We are encouraging everyone across our school community to join in in wearing their very best bright, bold or odd socks on Lots of Socks Day this Thursday 21st March for Down’s Syndrome. This is to show our support and raise awareness, no donations are being collected. We look forward to seeing your fancy looking feet on Thursday this week!

https://www.dsscotland.org.uk/support-us/awareness-week/lots-of-socks/

Dounans day1

Arrived safely and got our dorms

Our first activity was after lunch Abseiling, Burn Scramble or Orienteering…

Very cold on the Burn Scramble, excitement doing the abseil down the rock face and getting to know the site for Orienteering.

Evening meal was chicken , potato croquettes and a huge slice of chocolate cake

Children nervous of all the new things and sleeping in a dorm

Evening activity was games then supper of hot chocolate and lemon drizzle cake

Bedtime was very dark as Dounans is surrounded by trees

Dounans day 2

Breakfast was bacon, egg, hash brown, beans and mushrooms if you wanted it ! and toast

There was also cereal and fruit and juice. Some children chose hot chocolate.

Choices this morning are:-

Burn scramble, Archery and Abseiling

Weather today- cloudy

Children are feeling happier and excited about the new day and new activities

Update later

written by Lewis W. and Mrs Aitken

P2B had a great week and as you can see, the trip to Stirling Castle was a big hit!

Kai – When we went to the castle. My favourite was when we went inside the castle.

Murray – The castle. My favourite was the kitchen.

Anna – Going to Stirling Castle and learning about all the different rooms.

Hannah – My favourite has been Stirling Castle when we got to go in the Queen’s bedroom because someone was telling us about it.

Hollie – Castle, I liked the classroom when people were trying on costumes.

Daisy – The castle, the kitchen.

Hope – The castle, the kitchen and when we tried on costumes.

Ethan – I liked the school part where we got to choose armour to put on. And the kitchen.

Ruby – The kitchen in the castle and when we dressed up.

Jack B – The castle when we got to see the canons.

Oliver – Going to the castle, when we saw canons and the kitchen.

Mikolaj – Castle, the kitchen and being little star.

Jack C – Having my red nose badge and red nose.

Isla – The castle and going in the kitchen and seeing canons and I got to dress up as a princess.

Thomas – Dressing up at the castle and today being Red Nose Day and seeing Mikolaj on the stage.

Sofia – The castle, I liked the classroom when I got to try something on and the canons and the King and Queen’s bedroom.

Lois – Going on the bus to the castle.

Ben – I liked meeting new people and playing with toys.

 

Miss Cowan

At Balbardie we’d like to see your odd socks next week on Thursday 21st March to support Down’s Syndrome Awareness. Just for fun. No money required. The main colours are yellow and blue but any crazy sock combination will do! We’d love it if you had a look at the link below to find out more and we look forward to seeing how fancy your feet look next week!

https://www.dsscotland.org.uk/support-us/awareness-week/lots-of-socks/

On Wednesday 6^th March, the P4 classes set off on ‘A Viking Day Out’. We got on the bus just after 9 and arrived in Edinburgh at the National Museum in Chambers St just after 10. The traffic was pretty bad and so our journey was long.

When we arrived, we found our base for the day and had our snacks. After snack we headed down to the Viking gallery. We had a worksheet to complete finding out about the Vikings in Scotland, their jewellery and the very famous Lewis Chessmen.

After this we went down to the early civilisations gallery and sat on some steps. Helen, from the Learning Team, showed us a Viking helmet, some brooches and a key. We were allowed to handle then and feel them. The helmet was really heavy! We thought the key might’ve been a comb so she showed us a comb too!

We then went into the main gallery and looked at other Viking artefacts which were found in Scotland. We saw a Viking grave, which is not at all like a grave nowadays. Vikings were buried with their precious possessions such as a key, a shield, a game, a comb, a brooch pin and even a pair of scissors. These were the items that a Viking would need in the afterlife.

After lunch, we went into the auditorium to watch a great show called ‘A Viking Day Out’. In the show a boy called Jason had a sleep near a rock on the island of Orkney. He had a dream where he was taken back to Viking times nearly 1200 years ago. In Viking times, he met a girl named Githa who took him as her thrall (or slave) and called him Botfus which means ‘asks lots of questions’. He met the jarl of the steading and heard a saga where Odin tried to drink from the fountain of knowledge but had to sacrifice his eye to be wise.  Githa had lost her arm ring which was her money that she needed for the book that her father had wanted to buy. Eventually she found it by the wagon stone.

