Category Archives: School News

Money, money, money in P6

We started our money topic today in maths and commenced by calculating the best offers to buy goods.  First, we had to calculate how much certain products would cost on an internet site (including delivery) and then we compared the cost of the same goods on another site.  As a spicy challenge we worked out how we could “shop around” by buying our goods over a few sites to ensure we got the best deal….Moneysaving Expert – you have competition!

We continued to look at ways in which we could partition numbers into “partial quotients” to make them simpler to divide in our Number Talks and learned more about Queen Victoria (Empress of India – although she NEVER visited!) in our topic work.

We continued to work on our lines and songs for our assembly and prepared ourselves for our school trip tomorrow – we are very excited!  Please remember to bring a packed lunch if you have not ordered a school one – thank you!

A BIG thank you from Primary 1.

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The boys and girls ( and teachers ) would like to say a great big ‘thank you ‘ to our lovely parents, carers and guardians for supporting us at today’s Macmillan Coffee Morning. We really enjoyed sharing our work with you over a cup of tea (juice for us ) and a slice of cake .  We will count all of our pennies and let you know how much we have raised as soon as possible.  Thanks again everyone!

 

Primary 6b Update

This Thursday and Friday we have been very busy. We have done our Number Talks (breaking numbers into smaller factors), did a Maths carousel, practised our spelling words with different activities and we played the “Spanish Challenge” to practise the colours, animals, emotions, greetings, etc.

We have finished our Creation art which is now displayed on the gym hall door. Please check it out, it looks awesome!

In topic we have learned about school and childhood in the Victorian times and we made our own Victorian toy. We have also started practising our Assembly which will be next Friday.

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Thursday’s Facts in Primary 1.

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Today we learnt all about ducks.  Mrs Macdonald spotted a duck in the burn next to our school on her way to school this morning.  Keep your eyes peeled for it next time you pass the burn.  Please remember though boys and girls to never go near water on your own.

What did we learn ?

They can eat bread – Lucas S.

A baby duck is called a duckling – Roman.

They can swim straight away – Chloe.

They come out of eggs – Eleanor.

 

Primary 6 this week….

In Primary 6 this week Monday started with Media Monday, followed by a Number Talk using doubles and near doubles (250 + 250 followed by 248 + 249) . We saw how much quicker is was to add up to a near double first, then remove the extra RATHER than spending time on a chimney-style sum. Next, we started a new topic in maths – rounding to the nearest 10, 100 and 1,000 and applying this knowledge to word-problems that required several steps of calculation; although the task required concentration we all felt pretty confident that we could move on to the next stage which was to round bigger numbers and decimals.

We continued with our Literacy work, mostly looking at how more complex paragraphs are made by creating COHESION in our writing. We discussed the meaning of cohesion and looked at the cohesive devices used by authors to make a paragraph work well (namely, pronouns, conjunctions and determiners). Synonyms are also used to assist with cohesion in writing and therefore we subsequently completed an exercise to replace common words with interesting synonyms in a passage.

We found out some things about the Victorian Artist and designer William Morris in our topic work.

This week Primary 6 have also started their Primary 2 reading project; we met our Primary 2 buddies and found out about some of the books they like to read.  Next week we’ll create some activities designed to challenge and interest our junior readers!  We strengthened the connection we have with our Primary 2 friends today with our joint language learning when Primary 2 sang us a song in many languages and in return, we taught them the names for the colours in Spanish by playing games we had created with them…a great collaboration!

In 6B our Number Talk today was about how to simplify division.  We found a range of strategies to answer the question 56 divided by 4.  The most efficient was to split the 56 into 40 and 16 and divide each of the parts by 4 separately.  Hard at work P6!

Celebrating the European Day of Languages

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In St Nicholas we like to celebrate diversity and value all cultures and languages. This week we have been busy learning special songs and games in Spanish, Polish and French to celebrate the European Day of Languages.

Today we shared our learning with other classes. We enjoyed this special challenge!

Primary 7 made games to teach their Primary 1 buddies the numbers in Spanish.

Primary 1 taught Primary 7 how to play “Un dos tres, Calabaza!”

Primary 6 prepared games to teach their buddies in Primary 2 the colours in Spanish.

Primary 2 learned to say Hello in different languages and sang a song to Primary 6.

Primary 3 showed Primary 4 how to say the numbers (up to 5) in Polish. The Polish children in P3 were very helpful! Thanks

Primary 4 sang a beautiful song about the colours in French to Primary 3.

WELL DONE!!!

Miss Alvarez

The Blitz

Primary 7 have been learning about The Blitz as part of their topic on World War 2.

