A slightly different Blog this week with much of the content coming from a variety of sources, thanks to all who contributed. I’m afraid I have been out of school for most of the week and therefore missed the majority of the exciting events.

 

Monday of this week began with a very exciting visitor – The Lidl Health Bus visited; here’s Mrs Duffy’s report:

 

Lidl Health Factor Tour double decker bus visited our school on Monday of this week. A number of our Nursery children from the AM session and our Primary 3 classes were involved in health promotion activities.

Each class was split into 2 groups. One group started on the Lidl Health Factor Bus where they entered the Smoothie Deck. After a short animated video every child was given their own apron and worked in their very own work station. They created delicious smoothies choosing from a selection of quality fresh ingredients. Every pupil received their very own smoothie shaker cup to try out new fruit cocktails.

The other session worked in the gym hall on fitness games involving jumbo fruits and vegetables. Staff promoted the importance of regular exercise and eating healthy.

Additionally they all received recipe cook book to take away and try their own recipes at home.

Staff were most impressed with all of our children. They commented on with their excellent knowledge and behaviour.

Photographs on plasma screen in school.

Tuesday morning dawned with P4/5 and some of the children from Firpark Primary ready to say a fond farewell to their little charges. The children have nurtured a huge number of fish eggs over the last few weeks and watched them grow and thrive under their care, however the time had come for their little ones to make their own way in the big wide River Calder. Thanks to Mrs McCarthy and Mr. Divers (Firpark) for overseeing this remarkable project with the children – it has been a great success. P4/5 pupils were happy to see their little fish go forward but sad to say goodbye.

You may have heard some poor unsuspecting fisherman appeared in the river with a menacing fishing rod just as the fish were released……..wrong place wrong time. Oops.

Tuesday we held our bi-annual Parent Evening, I was delighted 94% of our parents had made appointments and the majority came along on the evening. It is so important for children to have the opportunity for their parents to see their learning environment and share their success.

Any parent who could not manage along on Tuesday evening – please contact the school and we will make alternative arrangements.

Thanks also to all those who visited the Book Fayre, thanks also to Mrs Margaret Cunningham our Office Manager who gave up her own time to oversee the Fayre.

Thanks also, once again, to our Fabulous Fundraisers who took the time to launder all left over clothing and then sold it at a much-reduced price on Tuesday evening.

From August 2014 we had amassed 17 bin bags filled with unclaimed and un-named property – please encourage your child to take care of his/her belongings and please put your child’s name on all items.

Could you also remind children that despite what they believe jackets and jumpers do NOT grow legs and walk off the pitch by themselves!

 

Wednesday saw an exciting event for our Champion Handball Team from P7a. Mrs McLaughlan reported:

Following our recent success in the Regional Handball Championships, at the Tryst Sports Centre Cumbernauld, we were excited to participate in the National Handball Championships, which were held in Ravenscraig Sports Centre.

After winning all of our games, we were delighted to come top of our pool. We then proceeded to the next stage of the competition. Out of the 16 schools who participated, we were very proud to finish in 4th place. All of our children behaved impeccably showing great team support and fabulous sportsmanship. Excellent ambassadors for our school.

 

My grateful thanks to Mrs McLaughlan for taking the time to involve her class in such a great event and a big well done to all who participated.

 

Thursday of this week also began with a very exciting visitor – The Road Safety Bus; here’s Mrs Duffy’s report:

On Thursday we hosted West of Scotland Road Safety Team. Our pre school children and infant classes from Firpark visited the Road Safety Trailer, listened to Stories about Ziggy and the importance of keeping safe on our roads. They met the character Ziggy, visited a police car and police van and even got an opportunity to sit in the drivers seat.

Throughout the afternoon P7 classes and our CaFi council representatives visited our computer suite to experience the launch of a Road Safety app called KLANG! The app was positively received by all children who engaged fully on task throughout the session. Councillors Pat O’Rourke, Cllr Peter Nolan and Cllr Shahid Farooq visited our school and complimented our children on their excellent behaviour and manners.

