P6/7 had a visit from staff and students from the University of Edinburgh and took part in a Sci-Fun Event in the Scalloway Junior High School games hall. Lots of exciting demonstrations were held as well as over 20 activities for the children to take part in and learn about science.
P5 spent the afternoon experimenting with their hovercrafts today! Using a balloon, a cotton reel and an old CD they made hovercrafts which allow the air from the ballon to lift the CD up on a cushion of air. To make this last even longer Mr Skea brought in massive punching balloons which worked really well. From this activity P5 learnt that air can be used to hold things up!
P6/7 from Scalloway JHS are starting a project on enterprise. On the 17th of April, their first activity began by producing and selling, novelty paper hats.
There were four groups of six, and one group of seven. Each group had a leader, a book-keeper, a seller, a material buyer, a quality control manager and everyone else chipped in to help make as many hats as possible.
Every group started with a pack showing them: how to run the business, a planner, a diagram showing them how to make the hats, and a fake fiver. With the fiver we had to buy materials to make the hats. For every five hats we sold to our teacher, we received fake £25, but they had to be sold in sets of five hats and every hat had to have perfect folded corners and a rim of exactly 4cm high.
We had a break for one minute every ten minutes for maintenance to the factory. After each break we were given the opportunity to purchase materials to make our hats.
At the end, we counted up how much profit we had made, and handed out salary to the workers and leader. The workers were paid £5 a day, and they had been working for 4 days, so their overall pay was £20. The leader, got paid £10 a day, and also worked for 4 days, so their overall pay was £40.
We all really enjoyed this activity and we thought that it gave us an opportunity to see how businesses work
20th March 1835
Woke up dis moarnin, got my clase on. Telt mam dat I wis gain ta fitch some mair paets. She tocht a o da cerring yisterday wid o laid me by but na na. I den geed oot ya da baarn an got da Kishie. I geed outside an stood for a minute lookin oot at a dae hooses in da village. Den I headed ower ta da hill tae fitch da paets.
Win I got back tae da hoose I fun Mam half lain in da chair, fice drawn. But before I cood say enyting she wis up biggen da paets up arood ta gloowin embers o da fire. She den telt me ta go an pit da rest o da paets inta da paet neuk. As I did dat I saw her walken ower ta da meal-kist. She said she was goin ta make some broonies befor da ither 2 got up. Mam telt me ta go an maet da kye I asked her if I cood gee a grain mair ta ald Flecky. It’s so sad, shes gitten weaker an weaker by da day. Mam agreed but I wis only alood ta gee her a peeerie bit mair or weed run oot. [Read more →]
20-3-43
Dear diary,
Sorry I haven’t written in a few days but I have had a terrible couple of days.
First of all I had to go to Kurkigert to visit granny and granddad, because mam was about to give birth to another bairn. I ran over the hill of Moostoft to get there, and a really bad blizzard came. I was up to my knees in snow. I nearly lost my way there. I was quite scared I did not know where I was going or who’s house I was going to knock on.
When I got to Auld Daas, I collapsed at the front door. I don’t remember much after that but granny said that I was really cold and nearly took me to hospital, When I woke up about a couple of hour after I arrived I told granny that mam needed some help delivering the baby.
I got home the next day because the weather was so bad that Auld daa couldn’t get the cart. When I got home mam said that she lost the baby. I was so sad, I wish dad was here then he would know what to do, and he could help get the whole family back on track. Mum said that she was fine but I knew deep down she was sad, I think she would have liked another baby. I would not have minded if I got another brother or sister.
I hope nothing more is going to happen to our family, I think we have suffered enough. But if anything does happen to our family then I wish dad will be here, then we can get through it as a family.
By Kirsten P7
On Thursday the 1st of March P6/7 recorded some Shetland Dialect poems about the weather. We used the webcam to record the poems in groups. Everyone made a really good effort at trying to pronounce some of the tricky dialect words then we had a go at translating the poems into English. The hardest part of all was making sure that no one laughed during the recording as everyone had to be really quiet!!
Please have a listen and tell us what you think.
A review by Kaylee and John P6
Scalloway School gave the drama group Lickety-spit a very warm welcome on the 14th February 2007. Lickety-spit is a drama group made up out of quite a few small groups. The one that was up had four people from Edinburgh. There names were Itxso Moreno who played Balexto, Johnny Austin who played Nin & Finn, Sean Hay who played Fitz & Captain Crill and Sarah Hawork who played Oona & Isabella. Big Betty was the boat, which was the center of each scene.
The play began with Balexto drifting out to sea as a small child. The boat began to sink and the Green Whale came and saved her. Since then she had been living on the Big Betty. The three children called Finn, Oona and Fitz had skipped school one day and went down to the pier. There they found the Big Betty. They stood and spoke for a bit speaking about whether they should go to sea or not. They were encouraged by Captain Crill to go. They thought if they came home with lots of money there mother wouldn’t care about them leaving.
