Tag Archives: Science

School News

Another busy week in P3 and P3/2

Leave a comment

We have been working hard in P3 and P3/2 this week. Read all about our learning.

Maths and Numeracy

We have been learning about time and looking at digital and analogue clocks and saying the right time we were looking at half past and o’clock.  We have played time games on the ipads and matching games. We played a board game all about time too which helped us see the time on an analogue and digital clock

We read the story Pezzettino and created creatures using blocks and squares. We had to use fractions when colouring the creatures.

Science

We have continued with Sun moon and stars . We know the moon spins around us and we spin around the sun. The moon takes one month to go around the earth, the earth takes one day to spin round. The earth and moon take one year to spin round the sun.

Literacy:

We worked on our class novel The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark; we made predictions about what we thought might happen in Chapter Two. We also created questions to ask our partner about what chapter 2 was all about. We have continued to learn about cursive script in handwriting.   We also picked new Accelerated reader books.

PE

In P.E we were skipping with ropes.  It was tricky but fun.

RERC:

This week we were learning about belonging. We belong in the school community, the church community, in our families.

Outdoor learning

We made bird feeders and hung them outside with bird food in them so that we can see the local wildlife.

Health and Wellbeing:

We checked our trusted adults in health and wellbeing. We were also learning about resilience and about trying again after making a mistake. We were also talking about our zones of regulation and how we can feel different feelings throughout the day.

Art

We added trees to our warm and cool colour landscapes using black oil pastels. They look fantastic.

Primary 2, Primary 3

Happy New Year from P3 and P3/2

Leave a comment

This week P3 and P3/2 have been very busy.

In Numeracy, we have been learning about time.  We have been learning about how long many minutes/hours/days/years are in a given time.  For example we know that 1 minute is 60 seconds and there are 52 weeks in one year.

In Art, we have been learning about hot and cold colours. We know red, yellow and orange are warm colours and blue, purple and green are cold colours.  We created a background of a sky using either hot or cold colours.  Next week we will add to the background

In Literacy, we have been learning about a and an.  We know we use an when words start with a vowel – a, e, i, o and u.  We have been continuing to learn about cursive script. We have been joining letters together.  F is tricky. We started to read the owl who was afraid of the dark.  We will use this book for literacy lesson and it links to our new topic about sun, moon and stars.

We have started our new topic which is sun, moon and stars.  We thought about what we know and what we would like to learn. We can’t wait to get started next week.

We have completed some assessments this week so that we can see what we remember and what our nest steps in learning will be.

In PE we were learning about fitness.  We completed lots of circuits.

In Music, we were learning about Scottish music.  We will be singing the songs soon.  We also looked at percussion instruments.

Thank you for reading our blog.  We have enjoyed being back at school.

 

Primary 2, Primary 3, School News

Quick week in P3 and P3/2

Leave a comment

Primary 3 and Primary 3/2 have been working hard again this week.  We have been using our snapshot of learning jotters this week so that we can share our learning at home.  We can’t wait to bring our jotters home to show off our hard work.  Read all about our learning below.

In Literacy, we have using our mighty writer board to  write a story about an alien.  We have been trying to use adjectives and good openers. We have also been working on our comprehension skills after reading our class reading book.  We are working very hard on our cursive script.  We have tried to use lines in our  snapshot jotters this week so we can show our family our hard work.

In Numeracy, we have been learning about tessellation.  We know that tessellation is tiling with shapes and that there should be no gaps in the tiling. We created a tessellation using numicon, cuisenaire rods, on the laptop and on paper.

In Science, we have been learning about sound. We had to listen carefully to some sounds and guess what was making the sound.  We got some of them correct but some were tricky.

In Art, we have been learning about using line to create a pattern.  We created an image of a face with crazy hair to show all the different types of lines we could create.

In RERC we have been learning about St Andrew as it was the feast day of Saint Andrew this week.  Ask us about some facts we know about St Andrew.

In our pupil participation groups we have created a image or mascot for our group.  We had to work together to create the image.

This week we have also started to learn some new songs for a carol concert.  We are very excited as we will get to share these songs with our school community and parents.

School News

P3 and P3/2 hard at work

Leave a comment

This week we have been learning lots of new things.

In Literacy, this week we were learning about a recount. We know that a recount needs to have a title, orientation, sequence of events and a personal comment.  We looked at a piece of writing about helping mum then we wrote our own recount of our morning before school.  We also completed a Fantastic Mr Fox Blankety Blank activity.  We had to think of words that would make sense in the story.  We have continued to learn how to write more letters in the cursive script. We had more time today to write on our own during Free Writing Friday.  Some people wrote a story and others wrote about their weekend.

In Numeracy, we have been learning about ordering numbers. We know that we are looking for the smallest number of ones, tens or hundreds to find the smallest number.  We have been continuing to count in 2s, 5s and 10s forwards and backwards.

In Science, we were learning about polar animals.  Some examples of polar animals are polar bears, arctic foxes, seals and penguins.  We completed an experiment about melting ice. We found that when the ice melts the volume of water increased.

We have completed our display in the area about Noah’s Ark.  We have retold the story on a video to add to our display.

We looked at the artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo. We know that he used fruit, vegetables and flowers in his art work  We tried to create an image of our face using fruit and vegetables.

We have completed some daily miles this week.  We have given a high five on the daily mile and also found some wildlife.  P3 found a butterfly and a squirrel.

We also took part in the Hula Hut tournament yesterday. P3’s team name is unstoppable P3 and P3/2’s team name is Rock and Roll P3/2.  We worked very well together to create our name, flag and knock over lots of hula huts.

We also looked at the zones of regulation and how we feel at each zone.  We are going to start a daily check in to show how we feel.

 

 

Primary 2, Primary 3, School News

Fun and learning in P3/2

Leave a comment
Another busy week in P3/2. Keep reading to find out what we have been doing.
In literacy, we have been learning more about information reports. We know we need to use present tense when we are writing an information report. We have continued to learn more about cursive script and have been trying to write some capital letters this week. We have been learning how to use contractions.  We know you use a apostrophe to replace the missing letters. For example do not =don’t, could not = couldn’t.
In numeracy, we have been using the empty number line strategy. We have tried lots of different subtraction sums. We have been putting a 100 square together and using our knowledge of number to work out where all the parts go.
In RERC, we talked about the Eucharist and how we need to be thankful. We tried to write a thanksgiving prayer to God. We thanked him for our family, friends, nature and His love.
We have used the laptops this week to help us learn to type and find the keys on the keyboard.
We had the first part of our sports day this week.  We had to races against our year group in lots of different races. It was a fun and lovely morning. We cannot wait for part two!
We were learning about fossil fuels in our energy topic. We know that coal and oil are found underground. We use energy everyday.
In Expressive Arts, we looked at the artist Piet Mondrian. He painted pictures with lots of different squares and rectangles. He could make lots of different pictures out of the shapes. He used primary colours in his art work.  These are red, yellow and blue.  We created our own picture using a ruler and the primary colours.
In HWB, we were thinking about how we can make the world a better place to live in.  We thought about the sustainability goals and how we can help the world.
This week have been presenting to our class about our hobbies.  We have learned all about painting, football, cricket, gymnastics, roller skating, swimming and cars.  The talks were fantastic!
Primary 2

Yet another busy week in P2!

