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.”

We’ve had a very busy week in p7b.

At Christmas time we sent off gifts and cards to members of the army and navy. We received some letters back and on Wednesday we had a visit from John Patterson who serves in the Navy.

Kai: “It was fun because he told us all about his work. For example he told us that he was an engineer and he fixes engines on ships.”

Taylor: “He told us about some of the things which happened on the ship such as when one of his friends fell off the boat. They had to go to alert stations and save him.”

Lauren U: “He showed us his medals and he got one for the Queen’s Jubilee and healso got one from serving in Iraq.”

We learned about rainforest technology:

Isla: “Technology is the solution to a problem. A lot of people think it has to involve electronics but it doesn’t.”

Adam: “An example is a blowpipe. They use it to help them get animals for their feast. They use them because they are quieter than guns and they won’t scare off the animals. One of the tribes we looked at was using four metre long blowpipes.”

Antonia: “Another example is the way one of the tribes uses the trees to build treehouses. They use branches to make the floor and the walls and a special type of leaf to make the roof. They used an iron wood tree as it is the strongest.”

Ellie: “I found out that the higher they build the treehouse, the better because it helped them stop other tribes attacking them. They also built them high to avoid the floods in the wet season.”

Isla: “We learned that they can’t get drinking water from the river so they find a plant called a bromeliad which they can use for drinking water and for washing.”

Lauren U: “I learned that they use a special type of rope to climb trees to get honey for their families. They also use smoking leaves to try and pacify the bees.”

Lauren C: “When they go fishing they use Barbosa powder to make the fish confused. They swim round in circles and the hunters can easily spear them. The powder comes from the Barbosa plant and gets mashed up.”

Callum: “When children are trying to catch tarantulas, they use a long stick to poke the hole and make it come out then a thicker stick to hold down the body while they grab the legs. They then wrap it in a leaf so they can carry it and they cook it over the fire. When it makes a whistling noise it is ready. They add seasoning like chilli to make it taste a bit better.”

This week we have also been learning about deforestation:

Jack: “Deforestation is when people are cutting down or burning down trees in the rainforest and this releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Every day an area the size of New York City is being destroyed.”

Chloe: “The people are cutting down trees to get paper, soya to feed animals, palm oil for products like chocolate and also so people can goldmine.”

Harry: “People are against deforestation because it is killing a lot of animals. They are also killing innocent people who live there like the Yanomami and Tairona. It is also destroying the Ozone layer with all the carbon being released. We will also lose the medicines which are in the rainforest.” 

Antonia: “My opinion on deforestation is that I don’t really care if it happens or not because I’m not living in the rainforest. In the future I might be against it once all the trees have gone.”

Lauren U: “I’m against deforestation because it destroys the homes of animals and makes them extinct and some of them haven’t even been found yet.”

Lauren C: “I’m against deforestation because if you cut down trees it lets out all the carbon and if there are no trees left then we could all die.”

This week we spent some time helping our p1h buddies:

Chloe: “We went round the classes and helped them to do some surveys.”

Lauren U: “First we helped our buddy to decide what topic they wanted to do the survey on. Then we made up six options.”

Declan: “Next we went to a class and asked the class to vote. Some examples were favourite superhero and favourite pet.”

Isla: “When we got back to class we helped the p1 buddy colour in a bar chart using the information that they had collected. We helped our buddy write the tally mark and the number.”

Paul: “Next we helped our buddies to answer questions about the chart such as which is the least and which is the greatest. I was impressed with my buddy Jay because he said he wanted to read out the options and he did it really well.”

This week we have also been learning how to keep ourselves safe:

Harry: “This week we learned about how to make a sharp exit. This is when you are in a bad situation and you make up an excuse so you can get away quickly.”

Jack: “We learned that the difference between an appropriate touch and an inappropriate touch is because of the way it makes you feel inside.”

Kai: “Your body tells you a situation isn’t safe because it starts to produce adrenaline. “

This makes your body do things like get sweaty, get hot, butterflies in your stomach, start to shake and your mind races so you can’t concentrate.

Lauren U: “We also learned that if something happens that makes us feel unsafe we should tell a trusted adult like a parent, other family member, teacher, neighbour, police or even phone Childline on 0800 1111.”

Who has impressed?

Paul: “My mum has impressed me because she has saved up lots of money to make sure I have a great birthday party. It makes me feel precious to her.”

