Health

In health this week we have been learning about drugs:

Paul: “I’ve learned that drugs are classed depending on how dangerous they are. They are class A, B or C. For example heroin is class A which is the most dangerous.”

Isla: “There are three main groups of drugs which are hallucinogenic, depressant and stimulants which all have different effects.”

Emily: “I learned that most illegal drugs can kill you the first time you use them.”

Lauren U: “I learned that depressant drugs make your heartbeat go slower and they slow down the speed of messages between your brain and body.”

Nathan: “I learned that cannabis is illegal in the UK but is not in Holland and they sell it in cafes.”

Jay: “Dealing illegal drugs can get you a prison sentence of between 14 years and life. Being caught with illegal drugs can give you four years in jail.”

Flyn: “Not all drugs are illegal, for example paracetemol. However you have to be careful with them and follow the instructions or they can be harmful. Some illegal drugs might be prescribed by a doctor too.” 

Reading Routes

This week we have been learning about figures of speech:

Declan: “I’ve learned what a metaphor is. It’s when we say one thing is another thing. An example would be ‘give me a hand’ which isn’t actually asking the person to cut their hand off and give it to you.”

Chloe: “I’ve learned what repetition is. That is when an author repeats a word over and over to highlight that word.”

Harry: “I learned about personification. That is when we make something that isn’t alive sound alive. An example would be ‘the wind was howling.’ “

Lauren K: “I learned that a simile is when we say that something is like something else and we have to use ‘as’ or ‘like’. An example would be ‘the bird was as colourful as a rainbow.’ “

Adam: “We also learned about alliteration which is when you repeat a sound or letter at the start of words. An example would be ‘Peter pepper picked perfect pickles.’ “

Maths

We’ve been learning all about decimals:

Lauren C: “The link between fractions, decimals and percentages is that they are all ways of describing part of something.”

Antonia: “After a decimal point the further to the right you go the smaller the amount means. The place value columns for decimals are tenths, hundredths and thousandths.”

William: “For numbers after a decimal point you have to remember t say them individually and not as one number.”

Kendal: “To change from a fraction to a decimal you can use a calculator and divide the numerator by the denominator.”

Who has impressed?

Paul: “Adam has impressed with his art this week. He has taken his time and made it really neat.”

Lauren C: “The netball team impressed me because we were unbeaten for most of the games.”

Jay: “I’m impressed with everyone and the level of effort they have put into their Aztec god work in art.”

Mr Berginis: “I was really impressed with the p1w assembly this morning. I loved the songs and the crayon sketch was a great way of showing how to be friends.”

Over the past three weeks we have been working with visitors from the Tobacco Education department at West Lothian Council. We have learned lots of information to help us make informed decisions about smoking. Here’s what we’ve learned:

Chloe: “You can go deaf and blind if you smoke because of the chemicals in the tobacco.”

Kai: “Your tongue can go yellow and so can your hair because of tar in the tobacco.”

Jay: “Your veins can also turn black because of the tar working its way through your body.”

Lauren U: “There are over 4,800 different chemicals in one cigarette!”

Paul: “If you smoke it can take ten years off your life!”

Jack: “The bit at the end of the cigarette is called the butt. The proper name for it is the filter and it is supposed to clean the tobacco before it goes into your mouth. Our experiment proved it doesn’t though!”

Nathan: “The nicotine is the part of the cigarette which makes it addictive.”

Finlay: “Out of the 4,800 chemicals, there are 69 main ones which can kill you.”

Harry: “The tar in a cigarette is exactly the same type of tar as the tar on the road. Your body is moist and warm so the tar is runny while the tar on the road is hard because it is exposed to the air.”

Flyn: “I learned that smoking can give you all different types of cancers such as lung cancer, brain cancer and breast cancer.”

Emily: “One of the chemicals in a cigarette is carbon monoxide which is different from carbon dioxide.”

Ellie: “Second hand smoke can also affect the animals and pets who live in your house.”

Olivia: “Smoking can make you unfit and unhealthy because it is harder for the blood to move around your body and your lungs don’t work as well as they should.”

Antonia: “If you smoke while you are pregnant it can cause deformations for the baby. Also, the addiction to nicotine can pass to the baby.”

Taylor: “If you smoke it can affect your teeth by making them orange. It also makes them rot and fall out.”

