Thrown Right In

Article 15

You have the right to be with friends and join or set up clubs, unless this breaks the rights of others

After our lovely relaxing Easter break, Primary 5 were thrown right back in – literally!  Destination Judo came along last Tuesday to give us a taster of this modern martial art and it wasn’t long before we were throwing each other to the floor and pinning each other down.  As you can see from the photos, we had a great time and some of us are eager to join the club and try it out some more.   The club is in Broxburn and if we take the flyer along to the first lesson and join, we will be given a free judo suit, so we can look the part straight away.

Primary 6 Visit Edinburgh Zoo!

Article 17

Adults should make sure that the information we are getting is not harmful and help us to find and understand the information we need.

On Thursday P6A and P6B went to Edinburgh Zoo to learn about different life cycles of animals. We saw loads of different animals, from monkeys and apes to the giant pandas. We visited the education centre where we meet Kirsty who talked to use about the differences between mammals and fish and how they bring up their young. We also talked about the different stages in each animals life cycle.

In the afternoon we got a really treat as we visited giant pandas and to our surprise they were awake and moving about. One of the keepers told us that over 2000 people came to see them every day. We also got to visit the new meerkat enclosure and hiked up the big hills to see the Lions and Zebra.

My highlight of the day was seeing the monkeys and the pandas. In the pandas enclosure there was a TV showing the pandas doing different things, at one point it even showed one of the pandas doing a forward roll. The trip to the zoo was very fun and it was interesting learning about all of the different animals and how they live.

By Mirren

Judo Taster!

On Tuesday 22 of April p6 had a taste of the commonwealth sport Judo. The Judo teacher was very funny and the activities were really fun. We learned that speed and strength are very important in Judo and we even got to throw our partners.

Ellie thought it was very fun and different.

Gregor thought the judo was epic and awesome.

Rachael Brown thought it was fabulous.

Some of us are even thinking of joining.

Mathematical Art – Cubism

Article 29

You have the right to education which develops your personality, respect for other’s rights and the environment

We have been busy working on our mathematical artwork, which has been inspired by Cubist painters like Georges Braques, Pablo Picasso and Carlo Rossi.  We learnt that Cubist painters used lots of shapes in their paintings. Sometimes they didn’t even look much like the object they painted.

We took this opportunity to revise our knowledge of the properties of 2D (number of sides and right angles, whether the shape was regular/irregular) and 3D shapes (faces, vertices and edges).

We also used our ICT skills by using Microsoft Office Word to type up what had inspired our own paintings.

Look at some of our masterpieces, or pop in and see them in the classroom!

Friendship Fun!

As part of our assembly preparation we made friendship necklaces in class. We used food colouring to dye pasta tubes to make it nice and colourful and left it to dry overnight. Then the next day, we put the pasta tubes through the string to make vibrant necklaces for a friend in our class. We have been talking about the importance of friendship and have discussed the qualities a true friend should have.

Our ‘Friendship’ assembly is on Friday 16th May and we look forward to showcasing all of our work!

Terrific Ten Pin Bowling!

Primary 5 had a great time ten pin bowling at M and D’s theme park after their visit to Amazonia before the Easter holidays! We ate our lunch in  the arcade then got our shoes changed and into our bowling teams. It was great fun and there were lots of cheers and excitement as people managed to get strikes and spares during  the games!

‘We went on our school trip to bowling at M and D’s. We ate our lunch and got into groups and went to our lanes. Miss King, Mrs King, Mrs Coutts and Mrs Buchanan Coutts all had a shot and every time they got strikes! When we  finished my team had 83 points. We were having so much fun that we had to run for the bus because we were almost late! Luckily the driver was waiting for us.’ Hannah S

‘Bowling was amazing fun! I was in  a group with Callum, Colin, Oliver, Matthew and Lewis. We were all cheering when we got spares!’ Kieran

‘Jack won in our group but I was amazed because I managed to get TWO strikes!’ Louay

‘We were all celebrating when Declan got a strike! Well done.’ Andrew

Plays are fun!

This week in Literacy Primary 4 and Primary 4/3 have been reading a play and acting it out.  They have looked at the importance of scene descriptions and instructions in a play.

From the play the children were able to identify the key moments: who is doing what; what phrases, actions and instructions are important to understand the play.

The children then worked together to put the key events of the play in order and then concentrated on retelling the story in their own words.

It was great fun!

St Nicholas has Certainly Got Talent!

Article 29

You have the right to education which develops your personality, respect for other’s rights and the environment

Well done to all the boys and girls who took part – especially P2/1. Thankyou P1 – P2 for supporting my act – I couldn’t have done it without you – too shy!

The P7’s were brilliant, especially our presenters and the IT guys – who kept their cool at all times!

