Soluble Solids

Today we have been learning about materials which are soluble and insoluble.  We had to carry out some experiments to find out which materials would dissolve and which wouldn’t.  We had to test sand, sugar, salt, chalk, coffee granules, gravy granules and rice.  We put them in some water and gave them a stir.  If they dissolved then we recorded in our results table that they were soluble.  We were quite surprised by how many were actually insoluble.  We decided that if we had used warm water we may have had different results.

  

Rhythm is a Dancer

In class PE we have been working on our rhythm and timing and learning some traditional Scottish dances.  We’ve done a Dashing White Sergeant, a Palais Glide, The Grand Old Duke of York and finally a Strip The Willow!  We’ve really improved our timing and have been concentrating hard on trying to remember the steps for each dance.  We’ve also realised that it is quite tiring and we need to be quite fit!  Next week we are going to learn a Westray One Step and also a Canadian Barn Dance – if anyone has any dances they like then let Miss Shearer know and we will see if we can learn them!

Mini Water Worlds

This week we have been learning all about evaporation and condensation.  We did some experiments to demonstrate these processes.  Boiling a kettle near a cold window is a great way to show evaporation and condensation – the water evaporates when it boils at 100 degrees and then when it touches the cold window it condenses and turns back into water!  We were quite amazed at this.  

We then learned about how evaporation and condensation are part of the water cycle - a very important part of life on our planet.  We know that rain falls as precipitation then the sun heats it up and it evaporates and turns into water vapour.  When it rises in the air it gets cold and turns into a rain cloud.  When the droplets get too heavy they fall as rain and the cycle starts all over again!  We’ve made our own mini ‘water worlds’ to show this.  We planted cress seeds in compost in a plastic cup.  We then added some water and then covered the cups with cling film.  We’re hoping that when the water evaporates from the compost it will rise and then the cling film will act like a cloud and catch the vapour which will condense and turn back into water!  We’ve left them over the weekend and we hope to see some good results by Monday!

Super Skippers!

In class gym we are working on our skipping skills.  We have been learning the correct way to skip and thinking about improving our movement patterns.  Today we went outside to the MUGA as there was much more space.  It was trickier to skip on the rougher surface but the extra space meant we could travel while we skipped. Then we counted how many ‘skips’ we could do in a row – must of us felt that we had improved since last week.  We’re also working on improving our stamina and we’ve decided skipping is a great way to do this – it puffs us out! 

Pudsey at SPS!

Today Primary 5 kicked off the Children in Need fundraising effort at SPS!  We used the Achievement Assembly to tell everyone what we’re planning for Friday 13^th November – Children in Need Day.  We had a very special helper come along to help us with this – Pudsey!  He came to see everyone and help us with our launch.  He also helped Mr McIntosh to give out our SPS Hero awards – it was a great assembly! 

Wonderful Wednesday!

What a Wednesday we’ve had! 

We started off our day by learning about time.  We used analogue clocks to play games with and develop our understanding of analogue, digital, 12 hour and 24 hour time.  We’re doing really well with this and are working hard at moving between the different times. 

 

Then we were learning about writing instructions.  To help us write an accurate set of instructions, Miss Shearer asked us to make a traybake called ‘Thirteen’s’.  This is because there is thirteen of each ingredient!  It was great fun crushing digestives, chopping cherries and mixing in condensed milk!  We left them to set and then rolled them in coconut.  We all got one each to eat and then we gave the rest to Primary 2 for their Macmillan Coffee Morning!  We were then able to write a set of instructions for making thirteens.  It was easy to do as we had just done it ourselves!  Ask us for the recipe – we might even make it for you!      

 

Needs and Wants

Yesterday we started learning about the difference between ‘needs’ and ‘wants’.  We discussed what we thought the difference between each one was.  Miss Shearer then gave us 40 bits of paper with different items on them.  We had to imagine we could only select 16 of these items and had to only take the most important ones.  After we had done that she told us we now had to only choose 8 items.  This was tricky but we managed.  Then we had to choose only 4.  We had to really choose the things that were ‘needs’ rather than things that were ‘wants’.  We had to think carefully about sources of food and water and how these would help us to survive. 

 

 

 

It was very interesting having to think about what we actually need to survive.   In the end we decided clean water, seeds, fertile soil and some chickens were the best things to have.  We then discussed that some people don’t have access to these basic needs.  We are going to learn a bit more about this throughout the week. 

Our Eyes on the Prize

Today we were very lucky to get to visit the Travelling Gallery with the art exhibition ‘Eyes on the Prize’.  This is a bus which has been specially made and is full of artwork. 

This exhibition is all about artists who are nominated for this years’ Turner Prize – a very prestigious art award which is normally based in London but is in Glasgow this year.  All the artists have connections with Scotland.