Leave a comment

In maths, we were revising our knowledge about acute, obtuse and right angles. We also learned about greater than >, less than < and equal to =, signs and we used these to help us compare the sizes of different angles. As well as that, we were learning about kilograms and grams. We were using a scale to check how heavy various objects are. We were counting in 2’s, 5’s and 10’s and to help us with number talks, we used ten frames.

In literacy, we were writing our senses poem about spring and because we were learning about onomatopoeia (words that describe different sounds e.g. woof, bang, ping etc.), we included that in our poem too. Of course, we practised our handwriting too and practised the second hundred’s fry’s words. Some of our pupils presented the stories they wrote at home, those stories were special as they had to contain Scottish words.

In R.E., we were learning about the miracles performed by Jesus and we watched bible stories about that.

There are many living things around us, and not all of them are humans. For science, we went on a minibeast hunt! It was so fun! We used a magnifying glass to get a closer look at the little creatures and marked them off on our worksheets. We’ll continue the work next week. 🙂

For health and wellbeing, we were talking about good friendships, what they are made up of and what skills we need to possess to be a good friend.

We all know how important it is to have lots of exercises. For P.E. Mr Muldoon took us outside and we were throwing bean bags!

 

Kind Regards,

 

Mrs Koziel

Primary 2, Primary 3, School News

Lots of work in P3/2

Leave a comment
P3/2  have been working hard this week. Keep reading to find out what we have been learning this week.
In Literacy,  we have been learning about the features of an information report. We know that an information report needs a title, general statement, a description and an evaluative statement at the end.  In Grammar, we have been learning about irregular past tense verbs. We know that you cannot just add ‘ed’ to the end of these verbs. An example would be swim and swam.  We are continuing to learn how to form our cursive script.
In Maths, we finished our money topic this week, rounding off by learning to use an empty number line to calculate change. We also created some money posters to show what we have learned about coins and change. We have started to learn about rounding to the nearest 10. We know that if the number has a 1,2,3,4 in the ones column we round down to the ten before the number and if there is a 5,6,7,8,9 in the ones column we round up to the next tens number. We enjoyed playing lots of rounding games such as bingo.

In Health and Wellbeing, we have continued to learn about regulation strategies which is the yellow cog. We thought about our worries (triggers – the blue cog) this week and chose a regulation strategy that we could use when we feel these worries.  We know that we can have big and small worries and we can think of different strategies to help us with these worries.

In RERC, we have learned about Pentecost. We know this is when the Holy Spirit came to the Disciples and blessed them with the gift of speaking all languages to share the good news of Jesus. We know that the disciples then spread the good news around the world.

In PE, we were playing team games to try to earn points.

In Social Studies, we have continued our learning on climate zones, focusing on the Mediterranean climate. We know about the countries, weather, food and languages that are spoken in this climate. We made tourism posters to advertise holidays in this climate. We also look at animals that live in the temperate zone and we tried to draw a picture of a hawk.

In Science, we have started a new topic about Energy. This week we have created a mindmap to show our understanding of the different types of energy we have in our world. We know energy makes things happen.

Primary 2, Primary 3

What a week in P3/2

Leave a comment

P3/2 have had another busy week. Keep reading to find out more:

In Numeracy,  we have been learning to calculate change. We have been using our subtraction strategies for this. We enjoyed playing lots of games to practise giving change. Our favourite game was on the laptop – it is called Toy Shop Money Game.

In Literacy, we  have  been learning about pronouns and wrote some sentences to practise using them correctly. In Writing, we have been learning about characterisation and we made a character profile for a Disney character thinking about their internal and external traits.  We have been continuing with our cursive handwriting this week.

In HWB,  we discussed all the different ways that we can keep healthy.  We know we eat healthy, drink water, sleep, brush our teeth and wash our hands. We also learned about the Yellow Cog (emotional triggers)  and identified strategies to help us.

In Science,  we have continued to learn about the skeleton and in art we made skeleton pictures using paint and cotton buds. We also tried to identify the bones as we painted.

In RERC we have been learning how to pray the Rosary this week. We have also discussed each Joyful Mystery of the Rosary.

In Social Studies,  we have been learning about desert animals and how they have adapted to live in their environment. We created a slide on our laptops about a desert animal and shared them with our class.

What a busy week.

Primary 2

This week we have been…

Leave a comment

 

  • Learning about the new sound ‘ea’ e.g. leaf, read, dream etc.
  • Learning about verbs, we know that all action words are verbs e.g. painting, singing, dancing etc.
  • Practising our handwriting with the letter ‘M’ ‘m’ and ‘N’ ’n’, we know how important is to have good handwriting.
  • Learning about giving change from 20p. We were using the smartboard, toy shop and worksheets to familiarise it more.
  • Learning about maths through a story where we were talking about a shopping basket and the items we could buy. We were thinking about how many items we could have all together.
  • We also have been learning about Queen Margaret of Scotland who was a great Saint.
  • Learning about our next sense which was taste.
  • In big writing, we wrote a recount story about the book; ‘Never bite a tiger’.
  • We also have been learning about emotions. We were talking about behaviour, then we analysed why sometimes our body is red, or why we cry sometimes.
  • To learn about anti – bulling, we had the discussion about situations which are not very nice and about what to do if something like that happens around us.

Have a lovely weekend,

Mrs Koziel

 

 

Primary 2

Have a look at what we have done.

Leave a comment
  • This week we were practising our sentences and we remembered about capital letters, finger spaces, adjectives, and full stops. Also, we were learning about the sound ‘ee’, ‘oo’ and ‘ck’ as well as reviewing the previous sounds which we have learnt before. In our Big Writing, we wrote a ‘Friendship Recipe’ and that was a very interesting experience. We were learning about past tense (eg. adding ‘ed’ at the end of a word or changing  ‘go to went, see to saw, buy to bought’ etc.)
  • We also were learning about differences between a fact and opinion. We know that a fact must be proven and opinion is only our point of view.
  • At Maths we practised counting in 2s forward and backwards and we were looking for the most effective way to make a number using the Rekenrek.
  • We were working hard to learn how to analyse data using pictures and Bar Graphs and also Tally Charts.
  • In RE we were learning about All Saints and All Souls Day. We were praying for the people who died in our families.
  • In Science, we were learning about senses. The next sense which we were learning about was sight. We know how important all the senses are.
  • In Art, we were making our Remembrance Pebbles. We painted them white and then we drew lovely poppies on them. We also made firework art when we were learning about staying safe during Bonfire Night.

