to have P.E on different days and our teachers began to teach on different days. After everything we have been through, our class was able to adapt to these changes easily.”

“P7c have enjoyed coming back to school and getting to see all their classmates and friends again. We are so excited for this term and getting to enjoy and do subjects as a class together.The class have enjoyed subjects such as P.E when we get to do rounders, art when we got to draw the earth as a heart for Earth Day and science when we have done brilliant science experiments.”

Class Novel…

“During remote learning we began reading our book ‘The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas’ which ties into our topic, World War II. We were finally able to read a few chapters aloud with each other which was a lot more fun than reading it alone.”

“The book is based on a boy who is living through World War II. In the book a nine-year old boy has to move away from his hometown Berlin a to Auschwitz in Poland because his father runs the concentration camp. He goes exploring and finds a little boy called Shmuel…”

Class Visitors…

“High School is coming closer and closer and our teachers want to make sure that we are prepared! This month has been full of fun and preparation for high school so we are ready when the time comes around.”

“We are also getting ready for high school and the headteacher of St. Ninian’s  and the head boy and girl came into our class and answered some questions we had for high school.”

“…they were talking to us about the opportunities we can have in Saint Ninian’s like going on trips.”

“We were lucky enough to receive a visit from the headteacher of St Ninians High School and he brought two S6 pupils with him! They gave us a presentation and were open to any questions we had for them. At the end of the presentation a lot of us were a lot less stressed about going to high school and became more excited!”

“Mr Docherty came into the class and brought two S6 pupils with him to talk about St. Ninian’s. There are amazing school trips like going to France to do water sports and going to Valencia to train with the coaches.”

“…you can tell everyone is excited for high school!”

Art…

“We have also done art and drawing tasks like drawing a heart earth for Earth Day. When you draw it can be frustrating if you mess up or it doesn’t end well but everyone is unique in their own way”

R.E…

“We have made a journal for our confirmation, in the the journal we wrote a fact file about ourselves and we also wrote about all the different sacraments.”

“In March we came back to school and we researched a presentation about our confirmation saints.  P7c really had fun showing their presentations to the rest of the class”

“Some people in our class are preparing for their Confirmation and have enjoyed creating presentations all about the Saints they chose. Everybody who is not making their Confirmation made presentations about aspects of their own religion and everybody enjoyed learning about various saints and religions.”

Mandarin…

“Primary 7c have had a lot of fun in the last four months , one of the most recent things  is starting Mandarin lessons.  We couldn’t believe our teacher was all the way in China!”

“Starting Mandarin has been really exciting as we get to have live lessons with someone who is actually in China. We have been writing in our jotters all the new things we learn and practising it in class.”

 “Mandarin is awesome. We get to learn about the culture while learning the language.”

“We  have been doing some Mandarin  every Thursday and although we had multiple technical difficulties, we all seemed  to enjoy it.”

 “We also began to write in Mandarin and found it far more complicated than writing in English but we got there in the end!”

 “We have been having a good time learning Mandarin and are grateful that our teacher can teach us, since she is in China and the time she teaches us is night time in China.”

Outdoor Learning…

“We went to the forest and tested if liquids were an acid, neutral or a base.We used litmus paper and dipped it in to cups with the liquids in them. Some of things we used were tap water, river water ,lemon juice and vinegar.”

“We used every-day items like salt-water, tap-water, vinegar, lemon juice and many more liquids. When doing this experiment we used a special type of paper called litmus paper, there were different colours on it. When we dipped it in one of the liquids it would change colour and we would determine whether it was an acid or a base.”

“We would like to say thank you to the parents that have helped us go to the forest to do activities and our work.”

Newsround…

“… the class watches Newsround to tell us what’s going around the world and discuss what’s going on around the world.”

“…we have started to watch Newsround and discuss the big things going on in the world right now.”

“They tell us about what is going on all over the world. It’s very interesting, we also talk about how we feel about stories in the news.”

P.E.

