Our week:

 Amber: “I enjoyed reading the Boy In The Striped Pyjamas, it was really sad. I also found it difficult to watch the film because it was a bit upsetting.”

Fraser: “ I enjoyed reading The Boy In Striped Pyjamas. It was really interesting and I would recommend it to other people because you are getting to see the war through the eyes of a young boy.”

 Isla: “I also enjoyed watching The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas but I found it really sad.”

 Jane: “I enjoyed watching more of Anne Frank as well because I enjoyed it and learned more and more. They thought that the Nazis had got in through the attic window at one point and they were really scared but it turned out to just be rats. It was scary to watch and I was on edge.”

 Zenaib: “I enjoyed watching some more of the Diary of Anne Frank because I got to know more about what they did in the Secret Annexe. For example, they were joined by an eighth person: Mr Pfeffer the dentist and Anne and Margot were schooled by their father while in hiding.”

 Abbie: “I enjoyed watching the p1 nativity because they put lots of effort in to it and it was outstanding.”

 Christopher A: I enjoyed going to the Nursing Home on Monday with the choir and we got to sing all our songs for the residents. It was awesome because we finally had an audience to perform to and they were an amazing audience. The residents were really joyful and were really impressed.”

 Rabeea: “I enjoyed doing the division accuracy challenge because it helped us learn to go over and double-check our answers.”

 Tom: “I enjoyed reading Nemesis for Literature Circles this term because it was a high standard and it had loads of action and detail in it.”

 Who has impressed?

Jane: “I think the p1s have impressed me this week by putting on an excellent performance in the Nativity.”

 Sam: “The choir impressed by singing so well at the Royal Scot Court and if they keep that up they’ll do just as well at the Partnership Centre next week.”

 Eve: “I’m impressed by Rebecca because when we were away with the choir she sung really loudly and she was outstanding.”

 Zenaib: “I’m impressed by everyone because they have worked so hard this week.”

 Rebecca: “I’m impressed with Louise for doing an amazing Apply role in Literature Circles. She found great links between herself and the character in the book, Izzy.”

 Mr Berginis: “I have been really impressed with the mature discussions the class have had over the past two weeks about aspects of the Holocaust like Anne Frank and The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas.”

Our week:

Alistair: “We learned about how to use apostrophes in grammar. You use them when you are squishing two words together like must have into one word like must’ve. You also use them when it is someone’s property like mum’s shop or dad’s farm. You never use them for plurals like carrots or dogs. We played apostrophe pairs to help us learn the rules.” 

Sophie M: “I enjoyed writing the thank you letters to the fallen soldiers this week. It felt like you were actually talking to them and it was enjoyable because I liked sharing what I had learned with them and I was able to tell them I remember them.”

Rabeea: “This week I enjoyed doing our new times table Big Maths Beat That. I enjoyed it because I like doing my times tables. I scored 65 out of 80.”

Christopher A: “I enjoyed drama this week because we did a full run through of all our songs and it meant that when we come back to it we can do the whole thing because we’ve done it before.”

Dean: “We learned about the end of WW2. I found it quite sad that the Americans dropped the nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and that so many people died and that America resorted to that.”

Isla: “I also found the nuclear bombs in Japan really scary. When the bombs hit people died instantly and were turned to ash. I don’t think they should have done it because America should have thought about how they would have felt if Japan dropped a bomb on them.”

 Eve: “We made Christmas tree decorations out of salt dough cookies but they aren’t edible! We painted them with acrylic paint and there are stockings, snowmen, stars and trees. You can buy them at our stall at the Christmas fayre tomorrow and they are 50p each.”

Who has impressed?

Sam: “Rabeea impressed me by getting pupil of the week and being the first person in our class to get onto step 5.”

Sophie M: “Emma has impressed me by doing well with her work.”

Eve: “The whole class has impressed me by getting their best ever score on the new Big Maths Beat That (because it was their first ever score!) Everyone has also been doing really well with Cinderella Rockerfella.”

Dean: “Callum, Christopher, Amber and Alistair all impressed me by reaching step 4.”

Jane: “I’m proud of Sam this week because he was really good at being the teacher in Literature Circles because he was firm but fair and telling us what to do.”

Zenaib: “I’m impressed by Sophie M because she is always a really good friend to everybody.”

Christopher A: “Jane has impressed me this week because for the past two weeks she has done the door monitoring and taken her responsibility seriously.”

Mr Berginis: “I’m proud of the letters everybody wrote this week to the fallen soldiers. You showed how much you have all learned and you expressed how grateful you are for the sacrifices they made.”