 

I hope you will have an amazing weekend.

 

Kind Regards,

 

Anna Koziel

Primary 2

We had a lovely week!

Leave a comment
  • At literacy, we were learning about recount stories using First, Then, Next, Lastly. We tried to include all our success criteria: capital letters, finger spaces, full stops and wow words. We were practising our handwriting and now we know a new sound: ‘ph’ e.g. pharmacy, elephant, Sophie or photograph.
  • At maths, we have been learning about 3D shapes properties: faces, vertices and edges.
  • For RE, we have been learning about St Ruth and St Jude Thaddeus, we know how good these people were and that they listened to God.
  • In Spanish, we were reviewing our knowledge and we were learning how to say: ‘Can I go to the toilet, please?’ ‘Puedo ir al bano?’
  • In Science we were learning about senses, the first sense which we were learning about was hearing.
  • We also had a chance to do some experiments this week. We know that hand gel with alcohol is flammable so after using it we should not go too close to a fire. Next, we have drawn spiders on a tin foil, poured a little bit of water over it and our spiders became alive. J The most interesting was the experiment where we created a vacuum inside the upside-down glass with the help of a little candle.
  • We also did lots of activities with Mr Muldoon. PE was great!
  • We were learning about emotions. We know that we have lots of different emotions and that our bodies can react differently when we feel in a certain way.
  • Today we came dressed up in Halloween costumes – it was good fun. We decorated pumpkins and talked about how we celebrated Halloween last year as well as how it is going to look like tomorrow.

Have a good weekend everyone.

 

Mrs Koziel

 

Primary 2, Primary 3

P3/2’s week

Leave a comment

Here is some of the things we have been about learning about this week:

  • We have started a new topic – Sun, Moon and Stars. We started to read the story of ‘The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark’. We learned about Plop the baby barn owl who is afraid of the dark.  We looked a description of him and how the author used adjectives to describe him.
  • With rekenreks we have been learning about doubles and near doubles.
  • We have been continuing to practise our handwriting. We have been revising the letters p, h, u and r.
  • We created our own characters in writing. We had to use describing words (adjectives) to describe our characters appearance and how they behave.
  • In numeracy we have been learning about adding 1 , 10 and 100 to a number. We know that adding one changes the ones number, adding ten changes the tens number and adding 100 changes the hundreds number.
  • As this October we were saying a decade of the rosary. We know October is one of the months of Mary.
  • We were using the bee bots and the ipads to do some coding this week with Miss Gibson.
  • We used oil pastels to create an owl image on black card.
  • We had some PE outside and were playing listening games. We are trying hard to improve our listening.
  • In P3 science we thought about sounds we liked and disliked.
  • In P2 science we were learning more about forces and building ramps for toys.

We are looking forward to our October holiday.

Primary 2, Primary 3

Our week in P3/2

Leave a comment

In P3/2:

  • This week we have been learning about Moses and the ten commandments. We know these are important rules that God gave to Moses to share with his people.
  • This week in STEM our challenge was to build a house. We discussed what a house would need and then we worked together to try and build a house using either lego or art straws.
  • We have been learning about fact families. We know that from one addition sum we can find 2 subtraction sums and another addition fact. We have been dice to play a game and a game on the laptops.
  • We have been practising our handwriting this week and practising the letters b and p.
  • We have been counting forwards and backwards in numeracy in 2s, 5s, and 10s.
  • We been looking at a picture and writing sentences about what we thought was happening in the picture. We had to use capital letters and full stops.
  • We have been making numbers  using our rekenreks and trying to calculate sums.
  • We created our own character and then wrote sentences to describe them.  we know we use adjectives  to describe a character in more detail.
  • The P3s were outside on Monday doing a science experiment with musical instruments. We had to think about when we could hear the noise.  We discovered the further away you are from the instrument the less you hear.
  • The p2s we were learning about forces and we were learning about twisting, pushing and pulling. we were using hula hoops to learn about forces.
  • This week we have also been raising money for Macmillan.  We have been guessing the number of sprinkles on a caterpillar cake, dressing down and designing a cup or cupcake.
  • This week we also learned about road safety and that we should be safe by following the rules – stop, look, listen and think.
Primary 2

Busy week in P2..

Leave a comment

Another busy week in P2

  • In literacy we were practicing our handwriting. We want to get really good at letter formation.
  • We were learning about sound ‘ch’ e.g. chop, chip, church etc. We tried to hide those words in the picture.
  • We were developing our reading skills, trying to read our books with expressions.
  • We were also trying to focus on summarising the Gruffalo story. We know that summarising means telling what happened in the story in few sentences only.
  • In Maths we were learning using Rekenrek, trying to focus on how many pushes we need to do to make no 15. We know it can be 5+5+5 or 10+5 or 7+3+5 etc. We know now which way is the most effective.
  • We were also practising ‘Place Value’ using ‘Partitioning Strategy’ e.g. 583 = 500 + 80 + 3
  • In RE we were talking about Triumph of the Cross and also about Mass and Bible. We know that God speaks to us through the Bible. We also know that Bible is divided in two parts: Old and  New Testament.
  • In Spanish we were learning about body parts singing the song: ‘Cabeza y hombros pierna y pies‘ which means: ‘head, shoulders, knees and toes’.
  • We had also fantastic time making faces with shapes as Picasso did in the past.
  • In PE we had lots of fun activities and also we spend time in outdoor learning practicing maths and literacy in the fresh air.
  • We were learning about homes and houses, we now know different types of houses e.g. bungalow, detached, semi-detached etc.
  • In science we continued to learn about forces. This time we were focusing on spinning. That was a good fun.

 

Have a lovely September weekend break and see you all on Wednesday 23.09.20

 

Mrs Koziel

 

Primary 2, Primary 3, School News

P3/2 hard at work

Leave a comment

This week in P3/2 we have been very busy and learning lots of different things. Keep reading to find out what we have been doing.

