Author: John Johnston
Biggies in the Rain!
The Biggies took part in the school outdoor learning day yesterday. The weather was unrelentingly wet! We got on our waterproofs and took part in a full program.
We started by preparing a fire and making some sticks to toast marshmallows. Next we worked on our maths making circle paterns in the playground.
after the interval we got the fire goign and helped our wee pals from Primary !-2 to make s’mores.
After lunch we cleaned up the Bee Cafes and cut and planted some willow whips.
I really liked yesterday it was really fun . I liked the fire pit with the p1,2s and planting the wild flowers I did not like how wet it was because we had to draw circles with a piece of string.
Lexi
I thought it was really fun but soaking wet. I loved the fire pit and the marshmallow. I liked playing the games with the little ones I had so much fun. It was fun watching matheo eat his s’mores like he does with his sandwich. I didn’t necessarily liked making the circles it was challenging but instead I made a monkey with Lexi.
Alexia
Yesterday was a fun and exciting day, our class got split up and we taught the wee ones how to make s’mores safely, we partnered up and used home made compasses to draw circles and we done some gardening, I enjoyed planting the wildflowers and I also enjoyed the fire pit, I enjoyed leading games with my peers and I enjoyed explaining the games to the wee ones. Yesterday I think I used the skills, Leadership, Communication, Planning and Organising and much more. I liked being outside for the day and it was really fun to do those different activities all day, outside.
Olivia
I enjoyed everything. Apart from the tired legs and soaking things of course. Another thing I didn’t enjoy about is the fact I couldn’t finish the gigantic circle. But I feel brilliant about the good comments of the dry s’mores we roasted over the fire.
Nathaniel
The planting was very enjoyable, especially the bug saving. I found an adorable centipede. I hope the willows grow nicely.
I Liked doing games with the wee ones & making s’mores with them. I Also liked spending time with them, planting the willow trees was a little hard because of the shovel but I liked it. I Really liked making the wild flower beds with Alex & Lexi I thought it was really fun. I liked being partners with Faith for the circle art and the rest of the day!
Chloe
Banton Biggies Brass Band
We had our first week practise with Mr Golding this week. It was loud and loads of fun.
Building Buildings
The class are making good progress working on their Famous Building models. Some really creative solutions and problem solving.
When making the centre part of the building, we stumbled across a problem with the folds, I used the makedo tool to make folds where I wanted them to be but in the piece of cardboard I was using had folds where I didn’t want them to be. So I used parts of skewers to hot glue over the folds and that fixed the problem.
Rory
In the MakerSpace, Alexia, Chloe and I made a paper bell to go inside our Big Ben, Alexia had designed the bell and once we had made the roof we thought it would be a good idea to use a skewer to attach the bell, once we had tried it didn’t work, the skewer was too obvious and it didn’t work when we put the roof on, to fix the problem we used string instead. We also had the problem of the roof covering the hole for the clock, we decided to vaguely cut a hole in the roof to fit the clock and it worked.
Olivia
My problem was that the flaps were not strong enough to fix the problem we got sticks and stuck them on the the flaps to fix them.
Alex
I had a problem with how the supports for the cardboard strip that does over the bridge would be held. The problem was that I didn’t know how to put a piece that would work good to hold the cardboard. I solved this by using a egg box bit if cardboard.
Harry
I needed to put tape in the inside of my top of the Big Ben to make it easier to hot glue.
Lexi
Last week’s Biggies Highlights
Well last week went a bit too quickly for me to post this.
Famous Buildings
We have started another Makerspace project. The class are going to make models of famous buildings. After some research, organising groups and working out sizes and designs we started on Tuesday.
The first stage mostly involved cutting big sheets of cardboard to the correct size.
Junior Leaders
On Wednesday afternoon Julie from Active Schools NL came in to train the Biggies to be Junior Leaders. This is training to help the children organise and lead games for the younger pupils. They need to think about safety and fun.
We were delighted to get a great report form Julie, the class are well on their way to be Junior Leaders and give the wee ones some fun.
Mair Scunners
A few years ago the biggies invented some Scottish horror characters, or scunners. We had another go this year, drawing the characters and giving them a backstory in Scots. Have a read:
Scots Afternoon
As well as working on Scots during language last week we had a ‘Scots celebration & fun’ afternoon on Friday, this included, pinning the tail on the haggis, irn brew floats, throwing the wellie and 2 amazing pipers. Hopefully we wil post more on this later.
Cardboard Constructors
Yesterday we had a cardboard construction challenge as a MakerSpace warm up.
The challenge was to make something out of pieces of cardboard. The target was to make the tallest or most artistic creation. The limitation was only pieces of cardboard could be used and the biggest size you could use was 10cm.
No Glue, No Tape: Just Cardboard
We had a lot of fun, some successes, and some problems. All the pupils kept working until the end. The results were varied!
Some of the class aimed for height, some for art, some worked to their own criteria (Alex managed a miniature).
Christmas Challenge
Primary 5-06-7 had a STEM challenge yesterday. The children had to create a sledge to carry a small assortment of sweets down a ramp. We were looking for the one that could go furthest without losing its cargo and the best looking on.
The Biggies are getting really good with their practical skills in the makerspace. The manages the whole thing In a couple of hours. Some beautiful solutions. Lots of problem solving, creativity and communication on display.
ScribbleBots
We made some scribblebots this morning as a warm up to our Christmas Makerspace challenge.
Steady Hands Stage 2
This week we have been converting our Steady Hand games to incorporate our micro:bits. The micro:bits record the number of touches and tell the player the games is over after 5 touches.
We will used these at our Christmas Fayre when we let people play for a small fee. A sweet for the ones that get through with no mistakes.
Outdoor Learning Day
The day started with a touch of frost. Despite this we tackled the Bee hotel wild flower beds. These have become full of grass with no flowers. We have dug out the grass, and will cover them up over the winter. in spring we will seed some more will flowers. We added some sand to make the soli a bit less rich and covered them which will hopefully kill any remains grass to make room for the flowers.
Camera Stand challenge
We feed the birds in the playground and have a NatureWatch camera to take photos of our visitors. The class were challenged to make a better camera stand, that could be adjustable and move around on a tricky slope.
Estimating Weight
Next we worked on some estimating weight for maths. Everybody got a small contained and filled it with sand. They then weighed their own box but did not tell anyone else. The children then estimated all of each other boxes. We will calculate the best estimator when we are doing some inside maths. There are some accurate estimates.
Photos & Poems
In the afternoon we took our iPads out to catch some photos of the winter light, it was a lovely bright, but cold day. We also wrote some haiku inspired by the season.
Firepit
We ended the day reading our haiku round the fire pit and finishing off with some marshmallows s’mores.
