Following our Blog

There are a few new additions to our blog on the sidebar. We have a new blog ready for BBC School Report 2012. Though this event is not until 15th March we will be using this blog to practice and get ready for the big day. The template we are using for this blog means you can follow us on your mobile phone. Let us know if it works!

 You will see there are now 2 video channels, one for curriculum activities and one exclusively for sport. The sport channel will be where we put videos of ourselves playing sports and taking part in sporting activities, as well as reporting on sport in the school community in the lead up to the Olympic games.

Class 7 play Ringette on the Class Seven 2011 Sports Channel.

We are adding labels to all our posts. These show skills which the children have had the opportunity to achieve in the activites described in the posts. We hope that we will be able to use these to build statements about what we have learned in Primary 7.
We will add these learner statements to the wiki later.

Finally this blog is all about having an audience. It is very motivating for us all to know that our work is being shared beyond the classroom. Please leave a comment - tell us what you have looked at and what you have enjoyed, and also what you would like to see here. Encourage family abroad to look and leave comments too - lets see if we can light up our globe visitor counter as much as possible!

Harvest Assembly

Class 7 sang 'Herrin's Heids' and played 'Leaving Stromness' today at Harvest Assembly. Joanne, Jordan and Emma played 'Harvest Time' on the clarinets and our orchestra players played 'Hava Nagila'. Well done everyone!

Have a great holiday and see you next term!

The last debate

We have finished term  1 with a series of debates. The last debate was about comparing life in Orkney in 1861 with life in Orkney today. Everyone is getting better at listening and responding to the points the other team makes and often we are persuaded to change our minds by the end of the debate!

The last debate was about comparing life in Orkney in 1861 with life in Orkney today.

Were people happier? Was life better? What do you think?

Making model open boats

We designed and created model open boats using some of the methods we know are used to make traditional birch bark canoes. We only had glue and string to make the joins. We used PVA as a waterproofing for the skin if we thought it need it. It didn't work quite as well as resin and bear fat to close any leaks. Everyone made gunwhales as part of their framework but there was a mix of hull designs. Some had a distinctive V shape along the keel while others were the traditional open canoe flat bottomed hull. Most people modified their designs to some extent as they made the models, and everyone learned a lot.

Stromness street walk and museum visit

We went to Stromness to see the street which has not changed much since the days of John Rae.

There are plenty of plaques on the buildings to show places that were important in the days of sail, when tall ships filled their ships with fresh water from Login's Well and the cannon fired as ships left and arrived from Hudson's Bay.

Thank you to Stromness museum for letting us gather information and to Stromness Primary School for welcoming us into their dining hall and playground.

What did we learn?

Why canoe?

This is what we learned:

" You had to work as a team when you were all in a canoe."

"It shows you that it was not easy living at that time."

" You have to have good groupwork skills to make a shelter."

"You can get knowledge of the past by trying it!"

" Understanding what it was really like to be voyageurs and traders."

"We got to experience something similar to what the people working for The Hudson's Bay Company and the native people did."

"You can do OUTDOOR activities like make a campfire, use a kelly kettle and canoeing."

" We learned how to paddle a canoe and light a fire."

"We learned how to stay safe round a campfire."

" We learned how to cook dough on a campfire."

" We learned not to stand up in the canoe, or we would capsize."

Finally we decided that,

"It is good fun and healthy."

"We got fresh air instead of sitting in a classroom."