Minibeast Hunt

On Tuesday we went on a hunt around the school grounds for minibeasts.  We looked in the grass, under stones, in trees and bushes, on flowers, in the air and on walls.

We found loads of different creatures and were amazed that so many of them lived right here in our own school grounds

We were very careful not to disturb any creatures that we found and always  replaced the stones that we looked under.

Is there anything hiding in here?

Nest building

Recently we went up to Muddisdale woods to see how easy it is to build a nest

We worked in pairs and used the same sort of things that birds would use.

First we tried to find a suitable place to build our nests.
A fork in the tree seemed a good place to start.

We have two hands to work with but birds only have their beaks.

It wasn't as easy as we thought.  Our nests had to stay in place even when we gave the tree a little shake.

We decided as a class that it was important for us to celebrate the Royal Wedding. We got dressed up especially for the day.

We didn't party all day! We started the day by working in groups to draw our own maps of London, which we will use later for our Maths.

We had our own wedding lunch in the classroom. It was fun, although Ms Rendall did need to hoover the carpet afterwards!

In the afternoon we had the wedding reception. This included listening to a song some of the class had written especially for the wedding, dancing the Grand March and Strip the Willow, followed by some games and more food before hometime!

We all had a good day, and hopefully this will be a happy memory to have for a long time!

Signs of Spring

We have been busy trying to identify some signs of Spring and headed off up to Muddisdale for a look.  Before we had even reached the woods we discovered several different wild flowers growing at the side of the road.  There were some lovely bluebells and lots of clumps of lesser celandine growing along the banks of the burn.

It's good fun searching for evidence

Some of the trees have got little catkins hanging on them.  They look just like lambs tails. 

A lot of the trees still have no leaves but the buds are swelling up and will soon be ready to burst open.

Sowing Sunflower Seeds

Today we have all been very busy sowing sunflower seeds. It's hard to believe that something so small can grow into a large plant.  We will have to look after them and make sure that they get enough, water and warmth to help them to grow.

The compost was very dry so we had to give it a good soaking before we started

Take care not to spill any of it onto the floor

You have to concentrate and think about what you are doing

Is any coming out of the holes in the bottom?

I wonder how long it will take until anything happens.

Fair Trade Football Winners

To kick start the recent Fair trade Fortnight some of the Primary 7 pupils organised a knock out football competition.  Teams of children from the upper and lower  end of the school took part.  Here are some of the Primary 3 members of the winning peedie team proudly displaying their medals. 

Telling the time

We have been learning to tell the time.   Last week we had fun making unusual clocks out of natural materials.  

Bark rubbing

We are learning about trees and plants for this term's project.
This afternoon we went out to look at some of the trees in the school grounds.
It's spring time and the trees are beginning to waken up after the long, cold winter.

We looked at the bark of the trees and noticed that it was quite rough.
Every type of tree has a different bark pattern.
We used crayons to take some rubbings of the bark of the trees and then compared them.

The bark is like the tree's skin so we had to be careful not to damage it as this could kill the tree.

It takes two to be able to do a good bark rubbing

Getting the Balance Right

Mrs Cromarty has been teaching us how to use our bodies to create lots of lovely balances.  

We worked hard to try to come up with as many interesting shapes as we could.

Does it look as if we are enjoying ourselves?

Surprises from Bangladesh

Yesterday we were surprised and delighted by a visit from Mrs Whittles.
Her husband has been out in Bangladesh and brought back letters for all of us from our pen  friends at the International School there.  It was very exciting and we all enjoyed sharing the things that we had received.