John Johnston

Outdoor Learning May 2025

This week is an outdoor learning where each class has one day when they try to spend as much time as possible outside. The Biggies, minus the primary sevens, had a day on Tuesday this week.

Pendulum Art

We startedthe day with some pendulum art.

In the morning we did some pendulum art, we did pendulum art by attaching a cup with a hole at the bottom onto a piece of string them we put paint in it and then we swung the pendulum over paper to make some art. We did it outside because we didn’t do it inside because the floor would get too dirty. We attached the cup by having a bit of string hanging A bit of string from a stick suspended between 2 chairs, we put some weights and a carabiner and we put a wire to hold the cup onto the carabiner.
Robert

I got back just after playtime when my class was doing a huge piece of artwork. There was a huge giant piece of black paper and there also was a long thin thread over the basket ball hoop. At the end of the thread there was knot tied to a karabiner holding twisted wire holding a cup with a hole and paint in it. Robert my best friend was holding the thread keeping everything up. I was amazed.

This is pendulum art. How it works is if you push the cup or let go of the cup from not where the cup gravitates to the cup will swing in cool patterns letting paint out to mark those patterns. We did three different colours and it looked amazing in the end. It was nearly lunch time so we had to bring the gigantic art piece in when the rain decided to come.
Gene

Yesterday was outdoor learning day. In the morning we started by making some pendulum art we needed to have a cup, two chairs, string, metal wire, some paint, rocks, paper, sticks and a pencil. We made a pendulum by placing the chairs opposite each other then placing the stick on top. We used the pencil to pierce the bottom and the sides of the cup for the paint to leak through. We used metal wire as a hook to put in the 2 holes on the sides to hold the cup up then we connected the metal wire to the string with a carabiner. We added some washers for some weight we then rotated the string on the stick till it was about 5-10cm off the ground then we got some paper and placed it down after we placed the paper down we then got some rocks to weigh the paper down. Then we put the paint in the cup and started to swing it, it made some cool art so we tried it on a bigger paper with more colours too.
Jason

Firepit

How we did this is we used a sharp knife to chop the wood. First the person with the knife will put their hand on the wood chunk about 3/4 down. Second they will carefully grab the knife and put it about in the middle of the wood chunk and remove their hand. Third they would say tap and another person with a large and thick wood stick would hammer the knife into the wood and repeat this until the top of the knife was in. Lastly the wood hammer the edge of the knife until the wood chunk was split in two.
Gene

Around the Fire

We didn’t get any photos around the fire. This does keep happening. The pupils all know the rules and are very respectful fo fire.

We did a fire in the fire pit we did some fruit over the fire pit and marshmallows, the fruit tasted really nice so did the marshmallow but i burned it a bit but the bananas tasted nice.it was really fun
Billie

Then we got the fire pit roaring. We told some spooky stories 👻 and then we had some marshmallows on sticks (I accidentally burnt mine 🙁). Later on, we had our fruit skewers.
Xander

After lunch we made a fire, we tried using our flint and steels but we couldn’t get them to work so we just used a lighter, we light a cotton pad and put it to the wood. When the fire was good enough we started cooking our marshmallows, mine kind of went black but it tasted amazing! When the fire went down a bit we put on our fruit kebabs that we prepared earlier. They where quite good.
Robert

A wee while later, we had a fire pit, we had fruit skewers and toasted marshmallows. I didn’t have any because I don’t like it, I would rather have something different that I like. We also shared some stories and also made some up with a sentence each, Mr. Johnston also came out with a talking stick and asks us loads of questions about ourselves, shortly after it was home time.
Chloe

We also made some fruit skewers to grill we were also toasting marshmallows. Most people burnt/dropped they’re marshmallow but I didn’t I burnt mine but I didn’t drop it in took the crust off and ate it and repeated that till i finished my marshmallow. We played a game about creating a story everyone got to say one sentence to create the story. Then we gone inside to get our fruit skewers then we put them on the grill for about 5 minutes. The apple didn’t taste the best the banana taste quite good and the strawberry was very sour. After everyone finished they’re skewers we told some stories until 2:50PM then we went inside and started cleaning up then it became 2:55PM and the first bell rang. We put on our jackets and bags and then we went home.
Jason

Windball

The biggies used their practical skills, communication, working together and a little maths to make a large windball.

