Building Nocturnal Homes: A STEM Adventure in P2

Last week, Primary 2 embarked on an exciting STEM challenge to design and create nocturnal animal dens! With teamwork, creativity, and a whole lot of imagination, the children used their engineering skills to build cozy homes for their chosen animals—complete with some unexpected luxuries like TVs and hot tubs!

Designing with Care

The challenge began with some big questions: What makes a good home for a nocturnal animal? and How can we build it using the materials we have? Working in small groups, the children chose their animals—badger, fox, owl, or hedgehog—and got to work sketching their designs.

• “A hedgehog’s house needs lots of leaves to stay warm”
• “Our fox needs a secret tunnel to hide”

The children carefully thought about the needs of their animals, considering shelter, safety, and comfort, all while showing off their critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

Creating with Junk

With their designs ready, it was time to build! Armed with junk materials like cardboard boxes, bottles, paper, and string, the groups brought their designs to life. The classroom buzzed with excitement as everyone worked together, using their meta-skills:

• Cate the Collaborator helped them share ideas and work as a team.
• Focusing Fergus kept everyone on track, even when things got tricky.
• Critical Thinking Chris inspired them to problem-solve when parts of their designs didn’t go as planned.

The results were nothing short of spectacular!

• The owl’s home had a cosy corner for resting and reflective tape so it could fly in and out of its home.
• The badger’s den featured a television!
• The fox’s den had a clever tunnel entrance and a hot tub.
• The hedgehog’s house was packed with leaves and even had an extra space for the baby.

Sharing Our Creations

Once the homes were complete, each group presented their work to the class, explaining how their design met the needs of their nocturnal animal. The presentations showcased not only their creativity but also their growing confidence in speaking to an audience.

The children loved hearing about each other’s designs, and the variety of ideas sparked even more creativity!

The Aftermath

By the end of the session, the classroom was a total mess—but they children enjoyed themselves and ended the lesson with a smile on their faces.

What We Learned

This STEM challenge gave the children a chance to:

• Apply their understanding of nocturnal animals and their habitats.
• Use design thinking to solve real-world problems.
• Develop collaboration, focus, and critical thinking skills through teamwork.

Next Steps

Inspired by the success of this project, the children are already asking what we can build next! Maybe a rocket for exploring the stars or a bridge for animals to cross safely?

Curriculum-Information-P2-Term-2

This week in our P2 adventure series (a.k.a. our second week back at school), we discovered that children’s enthusiasm knows no bounds when it comes to exploring the great outdoors, splashing in swimming pools, and learning about creatures that prowl around in the dead of night. Let’s dive right in—or should I say, make a big cannonball splash—into what we got up to!

Botanic Garden Wonders: Nature’s Playground …

This week, we had the pleasure of welcoming visitors from the botanic gardens to our school, transforming our grounds into a miniature wilderness for the morning. Armed with knowledge, props, and a palpable passion for the outdoors, our guests captured the children’s attention from the get-go. The whole morning was dedicated to exploring nature right on our doorstep, with our little adventurers behaving wonderfully—an impressive feat given their eagerness to sprint off at the first hint of adventure.

Pool Performances: Future Olympians (Sort Of)…… Our swimming session was next. If excitement could be bottled, we’d have enough energy to light up Lerwick for a year. The splashes, the laughs, and the moments of sheer water-based exhilaration were plentiful. I’m happy to report that no staff member was accidentally soaked this time (a small but meaningful victory). We’ve got a class of enthusiastic swimmers who might just think they’re half-dolphin.

Into the Night: A Lesson on Nocturnal Animals

Back on dry land (and only slightly less wild), we delved into the mysterious world of nocturnal animals. Bats, owls, and foxes captured our attention, along with animals further afield such as racoons and lions.

Safety First: The Serious (but Fun) Bit

We’ve also been gearing up to focus on one of our school values: safety. The children were informed about our new, prestigious roles as Junior Road Safety Officers (JRSO). Think of it as donning superhero capes, but with a mission to make roads safer instead of fighting crime (although, in their minds, I’m sure the two are one and the same).

Next week, we’ll dive deeper into road safety, and I imagine our trusty new JRSOs will keep us all in check with all the seriousness of their tiny, enthusiastic hearts.

In Summary: Great Learning and Even Greater Playing

Week 2 was packed with energy, questions, and more discoveries than I can count. As the days grow darker, we’re embracing the adventure and gearing up for even more. Bring on the next week—and maybe a raincoat or two!

Exploring Lerwick with Primary 2: Smugglers, Maps, and Community Helpers!

This term, our classroom turned into a mini Lerwick, with smugglers, lodberries, and local heroes filling our days! Teaching Primary 2 always brings surprises, but our focus on Lerwick in Shetland had us all on quite the adventure. Here’s a peek into what we’ve been up to.

Smugglers in Shetland: A Class of Curious Pirates

We delved into the exciting lives of Shetland’s smugglers, and let me tell you—there’s nothing like the thrill of teaching kids about sneaky criminals from long ago! The children were absolutely hooked on the tales of smugglers dodging the law and sneaking goods into Shetland.

And then we discovered lodberries—those quirky houses right on the water. The children were fascinated to learn these buildings had trap doors and hidden tunnels for smuggling. We created smuggler maps and discussed the items they may have taken into Shetland.

Mapping Lerwick: Geography Meets Artistic License

After our smuggler tales, we got practical with Google Maps to find Lerwick’s landmarks. Watching the kids explore a real town on a map was priceless—they were thrilled to find the harbour and Fort Charlotte, though some were more excited to point out random boats (“Look, a fishing boat!”) than the historical sites. This lead us down another rabbit hole which revolved around boats, particularly those we see in Lerwick. The children wanted to know where they went, what they did out and see and what kind of fish they caught. They were delighted when we found an online shipping map which told us exactly what we wanted to know.

Museum Day: Real-Life Artefacts (and Snacks)

No topic is complete without a museum visit, so off we went to the Shetland Museum.  Once we were inside, they were fascinated by the old boats and fishing gear. There were plenty of “oohs” and “aahs” as they saw real artefacts from the past. Funnily enough, they were highly amused when they were told about past toilet practices! We went on the trip with P2A. It was a great experience and fun to get out of school for the morning – in both the teachers and children’s opinions!

People Who Help Us: Real-Life Superheroes

Of course, learning about Lerwick wouldn’t be complete without talking about the people who make the community tick. We chatted about the roles of fishermen, marine biologists, those in customer service, coastguards, and firefighters —and after learning about how they help help Shetland, the kids were ready to sign up for all the above.

Wrapping Up: Smugglers, Maps, and Local Legends

By the end of the topic, the children were practically experts on Lerwick. They could explain what a lodberry is, describe how maps help us, and talk about how important community helpers are. Most of all, they learned that even a small town like Lerwick is full of history, stories, and people who keep everything running smoothly.

I think we’ve all come away from this topic a little more curious about the world around us—and perhaps a little more interested in the secret lives of smugglers!