Rainforest Reading Reaps Rewards

Article 28

You have the right to education

Over the past few weeks, Primary 5 have become authors of both fiction and non-fictions books all about the Rainforest.

After watching ‘The Road to Eldorado’, we began writing our own fictional adventure story for young children.  We had to include lots of imagery so that our audience would really know what it was like in the rainforest.   Our next challenge was to turn our stories into a colourful and well presented picture book with a catchy title.

This afternoon, in groups of three, we read our books to the Primary 1 children.  They all sat really well and listened with bright eyes and welcoming smiles to the adventures.  They all answered questions about the book and some of the P1 children even gave some great feedback!  Our thanks go to them all and we hope you all learned lots of new interesting vocabulary and information about the Rainforest.

Reading in groups of three, gave us all a little more confidence to speak loudly and clearly and by listening to each other, we gained and developed skills in using expression and body language to capture and hold our audience.

Our non-fiction books have been created as a homework challenge and have to be handed in before the Easter holidays.  More details about them at a later date.

Primary 5 Playground Clean Up!

Article 24

We have a right to live in a clean and safe environment.

This week p5 have been out in the playground clearing up all the litter as part of our task from the Eco Club! We had a challenge to see which group could find the most rubbish as there was quite a lot! Please remember to always put your litter in the bin, help keep our school clean and tidy!

Chickens in the Eco Garden!

By Seren

Today I have brought two of my chickens to school to visit the Eco Garden! Everyone tried to save some of their fruit from lunch and we fed them this afternoon! The chickens are called Griffyn and Mars and they really enjoyed meeting everyone in my class, they got some treats and a clap on the head from everyone brave enough! Everyone got a fright when they started flapping! When we came back into the classroom I answered lots of interesting questions about the chickens, everyone hopes they can come back to visit us again soon!

Famous Fudge… Recipe Revealed!

As a special treat for our Mums, on Thursday and Friday last week, Primary 5 made  Milkybar and Oreo Fudge! After a lengthy debate we have finally came to the decision that we should share our ‘secret’ recipe with the rest of the school. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do! If you decide to make it leave us a comment and tell us how you got on!

Ingredients:

400g of white chocolate

1 pack Oreo biscuits

1 tin condensed milk (about 400g)

You will need:

Microwave

Mixing bowls and spoons

Sharp knife (make sure an adult helps you)

Baking Tray

Method:

1. Chop up all the Oreos into small pieces (lots of crumbs will make the fudge look grey!)

2. Break up all the white chocolate and put it in the mircowave (keep checking it incase it burns!)

3. Add the condensed milk to the white chocolate and put in all the chopped Oreos.

4. Mix everything together.

5. Spread the mixture into a medium sizes baking tray, make sure you use grease proof paper or it will stick to the tray!

6. Leave in the fridge over night.

7. Chop into squares and enjoy!

Presents that Protect the Planet!

Last week LUSH  from Livingston Centre visited the St Nicholas to talk to primary 5 about how they source ingredients for their products fairly and in a way that protects the environment. It was very interesting and we all learned a lot about fair trade and about rare ingredients from all over the world!

We were particularly concerned about the use of palm oil in products after our presentation from Joss, Hannah S and Georgia. Luckily LUSH never use palm oil in any of their products.

After their presentation LUSH set up a stall for everyone to buy gifts for their Mum’s for Mother’s Day on Sunday! There were hand creams, bath bombs, bath  jellies and soap bars on offer, the upper area smelled wonderful all day.

There was lots of discussion and mental maths in action as boys and girls from across the school helped each other work out how much they could buy with the money they had and how much change they would receive.

Our Benchball Festival

Phew! We’re just back from a brilliant benchball festival up at Broxburn Academy.  We played in teams against Kirkhill, Uphall, Broxburn, Pumpherston and Holy Family Primary Schools.  We won lots of games and we all had a go. A wonderful time was had by all.  Thanks a million to our adult helpers – Mrs Thomson, Mrs McPherson, Mrs Beagley, Mrs Devine and Mrs Langton.

Have a look at the fun we had.

Equal Rights for All

On Wednesday 26th of March, West Lothian Council hosted an event to showcase the excellent work in the areas of Children’s Rights & Equalities across the region at Inveralmond Community High School.
Along with Mrs Buchanan-Coutts, Mandipa, Kerys, Carrick, Daniel, Mark and Chloe represented St Nicholas.
We set up our stand, sharing just a snippet of the rights education carried out at our school, including the  recent P2 and P2/1 diversity assembly, Send My Friend to School resources, world trade day and Famous Fridays, then prepared ourselves for questions from the vast amount of people who had turned up, including Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People, Tam Baillie.
There was a little bit of time for us to have a look at the excellent work that some of the other schools are doing before Daniel and Carrick, very confidently, stood up in front of the auditorium and introduced the Primary 5 assembly and showed a clip from the DVD of the children singing the Every Child has Rights song.
Chloe and Mark then shared with everyone, their experiences of the digital rights programme they took part in as part of their transition to St Margaret’s academy.