Road safety officers Brenna Kane (P6) and Finn Ross (P7) will launch a whole school competition to win a Speeding Bear. Watch this space!! Both of our young officers received a goodie bag for all their efforts. Well done!

 

Thanks to Mrs Duffy for her report and for overseeing this wonderful, unique learning opportunity.

 

Friday saw the majority of our school outside on top of ‘the hill’ to watch the clouds – they had hoped to catch a glimpse of the eclipse but I’m afraid the clouds won – never mind, maybe next time!

However, we have a secret  Star Gazing Expert in our midst (who for some strange reason would like to remain nameless). Throughout the week she has provided a wealth of resources and information for our whole school. Her dad sent some great photographs. Thanks to Miss Love for her knowledge and expertise….Oops!

 

Our Lenten Charity event on Friday was ‘decorate your own boiled egg’. Amazingly creative creations were seen all around the school, well done to all who participated. Once again the hill comes into it’s own – egg rolling time!

 

On top of all of this the nursery, as always, has enjoyed a fabulous week. Mrs MM Murphy reports:

 

• Our Nursery Rhyme theme continues.
• In literacy the children have been writing their own rhyming words which are displayed on the wall and they have been using the nursery rhyme prop box to identify a variety of traditional nursery rhymes. The library is stocked with lots of books relating to nursery rhymes and the children have been exploring these.

• In numeracy they continue to explore positional games on the SmartBoard using Jack and Jill and Humpty Dumpty.

• Outdoors the children have been using the bikes and scooters and following directions. They have also been playing positional language games in softplay.

• In the art area they have been painting detailed pictures of Jack and Jill this will continue next week so look out for these fab pictures. Junk modeling continues to be a popular activity with time machines, rockets and telescopes being constructed.

• In snack the children have been making and baking their own Jack and Jill biscuits. They listened to the recipe and followed the instructions and the biscuits were yummy!
• The children had a discussion and decided to turn the house corner into a doctors surgery so the children can fix Jack’s head. There are x rays and numerous medicines being administered but no sign of vinegar or brown paper!

• On Monday the Lidl bus visited the school and the children took part in smoothie making. They chose their own fruit cut it up and decided which liquid to add. Their own recipes were written down and they took these home along with their smoothie bottles and a recipe book. In the gym hall they played a relay shopping game where they were asked to identify specific fruits and place them in the basket.

• On Thursday Ziggy the road safety character came to visit and the children had the opportunity to meet him and he brought with him some road safety tips and some road safety freebies. The police also came to visit and the children got the chance to sit in the big police van and the police car and use the siren.
• Children from P3 visited the nursery with props to explain the forthcoming eclipse on Friday. Some parents commented the next day on the children’s knowledge of this. A big thanks to P3 and Miss Love.
• Thursday was also the start of a parenting workshop called ‘Growing Together Learning Forever’ which is a NLC initiative to support parents in literacy and numeracy in everyday activities. The course runs for 6 week and is being delivered by Mrs Higgins and Mrs Murphy. There are still places available for anyone who has some free time on Thursdays.
• On Friday the children were excited when it started to get dark and the eclipse was about to take place, unfortunately it was too cloudy to see it and record it.

• Group activities this week have been as follows.

• The children have been involved in a circle time activity discussing their feelings and emotions using the care bears.
• In art they have been filling different sized pails and discussing the weight of each pail. (Jack and Jill)
• Outdoors they have been exploring a variety of positional songs such as Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, In and Out Those Dusty Bluebells and the Hokey Cokey.
• In numeracy they have been sorting and matching number to quantity using the bears.

In literacy they have been playing a listening game using an assortment of rhyming words.

If you have manages to read about all of this week’s exciting learning experiences – well done!

Thanks for reading, hope you are enjoying the multiple photographs coming now, brings all the learning to life.

Mrs Shields

PS: Remember feel free to comment; we love to get some feedback.