The other people that were on the boat were skipper Nin and cook Isabella (retired queen of Spain). She had gone back with Captain Crill when he was still a pirate. That was also the experience that had made him retire from being a pirate. On the trip the children became great friends with Balexto. Of course they also helped to keep her secrecy of being on the boat. One day on the trace to catch the green whale, they got trapped in the green whale. Luckily he opened his mouth and floated them out in a bubble.While the Green whale was still there Captain Crill told us about the whale baby and how he had saved that poor child. That was when they figured out that Nin was the whale baby. In the end Nin gets on the whale on an adventure to find his family. Balexto was happy for him but also upset. She knew her family was gone so went home with Oona and her brothers. The children in the audience also really enjoyed the added extra of fresh oranges in the interval.
Primary 6 have been doing work on electricity. A few weeks ago we made up our own quizzes. When you correctly match up a question to its answer then the bulb should light up. This is because the electric circuit has been made complete and means that the current can flow all around the circuit and light up the bulb!
We have also learnt that the current (the flow of electricity) is the same all around a circuit and that adding more bulbs into a circuit will mean that the bulbs don’t shine so bright.
Today we made model lighthouses. We used reed switches that switch on when a magnet comes near them. By putting a magnet on a wheel we could turn the wheel manually making the bulb flash on and off!
On Tuesday the 13th of Februrary P6/7 went on a visit to the Crofthouse Museum. The bus picked the class up at 9.15am and took us down to the museum. The class was split into two groups because the croft was so small there wasn’t enough room for everyone in there at once. The first group went down whilst the second group had to stay on the bus where they kept themselves amused for half an hour.
The door into the crofthouse was tiny and inside it was really cold. The guide showed us the but end, ben end, the byre and the barn. The crofthouse had no windows as they needed to keep all the heat in the house. Heat came from a peat fire in the but end and also from the body heat from the animals kept in the byre!!
Particular highlights of the trip were seeing the boxbeds, learning that the byre wasn’t cleaned out all winter (smelly!) and also the random singing on the bus (twinkle twinkle little star?!).
A big thankyou to the parent helpers who came along.
18th March 1843
Last night I overheard mam and dad speaking about dad going to the Greenland whaling and mam having a baby (cool). I also heard dad say that I would help out. I felt proud.
Today I was feeling sad because dad was going to the whaling for 6 months. Then we all sat down at the table fir some gruel and tea. Dad got ready and started to walk but I caught up with him and asked if I could walk with him or carry something for him. He said I could but only as far as Cova. Dad let me carry his claes bag it was very heavy but I acted normal.
Dad said some parting words he said that maybe I would get to go to Greenland next year which made me excited.
On my way home I met Henry leaning over the side of the burn he was looking at a troot he told me to watch the troot while he went to get his rod the troot swam away so I told Henry and I went tae da hoose.
When I got home mam was sitting in front of the fire with her knitting needles in her hands. Mam got up and did her usual routines of tea making. She told me to sit down and have a cup of tea.
Mam and me spent the rest of the day taking cows muck out of the byre and into the midden. I was glad to it over with because it stunk up to the high heavens.
18th March 1843
I heard mam and dad speaking about mam having another baby. Am a peerie bit worried aboot her especially since dad is gone away to the Greenland whaling for six months or more.
Dad has left me in charge o da house so I feel quite excited. It might be a bit of a struggle without Marta but we’ll hiv tae manage.
I walked all the way tae Cova wi dads’ claes bag dis moarnin. It was awful heavy but I didna let dad see yun. Joost afore he left, he said that I hid tae do everything that he would do aboot da house. It’s leaving a lot o pressure on me but I think I can handle it.
After dad hid left for Lerwick, I met Henry at da burn, spying on a troot. We didna manage tae catch him but Henry was determined tae catch him and sat by da burn for aboot 2 hours.
I helped mam muck oot da kye byre efter dad hid gone. We must hiv carried aboot a hunder kieshies o muck tae da midden. I wis blyde o a cup o tae and me bed da night. Mam is no doin so weel. She is no her usual sell. Hids no lang until the baby comes.
This is going to be a very different 6 months for me.
P6/7 are reading a novel by John J. Graham called “Shadowed Valley”. We are keeping a diary of 14 year old Hakki’s thoughts and feelings throughout the novel and what follows is some of the diary entries we have typed up so far. Some of us chose to write in Shetland dialect so we hope you understand what we have written! Please let us know what you think of our work.
P6/7 have started their latest project on the Shetland clearances and are reading “Shadowed Valley” by John J. Graham. This novel follows the Hunter family during the Weisdale clearances in the 19th century. P6/7 will be keeping a diary of 14 year old Hakki Hunter’s thoughts and feelings throughout the novel. We hope to be posting some diary entries onto our weblog so you can chart Hakki’s progress as well and let us know what you think of our work.
An appeal to P6/7 parents for any family tree information and for any artifacts to do with Shetland crofting or fishing proved a great success and information is still coming in.
The class also had a visit from Elma Johnson last week who came in to share with us her knowledge of the Shetland clearances and told us a story or two.
At the start of term we were finishing off our Europe project. We spent one afternoon in groups building models of European landmarks. We were given 50 straws, 25 pipe cleaners, a roll of tape and 15 paperclips to make our models. We then judged each others models and gave them points based on the likeness of the model, strength and height.
At long last P6/7 are making their first blog entry! We have been extremely busy this term so what follows is a taste of just some of the things we have been up to. Please let us know what you think of some of our work.
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