All posts by Mr Cook

Pupil of the Month

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Well done to the following people for getting September Pupil of the Month in Primary 6/7. There were a lot of nominees this month. The following 3 people have acted as fantastic citizens within Lochardil during September.

Anna Mac– Anna has shown maturity since entering Primary 6- impressing her teachers. She is showing her ability to act responsibly. Keep up the hard work Anna!

Orrin B– Orrin displays excellent manners within the classroom. His friends have commented that he is a ‘helpful friend who cheers people up when they are lonely’. A great Lochardil Citizen Orrin!

Rachel M– Rachel is fantastic at sorting things out. Whether it be running around doing absences, helping at dinner duty, or being the fantastic PA for her teachers. We’d be lost without you Rachel!

Keep up the good work!

Hallowe’en Disco

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HALLOWE’EN DISCO
Monday 29th October 2012
P1 – P3 @ 6pm – 7.15pm
P4- P7 @ 7.30pm – 9pm

After the success of last year’s Hallowe’en Disco, Primary 6/7 are again organising the event as part of their Enterprise Project. Our aim is to make around £400 to put towards our entry for Rock Challenge (A charitable arts event) in February.

This week P6/7 begun selling tickets for the disco. There has been 100 people from P1-5 already buying tickets this week. This is a disco like NO OTHER. On the night we have music, food and entertainment all for £2!

Bring an extra £1 and you can play some of the FANTASTIC games that P6/7 have created for the night. Don’t miss out on your chance- P6/7 will be selling tickets each morning until the event!

COME ALONG AND JOIN A NIGHT FULL OF GHOULISH FUN!

Say NO to Bullying!

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Today’s theme across P6/7 was very much ANTI-BULLYING.

In P6 we looked at clips about verbal, physical and cyber bullying, as well as playing a bullying game. We learned that you have to STAND UP to bullies. The motto in one of the clips was: STOP-TALK-WALK

The P7s were at Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football stadium for the ‘Show Racism the Red Card’ event. This was an excellent event in which we got to do three different workshops, learning about the horrific and ILLEGAL act of bullying known as RACISM. We found out that Racism is when you treat someone differently due to their skin colour, culture, nationality or religion. This was a very exciting day as we got to meet some of the Caley players.!

Watch the bullying videos from today, play the bullying game, and visit the ‘Show Racism the Red Card’ website by clicking the links below:

Bullying Video 1
Bullying Video 2
Bullying Video 3
Bullying Video 4
Bullying Game
Think U Know- Cyber Bullying
Show Racism the Red Card

Happy surfing!
Mr.Cook, Mrs.MacLeod and Mrs.Prentice

What’s the weather like?

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REMINDERS:

  • P7 need a Packed Lunch tomorrow as we’re going to Caley Stadium
  • CONTRACTIONS homework BELOW

What’s the weather like?

Well, I think we can all answer that- RAIN.

As part of our project, we all have to present a weather report. This can be in the form of a Newspaper, TV Report or a Radio Report. We’ve spent the past two Wednesday afternoons creating our report.

OUR NEXT STEPS

  • Make final changes to the script
  • Create our symbols
  • Ensure that Newpaper reports are completed with all relevant details
  • PRESENT WEATHER REPORTS (FIRST WEEK BACK)

REMEMBER TO CHECK OUT LOCHARDIL WEATHER by clicking the link the the right.

See you all tomorrow,
Mr.Cook, Mrs.MacLeod and Mrs.Prentice

Contractions

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REMINDERS for TOMORROW WEDNESDAY 26th September:

  • Bring in any additional research on ‘My Hero’ that you need for your Biography writing lesson.
  • Bring in any materials that you are preparing for your weather report.

A contraction is when we make two words, or one large word, into a smaller word by losing some of the letters, and using an apostrophe.