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The Blitz

The Blitz

On the 7th of September 1940 German Air Forces raided London. London was bombed every day and night for 11 weeks. Over 350 bombs flew across the channel from France. Nearly 2,000 were killed or wounded on the first night. 32,000 people were killed and 87,000 were seriously injured by the end of the Blitz. Most of the attacks happened at night when people were fast asleep. People were warned by booming sirens. When people heard the sirens they made a break for shelter. Other cities and towns were also badly affected including Coventry, Liverpool, Southampton and Glasgow. In November 1940 one of the most devastating and biggest air raids happened in Coventry over 4,000 homes were destroyed and 500 people were killed. People made shelters in their gardens to protect themselves and their families.
Aaron and Caitlin

House Captains and Vice Captains

On Friday our Captains and Vice Captains for our new house system were announced.  Children who wished to be nominated presented to their houses and the children of each house voted for their own captain and vice.  The captains and vice captains for 2016/2017 are: 0-16

Spey – Eva (Captain), Rosie (Vice Captain)

Almond – Mandipa (Captain), Fraser (Vice Captain)

Esk – Aimee (Captain), Alex (Vice Captain)

Tay – Jamie (Captain), Molly (Vice Captain)

Forth – Iona (Captain), Elena (Vice Captain)

Clyde – Arran (Captain), Shaelyn (Vice Captain).

Well done everyone who put themselves forward – all presentations were excellent and you should all be very proud of yourselves.

 

Mary, Queen of Scots

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This week Primary 5 have been learning about the fascinating life of Mary, Queen of Scots. We would like to share some interesting facts with you.

Her son was James VI of Scotland and James I of England.  – Cameron H

Elizabeth I gave permission for her to be executed. – Julia and Sophie

Lord Darnley,(her husband) was jealous of her friend, David Rizzio, and murdered him. – Thomas

Her coronation took place at Stirling Castle, when she was 9 months old. – Marcel

She was born in Linlithgow Palace. – Lewis

She was  Catholic. – Patryk

Her first husband was Francis, the Prince of France. She married him when she was 15 years old. – Riley

Francis died of an ear infection. – Molly

She was very good at needlework and made a picture of a cat and mouse. She thought that she was the mouse and Elizabeth I was the cat. – Rayyan

 

 

Primary 5 create Old Edinburgh artwork

Primary 5 have been learning about Old Edinburgh for the past fortnight. We have been learning lots of interesting facts about Edinburgh Castle, the Palace of Holyroodhouse and Mary,Queen of Scots.

We have also been using mixed media to create these fantastic sunset silhouettes of the Edinburgh skyline.

Please click on the link below for a short video explaining the process.

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Fantastic Mr Fox!

We’re all just back from a fantastic afternoon, watching a travelling theatre company perform ‘Fantastic Mr Fox’.  In celebration of one of our children’s favourite authors, Roald Dahl, all our boys and girls from Nursery to P7, watched the production.  At St Nicholas Primary, we love Roald Dahl because there are always morals in his stories and great characterisation, making them suitable for young and old.

Primary 1’s ‘Stars of the Week’ and ‘Dojo Champions’.

Here we have Rian, Andrew and Brooke proudly showing off their certificates for being our stars this week.  Well done to you all !

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Here are our ‘Dojo Champions’ this week, Leo, Patryk and Isabella. All three children received the most points in their classes.  A big well done to you all too.

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Have a great weekend everyone, see you all on Monday for more learning and fun in primary 1.

Your teachers.

People Who Help Us (P1b)

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Primary 1b are really enjoying learning lots about ‘People Who Help Us’. So far, we have been learnt all about the police and paramedics. Today we got to see inside a real ambulance. It was very cool! Thank you to the two lovely paramedics, Andrea and Scott for bringing an ambulance along to our school.

What have learnt so far about the police ?

‘The police have cars and motorbikes’,  Matthew.

‘They catch robbers and have handcuffs’,   Andrew.

‘They have the same jacket as their car’,  Keilidh.

‘The police look at fingerprints to help them catch the baddies’, Alfie.

‘We can see lines on our fingers and these are fingerprints’  Thomas.

‘The police wear a badge with their name on it’  Sofia.

‘Police dogs catch the baddies’ Isla.

Here are some of us having fun dressing up in polics clothes, making fingerprints, reading books and playing with the polic toys.

 

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What have we learnt so far about paramedics?

‘They wear a uniform’,  David

‘When you get hurt they put a band aid on you’, Thomas.

‘There is a bed inside the ambulance’, Alfie.

‘People lie down on the bed and it helps them’, Matthew

‘You call 999’, Jamie -Leigh.

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Primary 1’s ‘Star Pupils of the Week’.

Here are our three ‘Star Pupils of the Week’ in Primary 1 , Abdullah (P1a), Chloe (P1b), and Ian (P1c).  Well done everyone !

A big well done too to EVERYONE in primary 1 for working hard and for settling in so well.  We had a hard task deciding who to choose for this award because you have all been stars.

Have a lovely weekend,

Primary 1 teachers.

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Working Hard in Primary 1a!!

We have been having so much fun and we’ve been working very hard in Primary 1a! Mrs Baty is very proud of us!!

We have been learning all about pattern. We know that pattern means ‘it is repeated’. We have been making patterns with colour using counters / cubes, and we have begun making patterns with shapes. We also made a pattern using ourselves!!! (sitting and standing). 

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Today we read the story of Elmer the Elephant. Elmer was sad because he was different from all the other elephants. He painted himself grey, but quickly realised that by embracing his unique personality and his colours, he was happier and he made everyone else happier. We then spoke about what makes us all special and unique. 

