Mischievous Badger the Mystical Mutt visits St John’s

St John's Primary News, Parent Council News, Primary 1 Learning, Primary 2 Learning, Primary 3 Learning, Primary 4 Learning

St John’s welcomed Badger and his creators Lyn McNichol and Laura Cameron Jackson on Tuesday 19th November for an energetic and creative Scottish Book Week assembly.

Badger the Mystical Mutt was shortlisted as a regional finalist at this year’s British Book Award and Laura read extracts from the series to the Primary 1 – 4 classes who attended the assembly.

Badger himself made an appearance which the children enjoyed very much, St John’s would like to thank Badger, Laura and Lyn for visiting us yesterday and a big thank you to the Parent Council who paid for the visit as part of our Book Week activities.

Dawid’s chilling Treasure Tale!

St John's Primary News, Primary 6 Learning

Dawid’s story is full of imaginative language and similes and he manages to successfully build suspense to a chilling climax! Fantastic work Dawid!

Island Katchadoran 

The wind tossed the tiny boat, the single figure huddled in the prow watching the mysterious island grow larger on the horizon. Steven was an archaeologist who went to discover the mysterious treasures of Katchadoran. Racing towards the island the boat crashed on the golden sand surrounded by waving palm trees. Surprised, he noticed a perfect circle of smooth and wet rocks with a large one in the middle. 

Steven approached the circle minding the jaggy nettles that where as green as the flowery meadows. Standing in front of the rocks Steven noticed the hand print in the large rock. Courageously, Steven lifted his hand to put in the hand print. However, the rock started to glow orange and a hole started to open. Steven slid down the hole to find himself in a mouldy, old and cobbled dungeon. Steven examined the dungeon and a golden glow caught his eye. It was the treasure of Katchadoran. 

Dashing towards the treasure, some iron bars crashed to the ground. The only other way to get to the treasure was by walking over a rickety bridge. Steven thought to himself this is the only way to get to the treasure I got to risk it for the biscuit. Cautiously, Steven walked over the bridge but when he got to the middle the bridge started to fall apart Steven started to run. Steven was nearly there but right infront of him the logs cracked sending Steven down into the ravine. Suddenly, he noticed a blue glow and some pixie like animals started to lift him up onto the ledge. 

Steven thanked the little pixie animals and asked where they came from, they told him that there was once a guardian that protected over island Katchadoran but he got to old so he went to find another island to live on and from that Time we have been looking for a new guardian. Determined to find the treasure of Katchadoran, he asked the little pixies where the treasure was. The pixies eyes lit up, they started to circle around Steven who was looking more puzzled than ever. 

The pixies created a portal from underneath. The portal led straight to the treasure which Steven went to collect. However, the treasure started to sink into him and he started to turn green and his eyes turned yellow the pixies started to dance. It turned out that Steven was turning into the guardian. 

By Dawid 

Arthur’s Suspense filled Shipwrecked Story

St John's Primary Primary 6 Learning

Arthur wrote this descriptive creative piece in class and used technology to edit his work. He included examples of openers, connectives and punctuation. Great job Arthur!

Ship Wreck 

The wind tossed the tiny boat, the single figure huddled in the prow watching the mysterious island grow larger on the horizon. It was extremely stormy and the waves where knives.Lightning struck just beside him.he took a quick glance over the side of the boat and saw the small, quaint village behind him in the fog. He turned around. Then suddenly the island was right in front of him! He ran as fast as a car over to the control area and tried to switch off the engine but he couldn’t… 

All of a sudden, he was jolted forward as the boat crashed forcefully. He couldn’t believe he was alive. He was trying to figure a way out of his boat. Whilst he was walking he saw lots of broken pieces of wood. Finally, he got out. The storm had passed now and it was nice and sunny. He lay down and felt the hot sand that was as soft as a pillow. He slept for a couple of hours. Later on in the day he took a tour of the island enjoying the beautiful surroundings. A faint, fruity smell hit his nostrils. Suddenly he saw and herd parrots above and noticed lots of animals running swiftly over the sand. There was lots of beautiful palm trees. When he he was walking back to the boat he he found a lovely apple tree and he picked one off it and took a bite and it was very sour and juicy. Finally, he got into the and looked for food, water and a cosy spot to lie down. He finds a spot to lie in and gets food and water. 

Suddenly, he heard a creak, then the boat starts slipping the sand dunes. He felt a slight shiver down his spine. Water starts pouring into the boat. The boat was sinking! A couple of minutes later he thought he was going to pass out. He is petrified. A couple of seconds later he started to swim to the safety area. It wasn’t there though so he started swimming again. He had an idea to go to the cabin on the on the downstairs of the boat. 

Suddenly, he saw a yellow object that wasn’t to big. His foot got stuck on a bran new, shiny wire and he felt petrified. He discovered a piece of wood that was floating. He snatched it and hit the wire off his toe. He swam down to look at that object that was buried under the sand. After that he took the sand off the yellow object. It was his safety equipment. He puts on the safety equipment and lights the flair. He feels so good now. 

The flair reached the top of the water and he swam up to the surface. He was screaming so loud that it hurts his throat. He saw a boat coming towards him, he was the happiest man alive. Suddenly, the boat broke down… 

By Arthur  

Ben’s excellent creative writing

St John's Primary Primary 6 Learning

Primary 6 have been editing their stories using technology. Ben produced this excellent story all about a pirate hunting for treasure. His use of openers was very good and his story was well rounded off. Notice also his use of ellipsis…

THE X 

He unrolled the map. There it was the red x he had been looking for. He was in the middle of the jungle which was as hot as fire. All around him, were huge, bright green trees. He spotted a bear with its cub out of the corner of his eye. He followed the map carefully and finally there it was! He started digging as hard and as fast as he could. While he was digging, he found the entrance to a tunnel… 

Slowly, he started walking through the tunnel. He didn’t know what way to go. Left, right or forward? He went with his gut instinct and went left. The tunnel was lit with candles so he could see his way. He could then see a group of candles around a shiny, gold object. As he moved closer, he could see it more clearly. A treasure chest.  

Suddenly the ground collapsed, he fell to the ground to another tunnel that had a weird smell but he could see more clearly in the second tunnel. He saw a ghost in the distance. He was shocked, he went on walking like nothing happened. The ghost started sneaking up on him. The ghost started talking to him in a quiet whisper and  offered to help find the treasure. 

The ghost looked over his shoulder to see the map. It was not that clear to see what the old worn map said. The ghost was tricking the man.  He was pretending to say that he didn’t know were he was going to find the treasure.  

The ghost whispered, “Don’t be silly you fool loads of people come to find the treasure. You are the only person who has found it. I have been waiting for someone to try to find it but you were the one who found it. The treasure is hidden behind the wall. You kick the wall to get your treasure.” The man kicked the wall and it opened. There was a big room with loads of chests. They had labels on them. He opened one of them, it was filled with gold.  He said “I am rich, I am very happy to find the treasure. Thank you mysterious ghost hooray!” 

By Ben