Adam: “My buddy Rory impressed me because he got pupil of the week for writing a detailed story.”

Kendal: “My care class (3b) impressed me because they stood up in front of everyone for their assembly and they learned their lines very well.”

Taylor: “I’m impressed with my care class (p6h) because they did their production of Olivia and I’ve heard they did really well.”

Emily: “Isla has impressed me by getting her green belt in judo.”

Lauren U: “The Cool Capybaras impressed me by winning table of the week.”

Antonia: “Lauren C impressed me by passing her bronze music medal.”

Lauren C: “Antonia and Kendal have impressed me with their friendship and how loyal they are.”

Finlay: “My buddy was off so I worked with Gabriel at buddy time and I thought he did really well reading out the options for superheroes.”

Flyn: “I’m impressed with Nathan for doing a very good entry for the Highland Games competition which has the theme ‘My Scotland Now’.”

Mr Berginis: “I have been very impressed with the concentration and effort the whole class put into their CEM testing this week. I can’t wait to see the results. “

This week we have been learning about the Yanomami tribe who live in the Amazon rainforest.

Callum: “We learned that the Yanomami live in a yano which is a big dome without a roof in the middle. It is made from sticks and logs from the forest.”

Lauren C: “The yano can have over 100 Yanomami people living in it and each family has their own section.”

Jay: “In the afternoon the boys go off hunting with the men. The boys hunt lizards for practice and the men hunt things like monkeys for food for the tribe. A hunter doesn’t eat anything they themselves have killed out of respect for the animal.”

Lauren U: “In the afternoon the girls do different chores with their mums, sisters and their aunts. They collect food from their garden such as manioc and bananas. They go into the forest to collect Brazil nuts and caterpillars.”

Isla: “They eat this thing called manioc. They have to squeeze the juices out first or else it is poisonous. It is a bit like a potato with a rougher skin.”

Finlay: “We learned that there is less and less of them because goldminers are coming into the forest and passing on diseases to them or even shooting them.”

Kendal: “We learned that every time a Yanomami cuts down a tree they beg for its forgiveness or they believe a star will fall out of the sky.”

Antonia: “We learned they sleep in hammocks that they make themselves. This is to keep them off the ground because things like driver ants or other creepy crawlies will get them.”

Declan: “The hole in the middle of the yano is there to let the smoke out from the fires and also to let in air and sunlight.”

Who has impressed?

Chloe: “The Cool Capybaras table impressed me by winning table of the week and breaking the run of five in a row that the Swaggy Sloths had.”

Antonia: “Taylor has impressed me because she has been much more focused on her work this week and concentrated better.”

Kendal: “Lauren C has impressed me because she has helped out with the p6 show.”

Callum: “Declan has impressed me because he is always so kind to people in the playground and always lets people join in his games.”

Harry: “Kai has impressed me this week because he done excellently in the team challenge yesterday where we looking at animals and their survival skills.”

Emily: “Olivia impressed me by helping out with the p3/2 Roman assembly.”

Adam: “Kendal has impressed me because she didn’t give up with her maths and now she understands it better.”

Mr Berginis: “I’m very impressed with how much resilience and hard work the class has shown during our fractions topic. They have tried their very best to learn all of the different skills.” 

In Health lessons just now we are focusing on internet safety:

Antonia: “We’ve learned how to be safe on the internet by only choosing to do things which are sensible and appropriate.”

Jay: “Be careful what you click on when online because you could end up losing money by giving out your credit card details to people who are trying to commit fraud.”

Finlay: “We’ve learned that phishing is when someone online puts an advert on top of a virus to try and make you click it. If you click it you could end up with a virus that lets hackers see all your personal details.”

Isla: “If you have a social media account don’t put your personal details such as your address, phone number etc.”

Flyn: “We’ve learned to never look up inappropriate sites because we could end up seeing things that upset us.”

Chloe: “Make sure you don’t put names next to any photos and don’t put up photos where you are wearing uniform that could identify you.”

In maths we have been learning about fractions:

Emily: “We learned how to simplify fractions and we do this because it gives us smaller numbers in the fraction which are easier to use in our head.”

Finlay: “We’ve been learning how to simplifying fractions. To do it you look at both numbers in the fraction and see which times table they are in. Then we divide the top and bottom by that number.”

Lauren U: “Mr Berginis told us that we have to treat the numerator and denominator the same otherwise we are being ‘fraction-ist!’ “

Jack: “We learned yesterday about equivalent fractions. When two fractions are equivalent they are equal and show us the same part but with two different fractions.”

