The Bread Experiment

Have you ever ate your lunch without washing your hands ? Well read on !

For the past two weeks visitors to our P4 classroom thought that it was very strange that we had 3 pieces of bread hanging on the wall but it was actually a scientific experiment! As part of our studies on Food Hygiene we decided to find out what happens if you eat your sandwich without washing your hands. First of all we passed a slice of bread around the class and everyone touched it, then we popped it into the ‘Dirty Hands’ bag. Then everyone washed their hands and we repeated the exercise and popped this slice of bread into the ‘Clean Hands’ bag. Finally we popped a slice of bread that no-one had touched into the ‘Control’ bag. We pinned the bags on the wall and then watched what happened over the following days.

We couldn’t believe our eyes when we saw how quickly the mould grew on the ‘dirty hands’ slice due to the bacteria and germs that were on our hands. Yuck ! So a lesson to all …don’t forget to wash your hands before you eat your food.

Inspiration for our Wildlife Garden

Last week representatives from P4 and P5 made a visit to North Queensferry Primary to see their award winning garden and outdoor classroom. We were given the grand tour by their head teacher, Mrs Mann and P4 and P5 pupils from their Eco group.

We were very impressed with many features from their garden:

• Bottle Green House
• Raised beds where they grew vegetables that were used for snacks and lunches
• Fruit trees that were used to make jams and chutneys to sell to the community to raise funds
• Water butts to re-cycle water for the planting
• Re-used tyres as planters
• Wild flower seeds in planters
• The Secret Garden to use for quiet contemplation
• The outdoor classroom and wood chipped pathways
• Outdoor learning resource bags.

We also shared some of our good ideas with them. They are going to use our mood board idea to plan new developments in their garden and thought that the den building kit and hedgehog house that we bought with our Sainsburys and Morrisons vouchers would be worth investigating.

We have invited our new friends at North Queensferry to come and visit us once our Wildlife Garden has been renovated.  We are just a short train ride away !

So you want to be a Viking ?

Primary 4 had a wonderful morning at the National Museum of Scotland where they attended a presentation called ‘So you want to be a Viking?’. The children made an excellent audience and were keen to answer any questions set by the presenters. Frank volunteered to solve a message that was written using runes. Afterwards we were very lucky to have a session with the Viking handling box, where we could investigate artefacts made and used by the Vikings. It was very interesting. Finally,  we had a chance to view the Viking exhibits on display in the Early People gallery. At the Viking grave exhibit we were able to identify many of the objects at the plot but couldn’t work out why the Viking had been buried without his feet !

Head Teacher’s Awards 27.2.15

Congratulations to this week’s superstars who have been working really hard in class.  Also good luck to Morgan who starts his new school on Monday – we will miss you!

Information for Parents and Carers

T

There are lots of new groups and activties in our local area for parents and carers.  Click on the image above to see the full and updated programme.  You can also read about Information for Parents and Carers with Young children in Leith & the North East of Edinburgh below.

NE Info for parents and carers Spring 2015