It was a great morning and we definitely showed how, through our work, we contribute to Getting it Right for Every Child.

Reading is a gift that will last a lifetime!

The Scholastic Book Fair has arrived at school and already we have sold lots of fantastic titles! It will be open again tonight at the parents consultations. Books start from as little as £1.99 and don’t forget that you can use your World Book Day £1 voucher.

The school gets money for every book sold.. Please help us to buy lots of lovely new books to inspire, motivate and instil a love of reading in our children.

Thanks for supporting our school!

Personal Account of Glasgow Science Centre

As promised primary 6 have written some personal accounts of our visit to the Glasgow Science Centre.  Below you can read what Caitlin and Ciara got up to when they visited the Science Centre.

Last Thursday me and my class went to the Glasgow Science Centre. The main purpose of the trip was to visit the planetarium as our topic is about Space.

As we arrived, we were told to put our coats and jackets away in the cloakroom. After that we were brought up to the first floor. When I first stepped in I gasped! The whole room was full of different experiments. I tried the young to old computer. First you had to take a picture of yourself, and then it turned you old. I got a fright because I looked a lot like my Gran!

Next we went to floor 2.My faverioute thing in floor 2 was the singing bowl. What you had to do was you wet your hands in the water they had put in the brass bowl. Then you rubbed your hands up and down the handle and the bowl played a tune!

Floor 3 was all about the human body and physical health. The best thing for me was the hamster wheel. It was so cool. First you stepped into the wheel. Then you started to run and the wheel would start to move!

Last of all was the planetarium. That was awesome because we stepped into the room and sat down in our seats. I got a fright because the seats were nearly as far back as a bed. That was because the screen was all over the roof. Suddenly the lights dimed and the woman hosting the show started talking about all the different constellations and how there are 88 recognised constellations. Then we went over the order of the planets. The most interesting facts she told us was that no woman has ever been to the moon. The last one was that in the streets with all the bright lights you can only see 300 stars. In the pitch dark countryside you can see over 3,000 stars! Then the lights went on and we all went back to school.

By Ciara.

As we walked through the colossal doorway I started to get extremely excited about our planetarium visit in the afternoon. Slowly we trudged through into the science centre and made our way up to floor 1.

Once we were all upstairs we were allowed to explore. First I looked at big glass box and there were little particles. The particles were made of alcohol. It was amazing I didn’t know how they formed! Next I looked at a blurry picture of a calm woman but when you looked at the picture in the mirror the picture looked like an angry man!

Then we moved on to floor 2. First I went and looked in a glass box then turned the knob. The ink moved! Next was my faveroiute activity the plasma ball so if you put your hand on the top then gently touched someone else’s finger you could see a spark! Using two keys it was possible to make thunder and lightning!

Then we went onto floor 3 it was all about the human body. We learnt all about arthritis and different disabilities

Finally what we had all been waiting for, the planetarium. It was amazing because right in the centre was a big metal ball it looked just like a giant disco ball! Once we were all seated the lights dimmed and the woman hosting the talk walked on to the small stage, as we all gazed up the woman explained the different constellations. Then she went on to give us lots of different amazing facts, like no woman has ever to the moon. The time flew by and soon we were on our way back towards school.

By Caitlin Mccafferty

P3 and P3/2 go wild!

We began our literacy work by discussing the difference between fact and opinion and sorted statements into these categories.

Our teachers put us into working groups to research a Scottish wildlife animal.  Our task was to find out about their habitat, diet, social grouping, babies and talents. Primaries 5 and 7 were very kind to allow us to use their netbooks to carry out this research.

We used a notebook to record all the facts that we were learning and used these notes to create colourful and informative posters displayed that we have learned.  Today we are going to present our findings to our classmates.

Elise D learned that adders have big sharp teeth.

Sophie K learned that foxes like to eat small animals and sometimes even eggs.

Cole enjoyed recording notes using the netbooks.

Sterling enjoyed making a colourful poster.

Zumba-mania

Primaries 3 and 3/2 put on their fitness gear and took part in the Zumbathon for our Lenten appeal.  Hollie C particularly enjoyed the Battlestar game and Cole enjoyed displaying his moves in the Zumba circle.  Ollie liked the warm up activities as it was helping to get his body ready for the fun exercises.

Nina was a great instructor and made Zumba look effortless and fun!  Here are some photos of us in action.

Ryder Cup Coming Up!

2014 will be a fantastic year for sport in Scotland with the Commonwealth Games coming to Glasgow and the Ryder Cup coming to Gleneagles!

