Secondary Fitness Challenge!

On Friday, at the Greenock Waterfront gym, S2-5 put themselves through a punishing challenge which they have been training for in P.E sessions over this term.
The fitness challenge involved a time circuit of various fitness machines. The children were each accompanied all the way by a member of staff to time and encourage them. The challenge was as follows:

1km on the treadmill
1km on the upright bike
1km on the rowing machine (500m for the girls)
20 lateral pull downs (20kg - boys, 10kg - girls)
50 box-steps

The time started on the first machine and stopped after the last box-step. There were various awards but the main prize was for the fastest boy and fastest girl. These were won by Stephen Thomson S5, and Beth Millar S2.
Both Stephen and Beth received a 3 month 'top-deck' gym membership and a gym bag full of goodies from Inverclyde Leisure.
Well done to all who took part and many thank to all the staff at Inverclyde Leisure!
Next year we will be trying to encourage some parents to take part!

Mr J:)

Vive le francais

It's Folio time in French at Cedars school!

S3/4 have worked very hard all this year to complete their writing and speaking folios, and it all paid off yesterday when their written work was collected to be sent off via SQA to their external examiners.

Craig says: "It was a lot of hard work, but it paid off for once! Especially when we got 'pain au chocolat' afterwards!"

Daniel says:"At the time there was great stress and lots of hard work but finally we acomplished the task. C'est super!!!"

S2 have also got into the folio spirit, and are completing their first piece of writing today.

Well done everyone.

A visit to P1

S2 artists took a trip to see P1 on Wednesday. We showed them all the masks and hats we have been designing. They were a super audience who asked great questions and enjoyed trying on all the pieces we had designed. The S2 pupils gave some excellent explanations of their design work too. We will come back when we have some more things to show!

Progressive English at Cedars School!

S3/4/5 are progressing well through our English courses in the senior stages of Cedars School. Most pupils have now successfully completed all their NABs, and we are revising our texts for the exam - Poetry, An Inspector Calls and 'Mossy' in S3/4, and Poetry, Macbeth and Lord of the Flies in S5.

S2 have just completed a language essay on what it means to be Scottish, and we are reading our way through a play called Street Child.

In S1, we have really enjoyed reading Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer, and are about to let our enthusiasm for it spill over onto a literature essay. We are also letting it inspire us as we write our own short stories.

In P7, we have read and written about a dramatic version of The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler. We won't give away the exciting ending! As well as weekly spelling and grammar work, we are also starting to hone our close reading skills (interpretation).

S1 are independent Learners!

S1 are focussing on improving their independent learning skills, with individual projects on cities across the world. Each pupil has one city to research, and will be making a Keynote presentation using their newly acquired skills in Computing! These will be shown to the class and Mrs Speirs, who will decide whose is the most interesting presentation.

Lauren Boyd says 'It's good doing this because it's good practice for when I'm older and need these skills.'

Euan MacDougall says, ' It's good to have the skills to find out information about different places.'

Lauren Buntrock says, 'It's improving my general knowledge.'

Jennifer Scholes says, 'I like learning about different places!'

Angus Shearer says, 'Did you know that in Berlin there is a Beer Academy and people that go there get a MAsters of Beer Diploma!'

Kerr McAdam says, 'Beijing issue 2000 new number plates every day! And Beijing punks look funny!'

Chloe Bryce says, 'Istanbul used to be known as the Paris of the East.'

David Kane says, 'Did you know most people who live in London actually walk or use cars than use the underground?'

Euan also says, 'The Statue of Liberty was a gift to America from France!'

Lauren Buntrock also says, 'Did you know that Tokyo have eco-friendly bicycle taxis?'

Lauren Boyd says, 'Mumbai is another name for Bombay- that's what Indians call it.'

Jessica McAleese says, 'There are 107 libraries in Cape Town!'

The Change Game in S2 Modern Studies!

S2 are revising Pressure Groups today! Lots of the class prefer Kinaesthetic learning ativities, so today we are playing the Change Game. Pupils have twenty seconds to write down as much as they can remember about the title on the sheet of paper in front of them (eg. Actions a Pressure Group can take). When the teacher shouts 'CHANGE' the class move one place to the left and do the same aagin. We repeat this till everyone has been round the whole table twice... the WINNER is the person who has written the most! (Each pupil has a different colour pen!)

S2 are doing well... here's hoping their very first Modern Studies NAB is as much of a success- next week!!

Be nice to S3/4...

... they are working VERY hard!!

S3/4 have their final Modern Studies NAB, and they are busy revising hard for it, and of course for all their exams!

S2 Drama progress

S2 dramatists are continuing to work well in their production roles for our "Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" project. Scott has done an excellent job making all the props, Zander is very proud of his scary White Witch costume, Chloe's SFX work is super, Lara can apply a great dwarf beard and Beth will be a Narnia set expert by the time the project is over!

Design progress

S2 artists are making excellent progress in their design projects. They have now started making 3D mask ideas using a wide range of materials including polystyrene spheres, hula skirts, theatrical crepe hair and bubble wrap! As you can see the results are quite exciting! Here is a quick reminder of what each pupil is designing:

Beth - The Beast from "Beauty and the Beast"
Jonathan - a bug from "A bugs life"
Ailie - a lion from "The Lion King"
Lara - an underwater queen from "The Little Mermaid"
Lamorna - The Queen of Hearts from "Alice in Wonderland"
Rebecca - a jungle crown for the Lemur King in "Madagascar"

Dress Rehearsals

We have now begun full dress rehearsals of our production piece in S3/4 drama. It was great fun and is beginning to look good but we still need to work hard to make it a good performance for the examiner on 1st April.

Marketing S3/4!

Yesterday Afternoon we had Lynsey Anderson, who is the Marketing Manager of the Oak Mall Shopping Centre, visiting our S3/4 enterprise class.

Lynsey is responsible for all of the promotional events that take place in the mall and for much of the PR and marketing for the mall.

She spoke to us about her job, how she came to be working in marketing, what the demands of the job were and what she found rewarding.

It was interesting for us to hear an inside view on some of the current promotions in the mall and we asked loads of interesting questions at the end!

Thanks Lynsey, who knows, you may have whet the appetite of a budding marketing genius!

Mr J and S3/4 :)

SOUP DAY in BROADER CURRICULUM

This term, some of the pupils in P7 and S1 have been learning how to make soup. After a visit to Tesco Greengrocer section...

.. and some time spent creating ideas for their own soup....

... we went to Heather's Delicatessen in Gourock and spent a fabulous morning with Jacqueline, Matthew and Donna.

the pupils  made two soups, Lentil, and Chicken Noodle, which they will be selling at lunchtime today. Jacquline taught us how to make stock, from ham hock and chicken thighs...

... and then the two soup groups got busy chopping, grating and slicing their veg. (with some pointers on safety from Jacqueline!)

Rhys needed a rest he'd worked so hard!

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And Shannon and Amber wanted to order a cooked breakfast ...

We had a fabulous morning, the pupils thoroughly enjoyed this unique experience, and want to do it again!! (Jacqueine? ...!)

Ongoing artwork in S3/4

Here are some picture of Rebecca's finished coat - it turned out great! Thanks so much to Linda Mitchell for all her help and expertise on the project.

Megan is also working well on her Mardi Gras designs and is on the last stage - she has tried out a range of design ideas and is now making her final piece.