It was quite tricky to follow the apttern and get the ball into shape, but as you can see the bigges did a great job.

Working with Others Badge — Working With Others

Communication Badge — Working With Others

Maths & Literacy in the woods

On Wednesday the Biggies spent the morning in Dow’s wood. A beautiful day.

Children in woods — We are sure there is a right angle in here somewhere…

We started with some maths, finding or creating angles, right, obtuse and acute and sets of parallel lines. We too photos with out iPads and then labled them.

Next we worked on bearings and directions, using compasses to create instructions to follow to find ‘treasure’.

The chidlren were so engrossed in following instructinons we had to delay play time.

After a break the class settled down in very peasful surroundings to write & draw.

We also had time to find some wild life

WEveryone was astonished when it was suddenly 10 to 12 and we needed to walk quite quickly back to school in time for lunch.

Today we opened to the public the Banton Beasties a web site where the content is created by the Biggies. The site consites of posts describing different animals that we have seen in Banton. The children research different creatures, find photos they are allow to use and design the page using WordPress (Glow Blogs).

This allows us to improve and practise our reading and writing information texts. We also think about attribution and giving credit. We also learn about animals, their lifecycles & classification. We are learning ict skills that are used in the real world.

This week we worked on some of the insects we have seen in the playground and Dow’s wood recently. We also shared some of the information about mini beasts with Primary 1-2-3.

screenshot of the insect index page of the Banton Beasties Webpage.

The Beasties site is a work in progress, we can fix mistakes, add information ans more in the future.

Bluebells & Butterflies

The Biggies made a spring visit to Dow’s wood on Thursday afternoon. The sun shone and it was a lovely day. We started by gathering photos of mini beasts for our primary 1-2-3 pals. We will share that next week.

We also spent some time drawing the early bluebells, siting in the quiet and sun dappled slopes.

Children sitting in a sunny wood, sketching

Blooming Art

On Tuesday the Biggies set up some spring art.

Yesterday afternoon we were doing art with different materials like paint, pencil and pastels. There was different stations for the different materials and there was 2 pencils station one you have to look at what you see and the other is the idea of the flower.

I liked the pencil arts more than the others because the lines were thin, it was easier to draw and I could add more details.

I liked painting but not as much as drawing on pencil. I liked painting because I could put different shades on top of each over and I could choose if it was thin or thick.
Alexia

I prefer the chalk pastels over the oil pastels because I thought they felt a bit like crayons but they were a bit more precise than the chalk pastels but the chalk pastels I could blend. I also used them together and it looked really good. I really liked the paint because I think it was easy to use and it looked really good. Out of all of them I think I like pencil the best because it is easier to do the details and my favourite picture is the idea of the thing because I could add stuff that wasn’t there.
Juliet

I liked my experiment drawing because it was free I did not dislike anything about this material.

Next time I will try more details.

I think more time would help
Noah

There was two types of pastels oil and chalk, there was only one table for pastels we had to draw a bluebell. I enjoyed doing the pastels because I got to blend the colours together with my fingers to create shadows. I enjoyed drawing with the oil pastels because I liked the texture of it.
Billie

What I liked about my paint art was it turned out to be good but it was a little bit squinty. What I liked about my pastel art was I smudged to add detail.

What I liked about my pencil art was I drew very carefully.
Xander

Mr Johnston told us to think about what we liked and disliked about each of the materials. My favourite was the pastels, there were 2 types of pastels we used chalk pastels and oil pastels, I liked the chalk ones. I like the chalk pastels because of the way it feels to draw with them, it has a nice wee feeling in your body. There where a lot of differences between the materials, some of them are paints are a lot more smooth, pastels are messy and smudgy and pencil is simple and nice. I like the ones that are less smooth because you can really feel the drawing, the only ones that have that are pencils and pastels.
Robert

I enjoyed them all the were fun and nice to experience them all in different ways.

I enjoyed the painting the most cause it was a bit more relaxing than the others but I’m not saying the others were bad I just enjoyed that more.