Throughout the year we are looking forward to many opportunities to try out  different sports and activities at school.

This week golf coach Macrina Crawford visited the school and ran fantastic taster sessions with Primary 5a, Primary 5b and Primary 6b. We were learning all about different types of clubs (putter, driver etc) and when is best to use them. We were playing group games that involved different golf shots and Macrina was very impressed with the promising talent from St Nicholas! Next week Macrina will be visiting primary 6a, 7a and 7b, look out for the photographs!

If you are interested in learning more skills Macrina will be running a 7 week Clubgolf programme for children aged 6-12 at Binny Golf Club, for more information parents can contact macrinacrawfordgtf@hotmail.com

Basketball Team

St Nicholas Basketball team had another successful day at the monthly schools basketball meet in Deans Community High school. We are currently in 3rd place in the Elite league but are only 1 point behind Williamston primary who are league leaders. Coach Hazel was happy with the effort of her players but said she will have to work on shooting accuracy which cost the team dear against Williamston in a very tight game.

Meet St Nicholas Football Team!

Meet the Primary 7’s from the St. Nicholas Football Team!

So far the team, along with Lewis and James from primary 6, have competed in 2 tournaments at the Albyn Park organised by the Broxburn United Sports Club. We have been playing against Broxburn Primary, Uphall Primary, Kirkhill Primary and Pumperston and Uphall Station Primary.

Our first tournament was on 29th November and we won every game.

Our second tournament was on 21st February and we won 5 of the games we played and lost 1.

On Friday 4th April we will be playing again at Albyn Park at 1.3opm. All are welcome to come and watch! We would love to see some supporters cheering on the school team!

HUGE THANK YOU!

A huge thank you from everyone at St Nicholas to Neil Gorman at Piggy Print for providing us with the fantastic football strips for the team and being our sponsor!

PRIMARY 6 TEAM

We are hoping to recruit a second team to play in tournaments from children in Primary 6! If you are interested in joining the Primary 6 football team please see Miss King or Mr Valentine as soon as possible!

Zumba-thon!

Primary 4/3 and Primary 4 really enjoyed Zumba. Here are some pictures of us dancing. It was fantastic.

Isla – “It was lovely to see Nina again and it was great fun!”

Erin- “We learned some dance routines.”

Lennon – “It was an exciting and fun.”

Emma- “We had a dance off which was cool!”

Jack – “When we were dancing it was so hot but good.”

Michael – “It was very energising.”

Iona – “It would be fun for all the family.”

HELP US SAVE THE RAINFOREST! Reduce the amount of Palm Oil you eat!

By Hannah S, Georgia and Joss

We have been speaking to the P5 classes about what palm oil is and how using it is damaging to the rainforest because people are tearing down all the trees to get it.

Palm oil comes from trees that have been cut down to be used for different products of food and for petrols.

It is important that people know about palm oil because using it is leading to deforestation of the rainforest.  We learned that if we don’t stop cutting down trees the rainforests could all be gone by 2030 when we are 25 years old! It would be sad if our grandchildren would not be able to learn about the rainforest when they are at school and see how the tribes of the rainforest live, or the great plants and animals.

You should try and reduce the amount of palm oil that you eat but we are not saying not to eat anything with palm oil in it just try not to eat lots of it. We are trying to tell everyone so that we can help to save the rainforest!

At the weekend we went to the shop Lush in Livingston Centre and we told the shop assistant about our rainforest topic, she told us all about the products they make that have no palm oil. One product that has palm oil in it is toothpaste but Lush sells something called Toothy Tabs which are like minty sweets you crush and then you brush your teeth (like a mini bathbomb in your mouth!) Toothy Tabs have no palm oil. We told the class we had a surprise for them and they had to bring in their tooth brushes, at the end of our talk we gave everyone a Toothy Tab to try!

Easter Egg Competition

P2/1 are holding a competition to design / decorate an egg.

Each entry costs 20p. All entries to be returned by 9am on Monday 24th March to Mrs Hopkinson Room 4.

You can use any materials but only the egg should decorated – so keep within the image.

The competition will be judged by one of our visiting specialists. 3 chocolate eggs up for grabs!

Minion Mania

Well, our first community movie night was a huge success.   The popcorn was served up thick and fast and the cushions were placed in just the right spot for watching the minions in action in Despicable Me 2.  The evening was not just a way to fund raise, although we did raise a whopping £340 for our Lenten appeal, it also encouraged our school family to get together in the same building for a memorable and interactive experience.   We look forward to seeing more of you, especially more parents, at our next film night which we hope to organise for next term.

Authors Live Illustration Slam!

P7 had pens, pencils and paper at the ready this morning when they joined in a live event with top author/illustrators Debi Gliori, Chris Riddell and Piet Grobler.

