Feeding the birds

On Wednesday 24th November, Sue Whitworth from RSPB came to show us how to make bird food so that we can help our feathered friends to survive in the cold winter weather.

For the food balls we needed some lard, seeds, dried fruit and even some porridge oats!
We squeezed it all together and moulded it into balls.
Next we added a perch made out of twigs and some string to hang them up by.
We will hang them among the trees in the playground after they have hardened a bit in the fridge.

We also made some 'worms'! Mrs Whitworth mixed some wholemeal flour, suet and water together to make a sort of dough.

We rolled little bits into worm shapes for the birds to pick up from the ground.

We looked at pictures of the types of birds we will be helping and learned that some birds don't like to eat from tables but prefer to pick their food from the ground.
We hope the birds will enjoy their treats!

Home grown carrots!

The Green Fingers Garden Group planted carrots in the courtyard earlier this year and some of them still needed to be harvested.

Mrs Scott made some delicious carrot cake for the Snack Shack to sell at playtime. We sold some raw carrot sticks as well. It all sold out very quickly!

Waste survey

We are very lucky at Glaitness to have a selection of tasty, healthy meals to choose from at lunchtime.

 

Our cooks were concerned about the amount of food that is wasted at lunchtime so we set up a food survey last term to see if we could have less waste.

Each sitting at lunchtime had the waste weighed and we kept a chart to compare sittings and to see if the amount got less as the weeks went on.

We're going to really try to have clean plates from now on!

Mudfest Logo Competition Winner!

This is the winning logo from our 'Mudfest' competition. It was designed by Leigh and reflects aspects of the outdoor environment at Muddisdale. All the classes very much enjoyed exploring there last term and had lots of exciting experiences in the outdoors. Please look at the class blog pages to find out more!

MADD5 - Biodiversity

MADD 5 took place on Wed 19th May and was a hugely successful day full of activities. Our theme this year was biodiversity and found us all getting closely involved with nature in various ways.

The sports hall was visited by all classes with a range of activities on offer. Fantastic art work was produced on the floor, using a selection of natural products such as leaves, twigs, flowers, cones etc.

Some more images.
Other activities included a composting quiz, nest building, bug viewing, a biodiversity fortune teller to make, a picture sort, and a reading corner with books about nature. Suggestions and information were added to a Darwin's Footprints poster also.

The JRSO team were on hand with some games on pedestrian and cycle safety and information on Walk to school week. They also had a lucky dip and some free bookmarks and stickers. Alice, Tom, Robert and Julia were amazing with their support in the hall. Well done and thank you.

A biodiversity theme would not be complete without an outdoor experience and we were lucky to have beautiful weather to enhance the day. Most classes took advantage of the chance to take a nature walk up the Muddisdale path and we are reminded how lucky we are to have such a fantastic outdoor resource on our doorstep. We were also lucky to have Jenny Taylor from Orkney Woodland Trust to join us and lend her expertise in identifying plants and trees.Examination of creatures after a tree shake activity.

Many different species were found along with a variety of creatures, including a large, hairy caterpillar, a strange ladybird and the sound of a cuckoo! It was wonderful to see different age groups of pupils interact with each other and to see the level of engagement and interest shown by all. Definitely an experience worth repeating.
Throughout the week an amazing collection of 'Bionimals' appeared! We had a competition to see what kind of creatures could be created from natural materials and the results were outstanding. We can be reassured that imagination and creativity is alive and well at Glaitness! A huge thanks to all who took part for your time and effort.
Take a look at these - How can we choose winners when they were all so good?

Make a Difference Day 5

MADD 5 is next Wednesday 19th May.

The whole school will be taking part in activities for Biodiversity Day, Walk to School Week and the Kew Gardens Great Plant Hunt. 

This is an important part of being an Eco School, making sure we keep thinking about how we can keep 'Sustaining our World'.

Our actions have an impact on the biodiversity around us in Orkney and also affect biodiversity around the world. 

Through our international links this year we have found out about the  very different environments and eco-systems and biodiversity some of our link schools have around them.

Biodiversity - getting 'oot and aboot'.

This term classes are looking at different aspects of biodiversity in and beyond the schools grounds.

The pre-school think they know what they will find in their digging area outside.

Class 3/4 went to Scapa to find out about the variety of living things there.

They found evidence of 23 different living things!

Getting ready for Spring in the pre-school garden

Some developments have been underway in our school grounds.

The pre-school garden team have created a vegetable garden.

More on their blog here.

Remember to show your support!

Fairtrade Fortnight - What is your swap?

Earth Hour 2010

This year's theme is : Wear something bright, turn off the light!

Its your chance to make a statement about the need to care for the planet by turning off the lights for an hour.

We will be marking Earth Hour in school - find out details here closer to the date:

27th March.

RSPB Big Schools Birdwatch

From 18th January to 1st February it is the RSPB Big (and Little) Schools Birdwatch.

P3/4 have taken part by checking which birds are in the playground over an hour in the afternoon. They went outside to count the birds which landed in the school grounds or on the buildings.

They then entered the information online and looked at the ways it could be displayed in different types of charts.

They made some 'snappers'.

They had to think about the distinctive markings and colours of the birds we might see in Orkney.

Can you tell what they are?

Green Swans Meeting Summary

The Glaitness Green Swans met this afternoon in the library.

We discussed feedback from our Green Flag visit which we were all pleased about.

We also spoke about being involved in the paths project for the Peedie Sea and were keen to do this.

Mrs Rendall told us about the Orphir and Rousay Eco Blogs and we thought up a comment to add to them.

Finally, we thought about outdoor learning and our playground. We need to know what the classes think and decided how we would do this. Watch out in school for more information.

Our meeting finished at 3.25pm and we went back to report to our classes.

UN International Year of Biodiversity

2010 is the UN international Year of Biodiversity. To find out more have a look at the website.

We will be considering how we can encourage and support and maintain biodiversity around our school and the wider world through our Eco - Schools work.

Well done Rousay and Orphir!

Rousay and Orphir Schools have each set up an Eco Schools group and have begun a blog to share their progress. Do you have any ideas to share with them as they think about what they do already and plan actions for the future?

Radio Broadcast

Listen to Mrs Rendall and some of our pupils describe how we achieved our second green flag.