We had some brilliant answers:

Joshua – I was really good at football when I was wee

Olivia- I am very good at swimming and gymnastics

Ben – When I was younger I went to football and I was really good

Toby – when I am a grown up I am going to be a really good  fireman

Rian – I am really good at football

Roman – I am really good at football and I can go under the water

Daniel – I am really good at football

Leo – I’ve played in lots of football games

Tyler – I am good at swimming underneath the water

Matthew – I am really good at football

Lucas – I am good a lot of games

Daniella – My daddy’s daddy used to live in Sri Lanka

Lennox – I can jump in the swimming pool from really high

Abdullah – I am good with my bike

Hugh-John –  I am good at swimming

Julia –  I am a perfect ballerina

Nadia – I am good at ballet

Dermott – I am really good at painting

Arran – I can speak snail

Ava – I am really good at football

 

We then decorated our own Elmer in our own unique way. We were excited to add glitter to make them super special.

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Last week we made our beautiful Rainbow Fish, whilst learning about how to be kind to each other by sharing. Our Rainbow Fish look ‘amazing’, ‘fantastic’ and ‘beautiful’ on our wall.

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We have also been learning to draw a self portrait. Don’t they look fantastic?

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Little Explorers in P1c!

We have spent the morning getting to know each other and exploring our new environment. We found lots of exciting things to play with!

After seeing our buddies at break we read The Hungry Caterpillar. This got us chatting about the different foods that we like to eat. We also discussed things that we like to do in our spare time. After that, we drew self portraits which are displayed on our classroom wall.

We have had a great day!

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Welcome to Primary 1a

We had a fantastic morning in Primary 1a, we had so much fun and made lots new friends.

We showed Mrs Baty how clever we were by doing fantastic listening, sitting and by putting up our hands to talk.

We played some circle time games to get to know our classmates, and found out all of our favourite animals. We all seem to like cats, dogs, lions and penguins amongst others.

We had a story after break time and met our story animals. They help us to listen nicely to the stories, and sometimes ask questions too.

We even got to use some paint to make a friendship tree for our classroom (photo to follow).

Have a look below at our super smart First Day Photos. Don’t we look super?!

Keep checking back to see what else we get up to in our first week of Primary 1.

P3 Champions

Primary 3A and B had a busy weekend receiving medals.

Well done to Isla, Rebecca, Lilya and Melanie for taking part in a gymnastics competition at the weekend.

Well done to Callum, Luke and Warren for taking part in a football tournament at the weekend.

Also, congratulations to Monde-Jnr for going to London on Friday and receiving sponsorship from the High Commissioner to continue with his passion in motor sports.

Well done to all children! We are very proud of you.

Fitness Fortnight continued – Karate

Primary 1a and 1b had a fantastic afternoon of Karate. Some of us have already experienced Taikwondo or Karate before, and we were keen to show off our skills.

We found out that Karate is a Japanese sport.

We began by learning how to say hello in Japanese. They are very formal. To say hello, they bow, with their hands at their sides and their feet together. The more important the person, the lower we bow. So of course, we all bowed very low to our teachers!

We then learned how to count to 5 in Japanese.

1 – ish

2 – ni

3 – san

4 – chi

5 – go

We then learned different ways to punch and kick correctly, so as not to hurt ourselves. (Of course, we learned that this is just a sport, and only to be done in safe environments, such as in karate or taikwondo classes).

We learned a forward punch – it is important to keep our thumb tucked away, punch in a straight line, and use the top part of our first 2 fingers.

We learned to a head block and a side block (to stop others punching us).

We then learned something called a slap kick – we don’t use the bottom of our foot or our toes, as this would hurt. Instead, we use the top part of our foot.

We practiced all of these on punching pads, held only by the instructors. We then got a go at using the pretend man called Bob. This was fun as he was very squishy and wobbled a lot.

We also had lots of fun playing games. These games were to help us get fit, and to exercise our muscles. We played an opposites game. We found this tricky at first but eventually got the hang of it. If the man said sit, we had to stand. If he said fight, we had to dance.

We then played a dice game. The dice had different exercises on it, including crunches, push ups, star jumps and squats. There was even a side which got the teachers to do 25 exercises! Luckily it only landed on this once. It was very funny watching Mrs Baty trying to do 25 push ups! She’s not as fit as us.

We had a really fun day, and we’re looking forward to the rest of the week.

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Primary 1’s Fitness Fortnight Day 6.

We have had a fantastic day today !

What have we been up to ?

This morning we took a walk up to the ‘Range Park’.  Some of us had already been before so we were already familiar with it.  For some of though, it was our first time there and we were amazed when we saw all of the super things there.  What did we see ?

a  flying fox

a climbing wall

a roundabout

a chute

an obstacle course

a trampoline

a roundabout

and lots of lovely green grass and sand for us to run around on.  

We all had lots of super fun running around and using the equipment. It was really great !  We arrived back to school just before lunchtime having walked back.  Mrs Macdonald and Mrs Baty agreed that because we walked up and down to the park we didn’t have to do our ‘Daily Mile’ back at school.  Phew !!!!

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In the afternoon we had a visit from a nurse ! She told us lots of super things about our body and what we can do to keep ourselves strong and healthy.  She also showed us what a heart looks like and told us how important it is to exercise.  We learnt that children’s hearts should beat between 80-120 beats per minute.  We also learnt how important it is to wash our hands.  It was a very informative visit.  Thanks so much toMrs Purves for giving up her time to talk to us.

