A Day In The Life of  

Mrs Gardiner

Have you ever wondered what a teacher does during the day?   Well we did.
We thought it would be interesting to ask one of the teachers about a typical day at
Markethill School. 

We decided to interview Mrs Gardiner, P2, because she is new to the school.

Here is what we found out about Mrs Gardiner’s day.

1.       What time do you get up in the morning?

I get up at 6.10am in the morning.

2.      What do you eat for breakfast?

Normally I don’t have anything but if I do have something it would be a slice of toast and butter.

3.      How do you travel to school and what do you leave home and get to school?

I travel by car and I leave about 7.20am. I arrive at school round about 8.00am.

4.      What do you do on a normal day at school?

If it is a reading day it is very busy. Language and maths are done every day. We do craft as an on going project.

5.      How much work do you give your class?

Not enough!!  No, not really.   My class are hard workers.

6.      Are you noisy or quiet in the classroom?

Probably noisy, but I have to be!

7.      Do you do a lot of work at home?

Yes.   I do most of my marking at home.

8.      What is your favourite subject to teach and why?

I like story writing, because I like reading all their finished stories.

9.      What do you like most about teaching?

THE WEEKEND !! No, I really enjoy working with the children.

10.   Are you tired by the end of the day?

Yes I am really tired.  I refuse to do any housework during the week!!
We would like to thank Mrs Gardiner for letting us interview her.

This term a new system was introduced at school where every pupil got a ‘sticker chart’ and their teacher can give the pupils stickers or stamps for working hard. We wanted to find out more about this new system so we interviewed Mrs Houston who was involved in setting up the idea. Here are the answers she gave to our questions.

1. How did you come up with the idea for using stickers and stamps?

I saw them advertised and thought they looked good so I tried them out on my class

2.Do you think it encourages pupils to work harder?

It encourages most of them yes and it encourages them to be more careful and it gives them a target.

3.Do you think stickers and stamps are going to be popular?

Yes

4.Did anyone help you with then work you had to do to get the stickers and stamps?

Mrs Dyrlaga helped me and we did it together.

5.How often do you think a teacher should be giving a sticker and stamp to a pupil?

Up to all the teachers hope that they get at least everyone gets about one a week

Our View

We think stickers and stamps are very good because they encourage most of the kids to work harder. They are also good because most people like the idea of getting stickers and stamps. When you completely fill your whole sticker and stamp chart up you go to the office and you will get a special stamp from Mrs Morton or Mr Jenkins.

For this edition of the Markethill Newspaper we decided to put Mrs Henderson to the test in 'Teacher In The Hot Seat'.

1. Why did you want to become a teacher?

I used to do voluntary work in Ellon School and I thought it would be quite good if I took up teaching

2. Did it take a lot of training and what did you have to do?

I had to go university for 4 years and I did Economic History and then after that I had to go to college for 1 year to do a Post Graduate course to become a teacher.

3. What is your favourite subject to teach?

I like to teach art and creative writing.

4. Why do you like being a teacher?

I get to meet lots of people and I like to watch pupils progress through out the primary school years.

5. Were you a teacher before you came to Markethill School and if not what did you do?

I used to teach adults computing skills as well as doing the voluntary work at Ellon Primary.

6. Where do you live?

I live in Ellon, not too far away.

7. Do you have and children?

Yes, I have one daughter and her name is Caroline and she is 16 years old.

8. Do you have any pets?

Yes, I have a goldfish.

9. Have you had any embarrassing moments while you have been teaching?

Not major things, but the most common is forgetting people’s names.

10. Do you have any hobbies?

Yes, I like golfing, walking, reading and computing.

11. What do you like best about coming to Markethill?

Everybody is so enthusiastic.

This year Markethill School are planning to make some improvements to the playground. This is so that the playground will be more interesting and will have things to keep everyone occupied.

We think this is a good idea because it will brighten up the playground and make it more fun for everyone.

We interviewed Mrs Dyrlaga, P6/20 (See photo with Mrs Houston), about the planned improvements and asked her the following questions:

1. If the school had a thousand pounds to spend what would you spend it on?                 
Lots of games on the concrete, lots of seats and games equipment.

2. Do you think P7’s would make good playground monitors?

I think most people could, most are very sensible, but I also think P5’s and P6’s could also do a good job.

3.What do you think would make the playground safer for the younger pupils?

I think we’ve done lot of things, such as split playtimes and we’ve stopped people using big footballs. I think it would be safer with more activities, so people have things to do.

4.Can you tell us what is planned for doing outside in the playground?

The main things are, there are going to be games painted on the ground, seats to sit on and some games equipment to play with.

5.Do you know how it is going to be organised?

There are going to be different areas for different games, like noisy games, and quiet games. Different children will organise the equipment. There will be monitors to look after different games. There’s also going to be a “Friend Stop” where children with no one to play with can go and a monitor will team them up with someone else.

6.What do you hope will be the advantages for the pupils?

They’ll have lots to do hopefully they won’t argue and fight with each other. Everyone will have something to do, and there won’t be anyone left out.

What do you want to see in the playground?

