Burns Birthplace Museum – Emma Drennan
On Monday the 18th of March 2013, the pupils of Leswalt Primary School jumped on a James King bus and the first question was; “I wonder what it will be like at the museum?”
They were going to the Burns Birthplace Museum because their topic was Scotland and they had learned wonderful Scottish poems in January.
As all 37 pupils arrived at the museum, they split into two groups. They were primary 5-7 and primary 1-4. The 5 to 7 group headed off down Poets’ Lane, which was a long path which took you to the museum.
At the museum they went to the Whispering Gallery, that was where they saw Robert Burns’s actual writing desk (where he wrote most of his poems). They moved into the next room where there were interactive games and sounds to do with Robert Burns.
From there they moved onto the gift shop with lots of different items to buy. After the gift shop we walked to the Burns Monument and it was huge. They went up it in groups of 6. It was very steep, from the top they could see the Brig ‘O’ Doon
They headed off to the ‘Auld Kirk’ (that was where Tam ‘O’ Shanter shouted “weel done cutty sark!”). It was all in ruins.
They walked to the Education Pavilion to eat their lunch. After a while they went into a room where they tried on costumes and headed out to Robert Burns’s cottage. There were four different rooms, they were; the kitchen /living-room / dining room / bedroom, the Spence, the byre and the barn. The kitchen was one of their favourite rooms because they could not believe that seven people had to sleep in one tiny bed.
While in the education pavilion the Primary 1-4 class were learning about how times have changed since Robert Burns was alive. The younger pupils even made some butter, using different utensils. Mrs Baillie had to taste all of the different butters blindfolded, to see which one she thought was the best!
All of the children enjoyed the trip, especially the cottage. They learned more about the tale of Tam ‘O’ Shanter.