Some examples:
can’t – cannot
I’m – I am
they’re – they are

FOR FRIDAY- POST 5 CONTRACTIONS AND THEIR FULL FORM ON THIS COMMENT

Play some contraction games that we’ve been playing by clicking the links below:

  • Contraction- Matching
  • Contractions Crossword
  • Typing Contractions
  • Confusing Words- CONTRACTIONS

    • Happy Playing! We’ll see you tomorrow,
    Mr.Cook, Mrs.MacLeod and Mrs.Prentice

    2-D Shape

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    REMINDERS for WEDNESDAY 26th September:

    • Bring in any additional research on ‘My Hero’ that you need for your Biography writing lesson.
    • Bring in any materials that you are preparing for your weather report.

    Until the October break we are working on 2-D Shape in Maths. We all looked at the properties of 2-D Shapes last week.

    Play the 2-D shape to test your knowledge by clicking the link below. When you access it, click ‘RANDOM SEQUENCE’ down the bottom left hand side of the page.

    2-D Shape Game

    See you all tomorrow,
    Mr.Cook, Mrs.MacLeod and Mrs.Prentice

    Another FANTASTIC Friday!

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    Another FANTASTIC day in P6/7 has led to the end of another PHENOMENAL week!

    In Mapping with Mrs.Mac today we learned about the different Scottish Regions. For the game that you played to day in class- click the link below:

    REGIONS OF SCOTLAND GAME

    With Mr.Cook in French we completed our French calendars which are now fantastic! Our job is now to change these EVERY DAY. We ended the day singing a French animals song which was a bit of a tongue-twister.

    In Art with Mrs.Prentice we finished off our weaving pictures, which are now looking rather psychadelic. We then made some WONDERFUL ‘Sun Captures’ inspried by the fantastic Andy Warhol.

    To top the day off, some of us went to Netball club with Mrs P and Mrs MacLeod (Finlay’s Mum) after school!

    Have a wonderful weekend,
    Mr.Cook, Mrs.MacLeod and Mrs.Prentice

    Junior Leadership

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    This year Sarah Liebnitz, our Active Schools Sports Coordinator, has given 10 children from the upper school the chance to be a Junior Leader. Junior Leadership is about introducing new games to Lochardil and keeping us healthy and happy.

    Every Wednesday at 2:00 until 3:00 o’clock we learn new games and techniques on safety, communication, cooperation, enjoyment, responsibility and caring .


    We have made up various games called Bean Bag Track, Spinny Hop and Cop Tag.

    The rules to these games are….

    Bean Bag track: Make a course out of cones and different coloured hula hoops. Each player has a bean bag on their head. One person is the leader and holds up a colour that also has a hoop that colour. Everybody must run to that coloured hoop. If your bean bag falls off your head you are OUT! Last one standing WINS!

    Spinny hop: Lay out a long line of  cones. Put 2 hula hoops on your arms and a bean bag on your head. Then hop until you get to the end of the cones, then hop back. You can be in teams or just 2 players.

    Cop Tag: You mark an area out of cones. Then you pick a cop and they wear a cone on their head. You have a bean bag in your hand and you have to throw the bean bag at somebody underneath their waist. Once they are caught they make a conga line behind the cop. If somebody goes out of the marked area they become the cop. If the cone falls off the cops head the cop has to pick somebody to replace them. The last person to be caught wins.

    We look forward to continuing our junior leadership training.
    Ellie, Georgia, Mackenzie, James H, Honor and Ewan M (The P6/7 Junior Leaders)

    An Active Day for P6/7

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    REMINDER: We made a START to our Biographies today. If you need any more INFORMATION on your ‘HERO’, bring this in for NEXT WEDNESDAY 26th September

    This morning the P6s were doing a PERIMETER investigation with Mr Cook and Mrs MacLeod.

    P6 COMPLETE THIS SENTENCE:

    The perimeter is…

    In teams, we had to find a way of measuring a section of the playground, without using: rulers, metre sticks or trundle wheels. Some people used their bodies, others their shoes, some also using cardboard.

    An fantastic result from the ‘Measuring Kids’ who managed to calculate the perimeter within 70cm of the official measurement!

    BIG MATHS 19.09.12- RESULTS

    The P7s on the other hand were putting their fitness to the test, in a series of fitness tests with Mrs Prentice and Sarah Liebnitz.

    An excellent result by Scott and Rachel who managed to get 79 and 56 on the bleep test.