Our week:

CHOICES FOR LIFE LIVE EVENT

Jane: “I enjoyed the Choices for Life event because it taught us the dangers of drugs and smoking. The video was called Liam’s Story and in it it taught us that even if other people are smoking you have the right to say no!”

Alexander: “We had Choices for Life live this week. I learned that you shouldn’t take drugs or smoke because it can hurt your body and your lungs can swell up.”

THE BLITZ

Sophie M: “I enjoyed learning about the Blitz which was when the Nazis came over and dropped lots of bombs on London and other parts of Britain. The bombs kept getting bigger and bigger as the war went on. I liked to see how much damage the bombs did when we watched Blitz Street, one house got totally demolished.”

Louise: “We watched a programme about the Blitz called Blitz Street where they built a street of 1940s houses and set off bombs to recreate the effects of the Blitz. The first and second bombs set off and we saw shrapnel travelling at 7000 miles per hour but the milk bottle survived!”

Emma: “It was scary learning about the houses being blown up in the Blitz because people were being killed with all the bombs.”

Freya: “It was quite surprising that the only thing that survived the bomb experiment in Blitz Street was a glass milk bottle!”

D-DAY

Callum: “We learned that D-Day involved five beaches called Sword, Gold, Omaha, Utah and Juno and happened on 6th June 1944. We found out that Omaha beach was a slaughter because the German defences hadn’t been bombed properly. “

Isla: “I really enjoyed learning about D-Day this week. D-Day was when the Allies sent over 160,000 troops over from Canada, Britain and USA to five different beaches in Normandy, France. I really enjoyed writing the letters as if we were a soldier from D-Day because you had to think about how they would have felt.”

Christopher A: “I also enjoyed writing the D-Day letters as to complete the success criteria we had to put ourselves in the shoes of the soldiers and we also had to pretend we had just survived the worst day of our lives. It was hard to put it into words and try and decribe it so it was a challenge but fun.”

Who has impressed?

Tom: “Josh has impressed me by getting pupil of the week, he has behaved maturely this week. Well done Josh.”

Alistair: “Rabeea impressed me by getting 72 out of 72 in Big Maths Beat That!”

Emma: “Sophie L impressed me with her score on Big Maths Beat That.”

Isla: “Rebecca impressed by getting one of the choir solos.”

Sophie M: “My P1 buddy Charlotte impressed me by getting pupil of the week in P1m.

Callum: “The Troopers impressed me by winning table of the week.”

Louise: “Zenaib impressed me by getting her best ever score in Big Maths Beat That.”

Jane: “I’m proud of everyone who got a duet in the choir and I’m impressed by Christopher A and Isla for getting a dancing part to Rocking Around the Christmas Tree.”

Alistair: “Mr Berginis has impressed me by being such a good teacher so far in p7.”

Eve: “Rebecca impressed me by singing really loud and really well on her audition.”

Mr Berginis: “I was very impressed with all of your D-Day letters as they contained such great emotions and descriptions.”

Boghall 4 Balbardie 5

On Wednesday 13^th November we played Boghall primary. The squad was Sophie M, Declan, Tom, Fraser, Christopher S, Luke, Ewan, Daniel D, Daniel M and Logan. At the start of the match we went down 2-0 but we still kept our heads up, then Declan scored and made it 2-1. Then we scored our next by Logan scoring and making it 2-2. Daniel D scored from behind the halfway line making it 3-2 to Balbardie. Then after half time Boghall scored again making it 3-3. Logan scored again making it 4-3 and then Boghall equalized again. Balbardie scored making it 5-4 with Logan completing his hat-trick and as a result we won! Match report by Sophie McMillan

Captain’s Comment by Sophie McMillan: “Everyone put 100% effort into it and played really well even though the weather conditions were pouring down with rain and really windy. Well done team.”

Manager’s Comment by Mr Berginis: “I’m very proud of how well you represented the school. You showed resilience and desire to win and you played as a team. Keep it up!”

This week we redrafted our Remembrance poems and made a  display outside our classroom. They are our way of showing we remember not only the soldiers who gave their lives in the past but also the soldiers who fight for us every single day across the world.

Our week:

Callum: I enjoyed our lesson about evacuation. We got to experience what it would have been like to be a child evacuated during the war. We all had different things happen to us, some of us had better situations while some had relatives who were killed. It was interesting to see the emotions children felt.

Rabeea: I enjoyed doing long multiplication this week. We were using bigger and bigger numbers and learning how to solve different problems. I also had fun in Drama because we managed to run through the whole of the first act.