Who has impressed?

Flyn: “Lauren K impressed me by winning the certificate for the Right Respecting School award.”

Antonia: “Harry has impressed me this week because he has been a really good friend by always being there when I need to talk to him.”

Emily: “The Electric Eels table impressed by winning table of the week for the fifth week in a row.”

Chloe: “Adam has impressed me by winning the P.E. MVP award for February.”

Lauren C: “Emma and Ailah in p2 impressed me because they are doing very well in their p2 show.”

Jay: “I’m impressed with my p1 buddy Ellis and he got two certificates at assembly this morning.”

Mr Berginis: “I’m impressed with the resilience shown by the class this week in their maths work while we have been learning about fractions.” 

This week we continued our learning about the rainforests of the world.

Lauren U: “We learned about the different layers of the rainforest. The top layer is the emergent layer and you would find most of the birds and butterflies up there.”

Kieran: “The emergent layer is roasting hot because it is closer to the sun. Emergent trees poke out above the canopy.”

Ellie: “The next layer is the canopy and different animals live there. It is still quite hot there and looks like a giant green umbrella.”

Kai: “We would find animals that swing such as spider monkeys or orang-utans or climbing animals such as sloths.”

Kendal: “The next layer down is the understory. It’s dark and damp because there is not much light getting through the canopy.”

Adam: “You would creatures in the understory like emerald tree boa, tarantulas and red eyed tree frogs.”

Callum: “The bottom layer is the forest floor. The conditions are very dark, wet and damp. The ground is sand but covered in dead leaves and plants.”

Isla: “Down there you would find things like jaguars, driver ants and gorillas.”

Jay: “I learned that in the rainforest chimps bang on trees to let other chimps know where they are.”

Antonia: “Elephants are the only animal that can eat belly button fruit because their horns point downwards which lets them open them up.”

Nathan: “I learned that tribes can make a tent out of leaves in less than an hour.”

Isla: “A bushbaby urinates on its paws and then spreads its scent all over the jungle!” 

Emily: “I learned that elephants go to these parts of the Congo rainforest called byes where they will hang out with each other. They scratch their bums against tree trunks!”

Jay: “I learned that glass frogs have see-through skin and you can see all of its organs.”

Kai: “Elephants help new trees grow by eating the fruit then spreading the seeds in their droppings.”

Ellie: “In the Congo, the elephants have made tracks through the jungle which lead to the different byes.”

Who has impressed?

Lauren C: “Lauren K and Kendal impressed me because even though we got beaten by Simpson Primary at the netball festival we still came second.”

Kendal: “I’m proud of Antonia for getting 80 out of 80 for Big Maths Beat That and congratulations to everybody else who got their best score.”

Antonia: “Nathan has impressed me because his hair has looked nice for the last two weeks!”

William: “I’m proud of Callum for getting 55 (his best) in Big Maths Beat That this week.”

Kieran: “Kendal has impressed me by being a good friend by sticking up for them.”

Chloe: “The Electric Eels table impressed me by winning table of the week for three weeks in a row.”

Adam: “Jack has impressed me because he has almost reached step 5.”

Mr Berginis: “I was really impressed with the descriptive writing the class did about the Journey of a Raindrop. They used lots of similes to describe the animals and the conditions and I look forward to displaying them up on the wall.”

Today is UNICEF Day for Change 2015:

Finlay: “UNICEF stands for the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund and they help children who’ve been affected by war or natural disasters.”

Kendal: “We learned about Typhoon Haiyan which hit the country of the Phillipines which is near China.”

Ellie: “A typhoon is caused by really strong winds and this can also cause a giant wave.”

Callum: “It destroyed houses and it took the roofs off of buildings and blew people off their feet. The winds reached 195mph!”

William: “To help, UNICEF have built homes and shelters and have helped them get clean water and food.”

Olivia: “They have also spoken to children who have been affected and gave them a chance to talk about things like losing their family.”

Kyra: “Also they sent over medicines and doctors and nurses to help treat the ill people.”

This week we had some buddy time with our P1 buddies:

Jay: “We helped our buddies create pirate masks and we also made hooks from tin foil.”

Finlay: “My buddy enjoyed it because he enjoys colouring in and he coloured it in his own unique style.”

Adam: “My buddy thought it was fun and I enjoyed it too because I saw the smile on his face.”

