Today we welcomed 8 children to Tea with SLT. Letizia and Poppy from P2 had both worked hard, Letizia wrote independent sentences and Poppy made a great poster about being a good friend. Lewis produced a brilliant John Logie Baird factsheet, Aoife also from P5 wrote a very descriptive Scottish poem.
Michael was sent down to Tea with SLT after addressing the lassies as part of the P6 Burns supper celebrations and Olivia made a fantastic Burns Supper Invitation. In Primary 7 Milosz was celebrated for excellent descriptive character writing and Rocco was rewarded as winner of the Primary 7 Sumdog Maths challenge.
Well done to all our visitors this week, great work everyone!
On Monday, we learned about the life of Robert Burns and how people celebrate his life today. We then wrote an invitation for our own Burns Supper including information about the traditional food and entertainment such ceilidh dancing. In the afternoon, we learned ‘Strip the willow’. It was great fun and made us feel energetic… but also a bit dizzy!!
On Wednesday, we learned that it’s traditional to do a toast to the lassies at a Burns Supper and a reply. The boys and girls split up and we thought about ways in which we could toast each other in a humorous way! We collated everyone’s ideas and wrote a toast, ready to be presented at the Burns Supper.
On Thursday afternoon, we all wore tartan! We were piped into one classroom where there were tables set and decorated with tartan. Everyone sat down and we watched a video clip about Robert Burns. We then said the Selkirk Grace together. Before we ate, we listened to someone performing the address to the haggis… which was very dramatic! It was then time to eat our braw shortbread and tablet! We washed it down with a wee irn-bru! After that, we listened to some of Robert Burns’ famous poems such as ‘Tae a Moose’.
We were then excited to finally do the toast to the lassies and the reply! Michael Tester confidently delivered a toast to the lassies which was hilarious… before Lauren, Catriona, Daisy, Olivia and Sophie got their own back with their reply on behalf of the lassies!! To end our celebration, we all joined hands and sang Auld Lang Syne!
Yesterday in P6, we had some visitors who taught us about STEM. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths, and is a really important subject to learn about because it helps us to understand how the world works and these skills will be important in our future careers.
One workshop was run by Mrs Miller who is physicist. In groups, we tried to build the tallest tower out of Jenga, realising that the tower had to have a strong and stable foundation. This was challenging because we had a limited number of blocks so had to leave some to build the tower up high. We then had to build a bridge using the blocks too, including a ramp for the cars to go up. We also developed our teamwork skills, because we had to discuss our ideas and then find compromises, and we worked on problem solving too by adapting the structure.
The other workshop was about building rockets, and was organised by Andrew who is an engineer. First, we looked at different types of propellers and motors, including one which was 3D printed. Then we rolled paper round a stick to make a cylindar, then stuck on a cone on top and added fins to the bottom. This made our rockets more aerodynamic. Once we had finished our rockets, we placed them on a launcher which shot air into the rocket when we pressed the pump. This made the rockets fly through the air.
Overall, we had an amazing time! It was so interesting and we learnt lots of new things.
Thank you to Fife College and Edinburgh University for this opportunity.
Yesterday we had our first Tea with SLT of the new term. Beth and Aisling from P5 came to see us, Beth has thought of excellent questions for her new topic on Scottish Firsts, exploring inventors from our own country. Aisling thought very carefully about the meaning of Nurture, one of our core values, and shared her insights with her class.
Ibrahim in P6 has been a positive and encouraging team player in PE and a supportive and helpful peer in class. Laia from P6B has made an extra special effort to write in cursive handwriting, well done.
Ahmad in Primary 4 has been working really hard to improve his reading and has been making good progress in adding by carrying numbers. From P3, Armaan has been working very hard to improve his handwriting in class with evenly sized letters staying within the lines.
Well done to all our Tea with SLT visitors this week, I hope you enjoyed your cup of juice and chocolate biscuits! Keep up the good work!
Last night 5 pupils from P3-6 attended a very special awards ceremony to celebrate the life of trees in Scotland. Each year people gather in the Parliament to announce the ‘Tree of the Year’.
Our pupils were invited to see a film made about the importance of planting trees to help combat climate change. We were 1 of 2000 community projects supported by the Woodland Trust to plant 1 million native trees this year.
John Finney MSP hosted the event in the Member’s Room of the Scottish Parliament and Annemiek Hoogenboom, Country director for the People’s Postcode lottery spoke about their sponsorship support for the Woodland Trust. Here are some of our thoughts from last night…
“I felt excited last night because it’s been a long time since I was last at the parliament. We had apple juice in wine glasses and I tried different types of food too. I felt amazing watching the film we helped make, my dad felt excited too!” Helena
“I felt scared going into the Parliament, it was my first time visiting. I felt a bit nervous before we went up to the Member’s Room, I liked the food and loved the apple juice. Eating the fancy food was the highlight of the night for me! My mum felt excited to see me on the screen!” Amilya
“I felt excited going to the parliament, it was my first time visiting. I felt good because it was a great opportunity and I was grateful to be chosen to take part. I felt good watching the film, lots of people were watching us on the screen. My highlight was the fancy food and watching the film. My dad said he liked the food too!” Micheal
“It was my first time visiting the parliament, I was excited to see what it looked like inside. It was a good opportunity to meet new people and see new places. My mum said she really enjoyed it too, it was her second time going to the parliament. It was a really busy place with carol singing downstairs. My highlight was being served juice and water in wine glasses!” Filip
“Last night was my first time going to the Parliament. I felt nervous because I didn’t know what to expect. It was exciting to be part of the event last night, my highlight was seeing John Finney MSP, he hosted the event and spoke about the importance of looking after our trees and our world. My dad was really proud of me, the film was really good!” Emilia