“During P.E, we have been playing rounders with Mr Fogg, every Wednesday afternoon. Overall, we have been doing very well and the games have come pretty close. We can get competitive sometimes, but we still have loads of fun!”

“… something I have massively enjoyed is P.E. Whether I am in a good mood or not, I have always – since I came back – looked forward to doing it!”

“It is really good for the class because we work as a team and help each other when we are losing.”

And to finish…

“We all hope you have enjoyed reading about what the world has been like for p7c! We have been trying our best through these past months but we are getting through it together.”

 “Overall the last few months in P7 have been awesome.”

Our year is nearly over and it has all been pretty wonderful so far,  even the wet plays. Having been cooped up inside a little more than we would have wanted it was fantastic to end the year with our class walk up the Craigie. The weather was good (for December in Scotland) and we all loved being out in the countryside. There was a real sense of achievement when we got to the top. Lunch certainly disappeared fast. We were able to enjoy the brilliant views over Glasgow to the Campsie Fells and beyond which was a brilliant way to round off the year.

Back in the classroom our maths focus has been on algebra with lots of successful learning taking place. In language we have been working on our persuasive writing and recount skills. When reading about ‘Our Happiest Memory’ Mr Harkins had to reach for the tissues on a few occasions. Some beautiful and cherished memories being shared, so many of them about happy times spent with family and friends. Here’s hoping we can make some more special memories as our journey through primary 7 continues.

It’s not all been work this month and we were lucky to be able to enjoy the school panto on our smartboard. The fact the actors couldn’t hear us didn’t stop us booing….

It was extra special to welcome Canon Cameron to the class twice this month. Firstly to enrol our Confirmandi and present him with our letters to Bishop John. The thought and care that went into choosing confirmation Saints was wonderful to see. The personal connections made with the stories of the Saints were real examples of the deepening of our faith. Canon Cameron joined us again to celebrate mass and this was a perfect moment to quietly reflect and come together as a class at this hectic time of year.

P7c have really thrown themselves into our Christmas presentation and song, only Mr Harkins camera skills letting the side down. We hope our message and enthusiasm shine through –  we really do wish you all a merry Christmas from the bottom of our hearts.

November has been a jam-packed month for P7c – a lot of work and a lot of fun.

In writing the class have created two pieces of poetry – An autumn poem and an Etheree poem about bonfire night. They really captured the atmosphere of this time of year.

Another writing focus has been report writing and we wrote factual reports about climate change. Our class work was displayed at the school showcase in the gym hall and we were able to go and see the fantastic work all the other classes have been doing.

During our readathon for Scottish Book Week we also got an opportunity to read bits of our books to each other. There were some very entertaining moments!

The opportunity to complete our Bikeability training on the road was a highlight of November for P7c. Despite some poor weather our positive attitude got us through and there were a lot of tired but happy faces at the end of the day.

In R.E. we have been remembering that November is the month of all souls and every day we have been remembering in our prayers people close to the class who have passed away. We have also sent time learning about Sikhism and Judaism as part of interfaith week.

Our World War 2 topic has started and after learning about the start of the war we have also learnt about Dunkirk and the story of Wojtek the bear. Hopefully when the world is back to normal some of us might be able to visit his statue if we are in Edinburgh.

We are now looking forward to really enjoying the last few weeks in the build up to Christmas…

P7c really enjoyed the October break – it was a well-earned break after all our hard work so far this year.

Having had a rest, the class took on the challenge of changing the world! We planned out a persuasive letter about things we would like to change in the world. From climate change and the cost of medicine to human rights and equality; Mr Fogg and Mr Harkins were inspired and really impressed by the quality of writing and the passion shown. The future is in safe hands – just put P7c in charge!

In numeracy we have continued our work on decimals and have had a real focus on problem solving. Just like with solving the world’s problems, P7c showed a real talent in this area.

Our Japan topic is coming to an end and we are excited to be starting to learn about World War II. The first thing we will do is find out what we already know and think about what we would like to find out more about. With great ideas already being fired about the class, it is going to be an exciting and rewarding learning experience.