Lauren K: “There are trace amounts of the same chemicals which are in bleach and nail polish remover. If you smoke then these are going into your body.”

Lauren C: “People who smoke 20 cigarettes a day spend around £2500 a year on it!”

Callum: “It can destroy the cilia which is the small hairs in your throat, nose and ears.”

William: “The smell from cigarettes can go everywhere and make your clothing, car and house stink.”

Isla: “When you smoke in the car with the window open, this doesn’t mean the smoke is leaving the car, most of it stays in.”

Kendal: “If you smoke a cigarette and it looks like the smoke has disappeared…it is actually still there, you just can’t see it anymore.”

Who has impressed?

Jay: “I was impressed with everyone in the Potted Sports team. We won for only the second time in 30 years!”

Lauren U: “Kendal has impressed me by winning the JRSO poem competition.”

Lauren C: “The netball team impressed me by getting second in three tournaments.”

Paul: “Harry has impressed me because in P.E. he scored the most goals.”

Antonia: “I’m proud of Taylor because she has picked up percentages really quickly and gave 100% effort!”

Mr Berginis: “I was really impressed with the standard of writing the class did in their profiles this week and I also thought they were great at helping their p1 buddies with their mini beast projects.”

On Monday we had a visitor from the Health department of West Lothian Council who taught us about what’s in the drinks we drink:

Lauren C: “We learned that caffeine is a drug which takes calcium out of your bones and people think it makes you energetic but it just makes you hyper.”

Finlay: “Caffeine can be found in coffee and almost all types of sugary drinks. Out of Irn Bru, Coke and Pepsi, Irn Bru has the most caffeine. We learned that caffeine dehydrates your body as you need to go to the toilet more often.”

Jack: “I learned that energy drinks have lots of caffeine and some of them I didn’t know had that in them.”

William: “We learned there is lots of sugar in energy drinks and other fizzy juices.”

Paul: “There are 9 teaspoons of sugar in a 330ml can of Coke or Pepsi! It also costs a lot of money. A cheaper alternative is to drink water!”

Flyn: “Energy drinks like Relentless and Rockstar can have up to as much as sixteen teaspoons of sugar in them!”

Callum: “That much sugar is bad for you because it will rot your teeth and it isn’t the best type of energy because our body uses it too quickly. We get better energy from carbohydrates like potatoes and pasta which release sugar slowly.”

 On Wednesday we had the second visit from the Tobacco Education department. Here’s what we learned:

Chloe: “We learned that smoking can damage your lungs. We saw that it can turn your lungs black.”

Jay: “We did an experiment using a bottle with a little water in it to represent someone’s lungs. We attached a cigarette at the top of the bottle which symbolised the mouth…”

William: “We squeezed the bottle to symbolise the lungs smoking the cigarette. Afterwards we saw that the filter doesn’t filter very much…”

Olivia: “Because the water went all yellow because of the tar. The cotton bud went yellow as well and this symbolises the damage done to the cilia (little hairs on your tongue and nose) by the cigarette.”

Paul: “We looked at the chemicals inside a cigarette. There is trace amounts of poo, bleach, nail polish remover, fertiliser, formaldehyde, ammonia and over four thousand others!”

Who has impressed?

Finlay: “P2m impressed me by doing very well with their assembly this morning.”

Flyn: “I’m impressed with myself, Kendal and Harry for getting onto step 5 this week.”

Jay: “I’m impressed with my care class (p4m) because they are remembering to sign up for their lunches in the morning.”

Flyn: “I’m impressed with the football for being unbeaten at the football festival and having two wins and two draws.”

Antonia: “I’m impressed with Lauren K for getting 80 out of 80 in Big Maths Beat That.”

Harry: “Taylor impressed me by being one of the winners of the Frozen art competition. She drew a fabulous picture of Olaf.”

Mr Berginis: “I’m impressed with the high standard of debate the class had about a potential smoking ban when they were working with Mrs Waddell on Thursday. They wrote very detailed discursive essays which I enjoyed reading.”

This week we had a visit from West Lothian Drug and Alcohol Service to talk to us about tobacco and smoking.

Ellie: “I learned that there are between four and five thousand different chemicals in each cigarette, one of which is tar.”

Jay: “I learned that smoking affects the whole body. For example, it affects your teeth by making them turn yellow.”

Jack: “It can make you really unhealthy because it makes you unfit and you can’t run very far.”

