P1-4 joined Elizabeth Tindall on the beach yesterday as part of the Rhins Coastal Path Project. Thankfully the sun was shining (although Mrs McHarg & Mrs Rice both wished they took their gloves with them!!).
The pupils had a fun filled morning learning lots about various things on the beach. First, we had a nurdle hunt – these are small pellets of plastic that get washed up on the shore line. We hunted for limpets and sea aenmones and learned why/how limpets stick to the rocks on the beach.
Next, we searched for some perfectly sized stones and cleaned them in the rock pools (some children were also “cleaned” after slipping into the water…!!). Whilst waiting for our stones to dry, we listened to Elizabeth tell a story using her story stones and then used acrylic pens to create our own.
After a break, Elizabeth explained about the different types of seaweed on the beach and we went to see how many different types we could find – the most common ones were bladder rack, sea lettuce and sugar rack. Pupils seemed rather horrified to learn that toothpaste has seaweed in it, as does some types of ice-cream!!!
At the start of our session, we found some larger stones to place at the edge of the sea, so to finish off our session we went to find our stones – but they were no where to be seen! Elizabeth then explained that the tide moves in and out over the course of the day, and we played a little game at the edge of the water (although some overly-enthusiastic pupils ran a bit too fast and didn’t stop at the edge of the water, ending up with soggy feet!!!).
Everyone had a fab morning and learned lots about the beach. Huge thanks to Elizabeth for the past 2 days’ input – we are really looking forward to our next session with Suzi next week!