Sophie M: My highlight of the week was our school football match against Boghall. We all tried our best, worked as a team and showed we were proud to represent Balbardie.

Christopher A: In Drama, we practised scenes 1-6 and everybody did really well. There was lots of great acting and accents and most had learned their lines off by heart.

Rebecca: We researched famous people from WW2 this week. Louise and I researched Franklin Roosevelt and discovered he was the President of the USA during the war and he had to lead his country through some very tough times.

Isla: I enjoyed doing research on Oskar Schindler this week with Jane. We discovered that he was part of the Nazi party and he worked in a concentration camp but he then helped 1200 Jewish people escape, therefore saving their lives.

Fraser: I enjoyed redrafting my Remembrance poem. I had to choose what order to put my verses in and make sure my rhymes all worked properly. I also really enjoyed researching for my WW2 project this week.

Who has impressed?

Declan: The school football team impressed during our win over Boghall because they put in loads of effort.

Tom: I’m impressed with Fraser who played his first ever game of 7-a sides this week and did well.

Rabeea: Sophie impressed by showing great leadership skills by motivating the football team and leading them to victory.

Isla: Well done to Sam for winning pupil of the week.

Eve: Well done to the Flyers for winning table of the week.

Sophie M: Nicky has impressed by working really hard all this week.

Tom: I’ve been impressed with Josh’s behaviour this week.

Mr Berginis: A big well done to Isla, Dean, Rabeea and Sophie L who are our first four pupils onto step 4.

OUR WEEK:

Callum: “During maths we learned about 2D and 3D shapes. We learned that a cube has eight vertices, six faces and twelve edges.”

Luke: “3D shapes do not have sides, only 2D shapes have sides. For example, a square has four sides and a nonagon has nine sides.”

Rabeea: “We also learned how to solve word problems. It helps us if a problem is written as a sentence because it helps us decide what type of sum it is. The three steps are: 1. Decide what type of sum using the key words. 2. Write the sum out accurately using the correct numbers. 3. Complete the sum and double check.”

Jane: “In writing we were writing Remembrance poems. To do that you had to choose your rhyming words and make up four lines in your verses. I felt it was sad to write about but it was fun at the same time because you had to use your imagination and put yourself in the shoes of the soldiers.”

Sophie M: “I enjoyed making my poem. I enjoyed making my lines so that they matched the rhyming beat. My poem was to make sure we remember all soldiers in the past and present who have died.”

Christopher S: “I enjoyed writing my poem and trying to make it rhyme. It was difficult at first but it got easier because I kept working hard. Part of my poem was:

Wear a poppy, save the day,

On the 11th, Remembrance Day. “

Callum: “I enjoyed learning about Dunkirk and how the soldiers tried and failed to take back their land and were saved from the beaches by yachts and other boats.”

Sam: “In art we were learning about another part of WW2 which was propaganda which is when the Allies and Axis tried to persuade people. Some examples were that Hitler was an evil monster, Dig For Victory and Your Country Needs You! Next week we’re going to create our own propaganda posters and we can choose whether to represent the Axis or Allies.”

Declan: “In drama we had to perform act one of Cinderella Rockafella in front of the primary 6s. It went excellent because everyone had their heads up and weren’t staring at their words.”

Taylor: “I liked circle time this week because I enjoyed hearing what everyone was up to during the holidays.”

WHO HAS IMPRESSED?

Emma: “My table impressed me by winning table of the week.”

Christopher A: “Primary 5m impressed me this week with their brilliant performance in assembly about Guy Fawkes. I really liked how they all dressed up and found it very interesting.”

Eve: “I’m impressed with Rebecca for getting her highest score on Big Maths Beat That.”

Isla: “Luke impressed me by getting Mr Jeffries’ MVP for P.E.”

Taylor: “P2e impressed me because at wet lunch they behaved really well.”

Rabeea: “Christopher S impressed me by winning Mrs Innes’ pupil of the month.”

Rebecca: “Louise impressed me with her Remembrance poem because it had really good rhymes in it and it made sense.”

Sam: “I’m impressed by the Troopers table because they won table of the week for the first time in p7! They didn’t give up, kept trying and eventually they have won!”

Freya: “I’m impressed with Emma for winning pupil of the week for writing a really good poem about Remembrance.”

Sophie L: “Isla has impressed me because she has learned all of her words for Cinderella Rockafella off by heart.”

Sophie M: “Declan impressed me by getting onto step 3.”

Louise: “Abbie has impressed me in Cinderella Rockafella because she is putting lots of effort into her acting for the role of Teaser.”

