St Albert's P7 2017

We visited the Scotland Street School Museum on Thursday morning. They have an exhibition running at the moment titled ‘Glaswegasians’. It explores the impact of Asian community members in Glasgow, and how they have influenced politics, culture and attitude in our city. It was very interesting!

 Our fab Langside College team came to deliver another Athletics-inspired P.E. lesson. This week, we tried the long jump. Areeba Nasir and Zainab really showed us how its done!

 As Muntaha received 50 dojo points, her personalised privilege request was to have some yummy toffee apples with her friends. It was a SWEET way to end the week. De-lish!

 Mark, a representative from Sense over Sectarianism, came in to deliver one of a series of workshops on the earlier mentioned theme. We clarified definitions of the following; sectarianism, discrimination, stereotype. Mark referenced our class novel, Divided City, several times during his visit, which allowed us to make valuable connections between the text and its key themes.

Meril, a Welsh musician, came to perform for us at St Albert’s. He is also performing as part of Glasgow’s Celtic Connections music event. His style was very original, and he could sing with such intonation and soul. What a treat!

Meril said that he was inspired by the Beatles. Miss Cohen asked Primary 7 what their favourite songs were. These were the responses;

Zainab – Big Shaq: Man’s not hot

Muntaha – Havana

Maria M – Khaled: Young and broke

Furqan – Alan Walker: Fade

Dany – Hattrick

Iesa – Charlie Puth: Tension

James – Whizz Khalifa: See you again

Nabeeha – Dave: No words

 

As it was National Storytelling week, we had a fun and interactive assembly on Monday morning with Ben (a Southside Storyteller).

Miss Cohen had asked Primary 7 to bring in their favourite story books or poems from the house, and on Friday we went down to the infant classes to read them aloud. It was loads of fun reading to the younger pupils, and we’re considering setting up our own Friday lunchtime reading club to promote storytelling throughout the school.

Parents and teachers – what are your favourite novels/short stories/poems? We’d love to hear your feedback!

Although Primary 7 were only in school for two days after the February holidays, we still managed to pack plenty in (surprise surprise!)

On Thursday, we went to Holyrood Secondary for the Science Road Show event, along with St. Brigid’s Primary School. We talked about light sources and colour, and our class had lots of prior knowledge on the subjects discussed because of the input we have had this term with Miss Brookes. Aiden from P6/7 asked two very good questions; “Sometimes people are colour blind, why?” and “How come dogs cannot tell the difference between colours as well as humans?”. The teacher explained that this is due to a difference in eye receptors.

We did an experiment where you had to draw a line with felt tip pen on a cotton pad, and hold it above a cup of still water. As time passed, the ink began to run into an array of different colours. It was pretty cool!

We did some baking in class in preparation for Friday’s coffee morning – raspberry and white choc traybake, coconut and carrot slices and a lemon drizzle loaf. Our classroom smelt heavenly ha!

On Friday morning, we hosted our coffee morning on the theme of ‘Migration’. Miss Cohen had invited parents and partnership agencies (Milk Café, Awaz FM, Mambo Film Production, Scottish Refugee Council etc) along to chat and share their experiences of Migration. The responses and discussion had were amazing – and really make you appreciate everyone’s journey and heritage. Ally, our filmer, will be coming back into school again soon, and showing us even more digital techniques. We made a timelapse – which looks really effective. Move over Pixar! Here are some pictures of our successful morning;

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Miss Cohen

Miss Cohen set us a creative homework task to design our very own window display, as if we were partaking in Strathbungo’s Winter Wanderland event in February. Gurpreet designed this colourful, unicorn-themed design. An amazing effort! You can come and design my house any day of the week!

Students from Langside College have started working with us to develop our fitness and Athletics skills. Jack, Jack and Megan are really friendly and great coaches.

On Thursday, as it was Burns Day, Mrs Harker had arranged a school panto for us based on the life of Robert Burns and the wee moose. We loved it!

 

 

 

Merol, an extremely talented Welsh musician, came to visit us and play some amazing tunes. He is performing as part of the Celtic Connections festival, and we loved learning that he was inspired by the Beatles.

 

 

When Primary 5 and Miss Bull challenge you to beat their 79cm snowman…there’s only one thing for it; CHALLENGE ACCEPTED (cue dramatic action soundtrack)

A celebratory snowball fight was in order…look at the army Miss Cohen was up against, eek!;

Here’s the link to the short animation on the theme of ‘Migration’ I was trying to get working in class today.

Enjoy, and we will discuss it tomorrow!

Miss Cohen

We have been learning about equivalent fractions in Numeracy.

Muntaha; The rule that you apply to the numerator also applies to the denominator.

James; We did a fractions maze.

Aisha; We had a piece of paper which we had to fold into different fractions according to the lines.

Nabeeha; We played a fractions memory game where different fractions were represented in unusual ways.