  • We have been reading Matilda and have been drawing and writing about what makes a good and bad teacher. We would rather have Miss Honey as a teacher than Miss Trunchbull!
  • We have been learning about wants and needs.  We know that a want is something we don’t need to have but is nice to have.  Our needs are medicine, water, clean air, shelter, food and clothes.
  • We have been learning about how Father Jeremy is like the Good Shepherd and looks after us. We are like his sheep.
  • We started to think about our new science topic sound. We thought about what we know and what we would like to learn.  We would like to learn about our ear and how sounds are made.
  • We have been working on some maths and number problems to see what we can remember.
  • We have been looking at a rekenrek and using it to show numbers.
  • We have also been thinking about how we can show numbers in different ways.
  • We looked at the artist Wassily Kandinsky and tried to create our own circle art work.
  • In handwriting we have been practising forming our letters correctly.
  • We practised the Our Father prayer this week.  We know this is an important prayer to God.
  • We have been learning about describing words and how to use them in a sentence to make them more detailed.  We went outside and we were using describing words to describe a stick.

We have had a busy week!

Primary 6, School News

Learning in Primary 6

Leave a comment

A shorter week but a super busy week in Primary 6. We won’t be getting lost after lockdown after learning about directions and grid references on maps.  We are also learning about the process of pollination in our new science topic.  We also created a pic collage of the five things we do each day to keep us happy:

Be more active

Help others

Take notice

Develop relationships

Learn something new

However our most important task this week was to begin to prepare our buddy information for the new Primary 1 pupils. This year we have to be very creative using our digital skills to share information about us and our school so that the wee ones have a smooth transition into starting school.

Primary 2

P2 Home Learning

Leave a comment

Here is what we have been up to this week…

In literacy, we have been revising sounds that we have learned so far using pyramid writing.

We were upskilling our sentences by trying to add WOW words to them and writing a letter to our teacher about what we have been doing during lockdown.

We also completed a book review on one of our favourite books from home.

In Maths, we have been practising subtraction using different materials we found at home e.g. pasta, pencils, blocks. We also completed a subtraction worksheet and played games online.

To develop our Spanish we used videos from YouTube to remind us how to say the colours, numbers and months of the year.

For science, we continued to learn about Forces. We have been exploring different objects that we can push and pull at home and at school.

In Art, we were learning to use textures by finding different materials at home e.g. wool, string, pasta, buttons, feathers etc. to create a picture.

We continued to develop our fitness by completing a Body Coach workout on YouTube.

We reflected with our families about why we should be thankful to God and wrote down 3 things we were thankful for. We also said our own prayers of thanks to God.

 

Primary 3, School News

Busy and fun week in P3!

Leave a comment

We have had a very busy week in P3. We have been learning lots of new things.

Logan – we have created posters about the SHANARRI indicators as part of our health and well being topic.

 

Chloe – we have been practicing the letters k and l in cursive script.  The letter was quite tricky.

Emma – in Music we have been learning to make our rhythms.  we were using the notes ta, te-te and ta rest.

Sadie, Wiktoria, Lena S and Logan- we went to the woods.  we had to find 5 natural objects that we liked.  Then in our groups we had to chose a way to sort them.  we could try size, colour and age. Then we made pictures with our objects.  It was fun! We learned to sort objects.

Weronika – we created cards for the residents of Holmesview Care Home.  We had to write about what we do and where we go to school.  Then we had to draw a picture.

Andrew – in P.E we had to throw the hoops to each other.  We also had to jump into the hoops.

Mara and Emma- in RERC we were listening to the story of Joseph and his amazing coat. We learned that his brothers were not mice to him but he was also not nice to them as he told tales on them.  WE learned not to be mean to each other.  We also learned that God looks after us all even if we are not perfect.

Elias – In Science we were thinking about sounds we liked and didn’t like.  We liked the sounds of water and wind as they are relaxing.  we didn’t like the sounds of dogs barking because it is really loud.  Most of us like relaxing sounds and don’t like loud noises.

Chloe – In Spanish we were learning about animals. We were learning a song in the wrong order to see how well we know the song.  The song was about a man and mouse and a button.

Sophie and Andrew – In Maths and Numeracy we have been learning about function machines.  We know different strategies for adding on. We can use counters, cubes, number lines, 100 squares, empty number lines and our number bonds to help us.  We have also looked at missing number sums and tried to find the answer using different strategies.

We are looking forward to our well deserved week off!

 

Primary 3, School News

P3 Weekly Update 13.9.19

Leave a comment

We have been super busy this week in P3, keep reading to find out more about what we have been learning!

  • We were rainbow writing our sounds this week. Word Wizards were learning the ‘ea’ as in break sound, Master Minds were learning the i_e sound and the Spelling Stars were learning the ‘sh’ sound. (Aroush)
  • We wrote Autumn Acrostic poems this week. (Orla & Lena S.)
  • We have been doing some reading this week with our groups and we have also started doing guided reading.  (Andrew)
  • In Maths, we have been learning all about Place Value. We have been looking at 1 before and after as well as 10 before and 10 after. (Samuel)
  • We have been learning about what makes us special, we completed a Pieces of Me task made up of jigsaw pieces that make us who we are. (Maisie)
  • We all had a football taster this week, we learned to dribble forwards and backwards, stop the ball, scoring a goal, toe taps and keepy uppies. (Daniel & Ethan)
  • In Art we learned all about hot and cold colours. We made pop art style pictures to practise this skill. (Julia)
  • In Science we discussed how different sounds are made. We investigated different musical instruments and sorted them into categories depending on how these sounds are made.
Primary 5, School News

P5b’s digital week

Leave a comment

This has been a busy week in P5b. We have really enjoyed digital week and learned lots of new things.

Some of the activities we took part in are coding, debugging, a silent disco, QR hunt and a VR experience.

Chloe – My favourite part was the silent disco.

Charlie – My favourite part of the week was QR hunt as we had to go around the school to find all the different parts of the story.

Ellie – My favourite was the silent disco because it had lots of different music to listen to.

Daniel – My favourite part of the week was making a presentation about solids, liquids and gases. I worked well with my group.

Szymon – My favourite part of the week was when we did the hour of code because it was fun.

Alex – I learned about solids, liquids and gases and made a presentation using powerpoint.

Erin – I learned how to use clips this week.

Kacper – I learned how to debug this week.

Cameron – I learned how to use scratch this week.

We also had a day on Friday where we only used digital technology. What a busy week! We have learned so much. Thank you to our digital leaders for helping us.

 

Primary 2, School News

P2 have been busy!

Leave a comment

Sadie- We had a craft afternoon yesterday and we made something special which we are keeping a secret until Sunday.

Chloe- We had visitors from a school in Stirling who came to see our Rekenrek lesson. We did really well and the visitors were impressed!

Tinashe- We were using prediction in literacy. The book was called ‘The Storm’ and we had to predict what happened in the story.

Lena P- Our topic is called Forces and this week we did the ‘Car and Ramp’ experiment.

Joshua- We found out that building a big structure for a ramp, making it higher, made the car go faster and further.

Jacob- Friction stopped our car on the big ramp because it bumped into the carpet.

Orla- We have been working on subtraction and addition together.