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A big thank you also to Freya and Tavia’s mummy, Wiktoria’s mummy and Thomas’s mummy for coming along to the park this morning to help us.

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Eco News !! Oyster Catchers at St. Nicholas.

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This year at St Nicholas we have had Oyster catchers nesting on the roof. Unfortunately the baby chick fell out of the nest early and has been living in the playground ever since.

The children have been really good at watching it from a distance, so that the mum and dad can still look after it.When it fell out of the nest it was so fluffy but the baby is nearly as big as the mum now.

The Eco Club phoned the RSPB and asked for advice. The kind people from the RSPB said that the chick is being looked after very well and should be able to fly away in the next few days.

The mum and dad will look after it for 6 months before it is able to live alone. They will teach it everything it needs to know. The children have learned a lot about how to be kind to wildlife because of this and have found it very exciting. Well done everyone !

Day 3 – Primary 1’s Fitness Fortnight!

We have had another great day today ! We started our day off learning about lots of different fruits. We spoke about our favourite fruits before trying some of these in the form of smoothies.

We tried a mango and passion fruit smoothie, a pineapple, banana and coconut smoothie, a strawberry and banana smoothie and a pomegranate, blueberry and acai berry smoothie. We liked some of these better than others but we still tried them and some of us even asked for more.  A big well done to everyone for trying these , we are super proud of you all.

Primary 1b voted, and we decided our favourite was the strawberry and banana smoothie, although the mango and passion fruit was a very close second.

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In the afternoon we went for our mile walk.  This is starting to become easier for us and we are enjoying being out in the fresh air.

Day 2 – Primary 1’s Fitness Fortnight !

Today has been another busy day gfor the boys and girls in P1a and P1b.

 

What did we do ?

We walked another mile today with the help of our lovely friends from P7. This is what we think about the daily mile :

Lara – I love it !

Mia – It is nice !

Gabriel – I am excited going for a walk.

Haroon – I like it because it gives me strength, (good words Haroon !)

After the daily mile we played games outside ‘Duck Duck Goose’ and ‘Donkey’.

After lunchtime we walked over to Strathbrock and did some Zumba. This was great fun! A huge thanks to Nina, the dance teacher for showing us some cool moves and helping us with our fitness.

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Anime fun

Over the past few weeks primary 7A have been learning about anime and making their  own characters. Our characters are really creative and inventive. After that, we made our own manga comics in groups.

Katriona – I thought that was a lot of fun because we made our own characters.

Rosie-  In my opinion anime is really creative and fun and it was the best art lesson we have had so far.

Carrick-I thought it was fun learning to draw the proper anime features.

Primary 1a’s wishes !

After reading Cinderella, we decided that it would be fun to write about things we wish for.  Here are some of our wishes.  I wonder if any of them will come true ?

Wiktoria – I would like to be able to run fast.

Cole – I would like a jet pack so I could fly.

Thomas – I would wish for a pet cat.

Santiago – I would like to have my own house.

Kyle  – I would like to play for Celtic.

Fynn – I would like to be jump high.

Flynn – I would like a trip to Legoland.

Tavia – I would like to live forever.

Luca – I would wish for 13 diamonds.

Grady – I would like to see the queen.

Raqab –  I would like a trip to Brazil so I could see everything.

Niamh – I would like a pet panda.

Lara – I would wish for a flying car.

Michael –  I would like to have superpowers.

Zofia – I would like to go to America.

Anum – I would wish for money so I could give it to poor people.

Lucas – I would like to turn into a car so I could go fast.

Umaima  – I would wish for a new toy kitchen.

Kacper – I would like to fly.

Haroon –  I would like to get money to buy toy cars.

Maksymilian – I would like a black panther.

Kuba – I would like to be invisible.

Primary 1a’s ‘Star Pupil of the Week’ and DOJO Champion.

A very big well done to Umaima for being this week’s ‘Star Pupil’.  Umaima has worked well all week and especially on her writing.  Her letter to our Friendly Dragon was super !  Well done to Leon for being this week’s ‘DOJO Champion’.  Leon has been working well all week remembering and been a helpful and kind boy in class.

Who will it be next week ?

 

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Egg-cellent Air Resistance

In science, primary 7 have been learning about air resistance. This week we carried out an investigation using bin bags, cups, eggs & string. We each in a group of 4/5 made 3 different size parachutes: small, medium & large to test which would have the greatest air resistance. Before the investigation we (the majority of the class) made a hypothesis that the small parachute would have the least air resistance. From the investigation we found that the hypothesis was correct & the larger the parachute, the greater the air resistance.

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Jasiu thought it was quite fun making the parachute & dropping them to see which one would land first.

Ellie thought that the experiment was good and she enjoyed using the eggs to test our theory.

 

Primary 1a’s ‘Star Pupil of the Week’ and ‘DOJO Champion’.

A very big well done to Flynn this week for being our ‘Star Pupil of the Week’.  Flynn has worked well this week, had super manners and been a good and helpful friend.

(I will have to retake your picture Flynn as it won’t upload for me).

Here is Lara proudly showing off her certificate for being our ‘DOJO Champion’.  Like Flynn, Lara has been kind, helpful and worked hard. Keep up the good work everyone.  YOU all make me proud.

Mrs Macdonald.