Harry: “My buddy and I and Josh enjoyed the task and Josh really enjoyed making the tin foil hook while Bryce enjoyed colouring in the mask.”

Who has impressed?

Kendal: “Class 1, 2 and 3 impressed me by performing their assembly in front of a big audience. I thought it was really good and they got up and spoke their parts confidently.”

Callum: “Declan has impressed me because he is always nice to everybody and makes them smile.”

Finlay: “Declan impressed me by beating his best ever score on Big Maths. Well done to everybody else who beat their score too.”

Adam: “Mr Berginis has impressed me because of the way he taught us about perspective in art this week.”

Jay: “I’m impressed by my table this week and we did much better this week and won (half) Table of the Week.”

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

Mr Berginis: “I was impressed this week by how well everyone worked with their p1 buddy and also by how well everyone sat at assembly.”

This week we have been learning about the Robert Burns poem, Tam o’Shanter.

Jack: “In the poem Tam is an alcoholic who loves drinking in the pub with his best pal Soutar Johnie.”

Paul: “A woman warns Tam that he might drown or something else terrible might happen if he doesn’t stop drinking so much.”

William: “The pub shuts and Tam must go home so he gets on his horse called Meg (Maggie)”

Lauren C: “He passes the bad bit of town and he sees lights coming from Kirk Alloway which is supposed to be haunted. He is feeling brave and not afraid because he is drunk so goes and has a look!”

Lauren U: “He looks inside the church and sees the devil playing bagpipes. The devil is a big hairy black dog.”

Callum: “While the music is playing, warlocks and witches are dancing. Most of the witches are old and ugly hags but then Tam spots…”

Harry: “…a beautiful witch named Nannie and she is wearing a white shirt called a cutty sark. Tam watches her dance.”

Chloe: “Tam is so impressed with her dancing that he shouts out WEEL DONE CUTTY SARK and all at once the room is dark!”

Kai: “All the witches and warlocks come out the church and chase Tam. He gets on his horse and rides away heading towards the bridge.”

Antonia: “He needs to cross the bridge because he knows they can’t cross running water but before he gets there Nannie rips off Meg’s tail!”

William: “The moral of the poem is that if you are drinking too much or thinking about women too much, you’ll end up in trouble!”

Who has impressed?

Lauren C: “Antonia and Lauren K have impressed me this week because we have quite a tough piece in music but we pulled through by working together.”

Lauren K: “Emily has impressed me because she has been concentrating and working really hard this week.”

Taylor: “Mr Berginis has impressed me because he is a good Scottish dancer!”

Emily: “Lauren K impressed me because she is really good at the Scottish dancing and she helped me get better at it.”

William: “Declan impressed me with the score he got in his Big Maths Beat That.”

Finlay: “Paul impressed me with his Aladdin peformance. He had a big part but learned all his lines.”

Chloe: “Everyone in the class impressed because I think they did excellently in their Aladdin performance.”

Lauren C: “Olivia impressed me because even though she didn’t have a big part she was very good at it.”

Mr Berginis: “I absolutley loved watching the class perform Aladdin last week and I was so impressed with the confidence they showed performing and the hard work they put into rehearsing and preparing.”

This week we have been learning about the life of Robert Burns:

Lauren U: “We’ve learned how Robert Burns grew up and we learned he was born in 1759 and died at the age of 37.”

Paul: “We’ve learned about some of his poems. There is one which everybody sings on New Year’s Eve called Auld Lang Syne. We also learned how poor he was and that their house smelled of urine.”

Kieran: “We learned about how he worked on the farm as he grew up. He churned butter and collected eggs when he was small and when he was stronger he chopped wood and ploughed the field.”

Callum: “He had an eye for the ladies and he wrote lots of love poems to help him get lots of girlfriends!”

Chloe: “He had to move home quite a lot to live on different farms because the soil wasn’t very good.”

Adam: “The reason that he became interested in poetry and songs was because his mum used to sing on the farm while she worked.”

Olivia: “We know he had lot s of affairs and lots of children with different women.”

Kendal: “I learned that he sold his first book of poems because he wanted to raise money to move to Jamaica but people liked them so much he decided to stay in Scotland.”

Declan: “We are writing a biography about Robert Burns and we have key facts like when he was born and died and about his family and about his poems.”

Jack: “His wife’s name was Jean Armour and he had nine children with her.”