We were shown around by a guide who told us all about the artwork.  We thought about what the art made us think of and how it made us feel.  Some of our answers were different from each other but this was ok as art is all about what each person thinks of it. 

It was a great opportunity to see these artworks in real life and hear about how they were created. 

Revolting Children

Next Friday SPS is going to celebrate Roald Dahl Day.  As part of this we are performing a class assembly all about Roald Dahl.  We will be singing ‘Revolting Children’ from Matilda the Musical.  I’ve put the link to the song here so that you can practice at home over the weekend!  Feel free to think of some dance moves too!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6PXm34OBP8

Money Money Money

This week we have started learning about money.  We had a big discussion about what money is and Miss Shearer filled up the whole white board with the words and ideas we came up with.  We realised the topic of money is no just about coins! 

Today we were thinking about adding coins up and giving change.  We worked in pairs to challenge each other with a total and then working out the change we would give using the coins we had on the table. 

We had to really think about the coins we were using and the change we were giving each other.  We are going to work on this throughout the week as well as learning about the different ways people get and access money. 

Hugh Miller and the Fabulous Fossil Fish

On Friday we were able to go to workshop from Dynamic Earth about Hugh Miller and the Fabulous Fossil Fish.  We learned all about fossils, how they are formed and where we can actually find some fossil fish in Orkney!  We also learned about Hugh Miller and how he discovered the fossil fish.

First of all we had a bag of ‘things’ we had to look at and decided if they would fossilise. Then Emma told us that almost anything can fossilise as long as the conditions were right. 

 

Then we had to pretend to be a fish to find out what the conditions for fossilisation are.  First we were swimming around, then we ‘died’ and fell to the bottom of the lake.  Lots of mud fell on top of us and squashed us flat and then millions of years later we were discovered! 

 

 

 

 

Emma told us that at one time all the way from Caithness right up to Shetland was a big lake and had lots of fish swimming around in it.  To show us where the lake used to be we used a map with co-ordinates and drew on it to show where the lake used to be.  It was a great test of our mapping skills. 

 

 

Finally we got to be archaeologists and search for some fossils in sand.  We had to brush the sand away carefully using brushes and then find out what type of fish we had found!  It was great fun and we enjoyed this bit the most! 

 

 

 

It was a really interesting presentation and we thoroughly enjoyed it!  

Magical Mutiplication

This week we have been working on our multiplication skills.  We have revising our understanding of the tables from 2-10 but we have also been looking at the links between table facts such as 2x3 is the same as 3x2 and then using this knowledge to help us with our division skills.  We’re developing our confidence as the week goes on and doing our ‘speedy tables’ is also helping us!  Any practice we can do at home will help too! 

Welcome Back to Primary 5

Welcome to Primary 5!  We’ve had a super first week back.  We’ve been settling into the routines of P5 and getting to know each other which has been good fun!  We’ve started our new topic, which we’re all very excited about, and have made some superb paper maché globes showing the 7 continents of the world.  You can quiz us at home about the continents of the world – see which ones we know!  Here is some photos of us on our first day back looking happy and cheery to be in P5!  There are also some photos of us up to our elbows in paper maché!  We were really good at tidying up though!  Keep checking back for updates on what we have been up to in P5 – we’re aiming to update it as often as we can. 

Viking Shield

Well, we have reached the end of Primary 4!

During our last week at school we were involved in designing a shield for the viking longship which will be taken through the streets and set alight during shopping week. All the classes, including the nursery, were given a blank shield and the challenge to come up with a design. In primary 4 we each came up with a potential design and then voted for our favourite one. The winner, which you can see below, was drawn by Connor! The border has each pupils' initials written in viking runes.

Keep your eyes peeled for our shield during Shopping Week!

Mock Wedding

Our RME focus this term was Christian celebrations, which included the wedding ceremony. What better way to understand what happens at a wedding than to carry one out?!  Our local minister, Magdalena Trgalova supported with providing the readings and words used in a Christian ceremony.  

Getting Ready                                                                                                                                                                      

Invitations were made and decorated, stained glass windows were made to decorate the ‘church’, and tissue flowers to decorate the sides of the aisle.  Speeches were written and songs and readings practised.

The Ceremony

Guests were warmly welcomed by the ushers, Eilidh and Jordan.  David the groom, and Ewan, his best man,  waited nervously at the altar for the ceremony to begin.

After a request to ‘Please be upstanding for the bride’, from Einar, the minister, Doreen, our organist began playing Wagner’s Bridal March.  Leo looked like the proud father as he led his daughter Olivia up the aisle. Following behind were Leah the bridesmaid, accompanied by Sarah the flower girl and James, the pageboy. Jessie, the bride’s mother and Matylda and Connor, the groom’s parents looked proudly on. 

