Last week primary 6/7 got space seeds. Some of the class were away on a school trip to Edinburgh. So the secondary 3 pupils planted the seeds for us. Every week a small group of people go to the green house to water the seeds and turn them every second day. We are keeping a record of how many seeds have germinated, we have colours for the seeds, some blue and some red. 83 seeds from the red side have germinated, and 62 from the blue side. We don’t know which seeds have been in space. We all wrote our hypothesis on which have gone up to space and which have not. by Asia, Holly, Shay and Scott 
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Early Years transition into Primary 1
On Tuesday the Early Years pupils came through to Primary 1 classroom for their first transition visit. We had fun playing with all the activities and sharing a story together.
![IMG_0520[1]](https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/sh/public/AithPrimaryDepartment/uploads/sites/1235/2016/04/IMG_05201.jpg)
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![IMG_0522[1]](https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/sh/public/AithPrimaryDepartment/uploads/sites/1235/2016/04/IMG_05221.jpg)
The BIG Breakfast
Following ‘the mile’ challenge in the beautiful spring sunshine, pupils from Early Years to Secondary 4 and staff returned to school to where the enterprising Primary 3,4,5 classes had organised The Big Breakfast. Keen to raise funds to develop their butterfly garden as well as help those in need through Sport Relief pupils did a tremendous job resourcing, advertising, preparing and serving at the event. They wrote to both the Co-op and Tesco who both kindly donated vouchers towards food supply and Shetland Farm Dairies generously donated all the milk for the event.
The menu was (mostly) healthy options which included toast and toppings, pancakes, fruit,cereal, porridge, eggs, yoghurts and a selection of breakfast drinks.
The event was a great success with everyone thoroughly enjoying the delicious food and the opportunity for whole school to mix socially together. A big thank you to all relatives who came along to help out and also to the extremely helpful canteen staff who really did go that extra mile.
Money raised was added together with that from other events held during the day – the Mile challenge, BHF Dodgeball tournament and healthy tuckshop to reach a massive total of £411.11 – Well Done all!
(British Heart Foundation £60, School Butterfly Garden £50 and £301.11 for Sport Relief so far)
Some highlights from Da Ketling, da Fox an da Muckle Rat – Shetland County Drama Festival Entry 2016
Adjudicator’s comments : This has been an excellent night! The theme for the festival is ‘Celebration’ – the pleasure of doing and watching drama – and an important part of this is the rehearsal stage, putting the play together to delight the audience. Well, we were delighted tonight!
I very seldom see children as young as P3-5 on stage, and I’ve never seen them engaged and entertaining us to such a level. The music was terrific, the movement great, the noises wonderful. The movement was very modern – often with a box set children just stay within it, but these animals were everywhere! Up and down the auditorium – great fun. They had the confidence and the competence to engage with you, me, each other. Everyone was in role for the whole play – the farmer trying to keep control – what a beard! Do you think if I worked at it I could grow one like that? The cats – they’re going to be a problem when they’re older – niggling at each other like that! The ponies eating away, the pig shuffling about, the cows, the sheep nudging each other up at the back, the dog with his bone, all the excitable hens and the ducks with their flippers, the laid back fox, the sneaky rat – everyone was excellent.
The play was ideal to engage, stretch and challenge these young actors. I was delighted to see it was also part of a project to keep the Shetland dialect alive and vibrant. Well done Aith Junior High School – please put your hands together for these talented young actors. 
A big thank you to our producer and script writer – Marsali Taylor and also to Izzy Swanson for all her help
Muckle thanks also to our very talented face painters – Elizabeth Atia and Lynn Ritch, much appreciated!
* For a copy of the performance on DVD, please contact the AJHS school office 807 400 (£5)
Da ketling, da fox and da muckle rat
Primary 3,4&5 are busy learning their lines and have started rehearsing for the Shetland County Drama Festival in March. We are performing on Thursday the 10th of March in the Garrison Theatre, we are very excited already!
*tickets go on sale Friday the 19th of February
P2/3 Topic-Houses and homes(Term 2)
Primary 2/3 went on a school trip to the Lerwick PowerStation and Lerwick museum as part of their topic on Houses and homes(Electricity and Technology).
“It was spectacular” By Isla Willmore
“It was awesome” By Josh Duncan
“I loved learning about electricity at the PowerStation” By Liam Manson
Primary 2/3 made pop up 3D houses. They also worked with a partner to build amazing Lego houses and write out instructions for someone else to create their Lego house.
“It was lots of fun” By Josh Duncan
“I liked working with a partner to build the Lego houses” By Isla Willmore
“I liked making the Lego houses” By Liam Manson
12 days of Christmas
This week we have been finishing our 12 days of Christmas. Everyone worked hard together, primary 1,2,3,4,5,6 and 7.We are very pleased with the outcome of our work. What do you think?
by Scott and Emma
A busy week for Primary 1
This week we have met Tiger Ten and learned our new phonics ‘m‘ and ‘r.’ We have been thinking about fireworks and how to keep safe on bonfire night. We also spoke about how to keep safe on dark nights by wearing reflective clothes. We went on a walk with Mrs Nicolson to look at 3D shapes in our environment.
A busy start to Primary 1
We have had a busy 4 weeks in Primary One. We have met the first 6 Jolly Phonic sounds, been to the Number Zoo with Penguin One, Ticklish Two and Butterfly Three. We are learning about 2D shapes and went for a walk to find shapes in our environment. We have enjoyed our play activities in class where our activity wheel shows us what we can choose and understand what balloon day means. We also had a visit from Tidou who was a bit shy until we realised that she could only speak French.
Bagging Peats
On Monday 24th August, P3-7 and secondary 4 went to the peat hill to bag peats for the school. First Mr Garrick split the primary children into groups of 3 and each group had a secondary pupil. We walked to where the school peats were then we started bagging. We stayed in our groups and each took a bag. Most of the peats were bone dry. Because the peats were so dry there was a lot of dust, so we had to wear safety goggles. It was really hot but quite windy. I was in a group with Ishbel and Marley. When we finished filling a bag we had to lift it to the side of the road. The bags were super heavy but the secondaries were there to help. We had to fill lots of bags and we had to keep moving since there were so many of us. While we bagged peats Mr Garrick took the bags to the school in a trailer.
Certain spots were very muddy but it was very fun and tiring. I saw a spider in one of the bags when I carried it down to the road. We filled over 100 bags altogether for the school. Everyone worked really hard.
We also did some research on Shetland peats when we got back to school. Here is what my group found out:
Peat is cut for burning in fires in many parts of Shetland. They make great fuel but the stages they go through take a while. First the heather and grass is removed from the top of the peat bank. Next the peat is sliced into brick shapes with a special tool called a tushkar and it left to dry out. After a few days the peats are raised into small pyramids to let more air reach them. Then when they are properly dry they are bagged and brought home. By Elsie Msalila