Emily: “He had three brothers and three sisters and he was the oldest of them all.”

Nathan: “He wrote To A Mouse because he just about ran over a mouse and destroyed its house so he wrote it to apologise to the mouse!”

Finlay: “He wrote another poem called To A Louse to tell the louse to get off of the beautiful girl’s head in the church!”

Who has impressed?

Paul: “Jack has impressed by learning all of his lines. Well done to everybody who has worked hard to learn their lines too. Mrs Innes has impressed me with all the hard work she has been doing to help us get ready for Aladdin.”

Kendal: “Olivia has impressed me by learning all of her lines for Aladdin. Kieran impressed me by getting up early and coming into school to help Mrs Innes get prepared.”

Emily: “Our table (the Bravehearts) impressed me because we won table of the week.”

Kieran: “Kendal has impressed me by equaling her best score in Big Maths Beat That. “

Adam: “Mr Berginis impressed me with the way he taught us about Robert Burns and helped us understand about him.”

Finlay: “Nathan has impressed me because he is confident about dressing up as Widow Twankey and doesn’t get embarrassed.”

Mr Berginis: “I have been very impressed with the hard work and determination the class have shown in preparing for their Aladdin performance. I can’t wait to see it.”

Last night was very wild and windy and most of the class had trouble sleeping. We talked about our wild weather stories:

Lauren C: “Yesterday I took my dog a walk in the wind and rain and I was running into the wind and it was hard to breathe.”

Finlay: “In Tenerife in 2012 there was a really bad rainstorm when we were on the beach and I cut my foot on a nail because I couldn’t see it due to all the rainwater!”

Lauren K: “When I was in Italy once there was a really wild blizzard and we couldn’t see where we were going when we tried to find shelter!”

Kieran: “In 2005 I was in Salou and there was a storm coming and I nearly got struck with lightning!”

Antonia: “When we were on holiday the wind was so strong that it blew my brother off of his feet!”

William: “Last night my dad had to travel up to Perth and I went with him and we saw cars blown over!”

Jay: “I was on holiday in Turkey and we saw a tornado out at sea!”

Harry: “Once when I was in Tenerife when I was 2 or 3 I was still in my pram and this palm tree was blown over by the wind and just missed me and my gran.”

Ellie: “One year I was at Balbardie park and I couldn’t see because it was a blizzard and I fell down the hill and faceplanted!”

Callum: “I was at football training last night in the wind and when I jumped up to header the ball the wind pushed me back!”

Mr Berginis: “When I was about 7 I went on holiday to Salou in Spain. We were sitting on the beach and it started to spit with rain. My dad said it was just a passing shower but it rained for two days and the water was up to my neck!” 

Next Friday we will be showcasing our acting talents in our pantomime Aladdin. Here are our thoughts:

Kieran: I can’t wait to wear my sparkly red hat and waistcoat!”

Ellie: “I think we are all  going to look fabulous!”

Lauren C: “I’m looking forward to wearing a cloak and being a baddie!”

Kai: “I’m going to enjoy doing my part which is being a talking rat!”

Antonia: I can’t wait to see Nathan dressed up as a girl as Widow Twanky!”

Lauren K: “I’m looking forward to being painted blue when I play the genie.”

Mr Berginis: “I’m looking forward to seeing the class perform and show off all the hard work they have been doing with Mrs Innes.”

Act One

Act Two

Kieran – I am excited because my aunty is coming up from England to visit us for Christmas. We don’t get to see her very often.

Jack – My New Year resolution is to try and score a goal for the school football team.

Finlay – My New Year resolution is to improve my behaviour and make it even better.

Ellie – I’m looking forward to Christmas because I think I’m getting a horse from Santa!

Jay – My New Year resolution is to get better at my times tables maths because we won’t be able to use our times table squares to help us in Big Maths Beat That.

Kieran – I enjoyed learning about World War 2 this term and my favourite part was the Holocause because we read and watched The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas. Also because we learned about two people who managed to escape from Auschwitz.

Kendal – I’m looking forward to Christmas because I get to spend time with all of my family.

Kai – I’m looking forward to Christmas because I bought a massive Christmas cracker and I’m looking forward to pulling it with my little sister.

Harry – I’m looking forward to Christmas to see the look on my gran’s face when she opens her present. I think she will really like it.

Olivia – I’m looking forward to Christmas because I think I am getting a dog from Santa!

