Our week:

Murray: “We took part in World Maths Day and it was amazing playing people from different countries.”

Aisha: “We made kites with Mr Chen and enjoyed flying our kites but we kept crashing into each other!”

Nathan: “I enjoyed having a go at the World Science Day challenge.”

Ali: “I enjoyed researching the creatures of the Amazon River. Jack and I did the giant river otter and found out it is endangered.”

Sian: “Flying the kites was good fun because my group managed to get ours flying quite a lot.”

Kyle: “The tobacco workshop was interesting and I found out there are over 4000 chemicals in a cigarette!”

Amber: “We watched the Human Calculator, he was really brainy and showed us different ways to work things out.”

Abbie Ma.: “I enjoyed writing our Journey of a Raindrop as it showed all the different layers and animals of the rainforest.”

Who has impressed?

Lyndsay: “Kirstie has impressed me as she is doing superbly with her Amazon Challenge.”

Henry: “Aqsa has impressed me because she was the first person to ever get the Manatee Maths Challenge 100% accurate on the first attempt.”

John: “Craig C impressed me by scoring five goals at the football afternoon yestrerday.”

Jack: “Ramie achieved his target on the Twinoo app and showed good perserverance to keep trying.”

Amber: “Nathan has impressed by catching up really quickly since he returned to class.”

Connor: “Nathan got the highest score in the class on World Maths Day. Very impressive.”

On Monday P7 visited the Botanic Gardens. On the bus there we spoke about old stories and when we got there we walked to a little jungle room and had our snack. Next we strolled to the aquarium where I bet Connor half his cookie that there wouldn’t be any piranhas. Let’s just say that was a very nice cookie! Next we visited an ancient tree, the oldest tree in the UK (over 320 million years old.) We trekked up to the Chinese Hillside and then proceeded to the gift shop. We then walked back to the den where we had some lunch.

          After lunch we strolled to a glasshouse and we all split up into groups and had to locate some plants. We had to find strangler figs, vanilla plants, leafs which had good driptips and also mini bananas. We also saw a ginger plant and tried some in a sugar coating. In the next greenhouse there was a giant emergent tree. Emergent trees are the tallest in the rainforest and can grow up to 60 metres! We also looked at some bamboo and heard how it is used in the rainforest as a torture device!

          Next we assailed to another part of the glasshouses which was really full of plants. There was a plant called Old Man’s Beard hanging from the vines and a deadly plant named Poison Arrow Bush which hunters use the poison from to kill monkeys. After that we shuffled to the big pond area and we saw cocoa pods, sugar cane, papaya and a little shop which showed all the foods found in the rainforest. Next we collected up our bags and it was time to go.

Some quotes:

“The best part was when Adrian used the blowpipe and blowdart to shoot the balloon monkey. It was so fun.” – Aisha

“It was really interesting.” – Murray

“It was good fun searching for all of the things like Old Man’s Beard and Vanilla pods. “ – Abbie

“We got to try some different foods and I discovered I like papaya!” – Ali

“I very much enjoyed the visit to the Botanic Gardens and I would happily go back!” –  Connor

Report by Rhona Donald p7b

This morning was our P7b assembly. We shared what we have been learning about in class with Mr Chen about Chinese culture. We focused on Mandarin vocabulary, the Chinese New Year and how to use chopsticks.

Ali – “I was quite nervous but once I had done the first one I felt fine.”

Ramie – “I enjoyed it and I felt more confident the second time.”

Katie – “It was really good and I enjoyed doing my part.”

Connor – “I was a bit nervous but my confidence grew after the first assembly.”

Adam – “Ramie and Dylan impressed me with how well they did during practice for and during our assembly.”

Amber – “My favourite part was my LEEETTT’S GET READY TO CHOPSTTIICCKK!”

Lyndsay – “My favourite part was when the teachers were taking each other on in the Chopstick Challenge.”

Mr Berginis – “Well done p7b, you did really well with your assembly this morning, especially considering we had five pupils absent and it was a short school week. I’m very proud of you all.”

A mysterious chest has appeared in p7b. It is believed to have been found in the deepest part of the Amazon River. Only the bravest, most hardworking and resillient pupil will be able to complete all ten challenges and open the chest…

Lyndsay: “I enjoyed the Twinoo challenge on the Ipad and I’m getting really good at it!”

Murray: “I’m enjoying writing the 250 word essay because it’s challenging.”

Connor: “Reward 8 was really tough at first but got easier as I practised.”

Ali: “I’m enjoying doing the task book from River Reward 5 because of all the different puzzles in it.”

