Sports!

Our sports had to be split over two days this year due to unpredictable weather! The first morning took place inside the arena at Picky. We had potted sports and moved around the different activities until we had tried them all. The weather stopped some classes from going outside but luckily there was a break in the rain when it was our turn.

Parachute fun.

Viewing from the gallery.

Throwing the javelin

- and bowls

Curling

- and beat the goalie.

Out on the track.

Dodge ball.

Day 2 and at last we got sun!

Some races!

There were two real Olympic torches there and some of us got to hold them and get our photos taken!

We made our own Olympic flags and torches to bring with us and on the way back to school we noticed that our torch had a coloured shadow! We thought all shadows were black!

Archive visit

Before we did our assembly on the Diamond Jubilee we went to the Orkney library and archives to see what we could find out about the celebrations in Orkney. We also had a tour of the archives to see how everything is stored.
Here's a link to their website.
http://www.orkneylibrary.org.uk/

George Mackay Brown (and Bradley!)

Looking at old maps.

Sarah Jane helping us to read old Norse.

Looking through the articles and books.

Check out the signatures!

We loved the rolling cabinets!

Luckily no one got squished!

Lucy showed us some boxes still to be catalogued.
 There's lots still to do. 
Maybe some of us would like to work here some day!

David showed us how to use the microfiche.

Nature

For the last 4 weeks of term we will be looking at nature, in particular at habitats and how creatures adapt to the place they live in. We started today by watching some of the live webcams on BBC Springwatch. There are regular updates and various different webcams to watch. It is fascinating to watch the parent birds feed their young - how hard they work! Here is a link to the live webcams.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/18035848

It's a shame the programme is finished as we really enjoyed the live webcams and the drama of the floods. There were some sad moments but lots of good stories too. I think our favourite was the sandpiper who ran after the train every time it passed the nest but eventually hatched our four very cute chicks! We hope they all survive and will miss watching them. The barn owls were a hoot! We enjoyed the boxing mammals and squirrels. Thank goodness the osprey team saved the chick that was in trouble and we do hope the peregrine falcon chicks survive their tumbles from the church tower in Bath!

Diamond Jubilee

Today we performed a special assembly for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. Kasey was our Queen and we had Ryan the beefeater to guard her. Jay performed the duties of the Archbishop Of Canterbury and put the crown on her head.

Waiting in line to start the procession.

After the crowning.

The Beefeater looks shocked!

The Royal correspondents with the news from Orkney.

Some facts about the Queen.

The Royal family.

Active maths

We have been taking advantage of the lovely weather by going outside to practise our times tables.
In this game we had to do a relay race in teams. The 'stations' of the times tables are stuck on to the marker cones, each team is given a table and we have to run across the playground and find the numbers in order. 
Sometimes we had to do them starting from x10 and work backwards which is more tricky. 
Sometimes teams were racing for the same number. Can you work out why?

Museum visit

We went to the Orkney Museum to search for evidence of Viking life. On our way we stopped along St Olaf's Wynd to look at the archway which is all that's left of St Olaf's church.

Before we went into the museum we had playtime in Tankerness House Gardens. There was plenty to see and we had fun in the Groatie Hoose!

Inside the museum we studied the glass cases very carefully. There were all sorts of implements and household objects on display. Some things we recognised because we still use them today but they were made of different materials. We found at least 15 different materials that were used in Viking times.

Upstairs we found information and models of St Magnus Cathedral and the Bishop and Earls Palaces We saw the box that had St Magnus's bones in it.

We concentrated really well on our tasks and were complimented on our behaviour by another visitor at the museum!