The illustrators were battling it out to see who was the quickest on the draw and who could conjure up the best and most unique drawings to inspire us to write stories.

Authors Live is a joint production between Scottish Book Trust BBC Scotland Learning and is funded by Creative Scotland as part of the 2014 Cultural Programme.

What’s in a graph??

Primary 5 have been learing all about data handling.  We carried out surveys around the school, recorded the data and created either a pictograph or bar graph to show our information.  The graph had to be labelled correctly and include three questions about the information.  We then moved around each graph, interpreting the graphs and answering the questions.  Some were definititely harder than others!!

Rainforest Challenge

Primary 5 have been set a new homework challenge:

Learning Outcome:

I can write to transfer information.

 

Rainforest Topic Book

Challenge

Skill/Disposition Targeted:

Research and Investigation

Creative thinking

Essential Knowledge/Questions (s)

The world around us – use a variety of skills to demonstrate an understanding of knowledge and ideas.

Challenge:

 You are now very knowledgeable about the rainforest, but during our lessons and investigations you may have discovered that the topic books available have not fully met our requirements.  You are therefore going to design and create your own topic book to be displayed and available for others to use in our school library.

Your challenge is to present your information in a well presented non-fiction book.  Within your book you should clearly describe how life in the rainforest differs from ours.  Your readers will be particularly interested in topics listed below and if you are looking for your book to be displayed in the library, you should include at least 4 full pages of information, each on a different topic, in a mixture of written and art work.

  • Facts: location, weather
  • Plants: layers, purpose
  • Tribe life: roles of the family members, what homes look like, jewellery.
  • Animals: categories, food chain.
  • Conservation: what is happening? How can we help?
Product Criteria:

Rule:

  • Each learner must produce an informative topic book.
  • Your book should highlight the differences between lifestyles and cultures in the rainforest with that of Scotland.
  • Your book should be completed and handed in on Thursday 3rd April.

Form:

  • Front cover
  • Contents page
  • At least 4 subject chapters.
  • Clear and neatly written information with correctly spelled words and appropriate punctuation.
  • Detailed artwork relating to topical subjects.
  • Glossary
  • A fun page
Process Criteria:

Key Attributes/Performance Criteria:  Creative thinking

 

  • Use your imagination to transfer your knowledge of the rainforest into a creative, informative book.
  • Remember this is YOUR (not your parents) homework challenge so use your time wisely!

To help you succeed, we have already created a detailed success criteria:

Rainforest Topic Book Challenge

Handed in on time                                                   1 point

Front cover                                                             1 point

Contents/Glossary pages                                        2 points

4 subject areas                                                      4 points

Fun page                                                                  1 point

Neat handwriting                                                    2 point

Clearly written in own words                                  3 points

Appropriate punctuation

(capital letters, full stops, commas, question

marks and exclamation marks)                               2 points

Correctly spelled common words and topic

Words                                                                     2 points

Detailed art work                                                   2 points

There will be an additional 5 floating points awarded by the teacher for exceptional effort above and beyond usual capabilities.

Total             25 points

Gold certificate            18 points or above

Silver certificate          14 – 17 points

Bronze certificate        11 – 13 points

Fail                                 10 points or below

Miss King and I are really looking forward to seeing what you can produce to show your new knowledge and understanding of the rainforest!!!  Good Luck

Recycle it!

As part of our Eco tasks, primaries 3 and 3/2 are responsible for emptying and recycling the plastic bottles and cans from the recycle bank in the dinner hall.  We counted a whopping 287 bottles and 6 cans.  Unfortunately, some people have been using the recycle bank as a rubbish bin and we found old sandwiches, pieces of fruit and even a pencil.  This made this a yukky job as the bin was really smelly!  Thankfully Jordan, our janitor, has kindly offered to clean the bins for us.  So we would like to ask that you only put empty plastic bottles and cans into the recycle bin.

Thank you!

Science with Mr Chatterjee

As part of our ‘Human Body’ science topic, we have been looking at various aspects of our body.  We have looked at the skeleton in detail and we are now moving on to look at the digestive system.  Mr Chatterjee, Olivia’s dad and a plastic surgeon, came in to talk to us about our digestive system, our respiratory system, our circulatory system and our nervous system.  He told us all about the work he does, and how he helps people who have had burns or other injuries to their hands.  Mr Chatterjee reminded us all of the importance of being safe around fires, especially at bonfire night.  We learned a lot and we had lots of questions for him.

Thanks for visiting us Mr Chatterjee and please come again soon!

Nursery Pets!

A great morning was had on Wednesday when we had a visit from ‘Pets at Home’ in Livingston. We were delighted to welcome Lewis and Kelly Ann and 2 lovely guinea pigs, a rabbit and a hamster. The children were allowed to stroke the pets and ask lots of questions. we explained that we had our own vet and pet shop in our role play area and that we had been doing lots of art and craft work using pets as our theme. Look out for our displays of cats and dogs. Best of all they left us a beautiful soft and cuddly toy rabbit to play with. He needs a name though so have a think and let us know what you would like to call him. Enjoy looking at the photos.

