A Year in Yester

We wrote our own haikus for the months of the year. Here are some of them:

September

It is pretty warm                                                                                                                                                    Summer has to end so soon,                                                                                                                                       Autumn has arrived

by Eilidh J

November

Chilly white frost grows,
Crispy grass in the morning,
Mist spreads through the land.

by Jordanne

October

Wet and windy now,
Animals hibernating,
Leaves fall from the trees.

by Erin

December

Frost freezes the grass,
Snow falls in the freezing air,
Hardening the fields.

by Flora

January

The snow is falling

Everyone is having fun

No school, we’re blocked in!

By Eilidh J

Yester competed in the East Lothian Primary Schools TAG rugby tournament at Meadowmill, along with 19 other schools on Wednesday 22nd November. We sent a team of 11 pupils, six from primary 7 and five from primary 6. Our team was drawn in a tough looking qualifying league with Law Primary, Musselburgh Burgh, Whitecraig Primary and Prestonpans Primary.

On a very cold morning, the team lost their first match to Law 4-0. However, they bounced back to win their next match against the Burgh 4-1. In their third match, Yester managed a good 2-2 draw against Whitecraig, before crashing 5-2 to Prestonpans in their final match. Although not good enough to qualify for the final stages, the team were delighted to win the trophy for “Fair Play”, which was a great achievement. Each team member was also awarded a gold medal for this achievement.

A delighted squad with their trophy and medals!

The following is an extract from an email received after the event from Graham Shiel, who was the organiser of the day:

“This years tournament saw 18 schools from throughout East Lothian represented, consisting of 20 teams. These teams competed for both the traditional TAG Rugby Trophy and also the Fairplay Award. The Fairplay Award was competed for throughout the group stages, where the teams were marked on Teamwork, Sportsmanship and Conduct. For each game there was a maximum total of 15 points awarded with an overall total of 60 points possible throughout the group stages. This Award went to Yester Primary School with a staggering 58/60 points - Well done to Yester. Over the 2 years of running this award I have been encouraged with the approach taken by the pupils and also the adults in promoting Fairplay and the way teams are competing.”

In ICT we were looking at cheap flights from the UK. The challenge was to see who could find the cheapest flight from the UK to anywhere still in Europe, with at least one flight around the Christmas period. The cheapest flight was 1p each way plus the taxes, from Edinburgh to Dublin. We also found other flights, from Inverness to Liverpool, and from Glasgow to Brussels, for the same price- 1p!
The web site we used was www.ryanair.com

by Lucy

The photo below shows the cheapest flights we could find.

It’s definitely true that the children didn’t expect to find flights so cheaply, especially as we had already discussed what the effect of searching for flights during the Christmas holidays might have been- ie that they would invariably be higher! During further discussion, the question was asked: How can the company actually make money when they fill their seats at such a cheap price? A good question, and not an easy one to answer accurately!
Perhaps the next logical step would be to invite Michael O’Leary in to discuss business strategies with Yester’s P7 class!

On Friday 17th November we had a Fruit Faces day. The primary 1 class made fruit faces which were sold for 20p. Everyone came to buy a fruit face. It went very well. Primary 1 were happy. At the end we ate all the fruit and it was really tasty!

By Sheena Rose

Children ready to buy fruit from the P1s.

Some of the delicious fruit that P1 children sold.

What a great spread!

Today, in the library, we researched facts from information books. The following are some of the things we found out:-

Facts about Apes, by Eilidh

• They are members of the primate family.
• They are our closest animal relatives.
• The mountain gorilla has a heavy, shaggy coat.
• In relation to their body size, apes have larger brains than any other creatures except humans.

Facts about BMX biking, by Ailish

• One of the first BMX races was in a car park in California!
• BMX bikes don’t have a front brake.
• For racing you will have to remove chain guards, stunt pegs and reflectors.
• Vert riding is done on a skateboard style half-pipe.

Facts about Knights by Rosie

• In Medieval times, boys trained as knights from the age of 7, and were called pages.
• At 14 years old the Page would become a Squire.
• At 18 years old the Squire would become a Knight and was given his own sword.
• In Italy horses had their own armour.

Facts about Karting, by Jordanne.

• The two stroke engine needs to have oil mixed with the fuel.
• Your safety helmet must have a label to show it’s approved.
• Engine sizes are measured in cubic centimetres. (cc)
• The yellow flag in a race means that there’s an accident and so you can’t overtake anyone.

Facts about Castles, by Thomas

• The first castles were built in the 9th and 10th centuries.
• The very first castles were made of wood.
• From the 13th century, castles were built with rings of stone.
• One of the best weapons to use against castles is the catapult.

Facts about Skateboarding by Sian

• Skateboarding began in the late 1950s on the west coast of America, where a group of bored Californian surfers tried putting a surfboard on rollerskate wheels.
• The back of the skateboard is called the kicktail and is also upturned to give leverage.

Facts about Horses and Ponies, by Carla.

• Like humans, horses have hips, thighs, shins, ankles and toes.
• There are over 150 different breeds of horses.
• Their tails are used for brushing away flies.
• A horse has only one toe on each foot.
• The smallest pony is called the Farabella. They are too small to ride  as they are only 76cms tall!
• There are 4 ways to control a horse. 1) Voice gives the orders. 2) Hands puill the reins to steer the horse. 3) The legs guide the horse as well. 4) The body helps to balance the horse.

Sandy Darling came into school today to teach us about bowling. The first thing we learned was how to throw the “jack” which is the small ball that the teams aim to get close to. Each group was split into two teams, the black team and the white team, and then we learned how to roll the bowls. We got points for where we positioned the jack and the balls.

We then got points for how close we got the bowls to the jack.

Sandy then laid a target on the carpet that we aimed for, again by bowling towards. If we landed on a number, we got that number of points, and if you hit the jack and landed on a number, we got that number plus one(for hitting the jack)

It was all great fun, and Sandy told us that in the spring we will get a chance, with P6, to go down to the bowling club to play outside.

By Connor and Rosie