We went to Dumfries House for our class trip this session. We used our Biodiversity knowledge to find out more about how to encourage helpful insects into our own gardens. We created “Bug Houses” from plant pots, newspaper and straw and took them home to put into our own outdoor areas. We all had lots of fun both indoors and outdoors!

Primary 5 had a really great day when we visited Dumfries House. Although it was chilly, the children were motivated and keen to get involved. The children made their own compost and worked great as a team. The children also enjoyed a vegetable hunt and worked with their partner to investigate how different vegetables grow. The children enjoyed digging up some vegetables and found some unusual shaped carrots and turnips. Everyone then went a lovely country walk to the park and had great fun. Lots of great learning went on and the children behaved so well. Well done!

Primary 2/3 welcomed their visitors today and they were excited to share their learning.  We have been learning about what a plant needs to grow and we have been demonstrating this by taking care of the beans we planted.

We were learning indoors and outdoors today as groups of children and their visitors explored our amazing sensory garden.  One of the tasks was to use your senses to record what they could see, hear, touch and smell in the garden.  Another task was to search for shapes in the garden.  Back in the classroom we were making our own plant pots from newspaper.  It was tricky but fun!  We then planted a sunflower seed in this.  We enjoyed looking at sunflowers and drawing the beautiful flower.  We have some great artists in P2/3.  It is great to look after our environment so we also reused materials to make a ‘rot pot’ otherwise known as a compost bottle.  We showed our knowledge of looking after a plant by sorting words into two columns, what a plant needs and parts of a plant.

Some of our visitors also shared their knowledge with us about planting and where the sunflowers came from.  Do you know?

We hope you enjoy looking at some of our picture and reading the comments that the children shared after the event.

“It was fun to go outside to look for things in the garden.  When I came back in I planted a sunflower seed.” Chloe

“I enjoyed doing the cut and stick with my mum.  It was good having her to help me.”  Rocco

“I liked it when Danielle came in to help me and Cole make the compost bottle.” Caolan

        “I like picking the grass for the compost bottle and that my gran came in to help me.” James

“My favourite activity was drawing the sunflower because I like drawing.  I was happy to see my gran.”  Katie

“I liked the cutting out the words and putting them on the sheet.” Aaron

“I liked making the compost bottle with my mum.  We worked together and poured the water in.  I liked making my own pot too.” Sienna

“I went out into the garden looking for things with my family.  My mum was frightened when she saw the spiders.”  Emma

 “I was happy that my mum and my wee brother came.  I liked making the compost bottle.  Alisha

“I went outside with Mrs Ewart and I saw a slug.  It was moving really slow next to the yellow plant.”  Gerrard

“I liked my mum coming to help me do my work.  We cut the grass in the garden.  I gave my mum an invitation to come.” Aiden

“I counted lots of squares outside.  I found 65.  I saw rectangles, the flower beds and the drain.  There was a slug and two spiders.”  Jack

“I liked today because my mummy came and my wee sister.  We went outside to cut the grass for the compost bottles.” Bekah

“I was happy because my mum came to help me.  The compost bottle was fun and I liked spraying the water into it.  I liked planting the seed and can’t wait to take it home.”  Cole

Where you a visitor in our classroom today?

Why don’t you tell us what you enjoyed?

We were in the Sensory Garden taking out the weeds from the raised and flat flower beds. We then planted some bulbs. The boys planted hyacinth bulbs in the raised beds. These will bring a lovely smell to the garden when they flower.

Marco

The girls planted gladioli bulbs in the Insect Area. We planted them just in front of the wall so they would have support as they grew. We are looking forward to see them flower. They are pink with white stripes and purple with white stripes.

Maaria