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A visit to the vets

Our boys and girls had a wee treat yesterday – they went on a visit to the vets.   This was a big coincidence because we’d just been looking at the tickly ‘v’ sound.   We saw lots of animals at the vets and we even got to see where the animals were weighed.  It was a long walk there and back! We’ve been enjoyed stories about vets and have a vet area in our nursery.

P7 Broxburn Transition Camp


Hi everyone!

St Nicholas boys and girls have been having a great time at camp.  We’ve been busy non-stop with abseiling, playing laser quest, problem solving, the 3G swing, building shelters, and sitting round the camp fire with hot chocolate at night.  Our rooms are warm and cosy and we’re getting to know lots of children who’ll be with us in Broxburn Academy next year.  Our last night is tonight and we’re having a disco and movie night tonight.  Mrs McGuire is really proud of all of us: we’ve worked hard; taken part in all activities; and been an absolute credit to our parents and St Nicholas.

Photos will be uploaded when we get out of the wilds and back to civilisation.

See you all soon.

P7 Broxburn Academy Campers

‘Boney’ the skeleton

Look at all the amazing facts we have learned about the skeleton today! #successfullearners

The longest bone in your body is the femur. Maisie

Adults have 206 bones! Laura

Your skull is smooth. Ethan

Your rib cage protects your lungs and heart. Ellie

The stirrup is in your ear and it is the smallest bone in your body. Milo D

When you are a baby you have 300 bones. When you get older some of them join together. Marwa

Your skull protects your brain. Niamh

If you didn’t have bones your skin would fall down. Summer

The pelvis is the biggest bone in your body. Megan

Your spine connects to the back of your brain. Ethan

33 little bones make up your spine. Stephen

Fish and milk help you to have strong bones. Casper

Milk gives us Calcium and fish gives us Vitamin D. Megan

Sunlight gives us strong bones. Milo M

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Medals everywhere!

Primary 3A have been busy during the holidays.

– Well done to Rebecca for receiving this medal and certificate for Highland dancing before the Easter holidays.

– Well done to Maisie for receiving this medal for coming first in a skiing race in Italy during the Easter holidays.

– Well done to Harris for receiving this medal for competing in a duathlon during the Easter holidays.

– Well done to Monde-Jnr for receiving this trophy for coming first in a go-karting time trial.

We are all very proud of our class mates.

TALENT SHOW 2016

WOW! We are so lucky to have a school full of amazing, kind, helpful and talented children in our school! Today some of them took to the stage to showcase their talents at the annual Saint Nicholas Has Got Talent event!

The staff and pupils were blown away by wonderful singing, dancing, gymnastics and taekwondo! Everyone was laughing at the wonderful jokes!

To end the show there was a special surprise as some of the teachers took to the stage to perform! We had been practicing all week after school!

Hope you all had a good time! Enjoy the holidays everyone!

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P1a’s weekly evaluation.

What have we learnt ? 

What have we enjoyed ?

Raqab – I have learnt about Jesus.  He turned water into wine.

I have enjoyed playing with friends.

Flynn – I have learnt that you should never put electricity near water.

I have enjoyed going to gym.

Cole – I have learnt a new sound – ai.

I have enjoyed going to gym.

Lucas – I have learnt that you can do half past on an analogue clock.  The big hand points to six.

I have enjoyed colouring in a picture of Jesus,

P1’s Bring and Buy Sale – Thursday, 17th of March.

Bring and Buy Sale – Thursday, 17th of March.

The boys and girls are really looking forward their ‘Bring and Buy Sale’.  Please hand in donations of good quality toys, games and books for us to sell.  All money raised will go towards our ‘Lenten Charity Appeal’. Donations can be handed in to the office or Mrs Macdonald. Thank you for your support.

Book Week Update.

Today was a super day with lots of great things happening.  What did we do ?

Lots of classes completed their book themed  wall/classroom door.

We brought in books to swap with a friend in our class.  We all went home with a new book.

A different teacher read a story to us.

P5 played ‘Book Cluedo’.  We now have an idea who took Mrs Brown’s books ! All will be revealed tomorrow.

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St Nicholas Book Week

Our ‘Book Week’ got off to a super start today with the boys and girls engaging in lots of great actvitiies including :

Whole school story – P1 started off our whole school story.  After a super discussion and a vote we agreed that the main characters in our story should be animals.  We used our imaginations to start off the story before we passed it over to the boys and girls in P2 who then wrote their part.  The story will visit all of the classes throughout the week with each stage adding their part.  We cannot wait to hear what happens next.

Paired reading – Primary 7 visited the boys and girls in P1 and read stories to them.  The P1’s loved being read to from their special visitors.

P7 went investigating around the school reading clues and looking for pictures of very famous book characters when they played ‘Cluedo’.  They had super fun looking for the culprit who stole Mrs Brown’s books.  I wonder who it was ? All will be revealed soon.P4, P5 and P6 will play this game too throughout the week.

Log in tomorrow for some more news about ‘Book Week’.

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Skills 4 Bills

On Thursday  P7 had a visit from the Royal Bank Of Scotland. We were learning how to handle money and bills for later life. During the afternoon we were all given jobs and a salary and had to decide how to spend our money.  Some of us manage our money well and stayed within our budgets but others  went into debt and had to pay the bank back. Some of us had jobs which paid a high salary and  others were paid much less.