Jack: “I’m having to work hard for the Twinoo challenge. It’s tough to keep going but if you give up then you’ll never get there!”

Billie: “I enjoyed writing the Lost story because I made it very exciting.”

Kyle: “I’m enjoying the writing task because it is challenging.”

Adam: “I like the whole idea of doing the Amazon Challenge because it’s cool and really challenges you.”

Aqsa: “The Amazon Challenge is really addictive because you don’t want to stop until you’ve completed every part!”

It’s been an exciting week in p7b and we’d like to share with you two of the things we’ve been up to:

SEAFOOD WORKSHOPS

We attended a Seafood workshop up at Bathgate Academy. Here we learned about how seafood makes its way from the sea to our plates, how fish can provide Omega 3 to make our bodies healthy and how fresh fish is prepared and filleted. We even got to sample some types of fish which for some of us was a bit of a challenge!

Abbie Meg.: “I enjoyed trying the smoked salmon. I’d never had it before and didn’t think I would like it but it was nice!”

Ali: “My dad is a fisherman so I had tried a lot of it before but it was good seeing my classmates getting to try it all.”

Adam: “It was delicious  to try the fish and I learned lots of new stuff about seafood. I learned how mussells are farmed in underwater ropes, interesting!”

Kyle: “The journey of fish from the sea to your plate was really interesting.”

CHOPSTICK CHALLENGE

On Thursday we held a chopstick challenge in class. We have been learning about Chinese culture with Mr Chen and one of the things he has taught us about is chopsticks. We did a mini challenge last week with Mr Chen and wanted to have another chance so we did our own class challenge. We had to pick up pasta, peas and beans which were all different sizes and shapes and we had to strategise which to go for as they were worth different point values.

Sophie: “It was really tough but it was good fun!”

Jack: “It was great fun and the butter beans were really hard to pick up!”

Rhona: “It was a really fun way of learning how to use chopsticks.”

Ross: “The peas were hard to pick up but we made sure we got the most because they were worth the most points.”

Both Primary 7 classes went to Bathgate Academy to learn about and try some seafood. At the academy there were three stations. There was one where you taste seafood, another one where you learn where seafood comes from and how it gets from the sea to your plate and the last one was where you learned how to make different fish recipes.  At the first one a lady called Cat explained that it was like Come Dine With Me because she was a complete stranger that was cooking us things to eat.  At the second station we saw a couple of fish such as cod, haddock and even a live lobster and crab. Some were still alive!! I thought it was really fun and I tried some fish that I probably would have just said I don’t like without even trying it.

By Lucas Bryce P7m

Balbardie Burns Supper 2013

The Burns Supper wis held on the 24^th of January 2013. We hud special guests who included Mr Mackie, PC Arnott and Miss Henderson. Oor host fur the day was Ben Sharkey and we were welcomed by Adrian Lee an then were treated tae a braw performance by our school choir who were singing Dignity by Deacon Blue and Caledonia by Dougie Mclean. It was brilliant.

We then were treated to a guid performance fae the strings assemble an a bonnie solo on the violin by Emilio Leith.

Afterwards was the piping ae the haggis by Ramie Graham. He marched it around the room with the haggis on a tray and laid it on the top table full of the guests. Miss Henderson cut the haggis.

Before we ate we listened to the Address to the Haggis by Andrew Harkins and Robyn Finlayson and Selkirk Grace by Sian Moffat. Mrs White and Mrs Murray prepared a gusty meal of haggis, tatties and neaps and they were braw. We also had Irn Bru with oor haggis.

Lucas Bryce performed Toast tae the Lassies and Kristie McIntosh performed  Reply tae the Laddies. Jessica Smilie then sung a stoatin version of Ae Fond Kiss and we finished aff oor Burns Supper with a Strip the Willow and Auld Langs Syne.

 By Kyle Morrison p7b

IPADS

Adrian: “I think it’s fun to have Ipads to help us learn. The spelling app has been helping me learn new words.”

Rhona: “It’s great that we are getting Ipads to help us learn, it makes learning more fun.”

Murray: “We used an app in maths called Conundrum where you had to make a total using different numbers and operations. It’s good practice at problem solving.”

Ali: “I was using an app to help me pracTise my 7 times table.”

Amber: “I enjoyed using SpellGame becaue it started off with easy words then got harder and harder. You need to spell words on a time limit to help the hero defeat the evil villains.”

Adam: “I used the Twinoo app. It gets two sides of your brain working at the same time. It was cool.”

