Delightful Drumming!

Today, Miss Firth took her drums to school to teach us a little about being in Kirkwall City Pipe Band. She had her tenor drum and the big bass drum with her. We watched her flourish with her drum sticks and march whilst playing the bass. 

It was VERY impressive. We even had a go at marching with her to the beat and managed to (almost!) stay in perfect rows and columns. 

Miss Firth gave us a shot of hitting the bass drum and we could feel the vibrations in our fingertips. When Miss Archibald has a go, she said it vibrated right down to her toes. 

Thanks again Miss Firth!

Tasty Treat

As another part of our St Andrew's Day celebrations, we enjoyed some traditional Scottish food. P4/5 washed, peeled and chopped neeps and tatties to boil and eat (some of us made clapshot by mixing it together - yummy!). We served it with haggis, which is the national dish of Scotland. We learnt about what haggis is made of. 

Some of us thought it was very tasty and are looking forward to Burns Night where we might get to enjoy some more.

We also had some shortbread as a treat on Friday, a traditionally Scottish sugary biscuit.

St Andrew's Day Surprise

On Thursday, P4/5 were celebrating St Andrew's Day in class. We were learning to sing Scotland's National Anthem and looking at the countries National Animal and Flower.

We were incredibly lucky to get a special visit from Louise, in full Pipe Band uniform. She played the bagpipes for us and answered all of our questions. It was so impressive to see her play, and it must take a lot of puff to keep the bag full!

Thank you again, Louise! We loved your visit.

Super Scotland!

Today we were learning about the Scottish national dress, a kilt.

We were so lucky because Murray's Dad (Alan) agreed to come in and show us his full formal kilt. His kilt is made from the tartan design for his family name, Dundas. We looked up some of our own surnames to see if there was a tartan or not. There are thousands of tartan designs! We also learnt about all of the accessories that go with the kilt; the sporan, fly plaid, Prince Charlie jacket and waistcoat, ghillie brogues, hose, flashes, tuxedo shirt with bow tie and the sgian dubh knife.

Some of us chose a piece of the Scottish Kilt suit that we wanted to try on. It was very heavy. The whole suit altogether weighs 4kg 360g. We thought it must get very hot under all of those layers and Alan agreed. There was one bonus though... it keeps him cosy at winter weddings.

In the afternoon, we then started deigning and making some of our own tartans. We are going to think of names for them tomorrow. Here are a few of the finished examples...

Tasty Treats!

After our pumpkin carving yesterday, we saved up all the parts of the pumpkin to see what we could make with it. We wanted to try and have as little wastage as possible.

We decided to roast the seeds with a little sprinkling of salt. Some of us thought these were incredibly tasty (and a little bit like popcorn!)

We then split up into two groups. One group made pumpkin buns. They were delicious!!

The second group made pumpkin soup. Some of us also thought it was very tasty and Miss Archibald was so pleased everyone gave it a taste.

Below are some pictures of us all enjoying our tasty Halloween treats! 😄

There was great teamwork and patience from everyone. What a hardworking and enjoyable afternoon in P4-5. Keep it up.