All is growing at Herringthorpe. The soggy weather has been great for the plants, so the wildlife area is looking decidedly verdant! Jim ( www.greenerplaces.co.uk ) has put in the aquatic plants in the pond, which has given all the tadpoles (squillions of them) somewhere to hide. We've been doing a bit of pond dipping with year 5 too, and the school wildlife rangers group is officially up and running. Well done to all the children who have been chosen, and who helped put the habitat cubes in the pond dipping shelter.
There's a pond dipping shelter and weather station now by the wildlife area. This was designed earlier in the year by Y5 children. Some good maths done in designing a hexagonal structure- even more in making it!
next to the shelter is a weather station. A digital weather monitoring station has been installed which sends a feed to the school, telling the children about temperature, humidity, rainfall, UV levels, wind direction and speed and even the temperature of the pond. Loads of maths there then. Children have also been designing a set of 60 images to be stuck onto 60 rotating panels. the images will have a word connected to weather, and an image (hot, dry sunny, clammy, wet, cold etc). Children will then be able to select a word that fits the weather of that particular day. This will act as a stimulus for literacy, helping children choose and use words for creative writing. The panels have been done but the stickers are still being manufactured.