    In the afternoon we begun planning our weather reports- Just another day in P6/7

    See you all tomorrow,
    Mr.Cook, Mrs.MacLeod and Mrs.Prentice

    REMEMBER: Stop – Talk – Walk!

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    REMINDERS:

    • Bring in your research of ‘My Hero’, ready to start your biography writing tomorrow.

    • P7s- BRING PE KIT. You will have fitness testing with Sarah Liebnitz

    Tonight you should be finalising any research on your hero, ready to start your biography writing tomorrow. Today in Writer’s Craft we looked at the layout of a biography, and the important information that we need to include.

    To continue the theme of ‘Bullying’ which was highlighted in assembly, here is today’s video:

    [kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/EvhIdB_8WXE" width="425" height="344" allowfullscreen="true" fvars="fs=1" /]

    Comment on this post to say what you think the important message is from the video!

    See you all tomorrow!
    Mr.Cook, Mrs.MacLeod and Mrs.Prentice

    Friday again…

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    HOMEWORK REMINDER: RESEARCH YOUR HERO FOR WRITING AND POST YOUR HERO ON THE BLOG POST BELOW

    Another fun-filled week in P6/7. The beginning of LOCHARDIL WEATHER has definitely given us some interesting weather data. We have however got to report the tragedy of our loss of Rain Gauge and our Weather Vane. Hopefully we will be able to repair these.

    This afternoon we were very busy in our Specialist Groups.

    With Mrs.P- the weaving of some funky patterns is well underway. Your mind boggles just looking at them.

    Mrs.Mac took us on a journey across the UK stopping at the main cities along the way.

    Mr.Brasier set us the task of using our French vocabulary to create a French calendar. After some of the groups revising their original plan, all of the groups are now on track for completion next week.

    Have a fantastic weekend!
    Mr.Cook, Mrs.MacLeod and Mrs.Prentice

    MY HERO!

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    Today we introduced what our genre is going to be in writing over the next few weeks, before the October break:

    BIOGRAPHY!

    A BIOGRAPHY is an recount of someone’s life, written by someone who has shown an interest in them.

    We will be teaching this through the theme of:

    MY HERO!

    YOUR HOMEWORK: DUE Wednesday 19th September 2012

    • Choose your HERO. This should be someone who has made a DIFFERENCE. This could be a difference to your life, or the lives of many. Think- “What have they done for the world?“
    • RESEARCH your hero using books and the internet. Our advice is to AVOID Wikipedia, as the information is not necessarily true.
    • YOUR TASK is to BRING IN as much information you can find about your hero- NOT to write about the person- we will do that during writing time.

    We look forward to hearing out who your hero is.

    COMMENT ON THE BLOG TELLING US WHO YOUR HERO IS BY WEDNESDAY

    Mr.Cook, Mrs.MacLeod and Mrs.Prentice

    Lochardil Weather has begun…

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    LOCHARDIL WEATHER– Our weather station within Lochardil has begun. Each day there is a rota for collecting the rainfall, temperature, cloud coverage, and wind speed and direction.

    We are using a rain gauge, thermometer, cloud mirror, anemometer and wind vane to collect the data. Each day at 9am after we’ve collected the data, we record it on our weather chat which makes us use a variety of different scales.

    Once we have collected the data for September, we hope to create a month by month report about the weather in Lochardil- tracking the coldest, wettest, windiest and cloudiest months in the school.

    We also hope to get a blog created that will host all of our weather information, and give a daily weather feed for the rest of the session.!

    See you all tomorrow,
    Mr.Cook, Mrs.MacLeod and Mrs.Prentice

    What’s in the news?

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    Today in Reading for Information and Writer’s Craft, we looked at how news articles are laid out in a newspaper, and learned about the impact of a hurricane.

    In our writing this week, we will be writing a news report on the events of Hurricane Katrina.

    Your homework task: For tomorrow WEDNESDAY 12th September 2012

    -Write your opening paragraph which SUMMARISES what your WHOLE news article is going to be about.