With our money we had to visit  different stations to buy things to live these stations included : the Tax and pensions office,a home, some transport, household  bills , unexpected events, a holiday, entertainment and finally we visited the accountants to see if we had any money left.

Sana thought that it was a good experience and that all the visitor were very nice but very persuasive. Sana got talked into buying more than she had planned to.

Taylor thought that it was very educational  because it teaches us how to handle money.

Murray enjoyed looking at all the different jobs.

Nicole enjoyed being an astronaut.

Carrick thought it was a really educational experience because it showed us how to handle out money for our future lives. The first time he went round he went into debt but the second time he managed his money better and stayed within his means.

We all enjoyed this experience and learned lots about managing our money and not spending it all on the thing that we don’t need.

A big thank you to Mr Heather and his colleagues for coming to our school.

By Sophie and Rachael

 

 

Primary 1a’s ‘Weekly Evaluation’.

What have we learnt ?

What have we enjoyed ?

Anum – I have learnt a new sound – oa.

I have enjoyed going to gym.

Lara – I have learnt a new sound –  all.

I have enjoyed gym as well.

Anya – I have learnt a new sound – all.

I have enjoyed going out to play.

Luca – I have learnt all about clocks.  The big hand points at 12 that means o’clock.

I have enjoyed playing with the clocks.

Fairtrade Challenge!

FAIRTRADE

Last week we completed the Fairtrade Challenge in Primary 6 and it was great fun!

We were all in groups and represented different countries. Each country had an envelope and resources inside. The aim was to make paper shapes and trade them into the ‘bank’ for money.

But… it wasn’t very FAIR… ‘poorer’ countries didn’t have all the resources to begin with so they had to trade with the richer countries! The bankers and leaders Miss King and Miss Miller weren’t always fair either… the rich countries seemed to be making lots and lots of money!

It was all very heated and frantic as representatives from different countries tried to trade with each other as the clock ticked on.

We learned that trade between countries isn’t always fair, and that richer countries should do their best to help poorer countries to get the best deal. We agreed that we should always try to buy items that have been traded fairly. Now we understand more about how countries work!

Peer Learning P3 and P6!

This week Primary 6 visited Primary 3 nd 3/2 to teach them all about the History of Industries in Broxburn. The Primary 6 children created powerpoints filled with information about the Shale Oil industry and what it was like to live and work in Broxburn in the past! It was super interesting and we all learned lots! We love sharing our learning and working together! Thanks for listening Primary 3 and 3/2!

PEER LEARNING

Scottish Day in Primary 6

SCOTTISH DAYLast month, on Burns Day Primary 6 had a special celebration of Scotland and enjoyed a wonderful day of preparing Scottish foods, dancing, eating and singing! We wore our best Scottish outfits!

We prepared and tried.. marmalade sandwiches, porridge, shortbread, tablet, oatcakes with Scottish salmon and Orkney cheese. We washed it all down with some delicious Irn Bru!

Isla and Iona preformed some Highland dancing and we all enjoyed singing some traditional Scottish songs. Before the bell rang we all joined in with a wonderful rendition of Auld Lang Syne!

 

Primary 5 Take The Lead With Internet Safety

Primary 5 challenged themselves to create a presentation of their choosing to educate others about how to stay safe on-line.  Some performed songs, others produced detailed posters and yet others produced professional powerpoint presentations.  We learned that the 3 main internet safety rules are:

1.  Zip it (keep information private);

2.  Block it (block any communications from people you don’t know);

and 3.  Flag it (let a trusted adult know if something concerns you).

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Primary 6 Special Visitor!

IMG_6722Yesterday Primary 6 had a very special surprise when Olivia came back to visit us! Olivia moved to Newcastle at Christmas time and we have really missed her since she left St Nicholas! Olivia was on holiday from school and was telling us all about her new class, teachers and friends. Please come back and visit us again Olivia!

 

 

Dangers Of Second Hand Smoking

For the last few weeks Primary 7 have had Michelle and Janet from the West Lothian Drug and Alcohol Service coming in to talk to about Drug and Alcohol Education. Over the past three weeks we have looked at what is in a cigarette, the harmful side-effects of smoking, what might happen to our bodies if we smoke, the pressures we might face from peers, the effects of second hand smoke.

This week we focused on  looking at the dangers of  second  hand smoking and how it could affect us. First we started with a group discussion about smoking free zones. Then after that we played a game all about where you can find second hand smoking. The two main places you can easily breath in smoke are our homes and cars. When you are outside and somebody walks past smoking you can only see the smoke for about ten to twenty seconds, after that it disappears from sight however it will stay in the air for around five hours. You don’t know if you are breathing in this smoke because you can’t see it, that is why second hand smoke is so dangerous.

After we played the game we had a evaluation to fill in and it was about what we have learned, what we liked and disliked and how we felt about the whole smoking lessons.  The government are planing to that by 2034 less that 5% of the Scottish population will smoke.  We were given a pledge  about Smoke Free Homes & Zones to take home and discuss with our parents. In the leaflet it has information about second hand smoking, what are the dangers to children and how you can protect your family. This pledge will hopefully help stop 95% for the population in Scotland from smoking and will make a lot of our  lives better.

