Pencaitland Primary Blog

Look out for our reflective lettering!

P5 sorted out materials according to how good they are at reflecting light.

We then cut our initials out of reflective tape and now plan to stick or stitch them onto our school bags or jackets. It will help to keep us safe on the dark, winter evenings.

Last night was quite magical at the school. The hall was decked with fairy lights and moon and star balloons, seven soft areas were covered with cosy cushions, and beakers of milk and yummy biscuits were prepared. Then our Nursery and Primary 1 children arrived in their jammies with a teddy and a grown-up! We all snuggled up and listened to stories chosen by the story-tellers - and it was quite funny to see all the teachers in their jammies as well! As each story-teller finished the bedside lamps were turned off, and when all were out and we were just lit by the twinkling fairy lights, we all sang Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, and then went home to our beds.

The evening was a huge success. We have had lots of wonderful comments from the teachers, parents and children and we are already talking about what we could do for next year, so we can include more children! A big thank you to those parents who have already sent in notes or written comments in reading records - they are much appreciated. Please keep them coming about the Bedtime Story and the Book Festival in general!

The first day of our Book Festival was very successful. Five parents came in to read to pupils or to listen to them read, and they left some lovely comments about the event and how well our pupils can discuss the books they are reading. Thank you to all involved.
Today we start the Swapshop Bookshop and tonight we have the Bedtime Story for Nursery and Primary 1 children.
In school today we have lots of parents again, and Karen Robertson, an East Lothian Education Quality Improvement Officer. Councillor Ruth Currie is joining us to work with Primary 6 and 7, and Scottish author, Garry Paulin, will be presenting his book, Voytek the Bear, to Primary 5, 6 and 7 this afternoon.

November is enterprise month and we would like to encourage you to use your enterprise skills to participate in some Scottish themed challenges.

Challenge 1

Flower of Scotland is the current alternative anthem and your challenge is to choose a new one that you think would be good.

Write a comment in this blog detailing your choice and explain why you have chosen it.

The closing date is Friday 21 November. We will announce the winning anthem at the assembly.

Good Luck. Mrs Berry and Miss Lee

Congratulations go to Rachel in P5 who was the overall winner of the Eco competition to design a mascot for this year’s campaign to save water.

We received lots of entries and it was very difficult for the ECO reps to choose a winner.

Rachel’s mascot is proudly displayed in school at the noticeboard at the front of the school.

Rachel won her very own water saving device for toilets called a water hippo and appropriately enough her friends helped her name the mascot Waterloo!

The Eco reps have been busy installing water hippos in some of our older style school toilets. We will let you know how much water we are saving.

What do you think of Waterloo?

P7 spent time on Remembrance day, remembering all the lost soldiers and writing Remembrance Day poetry. Once we had shared our ideas and listened to some famous poems we got to work writing our own.

We then worked together to make a huge class display of our poems.

This is an example of our work, with a poem by Rachel B and a poem by Eilidh M.

The men who fought for us now lie, In Flanders field where they did die. Once a place where men’s brave cries, Echoed round throughout the skies. It now lies silent, but listen now, The Larks are singing as people bow, Towards the graves of the men, Who fought so bravely way back then. By Rachel B

Falling, falling, falling down, My heart is set in Flanders fields. Flanders fields, o’ the bonny fields. They shimmer in the summer breeze, The red blanket in which I breathe, My heart is happy where it is, Set in Flanders fields.

Flanders fields, o’ Flanders fields, We fought with dignity, My brother and my father too, Fought with their hearts in two.

In Flanders fields we all fell down, In Flanders fields. By Eilidh M

On Monday we had our second rugby session, and we’re absolutely loving it! We get the chance to do lots of different activities that help us develop our rugby skills and also raise our fitness.

As we played tag rugby last year, this year we get to learn touch rugby. We’re enjoying how physical the lessons are but some of us are feeling a little worse for wear! Not because we get too tired, but because we keep falling over. We have quickly realised that in rugby, falling over is just part of the game!

This is some photos of us being put through our paces…

Again, a big thank you to all parents and teachers who gave up their time or donated equipment for the Fireworks display on Saturday night.  The event was a great success and has raised approximately £2,000 for the PTA.  So thanks again to all involved and to everyone who braved the weather to support the event.

Pencaitland PTA

P7 have been selling poppies from Thursday to Tuesday for the Scottish Poppy Appeal

We decorated T-shirts and put up posters around the school about the poppy.

The stemmed poppies have all sold out but there are plenty of the sticky ones left.

If you want to buy a poppy you can bring in any amount of money and the P7 selling team will happily take your donations!

By Lydia and Eilidh, P7

Thanks once again to Pencaitland Primary PTA, who organised another very successful firework display on Saturday night.

If you couldn’t make it, you can get some idea of what you missed from this slideshow - just add your own firework noises! (To view the slideshow full-screen use the button in the bottom right corner.)

Yesterday we had a day off school to visit New Lanark as part of our Victorian topic. It was a long drive but we had our DS’s, PSPs and ipods to keep us occupied. When we got their we went into a victorian classroom with a victorian teacher. She was very strict. We had to stand to answer a question and say “mam”. We had overalls to wear too. We did handwriting, maths, geography and saw a crocodile !. We also did drill (marching) and had a dance lesson. It was different to school.
We then had a short lunch and then a guide showed us round Robert Owens buildings. First the mill workers house where the whole family had to live in one room. Bed, toilet (bucket) and kitchen (an open fire) all in one room. Then we saw a house about thirty years later. It had two rooms, electricity (but no switches), a toilet and a wireless (an old fashioned radio).
We also visted Robert Owens house (much fancier !) and the worlds first co-op. After this we went on a ride that took you back in time to see what life was like then. After this there was just time for a toilet stop and a visit to the gift shop before we were back on the bus and heading for home.
If you want to find out more information (and see more photos) then check out our class blog .