Mr Berginis: “Well done to everyone who beat their best ever score on Big Maths Beat That this week.”

This morning p7b were learning about the Battle of Dunkirk and we’d like to share our learning with you. We’ve been using QUESTIONS FOR THINKING to help us with our learning and these came in very handy.

 We used our UNDERSTAND skills to summarise the key events which happened:

Dean: “British troops went over to France in May 1940 to try and take back land from Germany.”

Isla: “Instead of pushing the Germans back they lost more land because the German army used Blitzkrieg fighting.”

Christopher S: “The British troops ended up stranded on a beach in Dunkirk with thousands of Belgian and French troops.”

Freya: “Winston Churchill organised for ships to come over from Britain to transport the troops off the beach. They saved 340,000 troops.”

We developed our APPLY skills by thinking about what would have happened  if:

Sam: “If the Battle of Dunkirk had been fully successful then I think the war would have been over a lot quicker and less people would have died.”

Christopher S: “If they hadn’t managed to rescue the troops then I think that D-Day might not have happened because there would have been no soldiers to fight it.”

We developed our ANALYSE skills by thinking about the arguments for and against Winston Churchill deciding to rescue the French and Belgian soldiers, along with the British:

FOR:

Christopher A: “If he hadn’t rescued them they wouldn’t have been friendly with the British and backed us up later in the war.”

Dean: “It would have made things awkward with France because we are just across the sea.”

Isla: “If we had just left them there it would have been just like handing them to the Germans.”

Rabeea: “If they had just left them then Hitler would have killed all the French and Belgian soldiers. Also, they were Allies in WWI.”

Eve: “If they had just abandoned them there wouldn’t have been a D-Day because it would have meant not enough soldiers.”

AGAINST:

Alistair: “They could have lost even more ships and planes and it might have been a suicide mission.”

Eve: “It would have been really dangerous due to all the German planes bombing. The German planes were called Stukas.”

Josh: “If they did try to rescue the others and got destroyed then all their good work would have been for nothing.”

We developed our EVALUATE skills by deciding whether we think Dunkirk was a success or a failure for the Allies:

Sophie M: “I think Dunkirk was a bit of both because they failed to push the Germans back but it was a success because we managed to send over boats to save the soldiers.”

Fraser: “I think it was a failure because the mission was to start pushing the Germans back but the opposite happened and the Germans made them retreat.”

Rebecca: “I think it was a bit of both because the target was to push the Germans back but they ended up on the beach but it was also a success because they managed to save the soldiers we needed for D-Day.”

Taylor: “I think it was a fail because even though they saved most of the people we still left all of the weapons and tanks behind for the Germans to take.”

Callum: “I think it was an epic fail because the mission failed and the Germans pushed us back and even though they saved the soldiers we lost the artillery.”

Primary 7m had a great first week back.

Nicole enjoyed working with her new group and completing the table challenge.

Todd loved taking part in the Big Balbardie Blether to discuss the house points.

Daniel M liked dressing down/ up on Friday and we all liked Ben’s clown costume!

Amber and Eilidh are looking forward to learning baout the rainforest this term.

We were  excited to find out that Mr Ross who came in to speak to us last term about his trip to America, took the thank you card we made him to meet with the new US Ambassador to the UK Matthew Barzun.

Competition has begun in the Balbardie Premier League as staff and p7 pupils compete to become the school Fantasty Football champion.

32 people are taking part and here is the current top ten.

Check out our display in school for access to the full league table or login at

www.schoolsfl.com

Josh: “The thing that I have enjoyed this term is learning about America. I’ve learned that it wasn’t actually Christopher Columbus who discovered the USA and that he was looking for India when he found the continents of North and South America.”

Sophie M: I’ve enjoyed doing PE this term. I enjoyed doing the dodge ball tournament where we are learning about travelling, object control and balance. I also liked doing grammar this term because sometimes I got muddled up with THEIR, THERE and THEY’RE and it has helped me with joining words and punctuation as well.”

Dean: My highlight of this term is getting into the school football team. I felt happy playing in the first match.”

Isla: “I really enjoyed doing drama and our USA topic this term. I really liked the video which looked at how America was formed.”

Tom: “My highlight was getting into the school football team for this term. I also liked learning about the USA and how it was formed.”

Rabeea: “This term I enjoyed doing the Maths Challenge. Before I didn’t do much working so it has helped me to show all my working because I have to show them to get as many points as possible.”

Nicky: “I have liked the topic we have been learning and I liked discovering about Christopher Columbus.”

