Room 9 back in the swing!

Well the summer holidays are over and I hope they were a chance for our children to recharge the batteries and get ready for another year at school.

Room 9 have made a solid and hard working start to the new school year and are ready for the challenges ahead. They are covering World War 2 as their topic and will focus on children's experiences in the conflict. As you can see they have already been trying on gas masks and learning about the Blitz.

For the majority of the class this will be their last year at Kirkriggs as high school beckons. Before that though they will have so many learning adventures and much fun. We look forward to sharing their journey with our great group of parents and carers.

Ula trying on the gas mask!

Who could this be?  Is it Liam?

Hard at work already.

Welcome to another year at Kirkriggs!

Building a Bug Hotel

Two of the classes in the school combined to help build a bug hotel. Insects are having a hard time of it and the more we do to encourage them the better. We will create a habitat which will hopefully give a variety of insects a place to live. The Eco-Committee were very keen that we foster bio-diversity in the school grounds and support insect life which is often struggling due to loss of habitat and chemical 'pest' control. Our Eco Committee reminded us that insects are the pollinators who help most of the food we depend on to grow.

We used old pallets to build the structure so we were recycling something which might have been discarded.



Leon was learning about different tools and how to be safe around them.

James was listening with great interest and could name all the tools used.

Mr Marrinan is nailing the pallets together.

Soon the bug hotel took shape!

Now we need to add a variety of natural materials to create different habitats.

Easter Fun at Kirkriggs

The school celebrated the last day before the Easter Weekend by having an Easter egg rolling  competition among all the classes. It was a beautiful spring day and everyone had a great time. The school grounds resounded to the sound of excited chatter and laughter as the whole school took part. It was a very fitting way to begin the Easter weekend.

Shah is concentrating very hard!

 

Leon rolled his egg 23 times before it cracked!

 

The Boys are eager to see if their egg is okay!

 

All the classes were enjoying the spring weather.

 

Concentration is the key!

James was the winner with 24 successful rolls without so much as a scratch on his egg!

 

Mrs Dempster was looking after Alex who loved being out in the sun

Another Term Over for Room 9

Well, that's Term 3 finished for the children of room 9 and it has been a time of learning, fun, stretching ourselves and thinking about the big changes ahead when high school beckons in the summer!

Here are a few of the highlights the children chose as they looked back on a busy term.

Bikeability has seen many of our children become more competent and confident cyclists.

 

Our trips to Hollybrook were a taster of things to come

in term 4 as we get set for high school in August!

 

Developing our confidence when presenting our work or

speaking to the class is always worthwhile.

 

The Autism Awareness talent show was just brilliant!

 

Our whole School took part in the day of celebration and fun.

 

Counting skills need to be practiced regularly and all of the boys are progressing.

 

Our Positive Play outings remain a popular and worthwhile activity.

 

Work experience has been great for our children.

 

Working together outside to solve problems.

Term 3 has been busy and productive for the children in Room 9. Next term will be the last as Primary children for most of the class and they are gearing up for the exciting challenges ahead.  Term 4 will feature a Leavers Prom, a School show and a lot of trips to Hollybrook for the class. Our adventures in learning have only just begun.

Bikeability at Glasgow Green

Our group of increasingly confident cyclists were taken to Glasgow Green to be put through their paces in a more challenging environment. The park offers a much bigger and more diverse road network to practice the skills they need to learn and if the weather wasn't great, the fun and learning certainly were.

We met two Police Officers in the Park who were interested in what we were doing and gave the children good advice about cycling safely.

 

They even showed the children the equipment they use when on duty.

 

They were really friendly and reminded the children of the need to wear a helmet and bright colours when cycling. 'Be safe-Be seen!'

 

 

Then Bileek was ready to put the cyclists through their paces.

 

'Keep left' is the first rule of the road.

Darrel is now a very good cyclist.

Junior had a puncture and he learned how to repair it.

 

Games like this get our children used to steering one handed. This is a skill they need when signalling they are turning.

 

Mazin is much more confident on the bicycle these days.

 

Chloe is well wrapped up against the rain!

 

A free water bottle if you can cycle past and take it!

 

Go Junior! 

Darrel is ready for a break after a lot of cycling.

We had some lovely hot chocolate to warm us up.

 

and time for a selfie before we went back to school.

Trips out of school are an invaluable way to learn in the environment. The children benefitted greatly from trying out their cycling skills in a more challenging environment. Our School playground is a  safe place to learn but a little small so we were glad of a chance to cycle in the wide open spaces of the park.  A big thanks to Bileek and of course to all our cyclists who represented their school so well. Well done one and all.

Leavers visit Hollybrook Academy

Our Primary Seven children visited Hollybrook Academy to take part in a science morning and get to know the place most of them will be going to in the summer. We saw some old friends who left Kirkriggs for high school last year and they put the children's minds at ease about the big move to secondary.

Ms Roberts gave us a warm welcome as always

 

The hall was laid out and ready for the activities

 

Leon got a very mild shock from the static electricity

 

James cycled a bicycle which in turn moved a blender to make a smoothie

 

Leon had a go too!

 

We met children from other schools who might well be classmates of the Kirkriggs children in August

 

Harris liked the sound-waves game.

 

Former Kirkriggs teacher, Mr Falconer was leading the activities!

This was a very good introduction to Hollybrook for our children and is just the beginning of an extensive programme of visits which will prepare our leavers for high school. They are all positive about their transition to Hollybrook and we'll do everything in our power to make it as smooth as possible. Exciting times for the P7s!

Community Cafe- Community Helpers

Thank you for all your kind donation for the Community Café. Its was a great success and the Community Helper's are looking forwards to opening again next week.


Here are some photos of us at work.