Everyone in P7 enjoyed learning about the Chemicals, Smoking Sue and the Dangers Of Second Hand Smoking. We would like to say a big thank you to the West Lothian Drug and Alcohol team for coming in to help us.


Primary 1a’s Weekly Evaluation

What have we learnt this week ? 

What have we enjoyed ?

Kyle – I have learnt a new sound – oi.

I have enjoyed making the Chinese Dragon.

Santiago – I have learnt more Spanish.

I have enjoyed playing in the area.

Thomas – I have learnt that you can use lots of 1p coins to pay for things.

I have enjoyed going to gym.

Maksymilian – I have learnt that thistles are spiky.

I have enjoyed going to gym.

Grady – I have learnt that Chinese food tasteds nice.

I have enjoyed the mummies and daddies coming to our class.

Football Star Visits Saint Nicks Team!

 

IMG_0900Today the school football team had a very special visitor to their training session when ex Saint Nicholas pupil and current Celtic and Hibs player Liam Henderson came to see us and join in.

The team had the chance to ask the football star some questions, show him their skills and even play football with him in a game. It was a wonderful experience and something we hope they will remember for a long time. At the end of our session the boys all got their photos taken and Liam signed autographs for them.

A huge thank you to Liam Henderson for taking the time to come and visit us and creating an amazing training session for our football team. We wish him all the best for his future in football and we are very proud to say he was part of our school!

Shrove Tuesday

I learned that in Poland they have pancakes on the Thursday before we have them on pancake Tuesday- Freya

I learned that in Wales they kick a can around the streets to remind them not to use their good pots and pans- Molly

I learned that people in Olney have a race for pancake day- Zuzanna

They have the race because there was a woman who was making pancakes, she heard the church bell and didn’t want to be late so she ran to church with her pancake in her pan!- Ruby

I learned that there are 4 countries in the UK- Millie

I learned that Shrove Tuesday is the day before lent begins- Myles

I learned that in the UK different countries celebrate in different ways- Emily

I learned that different countries have different foods for pancake day- James

The Swedish call it “Fat Tuesday”- Ellie

I learned that in Ireland the oldest girl in the family would toss a pancake and if she managed to toss it then she would marry, if she dropped it then she would be single- Clara

I learned that the biggest pancake in the world was 15 metres wide- Mylo

I learned that lent reminds us that Jesus went into the dessert for 40 days- Kordian

I learned that they used up all the eggs, milk and sugar because they weren’t allowed those things during lent- Isla G

 

 

Gong Hey Fat Choy – Happy Chinese New Year

We celebrated Chinese New Year in the nursery today.  We enjoyed noodles for snack, wrote in Chinese characters at the arts and crafts area and had fun pretending to be a Chinese dragon to lovely Chinese music.  
At the end of our nursery day, we took home some lucky Chinese money envelopes with sweets and fortune cookies. Many thanks to Thomas’ mum and Megan’s mum for kindly gifting these for all our boys and girls.

Gong Hey Fat Choy everyone!

 

 

 

Smokey Sue Visits Primary 7

Today after lunch, P7a had a visit from the West Lothian Drug and Alcohol Service. They let us know about the dangers of smoking, and how it affects our bodies, as well as the drugs in the actual cigarettes like nicotine, tar and carbon monoxide. We found out there are between 4000-5000 chemicals in each cigarette.

Smoking 055 Smoking 050 Smoking 052Today we done an experiment with Smoky Sue! Smoky Sue  is a plastic doll with no arms and no legs and really showed us how cigarettes effect our lungs.During the experiment we lit a cigarette outside and pumped the doll so she could breath in the smoke. After the experiment we examined the liquid that would be in her lungs from clear tap water to yellow tar water. This showed us what is going into our lungs if we smoke.

After we played a game to talk about how we might react in situations where we might feel pressure to smoke. This helped us to see what we could do if these situations arise in the future.

So far we have really enjoyed learning about the effects of smoking and are working on some ‘Stop Smoking’ posters. These posters might even be featured in the local health center to encourage people to stop smoking,

Taylor and Ellie

Primary 1a’s ‘Star Pupil of the Week’ and ‘Dojo Champion’.

 

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Well done to Santiago for being this week’s ‘Star Pupil of the Week’.  Santiago has worked hard all week and has had a super attitude to his work.

This week’s ‘Dojo Champion’ is Kacper ! Kacper had the most points, but it was very cloase between him and lots of other children. There was only one point of a difference !  Keep it up everyone. You are all stars.

Money fun in Primary 1.

We have been learning all about money in Primary 1a.  We have learnt that :

Coins have a name – Santiago.

You can add coins together – Kyle.

The gold pennies are a £1 – Michael.

Coins that are old look a bit dirty – Thomas.

We need coins to pay for things  – Niamh.

 

Here are some of us working with real coins in our class.

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Times Table Thursday

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Each Thursday P5 are set different activities to develop their knowledge of the times tables. We have played ‘Beat the Teacher’ to find out who can recite their tables the quickest. Miss Morgan managed the six times table in 11 seconds !! We played multiplication bingo, made multiplication fortune tellers, solved multiplication problems and used online resources to become times tables experts. We had so much fun today with our warm up activity using Mr G’s Musical Maths website. This site provides lyrics and popular soundtracks for times table songs. As the children were keen to practise the songs at home please find the link below.

http://musicalmaths.com/category/teacher-resources/

 

Robert Burns

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Primary 5 have been investigating the life and work of Robert Burns this week. We were very impressed on Monday at our ‘Poetry Recital’ when Finlay was not only able to recite ‘Address to a Haggis’, he was also happy to give us an extract from ‘To a Mouse’. Fabulous work, Finlay!