Freya: “I really liked the Big Starts in the morning because I like the challenge of solving riddles and puzzles. It helps wake me up in the morning too!”

Declan: “I liked doing the Big Maths Beat That because it has helped me get quicker at my maths skills.”

Sophie L: “My best thing was reading the book Undead Pets because it has helped me with my reading skills and doing the different questions has helped me to understand the book.”

Sam: ” My favoutire thing about this term has been playing table toppers. It is a fun game but it also helps you improve your knowledge.”

Callum: “My favourite part was watching the USA video because it showed the first ever town in America which was Jamestown and it showed the first big war which was the War of Independence.”

Abbie: “I enjoyed doing basketball because it is my favourite thing to do and I enjoyed it.”

Taylor: “I enjoyed working with our p1 buddies, showing them around the school and helping them understand what to do at school and what to look forward to.”

On Wednesday the 9^th October we played Boghall primary school. The starting seven was Tom, Sophie, Declan, Logan, Daniel M, Daniel D and Dean and the substitutes were George, Callum and Euan.

Balbardie took the lead by Daniel D scoring and we were still in the lead when Sophie scored our second. Boghall primary caught up with us by the second half. Logan scored our third and we were leading again until Boghall scored another four and the match ended with the score at 7-3 to Boghall.

The next time we could improve by communicating more and work more as a team.

By Sophie McMillan. Team Captain.

We have had a great week!
We finished painting in the style of Jasper Johns to create a 3D painting of the American flag.

By Natalie Reilly

Lucia said that she “enjoyed painting a famous American in the style of Andy Warhol”.

Daniel T said that he “liked learning about 3D shapes”.

Ashley said she was “enjoying her book The Bread Winner because it is really interesting”.

We took part in a flag and capital city challenge. Our class winner was …..Ewan Burns! Well done!

Next week we will be preparing for our assembly.

What have we been up to?

Abbie: I enjoyed using the DS’s in spelling because it helped us to learn our spelling words for the week.

Sophie M: I enjoyed writing my autobiography. I liked being able to make up what I’m going to do when I’m older.

Rabeea: Maths was good this week because it was interesting and it helped revise my adding skills.

Louise: I enjoyed the Onesie walk because it was nice to get some fresh air and to chat with our buddies.

Alistair: I liked doing P.E. because we were playing team dodgeball. We were focusing on our teamwork skills.

Callum: I really enjoyed the feeling of winning at dodgeball with my team.

Who has impressed?

Luke: My p1 buddy Jason impressed me during the Onesie walk because he was being sensible and friendly.

Emma: I’m proud of my little sister Amber for going to school even though she was a wee bit upset.

Sam: Callum has impressed me by being the first person to reach step 3.

Rebecca: My p1 buddy impressed me with her road safety skills.

Taylor: My buddy impressed me during the Onesie walk by being brave and choosing not to walk with her mum.

What have we been learning?

Rabeea: I enjoyed doing Big Maths Beat That and I got my best ever score (50)

Callum: I enjoyed beginning our America topic and completing the challenge to name all of the states.

Jane: I enjoyed our What A Day focus in writing because it let our imagination run wild.

Rebecca: I enjoyed learning about grammar this week as we focused on there, their and they’re…

We use there when we are talking about a place or an event.

We use their when something belongs to someone.

We use they’re  as a short version of they are.

Louise: I also enjoyed our writing this week because I got to choose to write about meeting One Direction!

Dean: I enjoyed playing team dodgeball at P.E. with Mr Jeffries.  It helped us get better at teamwork.

Fraser: I enjoyed doing the USA challenge, it was interesting trying to match up the states. I also enjoyed the Childline workshop.

Isla: I also enjoyed dodgeball in P.E. and we were learning to work together. Writing was great because I loved the topic we were writing about.

Who has impressed?

Christopher A: Rabeea impressed me by getting her best ever score in Big maths Beat That.

Eve: I think Sophie L impressed by getting pupil of the week for showing good teamwork by helping a classmate.

Jane: I think Abbie has impressed because she also got a new high score on Big Maths Beat That. (45)

Rabeea: The whole class impressed me by showing really good teamwork in the USA states challenge.

Tom: Mr Berginis has impressed me by really helping us to learn this week.

Emma: I think Sophie L and Alexander have impressed me by being good friends.

Louise: Rebecca has impressed because she wrote a really good story because she combined her two favourite things in it.

Isla: I have been impressed by our P1 buddies because they have managed to settle in so well.

Mr Berginis: I was very impressed with the imagination and creativity shown by the class in writing this week. Myself and Mrs Waddell really enjoyed reading them.