All posts by Mrs Paton

P7A Defenders in Action

Well done to all the P7 pupils who took part in their mock trials this evening. They were confident, well-prepared, well-behaved and enthusiastic. We were impressed by their persuasive arguments and their cool, calm and collected approach under pressure. Here are a few snaps of P7A in their case against St Mary’s (Leith). JP

Harvest Haul

Today, some pupils from P7A spent some time in the school garden harvesting the vegetables that we have been growing over the summer.

We dug up carrots, radishes, shallots, turnips and A LOT of onions! We were delighted and surprised to find lots of wonky looking veggies, particularly our carrots!

We have been busy weighing, washing and trimming the veggies ready to be shared with the school.

If you would like to take some of our school veggies home to try, please ask Ms Orskov for some this week. You’ll need to be quick, as stocks are limited, so it will be on a first come, first served basis.

All we ask is that you take a picture of yourself creating something yummy with your veggies and send it in to us. You can email it to the school office for the attention of Ms Orskov at wllinlithgow-ps@westlothian.org.uk

Good luck with your recipes! We look forward to seeing pictures of your creations.

Mrs Paton, Ms Orskov and P7A

Sombrero Week in P5A, by Grace and Halle

On Monday, P5A opened a box, which contained a small Mexican hat called a Sombrero.

This week, we have been doing various tasks, including research, project work and activities on where we think it has come from and who sent it.

On Tuesday, some pupils from P5A were researching various aspects of Mexico, such as the Aztecs, Mexican clothing, Mexican food and lots of other things. Using this research they created a class book.

On Wednesday, P5A designed some sombreros of our own. There were many different designs ranging from sunshine yellow ones to ocean blue ones.

On Thursday, P5A brought their fantastic designs to life by using many different and unusual resources such as pipe cleaners, buttons, the lot! Some of us could not stick to our designs, due to the intricate detail and lack of time.

So, as you can see, we had an amazing time investigating this mysterious hat!

Grace and Halle, P5A

Brown paper packages tied up with string…

On Friday morning, P5A received an intriguing package, wrapped in brown paper and tied up with string.

We spent some time handling our mystery parcel and discussing it. We wondered where it had come from, why it had been sent to us and, most importantly, what might be inside.

After waiting and wondering for three long days, we finally opened our parcel this afternoon. There was great excitement, lots of speculation, and some worry (from Mrs Paton) that Robert might cut his fingers on the scissors!

At last, the box was open. Buried inside layers of tissue, we pulled out…a tiny felt hat, covered in sequins and embriodery.

Most excited of all was our Circle Time pet, Happy Lion. He was delighted to find that the hat was a perfect fit!

We quickly set about writing down all of our big questions about this unusual hat. Where did it come from? Who sent it to us? What sort of hat was it? Which culture did it belong to? What could we learn from it?

We visited the school library and consulted Dr Google. Our suspicions were confirmed. We had received a tiny sombrero all the way from Mexico. We discovered that the name ‘sombrero’ comes from the Spanish word for shade. This wide brimmed hat was originally designed to offer protection from the sun.

Next, we discussed where we could take our learning from here. Would we design and make our own hats? Would we find out more about the traditions, customs and traditional dress of Mexico? Would we explore politics, religion or culture? Could we write our own music, or find out about traditional Mexican musical instruments? Could we explore different types of hats? Perhaps we could write our own poetry, adventure stories or factual reports about hats. We even discussed the possibility of learning a new language or writing to new pen pals.

So, where to begin? P5A, it’s over to you!

JP