On Wednesday the 4^th of September Sprouston Primary School went to the Borders Book Festival Schools Day at Galashiels. It was held at the Macarts Theatre and the Volunteer Hall.

The whole school got on a bus to Galashiels. We dropped the nursery-p4 at the Volunteer Hall while the p5-7 went to the Macarts Theatre, were we were going to see Vivian French and Justin Davis. The first author we went to see was Vivian French. She started by talking about what her book was based on and where she got her ideas from and then she talked about where she got her character ideas from. After her speech me, Dougal, Saskia and I were recorded and put on the radio. Justin Davis started talking about where he got his ideas from and his double job as an author and a flight attendant. After that we did monster top trumps (his book was about monsters).

I would like to say thank you to the people that organised the Book Festival and how much money they spent on it. I would also like to say thank you to Vivian French and Justin Davis for giving up there time just for us.

Fraser

A fantastic day was had when we all went to farm to fork at the Hirsel 2 weeks ago. We went to find about how to do mapping and orienteering which we had never done before.

In orienteering we had to follow clues which were numbered. They were placed all around the Hirsel and we found them by the number on a map. We had to use our skills to follow the map in order. I worked with my favourite partner Rory and we won! We also made banana and choc chip muffins using fair trade ingredients. Sally and Jane asked us to try and use fair trade products. I loved playing in the park especially the seesaw and the swings. The rockers felt like a Bucking Bronco.

Thanks to Sally and Jane for a memorable day at the Hirsel. My favourite part was searching for clues in orienteering.

For the last 4 weeks p5-7 have been developing their cooking skills using recipes from different parts of Europe every Tuesday in the hall.

On the first week of cooking we made Spanish Omelette using the potatoes that the school grew. I found it challenging to find good potatoes but they turned out good in the end. On the second week we made some Sublime Sables which is a French Normandy biscuit. The thing I found weird about them is that they had so much cheese, I think we all liked them. Last but not least we all made some extraordinarily yummy Apple Crumble which we made using the apples that got donated to the school and somehow even the raw crumble tasted nice. I shared mine with my mum she loved it too.

I would like to say a thank you to Ms McTeir and my partners for working and helping me.

Oliver P6

On Wednesday the 18^th of September P5-7 had the Kelso Heritage Orchard people came to visit. They came because they wanted to involve us in with the new Kelso Heritage Orchard.

The first task we did was modern archaeology. We had to sort items you would find in your house and figure out who would use them. The next task we did was a paper jigsaw of a jug because archaeologist mainly put together their finds. Our final task was pottery making because archaeologists mainly find pottery.

I would like to say a big thank you to Hazel, Steve, Hannah and Nicola for sharing their knowledge with us.

(Freya P6)

On Friday the 20^th of September Sprouston Primary School had a Macmillan coffee morning, which was held by P1-4. Macmillan is a charity that raises funds to research possible cures for cancer.

The school was buzzing with people. P1-4 invited the Friday club (a club for older people), P5-7 and mums and dads. Loads of parents and older people came and it was busy. P1-4 were selling cakes, coffee and tea to help Macmillan. There were more than just cakes, there were games!! One of them was guess how many sweets there were in the jar and there was a raffle which had some good prizes. I was lucky to win one.

I would like to say a big thank you to everyone that came to the Macmillan coffee morning and helped us raise £271.04. We were delighted to see you all there.

Jaryn P6

Over the past few weeks we have been doing a lot of cooking.  We have done 3 delicious recipes since the summer holidays. The reason we are learning to cook is not just because it is in the curriculum but also because it is a basic.

The three recipes we made were Spanish omelette, Sublime Sables and also an amazing apple crumble. I enjoyed these recipes because they are from all around the world. As the name suggests Spanish Omelettes are from Spain, Sublime Sables are from France and of course apple crumble is from Great Britan. I did find some bits of off the recipes tricky but I enjoyed it as it was quite challenging. My favourite recipe has to be the Sublime Sables. The main reason for this is because it has cheese in it and I love cheese. This recipe was quite easy as it didn’t need a huge amount of prep. My partner for this recipe was Fraser and when we were putting them in the boxes we tried one and we both said at the exact same time “SOFT MELTY CHEESE AND A CRUNCHY CRUST.” We both agreed that they were absolutely delicious.

I thought all three of these recipes were delicious and I would like to thank Ms McTeir for taking the time to find these recipes. I would also like to thank Peter for donating the apples to the school to Emma the cook for letting us use the equipment. I would finally like to thank all of my partners as all of the recipes were a joint effort.

Yesterday the P5’s went to a numeracy afternoon at Kelso High School. In our first activity we had to unlock a present with a lock. We answered 5 worksheets and then added the answers together to find the code. In our second activity we took part in a maths relay. I was in a team with Fraser and Saskia and we scored 41 points. The third and final activity was a treasure hunt. You started at question 1 and that would lead you to the next question. My favourite part was the maths replay although I liked it all.

Thank you to Kelso High School for inviting us.

by Freya

We were lucky that the whole school were invited to Mr and Mrs Church’s farm called Kersquarter. We started our tour by visiting an ornamental pond where we watched moorhens. Then we went and visited the horses, cows and hens. I found out lots about hens and enjoyed watching them look for food. I really enjoyed learning about crop rotation. I found out that you grow crops in rotation: 1 year of oil seed rape, 1 year of winter barley, 1 year of spring barley followed by 2 years of wheat.

Thank you very much to Mr and Mrs Church and to Robert for having us.

The pupils, parents and staff have all been very busy in the playground. On the tables outside there are now board games to play with. There is a Snakes and ladders and Chess. Our shed has been transformed into Dr Shaha’s STEM HQ which we can use as an outdoor classroom and where we go to read our class novel on a wet day. In the garden we have been growing potatoes, carrots, pumpkins and tomatoes. I think the playground is a fantastic place to be and to play in.

I would like to thank Rosie for helping us with the sweet peas and all the parents, families and staff who have been busy painting.

by Jaryn

Last Thursday we performed a play called ‘Meet the Muggle Wumps’ to practice our expression, intonation and timing. This mean’s  that we had to bring the sentence to life. My favourite line was “Run a circus, you couldn’t run an egg and spoon race”. The audience found it funny too because they laughed.

Thank you to p 1-3 for being a good audience and to the teachers for there feedback.

by Charlie