Daniel- 18+2=20, 2+18=20         Sara 20-2=18, 20-18=2

Ethan- We have been learning all about the Stations of the Cross. There are 14.

 

Image result for scientist gifImage result for cartoon car gif

 

Primary 5, School News

Busy first week back in P5

Leave a comment

Primary 5 have had a busy first week back at school.

In Literacy,  we have been learning about poetry and metaphors and similes. We have worked very hard to create our own metaphors and similes and added them to a poem about dogs.

In Numeracy, we have been continuing to work on money.   We have been working on subtraction number talk strategies and also using our number bonds knowledge to add and subtract multiples of 10.

We have been learning about the 10 Commandments and came up with our own commandments that we felt were important.

This week we have continued with our science topic about our body systems.  We have looked at our respiratory system and also our circulatory system.  We have been working together to research body organs and locate them in our bodies.

We have also been making new year resolutions and looking at making targets for ourselves this term.

What a busy first week back!

 

 

 

Primary 6, School News

Broxburn Science and Technology Event

Leave a comment

Primary 6 had a fantastic day yesterday at the Broxburn Academy Science and Technology event. Pupils had the chance to learn about structural engineering and took on the paper table challenge.  We learned that things are strong in threes and triangles are the strongest shape. Primary 6 also worked with some 3rd year pupils to explore some scientific experiments, our favourite experiment was the ooze.

Primary 5

Primary 5 – Apple Science

Leave a comment

Primary 5 have been investigating Chemical Changes using apples.

We used various liquids to try and prevent the oxidisation of the apples. We discovered that lemon juice was the best liquid to use to prevent the process due to the citric acid, however vinegar escalated the process. We created a grid to show our predictions for each solution.

We also discussed the life cycle of an apple and harvested a few seeds so that we could grow our own apple trees. We watched a time lapse video of the process and now wait with bated breath to see if we will have any success with our green fingers.

We watched the chemical changes that happened when we created ‘apple volcanoes’ using vinegar and bicarbonate of soda.

We had fantastic fun with our group challenge to build a strong tower to support an apple. One group was so successful with their design that it actually supported seven apples !!

Classes, Primary 3, School News

Super science!

Leave a comment

Primary 3 have been enjoying learning about ‘Freezing and Melting’ and the changing state of water. We had a great time trying to find the quickest method to melt an ice cube, although our hands got a bit chilly and wet! We tried blowing on it, rubbing it in our hands and trying to break it up with a pencil.  We found that putting it by the heater and running it under warm water melted the ice cube the fastest. We then used magnifying glasses to look really closely at ice and saw lots of shapes and bubbles inside.

img_8187 img_8188

Primary 1

Feathery Visitors in P1!!!

Leave a comment

Today, Primary 1 had such an exciting afternoon with some very special visitors. As part of our light and dark topic, we have been learning about nocturnal animals. So today, we were visited by 6 owls!

They were so cute! We had:

Chili – Chili is a spectacled owl from the South American jungle. She is 6 years old, and prefers warm weather. Today, she was making lots of ‘hissing’ noises, that reminded Mrs Baty of her cats when they fight. She also kept turning around to face away from us. I think she maybe didn’t like being woken up during the day.

img_20161110_132159126

Cuddles – Cuddles is a barn owl, and is also 6 years old. She is mainly white, with light brown feathers too. She was very calm and friendly, although also kept trying to fly away (it’s okay – she had her lead on, so she couldn’t go far!).

img_20161110_132142074

Otis – Otis is a grey, long eared own. Although we did learn yesterday that owls ears are hidden. We asked about this – Otis is called a long eared owl, but actually it’s not his ears that are sticking up, just feathers. The ears are actually hidden underneath, just as we thought.

img_20161110_132137305

Poppy – Poppy is a small, brown, tropical screech owl. She made some little squeaks whilst we were holding her, but not loud at all. She is also from South America, and is 4 years old. We was very good when we were holding her, and loved strokes on her head. She looked like she was going to sleep! Mrs Baty thought she looked a little bit like a pom pom.

poppy

 

Bell – Bell is a tengmals owl. She is also very small. She didn’t really want her photo taken, she kept looking away. She was showing off, by showing us how far around she could turn her head. She is originally from Scandinavia, so doesn’t mind the cold weather.

img_20161110_132126307

Daisy – Daisy is a white faced owl. She also has feathers that look like ears. She is originally from South Africa, and is about 6 years old. She was showing off for us by doing a little dance whilst we were having a chat. We were able to hold her too, although she kept fidgeting and flapping her wings.

2

We also found out lots more facts about owls. We have been learning that owls are nocturnal animals (meaning they come out at night) but actually we found this is isn’t quite right.

If an owl has dark coloured eyes, they come out at night.

If it has yellow eyes, it comes out during the day.

If it has orange eyes, it comes out at sunrise or sunset.

We also learned that they sleep up to 20 hours a day!

 

We then asked some fantastic questions:

Lennox – How long are their wings?

A – all owls have very big wings for their size

 

Matthew – do they fly fast or slow?

A – they actually fly quite slowly for birds. They only get to about 30mph.

 

Dermott – why are they tied onto logs?

A – they have to be tied up, the same way a dog has a lead when it goes out – so that it doesn’t fly off and hurt itself. The log is so it’s got something comfortable to sit on.

 

Lucas – can they fly really high in the sky?

A – they actually stay very low so they can find food. They don’t go higher than the trees.

 

Overall, we had a fantastic afternoon!!!

owls-1-both owls-2 owls-3 owls-4 owls-5
 img_5652 img_5653 img_5654 img_5655 img_5656

Primary 7, School News

Egg-cellent Air Resistance

Leave a comment

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.

image1 (4)

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 7, School News

Dynamic Data

1 Comment

On Thursday the 10th of December primary 7 visited Dynamic Earth as part of the Big Data Event.  Data is information stored in an electronic device or computers.

When we arrived we split into three groups, one of which went off to do an interview with Jude Spence and the other two had a tour of Dynamic Earth. First on the tour we found out about the Big Band. We went into a time machine to travel back 6.2 billion years, surprisingly it didn’t take us that long! We all thought the time machine was very interesting as we got lots of facts about how our Solar System began.

Next we moved onto find out about the formation of Planet Earth and how ice formed the mountains, rivers and valleys. We even got to see and touch a huge iceberg!

Afterwards we went a flight to find out about the Rainforest. This was most people’s favourite part of the day as the it was quite scary and we loved wearing our 3d glasses.

Ten people were chosen by the teachers  to go to and answer questions and got a once in a  life time experience in the data  dome. The Data Dome  is a large black sphere and projectors shined on the sphere which created circles to go round showing the trending data on Social media such as Twitter. They also showed how some of the data is used. Rachael learnt that data came from many different places and  Sophie  learnt that data is formed by many different ways.

