Tag Archives: teamwork

Sciences, Technologies

Watt’s Watt Challenge

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On Thursday Lucy D, Lucy F , Jack and I went to Port Glasgow high school representing Gourock Primary for a challenge called Watt’s Watt. We were put up against other schools for 4 tasks. One that we could do whenever we wanted was to create a poster about James Watt and his improvement of the steam engine. Our second task was to make a steam boat which could go using the force of steam. Firstly we had to saw the wood to make it streamline so Lucy D and I went to the station where the saw was and we cut the wood. Then we went back and started to wrap a copper tube around a glue stick to make it a twirl shape. We had to use metal wire to secure the boat so that we could put a tea light under it. The tea light was for when we put the boat in the water we put a syringe full of water in the tubing and lit the tea light so that it would create steam. We also put another candle at the front to balance the boat.

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Our team at the Watt’s Watt Challenge.

The next task was probably our hardest task. We had to make a train that could carry an apple on a monorail. The first thing we did was we went to the sawing station and we had to saw 2 centimetres off of these cuboids of wood so that they would be the same weight and size. Then we put on the turning cylinders on the bottom and on the top of them we out elastic bands so that they would grip on to the monorail. Then because we were only allowed to use one battery pack we had to put an extension cord so that it would wire the other cylinder to turn. It was very frustrating because the wires kept on falling out and when we had to test the train the wire fell out on the one metre mark.

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Our third task was to make light from an apple. The reason why it works is because of the potential difference between two nails going into an apple. What we found was that half an apple will make more volts than one full apple so we decided to cut the two apples and put the nails in as the apple works as a conductor. We put the wires into the nails and it powered the led light. I feel really proud of what I managed to achieve and hopefully we get into the finals. I’m really interested in science and high school science will probably be really fun!

Making light from an apple!
Making light from an apple!
Health and Wellbeing

Cross Country

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On Saturday the 31st January our school competed in the Cross Country Competition at Tower Hill. The first thing everyone did was declaring for the race. The declaration point was in  the St. Columbas gym hall. Once everyone got their numbers they went and warmed up their muscles in preparation for the run.

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Some of us walked the course so we knew where we were running and others did some dynamic stretches. The conditions were anything  but great! For example, there was snow which hid the mud which made it was slippery underfoot, but that didn’t stop us from running the race. We all showed great determination and everyone completed the course.

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The first to race were the P5-6 girls. Everyone said good luck to each other and they set off to the start line. The course was 1 small lap and a big lap which was nearly a mile long. It was a hard way to start as you had to start on a hill. They did very well and won a team bronze so everyone is really pleased for them!

IMG_8233The next race was the P5-6 boys. They had the same course as the girls.  It was a very close race between the leaders and we were all shouting and encouraging the runners on. We managed to come 4th place – well done everyone.

The last to run were the P7 boys and girls running together. We had a mile to run and our course was slightly different from the younger pupils. We had to make sure we paced ourselves and keep some energy for sprinting to the finish line at the end. It was great to have the rest of the team, Mrs Hunter and Miss Meechan cheering us on, it helped us keep going. We were really proud of ourselves when we completed the course, it was really challenging! P7 boys won a team gold with myself earning an individual gold, Lewis in 4th place, Ryan in 11th place and Anton in 15th place. To earn a team medal, you must have 3 or more runners in a top position. The girls ran really well too and Abbi came 15th. It makes all the hard work and practice worth it. We are looking forward to the next competition next month! By Andrew P7

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Expressive Arts, Health and Wellbeing

Snow Portraits and Sculptures #Gilbertt

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On Friday it was snowing so we decided to go outside and do some art. We split into groups and designed either a snow portrait or snow sculpture. We created Gilbertt (with two ‘t’s) the snowman and his son Gilbertt jr. Some people went and got snow by using the cones to collect snow and used it as a shovel, we all worked together to make him. He was protected by some snow walls with twigs on them that we found in the playground, it looked good. Dionne built a snow dog because that’s her favourite animal. Andrew and Martin made a puny imposter Gilbertt that was found melted and never to be seen again. Hazel and Rebecca also created a snowman called Henry and hid him in petal gardens to keep him safe! Rachael managed to draw a portrait of Robert Burns with a pencil, it looked just like him! Gilbertt made it until the end of the day and then sadly someone decapitated him, we were all sad and wrote some speeches. It was fun trying to play sports in the snow. It was difficult trying to hit a snowball with a racquet! We all really enjoyed being outside, it was a bit cold but fun to do something different. Written by Aidan and David P7.

Expressive Arts, Literacy and English, Numeracy and Mathematics, Social Studies, Technologies

A Very Victorian Fairtrade Cafe!

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To complete our learning on the Victorians, we organised a Victorian themed Fairtrade Cafe for our school community. In preparation for our cafe, we each worked in co-operative groups to investigate a different area of the Victorian era. Groups researched areas such as Victorian education, famous Victorians and inventors, rich and poor lifestyles and jobs for example, chimney sweeps, servants and working down in the mines. We prepared to showcase our learning by delegating tasks. As a group, we decided who would create the powerpoint, design games for our visitors to play and who would dress as a Victorian for the day! Alongside this, we also had to plan for the running of our cafe. We split into groups to work on a homebaking stall, serving the tea and coffee, selling Fairtrade Christmas products and raise awareness of Fairtrade by talking to our visitors to the cafe. Our P7 Fairtrade group members headed up each group and kept things running smoothly. Have a look at some of our pictures below to see how we got on!