Isla – I’m kind of excited about Christmas but my dad is going into hospital on the 22nd and might not be back out in time for Christmas.

Adam – I’m excited for Christmas because every year me and my sisters have a wee tradition of watching a horror film every year!

Antonia – I enjoyed learning about World War 2 and my favourite part was learning about Anne Frank because it was interesting to find out how they managed to stay hidden away for two years.

Ellie – I enjoyed the Boy In The Striped Pyjamas but I got a little upset at different parts of it because it was sad.

Chloe – I enjoyed going to visit the trenches down at the Partnership Centre because it was really fun and interesting. I learned that if the soldiers tried to peek out over the top they would get shot.

Harry – This term my favourite thing was watching Goodnight Mr Tom because it was a really good WW2 movie.

Finlay – I’m looking forward to Christmas because it means that all of the soldiers from Afghanistan will get home.

Mr Berginis – All of p7b and myself would like to wish everybody a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and we hope you enjoy the Christmas holidays. 

Our learning:

Callum: We learned that the Holocaust was when the Jews got sent to Concentration Camps and they were split into two lines. The ones who were fit enough to work in one and the weaker people in another and they were sent to the gas chambers.

Kieran: We learned about two people from Auschwitz who managed to escape. They were called Wessler and Vrba. They escaped by hiding in the wood pile for three days and then they headed to Slovakia but unfortunately when they told people about what was happening in the camps, nobody believed them.

Flyn: We learned that Anne Frank was a girl who was 13 years old and she and her family lived in Amsterdam. They were jews so hid from the Nazis in a secret annex above her father’s factory. Only a few people knew about them and helped them get food. They could only move about when the workers were finished their shifts.

Paul: She wrote in her diary about her fears and hopes and after she was taken by the Nazis her dad decided to turn it into a book for other people to read because it gives a message of keeping hope despite being in a difficult position. It has sold millions and millions of copies.

Finlay: We had our Christmas Party yesterday afternoon and it was fun. We played a lot of games like Pass the Parcel and Musical Knees and Musical Arms.

Jay: We played the Corners game where people got eliminated from a different corner each time the music stopped. The winner was Mya from p7m.

Lauren U: We finished reading The Boy In Striped Pyjamas. I found the end very sad and on Monday we are going to watch the film and then we’re going to compare the differences between the book and film.

Who has impressed?

Kieran: Flyn has impressed me because he was really trying hard in drama this week to perform without his script.

Flyn: Mr Berginis has impressed me because he helped me through some difficult things this week.

Antonia: Lauren C has impressed me because she can play the top line and bottom line of Little Donkey on the clarinet.

Emily: The whole Woodwind group and brass impressed me because we worked well together to learn and play Little Donkey.

Lauren C: Kendal and Ellie have impressed me with how well they are taking on their new instruments.

Lauren K : Antonia has impressed me because she has adjusted to her new line in Little Donkey very well.

Adam: Flyn impressed me by not giving up on his maths even though he found it tough.

Mr Berginis: The class have impressed me on lots of occasions this week. They impressed me with how much fun they had at our party and how well behaved they were and they were fabulous with their p1 buddies today.

Our learning:

Kieran: In French we were revising the French words for animals and colours. I learned that noir is black and that un mouton is a sheep.

Kendal: In French I learned that un cochon means pig, un serpent is snake and rose is pink.

Declan: I learned that vert is green, blanc is white and le chat is cat.

Lauren U: We also learned about entertainment during WW2. They went to the cinema and watched propaganda films and news reports about the war. They also listened to music like Vera Lynn and Andrews Sisters.

Finlay: Children in the countryside used to watch for planes crashing and would go and collect the different bits of metal which was called shrapnel. They didn’t have TV so listened to the radio to music, reports and serials like Superman.

Kieran: One of the songs that we listened to was Pack Up Your Troubles and the soldiers used to sing it. My nana remembers my papa singing it and sometimes sings it to me.

Ellie: This week we had a live Glow meet called Choices for Life. It was about the dangers of smoking. I learned that smoking can give you wrinkles in your skin and it damages your lungs.

Antonia: We watched Liam’s Story where a boy called Liam got peer pressured into trying a cigarette but he then chose not to do it and walked away. I think giving in to the peer pressure at first wasn’t good but glad he chose to walk away eventually.

Paul: We were writing thank you letters this week and we had to make sure it was in a letter format and we will either take them to Belgium or down to the War Memorial to read them.