A real highlight of the month has been our trip to Bikeability at Crookfur. The children loved taking part and are really looking forward to our ‘on road’ session later in November where we will practice our new skills and knowledge to ride confidently and safely.

Primary 7c are really happy to be back at school, one of the things we missed most during lockdown was being together with our class. 

We would like to say a really big thank you to everybody who has come along and helped us during our outdoor lessons – we have loved having a lot more learning outside this term. We took some of our learning about Japan outside and learnt about Japanese houses with Mr Fogg. Using our teamwork skills to build and complete an obstacle course was fun as well! 

We voted for our first topic and decided to find out about Japan. Mr Harkins asked us a question about the Japanese language and what school is like for Japanese children. Using the chromebooks we researched our answers and made a presentation for the whole class. The presentations were brilliant and led to even more questions being asked! We have also been finding out about Japanese culture from drawing our own manga characters to learning about the legend of the Koi fish who didn’t give up. 

Quite a few children took part in chess tournaments last year and were finally able to get their awards to take home, everybody got a really big cheer and round of applause from the whole class. 

Our new book is called ‘Chains’ .It is about slavery and how  black  people were treated like slaves during the American Revolutionary War.

The story is about two girls who’s Momma [mum] and Poppa [dad] and mistess have died and are supposed to be freed from slavery. Then a mean man called Mr Robert [described as a snake in the book] sold them at a tavern and were sold to a mean couple called the Locktons. They went on a ship to New York and were forced to work. Isabel sneaks out to a man named Colonel Regan and tells him everything, which includes how Mr Lockton and his group are trying to kill General Washington. We like this book because we learn about life many centuries ago and about slavery and what before America was like before independence.

We have been debating about deforestation. Earlier that week we did a practice debate about diffrent things like foods, soap, medicines, and materials. We did the practice to see what its like. During the deforestaition debate we could either be against deforestation or against it. Our teacher Mr.Fogg told us what side we would be on. We had tables and a bench and we also needed a quiet calm place to do it. We would sit down on the bench and discuss our points respectfully but clearly. At the end of the argument the audience/ rest of the class would then decide who won. It felt like you were arguing on tv! It was really fun. The team with the most points from the audience won – and they were against deforestation. There were alot of good points made between both teams! We all really enjoyed it.

We made masks to celebrate the Day of the Dead, which is celebrated in Mexico. This ties in with our South America topic. November is the month we celebrate people who have passed away. Day of the Dead masks are made with joy and bright colours. The masks are usually skulls, and they are worn at carnivals.

In mid September p6c attempted to walk up Tinto Hill. It was a huge success for us!

The Essentials…

On the day we brought things like a backpack, lots of water, a raincoat, waterproof trousers, wellies/walking boots, a packed lunch, snacks (like lots and lots of sweets).

The bus journey…

Bus journeys with p6c are always crazy but the most fun and entertaining! We all had fun singing songs and chatting. We all were so hyper and we hadn’t even eaten our sweet! Everyone got super excited when we saw Tinto Hill.

The walk…

The journey began. We started a walk up Totherin Hill (the hill that leads to Tinto Hill). We enjoyed the fresh air and being out of our clasroom. After a few hours we were at the top of Totherin Hill. Along the way we had had fruit, sweets, energy bars and beverages to boost our energy. Then we started Tinto!! Tinto Hill was a lot more rocky than Totherin Hill. Totherin Hill was a lot more muddy and slippy! Everyone was starting to feel tired, and one classmate began feeling unwell. We all cheered them on and soon we were walking up again. Then, we were 100 meters from the top and we were having our lunch! But we did not go further than that. It was our summit for the day and we were proud. Soon we were back down safely and we took the bus home. We were still proud 🙂

Fun Fact!

Tinto Hill got its name because tinto in Spanish means red, and a lot of the rocks on tinto are a reddish colour.