Portpatrick Primary Pupils embraced the environment today as they participated in Earth Day 2022. This year’s theme is ‘Invest In Our Planet’. We learned about this day of action in our school assembly and by watching a special edition of Newsround.
Primary 1 – 4 decided to apply maths skills in a bug hunt to identify as many species of insect life they could find in our school environment. The younger children observed our bug hotel, peeked below pieces of wood and stones and looked in bushes and wall crevasses to find as many little critters as they could see. The found wood lice, ladybugs, ants and more! This demonstrates that all of our work to support biodiversity as part of our Eco Schools targets is proving successful.
P5 – 7 used technology and a printed leaf guide to help identify the species of trees around us. We used the Google Lens app to photograph snapshots of unknown kinds of tree leaves. The app then searched the internet and identified the tree type. We found Rowan, Ash, Birch, Hazel and Alder to name but a few. Of-course, we have also recently planted a range of trees courtesy of the Woodland Trust and the Incredible Edible project, so we have boosted our natural habitat diversity of species very well. All the new saplings are healthy and thriving. We gave them a wee water to keep them in tip-top condition.
Our creative Primary 7 pupils, Lilly and Ava Lily, who form our B.E.A. (Being Equal to All) action group, used their I.T. skills to independently design their own scavenger hunt challenge for the whole school to enjoy. The children had to find a range of natural objects to immerse themselves in their natural environment. Lilly and Ava Lily then organised a Golden Egg Hunt. The girls awarded hand crafted bookmarks, with an Earth Day theme, to the winning pair (one pupil from each class). Our happy winning pair were Jack and Stephen.
At the end of the day, every pupil received 3 potatoes to take home and grow. This is part of the national Dandelion project with 500 schools across Scotland participating in The Big Tattie Experiment. If you would like to read more about this initiative, click here.
# Responsible Citizens
