Athletics Success 2011

Well done to James, Joe, Molly, Magnus and Abbie (missing from the picture) who took part in the Orkney Primary School Athletics on Thursday 26th May at the Pickaquoy Centre.

Congratulations to Molly who won a gold medal in the high jump and cricket ball events. She was runner up overall in her 9-10 age group. Great stuff Molly!

STOP PRESS

Details of points have just come through

Overall winner 9-10 age group

1 Grace St Andrews 16 points

2 Molly Glaitness 14 points

3 Claire Glaitness 12 points

Orkney Museum Visit

Today we went on a visit to the Orkney museum to look for evidence of Norse settlement in Orkney. It was very busy with holiday visitors and pupils keen to do research from other schools e.g. Orphir .

We were looking for evidence particularly of family life at home and grave goods.

The museum in Orkney has a selection of smaller and replica items e.g. bone pins and a replica whalebone plaque from the Scar boat burial on Sanday. Large and very important finds e.g. the Skaill Hoard of silver items and the original whalebone plaque are on display in larger museums in cities like Edinburgh where perhaps it is felt that more people will have the chance to view them. They are also on loan to museums around the world.

To record our evidence

• we took photographs
• made notes
• tried to find answers to key questions
• made sketches

Demon Duck of Doom

The Bullockornis or 'Demon Duck of Doom' was a huge flightless bird which lived around 15 million years ago in the part of the world we now call Australia.

It was about 3 metres tall which is higher than our classroom roof at 2.7 metres!

Alanah

In the Style of Egil's Saga...

Molly's Saga

Brave boat

battered by the seas

violent encounters

courageous Olaf

battles against the dragon of the sea

Olaf has not won this battle

the dragon of the sea is triumphant

the crew are tired, hungry and sore

this day they will be with

Odin, Thor and Njord.

Dani's Saga

Bloody slaughter

amongst the wrestling waves

as the cruel sea

smashes the boat

as the jagged sea shore slays the boat

nothing remains

only sand...

Ronan's Saga

The men struggled to stay on board

the bruised boat

wild waves crashed onto the deck

the vessel was split in two

the sea swallowed them up

All class 4/5 saga style writing is on display outside the classroom.

How long is a longship?

We measured the length of 3 types of Viking longship.
The longest of them, Serpent, was 30 metres.

We couldn't believe how long it was!

It would have had a crew of 50 men.

We filled our imaginary boat each side with pupils manning imaginary oars.

We could have asked other classes to join us and make the 50 strong crew! How many each side?
Don't forget to turn right at Cape Wrath Ronan!

Hopefully Odin will give us wind in our sails James!

Taking Part in the Norwegian Constitution Day Parade

It was great to be part of a living historical event which demonstrates the lasting links and friendship between our near neighbours Norway and ourselves in Orkney. It fitted in perfectly with our ongoing research into the legacy in Orkney of our Norse ancestors.
The class 5 music group performed in the cathedral and were brilliant!

A Road Safety Update

As part of our health and wellbeing this term we are looking at keeping safe in our community. Part of this is to refresh our awareness of road safety.
We tried to set up our 'street' outside but it blew away! We then had to set it up inside.

We also played an excellent 'pedestrian game' which was informative and fun.

Keeping safe links with further information and interactive games have been added to the homework links section.