AIR RAID ALERT!

This is a story about the memories of someone who lived during World War II.

The noise of the siren rose louder and louder into the sky and it woke us all. We all piled ourselves into the damp soggy Anderson Shelter in the garden for yet another boring, tiring night of listening to people’s stories and the buzzing of the ‘DOODLEBUGS’. It was scary at first, but I got used to it.

Just then my brother realised that he had forgotten his brief case. It had all the family’s important documents in it. So he ran back out. My mother was now screaming at him and was about to run out after him, when my father grabbed a hold of her and said, “It’s too late, you’ll never come back alive!”

Just then the buzzing stopped. There was silence. We were all scared for my brother’s life.

Then there was a huge explosion .The ground trembled and shook. We could hear and feel the shelter being battered by bricks and slates from one of the houses. When it stopped my father slowly opened the door. My mother started screaming and crying as it was our house that had been bombed.

When the ‘all clear’ siren sounded, the Police and Fire Brigade came round and looked for my brother.

He was barely alive, but he survived. But the accident left him paralysed.

It was terrible during these air raids!

MARKETHILL PRIMARY SCHOOL BEACTIVE CLUBS.

Be-active Clubs are a range of activities taking place at lunch times and after school at Markethill School. This term all the clubs were supposed to run for 7 weeks but due to bad weather we have missed 2 weeks.

The clubs are all organised by Mr Wood but are run by different teachers. Each different club is aimed at a different age group from primary 4 – primary 7. Each club costs 50p per session. This money is used to pay for materials required for the clubs.

This session the Be-active Clubs running are ART, run by Mr Wood for pupils in primary 4 – primary 5. FIRST AID with Mrs Hogg for primary 5s was on a Tuesday and for primary 6 – 7 there was RUGBY with Mrs Morrison on Thursday.
THE SCHOOL NEWSPAPER CLUB with Mr Jenkins was on a Monday.

Other clubs previously run have included chess and girls football.

KIRSTY’S WORDSEARCH  
(THE WORDS TRAVEL IN ALL DIRECTIONS.)

                 Fire Safety

In September 2000 the primary 6’s learned all about fire safety from Fiona Wilson. She is a fire safety education officer. Here are some useful tips we learned about cutting down the chances of a fire starting in your house.

What to do if there is a
 fire in your house

If there is a fire in your house and you are trapped in a room with smoke in it you must stay low down on the floor.

If you get fire on your clothes just stop, drop and roll.
DO NOT take that piece of clothing off if you are on fire. If you try to take it off you could get burned or pull your skin off.

When you are trapped in an upstairs room and your house is on fire you should throw your mattress out your window and get your mum or dad to lower you down so you can get on to the mattress safely.
NEVER open a room with smoke or fire in it as it could make the fire a lot worse.

            How fire is caused

Fire is caused by .........

·        Do not to put too many plugs in a socket.

·        Do not to leave cigarette stubs lying around.

·            DO NOT pour water over hot fat if it is on fire.

Here is a quiz to see how much
you have remembered!

1. What do you do if you are on fire?
   
2. What should you not do if there is a fire in your house?
   
3. How would you get out of a burning house?

My Penpal From An American School

I interviewed my penpal from America who lives in New York State about her school.                

Kristen has a little sister called Cheyenne.  They go to  School.  Kristen and Cheyenne are my second cousins.

The first question I asked Kristen was,  ‘What time do you start school and finish?’
She said ‘ I start school at 9.15 in the morning and get out at 3.15.’
Over here we start school at 9.05 and finish at 3.25.

Then I asked ‘ Do you have lots of different teachers?’
‘Yes there are a lot of teachers’ she said.
In Markethill we only have one teacher through out the year.

My next question I asked here was ‘ Do you take the bus to school?’
‘ Yes I take the bus to school’ she said ‘ but some people walk.’
It is the same over here; some people walk and others take the bus.

Next I asked ‘ Can you learn any instruments at school?’
She said ‘There are all kinds of instruments to learn.  We have a band and you can get summer lessons or lessons in school’
Over here we can learn the violin, viola, cello and recorder.

My next question I asked her was ‘ What hobbies can you do out of school?’
‘We can sign up for things like Cheerleading, Girls Softball, Boys Baseball, Soccer, Track, Basketball, Volleyball and Football’ she said.
We can do Swimming, Football, Tennis, Volleyball and Gymnastics in Turriff. 

My last question I asked Kristen was ‘ Do you have a canteen and if so what kind of food do you there?’
She said, ‘Our canteen is called a cafeteria.   We get things like pizza, chicken fingers, tacos, burritos, cheeseburgers and hot dogs.  We get a lot of other things to.  We can also get side dishes like soup or salad.  To drink we get skim milk, chocolate milk, strawberry milk and white milk.  We get snacks too like ice creams and chips.
Over here we get sandwiches, juice, milk, milkshakes, pizza, pasta and lots more.

I hope these questions have given you an idea of the differences between Newhaven School in America and Markethill School in Scotland.   