Primary 1 Measure!

Article 29

Our education should help us use and develop our talents and abilities.

We have been learning about ‘tall’ and ‘short’ in measure. Everyone in the class arranged themselves in height order. We found objects in the classroom which were taller or shorter than 10 cubes and sorted them. We made tall and short trees and flowers from playdough for Fairyland. We even got to measure Jack and the Giant with pencils to see who was taller!

Cool Characters on World Book Day 2014

Today has been a very busy and exciting day at St Nicholas Primary School as we all dressed up as our favourite book characters for World Book Day 2014! The boys and girls made a great effort with their fantastic costumes and we had great fun working out who everyone had come dressed as.

There were lots of beautiful princesses, cool superheroes, wise wizards and lovely fairies around the school, it was a magical place to be. We had Horrid Henry, Harry Potter, Matilda, Billionaire Boy, Gangsta Granny, Fantastic Mr Fox, Cat in the Hat, Oliver Twist… Even Sir Alex Ferguson paid a visit to St Nick’s today!

There were lots of fun activities going on throughout the school; we were sharing our books with friends through paired reading, giving reviews of our books and looking at the ways that famous authors help us to imagine characters in books that have no pictures.

In the upper school we decided to give our area a make over by creating a reading zone! We removed all the books from the shelves and put them into order, moved our book shelves around and started a new display. We can’t wait for the area to be completed so we can make great use of all the fantastic novels in the school and continue to enhance our reading skills. Check back soon to see photos of the finished product when we complete the transformation of our reading zone!

Eco News

Here is the Eco News for this week.

* A letter has been sent to the council RE our Eco Garden and we are waiting for a reply.

* We are going to photocopy the Bee Competition flyers so these will be delivered to your classes very soon.

*  Wiktoria and Iona reported that their talks to P2 and P2/1 went very well.

Quite a few Eco members brought up the subject of litter and we have started making posters to encourage everyone to keep our school nice and clean.

* The No Electricity Friday is going really well and lots of children reported improvements in their classes 🙂

* Our Healthy Tuck Shop is still really busy and we are delighted so many people are using it.

* Seren has also kindly volunteered to help Mrs Reid clean out the brown bins, adding their contents to our compost bin.

* The last meeting of the Eco Club for this term will be Thursday 20th March.

Our Eco Rap

Eco Rap

Put your litter in the bin, in the bin(x2)

It will make the school a cleaner place

Put your litter in the bin, in the bin.

 

Switch the lights off when you can, when you can(x2)

It will save us lots of energy

Switch the lights off when you can, when you can.

 

Keep the GREEN FLAG flying high, flying high(x2)

St Nicholas is a super ECO school

Keep the green flag flying high, flying high.

 

Lots of characters in P3 & P3/2! World Book Day

To celebrate World Book Day, we have all been given the opportunity to come to school dressed as our favourite character from a book that we have enjoyed reading.  Some of us decided to dress up as character’s from the Roald Dahl novels that our teachers have been reading to us in class.  We are going to be involved in some exciting literacy activities to celebrate this special day.

Primary 6 Science and Technology Day

Yesterday Primary 6 were invited along to Broxburn Academy for their annual Science and Technology day. We were all very excited as the hall was packed with loads of children from other local schools and some strange looking experiments and stations.

The first station we visited was called Hovercraft CD. To make these we had to blow up a balloon and attached then to CDs with a closed bottle cap on it. Next we put them on the floor and opened the bottle cap. Since we had opened the bottle cap, the air from the balloon escaped which made the CD slide along the floor.

Next was Outrageous Ooze. First we were asked whether we thought the ooze was a solid or a liquid, we all thought it look like a solid.  The third year pupils asked us to make a snowball out of the ooze but as soon as we scooped some up it melted away. Next we were asked to hit the ooze and amazingly it didn’t splash but if we gently put our hands into the ooze they sunk.  After trying out different experiments with the ooze we found out that it was a solid and a liquid! This is called a colloid.

The third station was called Fizz Pop Rockets, for this one we were given safety goggles. We had to fill a little tub with water and stick a fizzy tablet with onto the lid. We then placed the tub upside in a tray and started our timers. After a few seconds the tub flew up in the air with a pop! This happened because the tablet dissolved in the water releasing a gas called Carbon Dioxide.

The fourth station was microscopes. First we had to pick out some pond weed and put it on a glass slide. Then we looked through the microscope to see the plant cells. After that we were given another strip with brain cells to have a look at.