To finish the day we also got a chance to use some Google Cardboard, this is like Google glasses. It was so much fun and everyone was laughing at each others reactions.

Finally we would like to say a big thank you to Jude Spence for organising the day for us, we all really enjoyed ourselves and would love to go back.

Primary 6, School News

P6 EGGSPERIMENT!

Leave a comment

IMG_0747Primary 6 have been completing our health and well being topic about nutritional values of our food and drinks. We learned about the sugar in our drinks and were amazed to see the amount in some of our favourite drinks! We created a ‘think before you drink’ display to remind us just how unhealthy these drinks are and to make us think twice about buying them regularly!

This week we completed an experiment with eggs to find out what these drinks can do to our teeth! Mrs Thomson boiled us some eggs and we put them into cola, coffee, tea and water. We left them for 5 days… not only did they smell bad, when we removed them they looked disgusting! The tea, coffee and cola all stained the eggs… the coffee was the worst; it stained the inside of the egg when we cut it open! The egg that we left in water was perfect, it was not stained at all. We got some toothbrushes and and tried to see if any of the staining would come off but it didn’t! The egg soaked in cola was slimy and solid to cut! Yuk!

We also looked at calcium in bones and teeth! We soaked some bones from chicken drumsticks in vingear, the acid made the bones very easy to bend, this showed us the importance of drinking calcium based drinks and food!

 IMG_0765

Primary 3

Dissolving Experiment

1 Comment

This afternoon P3 conducted an experiment to find out what dissolves in water and what does not dissolve. Dissolving means that when it is mixed with water it disappears.

We got cups of hot water and lots of different things to test. We tested : sugar, coffee, sand, flour, tea, salt, bath salts, gray granules, chalk and bicarbonate of soda.

We predicted whether each item would dissolve or not dissolve by putting our thumbs up or down.

We also gave the water a stir when we put the item into the water. This helped some of them to dissolve.

This is a list of the things that did dissolve: bicarbonate of soda, sugar, salt, coffee, flour, bath salts and gravy.

We found out that the gravy granules only dissolved in boiling water.

This is a list of the things that did not dissolve: tea, sand and chalk.

We also found out that some of the things changed the colour of the water but did not dissolve, like tea.

 

Primary 3, School News

Ice Experiment

1 Comment

Today Primary 3A and B completed an experiment to see how to melt ice the quickest way using our bodies. We made a prediction about how fast we thought we could melt it and the best method of melting it.

We tried to rub it between our hands, left it on the table, crushed the ice in our hands, heat it with our breath and used our sleeve to melt it.

We discovered the best way to melt the ice was to try and heat it with our hands or breath.

In primary 3B the fastest person to melt the ice was Emily in 1 minute 54 seconds. In primary 3A Robbie melted it 1 minute 40 seconds.

We know that when ice melts it turns back into water.

Here are some pictures of us in action.

After we melted the ice we all had cold hands and then completed a science report.

Classes, Primary 1, Primary 2, School News

Butterfly Adventure

1 Comment

Yesterday Primaries 2 and 2/1 went on their summer outing to Butterfly World in Edinburgh.  We had a great day looking at lots of different butterflies, insects and reptiles.  Some of us were even brave enough to touch and hold a snake, a millipede and a tarantula!  We then went into the nocturnal room and saw scorpions that glow in the dark, and a hedgehog running on a wheel!

Afterwards, we had a picnic outside and ate our lunch, then we played fun games in the park.  Here are some of our best bits…

I liked seeing the caterpillar disguised as bird poo. – Megan S

I thought it was funny to see the hedgehog running on a wheel like a hamster. – Ellie

I enjoyed holding the tarantula, millipede and snake.  The millipede felt tickly. – Marta

I liked seeing the big yellow and white snake.  – Marcel

I enjoyed seeing the glow in the dark scorpions. – Emily

I liked holding the spider on my hand. – Tia

We would also like to thank the kind parents and grandparents who helped us on our trip.

Classes, Primary 1, Primary 2, School News

Home is where the habitat is…

Leave a comment

Our teachers are so proud of us for all of the hard work and effort that we put into making our Living Things habitats.  We were set a homework challenge to choose a habitat, learn about it and create it using material of our choice.  We  have made a huge variety of wonderful habitats.  These include The Arctic, a beaver’s dam, a hedgehog’s nest, a pond full of frogs, a bird’s nest, an ape house and many more.

We have invited Primary 1 to come and have a look at them and we will tell them how we made them, why we chose to make this habitat and what we have learned.

We really enjoyed the homework challenge because it helped make learning fun!

Primary 4, Primary 5

Science Centre

3 Comments

Yesterday Primary 5, 5/4 and 4 went to the Glasgow Science Centre.

It was great fun! Look at us completing some experiments.

We also went to a show called Blood, Bile and Body bits. It was great and we even witnessed an explosion!

Saoirse – I learned that magnets are powerful and when playing a game the magnets made the route of a ball different.

Fraser – I learned that a tornado starts from the sky and goes all the way down to the ground.

Finlay – my favourite part was when the man put the flour and sugar
into a tube then lit a blow torch and blew some the flour and sugar and it make an explosion!

Megan L – my favourite part was the show.

Callum – my favourite part was the energy machine as you had to run around to make it go!

Sophie R – my favourite part was the whirlpool when it swirled in the water.

Ollie – I learned that if there is wheel and you put bolts int eh outside it goes slower than if the bolts are in the inside of the wheel.

Oscar – I learned how electricity worked by turning three handles to create power.

Charlee-Marie – my favourite part was when Isla and Francesco had to do the cream cracker challenge.

Maria-Victoria – I learned how our legs move when we are on a bike.

Ieuan – I found out that if a sound is loud enough it can make water move.

Piotr – I tried to make a bubble wall – it was quite hard.

Ethan – I learned that when you touch the electric ball and then touch someone else you give them an electric shock.

We had a good day and would like to go again!

Classes, Primary 1, Primary 2, School News

Butterflies make a bid for freedom!

1 Comment

Today was a mixture of excitement and sadness for Primaries 2 and 2/1.  All 20 of our butterflies successfully emerged from their chrysalis and it was time to set them free.  Miss Toner kindly offered to help us as she didn’t mind holding and touching the butterflies.  Miss Boyd was brave too!  At first, the butterflies were quite timid and needed encouraged to fly away.  Mrs Dymock tried her best to capture them on film as they fluttered into the sky but they were too fast for her to follow them with the camera.

We all agreed that this was an amazing learning experience watching tiny caterpillars transform into beautiful butterflies.  We know that it was kind to set them free and allow them to start the life cycle again.