Einar opened the ceremony with a short reading and the congregation then sang the hymn, ‘All Things Bright and Beautiful’. Katrina and Thorfinn read verses from Corinthians followed by David and Olivia exchanging vows and rings.  The wedding register was signed, before the blessing and final hymn ‘One More Step Along the World I Go’. David and Olivia came down the aisle to The Wedding March.

The Reception

Alistair confidently took on the role of MC to lead the proceedings through the reception. The bride and groom cut the cake, followed by speeches and toasts. George have a speech to the bride and groom, with David replying on behalf of himself and Olivia. Ewan proposed a toast to Leah, Sarah and James.  The waiting staff of Zara, Holly, Christy, Taigan and Ethan confidently took on the role of waiting staff to serve food and drinks.  Ethan gave a vote of thanks to Doreen Garson for the music, Magdalena Trgalova for help with the service and George Argo Snr and George Argo Jnr for the wedding cake.  

The Grand March

Miss Shearer and Mr McIntosh helped the wedding party carry out the Grand March and Mr McIntosh and Miss Nicolson led the way in the Eva Three Step. Kayla captured a lot of the fun of the day on film in her photographer role. 

Kirkwall Airport

What a week of visits; nearly every class in the school was out visiting somewhere today and Primary 4 were off to Kirkwall Airport!

We drove to the airport and were met by Neil who welcomed us at the door. We then split up into 2 groups to explore 2 different areas of the airport. Miss Nicolson's group went to the inter-island flight first and Mr MacLeod and Ms Muir went to the fire station. We managed to see one plane landing and another setting off as we were waiting.

At the islander plane, we all managed to squeeze on and each had a shot in the pilot's seat. We could hear people talking to us through the head phones!

After this, both groups met back in the terminal for a snack. Neil generously gave us some juice.

Then we swapped over.

Down at the fire station we saw the 2 huge fire engines that they use. We were prepared in case an alarm went off and we had to get out of the way as quickly as we could so the firemen could go. Mark showed us what they keep in all the compartments and how much water they carry - 7 tanks could fill the Stromness Swimming Pool! Mark said the best way to extinguish a fire was a mixture of water and foam so they mix this together before it is pumped out of the engine. We got to see this happening!! It was really impressive and can reach 60 metres away!

We had a really great morning at the airport and learn lots about different vehicles!

New Stromness Library

Today we walked down to the new Stromness Library in the Warehouse Buildings which opened earlier this term.

While we were there we had a look downstairs at the children's books, upstairs at the study section with the adult books and in the George Mackay Brown room which has all the old copies of the Orcadian.

We really enjoyed looking through the old Orcadians and even managed to find some of our birth announcements! The really old copies of the Orcadian were huge!

After all that we spend some time reading the books. The new library is such a lovely place, we will definitely be back soon!!

Cress Heads!

Primary 4 have been creating some super cress heads for the Summer Fayre competition this weekend.

We planted our seeds over a week ago and have looked after them well; making sure they have enough water and turning them in the sunlight. They have grown so fast!!

Here are a few of our creations!

 
 

Boat Building

Continuing with our topic of transport we have now turned our attention to boats.

This week we have been working on a design challenge to build a toy boat which floats and can move forward.

We spoke about the 4 stages every designer/engineer/inventor goes through:

After doing some research on different boat shapes and different floating materials, we each drew 3 different possible designs and chose one that we were going to make.

Today we made those designs and tested them in the water. We had loads of really inventive ideas and successful boats. Our boats moved using wind in their sails, using the power of an oar in the water or using string to pull them through the water.

Here are some pictures of the creative process!

Here are some of the finished products being tested.

Play script Writing

Watch out Shakespeare, because there are some budding play script writers in Primary 4!!

This week we have been learning all about play scripts. Although we had seen them before (in Panto Pandemonium and at class assemblies) we had a really close look at what information is given and how. For example, every stage direction needs to be in brackets so the actor knows not to say it out loud!

We then started planning plays of our own; we came up with an overall theme, then split this into a beginning, a middle and an end to give our play 3 scenes.

Today has been a busy day of practising and writing; it's really hard to remember to write down every action that needs to be done!

We should be able to give our plays their premier soon!

The Friction Test

We have been looking at the effects of friction on speed. We spoke about how friction can be a good thing and a bad thing. 

With our model cars we tested different road surfaces to see how far they went with more and less friction. We tested using the lino flooring in the classroom, with a carpet, with the underside of a carpet and with laminate flooring boards. Each time, we used the laminate flooring as a ramp to make sure the cars were going the same speed when they reached the surfaces.

The less friction - the further our cars went. We could guess which surfaces were going to be good by feeling how smooth they were. There was excellent team work, measuring skills, recording skills and explaining going on. Well done P4!