A new hotel opened in Aberlour last week – very chic and select, so much so that many people have yet to hear about it….

Aberlour Primary’s Bug Hotel was opened in front of a specially invited audience (P3) and already has several long-term guests.

Set in gently sloping, open grassland on the eastern perimeter of school grounds, the hotel commands impressive views of Mary Avenue and environs.

Constructed of purely recycled and natural materials, the hotel aims to become a destination of choice for local minibeasts and insects, to the betterment of the environment.

Well done to all concerned!

P3 have dabbled in potions in recent weeks, as part of our learning in measurement and co-operative teamwork.

Being accurate was quite a tricky process at first and we had to solve some problems along the way.

The measuring cups didn’t have all the numbers that we needed, so we had to work out how much we needed by counting the little lines instead. You had to look very carefully and sometimes pour some away.

The biggest problem was finding someone who would try our potions to see if they worked – probably best that everyone was far too sensible!

Thank you for your support for our weekly ukulele class.

The children are enjoying learning how to play the instrument and can all show how to hold it correctly – flat to the tummy, with our feet flat to the floor.  We have been learning our first for chords – “c” (4th string down, third fret from the head) and “f” (top string 2nd fret and third string, first fret).

We have also learned three different types of strumming – down strums, shuffle strums and thumb strums!

Ukulele as usual on Wednesday this week, and remember you can bring your ukulele in any time for tuning. Please bring your instrument in on Tuesday 24th for tuning ahead of our next lesson !

P3 absolutely excelled themselves with this week’s technology task.

The challenge was to use K’nex to create a bridge that could stand on its own; hold a car; and span a 30cm gap.

We looked at some famous bridges and hit on the idea of using a pattern of shapes.

This is what we came up with,,, What an amazing range of ideas, and such dedicated careful work.

Well done P3!

Fair trade fortnight runs now until  13th March, promoting products that help producers in developing countries to improve their lives.

Aberlour’s Fairtrade group held a Big Fairtrade Breakfast on Saturday to promote the event, and P3 produced posters to promote it.

The posters impressed the group so much that they decided to award prizes!

1st prize (and a bag of chocolate eggs) went to Ben, Aaron and Alfie.

2nd place was taken by Kate and Elizabeth.

Very fairly, 3rd prize went to every one else – even Mr Kearton managed to sneak an egg!

Primary 3 have put the full range of their talents on show since February break, with a great variety of achievements to point towards.

We started by finishing off our topic on electricity – by constructing a burglar alarm to connect to protect our castles from intruders.

Work in progress…

An end result…

In topic work, we have moved on to look at Scottish birds of prey, working hard to create these wonderful torn paper collages.

We also honed our reading or information skills – by being aware of the keywords we needed, we were able to work with some complicated and pull out facts that we needed. Good work, P3!

As P3 have become familiar with the Hamish McHaggis stories this term, we couldn’t help but notice how often the Whirry Bang is beset with problems. This inspired us to create a new form of transport for Hamish and friends.

We first thought of the key comforts and conveniences he would need in his new vehicle, and sketched our ideas thinking of the 3D shapes we would need to construct it.

With the chassis now cut and constructed out of wood, today should see us fit axles and wheels. Can’t wait to see how the Body Works turns out!

The pressure is on to finish our designs in time for the spring show next week. Watch this space!

Primary 3 visited  Aberlour distillery on Monday afternoon to find out about one of our local ‘landmarks’.

We heard many interesting facts about our local whisky.
For example, did you know that Aberlour is the most popular whisky bought in France?

Later in the week, we read up on other local landmarks and attractions, and looked more broadly across Scotland.

Do you recognise the famous places in this slideshow?

http://www.sporcle.com/games/andy_16sp/name-the-features-of-Scotland

P3 are a very worldly wise bunch – and could claim at least one visit to nearly  every one!

Our project-based story this week took us to another well-know landmark – Edinburgh Castle. P3 were quite captivated by this glimpse of the tattoo, and may be interested in watching further at home.

Inspired by all this variety, both locally and nationally, P3 have begun designing a new landmark for Aberlour…

Primaries 2 & 3 put together a marvellous clan gathering this afternoon as part of their topic on Scotland.

The children have been busy for many a day preparing oat cakes, shortbread, and neeps & tatties – for which thanks to Jake’s dad 🙂

This afternoon, it all came together as we celebrated some of Burns’ poetical works, and enjoyed a special meal together.

The slides below guided us through the afternoon, and I have added a few pictures to give a flavour of what P2&3 added to it.

The children were really the most fantastic audience and participants, and all helped to make it an afternoon to remember.

Well done, Aberlour!

https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=55A71E4CC1EC7FB!2307&authkey=!AEro5GJ7L21a1D4&ithint=file%2cppsx

Primary Three are exploring aspects of Scotland this term, looking at the language, food, traditions and the landscape of our country along the way.

We have been using a BBC resource called “See you, See me” to compare some of the different landscapes and as a talking point for art work.

A number of children have expressed an interest in looking at the site at home, and so here is the link.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/education/sysm/landscapes

Bon voyage!