Here are our thoughts:

It was nice to have butterflies in our classroom. – Ethan

I liked learning about the life cycle as it was all new to me. – Lilya

I never knew that caterpillars turned into liquid in their chrysalis and then made a new body. – Milo M

I liked going on the minibeast hunt because we got to find out about other insects and what they looked like.  – Megan S

I enjoyed setting the butterflies free. – Megan H

I learned that a butterfly’s black tongue can curl. – Elijah

I liked being able to look at the caterpillars and butterflies up close. – Ellie

I was surprised to hear that a butterfly’s life only lasts around 2 weeks. – Emily

I learned that butterflies taste with their legs. – Rowen

Bye bye butterflies!

 

Classes, Primary 1, Primary 2, School News

Butterfly news…

1 Comment

 

Primaries 2 and 2/1 were very excited to see that more butterflies have emerged from their chrysalis.  P2a now have 7 butterflies and P2/1 have 4 so far.  All of P2b’s caterpillars are still inside their chrysalis transforming.  Miss Toner helped us to put some sugary water in a bowl at the bottom of the butterfly garden for the butterflies to drink.  We are also going to put some apple slices in for them to eat too.  The red liquid that you can see inside the net is not blood.  It is extra liquid that the butterfly uses to stretch its wings out.  It’s not very pretty to look at but it is important for the wing formation.

We hope to release the butterflies on Monday!

Primary 1, Primary 2, School News

Beautiful Butterfly

2 Comments

Primary 2 have some very exciting news…one of our butterflies has emerged from its chrysalis!

Archie was heading back to his desk to do some maths work when he spotted the wings hanging on the silk paper.  He quickly came to tell Mrs Dymock who didn’t believe him at first as they had looked at the chrysalis’ in the morning and there was no change to them.  The hard work that Primary 2 were doing must have made the butterfly want to come out and investigate!

The wings were closed tightly, however they have started to open now and the red liquid from their wings are on the paper.  This means that its wings are getting stronger.

Primary 1 came over for a visit to meet our new butterfly and to learn lots of new interesting facts.

We know that we need to care for the butterflies before releasing them.  We need to put some sugary water and flowers into the butterfly garden for the butterfly to drink before it is strong enough to set free.

We can’t wait for the rest of them to join us!

Classes, Primary 1, Primary 2, School News

Minibeast Hunt

Leave a comment

This afternoon Primaries 2 and 2/1 braved the wind and decided to go into the garden to go on a minibeast hunt.  We were very careful not to disturb the insects in their habitat but used a magnifying glass to look very carefully at them.  We found some spiders, slaters, worms and a centipede.  We looked in the soil, grass and under logs and stones.  We recorded our findings on a minibeast checklist.

Classes, Primary 1, Primary 2, School News

5 chrysalis hanging in a row…

1 Comment

Primaries 2 and 2/1 would like to say a huge thank you to Miss Toner for helping us transfer our caterpillar chrysalis’ into their new environment.  She had to be very careful when moving them as they are extremely delicate and are in the process of turning into a butterfly.  Although they don’t look like they are doing very much right now, a lot of changes are happening inside the chrysalis.  The caterpillar’s body turns into liquid inside the chrysalis and then a new body forms.  We are excited to see the wings emerge from the chrysalis!

Yesterday, Emily and Ethan brought in a photo album containing photographs of the life cycle of a butterfly that their mum had taken in her own back garden.

We then made mobiles to hang in our classroom showing the life cycle.

We will keep you informed of what happens next!

Classes, Primary 1, Primary 2, School News

Cool Caterpillars

1 Comment

Primary 2 and 2/1 are really excited to welcome new guests to their classrooms….caterpillars! As part of our topic ‘Living Things’ we are going to be following the life cycle of a caterpillar as it grows into a beautiful butterfly then we will set it free.  We devised our own questions that we would like to find out about the creatures and hope to be able to answer them by the end of the topic.  We have learned so many facts already!

I learned that caterpillars have holes on their bodies to breathe. – Natalia.

I know that caterpillars have spiky hairs to stop them from being eaten. – Emily

I learned that caterpillars shed their skin. – Megan

I didn’t know that mummy butterflies lay caterpillar eggs. – Nia

I learned that caterpillars go into a J-shaped cocoon. – Archie

I learned that caterpillars have different kinds of legs. – Katie

Primary 4, School News

Soluble and Insoluble experiment

1 Comment

Yesterday Primary 4 conducted an experiment to find out what materials are soluble and which are not. Soluble means they will dissolve and disappear into the water. We made a prediction first and then completed the experiment.

Maria-Victoria – soluble things vanish in the water when they are added to it. Salt is soluble.

Karolina – I learned that chalk is insoluble.

Callum – I predicted that sand was insoluble because I know at the beach the sand doesn’t disappear. I was correct.

Piotr – I learned that sugar is soluble.

Ieuan – I learned bicarbonate of soda bubbles and fizzes when you add it to water.

Ethan – instant coffee is soluble and I knew it would be as my mum drinks it at home and it disappears.

Fraser – when you add flour to the water it turned lumpy and looks like slimy cheese. It was insoluble.

Primary 4

Water, water everywhere

Leave a comment

Primary 4 are learning about Water this term as part of their Science topic.

Yesterday we put water into an ice cube tray and put it in the freezer. Today we found that we had made ice. We looked at how the water was frozen and no longer a liquid. We then had a competition to see whop could melt the ice the fastest. Sophie and Patryk were able to melt the ice the fastest. We talked about how to melt the ice quicker.

Sophie and Patryk – I rubbed my hands together quickly. This made it heat up.

Maria-Victoria – I squeezed my hands together.

Charlee-Marie – I used paper towels to melt it quicker.

Ollie – I crushed the ice into smaller pieces.

We discovered that the quickest way to melt ice was to heat it up.

Look at us with our ice.

Primary 4, Primary 5, School News

Sink or Float!

Leave a comment

Today primary 5/4 tried out their models of the Titanic in the waters of St Nicholas. Lots of the models were successful and stayed afloat however we did have a few disasters!

Molly – I first tried to fill my model with a swimming armband to help it float but it didn’t work. Next I filled a milk carton with lentils and this helped balance the weight of the model so it could float.

Finlay – I used reindeer dust to help my boat float but when I tried it out it tipped over. I tried it again with a rock at the side that needed extra weight and it worked.

Primary 6

The Eclipse

Leave a comment

Perfect timing!

Primary 6 recently learned all about light and shadows and along comes a partial eclipse to help us understand it all.

Primary 6 witnessed the eclipse (safely) last week through various means.  We watched it live on the interactive board, saw it through special glasses that Noah brought in and also by using a pin hole camera made by Mrs Buchanan-Coutts; Rachael brought one in too.  It was absolutely fascinating, but also quite eerie when all the birds started to get confused!!

