On Friday 1st of September P6 had a fabulous time exploring biodiversity at Culzean. We took part in two workshop activities. The first was a woodland walk and the other was pond dipping. Our rangers were James and Eilidh.

Caiden, Paul and Mya said: “We found the pond dipping most enjoyable because we got to see and learn about water life. We learned that the great diving beetle is at the top of the food chain and eats the other pond creatures. We also learned that the baby diving beetle is larger than the adult and baby mayflies are called nymphs.”

Daisy added: ” I enjoyed going on the woodland walk and learning about the animals and their different habitats. An interesting fact I learned was that rhododendron and bamboo plants are invasive species because they spread quickly.”

Gregor mentioned: “I learned how to go pond dipping and that you have to keep the net off  the bottom of the pond. I caught a lot of pond skaters and enjoyed pond dipping. I also learned that red deer eat forests so we need to put cages around the forest or bring back predators.”

Amy, Eryn-Rose and Ethan commented: “We learned that red deer are the biggest native land mammal. The grey squirrel is a threat to our native red squirrel. Grey squirrels can eat unripe seeds whereas red squirrels can only eat ripe ones. They eat the acorns which red squirrels need to survive. We all enjoyed pond dipping. It was so much fun when we found the pond animals.”

Emma added:” I learned that a rhododendron is an invasive plant which grows and spreads quickly, threatening native plants.”

James said: “I learned how to clean a fishing net when we went pond dipping. I enjoyed the pond dipping because there were so many creatures to see.”

Mhirren explained:” I learned how to identify a leaf by its shape and size.”

Reece, Sam and Taylor reported:” We learned that a great diving beetle breathes through spiracles on its abdomen. Hattie caught one when we were pond dipping.”

Gemma told us: ” I learned that bamboo is an invasive species which was brought to Britain from China, Asia and Africa.”

Devan said: ” I learned about gall wasps which are small insects, mostly black or reddish brown in colour. Galls are the strange lumps, that develop on  oak trees after being invaded by gall wasps. Gall wasps lay their eggs inside the galls.”

Oriana mentioned: ” The Great Diving Beetle is larger when it’s a baby and smaller as an adult.”

Morgyn-Lea added: “I enjoyed catching the pond creatures. I learned that the tadpole turns into a frog.”

Hattie commented: “I learned that red squirrels only eat acorns.”

We all thought this was a wonderful trip which has helped us gather lots of information for our science topic.

 

 

 

 

 

Today we had a visit from Andy from the Scottish SPCA. He told us how the organisation rescue animals in danger, find pets new homes and investigate abuse and prevent cruelty to animals. We enjoyed watching video clips showing aspects of the work they do as well as taking part in a game and quiz where we tested our knowledge of animals and their welfare.

Here are some of the things we learned.

Emma said: “There were over 80,000 incidents dealt with by the Scottish SPCA last year.”

Mabel commented: ” RSPCA and SPCA are different because RSPCA cover England and Wales while SPCA cover Scotland. I learned that the wing span of a swan is 2.5m long and a squirrel’s home is called a drey.”

Gemma added: “The SSPCA help every type of animals. They take them to animal shelters and give them homes. We played a fun game of Trivial Pursuit, animal version which I won! A fun fact I learned is that common seals are also known as harbour seals.”

Jack explained: “A red deer is the biggest mammal in Scotland and a female fox is called a vixen.”

Hattie said: ” A squirrel spends 75% of its time in a tree and 25% on the ground. Animals are being endangered because of loss of habitats.”

Amy added: “There were at least 24,000 calls last year to the SSPCA and 6000 animals were rehomed.”

 

Written by P5 pupils

Big Splash

We went on lots of trips and had many visitors as part of ‘The Big Splash’ fortnight. The class visited the Troon Lifeboat centre and Culzean Castle to do weather watching and sea exploring on the beach where we did a treasure hunt, it was great fun! Leigh Collis from Cruise Centre came in to speak to us and gave us amazing gift bags too! Tara from the Marine Conservation Society came to talk to the school about leatherback turtles and how to keep our beaches safe for wildlife. We had our photo taken with Stuart the inflatable leatherback turtle and learnt how long it took for waste to decompose in the ocean. Tara taught us a poem to help us remember what the word ‘adaption’ meant; “features on a creature to live where it lives.” We concluded the topic by walking to the Citadel to go swimming, we had a great time and Mrs Taylor taught us team games using the floats.

“At Culzean Castle, when doing the Weather Watchers, we found out the weather was cloudy through information and investigation.” – Gemma

“At the Lifeboats they told us how much each boat was worth.” – Reece

“A bloom or smack of jellyfish should indicate turtles are nearby” – Gregor

“When Tara came to talk to us she told us about the dangers about all the different rubbish that goes into the sea” – James

 

 

Maths – Time

We have been learning how to convert 12 hour time into 24 hours. We were learning about timetables and how to read them and why they are in 24 hour time. We used our knowledge to work out time problems as well. We were taught how to add times together through ‘bridging’ where you draw a line and look for sensible times to add on bit by bit. We played the ‘sticky notes’ game where we all wrote a different time on a sticky note and stuck it to someone’s back. We then had to get in order by asking yes/no questions to make up a time line showing morning until night. We played the interaction game “stop the clock” as well. We now know how to read a timetable so we won’t miss our planes during the summer holidays.

“I learnt that when the big hand is at 12, it means o’clock” – Morgyn-Lea

“We played game boards on time using the spinners – Jack

“We played games where we spun a spinner to make our own times to convert in 24 hours” – Fraser

 

Science – Friction and Air Resistance

“Friction is created when two surfaces rub together” – Caiden

We had an experiment where we had different ramps with different materials on them and we investigated to see which ramp would make our car go faster. We played games on the computer from the BBC Bitesize website where we had to pick the surface that had least friction. To show what friction was like we rubbed or hands together quickly which produced heat. We then did it again with soap on our hands to see what the difference was.

Using friction we tried to make towers out of playing cards, we found that the bigger cards were better but it was really hard to stop the towers from falling.

We made gliders using long and short straws and different sized circles made out paper to see which one flew the furthest. We also made parachutes and we got to stand on the tables to drop them to see which one floated to the ground slowly and safely and went one went SPLAT!

The class took an online test to see how much they knew about friction and got full marks!!! We know that ‘the more friction there is the more it leads to frustration’.

Allotment

Jim and Dorothy have said we can go to the allotment any time we want during the summer holidays as long as we have an adult with us. The gate is padlocked but Jim has a key and will open it for us. To say THANK YOU we made special letters, posters and comics about our time at the allotment which will be displayed on the notice board.

 

End of the Year thoughts

“I will miss P5” – Jake

“I learned so many things in P5” – Devan

“I’m excited for all the harder work P6 brings” – Gemma

“I enjoyed P5 and looking forward to P6” – Logan

“Thanks for all the teachers who helped us have great experiences this year” – Daisy

“Although Miss Duncan wasn’t here for the full year I enjoyed the last of it” – Harriet

Thank you to all the pupils for making my last few weeks at Holmston happy, fun and memorable. I am very proud of all your achievements this year; from our Motown Magic concert and Scottish Showcase to the Christmas church service and your Scottish Opera participation to name just a few, and let’s not forget our everyday learning in the classroom. You have worked so hard this year and your excitement and enthusiasm for learning is wonderful – keep it up and best of luck in primary 6 next year. Have a fantastic summer and if you see me out and about don’t forget to say ‘Hi!’ – Miss Duncan