Category Archives: Blogging

Everybody likes a compliment ✨

One of the most meaningful things you can say to someone is to offer a compliment. A compliment about something they’ve done, or created can make a person’s day. We have lots of caring young people in our class.

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One of the things we have been focusing on since starting in Primary 6 has been to spot others giving genuine compliments for no other reason than to be kind.

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Giving a compliment not only makes you feel good, it makes the person receiving the compliment feel great! You usually receive a smile or thanks in return or a conversation is started and the person leaves thinking you are a pretty nice person! Not bad for such a small effort.

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Each time we spot someone giving a compliment, we get to add a paperclip to our compliment chain. The aim is to have it reach the floor! When it does, a class treat is coming our way!

Victorian Schooling – Top of the Class? Or Class Dunce?

We visited Scotland Street Museum to culminate all of our learning about the Victorian Era.

We were in awe of the building’s grand design which was created by the famous architect, Charles Rennie Makintosh.
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We spent some time discovering many of the museum’s wide range of activities and exhibits.

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Matthew purchased a Victorian game from the gift shop and was an expert in catching the ball in the cup in no time!

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We visited classrooms throughout the 20th Century. Michael decided to play teacher in the 1950/60’s classroom. Pretty scary eh?

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One of the most enjoyable exhibits was the art gallery. It was filled with paintings by Scottish born artist, Alexander Millar. We loved that we were able to look at some of his original work. Before we knew it, each of us had decided upon a favourite and we chattered away, giving reasons for our choices.

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We enjoyed lunch before we were given the chance to participate in a Victorian classroom situation, with actress Lesley Robertson playing the teacher “Miss Baxter.”

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No sooner were we changed into our ‘new’ school uniforms, we had been transported back in time to the 4th December 1882…

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and we were TERRIFIED!

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Lessons
Victorian schools concentrated on the 3Rs, Reading wRiting and aRithmetic. Most schools also included the 4th R, religion.

First up was prayer…

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Followed by arithmetic…

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In a Victorian classroom, everything had to be done in a regimented way. The teacher would write things on the blackboard which was then copied into books and learned. A lot of teaching was repetition, learning the names and dates of kings and queens, or reciting the “times” table.

Victorian Child Punishment
Our nerves got the better of us and we made Miss Baxter quite cross when we gave incorrect answers to our times tables! Teachers were often strict and by modern standards very scary. Children soon learnt to do what the teacher asked, otherwise they would get a rap across the knuckles with a ruler, or a clip around the ears, struck by the belt or whipped with the dreaded cane! The Victorian teacher would use a cane to punish naughty children. The cane was given on the hand or the bottom, or sometimes given across the back of the legs. We were given such a fright when Miss Baxter whacked the belt off of one of the desks!

All sorts of things might be punished: being rude, answering back, speaking out of turn, poor work, blotting your page, in fact anything that displeased the teacher! Children who had been caned usually kept quiet about it because if their parents found out they would probably be punished again. Even left handed children were punished and made to use their right hand.

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The Victorian Teacher
Teaching was often the job of unmarried ladies (that’s why you called the teacher Miss or Ma’am), and when you married you stopped teaching. Fewer men taught because the pay was poor.

Equipment
For every teacher the most vital piece of equipment was the blackboard. This could be used so that their pupils could take down information or practice imitating the teacher’s handwriting.

Children started to learn to write using a slate – a sort of small blackboard. They wrote on it with a sharpened piece of slate called a slate pencil.

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Pupils brought a piece of sponge or a rag from home to clean the slate, or some just used their sleeve!

As they got older children would write on paper using a dip pen and blue-black ink from out of an inkwell.

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A book with ruled lines was used for handwriting practice, the copybook. The first line was printed, or copied carefully from the blackboard, then the entire page was filled with identical lines.

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IMG_4767.JPGIf a mistake was made it stood out glaringly, and it is from this that we say you “blot your copybook” when you make a serious mistake.

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Another regular activity was drill, which was the Victorian equivalent of what we now call PE. This might involve running, jumping, stretching and lifting weights, and was often accompanied by music.

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Miss Baxter came out of character and allowed us to breathe a sigh of relief. She kindly explained all about Victorian schooling and gave us the opportunity to ask questions.

Josh was a willing volunteer to try on our dunce hat!

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The Dunce’s Hat
A tall pointed hat with a letter D was left conspicuously on a stool in the corner of the classroom. Pupils who were slow at learning were made to stand in the corner wearing the hat while the teacher, and probably other pupils as well, mocked them. Although this seems cruel to modern minds, in Victorian times it was thought that all pupils were capable of learning equally and that a slow pupil was being deliberately lazy or reluctant to learn. The dunce would remain in the corner, sometimes standing on the stool, until the end of the lessons.

What a day! It was great fun but we went back to school absolutely exhausted!!!

(We are so relieved our teacher isn’t anything like Miss Baxter that we have decided to bring her a bar of her favourite chocolate – every day!)

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“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.

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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!

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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