We found out that most people with ginger or blond hair are actually descended from the Vikings. We have quite a few in P4 so beware!

These are our best bits:

Lucas – I enjoyed watching the clock chime.

Kyle – I liked that we saw the Viking bit and we did a quiz. It was fun.

Archie – I loved the helmet, key and brooches because they looked do real but they were 3d printed.

Lilyrose – I liked when we watched the clock because it was all moving.

Eva – I liked that we got to touch real Viking stuff. The helmet was heavy.

Lois – I liked the show because it was fun.

Orlaith – I enjoyed handling the Viking key because it looked very different t our keys.

Grace – I enjoyed the Viking play because it was interesting and fun.

Alysheeya – I liked the Viking day because I like our topic and I wonder how many Vikings lived.

Charlotte – I liked the show because it was funny.

Rosie – I had the best time of my life. The show was best because a boy when back in time to the Vikings……..

Hollie – I learned that if you have blond or ginger hair with blue eyes you have the blood of Vikings.

Sam – I loved the little Viking play because it was realistic.

Emily – I had fun at the end of the trip and it was fun.

Elena – We learned that Viking helmets were very, very, very heavy because they were made of metal.

Ehan – I liked the show from the millennium clock because it looked good.

Sara – I really liked the show. My favourite character was the girl because she was a Viking girl.

Artjom – I heard that a hairbrush is called a comb in Viking times.

Alfie – I enjoyed looking at the Viking helmet.

Daniel – I liked the chess pieces because it was such talented work.

Emma – I loved seeing Helen because she taught us about the Vikings. It was amazing.

Luke – I enjoyed the show because it was really fun.

Teigan – I enjoyed seeing the grave because I learned new things about the Vikings.

P4b

Emily – I liked it when we sat the play called a Viking Day out.

Tiana – I enjoyed on the trip that me and Grace were partners and I got a sausage roll.

Keira – In Valhalla they Vikings eat until they are sick.

Grace M – I liked it when were told about the special Viking objects. This is amber and polished amber.

Evie – I liked the Viking day out. It was a show.

Archie – I enjoyed the show about Vikings. It was a very good show. It was called ‘A Viking Day Out’.

Ava – We saw ring money. We saw a dead body.

Esther – The Vikings used ring money which is something they wore on their arms and snapped a piece off to pay.

Nina- I learned that they used to trade things and that they didn’t have horns on their helmets.

Sophie M – I leaned that the Vikings wore ring money.

Isla – I learnt that they also used pennies as well as ring money.

Eilidh – I enjoyed the show called ‘A Viking Day Out’ and the Viking bones and shields.

Eden -I loved the show that we saw. There were other schools there are we learnt a new song. My favourite bit was when we were eating lunch. There was a great high view.

Sophie A – I enjoyed watching the Viking day out. I loved it.

Lacey – I liked the swords and the gold necklaces.

Grace Mac – I enjoyed when we all went into a room and we watched a show about Vikings.

Fearne – I liked the show about the Vikings.

Dionne – I enjoyed what the Vikings ate – fish stew.

Jess – I learned about the Voicings and we watched a show about them. It was good and I noticed fossils in the ground and it was interesting.

Scott – I liked how we did the sheets to find out about the Vikings.

Luis – I enjoyed finding Viking stuff and looking at a dead Viking body. I learned that Vikings never had horns on their helmets.

Lily – I liked it when we saw the play called ‘A Viking Day out’.

 

We are really looking forward to welcoming parents, carers and members of the school community to our show next week. Please can all children remember that they MUST have their costumes in on Monday for the dress rehearsal and their best speaking/singing voices at the ready!

P4a – table of the week – with 200 points 

 

 

This week we have continued to work hard rehearsing for the play and we are beginning to get an idea of where everyone will stand and how we move on and off the stage. We are really looking forward to it! There are loads of songs which we hope you will enjoy!

In PE we are learning lots of skills which will help us with different team ball sports.

In Maths we have been learning how to find things on a grid using grid references. We played games revealing difference grid references and then had to locate things on a grid. Mrs Collings was very impressed with our confidence when reading grid references.

We are really looking forward to our stage trip to the national museum next week. Please remember that children need a packed lunch and snack to take with them and they should be in school uniform.

If you can, we’d love to see your photos of story reading stars as a celebration of World Book Day…

Our values certificate was awarded to Lexi this month. Well done, Lexi!

 

Table of the week – with 600 points