The paint felt different than the others but I’m because you used it in a different way that made it feel delicate. Then the pencil felt smooth gliding around the paper it felt amazing. Also the pastels felt weird the first felt like very chunky crayon and chalk mixed together.
Tony

I think my drawing from what you see was quite detailed, if I had more time I could have added a bit more detail though. It was really fun drawing from what you see, because you then get to see what a flower actually looks like.

Drawing the blossom art was really fun and I would definitely do it again, and it is also quite calming to just sit there and draw. The teachers also get some quiet time.
Chloe

Meeting NASA

On Monday this week we had a meeting with Dr Graham Kerr who works at NASA in the USA.

On Monday this week we had a meeting with Dr Graham Kerr who works at NASA in the USA. Dr Kerr originally comes from quite close to Banton, about half an hour drive away!

Dr Kerr tooks us through an explanation of his work on Sun, solar activity, solar probes and lots more. He told us some incredible facts.

He also answered our questions on a whole host of space related facts.

After the meeting I asked the Biggies to do some research and create some art on anything that had caught their interest. They have worked really hard both in school and at home!

Research

Art

And a Bonus Gif

Minecraft in Space

As today is the last day beforethe holidays, we spent some time making the solar system in Minecraft. Some of the builds were really inventive. The Sun, planets, astronauts and more. Juliet even had hollow planets with information boards inside.

Art in The MakerSpace

For the Last six weeks the Biggies have been working in the MakerSpace with Artist Eilidh Manton.

This week we had a dash for the finish ending with a Exhibition in the Playground for the rest of the school.

For the Last six weeks the Biggies have been working in the MakerSpace with Artist Eilidh Manton.

You can see some of the progress on earlier posts.

This week we had a dash for the finish ending with a Exhibition in the Playground for the rest of the school.

I am incredibly proud of the way the children worked over the weeks. Especially on talking to Eilidh. She was very impressed at the children’s practical skills, the way they solved problems and their ability to talk about what they were doing and learning.

The class were especially impressive talking about their work to the other pupils and staff in the playground Exhibition.

Today the pupils continued to impress by writing about their projects. Some wrote about the technical details, some about the feeling and some wrote poems. All the writing below is by the artists.

The Swan – Tony

I wrote a wee poem for ye
The auld swan shall come Tae me
Doon the wee canal 
Ye may see it come round Tae ye 
The auld swan shall come Tae me

I chose a swan because when I think of Banton i think about nature and in Banton there is a pond with swans in it so that’s why I did it. I also chose it because I like swans and think they are cool. I like this idea and enjoyed making it.

The Forrest – Xander

    My creation represents jealousy.
    It makes me happy when I look at it when I am jealous.
    Its leaves are green like nature.
    The leaves are crunchy when I step on the leaves.
    When I look at the animals they are cute.
    They are very fluffy and furry.
    The birds are very noisy alll the time.
    The trees are full of apples.
    The apples are very tasty.
    The forest is always there for me.

The Watermill – Calum

I made the water mill because I wanted to make some more complicated. I made a mechanism that made it spin round. It was hard to hot glue the curved cardboard.
My creation makes me feel accomplished.

A few weeks ago we started art in the makerspace. An artist named Eilidh Manson came in to do some art with us. We made some sketch books. I didn’t actually choose it. Mr Johnston showed me how to make a tree trunk. I made a tree but I made a leap of logic and it gave me a super lit idea so I made a forest. When I cut the cardboard it was a bit stiff. It was easy to make animal figurines. The finished project made me feel happy.

Peepcorn and other consumables – Noah

They where called spittles it took a couple weeks to do but I done it (hardly). Tt was hard at bits I used creative thinking, problem thinking And more. Then I made a susy and peep-corn they both hard to made. The materials I needed were cardboard, fabric and more!!

The Cherry Tree Juliet, Chloe & Alexia

Once boxes and bags,
Now a tall Cherry tree, 
And branches inside can’t you see.
Tissue paper flowers and packaging paper bark. 
Held together by glue and duct tape and things like that.
Some real branches hiding,
They blend in so well,
you nearly can’t tell,
It’s a cardboard tree.

