Tag Archives: outdoors education

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P3 Visit to Leith hall

On Tuesday the 24th of June P3A and P3B went to Leith hall. They went to Leith hall because they had to find minibeasts and minibeasts are their topic. There were four activities. One, was they went into the middle of the woods and did a bug hunt. Two, was they had pictures of minibeasts and they had to find them. Three, was a meadow sweep they had to have a tub and a magnifying glass, they made some room  and put the tub down and saw some minibeasts, they tried to name them. Four, the last one that they did was the minibeast survey. The weather was very, very sunny.

 They had fun and have been invited back to Leith hall.

By Rachel P4B

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Moths Galore

Recently P4B have had the opportunity to observe two spectacular moths. First Clover bought her moth into school. She had hatched the moth out from a larva. Unfortunately once the moth hatches out it only lives for two weeks. The class admired its spectacular markings and some children were able to hold it.

A few days later someone noticed another large moth(a Poplar Hawk moth)  that had landed at the doors into the P4 area. Everyone had a chance to have a really good look at the moth, and we then told the P3s (who were out doing a mini beast hunt!) where it was so that they could observe it too.

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Gardening News!

The gardening club were very busy this Monday decorating the raised beds in the sensory garden. Pupils painted each bed with pictures to represent the different sense that each bed is designated for.

The beds are looking very attractive now,with the thriving plants  and the clourful illustrations.

Meanwhile Mr Scrimshaw and a group of helpers put up the shed in the allotment grounds. Another group of pupils were planting bedding plants with Mrs Coutts.

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Butterfly mania!

Primary 4B’s butterflies burst from their chrysalis on Monday to Wednesday. We let two out on Tuesday.  Mrs Sell let some two out; one of them sat on a flower and one of them flew off to enjoy their lives.

Then on Thursday Emily, Jack and Caitlin each let one out.

One had a badly bent wing that Caitlin gently let out and she put it on a pink flower.

The sadness is that they only live for two weeks, so they find a mate and have babies. So we wish the painted ladies luck!

By Emily and Lewis P4

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Gardening Club

Every Monday 30 pupils, ranging from P2 to P6 have been working hard in the gardening club, helped by some parents and staff. They have got a lot accomplished in just a few weeks!

Some have marked out the boundaries of the new allotment, and helped in putting up posts.

Others have helped to fill the raised beds in the sensory garden with soil. The beds are designed to stimulate different senses; sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste. The gardeners have planted leeks, parsley, rosemary, sweet peas, marigolds to name but a few. With the warm weather and rainy showers, the plants are growing well and starting to become quite colourful.

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Deveron Walk

Last Week p4b went on a walk round the Deveron because we were looking for habitat for our salmon and I persoomed they will be Fry by now. We walked with Catrin Jeans from Deveron Arts. We went to the Deveron park and kept going down a little path then we walked further until we came to a big hole. Much to my surprise we saw cows waiting for us.We also saw lovely flowers. And I was carrying my bright yellow hat and suddenly a fly came on, then another and another and by the time I got back to class I had twentyfive flies in my hat. And yesterday I went with my dad and sister and did the same walk but we went right up the steps and right back to my house.

By Lewis and Ross

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The oystercatchers

Some oystercatchers have been busy in the school grounds over the last few weeks. There’s been two adults protecting their young from harm. They have a nest on the school roof, and the chicks have come off the roof quite early.

The young chicks have been wandering about the playground so when people come to school the parents have been trying to keep people away from the chicks! It has been lovely to see wildlife in school grounds.

From Alanas and Thomas P4B

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Allotment Club

Over £700 was raised at the recent coffee morning at the Stewarts hall, in aid of the Gordon Primary allotments! The money will go towards developing the new allotments on the school grounds. The new allotments were designed by Heather and Brogan in Pp6. The design consists of raised beds, along with fruit trees and bushes, surrounded by a fence.

An enthusiastic group of pupils, parents and staff have formed an Allotment group who are meeting on Mondays after school to develop the allotments. Their first task is to design and plant up the sensory garden. This consists of 5 raised beds containing plants to stimulate the five senses; taste, small, touch. hearing and appearance. Already the beds are planted with chives, marigolds, sweet peas and broccoli, to name but a few.

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Nursery news

Recently the nursery classes have been learning about the forest.  A forest ranger came in and taught them about different animals.  They also went down to the woods to have some art and craft fun. They all made brillant bougles ( faces made out of clay and put on the trees.)  Also they made marvellous masks and took them home to show their mums and dads. After they had finished the masks they all played a game where they would try to find different coloured pipe cleaners to see which colours they could be easily spotted. They did this so they could see why different animals have different patterns on their skin to keep them hidden from prey. All of them had great fun.
By Fiona and Elllie P6 blogger.

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P4B’s Salmon Egg’s!

One day a man called Mr. Vasey came to our class to talk about salmon.

He bought us some salmon eggs in a cool box. We need to check the temperature of the water (it needs to be kept at around 8 degrees c) and make sure the water is clean.  We are looking after them until the Easter holidays, when mr Vasey will take them back to the hatchery. We are hoping we can help to release them back into the Deveron when they are big enough.

We found out that female salmon can lay up to 10,000 eggs if they are healthy and can produce healthy eggs.  However the eggs can get a fungus that can make them die. The males fertilise (3 or 4 males may try to fertilise the eggs at once) the eggs to keep them healthy when they hatch. We have seen the eggs hatch in our classroom!

Predators

We have found out that some animals in this country are predators like these: Mink,Otter,Heron,Osprey and Peregrine Falcon. Salmon have to be aware of these predators and the salmon will have to hide under the rocks in the river.

Life Cycle

There are five stages of the salmon life cycle. First they are salmon eggs,the eggs are orange with a black dot in the centre. If they are white instead of orange then they are dead. Then they turn into tiny fish with their yolk sacks stuck to their tummies,so they can feed on it.These are called Alevin. Next they grow into slightly bigger fish called fry. After they turn completely silver and get ready to head out to sea.; these are called smolt.  Finally they have turned into adults- the males are more colourful to attract females. Then they go out to sea to search for food. Then the life cycle starts all over again.

When they hatch the temperature must be below ten degrees. The adult salmon eats sea snails,pond skaters,water beetles and other insects that fall in the water. The salmon can’t live in polluted water. Salmon can live in the sea for about four years.

The salmon like clear, fresh and cold water. And we would like to keep the Salmon safe in the UK.

SO KEEP THE SALMON SAFE!

Find out more about the project here

http://www.snh.org.uk/salmonintheclassroom/salmon_lifecycle.shtml”>>

By Clover and Charis, P4B