October assembly awards were presented for ‘Being Kind and Caring’, ‘Quick Recall of Table Facts’, ‘Great Group Work’, and ‘Lovely Manners’.
Accelerated Reading Certificates were presented to pupils in P4-P7 who reached their Accelerated Reading Target for this half term.
Everyone enjoyed the Harvest Hoolie yesterday. Children were divided into groups and had five harvest related activities.
chocolate apples
harvest craft activity
harvest scavenger hunt
ducking for apples
Harvest games and dancing
Thanks to all the teachers and classroom assistants for organising the Harvest Hoolie.
Congratulations to Joe P7 who won the Accelerated Reading Cup for this half term with an amazing 114 points.
We all know that Autumn time is the time to harvest crops. P1 and P2 finished harvesting the vegetables that had been growing throughout the summer. They had some corn to harvest. They also planted the daffodil and crocus bulbs for Spring time. They were very excited when Charlie found a millipede.
Our annual Harvest service was held in school on Wednesday 23rd October. We were delighted that so many parents and friends were able to come along to support us at this service. P1 - P3 sang ‘Big Red Combine Harvester’.Click here to view video The charity being supported by our school this year is NSPCC. Mrs Shirley Parkhill from NSPCC reminded us of some of the things that our children had been learning, when they visited our school back in September. The NSPCC are promoting the programme ‘ Speak out, Stay Safe’.
P4 - P7 sang ‘God Created them All’. Rev Roy Gaston used a tin of vegetable soup to remind us that that God has created all the fruit and vegetables that we eat. God has created the trees which provide us with the paper for the labels on the tin. He has created a world that has minerals in the ground to provide us with steel for the tins we use. At harvest time we thank God for all the people who grow, process and transport the different foods that we eat, from all over the world. Psalm 104 V 14 says ‘He makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for people to cultivate - bringing forth food from the earth’.
Members of the Parents’ Association served coffee and tea afterwards.
On Monday 21st October P5 had a visit to Coleraine Town Hall to the Sam Henry exhibition. Sam Henry was a famous writer and folklorist from Coleraine. The exhibition entitled ‘Sam Henry: Culture Connects’ features personal artifacts, documents and audio clips for visitors to explore. The children explored the artifacts that were on display, to learn more about Sam Henry, his job and his collections.
In pairs, the children wrote short stories about three items from the exhibition. The children were given the opportunity to hold and talk about some of the pieces on display. They even saw a pair of binoculars that had been to WW1 and back.
We had an exciting day in school yesterday as the photographer was in school. Thanks to Ken for being so patient and funny as he encouraged everyone to have a fantastic photo taken. Photographs will be available within the next few weeks - great presents for Christmas!
In May this year, Armagh Planetarium ran a competition to design a logo to mark the 50th Anniversary of the first man to walk on the moon. We were delighted that Demi, who is now P6, won the competition. Her logo, along with other prize winning entries, has been made into bunting. Demi’s prize was a trip to the Planetarium for pupils from our school. P5,6 and 7 travelled to Armagh on Monday 14th October and enjoyed an exciting day there.
The children made rockets and launched them. They also saw the Boveedy Meteorite which was found by Mrs Gilmore’s husband when he was a boy. The children got to hold meteorite rock and they discovered that it felt heavier than ordinary rock and that it smelt of metal. Most meteorites fall in the ocean or in Russia as it is the largest country in the world. They saw a model of the international space station and were given lots of information about it. The toilets on the space station cost £12 million. The astronauts sleep upright, zipped in their sleeping bags. The children also saw a film in the dome theatre.
As part of the Shared Education Project, P4 and P5 have been joining with P4 children from St Patrick’s Primary School for Sports Taster Sessions on the pitch at the Community Centre. These sessions have been funded by a grant received from Building a United Community Fund.
The children are enjoying coaching on four sports:- Football/Soccer, Gaelic Football, Cricket and Olympic Handball. Today was their second session and they all had great fun learning new skills and then playing matches in their groups.
Our P3 and P4 children enjoyed their second art session at St Patrick’ s Primary School on Wednesday 9th October. There were four art projects;
Fairytale Settings
Dot Painting : Owls
Forest Sketches
Zentangle
Each group did two of the activities and next week they will do the other two. They all did some great work and we now have a lovely selection of Autumn Art which will be displayed later on.
Today, P6/7 visited Buick Primary School where Scripture Union had located the ‘Key to Life’ exhibition lorry. Children enjoyed an interactive presentation discussing the story of Jesus.
They looked at what Christians believe the bible teaches, including who they thought Jesus was. They also looked a a Bible timeline, miracles Jesus performed and some prophecies from the bible.
Everyday in the dinner hall and in the playground, Mrs Morrison and Mrs Wilson look for children who do something special. This can include:- ‘I ate all my lunch’ ‘I talked quietly to my friends’ I used great listening skills’ I used lovely manners’ I was a super server’ I was a good example’ I showed great sportsmanship’. These children get a certificate and then at the end of the month one person from each classroom gets picked, to receive a special prize. Our September special prize winners are pictured below.
September assembly awards were presented for ‘Being Kind and Caring’, ‘Excellent Class Presentation Skills’, ‘Great Reading’, and ‘Good Organisation’.
On Wednesday 2nd October our P3 and P4 children had their first art session with P3 children from St Patrick’s Primary as part of the Shared Education project. They had the opportunity to create four different pieces of art :-a hedgehog, a scarecrow, autumn trees and pastel autumn pictures. We were very impressed by the standard of art and are looking forward to the second session on 9th October. Thanks to Miss Richmond for her preparation for this first session.
