Yesterday, P7 were lucky enough to get a guided tour of Ayr from Mr Barclay who works at the Carnegie Library. We  started off at the library then walked down to the Auld Brig , up to the Auld Kirk, back down towards the Citadel and then finished off with a visit inside Loudon Hall. We were really lucky with the weather! Here are some photographs taken from yesterday.

This was the stained glass window of Carnegie himself …

This was us standing on the auld brig looking at the new brig…

Apparently these two cobbles on the auld brig are facing the opposite direction to the others as they represent where the old toll gate would have been . This gate would have been the border line that separated Ayr and Newton on Ayr…

There was talk of the auld brig being demolished because of how much it had been damaged over the years. This plaque is on the auld brig because Robert Burns had written a poem about the old and the new bridge and had called it ‘The Brigs of Ayr.’ Within this poem he predicted that the new bridge would not last as long as the auld brig. Years after his death, a storm came and destroyed the new bridge, making Burns’ prediction true! Robert Burns fans from all around the world made donations to restore the auld brig so that it did not need to be demolished. Here are the girls beside the plaque…

We learned about the mortsafe at the Auld Kirk which was used to protect the corpses of the recently deceased. Mr Barclay explained that potential doctors and students needed freshly deceased bodies to operate and practice on and it was common for body snatchers and grave diggers to steal bodies. This device ensured that no one could open the coffins. Just as we were told this, two pigeons flew down from the roof and were close to our heads. Everyone got a massive fright and Miss Gunning screamed! 🙂

Here are all of the other photos that were taken…

We were really lucky to have Neil in from Dolphin House on Friday to tell us about rocks. We have been talking about Scotland’s landscape and how it was formed. This week we will be transforming all of our notes into detailed pieces of writing to show what we have learned. For now though, here are some photos from Friday’s session.

We are coming to the end of our  second full week as the new P7’s. We are enjoying getting into a new routine and taking on some of the responsibilities of a P7 pupil, for example, corridor monitoring, P1 buddies and writing our speeches for the Captain roles. We have not stopped since we returned this term and are looking forward to  Dolphin House next week!

We were lucky to have a lot of parents come and visit us during the open afternoon. Miss Gunning had set us an ‘EGGCITING’ challenge where we had to work in pairs to design a contraption that would allow an egg to be dropped from a height without it cracking or breaking. It was brilliant! Some of our parents give us hints and tips and some parents were blown away by our ideas. There were two rounds in the competition to test each contraption. Miss Gunning dropped it from her shoulder height on to the black bag landing area in the playground, if the egg remained undamaged then it moved into the second round. The second round involved Mr Hardy dropping the egg from a higher height (his head). We found it tense but hilarious. Check out the photos of our completed contraptions below. A massive congratulations to Orla and Adam, our overall winners 😀

P6 are getting ready for STEM week which starts next Thursday. We have all chosen a STEM investigation to carry out as homework this week. We can work with a friend or on our own. Please remember that you may need an adult’s help with your investigation.

Be ready to tell and show the class what you have done and don’t forget to prepare your STEM lab coat for next Thursday.