    Watch the video from today which gave us information on the devastation of Hurricane Katrina by clicking the link below:

    HURRICANE KATRINA- NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

    See you all tomorrow,
    Mr.Cook, Mrs.MacLeod and Mrs.Prentice


    Kirking of the Council Experience

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    Yesterday we were representing Lochardil at the Kirking of the Council. The Kirking of the Council is when the Provost and the new Council Members get together to celebrate the new Provost of Inverness.

    We were chosen to join the parade through the town. We met Mrs. Caddell and Mr. Cook at 9:30 on a Sunday MORNING!!!

    The parade started outside Marks & Spencers. It started at 10:00 am. The parade took us down the High Street, down bank street and along Bridge Street. We got to walk on the road. They stopped all the traffic for us. We felt like celebrities.

    During the parade James got to carry the flag that he designed.

    When we got to the church Reverend Nimmo and Reverend Slack (Mr Slack) did an excellent service that was an hour and 15 minutes long.  We heard 3 stories from the bible and we sung some hymns.

    After the service we paraded back to the Town House. By this point we were starving! We got into the town house which was very posh. They had put on a fabulous buffet with sandwiches,  sausage rolls, quiche, cakes and juice. There was Oasis! 😀

    We are really glad we were part of this unique experience. We even got to see Mrs. Graham. Her husband is now the Provost of Inverness.

    Ellie, Cameron Mac, James and Amy. M

    CHECK OUT ALL OF THE PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS by clicking the link below:

    Kirking of the Council- Professional Photographs

    Half way…

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    MONDAY REMINDERS:
    – Junior Leadership APPLICATON
    – GO FOR IT FORMS
    – CDs FOR THE MUSIC GROUP- HALLOWE’EN DISCO

    That’s us HALF WAY through Term 1 already! It is absolutely crazy!

    Today we talked to you about the JUNIOR LEADERSHIP scheme that the Active Schools Co-ordination- Sarah Liebnitz will be beginning on a Wednesday afternoon.

    We gave out the ‘application forms’ this afternoon. If you’d like to become a ‘Junior Leader’ you need to fill out your application by:
    MONDAY 10th SEPTEMBER 2012.

    It asks you three questions:

    • Why do you want to become a High Life Highland Junior Leader?
    • What qualities and skills have you got that will help you to become a Junior Leader?
    • Have you done anything in the past that you think will help you become a leader?

    Next week:

    • We’re aiming to begin LOCHARDIL WEATHER– our very own weather station.
    • We’ll continue our planning for the Hallowe’en disco-

    Have a WONDERFUL weekend!
    Mr.Cook, Mrs.MacLeod and Mrs.Prentice

    Pupil of the Month

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    WELL DONE to our August ‘Pupils of the Month‘. It is great to see our two new pupils Katie and Jamie  receiving Pupil of the Month for settling in and making a good impression on everyone in Lochardil.

    Let’s see why our 3 ‘Pupils of the Month’ received their award this month:

    Katie because she has joined our school with a positive attitude, quickly making friends and showing her fun personality by making us laugh.

    Jamie has made a great start to his time at Lochardil. He’s shown that he’s kind and helpful. He has been friendly to all the people that he has met.

    Ryan has shown that he is a responsible individual. He has taken on the responsibility of queue/door duty at lunch time, being a great asset to Mrs Caddell and the kitchen.

    WELL DONE!
    FROM ALL IN P6/7

    Global Warming: ACT NOW!

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    Today we created a campaign speech in writing to STOP Global Warming. We realised that there are lots of things we can all do to prevent the effects on the planet.

    Your BLOGGING homework:
    For tomorrow (THURSDAY)
    – Write a sentence IN YOUR OWN WORDS answering the question ‘What is Global Warming?’ and post it on the blog.

    This afternoon we also begun planning LOCHARDIL WEATHER– our very own weather station in Lochardil. We’re aiming to measure and record the rain, wind, cloud-cover and temperature in Lochardil twice a day. This will begin next week. We’ll update when there is more information.

