P7 are looking forward to delivering Christmas cards in school for the pupils and staff throughout December!

We decided to make a snowman postbox and we think it turned out great!

By Merryn Burgess

On Monday 17^th November, we went on a school trip to Scalloway and had a fantastic robotics lesson with Eleanor!

The lesson contained, us measuring the circumference of a robot’s wheel, us slowly trying to drive the robot across a track to hit (but not knock over) a Lego figure and driving our robots along a shape!

First, in partners we got a box full of measuring systems and had to care fully measure the correct circumference of the wheel (It was 17.5cm). Then we had to fill out a sheet. You had to times 17.5 by 1, 3, 5.4 and 10. Basically  if we rolled the robot 3 times it would have travelled 52.5 cm.

The second thing we did (in the same partners) was, figure out how to make our robots drive towards a little logo figure hit it but NOT knock it over. Whoever’s robot got closest to the Logo figure won a Lego man!

Lastly, we had to come up with a unique shape, mark it out on the floor using masking tape and figure out a way to get our robots to drive around it using the app on the iPad.

Also, we could make our robot light up and make noises!

This was an amazing activity planned by Eleanor, Mrs Emslie and Miss Pearson. It taught us a lot of skills and we really hope that Eleanor can come to Whiteness soon for another STEM day!

by Mia and Merryn

This week we went for a trip to the Scalloway Museum, playpark and the Scalloway College.

At the museum we split into two groups. The groups were P7 and P5/6.

The p7s went for a walk with a lady called Laurie who first took us to the Scalloway Castle and then to see the Shetland Bus memorial.

The top two layers of stones on the memorial actually come from Norwary.

Laurie told us another very interesting fact! Did you know the person the old folks home is named Walter Gray who was born there.  He moved to Canada and he was on the radio to the captain of the Titanic all the time it sunk!

Back at the museum the P5/6s were looking around at all the cool exhibits. We learned more about the Shetland Bus and where witches were burned a long time ago.

Then we swapped and looked around the museum and the 5/6 went for a walk to the Shetland bus memorial.

After that, we walked to the Scalloway playpark and had some fun before we made our way out to the Scalloway college. It was a long trek up but eventually we made it!

First, we split up into 2 groups basically consisting of P7 and P5/6. We had a STEM challenge using big pieces of Meccano and we had to figure out how to make a wheel barrow that could move from one side of the room to the other carrying an object.  We only had a short amount of time so there was a bit of pressure!

We had a tour of the labs (we saw lots of interesting sea life) and the engineering workshops.

Also, we enjoyed a VR session where we could pick up fish and inspect them.

We had so much fun thanks to all of the amazing staff at the college, Museum and Eleanor who arranged the whole Museum trip and made sure we had an excellent school trip in Scalloway!

Primary 7 have been learning about Type 1 diabetes.

World Diabetes Day is on 14^th November each year.  A blue circle is the symbol for the occasion which is used to raise awareness.

Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas that regulates blood sugar by allowing glucose to enter the body’s cells for energy. If you have diabetes the immune system gets confused so attacks the pancreas. Due to this the pancreas stops making insulin and the blood sugar stays in the blood. This makes the person feel very unwell if they are not given the right amount of care.

Glucose is a type of sugar and a primary source of energy for your body’s cells.

We did an experiment with glucose test strips to see how many mg/l are in different types of food. We had two different types of the same food but one was “low sugar” and one was “high sugar” separated in two pots (we did not know which was which). Then we dipped in the test strips and had to find out which one had more sugar. There was a colour chart and we had to figure out approximately how much sugar was in it.

Before we carried out the investigation, our hypothesis was that the regular Cola would contain the most sugar.

The results surprised us! The darkest colour, which was black, had so much sugar it wasn’t even on the chart! That means the food sample is exceedingly unhealthy and has loads of sugar. That food was a Frube and I think it is safe to say that our parents are never going to let us have them again! The Greek yoghurt was the lightest and was a healthier option compared to the Frube.

It is important that people with Type 1 chose low sugar options when possible to help keep their glucose levels more stable.  Also, it it’s important for everyone to know about sugar levels in everyday food and drinks so they can make good choices.

Overall, it was an interesting week learning about diabetes and we all learned a lot more about it.

By Saoirse