Lauren U: “It can give you lung cancer because all the tar builds up in your lungs and there is less oxygen.”

Callum: “It can affect your hair and make it fall out or turn yellow.”

Declan: “It can make you more likely to have a heart attack because it is harder for the blood to move around your arteries.”

Jay: “It can affect your veins and skin by making them turn black or darker.”

Antonia: “It increases your chances of dying quicker than you would normally. If someone stopped smoking they could add ten years to their life.”

Lauren C: “It increases your chances of having a stroke which is when a part of your brain stops working and it can cause serious damage.”

Paul: “Another effect is that it can affect your mental health and make you stressed.”

Chloe: “It increases the risk of you going blind or deaf as well.”

Finlay: “We worked out that someone who smokes 20 cigarettes a day spends about £2500 a year on cigarettes!”

Jay: “We learned also that nicotine is the part of the cigarette which make sit addictive.”

We also researched and discussed the death penalty this week and we wrote discursive essays on them.

Taylor: “The death penalty is when someone goes to court and they are given the punishment of being put to death. It is usually for the crime of murder.”

Adam: “Over the years types of capital punishment have been hanging, beheading, lethal injection and the electric chair plus a few others.”

Flyn: “I learned that in America a boy under the age of 18 was given the death penalty. I’m not sure what the crime was but my opinion would depend upon what he did.”

Jay: “I learned that in some countries you can get the death penalty for small things like reading the bible or for looking at things you shouldn’t on the internet. I think that is very sad because there might be Christians who live in that country who can’t read their bible.”

Lauren U: “I learned that 1 in 25 people who are given the death penalty in America are actually innocent. That makes me feel sad because those people didn’t do anything wrong and can’t just be brought back to life.”

Declan: “I learned that in China they don’t tell other countries how many people they have given the death penalty to but it is estimated at over 2000 a year. I think that is shocking because it is a lot of people.”

Olivia: “I learned that a man got the death penalty for being gay in Russia. I think that was unfair because it isn’t his fault.”

Paul: “I learned that in Saudi Arabia sometimes people end up getting the death penalty because they don’t speak the language and can’t defend themselves.”

Nathan: “I learned that there are 32 countries which still have the death penalty 130 that used to have it which don’t anymore.”

Harry: “I learned that in America 32 of the 50 states still have the death penalty.”

Who has impressed?

Flyn: “Lauren Kirk impressed me by standing in and doing William’s lines during our assembly.”

Antonia: “Olivia impressed me because even though she doesn’t like singing she sung her best at the assembly.”

Chloe: “I’m impressed with everyone in the class for doing so well in the assembly.”

Lauren U: “I’m impressed by Summer in p2m for getting two certificates at the assembly this morning.”

Ellie: “The whole class impressed me by doing amazingly with our assembly this morning.”

Paul: “I’m impressed with the class and the lyrics we made up for Don’t Stop Believing.”

Lauren K: “I’m impressed with Emily because she finished in the top 5 for Young Writer of the Year out of 8500 pupils.”

Flyn: “I am impressed with myself, Callum, Finlay and Paul for getting onto step 5 this week.”

Mr Berginis: “I am very proud of the class for performing so well in their last ever assembly at Balbardie. I really hope they remember the message of the assembly and that they never stop believing in themselves because I never will stop believing in them.”

Last week was very different for everyone in p7. Some of us went off to Belgium and those who stayed behind had a very interesting week.

Belgium:

Finlay: “My favourite thing was going to the indoor water park called Sun park De Haan. I liked that the water was heated.”

Paul: “My favourite part of Belgium was going to the Passchendaele war museum. It showed us lots of things like guns, food and trenches from World War 1. I liked looking at all the historical things.”

Lauren U: “My favourite part of Belgium was the war day. One of the things we did was go to the Menin Gate and took part in the Last Post Ceremony. I found it really interesting.”

Antonia: “My favourite part of Belgium was sharing a room with Olivia because she was fun to stay with and we’re good friends.”

Emily: “My favourite part of Belgium was going to Plopsaland. It’s a theme park which has lots of characters and rides. I liked it because the Anubis rollercoaster was fun.”

Chloe: “My favourite part of Belgium was visiting the clogmaker. He showed us how to make clogs using wood and axes and knives.”

Lauren C: “My favourite part of Belgium was getting a rest after a busy day most days.”