    Watch the videos and play the games from this afternoon by clicking the links below:

  • Wettest Summer in 100 years- VIDEO
  • Make your own Rain Gauge
  • Measuring Temperature- VIDEO
  • Types of Clouds
  • Cloud Game
  • WIND and pressure INFORMATION

    • See you all tomorrow,
    Mr.Cook, Mrs.MacLeod and Mrs.Prentice

    Climate Change and Global Warming

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    Today in Reading for Information we developed our note-taking skills by watching a clip from the National Geographic on Climate Change and Global Warming.

    We found out that if we don’t change our behaviour, attitude and actions towards the world soon, the world will continue to deteriorate at a rapid rate.

    YOUR HOMEWORK TASK: FOR TOMORROW 5th SEPTEMBER 2012

    • Choose 5 things that you can do at home to lower your carbon footprint and prevent global warming.
      E.G- Walking to school whenever possible.

    Watch the video from today by clicking the link below:

    Climate Change VIDEO: National Geographic

    See you all tomorrow & happy blogging!
    Mr.Cook, Mrs.MacLeod and Mrs.Prentice

    Achievements…

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    Today we had our first achievement assembly as a whole school since 2011. It was great to be back together as a school.


    Mrs Caddell shared some interesting achievement quotes. Click the link below to read some more:

    Achievement Quotes

    We also begun planning our Hallowe’en disco. All of the groups were extremely busy deciding and conquering their action plan. The Music group would like to remind you:

    BRING IN ANY CDs THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE PLAYED AT THE DISCO BY THIS FRIDAY.

    See you all tomorrow,
    Mr.Cook, Mrs.MacLeod and Mrs.Prentice

    Bon week-end!

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    REMEMBER: Your picture homework for the ‘Family Favourites Cook Book’ for MONDAY!

    Another fabulous week for Primary 6/7. Seems like only yesterday we were updating the blog last Friday. The good news is as of Monday we have INTERNET in our new building meaning that we can get the ‘Building Blog’ up and running again, and get our Smart boards up and running!

    A fantastic Friday afternoon in specialist groups:

    With Mrs.P, there was the creation of some beautiful watercolour still life sweetpea paintings which have been added to our display cabinet. We now have enough art work to start a small art gallery.

    Mrs Mac took us around the world again in another episode of Geography. Check this GAME out by clicking the link below. There are 3 levels. You could all manage ‘intermediate’, but we challenge you to do ‘expert’.

    CONTINENTS AND OCEANS GAME

    Finally with Monsieur Brasier, we were able to say what the weather was and each of our four seasons. Equipe Lyon and Equipe Dijon are joint top on our leader board with 30 points, and in joint third place, Equipe Marseille and Equipe Nice with 27 points.

    Visit the new ‘En francais’ page to the RIGHT of this blog under ‘Pages’ by clicking the link below. There are lots of French activities to try at home:

    en francais PAGE

    Have a fantastic weekend!
    Mr.Cook, Mrs.MacLeod and Mrs.Prentice

    A windy day in Lochardil…

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    Today seemed to fly right passed us like a gust of wind on the Beaufort Scale. We had an extremely busy day.

    Well done to all of those people who researched the American political system. Here is the website that we mentioned today that has some great American information:

    AMERICAN POLITICS WEBSITE

    We also looked at the Beaufort Scale- a way of measuring the strength of the wind. A chart of this can be found below:

    See you all tomorrow,
    Mr.Cook, Mrs.MacLeod and Mrs.Prentice

    Current Affairs…

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    This morning we were talking about American Politics during News. We realised that we didn’t know a lot about the politicians in America.

    Your task to try and find out for tomorrow:

    1. What is the American Government called?
    2. What are the two main parties in America called?
    3. Which party does Barack Obama lead?

    YOU CAN POST YOUR ANSWERS ON THE BLOG/PIECE OF PAPER

    REMEMBER TO BRING BACK YOUR LETTERS WHICH WERE GIVEN OUT TODAY!

    Mr.Cook, Mrs.MacLeod and Mrs.Prentice

    The Water Cycle

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    Today we begun looking at the four terms which make up ‘The Water Cycle’:

    • Evaporation
    • Condensation
    • Precipitation
    • Accumulation

    With a partner, we had to try and find a way of how we would teach P4 these terms. We realised that with a diagram, we could show and explain ‘The Water Cycle’

    HOMEWORK: FOR TOMORROW- WEDNESDAY 29th August

    – Create a diagram of the FOUR stages of ‘The Water Cycle’, highlighting the four key words and what they mean.

