This afternoon, Leswalt Primary pupils hopped on the bus and headed down to Logan Botanical Gardens as part of their annual schools’ week event.
The sun was shining, the air was warm – if perhaps the sky looked a little threatening as the afternoon wore on. But it takes more than a shower of rain to dampen the spirits of Leswalt pupils!
After a quick picnic lunch, the P1-3 pupils headed off to their workshop led by Kate on the Secrets of Trees whilst P5-7 joined Harry who taught them about Mapping our World using the gardens and natural materials as resources.
After exploring the bamboo maze, P1-4 pupils learned how trees work and worked together to make human representation of a tree! Pupils got to taste some tree sap in the form of maple syrup, which comes from a maple tree. On route round the gardens, we learned that a tree’s roots underground are as wide as the furthest outer branches. We were amazed to learn that certain types of bark can be weaved to make items such as shoes and a handbag! After finding our own unique leaves and playing a game, we finished the workshop by working in small groups to design our own tree using natural materials, featuring all of the things we learned.
P5-7 talked about different kinds of maps; globe, Google maps, OS maps and those of places of interest. We then headed off to explore the gardens and used sticks to create a 4pt compass. Looking carefully at the surroundings within each quadrant of the compass, pupils used leaves, sticks and other flora and fauna lying on the ground (never taken from a plant!) to recreate a visual map of their surroundings. This led to a chat about the 8pt compass and Harry then gave each a compass to use. He taught them how to use it and each pupil got a chance to do so.
We then headed to another area of the garden to consider how the gardens might be viewed by minibeasts – HUGE! Mapping out a small area, they worked together to recreate what the minibeasts might be seeing.
Such a beautiful place which sits right on our doorstep – we all thoroughly enjoyed our afternoon at Logan Botanical Gardens.
Huge thanks to Kate and Harry for their expertise.