Guess these five sports that are jumbled up:

OTDIMBNAN-   
       GMWNISIM- 
               NESNIT-  
                      FLTABOLO-  
                                 BLANTLE-  

SUNDAY CLUB

Have you ever wondered about going to Sunday Club?

 If so, this is the opportunity to find out about it.  Sunday Club teachers have taken some of their quality time to come up with many ideas to make Sunday Club more exciting!!
 

These ideas are things like Video Sundays, Fun and Games Sundays and every year there is an Easter egg hunt!! 

Most of these special days mean you have a whole hour at the Club instead of half an hour at church and then another half hour at Sunday club in the church hall.

At the beginning of Sunday Club someone will come round all the seats with a bucket and all you have to do is put a collection into it.  At the same time you sing a song. We used to sing the same song every Sunday but now we have started doing a different one.

Once the teachers have told us what the project we are doing for the day we all go into our classes. These are split up into P1, P2, P3&4, P5&6 and last of all the primary 7s.  The primary 7’s also go to Rock Solid that is held monthly.  At Rock Solid they do different things compared to all the other classes.   It is the same message even though we are doing different things.

Other churches have Sunday Clubs too.

Mice

My mouse’s name is Travis. He is 5 months old and he is brown and white.

He is tame unlike most mice. He has to be cleaned out every week. His jar has to be cleaned out every day. When you clean it out remember to give it clean water and give it clean food.

Mice are very sensitive so if you pull its tail it might turn savage.

You need to have a cage and if it has one or two levels it will give the mouse something to do. You can get mouse wheels at a pet shop.

Don’t get a hamster ball to put them in, because it will stress them. For it to sleep in it you might prefer a jar for it to sleep in.

What you need to look after a mouse.

Food: Hamster food or mouse food. It needs vitamins or minerals to keep it healthy. These can be bought as a block for the mouse to chew.

It must also have:
A water bottle so it can drink.

A cage for it to live in!

Bedding eg. sawdust. Shredded paper (if needed.)

A food bowl and a wheel for exercise.                                                    

M is for is for Minnie, the size of my palm.

I is for intelligent because of all it’s skill’s.

C is for cute, especially it’s eyes.

E is for elegant soft, and sleek.

Top Five Names For Mice

1.Patch

2.Smudge

3.Minnie

4.Nibbles

MARKETHILL
 BAND AWARDS!

I did a survey of the pupils’ favourite bands in primary four to seven to find out who really is the ‘best’ band. There were forty-eight bands mentioned altogether by the pupils.

Here are the results of the top ten bands:

As you can see there were a large variety of bands mentioned.
Here are some of the least voted for bands:
         Anastacia
          Emma Bunton
          Kaci
         Spice Girls
         Meatloaf

A lot of ‘old’ bands were mentioned including Freddy Mercury, The Bee Gees and the Beatles.

 Personally I thought that Westlife would do well because they were popular in my class. I know that Eminem is popular with both the boys and girls so I was sad to see it come in second. Hearsay won with 83 votes. But I think that’s because they are new and have been on television a lot.

The more popular bands were competing as if they were all in a race together. S Club7 got a high position but they did not do as well as Eminem or Limp Bizkit. Quite a lot of bands like Five and A1 didn’t do as well as I would have thought. My favourite bands are Blur, All Saints and Madonna.

Top 5 Tips On Rollerblading

I am a personal fan of aggressive rollerblading and only learnt my first trick a few months a go!

I know a lot of people say that you can get hurt, which is true, but not if you follow my top 5 tips on aggressive rollerblading.

Brief History

The inventor of roller-skates was Joseph Merlin, a Dutchman of the early 18^th century. Roller-skates, with ball-bearing wheels, were introduced later in the 19^th century.

Warning!

If you damage your wheels or bearings with either mud or water, you have a fair chance you may not be able to use them ever again.

Different rotations of different Abec’s

Abec 1 & 3: 10,000 rpm

Abec 5:       30,000 rpm

Abec 7:       50,000 rpm

Abec 9:         70,000 rpm

My Top 5 Tips

1.      Safety always comes first- Wear Safety Gear.

2.     If you have padded trousers -  WEAR THEM.

3.     When you clean your wheels always have a tray alongside

4.     Try to do grinds correctly -Or you might twist your ankle

5.     Don’t put your blades on too tight- You could hurt your muscles.

That was my top 5 tips on aggressive rollerblading and I hope that you have enjoyed reading them.

SWIMMING

Hi my name is Lindsay. My hobby is swimming. I am a very good swimmer (even if I do say so myself!) and go swimming at least twice a week.

On Mondays I go to “Its A Knock Out”, and on Thursdays I go to Turriff Swimming Club. Sometimes on Saturdays and Sundays I go to ‘Crazy Splash.’

 As I said I am in the Turriff Swimming Club and it is great. You get to go at different times for different levels of swimming. At the swimming club you practise all four strokes and diving. Sometimes you get to use flippers.

At ‘It’s a Knock Out’ there are floats and a big obstacle course with a slide at the bottom.

‘Crazy Splash’ is exactly the same as ‘It’s a Knock Out.’

Here is a word search with 10 swimming words in it.
Can you find them all?

The words you have to find are:-