Door Toes & Prongles -Jason

The flavour of door toes is like fire, burns your tongue more than a ghost pepper nothing else can beat it in spice.

Prongles is the biggest snack you can have it holds world records with it, it never expires you will love it especially the new giant flavour even bigger that the big flavour so EAT NOW.

The Swan – Robert

The Swan is nice and relaxing,
The cam seats are so calm,
The atmosphere is quiet,
A wee nice feeling roams the air.

I made the swan (pub/bar/restaurant) because I felt like it really symbolised Banton in a good way. The community made it a nice place to eat or drink at.

It makes me feel happy, calm, and bit sad and a wee bit nervous. I feel happy because I finally finished the project. I feel calm because now I don’t have to juggle all the thoughts of what to do next in my head and sad because Eilidh Madison (who helped us build it) will not come back. I also feel nervous because it might collapse. I feel quite good.

Note, Roberts use of cam in the poem is deliberate, a Biggie Engneering joke!

The Shed – Gene

Why I made it

I chose to build the shed and the tools inside it because at the start before we built anything I was struggling for ideas. I thought of tools outside in the playground and I thought of a shovel. Then after I built the shovel I built a broom then a bucket then the shed.

Exhibition

My class displayed the things we have been working on for the past few weeks. We told everyone about how we made it, features, why we made it and more like what’s above. Everyone liked the exhibition. It was very fun. Some things gone wrong but we had a great time. The exhibition was a success in the end.

The Owl – Billie

Art Update 3

This week we made a lot of progress in the MakerSpace. The class were so busy we did not have much time for reflection or taking notes. We can really see the ideas being brought to life. The class have a very wider range of ideas! Some of the ideas are beinging to expand, either in size or complexity.

I did ask the pupils how we could improve out teaching. This was met with a series of ideas for expanding the space. This included, planning & painting areas, Space for painting and being able to leave work in a more organised way. All good ideas but difficult to do given the space we are lucky have.

Fairly Tasty Pancakes

We had a fair trade focus day on Friday. We have been learning about the Fairtrade story of bananas & chocolate this week.

On Friday we started the day by making banana pancakes. These are really simple, just banana, flour & milk along with a little baking powder, no sugar!¹

As well as thinking about Fair Trade we practiced our Food Technology, linked to hygiene and some maths measuring. Following a recipe uses our literacy skills too. Cooking is also good fun and over half the class thought the result was tasty. Banana seems to be fruit marmite.

Fairtrade information

In our literacy lesson Miss Baxter work with us to create wrappers for imaginary Fairtrade chocolate wrappers. We were surprised as to how few chocolate bars are Fairtrade. We had to write in two genre, giving information about Fairtrade on the inside and designing a persuasive outside.

Short information text on /fairtrade written by primary 5-6-7 children.

Designs for Fairtrade chocolate wrappers.

At the end of the day, the whole school gathered for an assembly, where we had a Fairtrade quiz and found out about the other classes about their activities: Fairtrade Friday! – Banton Bairns & Fairtrade Fruity Fun & Fitness for Fairtrade Friday.

At the start of the day I asked the pupils to let us knowwhat fairtrade was in a paragraph, here are some responses:

Fair trade is like a organisation that helps the farmers in the poor countries. Fair trade means the poor farmers can get paid a good amount for their hard work. Fair trade is an amazing thing that helps thousands of farmers that deserve a fair pay.
Tony

Fair trade is an organisation that makes sure that farmers get a fair price for their products that they are selling. You get fair trade bananas, chocolate, coffee and other stuff.
Juliet

FairTrade, it’s a wonderful thing, it has 2 ways it supports farmers, Fairtrade minimum and Fairtrade premium. Fairtrade minimum has a limit to how low the price for cocoa in any Fairtrade product can go with coco. Fairtrade premium gives money to the community for every ton of cocoa sold.
Robert

Fairtrade is an organisation designed to help farmers who grow our food. The price is increased a bit on some of the food we buy that the farmers produce. The extra money all goes to the farmers, not where you are buying it.
Gene

A different group of The Biggies bake as part of their maths program each week, nearly always involving a little sugar ↩︎

Author: John Johnston