The second part of our day was all about CDT (craft, design and technology). We had to design and build a skyscraper. First we all planned out a design and then used the straws and tape to build our structure. It was a competition to see who could build the highest structure. The highest tower was over two metres!

After lunch we had a big quiz. Most of the questions were to do with what we had learned throughout the day. The other questions were to do with science and technology. Sadly, St. Nicholas didn`t win but we had a great day!

By Ciara and Kirsty.

Shrove Tuesday

Yesterday P3 & P3/2 celebrated Shrove Tuesday, also known as Pancake Day, by preparing and tasting pancakes.  We reflected on the meaning of this special day and know that it is the day before the start of Lent, which begins on Ash Wednesday.  During Lent we try to do without things and give up things we like.  Here are some photos of us tasting the delicious pancakes in class!

Read, Write, Inc. Curriculum Evening (P1-4)

Thank you so much to those of you who attended the Read, Write, Inc. Curriculum evening that Mrs McGuire and I delivered last night. We hope that you found it useful and that you are now more aware of how we teach phonics and the skills of reading at St. Nicholas Primary School.

If you were unable to attend the meeting please visit www.ruthmiskenliteracy.com or www.oup.com for information about the programme. Please always remember that you are more than welcome to contact a member of staff with regards to any questions that you may have.

Please find links below for the Parent booklet on RWI, the speed sounds charts and a list of the mnemonics used in the early stages. I hope this will be of help to you in supporting your child to become able readers who have a passion for books.

http://www.speechsoundpics.com/resources/ReadWriteInc_letterformation.pdf  – this link will take you to a list of the mnemonics used at the start of the programme. These help the children to recall the letters and to form them correctly when writing them.

RWI simple speed sounds PDF

RWI complex speed sounds PDF

Lenten Appeal

Yes, it is that time of year again and we have various fun activities planned for our children to raise lots of money for our Lenten Appeal.

Tomorrow is of course Ash Wednesday and we will be celebrating Mass at 11am in school. Primary 3 and 3/2 are leading the Mass.

We will kick off our Lenten Appeal with the Silver Snail Trail. Children are encouraged to build a large snail on the floor made of silver coins – Let’s see if we can make the biggest snail ever this year!!

Please see the timetable for activities – click the link below..

Lenten timetable PDF

Achievements outside of school

Primary four have been very busy in the last few weeks outside of school.  Have a look at the medals and certificates we have received.

Isla was given these certificates after taking part in a swimming gala. She also received a certificate and medals for coming second in a Modern Dance competition. She passed her exams with distinction.

Finlay was awarded this bronze medal after taking part in a Judo competition at the weekend.

Our Library Trip

P4 and P4/3 had a wonderful trip to Broxburn Library today.  Diane read us lots of stories – they were very funny.  We are looking forward to visiting the library again soon, perhaps with our parents at the weekend.  We promised Diane that, as a thank you, we would help decorate Broxburn Library with some lovely Easter artwork.

Thanks to Mrs Ferguson, Rachel’s mum, for coming with us today.

P2/1 and P2 Carryout a Traffic Survey

Today we looked at the traffic that passed at the top of the school road.

Beth – -‘The traffic was busy and when the cars were not coming it was quiet.’

Harry – ‘Huge trucks and little cars went by.’

Ewan – ‘Double decker buses passed by.’

Kieron –  ‘I saw a zebra crossing.’

Stella – ‘I saw some lamp posts – so in the dark people who are driving can see other traffic going by.’

Josephine –  ‘I saw vans,’

Thomas – ‘ I saw cars.’

Aimee –  ‘I saw buses.’

Kenzie – ‘ I saw 96 cars!’

Sophia – I saw vans driving.’

Clara – ‘… and cars were zooming.’

Rhys – ‘Lorries and vans were going by.’

Marvellous Multiplication!

Primaries 3 and 3/2 are busy learning all about the 2 and 5 times tables.  We have been involved in active games and we have made multiplication posters to help us remember the number facts.  Miss Crease even made up a song to help us remember the multiples! We have also been using ICT to help us develop our knowledge of these tables by playing Number Gym and Table mountain on the Smart board and laptops.  Our teachers have asked us to keep practising the tables using our green jotters each night as part of our homework.  It is important to have a quick and accurate recall of these table facts.

Second Gold for Scottish Acrobat!

Taylor proudly showing his Gold medal.

On Saturday 1st March, Ravenscraig Sports Centre in North Lanarkshire hosted the Scottish Gymnastic Championships and our very own Taylor Stirling (P5A) was there to participate in the Acrobatic Section of the competition. 

Acrobatic Gymnastics includes partnership work on the floor. This discipline is both physically and psychologically demanding. It involves gymnasts working closely together, building up trust and responsibility for each other and developing skills in balance and dynamic elements. Acrobatic Gymnastics combines the skill and activity of the gymnast, expressive movement and artistry of a dancer and the courage and excitement of the acrobat.

