The story of Sedna

To see how we created a felt picture with artist Christina Sargent follow this link.

Lyness visit

Both p7 classes took a ferry ride to Lyness this week. Our mission was to explore and find out about Lyness and Orkney during the wars - World War II in particular.

We started with a walk to the cemetery where we studied the information on many war graves. We were very impressed with how well kept and tidy the cemetery is. It was sad to see how many people had died and surprising to see how many different nationalities there were. The young ages of the casualties gave us plenty to think about. Reading the inscriptions makes everything more real and meaningful to us.

We've never seen James move as fast as when his papers blew away! He caught them but oh dear he didn't watch where he was going! Hope you got you shoes cleaned James!

There is a film show and many interesting exhibits inside the giant oil tank. It was fascinating to hear our voices echo in there too.

Inside the museum there are many boards, displays and interactive exhibits to study. Some people's favourite part was trying on the clothes and uniforms.

Outside the museum we spent some trying trying to identify pieces of equipment from parts of photographs. It was a bit like a treasure hunt. Unfortunately we ran out of time and didn't manage to see the air raid shelter. See more images in the slide show below.

Gas masks

As part of our study of World War II we made some models of gas masks. Using sound effects from the BBC website we were able to simulate what it would have been like to go through an air raid and gas alert. We used our tables as air raid shelters. It was very cramped but thankfully our air raids didn't last very long

See some more masks.

Paddlepower!

Well done to the P7 paddlers!

Wise Choices

On Monday 15th March the p7 classes had a chance to make new friends from other primary schools in Orkney. We took part in a drama workshop called Wise Choices, along with pupils from Evie, Flotta, Westray and Papa Westray. The workshop was run by the Youth Theatre company.

We played games that required lots of cooperation and action. It was interesting to work with pupils we didn't know and as the day went on we relaxed more and everyone became a bit less self conscious. The games all led to a focus on the dangers and effects of alcohol.

We had a relay game that was a group task and led to discussions about the importance of rules. We decided that there are good reasons for some rules and laws and learned who we should look to for help and advice if we need it. The activity that most of us really enjoyed was when we had to be the arms for someone else and perform an operation on a patient. Each group acted a scenario with hilarious results! There are some very active imaginations in p7!

All in all the day was informative and a great, interactive way to learn about alcohol abuse.

Young Leader award

Over the next two terms both p7 classes are taking part in the Young Leader award. Catherine Johnston from Active Schools is helping us through the scheme. We are learning what it means to be a leader and what skills we need to improve to be successful.

We started off with taking turns at leading in follow the leader and Simon Says. We discovered that one of the most important skills is good communication. It's also important to be really sure of the rules!
Over the course of the award we will learn how to organise groups for games and how to prepare for a games session with younger pupils. By the end of the project we will be expected to take groups from the younger classes and teach them games, doing all the organising, preparation and supervision ourselves.
It will be quite a challenge and hopefully will make the playground a more exciting and inclusive place to play.

More visitors!

This week we had visits from our MSP, Liam McArthur and our MP, Alistair Carmichael.

Both of them talked to us about their jobs and how they represent Orkney in different ways. We also asked them questions about international, national and local issues in preparation for our BBC School report.

Green land!

We have been taking Drama lessons this term with Mr Giles. It's called Greenland a town with a differance. It fits in well with our project, Living in a Democracy. We are all citizens and make the rules. We have ten main laws.

1.All citizens of Greenland are instructed to use green public trannsport only.

2.All transport in Greenland must run on Green fluid such as Fairy liqid.

3.The Green Ba' must be held annually only in the capital of Greenland.

4.All citizens of Greenland must worship the Green Giant.

5.All citizens of Greenland must vow total allegiance to Greenland.

6.Only the colour green can be seen in Greenland, every other colour is forbidden.

7.All citizens of Greenland must know the "Green National Anthem" of by heart.

8.Only citizens of Greenland can know the Green Secret Handshake.

9.Only citizens of Greenland can live and work in Greenland.

10.All citizens of Greenland must eat five portions of green vegetables every day but will have an optional portion of 'Green Giant' sweetcorn.

We also have a parliament which we just started. We put Mrs McRae up in front of the parliament for committing a formidable crime!

by Kirsty

Video Conference

This week we had a video conference with Neil Gray who is a parliamentary assistant at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh.
We had a very ineteresting discussion and he told us all about his job and what it is like to work in the parliament building.
Some of us thought we might like his job!

We took notes and asked many questions. We learned that MSPs work very long hours and don't always get time for a break at lunchtime. Debates and meetings can go on for a long time. Neil helps his MSP (Alex Neil) with research and preparing for meetings. He finds his job very interesting, challenging and enjoyable.