All posts by Mrs Falconer

“We Scots have TRUE identity!”

Yesterday, Primary 6 delivered their Scottish themed assembly to a large school audience and our parents. We were so excited as we had been rehearsing for the past week and had lots of eager performers!

We started with a little comedy skit from some very funny pupils who included information about traditional Scottish food, drink and culture. We then told the story of St Andrew, giving the history behind today’s celebrations of our Scottish identity.

The highlight of the assembly had to be the music and dance! A rendition of ‘Donald where’s your troosers’ put smiles on lots of faces as our very own Andy Stewart and Elvis took to the stage!

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We had pupils dancing and swinging their kilts to the music!

A favourite with the younger pupils in the audience was ‘Three Craws’

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This year we’ve been lucky enough to give our pupils the opportunity to learn to play the penny whistle. Mr McPherson, our music teacher, very kindly taught our group of Musicians a Scottish tune called ‘A Highland Fairy Lullaby’ (in Gaelic this translates to ‘An Cóineachan’)

It is such a beautiful piece of music, played so well by 4 talented pupils.

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We were supporting the charity Children 1st who organise a national fundraising event called Kilts for Kids.

Everyone can take part in Kilts for Kids with activities happening around key Scottish dates such as St Andrew’s Day (30 November), Burns Night (25 January) and Tartan Day (6 April).

It’s a way to fundraise and celebrate all things Scottish! Throughout the week we had members of our class selling Children 1st tartan heart badges and then on the day of our assembly, the whole school came dressed in their finest tartan and donated £1.

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All round, a great day! We wish you all a very Happy St Andrew’s Day!!!!

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Victorian Times!

Primary 6 have been busy learning about the Victorian Era. This week’s learning focused around comparing the lifestyles of the rich and poor.

Our class novel, Street Child by Berlie Doherty, highlights the plight of a disadvantaged young boy, Jim Jarvis, who ends up in the workhouse after living in the slums and losing his mother to illness. We learn of his suffering and the deprivation he faces on a daily basis. We compared this to the lifestyle of Miss Toward, whose preserved tenement house still stands in Glasgow today.

After our visit to Miss Toward’s home, we were very aware that the comfortable lifestyle she led was in stark comparison to that of Jim Jarvis.

IMG_3858.JPG A grand piano for entertainment.

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A large fireplace to keep warm.

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High Tea treats.

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A comfortable bed.

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A dresser for beautifying.

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Washing basin.

Miss Toward was fortunate enough that she did not to have to leave the tenement and visit the outhouse to go to the bathroom. Her indoor toilet and bath were a real treat!

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We loved learning about the daily chores and how they would have been completed during Victorian times. We were given the chance to try out the mangle, which would have been used to wring out the clothes once they had been washed. After this, the clothing would have been hung over the pulley and raised high in the ceiling to dry fully.

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One of our favourite tasks was to match modern day items with those from Victorian Times. Here’s how we got on:

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Milk jugs, hair tongs, toilet roll, potato mashers, hot water bottles, sponges and medicine!

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After looking around Miss Toward’s large kitchen and Livingroom we noticed something in both of the rooms which we found quite bizarre!

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We couldn’t believe it!!!

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BEDS!

A Try For Gourock!

click here to ‘Watch the Action!’

Over the past few weeks, Primary 6 have been taught Rugby tactics by coaches Brendan and Sam. The coaches have been teaching us the essential skills needed to play rugby.

We interviewed Hollie and she said “I have really liked learning how to pass and dodge”.

For the first month, Primary Six trained out in the school field. We learned the basic skills and techniques for passing the ball, how to tackle, a scrum etc.

Matthew showing off his tackling skills!
Matthew showing off his tackling skills!

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On Wednesday 1st October, a few schools competed against each other in a Rugby Festival for the boy’s trophy and girl’s trophy. After a few bumps, bruises and sprains, (and lots of fun!) it was time to announce the winners! All the schools had performed amazingly well, but there could only be one winner!

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The girls with their positive role models from Greenock Wanderers Woman's team
The girls with their positive role models from Greenock Wanderers Woman’s team

1st place for the girls was St Ninian’s Primary, great job!

Gooooooo Aimee!
Gooooooo Aimee!

It was a rough day for the boys as there were a lot of tries and bumps and bruises but they fought on until the end. The overall winners in the boy’s category was, in 1st place… MoorfootPrimary! Congrats!

Conor: 'Peter can't keep me down!'
Conor: ‘Peter can’t keep me down!’
The boys showing off their Rugby faces!
The boys showing off their Rugby faces!

Thank you to all the schools who competed in the tournament and a special thanks to Brendan and all the other staff who organised festival. We had such a brilliant day!!!

Our class celebrating after their tiring but rewarding day!
Our class celebrating after their tiring but rewarding day!

We hope you have enjoyed our first blog post!

The Journalists
The Journalists

The Journalists

Global Citizens – 90kg Rice Challenge

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Gourock Primary first embarked on Just Trading Scotland’s 90kg Rice Challenge earlier this year and has a dedicated team of pupils who market the fairly traded Kilombero rice to our school community.

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This has been a huge success and we have now sold 3 batches of the delicious Kilombero rice. Our Global Citizen group are very enthusiastic about the challenge and are passionate about selling because they believe they can make a huge difference to Malawian child’s life.