George & Hannah - P6 Blogging team

In P1 we have started our new project about Night and Day. Mrs Kerr asked “Why does it go dark at night?” We said -

“So you know when to go to bed.”

“It goes dark because everyone is tired.”

This week we are going to be learning a bit more about it. Our reading tent is covered with balck material and we have torches inside it to try some experiments in the dark.

We have also been looking at textures in art work, and we looked at some sculptures by Andy Goldsworthy. Then we wanted to have a try!    We went down to the woods to gather some materials.   We brought it all back to the playground and spread it out to see what we had found, then we got creative!    What do you think?  This kind of transient artwork is very temporary so it was great we had our camera with us to capture the works of art.

This morning Laura (who helped with the mural) came into our class to help us create some mirrors.

We started with pictures of things that keep us healthy such as fruit, exercise and friends.  We then decorated the rest of the frame by sticking bits and pieces on it.

P7 will be doing football, gymnastics and rugby up until Christmas.

Football:

McDonalds have sponsored a football programme for lots of primary 7’s in East Lothian. Each Thursday afternoon we get put through our paces on the football field. We have been doing things like; running through ladders, jumping over hurdles, speed tests and general football skills. At the end of each session we play a few matches against each other, we get into teams of about 4 or 5 and play mini tournaments. Its really fun! Though sometimes its a bit wet!

Rugby:

Every Monday starting on the 3rd of November, we will be getting rugby training. P7 are all really excited about it, though some of the girls aren’t sure about getting muddy!

We’re also getting gymnastics on Tuesdays with Mrs Jones, so its all go for Primary 7’s!!!

By Lydia and Eilidh.

The Eco reps have been busy. First of all look around in the school grounds and see if you can spot the new bird box that James put up! Lachlan and the whole team have begun reading our water meter to see how much water we save. We are looking for a new Eco mascot with a water theme this year and await the competition entries from all you creative pupils. Just a quick reminder then to everyone- when you are checking that all lights are switched off when we don’t need them - how about checking that the water taps are properly off too?

Today we did an assembly on the Vikings. We told some interesting facts like ‘men wore jewellery’ and the Viking helmets didn’t have horns. We sang ‘Wake Up’ at the start and ‘I Feel Good’ at the end and everyone had fun doing the actions. By Mollie, Alister, Heather, Finlay B, Euan and Faith.

We did a drama about the Vikings and the Scottish people managed to defeat the Vikings and the thistle saved the castle and Scotland. As the Vikings attacked, they were stung by thistles and their screams woke the Scottish guards who threw boulders at the Vikings and some of the Vikings died. The king made the thistle the flower of Scotland. By Charlotte, Doulgas, Ella, Robert, Kaitlin and Jack

I liked when the Scottish soldiers threw the boulders during the drama. By Lucy and Ellis

I enjoyed saying our parts. By Findlay W

I really liked when the Vikings got jagged by the spiky thistles. By Alex and Mia

I thought it was funny when the Vikings Blair and Ella dropped dead. By Georgia. I really liked acting this out. By Blair

I thought it was really funny when Blair died and then suddenly jumped up to say his lines. By Ben

I got a shock when I was hit on the head by a boulder. Just as well it was made with paper. By Max

It was fun getting out of the longship to attack the Scottish castle. By Iona

I loved rowing our Viking longship. By Kira

I really liked singing the song, I Feel Good’. By Robbie

The Pencaitland Book Festival will be held between 17th and 21st November 2008 at Pencaitland Primary School. We have invited authors, parents, councillors, and friends in the community to visit the school that week to read to, listen to or talk to pupils about books to encourage the children to read and write more.

During the week there will be a Swapshop Bookshop to encourage the sharing of good stories and a Bedtime Story evening for Nursery and Primary 1 children and their parents/ carers to promote and celebrate the bedtime story.
More details to follow! Look out for the posters, leaflets and blog updates coming out soon.

The Festival Committee

On October the 9th P7 went on a class trip to The Museum of Flight. We got to try on WW2 clothes, we practised  having an air raid and we looked at prisoner of war postcards. Our favourite part of the morning was when we got to try on WW2 clothes, that was fun!

After we had lunch we went to see lots of planes from WW2.We had a guide to tell us about the planes and show us around. Her name was Zoe. The first plane that we went to see was a Spitfire and then a Comet. They were very big and the spitfire had something like 10 guns and is very powerful.

P2/3 celebrated the end of our Romans project with a Roman feast. We ate grapes, dates, raisins, oatcakes and honey, and drank fruit juice. After eating Roman style, we were entertained by members of the class. A great time was had by everyone!

Yesterday we went to a hockey festival at Ross High and played on the astro turf. It was really windy and that made it tricky to play. Everyone had a great time and all 4 teams from Pencaitland (lions, cheetahs, pumas and leopards) all won more games than they lost or drew. Poor Hannah got hit a few times but always came back to play again.

Jack T & Declan (P6 blogging team for the week)