 

Primary 1, School News

Taking care of our plants

Leave a comment

Primary 1 have been learning about living things and how to take care of them. Our ‘beanstalks’ were looking quite squashed in their small pots, their roots definitely needed more space. We decided to replant them into bigger pots before we take them home next week. Halfway through replanting, we ran out of soil! This was a great opportunity to get out in the sunshine and collect some more.

Well done primary 1.

Miss Toner

DSCF0108 DSCF0109 DSCF0110 DSCF0111 DSCF0112 DSCF0113 DSCF0115 DSCF0116 DSCF0117 DSCF0118

DSCF0102 DSCF0103 DSCF0104 DSCF0105 DSCF0106 DSCF0107

Primary 6, School News

Sound Proofing Primary 6

Leave a comment

Article 28

We have a right to learn new things

Primary 6a have been learning all about sound and the classroom was buzzing (literally) with the sound of bells as we carried out some tests to see which materials make the best sound-proofing.

Each group wrapped an alarm in different materials, placed it in a box and then measured how far they could go before the stopped hearing the alarm.  We discovered that although bubble wrap is pretty good, foam is the best muffler of sound.

Next, we have been given a challenge to find out how different animals communicate with each other through solids, liquids and gases.

Primary 4, School News

Lungs experiment

Leave a comment

Today Primary 4 completed a science experiment to see how much air we have in our lungs. We had to blow into a balloon. We found out that we are all different and don’t have the same lung capacity.  Here are some photographs of us during and after the experiment. It was good fun!

Some amazing facts we have learned:

–  an adult breathes enough air to fill 1,000 party balloons a day.

–  we breath around 20,000 times a day.

Primary 4, Primary 5

Matter Chatter!

1 Comment

Primary 5 and Primary 5/4 have been learning all about SOLIDS, LIQUIDS and  GASES and their properties.  We looked at the main characteristics of each state of matter.

Emma – I learned that some solids are hard and can’t be molded into a shape without force. The molecules in a solid are packed close together and they don’t have much movement.

Molly- I learned that liquids are made out of particles that are more spread out compared to solids and have some movement. Liquids do not have a fixed shape but take the shape of their container.

Sami – I learned that the particles in Gases are spaced out and can move around freely. Gases do not have a fixed shape and can change volume.

We watched videos to learn about different experiments we could carry out. We then had a go at some of these in class, this got a bit messy!

We used a Kettle, cling film and ice to learn about condensation and evaporation.

We also experimented with different material to see what dissolves. We learned sugar, gravy granules and coffee granules are soluble and sand, chalk, flour and rice are insoluble.

Today we went to school kitchen to find out what changes in state are reversible or non-reversible. We carried out this experiment by heating different foods  to melt them then we placed each item in the fridge to cool it back down. Tomorrow we will check which change in state are reversible.

WE LOVE SCIENCE!!!

Primary 3, School News

It all started with the Big Bang!

Leave a comment

Yesterday primaries 3 and 3/2 visited Dynamic Earth and had a wonderful time.  Firstly we went on a tour and explored different rocks and then we embarked on a journey through time inside a time machine.  We watched a video of a volcano erupting and the ground that we were standing on began to shake.  Some of us got a fright!  We also saw an iceberg and watched video clips of frightening avalanches.  We went into a room that looked like a cinema and had to wear 3D glasses.  We watched a film of a helicopter ride taking us through different biomes and wearing the glasses made us feel like we were actually on the ride!  It looked like we could touch some of the animals.

We then had a dinosaur detective workshop where we were allowed to look at and touch different fossils and discuss which dinosaur they belonged too.  Some of us had the chance to become paleontologists where we used brushes to discover a dinosaur fossil buried in the sand.  The whole experience was enjoyed by all of the pupils and adults.

A special thank you to all of our adult helpers who kept us safe on our trip.

My favourite part of the trip was when we travelled on the 3D helicopter.  I got a huge fright when the scorpion attacked! Jack J

I enjoyed looking at and touching the iceberg.  I put my fingers in the holes on the ice and it was freezing cold. Daniel

My favourite part was at the start of the tour and we got to look at ancient rocks.  I touched the oldest rock in Scotland. Karolina

Primary 4

Science with Mr Chatterjee

Leave a comment

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!

Primary 6, School News

Primary 6 Science and Technology Day

Leave a comment

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.

Primary 5, School News

FIZZ, BANG… BOOM!

9 Comments

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/

Primary 5

Creative Creature Categorising!

4 Comments

Primary 5b have been learning all about the different types of animals that can be found in the rainforest! We learned about vertebrates and invertebrates, then we started to classify different animals into categories; mammals, fish, birds, reptiles and amphibians!

Last week we were set the homework challenge to ‘show animals that are mammals, fish, birds, reptiles and amphibians in ANY WAY!’ Miss King wanted us to be as creative as possible! The results were amazing…

Some people created interactive powerpoint presentations full of facts and examples of animals, some people made books, fact files and posters, some people wrote lists or drew tables and some people drew pictures of different animals! Hannah B made some amazing creatures out of modelling clay; we all thought they were so cute! Hannah S made a beautiful mobile using coat hangers, tissue paper and ribbons with the animals pictures attached! Fraser baked 5 cupcakes and decorated them with an animal from each of the five categories! Paige created a rainforest song to the music of ‘We Are the Champions’ by Queen; we all sang along it was fantastic! Terri created her own jigsaw with pictures of animals from each category and we helped her to put it together, what a fantastic idea! Krzysztof used lego to create models and Marco even used his favourite game minecraft to ‘build’ his animals and took pictures of them!

It was amazing to see all the fantastic ideas and creations! Miss King was so proud of us that she invited Mrs Brown and Mrs Deas to visit us and see all our fabulous work… they were VERY impressed!

Primary 6

Primary 6 Rap Stars!!

5 Comments

Primary 6 have been working together to learn about our solar system and have become rap stars in the process.

We have been working in groups to research each of the planets and decided that we wanted to show our knowledge of the planets through music.  Each of our groups took on the challenge of writing our own rap song about each planet and becoming rap stars. 

Please click below to have a sneak peek into what we have come up with. 

  Space Raps

Stay tuned for the full version coming to a stage near you soon!

Primary 6

Phases of the Moon Homework Challenge

Leave a comment

Mrs Heather and Miss Watson have set us a challenge to record the phases of the moon.

Each night for the next two weeks, we have to draw or take a photograph of the changing shape of the moon.  Remember each night to date your picture and note the time the picture was recorded. 

We are looking forward to seeing what phases of the moon we were able to record over the two weeks. Once we have the results we can begin to investigate the patterns arising from the phases of the moon.

Click the link below if you need some help.

Phases of the Moon tig-tag

Have fun recording!