Adam: We also learned that rationing took place during WW2 and you could only get a little bit of food and you had to make it last all week. Also, that if you dropped or lost any food it didn’t get replaced.

Jay: We learned that at the end of WW2 America dropped a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima. It was so bright an explosion that some people vanished and all that was left behind was their shadow. Also, some people got poisoned by the nuclear energy.

Paul: We also learned that the plane that dropped the bomb was called the Enola Gay. Enola spelled backwards is alone. The explosion made the shape of a mushroom cloud and if you were close enough to see it it would have probably killed you.

Who has impressed?

Lauren C: Isla has impressed me because she is growing more confident with her oboe.

Kendal: Lauren U and Declan have impressed me because they are the first in the class to reach step 5.

Jack: Melissa from 7m impressed me by getting 3 certificates at assembly!

Kieran: Antonia has impressed me because she got 73 and beat her best in Big Maths.

Harry: Callum has impressed me because he got 50 in Big Maths and beat the record.

Taylor: Lauren K has impressed me this week by getting 80 out of 80 in Big Maths!

Kai: Euan in p2 has impressed me because he won the p2 float design prize.

Paul: Mr Berginis impressed me with his good accents and impressions when we read the Boy In Striped Pyjamas.

Declan: Paul has impressed me by learning all of his words in Aladdin in the songs and he’s getting really good at it.

Callum: Nathan has impressed me because he got a great score in Big Maths.

Ellie: My table impressed me because we got table of the week.

Lauren K: Mrs Innes has impressed me with all of the plays and dramas she is helping us with and she is making them all great.

Adam: My table has impressed me because we improved from last to second place.

Finlay: Mr Berginis impressed me with his Christmas jumper.

Antonia: Ellie has impressed me with her determination in maths because she kept going with her division even when she found it hard.

Mr Berginis: I’m impressed with how much the class are enjoying The Boy In Striped Pyjamas and how they are able to talk about the issues in the book and how they relate to the Holocaust.

Our learning

Lauren U: We made Christmas tree decorations for the Christmas Fayre. We made two different types of stars, Christmas trees and stockings.

Isla: On Monday we went to Bathgate Academy and did a treasure hunt. We had to go to four different parts of the school and find the answers to different questions. It was to help us learn our way around the academy.

Taylor: On Monday at the academy at break time we sat in a circle and ate our snacks and discussed our worries with Mrs Burns the deputy head teacher and some of the sixth year prefects.

Flyn: At the high school we did a science lesson where we learned about forces. We used a Vandegraff generator to show static which made your hair stand up.

Harry: At the science lesson we had to rub a rod with a cloth and then put it next to water and the water bent because of the electrostatic force.

Chloe: We also learned about magnetic forces by using magnets and iron filings we saw the different ways the iron filings moved because of the magnets.

Paul: We were learning this week about what it was like to be an evacuee during World War 2. We went through lots of different emotions and each table had different experiences for example some children were evacuated straight away to the countryside while some stayed in the cities.

Lauren C: This week in PE I had fun doing the muscular endurance activities. We did press-ups and crunches and things like that. We did them to help build up our muscles.

Finlay: I liked maths because we got to learn more about division. If you know your times tables it makes it a lot easier.

Who has impressed?

Declan: Jay has impressed me because he got all of his answers correct in his division work.

Finlay: Callum, Antonia and Lauren K impressed me by getting the new highest scores on Big Maths Beat That.

Antonia: Flyn has impressed me because in PE he tried his hardest and kept going even when he was tempted to stop.

Ellie: Olivia has impressed me this week because she done really well in PE and kept going.

Lauren C: Olivia and Emily impressed me by working their hardest to try and move up the class behaviour steps.

Flyn: Antonia has impressed me because she done really well in PE and didn’t give up.

Isla: My PE Castles team has impressed me because we have improved and are in the lead at the moment.

Adam: Kieran impressed me with his D-Day letter and I could tell he put a lot of effort into it.

Jay: I am impressed with Declan because he got a new high score on the Wall of Fame for the 11x table.

Paul: The whole class has impressed me with the propaganda posters we created which are on display in the class.

Kai: Kyra has impressed me with how much she wrote in her report about the academy visit.

Kendal: I’m impressed by Emily this week because she got a new high score on the Wall of Fame.

Mr Berginis: I was impressed by how well behaved the class was when we visited the academy on Monday for our science lesson.