Category: Room 8

Room 8 Staff Team

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Uniform Exchange: Save money and help the environment!

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We are pleased to announce that we now have a Uniform Exchange in the front reception area of Orchard Brae. We have a small stock of clothing at present including footwear, trousers, school sweatshirts and polo shirts. We also have some bodysuits in smaller sizes. Free sanitary products will be available at all times.

You are welcome to come in and browse at any time, taking what you need for your child.

Donations of clothing (footwear, outdoor jackets or trousers, school uniform) are welcome and can be sent in with your child – please pop a note into the diary so that we know they are for the Uniform Exchange. Our pupils are aged 3 – 18, so all sizes are welcome including adult sizes.

Let’s help ourselves by saving money and passing on clothes that our children have outgrown, and help the environment too by re-using good clothing.

Noodles, Reindeer and Remembrance in Outdoor Education

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Room 19 have been looking at preparing food for our Duke of Edinburgh Bronze award.  We tested 2 different brands of noodles, and enjoyed eating them both.  Even those who were not sure, once they tried them, discovered that they were nice to eat.

We assembled and used a Trangia stove to boil water, and add then added to the dried noodles.  Part of our assessment will be making a hot meal, from scratch, using a stove.

We have also cooked sausages outside which were very popular.

This week we even made hot chocolate, heating up chocolate milk on a stove.

We all agree – food tastes better when cooked outside!

 

Outdoor learning has looked at using natural materials like grass, beech nuts and twigs to make textured animals.  We have made spikey hedgehogs from twigs. We also made soft fluffy reindeer for their fur, and small twigs to make their antlers.  Some of our reindeer also had a shiny red nose like Rudolph.

 

We also made poppies to celebrate Armistice Day out of heart shaped pieces of red paper.  We were using scissors, paint, different colours to recreate poppies in the wild.

Room 8 Explore ‘Grandpa’s Handkerchief’

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Room 8 have just started looking at a new story, ‘Grandpa’s Handkerchief’.  The story is about a sociable and kindly Grandpa who plays with his grand-children every day – thus providing us with  a fun way to learn the days of the week.

Red, blue, yellow, green… Grandpa’s handkerchiefs are useful in so many ways!  For waving to trains, making a sailing boat, bandaging a knee, or reminding Grandpa about a special birthday!

Each day focuses on a different activity.  Monday is about trains singing and dancing. Tuesday is about playing at the park. Wednesday we are going to be pirates with hats and swords. Thursday is party with a very exciting and unusual cake. Friday is baking. Saturday is football and Sunday is gardening.

The class are going to be working on this story over the next three weeks as we learn the different songs and actions to accompany each exciting day with ‘Grandpa’s Handkerchief’.

Christmas Fair: 30th November 2019

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Room 12 are holding another doll raffle, to be drawn at the Christmas Fair on 30th November 2019, all proceeds to Orchard Brae.

Included in the prize is a beautiful wicker basket bed, bedding, the doll and several outfits – from a bride’s dress, to clown’s outfit to pyjamas and matching dressing gown and more. Doll donated and bedding and outfits beautifully made by the mum of one of Room 12’s class teachers.

Tickets to win all this are £1! Come and see us at the fair to buy your ticket!

There will also be many dolly clothes at our stall available to buy separately. These are unique, handmade and better than any dolls clothes you’ll see in the shops!

Halloween Fun at the Pupil Council Disco

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The pupil council decided they wanted a Halloween disco and a pumpkin carving competition on Halloween. We enjoyed a whole school disco, with all the tunes being selected in advance by the pupils.  There were lots of fantastic costumes too.

Colours On The Moooove With Room 8

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The Magic Milk Experiment

The Magic Milk experiment has been a ton of fun! This science activity with milk and food colouring was great for Room 8.

Finding creative ways to hook the children, to intrigue them, and ignite their desire to want to learn more about a particular subject really drove me. The Dancing Milk science experiment is one of my favourite experiments to achieve this hook.

Not only is making milk dance fun for kids and adults to watch, but this easy and inexpensive activity also combines science and art.

Some very unusual interactions take place when we mixed a little milk, food colouring, and a drop of liquid soap. After an explosion of movement, everyone watched a beautiful, graceful dancing milk! We have had a lot of fun!

What happened?

Milk has fat in it and the food colouring floats on top of the fat. When we added the dish soap to the milk, the fat separated and moved making our magical milk art!

 

Looking Back And Moving Forward With Room 8

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The beginning of summer is upon us! As we head into the final stretches of the school year, everyone should take time to reflect on the highs and lows of the year. What worked? What flopped? How can you improve for next year? What from your old job will you bring to your new one? What must you definitely leave behind?

However, when we take time to reflect on our year and take stock of how we’ve grown and changed, we are more able to acknowledge the gifts of this passage and harvest our own learning for the future.

Let’s find out together our best moments.

Potted Sports

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Everyone enjoyed the Potted Sports organised by our PE Department on Wednesday. Thank you to everyone involved for the hard work that went into this, including our Howes Hoose pupils who supported at the stations. We all had a great time moving around in our class groups, finishing up with a running ‘marathon’ for any Secondary pupils wishing to participate. They were well supported by those opting to spectate.

A Surprise For Room 8

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Follow us, Room 8, into an amazing journey through our world of rights along with Handa, from “Handa’s surprise” by Eileen Browne.

In the story, Handa, a girl from Kenya, took a surprise bowl of fruits on a journey to her friend Akeyo. Different animals pinched the fruits without Handa’s permission. There were many interesting animals and fruits to find out about, making the journey really fun. As Handa’s journey was about to end, a goat bumped into a tangerine tree, and filled up her empty bowl with tangerines. When she arrived at Akeyo’s village, that was a happy surprise for both Handa and Akeyo. Handa was amazed by the loss of the other fruits, and the presence of tangerines. There was a happy ending because Akeyo’s favourite fruit is tangerine and Handa brought them to him.

What made this story so wonderful was the beautiful describing words. It also introduced the theme of friendship and its importance, which is another positive asset to this story. The surprise at the end of the story added a comical twist that brought the happiness.

Altogether, this was a really engaging and entertaining book that was wonderful to listen to and made us smile. Furthermore, the book has given us the opportunity to learn about children’s rights, to explore and taste the fruits from Handa’s basket, and to speak about our uniqueness and importance.

However, our journey is not finished yet, so be ready for other adventures along with Handa and her friend, Akeyo.

Ragbag Collection

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The pupils in Room 16 have been working hard on our Ragbag project for 18 months now.  We are delighted to confirm that we have raised approximately £900 for the school fund (that’s more than 2 tonnes of clothing that have been saved from landfill!).

Rag bag is a Scottish textile and clothing recycling scheme.  Items are graded according to their quality at their premises in Falkirk.  Wearable items are sent to developing countries as 2nd hand clothing, items which may have been torn or damaged recycled and become carpet underlay or industrial cleaning cloths or even mattress lining.  Either way they are kept from landfill.

There are 3 collection schemes, 1: send bags home, 2: inside collection bin (at school front office) and 3: external collection bin.  We are proud to say that we have all 3 schemes in operation.

We collect clothes, pairs of shoes, belts and bags.

So this Spring, as you clear out your winter wardrobe, feel free to fill a bag of rags for us!