The children then used luggage tags to create a micro portrait of the bard. We quickly realised that it is quite tricky to add intricate detail to a portrait on a smaller scale. However we applied our growth mindset and were delighted with our finished artworks.

The Shortbread Taste Challenge

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This week Primary 5 were busy baking shortbread. They had to weigh out the ingredients and follow the recipe and then add three different flavourings. Once they were baked we then took the ‘Shortbread Taste Challenge’ with our partners. We had to identify the three favours – vanilla, lemon and strawberry. Vanilla was the most popular flavour but everyone agreed that our shortbread tasted delicious.

Sensational Scots in Primary 5

Primary 5 have been working hard on their Scottish Tourism project.  Last week we learned all about the wildlife in the Highlands and this week we are creating Robert Burns fact files.  Here are some of the children who learned the “Address To A Haggis” word for word as part of their homework challenges this week and others working hard on their art-work…Fantastic work!

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Primary 5 Learn About Local Highlights

Primary 5A and B visited the Library today to listen to “Mrs Rabbie Burns” tell us about tourist attractions in the area.  We heard about the Kelpies, Beecraigs Park, The Five Sister’s Zoo, The Falkirk Wheel, Edinburgh Castle, Mary King’s Close, Edinburgh Zoo, Greyfriar’s Bobby and much, much more!  We were surprised at how many tourist attractions were local!

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Making Music – David Bowie style!

Every Thursday we complete a challenge in Primary 6 where we have to be creative, use our critical thinking skills or solve a problem by working as a team.

Last Thursday we completed a creative challenge, where we learned to write a song through David Bowie’s ‘cut up’ method! We took 3 songs by the Beetles, Stevie Wonder and Queen, and changed them into completely new songs, we made them into raps, added harmonies, changed the lyrics and the backing music. When we listened to the original song we were amazed with how different our versions were, it just goes to show how amazing things can be created when we add all our ideas.

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Busy bees in P1a.

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We have settled in really well after the holidays and have been working well and having fun learning new things.

What have we been doing ?

We have made new year’s resolutions .

We have been talking about how numbers are made up , eg : 3+2 =5

We have been learning how to say a very special prayer , the ‘Hail Mary’.

We have started our new topic , ‘Scotland and Edinburgh’.

Today , we made our very own Scotland flag and learnt that it is called the Saint Andrew’s Cross.

 

Scotland the Best!

Primary 5 A and B have started to work on our “The Wonder of Scotland” tourism project.  We were reminded of our previous work on designing logos when we looked at the iconic designs on these Tunnock’s wrappers.   We were delighted with our “bonnie wee dugs” which we added to some 2016 calendars to take home. (We were also delighted when we got to eat the biscuits!)

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Christmas Concert

Thank you to everyone who came along to our Christmas concert.

Here is a clip of our final song, Feed the World / You are My Brother.

Listen to the children’s clear message about living for justice and peace. For in Jesus name we stand.

Well done to everyone!

From all the staff at St. Nicholas Primary School, have a wonderful Christmas!

Link:

Watch “Christmas Concert 2015” on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/149441655

 

primary 7 gymnastics star!

Taylor in primary 7a has recently appeared in the west Lothian courier for his gymnastics and has been interviewed by the west lothian courier and his own words are in the paper! He also has recently won an award for gymnastics for being one of the people who went to the Celtic cup in march this year in Ireland.The Celtic cup included Scotland,Wales,Ireland and Northern Ireland. Scotland won and thats why Taylor won his trophy!we are very proud of his achievements and we all hope he keeps up the good work! well done Taylor!!!!

Rudey’s last post of 2015

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Primaries 2 and 2/1 were very excited by Rudey’s message this morning.  He has rewarded us for all of our good behaviour and hard work with a popcorn and movie afternoon.  This will be a lovely way to spend our final day with Rudey!  He has really enjoyed visiting our classrooms this year and will be heading back to The North Pole to make the final preparations for Christmas.  Goodbye Rudey, we will miss you!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

 

Love from Primary 2 and Primary 2/1

Storytelling in Scots

Yesterday, our morning and afternoon children were treated to a storyteller who came to visit.  Mr Menzies told the story of the Gruffalo and other stories using the Scots tongue.  The boys and girls learned the words braw (cold) dreich (damp) and bahookie (bottom!)  We had great fun and hope to see Mr Menzies again soon.  Thanks Mr Menzies.

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Christmas Around the World

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There was much excitement in Primary 5b this morning when a parcel arrived from The Netherlands. It contained several beautifully wrapped gifts linked to the recent Sinterklass celebration on the 5th December. Through these gifts we were able to learn more about the Christmas traditions followed in The Netherlands and about our patron saint, St Nicholas. We are looking forward to using these gifts to make some Christmas crafts tomorrow. ‘Zalig Kerstfeest’ from Primary 5.