Continuing our medieval Elgin topic we paid a visit to Historic Scotland’s most celebrated site in Moray, Elgin Cathedral. Again, Lynda was there to show us around and to make it entertaining for the pupils and to relate to their local environment and history.

There was so much information given and the pupils were fully engaged with the history of the cathedral and all the characters associated with it.

Evaluation and personal reflection.
To fully compliment any topic it is always great to arrange local visits to bring around a context for learning that the pupils can relate to i.e. they live in Bishop’s mill, why is it called that? let’s go looking for signs ( Weirs and leats left). The fact that the pupils live so close to the Cathedral and don’t really know anything about it is something that has to be addressed. A very meaningful project in which the pupils are fully engaged and where outdoor learning has played a vital part, from walks down the High street, the local museum and now Spynie palace and Elgin Cathedral.

Hello all, had a great day out with all the P5 pupils as part of our Medieval Elgin topic and took them to Spynie Palace, just outside Elgin, run by Historic Scotland.
As part of their bikeability training we got them all (two were transported by car) on bikes and used the good cycle networks which pass right by the palace, home of the Bishops of Moray. it fitted in well with sustaianabilty and discussions we are having about eco schools also.

The journey went well and we were welcomed by Lynda from Historic Scotland, who took us back in time to storm the palace and go on a tour to find the inhabitants. It was wonderful to get a full insight from a member of staff who knows the background very well.

The pupils were very well behaved and were enthusiastic about things in the past, especially if you throw in dungeons, tortures and characters like the Wolf of Badenoch, how could you go wrong!

Evaluation and personal Reflection.
myself and Angela Mitchell, the other P5 teacher were very pleased with the morning as everything went very well. no blood , vomit or excrement so all’s good!
A bit of joined up thinking came to fruition as we got the pupils trained up in bikeability to then use this as a means to explore the local environs, get them fit and healthy and look after the planet. certainly we hit a few E’s and O’s today. having taken pupils out on bikes it is always pleasing to see the pupils grow in such a short time and to also not see cycling as an end point but merely the channel to access learning experiences and outcomes.
using Historic Scotland is always good, as pupils benefit from the experiences of the guide. looking forward to Elgin Cathedral next week.

A glorious day in the forest as we still hang on to the mini heatwave that is passing over Scotland.
Spring has certainly arrived with the trees in full blossom and looking heavenly. The last session in the woods would have benefited with a day like today and we stopped and talked about the blossoms and catkins that are in abundance ( apart from poor old Mr Oak).
No fire today but we sat around and talked about the letter we have sent to the Council, asking for permission to put up dog poo and litter posters. We have also asked if we could plant trees in the forest as part of our conservation side of the John Muir Award.
Today, we were looking at animals and their traces and how to identify them.
We started off talking about what animals were in this forest, or native of Scotland. Deer, fox, badger, hedgehog, stoat, weasel, rabbit and the birds.
How to identify?
Remains of food, remains of prey, poo, feathers and fur, habitats and nests, prints and markings.
1. First we had an ecosystem game, where pupils were young trees, deer and wolves, in different amounts. It was a tag games where the deer eat the trees and the wolves try to eat the deer. What happens when we vary the amount of each? We have extinction of various species if we don’t get it right, or manage it properly. A fun game with good points to it.
2. The pupils then went looking for glues out in the forest of any animals that have been about and then we shared some interesting findings
Scratch marks through the forest floor, probably deer looking for roots
Lots of feathers where an bird has been eaten, a wood pigeon identified by the feathers, probably a fox
Nibbled and half eaten pine cone, a squirrel.
3. tracking game. Three pupils have to move through the forest making signs with sticks, stones or chalk, showing what direction they are moving. They have five minutes and then the hunters have to track them down!
Evaluation and Personal reflection.
A wonderful time to be in the forest and after a long winter it is great to hear the birds singing and see this forest come alive. The pupils have been here since September and seen a great change. It was good to have an opportunity to talk about the trees but that is the great thing about coming out to the forest, you can find the time to pick things up you missed out before. Always flexibility!
The animal activities could be developed and looked at a bit more so the next time we come to the forest I will pick this back up and go a little further. The pupils really enjoyed today.

Today we were taking a look at the plant life around us, with the hope that spring would have sprung. Unfortunately a cold North easterly still kept the bloom in but we had a great time with what we had. How to identify trees was the discussion round the fire and the pupils came up with
1.leaves
2. Bark.
3.Shape.
4. Colour of trees
and I threw in…
5. Flowers
6. Catkins
7 Fruit.
The pupils set out with leaves identifiers and blossom and catkin charts.The activity was a partial success due to the leaves not being fully out we had to rely on old leaves but we took cuttings from the trees with the intention of opening them in class in water.
We also collected cones and discussed why Oak trees look still in winter while other trees are looking very green.
Evaluation and Personal reflection.
Again, the bite size look at one aspect of our wild space was great and easily handled. I should have kept an eye on the trees and nature and saw that this activity would have been better in 2/3 weeks from now. Still, it will be good to watch our cuttings and I promised the pupils that we would put beans in water to see then grow.

Hello Everybody.
A brilliant day was had by all on the 21st. The school celebrated John Muir day, where 3 classes, other than ourselves, were taking to the woods, 2 classes also doing the John Muir Award.The pupils were asked to come in with beards to celebrate the man’s long beard and I was touched that several did, including myself!
The weather was dry and we had a great fire to celebrate, as the weather was still a bit nippy.
1. We first sat by the fire and the pupils shared their interesting facts about John Muir. We talked about his 1000 mile journey and his love of wild spaces.
2. I read a quote that JM made about everything in the universe is connected and then asked the pupils to go up, in pairs, find a living organism ie beetle, bush and try to connect this with as many other living things in the universe. The pupils were great and with support saw connections to the sun, rain, the ground, the moon and indeed the universe. A great activity.
3. After snack and roasted marshmallows we took up the theme that JM create the first National Park in Yosemite. We talked about the importance of National Parks, our nearest park ie the Cairngorms, and then embarked on a challenge. The pupils, using string, had to map out their own national park round the special places. They could then invite friends in to see their ‘wild space’.
4. The pupils then were given some clay and had to create a wood spirit to look over their special National park.
Evaluation and Personal Reflection.
This day was a lot of fun and we were fortunate that our forest day coincided! There was a feeling of a festival and it was good to be prepared so the day had that more special meaning to the pupils. The beards went down a storm and doing some research with JM quotes ( used the special JM pack sent out to schools) made the activities more meaningful. As ever, it was all more relevant and special to the pupils, sitting round a fire and talking about JM used to do this. Always coming back to the points of sustainability, biodiversity and our role in looking after things. No better place to discuss these than sitting in a forest. i was touch by how the pupils have taken to their special places and the way they showed them off to their friends.