Happy Holidays!

 P5 and P6 singing and signing 'Away in a Manger'.

After a great class party with P6 we went to St Magnus Cathedral for our evening Carol Service. There was a big audience! Lots of parents and most of the school were there.

 

Some of us sang in the choir and some of us played instruments, then we sang, and signed, our first song, 'Away in a Manger'. then we sang 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town'.

 

Happy Holidays!

Speed Info

We pinched an idea from P7-6's blog today!  We exchanged information that we had researched about the reason behind Christmas symbols by speed info.  We sat opposite each other for two minutes and told each other everything we had found out.  We then added to our own notes.
Some interesting information that we shared was:
* Candy cane stripes are supposed to show Jesus' blood and when you turn them around it makes a J for Jesus.
* Between 1900 and 1950, candy canes were sometimes used in churches at Christmas time to keep young children quiet!
* Christmas wreaths are hung on doors to keep evil spirits away.
* Queen Victoria's husband, Albert, made Christmas trees popular in the UK and America.
* The mincemeat in mince pies is actually made from exotic fruits and spices.
* In Greek, Christ is spelt Xristos.  In the sixteenth century, people started using X instead of Christ as a short way of writing Christmas.
We found our information on the internet.  We must remember that we can't tell if it is all completely accurate as people can really put whatever they want on their websites!
It would be really good if some of you posted comments about other things you found out.

Cathedral Carols and Spiced Biscuits

Practising for our Carol Service at St Magnus Cathedral.

 

This week we made spiced biscuits for hanging up as Christmas decorations. They were fun to make and made the school smell like Christmas time. The best bit was whe we decorated them with icing. We drizzled the icing from a spoon.

It made a very sticky mess!

 

 

We attached our Norwegian cookies to cards and wrote, 'God Jul og Godt Nytt Ar', inside.

That is Norwegian for Happy Christmas and Happy New Year.

We were very pleased with the results.

 

Click on the photos to get an enlarged picture.

 

Champions!

End of term 2 Spelling B winners are group D!

 

Number quiz champs!

'The Road Trip'

 

                      Well done to everyone!

You all gave a great performance.

Thanks also to all of the friends and family members who came to watch, as well as the other pupils and staff.

Go to our wiki page here or watch the slideshow below to listen to an abridged version of the play.

Sports and monsters

 

The sports group explained and encouraged us to have a go at netball today. They obviously knew their sport well and organised, explained and demonstrated skillfully. Well done!

 

The Loch Ness Monster group explained how three of the sightings occurred. First by St Columba and a monk he was travelling with, then the famous photograph of 'Nessie' in the 1930s (or was it an elephant trunk?) and finally the failed attempts and lots of money spent by scientists trying to find Nessie. An amusing and informative presentation!

 

The team with their own Nessie and the famous photograph in the background.

 

 

God Jul

Christmas Dinner

Today Hanne came in to tell us about Christmas and going ot school in Norway. We learned how to introduce ourselves and say 'Merry Christmas and Happy New Year' in Norwegian, as well as practising our counting to 10. Then it was time for Christmas dinner! Do you know that children in Norway don't have hot dinners at school but everyone takes a packed lunch with a sandwich? Today we were glad that we got hot school dinners!

Norwegian visitors

Norwegian visitors in our classroom.

Today we learned lots of new things about Norway form our Norwegian visitors. We sang Santa Lucia for them and listened to a Norwegian song. We learned how to speak a little Norwegian and count to 10.

 

Here are some of the facts we have gathered:

 

In Norway there are whales, small sharks, giant spider crabs, seals and fish. There are deer and otters. Bears and wolves are only dangerous when they are protecting their young. If you come across a bear you are meant to lie down and pretend you are dead. Every autumn there is a big debate in Norway about whether to shoot wolves or not because the wolves attack sheep and goats. There are wolves in Sweden as well and they come across the border in the forest. Norway is famous for its fjords which are steep mountains and deep sea lochs

Norway is most successful and famous for winter sports like skiing. In the Olympic games they got gold for kayaking and handball. The most popular sport is football.

King Harald ‘the fair haired’ was the first ruler of the whole of Norway and he ruled Orkney as well. In 1905 Norway became a kingdom again and the Queen was Maude who came from England. There are not many castles in Norway and they are quite small. Most buildings were made out of wood so they would have been no good for defence – they could have been set on fire! People were poor and did not have a rich local ruler to build the castles.

The food that they eat at Christmas is sheep  ribs or pork ribs. Traditional foods include sheep head and cod. They also eat reindeer, whales and elk. Our visitors really liked a traditional stew with beef and cabbage.

Norwegians celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve. They like to go around the Christmas tree singing songs. Nisse, like a little gnome,  lives on a farm. It needs to be given porridge or it will be grumpy and ruin Christmas. There is a Loch Ness monster in a deep lake in Norway!

Glaitness Tree Lighting

 

Today we lit the Christmas Tree at Glaitness School. Class 5 sang Santa Lucia and held lanterns before the tree lights were turned on. Class 3 also sang 'Oh Christmas Tree' and played on glockenspiels.

 

Later Mrs Sullivan came to play and show us the Hardanger fiddle. It is very highly decorated with dragon carving and mother of pearl inlay - its very valuable. It makes a different sound to our normal fiddles - it has extra strings which ring when the notes are played and it is easier to play two strings at once.

 

 

 Mrs Sullivan played a slow tune and a polka. Some of her students are allowed to borrow and play the Hardanger fiddle, but they find it hard to part with it when they have to give it back. Some Orkney students get the chance to go to Norway to learn more about playing the fiddle in Norway.

We enjoyed the music in our school today and we learned more about our link with Norway and the traditions we share at Christmas time.

An Audience with Mary Queen of Scots