    This will be a great help for your writing tomorrow,
    Mr.Cook, Mrs.MacLeod and Mrs.Prentice

    What goes on inside the kitchen?

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    HOMEWORK: DUE MONDAY 3rd September 2012

    The Parent Council are busy making the ‘Family Favourites Recipe Book’. The Pupil Council have asked us to design a picture which can be used for the back cover.

    –  Draw a FUN picture which shows the ‘Family in the kitchen’ or ‘Your favourite meal’.
    – This is to be BRIGHT and COLOURFUL.

    Mr.Cook, Mrs.MacLeod and Mrs.Prentice

    End of another week…

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    This week just FLEW by! It seems that we have just raced on and reached Friday. And what an excellent week of hard work, and our favourite, HOMEWORK, we’ve had!

    Today was our first day of our Specialist Groups.

    From flying around the continents with Mrs MacLeod,
    learning  our hellos and goodbyes with Monsieur Brasier,
    and beginning our fantastic rainbow weaving with Mrs Prentice–

    all in all, it was a fabulous end to Friday.

    Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!
    Monsieur Brasier, Mrs.MacLeod and Mrs.Prentice

    The mystery jumper…

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    Today we are left wondering if people went home with 1 sock, half a pair of trousers, and a sleeveless jumper.

    Even with JUMPER CHECK in full force after PE, a few of you managed to slip out without picking up your school uniform. The only problem is there are NO NAMES on the uniform.

    Your HOMEWORK task for tomorrow:
    – MAKE SURE ALL SCHOOLWEAR IS LABELED WITH YOUR NAME

    We will be checking tomorrow, to ensure that our nameless friends don’t have a full wardrobe!

    Mr.Cook, Mrs.MacLeod and Mrs.Prentice

    Save A Life

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    REMEMBER: YOUR PE KIT FOR TOMORROW

    Today our P7s had Save a Life training. They were taught how to put someone into the Recovery Position, how to give CPR and how to help someone if they are choking.

    REMEMBER: YOU CAN ONLY PRACTISE THE RECOVERY POSITION AT HOME. You should only use the other ‘Save a Life’ procedures in an emergency.

    See the photographs from today below:

    See you tomorrow,
    Mr.Cook, Mrs.MacLeod and Mrs.Prentice

    Descriptive Weather…

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    Today we begun looking at descriptive language within Writer’s Craft. We read some excellent examples of how writers can describe the weather using adjectives, similes, metaphors and personification.

    HOMEWORK TASK: For TOMORROW, Wednesday 22nd August
    – Choose a piece of weather that interests YOU.
    –  Find 5 words/phrases to describe your piece of weather. TRY AND BE IMAGINATIVE. These can be adjectives, similes, metaphors or examples of personification.
    Write this in your homework diary/ a piece of paper!

    Here are the examples we read today:

    ‘It was a cold grey day in late November. The weather had changed overnight, when a backing wind brought a granite sky and a mizzling rain with it, and although it was now only a little after two o’clock in the afternoon the pallor of a winter evening seemed to have closed upon the hills, cloaking them in mist.’

    ‘The sunset filled the entire sky with the deep colour of rubies, setting the clouds ablaze.’

    ‘I wield the flail of the lashing hail
    And whiten the green plains under,
    And then again I dissolve it in rain,
    And laugh as I pass in thunder.’

    Mr.Cook, Mrs.MacLeod and Mrs.Prentice

    Youth Music Initiative

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    Over Term 2 and 3 we will have tutors from the Youth Music Initiative (YMI) in to work with our P6/7 children. The P5 pupils worked with Feis Rois last session, this being an extension to their prior learning, as well as an introduction for the P7s. This will be done during 12 Music sessions during two 6 week blocks.

    Information about the YMI can be accessed by clicking the link below:
    Youth Music Initiative

    Information for local out of school Traditional Music Classes (TMCs) can be found using the link below:
    TMC (PARENT/CARER) information