Kyle: “During writing I used the thesaurus app to improve some of my words.”

Abbie Ma. : “I think Spelling City is great because you can practise your spelling words and you don’t even have to be in school!”

BATHGATE ACADEMY CEILIDH

Murray: “The haggis bonbons prepared by the Home Economics department were delicious!”

Lyndsay: “It was good because we got to mix with other schools.”

Henry: “I didn’t enjoy it too much because I don’t like Scottish dancing.”

Eve: “It was fun dancing with other schools.”

P7 BURNS SUPPER

Ross: “The haggis was amazing!”

Aisha: “My favourite part was the choir and I loved both the songs, they were awesome.”

Abbie Ma : “I loved the mashed potato but ate too much and was a wee bit sick!”

Katie: “The choir were amazing, both songs were stoatin!”

Connor: “I enjoyed the strings performance and I enjoyed making a face out of my mashed potato!”

Sophie: “I enjoyed Jessica singing. She was braw!”

Shannon: “Jessica was superb!”

Murray: “I thought the pupils reading the poems and hosting were great and had lots of expression.”

WHO HAS IMPRESSED?

Craig W: “Henry has impressed me because he has been trying hard to win table points.”

Aqsa: “Kirstie has tried really hard this week not to lose table points.”

Lyndsay: “Mrs White ands Mrs Murray impressed because the haggis was brilliant.”

Dylan: “Connor has impressed me by working hard.”

Billie: “Ross has impress by eating so much haggis and not being sick!”

Mr Berginis: “All of p7 impressed by representing the school brilliantly at the ceilidh and by hosting a fantastic Burns Supper.”

Our learning…

Katie: “I enjoyed starting Literature Circles again. I’m reading Shadow Island and it is really interesting.”

Jack: “The Commonwealth task with Mrs McDougall helped me develop my arts and crafts skills and we had to work together in groups.”

Craig W: “My favourite part of the week was the football festival and I scored four goals!”

Murray: “With Miss McDougall I learned to follow instructions and specifications to make Commonwealth Games medals.”

Aqsa: “My Literature Circles book is called Waiting For Anya and I’m really enjoying it so far.”

Nathan: “Mr Chen taught us how to count to ten in Mandarin. To say eight you say ‘ba’ “

Amber: “I enjoyed drama this week. My group were changing Tam O’Shanter into a slapstick version!”

Abbie Meg.: “In maths we were learning about displaying information in graphs and I learned about the X and Y axis. It has been interesting to find out what the different likes of all the other pupils are.”

Who has impressed?

Adam: “Nathan has impressed me this week. He has been working really hard and supporting people at his table.”

Sophie: “Abbie Meg. has done really well with her poem and has learned it off by heart for the competition.”

Billie: “I’m impressed with Shannon because of how hard she has worked on her poem for the competition.”

Ali: “Murray has been working really hard on his concentration again this week. Well done Murray.”

Craig C: “Sian and Billie have both worked really hard to help their new table win lots of table points.”

John: “Craig Wilson scored four goals at the football and I was impressed.”

Nathan: “Craig Cherry impressed with how well he did on the My Word Coach on the Wii. He knew lots of the words and was really accurate.”

Mr Berginis: “I was really impressed and proud of how the footballers represented the school when they were at the football festival. They represented the school very well and behaved superbly.”

On Tuesday 15^th January p7b took part in a football festival at Bathgate Sport Centre. The players were: Kirstie (captain), Kyle (goalie), Sophie, Amber, Craig W, Craig Ch, Henry, John, Aisha, Dylan. There were 7 teams in total Balbardie 1, Balbardie 2, Boghall, Linlithgow, Stoneyburn 1, Stoneyburn 2 and Our Ladies.

The first match we won 5-0 against Stonieburn 2, the players who scored were John 1, Kirstie 2, Craig W 1 and Craig Ch 1.

Match 2- we lost 4-1 against Stonieburn 1. John scored the only goal.

Match 3- we won 3-1 against Balbardie 2. Craig w scored 2 and Kristie scored 1.

Match 4- we lost 4-1 against Our Ladies. Sophie scored the goal.

Match 5- we won 6-0 against Boghall. John scored 3, Kirstie scored 2 and Sophie scored 1.

Match 6-we lost 4-0 against Linlithgow.

 Some quotes from our players:

Aisha– ‘We have been playing great and we have done really well so far’

Amber– ‘It’s gone well so far and we won 5-0 in the first game. Players have been fantastic!

Reporter – Abbie Madden  Photographer – Adrian Lee