As part of our Literacy work this week, we have been reading Divided City. This novel is set in Glasgow, and we have been introduced to Joe, Graham, Leanne and Kyoul so far in the story. We have been scanning a text about the Irish Potato famine, we have been researching different flags (Celtic, Rangers, Red hand of Ulster, The Irish Tricolour) and we have been summarising information about The Royal Orange Institution and Christian religions.

Our new topic is all about Migration. We’ve learned that different species can migrate, but also, human beings can migrate to different countries. We categorised reasons for leaving one’s country into push and pull factors.

We even designed new groups for each row that were based on migratory animals. Now in P7, we have the Fireflies, the Golden Jellyfish, The Flamingos, and the Monarch Butterflies.

We played a bingo game where some member of the class were characters that had migrated, and the other half of the class were interviewers who had to quiz them on why they left.

In French this week, Miss Cohen put on her best accent and we learned about different modes of transport. We played Battleships related to French transportation.

The Baldy Bane Theatre Company came to present a show called Ailsa’s Magic Amulet. Nabeeha now knows what an amulet is, hoorah!

Adam; In Science, we  learned about reflection and how different materials reflect the light.

In P.E. this week, we were practicing Athletics as we have a big competition looming in March. We ran relay races, threw some impressive javelin distances, and leaped over hurdles. We are excited to meet our Langside College coaches on Monday, who will hopefully be able to develop our skills further.

Miss Cohen told us who we would be sharing with for the Lockerbie Manor pods, yay! The countdown is officially ON  🙂

An eventful first full week back, looking forward to next!

Happy weekend everyone x

Thank you Miss Welsh for your support and help during your placement. As Hafsah so eliquently put it; “She’s always there to talk to and listen to our problems”.

Miss Welsh has adopted an Orangutan in the Bornean Rainforest, called Lola. We are going to take Lola (our fluffy companion) on all of our travels, and show her Glasgow’s best bits over the next few months. What a thoughtful gift!

We went to the Panto on Tuesday, to see Jackie and the Baked Beanstalk. It was so funny, and we had a right LOL at the jokes;

“What did the jam say to Beyonce?”

“I don’t think you’re ready for this jelly”

Here’s some snaps of our live Art exhibition. The judges from the Tramway said they were really impressed with our class’ knowledge of Palm Oil. And they loved the different elements of it; consumerism alley, the chanting recording playing in the background, the live actors, and the narrators. Well done Primary 7, feeling very proud!

Primary 7 have been studying The Rainforest as part of our IDL work, and looking at the impact of human activity on the biodiversity of plants and animals. We have looked specifically at the journey and story of Palm Oil, as many Rainforest environments are being destroyed due to its production and therefore, use, in many everyday products.

Our Art installation considers the theme of conscious consumerism, and tries to promote a greater understanding of the consequences of our purchases beyond the supermarket checkout. We hope to change your attitudes towards what you’re buying, and how to check packaging and labelling with an analysing eye.

Primary 7’s rehearsal for the Q&A;

How does what’s happening in the Rainforest affect us?

-There will be less oxygen in the air, as the rainforest trees can be described as the “lungs of the planet”

-Plants and tree species could have potential, undiscovered medicines

-It affects us because we will no longer have a range of animals to appreciate and study/see. No more fluffy animals to admire.

 

Can you describe the journey of palm oil from the plant to our shelves?

1. In the Rainforest, they take the palm oil fruit from the tree and the harvesters gather this and take it to a local factory.
2. They squeeze the fruit to extract the oil. They then ship it to different countries internationally.
3. When it arrives at its destination, it is then used to produce everyday materials that we find on our shelves.
4. It is then transported to our local supermarket, and is ready for us to buy.

 

What can we do to help? Can we make a difference?

-Get in touch with local businesses and make sure they understand the palm oil crisis

-Hold a persuasive meeting/write persuasive letters to local supermarkets

-Buy alternatives to palm oil, or be mindful when shopping to look for an RSPO sustainable label

-Spread the word around our local community/global companies/try to educate people worldwide

 

What are the consequences of unsafe, unregulated palm oil production?

-The rainforest will continue to be wiped out

-Local, indigenous tribes could be forced to leave their homes

-Animals will lose their habitat

Here’s a sneak peak of our installation, we will post some more pictures of our amazing models later…

 

The gold curtains are a symbol of money and consumerism. Our signs, for contactless payments, or logos associated with online shopping, are meant to represent just how easy it is to purchase items and spend money, without really thinking. It is a bid to show the judges how we can all become consumed, victims of materialism and buying for want over need.

Displayed on our conveyor belt are everyday products which contain Palm Oil. Bet you didn’t realise just how much stuff we use and eat with its addition, right?!

Miss McFadden has been leading some really fun warm-ups during our Outdoor P.E. session. At the moment, we are improving our Hockey skills. It was a brrrrrrilliant session, and we couldn’t resist the chance to take some pictures of our Primary 7’s exercising in the sunshine.