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The pupils have gained many skills for learning, life and work. They are only too aware of how important education is for creating opportunities in a child’s future and decided to produce a rice recipe book to accompany each bag sold, alongside an information leaflet which educates customers about the benefits of buying. We’re ready to receive our next batch!

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Question of the Week – Entrepreneurs of the Future (6th October 2014)

If you could start a brand new business, what would it be?

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Successful Entrepreneurs:

  • Set goals for future success
  • Recognise opportunities and grab them.
  • Are money wise.
  • Are creative.
  • Have great marketing skills to sell products and services.
  • Understand failure as something to learn from and look for ways to improve.
  • Are effective communicators who build good relationships.
  • Help others and support charities and special causes.
  • Are independent.
  • Are confident.
  • Have strong leadership skills.

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Introducing ‘Blogger of the Week’

To encourage Primary 6 to continue to write for a purpose, Mrs Falconer is introducing “Blogger of the Week,”.

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This weekly award will be given to a pupil who has made a real effort to blog (as a guest writer), comment on posts and share ideas/examples of their work.

The prize? Aside from class recognition and glory? A lunch time spent with a friend on one of our laptops.

Blogging has been proven to improve children’s writing, confidence and e-safety awareness. It will give your writing an audience and will allow others to see what wonderful and talented writers we have in Gourock Primary.

Things I will be looking out for to find the Blogger of the Week:

Pupils who try to showcase their fantastic writing by either – writing a story, book review, review of their day, answering the Question of the Week or any other interesting post.

Pupils who take time to read and comment on other people’s posts.

Pupils who take time with punctuation and spelling.

It will not be the person who blogs the most, it will be down to pupils who have really made an effort to blog meaningful and interesting posts.
How to write good blog posts:

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How to comment on other’s posts:

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Good luck Primary 6! I look forward to reading and rewarding your hard work!

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A ❤️ of learning!

Primary 6 were asked the question:

If you could do something you love for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Here are some of our responses…

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We talked about what we were passionate about, what our interests and hobbies are, what we wonder about and what touches our hearts.

Today we were introduced to GENIUS TIME.

We were asked to start thinking about a personal Passion Project that we could embark on, something we could really get our teeth in to. We were told we could build something, make something, create something, design something or collect something. Whatever we choose to do we must research it and then present it to an audience.

We have to take ownership of it.

There were so many ideas!!! We decided to think of some possible research questions we could ask to guide our projects. Here are just some of the ideas presented….

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We’re going to be using our research skills, organisation skills, reading non-fiction articles, developing questions, writing, preparing and presenting!

Cyber Safety – Staying Safe Online

"Stay SMART online and you'll be fine" Matthew
“Stay SMART online and you’ll be fine” Matthew

Our school believe it is important to learn about staying safe, both in and out of school. It is important that we know how to stay safe in all environments including when we are online using the internet. In class this week we have been learning how to safe online. We had a visitor from CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre) come to our class to give us advice about keeping our personal information safe and private, how to protect ourselves from potential dangers like cyber bullying and avoiding contact with strangers.

We took part in various activities such as; creating online safety slogans, discussing examples of how to stay safe online and answering questions to demonstrate our understanding. When using the internet we must remember:

  • Never to give away any personal details:                                                                                                                           This is really important because some of the strangers who might try to talk to children online may be dangerous. Some things should only be shared with close friends and family, not everyone needs to know everything. We must be always think twice about who might be looking at what we post. We learned that some people may use your details for hacking your account and using it inappropriately. Some online games help nasty people disguise themselves as potential friends when really they might be trying to harm you. Never tell an online gamer your real name, where you live, your phone number, the school you go to, your age or places you regularly go.

 

  • Always keep any online profiles PRIVATE.                                                                                                                    If you keep your profile private, the only people who will be able to see your posts will be people you allow to follow you (Twitter) or be your online friends (Facebook). Keep personal discussions for when you are face to face with friends.

 

  • Protect Passwords:                                                                                                                                                               Make your password hard to guess but easy to remember! (a great tip from Orla) Protect your password by making it a complex code of letters and numbers (i.e. don’t use your date of birth or your name as this is too obvious) Never share your password with anyone other than your parents. Log out of any sites when you are finished using them.

 

  • Photos:                                                                                                                                                                                     Never use your own photo as your profile picture or make sure that it is a group shot. Never post a picture wearing your school uniform or people may be able to identify where you live or which school you go to. Never post pictures of yourself in swimming costumes, underwear or inappropriate clothing.

 

  • Treat others the way you want to be treated. THINK before you tweet! Is it:

        T = is it TRUE?

        H = is it HELPFUL?

        I = is it INSPIRING?

       N = is it NECESSARY?

       K = is it KIND?

  • Treat others with respect.                                                                                                                                                    Think twice about posting a picture or status about anyone who may be offended by your post. Don’t post anything that might be offensive or disrespectful to others.

 

  • Cyberbullying:                                                                                                                                                                                      If you are a victim of cyber bullying then the advice is to take a screenshot of the conversation, share your feelings and worries with an adult and get support from your friends. If you are getting messages from a stranger then you should use the websites facility to block them from your account. Remember, this isn’t you being rude, it is you keeping yourself safe! IMG_3686-0.PNG

Useful websites:

Parents may wish to visit CEOP’s website which gives useful tips on how to help your child stay safe online:

https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/Primary/

Alternatively the NSPCC also has useful information for parents which can be found here: http://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/


stay SMART
stay SMART
Guest Writer: Grace Thomson (with help from my Primary 6 pals!)