20
May
2007
Friday 11th May was the school’s very first Eco Day. This was the first of what we are calling ‘Days for Action’ that will become a regular part of school life in the future. The idea behind Eco Day isthat for one day normal lessons will be suspended so that the children canfocus on one big issue in depth giving their learning on that issue a bigger impact.
Several of our Eco Day activities built upon the ideas ans skills that Rosemary has been learning in her ‘Forset Schools’ training that she has been involved with over the past year. Other activities linked with ongoing School Board projects to improve the school grounds.
The children were organised into family groups that also involved the nursery children during the morning sessions. This way of grouping children allows children of all ages to work together, younger children to learn from older children and older children to take responsibility for helping younger children.
The children rotated throughout the day around 6 different areas. Some of the activities changed at these groups throughout the day while others stayed the same.
Area 1: planting sunflower seeds, recycling plastic bottles and drawing chalk pictures on the paving slabs.
Area 2: recycling plastic bottles to make mobiles, making wind chimes from spoons.
Area 3: planting the tubs and hanging baskets at the front entrance to the school, creating a herb garden, planting sweet peas in the tyres in the garden and garden tidy.
Area 4: Planning the new area of the playground. There is a piece of waste ground at the far side of the garden and the school board have been discussing and planning how to incorporate this into the playground/garden.
Area 5: making a wooden hanging xylophone, making charcoal, building a shelter.
Area 6: Learning about marine litter with the help of GRAB.
The children have all reported that they thought Eco Day was fantastic and really enjoyable. They have all been discussing what their favourite activity was and what our next day of action might be about.
Posted: Events & Activities
3
March
2007
Now that it’s March, things are really getting busy. The children are putting in a lot of effort at school learning their songs and poems and we are now approaching the final run-in to the festival.
With so many children entered in so many competitions it gets quite hectic trying to make sure that everybody gets an opportunity to have a practice. Just relying on getting the work done in music and drama lessons alone isn’t enough. Everyday extra practices are squeezed in beside the children’s normal lessons. It’s really important to us that normal lessons continue and that progress in maths or writing is not lost because of music festival preparations. So first thing in the morning or 5 minutes before lunch, teachers are hearing and practising poems or fitting in a quick burst of Chatanooga Choo Choo!
A great deal of work is carried out during lunch breaks with a rota of different groups of children being heard on different days. Participation at lunchtime is on a voluntary basis for the children with most coming along to the practice.
Music and drama classes allow teachers some quality time to work on poems and songs. Whether children are entering the festival or not, all children learn the poems and songs as part of their music/drama lessons this term. All of the songs are taught to all of the children so that by this time in the term the children have all learned a brand new repertoire! Favourite songs with P.3/4 children at the moment are Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Nellie the Elephant but they do also enjoy Chatanooga Choo Choo! The children in P.5-7 are also enjoying The Bare Necessities and Tears in Heaven. Helen Maddox comes in for an hour every Thursday afternoon which really helps to bring the children onto the next level. Working with a pianist is so much better than working with a tape!!
The next stage is to start hearing children individually to check that they know their words and to give some top tips on performance skills.
The children have all learned their poems very well already so learning to perform their poem is now the big area for development. The most demanding poem this year is most definitely ‘Lament for a Lost Dinner Ticket’. When the children first set eyes on this poem they couldn’t see how they would ever be able to work out what it said, never mind learn and perform it! To help, the whole class have been learning this poem by memorising chunks of sound without looking at the written word. This seems to have worked well and now the whole of P.5-7 can perform the poem and think that it’s brilliant!
The children in P.1-3 are also working hard learning their action song, ‘It Happens Each Spring’, and costumes are already in production .
This year there will also be a wind and brass ensemble taking part in the festival and they will be playing ‘Scotland the Brave’ as well as taking part in their solo competitions.
All in all, busy days at Kilmartin Primary School.
What can parents do to help?
Keep hearing your child say their poem for 5 minutes every night and also go over song words as they really need to learn these too. Many of the children have a CD with the music for the songs so this can help with extra practice. When time allows, more CDs will be produced so that everybody who needs one has one for home. Try not to get to worried if your child’s confidence wobbles a bit in the run up to the festival, just keep encouraging them, after all performing on a stage is quite a thought!
Why do we ‘do’ Music Festival?
It’s always a bonus when some children come back with a cup or other trophy but this isn’t why all this effort is put in. All of the children who enter gain the knowledge that they managed to do something that’s a bit scary and makes their heart pound and gives them butterflies in their tummies. This knowledge that ‘I did it!’ will give the children confidence to try other new things in the future with the knowledge that they do come out the other side and actually enjoyed the experience! What a gift to give our children for their future.
Posted: Events & Activities
2
March
2007
The ‘Rivers in the Classroom’ project, run by the Argyll Fisheries Trust, sets out to establish a programme in local primary schools in Argyll & Bute that will foster a caring attitude towards freshwater ecosystems containing important local and UK Biodiversity Action Species such as Atlantic salmon, freshwater pearl mussels and otters.
The children in P.5-7 are going to be involved in this project over the next few months. The project involves the life cycle of trout as a tool to promote children’s awareness of river ecology in general.
Trout eggs have been taken into the classroom and are kept in a self contained hatchery (i.e. an aquarium). Pupils will be actively involved in looking after the fish eggs, monitoring their progress and finally helping to stock the fish into a suitable burn near Loch Awe. In addition to the trout hatching and stocking project, the Fisheries Trust biologist has carried out classroom teaching to raise pupils’ awareness of freshwater ecosystems and factors affecting freshwater habitats and species. This should help to show how both pupils and local communities can assist with caring for their local burns, rivers and wetlands and the species that inhabit them.
Posted: Events & Activities
28
February
2007
Here is a boxarium that Hannah Tofts has already made. The children will be finishing their creations off this week so look out for photos of their work.
Posted: Events & Activities
23
February
2007
Today the children in P.5-7 visited Ardrishaig Hall to have a look round the Mid Argyll Primary Schools’ Enterprise Exhibition. The children were very impressed by the range of enterprise activities carried out in our schools and came away with lots of ideas for us to try out at Kilmartin in the future. Many schools showed a great deal of interest in our link school in Normandy, France and want to find out how we managed to achieve this. The favourite ideas for Kilmartin to take forward seem to be an Easter Extravaganza with a picnic, egg decoration and Easter egg hunt; designing a solar powered car and having a race; and making items for a craft fair to raise funds for school projects. That lot will keep us busy for quite a while!
Posted: Events & Activities, Uncategorized
23
February
2007
Hannah Tofts was back in school today to continue her project on Boxariums. The children in P.3 & 4 had an extremely busy afternoon creating jungle or landscape themed Boxariums. Hannah will be back in school next Friday to finish off with both class groups. Primary 3 & 4 will add their favourite animal with wobbly heads, tails or bodies and P.1 & 2 will add their fish. Thanks to everyone who helped by supplying boxes or magazines. Thanks also to all the parents who have helped out during the two afternoons.
Posted: Events & Activities
