Last week we did work on Remembrance Day. We looked at what Remembrance Day is and why we have this and completed work around this. Primary 5-7 watched a few clips about Remembrance Day (also called Armistice Day) and the poppy and why this symbolises Remembrance day. We each had a clipboard and paper and had to take notes when watching the clips. We learned that they make 40 million poppies each year. Did you know that there is an English poppy and a Scottish poppy?! You might see presenters on the TV with a poppy that has 2 petals and a leaf, this is the English poppy. Whereas our poppy, the Scottish poppy, has 4 petals and no leaf. Do you know why? Well, it costs £15000 to add leafs onto all that poppies so Scotland thought they could put that money to better use by giving it straight to those affected by the war. You can get a white poppy which is a peace poppy. The poppies that you buy are actually made buy war veterans and the money that we raise from selling these poppies goes to people affected by the war, both past and present!  When wearing your poppy you should remember that men wear them on the left but the women should wear them on the right! We all read In Flanders Field and then wrote our own poems about ‘Remembrance’.

Miss Nicholson and Miss Jamieson also took us for art one day and we created poppy art of our own. P5-7 used paint to paint poppies on a black background, they really stand out and look fantastic, wouldn’t you agree?

P1 created poppies by painting bun cases. We had fun painting them then got to stick them together when they were dry. Miss Nicholson put them on the window of the classroom door to make it look like a wreath.

P2-4 created pictures of poppies blowing between crosses using chalk and crayons. We thought about this after reading the poem In Flanders’ Field as the first few lines are:

‘In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,’

Julie had been to Ypres in France and told us of her trip there. She had been to the Commonwealth war graves, visited a grave of a man that came from Otterswick and found the name of a man that originated from Cullivoe! She even left a piece of Cullivoe by the Menin Gate where his name was engraved. It was very interesting listening to her the history that she told us behind things. It really made you think and be grateful for everything.

On the 11th at 11 o’clock we all took part in the 2 minute silence. Primary 1-4 discussed the importance of why we have a 2 minute silence and watched the news live online before observing the silence. P5-7 went to the kirk to attend the service there.