Although Taylor was extremely nervous about the competition on Friday, he put all his worries to one side to out-perform all the other athletes and along with his partner, topped the table for the second year running and walked away with the Gold Medal!

This is a tremendous achievement and we are all extremely proud of Taylor  – Scottish Acrobatic Champion 2014.

Digital Rights and Responsibilities!

Article 17

You have the right to get information that is important to your well-being, from radio, newspaper, books, computers and other sources.

Last week we had a class discussion about digital rights and responsibilities when using technology. We carried out a matching task linking digital rights and responsibilities. Next we looked at Graphic Manipulation where we learned how to crop, add transparency, export and save the finished graphics.

Today we are looking at Storyboarding – planning storylines and using software to develop skills of combining text and graphics to tell a story.

Our extension task is to create an animated version of the story using text, graphics and control instructions.

FIZZ, BANG… BOOM!

Remember our blog post all about our science topic of ‘Solids, Liquids and Gases’?

We told you all about our cool experiements and our very sucessful  bathbomb business. When Miss King and Mrs Buchanan-Coutts asked us what we would like to spend our profits on we decided we’d like to book a mad scientist to take over our classrooms and turn them into laboratories! Well on Wednesday we got exactly that…

Robin and Lucy from the Edinburgh International Science Festival arrived bright and early and unpacked their van of exciting experiments! We were amazed when we entered our classroom all set up for some super science and eagerly put on our goggles, gloves and aprons before our safety briefing!

We worked in groups to complete experiments on different chemical reactions and test whether different liquid and powders were acids or alkali! We discussed the chemical reaction that happens when a party popper goes off and then Robin and Lucy showed us their gigantic version of a party popper that created a burst of heat, light and sound in our classroom! We were very impressed!

This was a great way to revisit our learning and experience working in a real laboratory! We had a fantastic day!

If you are interested in learning more about science or seeing some really cool experiments the Edinburgh Science Festival 2014 runs during the Easter holidays from the 5th until the 20th of April, you can find out more about the events they will have on at http://www.sciencefestival.co.uk/

Trading all over the world!

Article 5

Adults have the responsibility to help you learn to exercise your rights, and to ensure that your rights are protected.

World trade rules are unfair and often disadvantage developing countries.  Today, Primary 5 explored international trade issues to try and find out how this has happened.

We were divided into ten groups, each representing a different country:

  • A most developed country (e.g.France, Canada)
  • A less developed country (e.g. India, South Africa)
  • A least developed country (e.g. Honduras, Kenya)

Each country was given an envelope containing raw materials (e.g. paper) and/or technology (e.g. scissors). The materials and technology differed from country to country, according to their level of development. With the contents of their envelopes, the countries were asked to produce shapes; each shape representing a monetary value they could redeem by depositing in either the Bank of Deas or Valentine’s Bank. The goal of the game was to gain as much wealth as possible.

It didn’t take long for us to discover that the contents of our envelopes were not equally distributed; some did not have enough raw materials or technology to produce any of the shapes. In order for us to do so, we had to negotiate and trade with other countries.

Everyone soon become extremely engaged in the game and there was a real buzz about the room. We were eager to produce tip top shapes and were very active in negotiating and trading with each other. However, there was some very underhand dealings going on! Not all countries were cooperative and helpful; selling resources at astronomical costs, counterfeit goods were being cashed in at the bank, there was dodgy trading at one of the banks and even some materials being sold on the black market by Miss King!!

The afternoon was a great success, especially for Canada who earned an impressive £22,000.  Everyone gained a better understanding of the situation Third World countries find themselves in such as Tanzania who only managed to bank £3,150.

Well done to everyone involved.

I’m a Primary Five… Get Me Out of Here!!!

This week primary five have had great fun learning about different foods that have come from the rainforest… BLINDFOLDED!

We were amazed that Miss King and Mrs Buchanan-Coutts didn’t have to travel to South America at the weekend and they managed to find all these exotic foods in Asda! We were able to tell from the pacakaging exactly where each item had come from… Peru, Columbia, Brazil! Some of the fruits included mango, banana, pineapple, grapefruit, sharon fruit, coconut, physilis.

Everyone had a shot at being blindfolded and had to say what the food smelled like, felt like and most importantly tasted like! Then we all tried some. It was great fun especially when we were pretending they were spiders or bugs and we were on a rainforest gameshow! We tried to capture some reactions with the camera!

Well done to all the boys and girls, they all had a go and tried most of the foods! Some people even tried foods they thought they didn’t like and changed their minds!

We are going to choose our favourite of all the foods we tried and present our findings in charts, graphs and tables during our maths next week. Which of the foods do you think will be the most popular?

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