Kendal: “In Belgium I shared a room with Lauren and Lauren. It was fun because it was never quiet and we had lots to talk about.”

Adam: “My favourite part of Belgium was going to the beach at night because me, Nathan and Cameron built a massive sand hill so we could jump off of it.”

Fun week:

Taylor: “I liked trying different types of chocolate with Mrs Waddell. We tried white chocolate, dark chocolate, peanut chocolate and even chilli chocolate. I didn’t think the chilli chocolate was very tasty because it was spicy.”

Ellie: “My favourite part of the week was Friday because we got to have a cup of tea in the staff room. I also liked doing my work experience with the office staff.”

Declan: “I liked going swimming because it was fun and we learned how to dive properly.”

Kai: “I enjoyed everything about the week especially going swimming twice.”

Jay: “I enjoyed doing the work experience. I worked with Mr Jeffries, Mr Barton and Miss Allan. I enjoyed playing basketball with Declan and Billy.”

Kyra: “I enjoyed going swimming. I also enjoyed making the burgers and I asked everybody in the office if they wanted one.”

Greetings from Blankenberge!

We have all arrived safely after our bus and ferry journey. The weather here just now is sunny but with a chilly wind. We’ve stopped off in Dunkirk and Oostende and are now busy unpacking before heading for a walk around the town before dinner.

This week we did a sponsored event called Jump for Jumpers to raise money to pay for our 2015 p7 hoodies.

Antonia: “We had to do laps of a jumping circuit and it was easy at the start but then my legs started to hurt.”

Lauren U: “We had to do hopping, skipping, jumping through a hoop and bunny hops. I found it really hard.”

Paul: “I found the bunny hops the hardest part because you had to go really low down on your knees.”

Harry: “I found it really hard but I did it and I did 23 laps. I felt awesome!”

In maths this week we have been learning about area:

Kendal: “The area of a shape is the inside of it. The outside is called the perimeter.”

Jay: “To calculate the area you multiply the length and the breadth. So if you had a square which had 5cm sides, you would do 5 x 5 and the area would be 25cm2.”

This weekend, most of the class are heading off to Belgium. The rest of us are staying here and having an exciting week in school:

Flyn: “I’m excited about going to McDonalds next week and getting a hamburger and a Mcflurry and a Fanta and I’m also excited about going swimming.”

Kai: “I’m excited to be staying here because we’re going swimming and I can make my brother jealous!”

Emily: “I’m excited about going to the theme park and it’s going to be fun! I’m also excited about going to the beach.”

Paul: “I’m looking forward to learning about the history of Belgium.”

Jay: “I’m looking forward to staying here and doing the work experience day and seeing what the janitor does. Also the home economics.”

Lauren K: “I’m excited about going to the chocolate factory to see how they make all of the fancy chocolate creations.”

Isla: “I’m looking forward to the bus ride for some reason and also the theme park and the swimming.”

Antonia: “I’m going to Belgium and the bit I’m looking forward to is going to be the bus because I’m sitting with Olivia.”

Finlay: “I’m looking forward to the ferry journey and having bacon and sausages for breakfast.”

Callum:”I’m not going to Belgium and I’m looking forward to doing the work experience day and spending most of the week with Mrs Innes.”

Lauren C: “I’m looking forward to finding out who my roommates are in Belgium.”

Who has impressed?

Flyn: “Mr Welsh has impressed me because he is letting us go to McDonalds and also because he has quickly organised the work experience day for us at the last minute.”

Callum: “My buddy Kai impressed me by writing a good story and getting pupil of the week from Miss Holwill.”

Kendal: “The whole class has impressed me by doing so well with the Jump for Jumpers event.”

Declan: “Paul has impressed me by beating his Big Maths score by two points.”

Paul: “Harry impressed me by doing 23 laps in the Jump for Jumpers which was the most out of everyone.”

Jay: “Declan improved his score by 17 points in Big Maths and that impressed me!”

Lauren C: “Kendal impressed me because she worked her absolute hardest in the Jump for Jumpers even though she felt she was going to faint.”

Antonia: “Lauren K has impressed me with how well she is doing in music.”

Taylor: “Antonia has impressed me by getting high scores all the time in Big Maths.”

Mr Berginis: “I have been really impressed with how hard the class has worked this week in everything we have done and how settled and well behaved they have been. I also thought they all worked very, very hard in the Jump for Jumpers event.”