Today the marble runs were completed and tested. Unfortunately, none of the groups managed to create a run that would last for 1 minute so we agreed that the slowest marble would be the winner. Each run was also assessed on it’s structure and design.

There was a tense but exciting few minutes as each marble run was put to the test.
The winners were…..
In Mrs McRitchie’s group – Emily, Caitlyn, Maddie, Dylan, Lauren and Grace’s design with a time of 3.36 seconds.
In Mrs Hunter’s group – Olivia, Lauren, Erin, Faye, Ben and Logan’s design with a time of 4.44 seconds.

All groups enjoyed the task and have ideas on how they would improve their designs.

We were very lucky to have a visitor today to talk about engineering,  Mrs McKenzie.  She was an Applegrove and Forres Academy pupil.  Mrs McKenzie studied engineering at Aberdeen University and went on to become a subsea engineer, working onshore and on ships.  Mrs McKenzie told us all about the career path and skills needed to become an engineer.  Many of these we already study at Applegrove such as problem solving, presenting, working collaboratively and being creative.

We went into the playground to look for signs of Spring and found a lot. It was good fun taking the photographs.

Today, the P6 and P7 non skiers had a fun day out. After watching P3W’s assembly on toys it was soon time to head to Elgin.

First stop was Pinz for an hour of Ten Pin Bowling. Lots of fun, laughs and competition was had. Many showed their skills with numerous spares being scored but only a few were lucky enough to get a Strike – Dylan, Claire, Chloe, Cameron R and James. After enjoying the crisps, biscuits and juice provided by Pinz, it was time to find out the final results. The lane winners were: Claire (87 points), Rachel (76 points), Farah (77 points), Jake (92 points), Erin (93 points), Emily (75 points) and James (83 points). Cameron R won his lane and with a score of 100 was the overall winner of the day – congratulations to all 🙂

After a quick lunch on the bus, due to the rain preventing us from visiting Cooper Park it was time to ‘dive’ into Moray Leisure Centre. Everyone enjoyed the pool especially when the flume opened!

Many thanks to Pinz and Moray Leisure Centre for having us and to the parents who helped accompany us.

Today four pupils from P6 represented the school at the Moray round of the P6 Euro Quiz – a national competition with the finals being held at the Scottish Parliament.

They have spent many weeks studying in preparation for today. Their hard work paid off as after answering questions on Europe’s Geography, History, Politcal Leaders, flags, currency, sport, culture, langauges and landmarks they made it through to the head to head round against St Sylvesters.

A fierce competition took place and it came down to the final question where they were unfortunately pipped to the post by the oppposing team – congratulations and good luck to the St Sylvesters team.

The team were pleased with themselves and felt they had worked well as a team. We are proud of their achievement. Well done to you all. 🙂

Many thanks to the parents who accompanied the team.

Conditions on the hills are not suitable for skiing today. Full programme of activities in place; zip wiring, archery, crate building, adventure course and climbing wall as well as dry slope skiing. All children are having a great time here at Abernethy. The pay phone is out of order. Please be assured we would contact parents if there are any concerns with your child.

We did the zip wire!

A fantastic day for all the children today on Cairngorm mountain. The sky was blue and the sun shone as the beginners got to grips with their snow plough turns! After a whole day of skiing they had their swim. We are thinking the children will sleep very well tonight!

To inspire the pupils to build on their natural curiosity and ability to problem solve, today was filled with science and engineering challenges.  The pupils learnt about engineering, one of the fastest growing industries in the world before turning their hand to working collaboratively to solve a variety of problems.  The final challenge was to build a marble run that would allow the marble to run for 60 seconds.  The pupils soon realised that their prior knowledge of Forces needed to be applied. Their constructions will be finished and tested on Thursday.

The 60 second marble run.

The jelly cube challenge.

The 60 second marble run.

Keeping a paper clip afloat.

Making a crumple zone.

Can you make a paper clip float?

Chopstick Jelly Challenge

What shape will go through a square, triangular and circular hole?

Building a marble run

Building a marble run

Designing a crumple zone