This short week has been one where we have had three main highlights.

First of all we were all overwhelmed by our brilliant Primary Three who became the ‘First Kids in Space’. Their assembly was indeed ‘Out of this world’

All in attendance were provided an fantastic 45 minute display of action packed learning. Our young P3s showed us just how much wee people can learn and remember. The learning in this assembly was outstanding, and because of the active, motivating and fun way it has been presented to the children I am confident of this being life long learning. It was truly magnificent. The majority of props and costumes had been designed and made by the childrne themeselves.

Well done to all of our Primary Three children and a huge well done and thank you to their ‘space age’ staff:

Miss Love, Mrs McDerment, Mrs Gillespie, Miss Couper and Mrs Harrison and all other staff involved.

Our second display of fabulous contextualised learning came in the format (for me) in a visit to Motherwell Heritage Centre. Last year some of our then P4 pupils became invovled in a rejuvination project of Motherwell. Our pupils worked with Heritage Centre Staff and Mrs Duffy to discuss and display all that is good about our wonderful town. ( I appreciate I am not from Motherwell but like to think of myself as an adopted member)

The culmination fo the children’s work came on Friday morning when the children were invited to “take over the Hertiage Centre’ and see the unveiling of their work. The children’s work is now permanently displayed in the Hertiage Centre – on the tower. I urge you to go along and have a look – you’ll be impressed.

Well done to Mrs Duffy and all of the children involved (now in P5)

Kian, Katie, Emma, Victoria, Connor, Klaudia, Patryk, Kayla, Joseph, Lewis, Carlina, Matthew, Adam, Charlei and Reece.

Our final highlight took place today in St. Luke’s Church where 13 of our First Communicants celebrated the Sacrament for the very first time. It was a beautiful celebration concelebrated by Mgr Millar, Canon O’Mahony, Fr. Briody and Deacon Tom. Thanks also to our school pupils (and former pupil) who came along to serve. We look forward to continuing our journey of faith with our Priamry four pupils next Saturday and Sunday.

 

Mrs MM Murphy reports from the nursery:
A short week in nursery so just a quick update of what has been going on.

The hunt for frogspawn has been unsuccessful but the children have still been able to look at the life cycle of a frog through jigsaw puzzles, sequencing the transformation from egg to tadpole, froglet to fully grown frog.

The children continued to learn about new beginnings and made their own flower numberline in the maths area. They explored games on the SmartBoard that involved the important aspects of how to make plants grow. They also explored the giant floor dominoes matching the number of dots.

In literacy the children have been writing new Spring/Summer words on petals. Look out for this display soon. They have been learning new songs about planting and growing and what they need to do to help plants grow and stay healthy.

In the art area they painted their own still life pictures of a bunch of flowers. The end result was truly amazing with many paintings showing a lot of detail. The sand tray is full of soil and the children have been using trowels and other garden equipment to explore filling and pouring the plant pots.

The house corner continues to be busy since its transformation into a garden centre selling plants and seeds and other gardening equipment. The children have planted some seeds in plastic cups and are watching them grow these will be ready for planting outside soon.

Outdoors the children have been planning and preparing the garden for Groundforce day. Some new logs have been added to Dinoland to expand the area and some pallets have been upcycled to create a sitting area outdoors. The hunt is on for giant waterproof cushions to complete this. The children have asked for a mud kitchen which is in the process of being made any old pots, pans or kitchen utensils would be appreciated to complete this.

The children took part in a scientific experiment using some flowers that they had brought to nursery. The children split the stems of the flowers and placed them in jugs of water and added food colouring. They chose red and blue (Spiderman colours as they wanted to make a Spiderman flower) Overnight the flowers were thirsty and obsorbed the coloured water and by the morning they had started to turn red and blue. The children were fascinated with the transformation. This is an experiment that can be easily done at home!

The 2nd block of Forest Kindergarten session will come to an end on Wednesday. The children will celebrate with a graduation ceremony in the forest. All parent/carers are invited to join the children for the full session to celebrate.

Letters looking for helpers for Groundforce day have been issued please let any member of staff know if you can help and they will add your name to the list. You don’t have to be green fingered to help. We need help with weeding, digging, moving some furniture, staining/oiling our new seating area and brushing up our existing furniture. We have some adult garden tools but you can bring along your own if you want. The more the merrier. Tea and biscuits will be provided.

Many thanks for taking the time to read our Blog.

Mrs Shields