Fungi Walk with John Hedger

We were delighted to be able to go on a fungi walk with mycologist John Hedger. We walked through a small area of field and woodland on Scoraig and found a huge variety of different fungi specimens. We collected lots of them up and then got together to try and identify the different ones. We learnt about the different parts of fungi such as the spores and gills and how some change colour when they are broken or cut. We loved the different names such as brittle gills, hedgehogs, plum and custards as well as the petticoat mottlegills. Huge thanks to John for sharing his knowledge so generously and enthusiastically.

Seaweed Festival Durnamuck Little Loch Broom

Our two schools came together with local specialists to survey the seaweed on the shores of Little Loch Broom as part of the Isle Martin Seaweed Festival. As well as learning how to identify all kinds of seaweed, we also made egg wrack whistles and charcoal from kelp which we then used to draw on stones and paper. The results from our survey work was uploaded onto the Big Seaweed Survey. Thank you so much to the organisers for a great event. See you next year!

Summer of Hope

Our “Summer of Hope” includes the activities included below.

Watch out for The Highland Council sharing a webpage which will include more activities to come.

Keep your eyes peeled for a “Summer of Hope” launch through Eden Court Under Canvas too.

There are many ideas for family activities through Parentclub page to help you get out and about and enjoy our open spaces. https://www.parentclub.scot/topics/get-into-summer

Thanks for working so hard this year. Have a wonderful summer making memories with friends, family and everyone close to you inside and outside.

We can’t wait to hear all about it when you come back Refreshed, Reconnected, Re-energised and Ready to continue learning in August.

These are the 4 R’s we all need this summer!

Summer of Hope Booking with linksDownload

National Numeracy Day 19th May 2021

This week we celebrated all things number. The children played number games and skittles, had number stories and sang number songs. The highlight was a trip to the woods to take part in a Number Trail. The children had to find 18 stations marked in the weeds and at each one of these was a challenge. Some were just for one child, some were team challenges. Just a few are listed below.

Station 3 – Use a rope to create a triangle around some trees.

Station 4 – Nursery children had to make a 4 with their bodies.

Station 5 – A song to sing about 5 little men in a flying saucer.

Station 6 – Each child had to find a flat stone to create a pile.

Station 11 – Everyone had to stand on one leg for 11 seconds.

Station 17 – We made a wish at a magic tree with 17 fairy claps.

Station 18 – There were 18 number blocks to find.

Well done to all of the children who did well with the tasks and showed some excellent team work.

Our lighthouse keeper’s lunch

This term we have been inspired by a book called ‘The Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch’ by Ronda and David Armitage. We had our own picnic lunch up by our very own lighthouse on Scoraig. We’ve investigated electronic circuits by building our own lighthouse model complete with working lamp. We went out bird spotting with binoculars. We have been exploring different ideas about what makes for a healthy lunch. And we have even made our own short film with a story we wrote inspired by the book where we took it in turns to be actors, narrators, directors and cinematographers.

Story Telling Session

Today we had a story telling session with Hannah. The children learned that all stories follow a pattern:

Who is this?

What do they want?

Why can’t they have it?

What happens next?

We made some characters for our stories and the children then told their own stories.

Thanks Hannah!

Friday is Cook Day

We have been cooking on Fridays. So far we have grated, chopped, stirred, blended, fried, baked, rolled, frozen and eaten our food. We have enjoyed yummy vegetable nuggets, frozen yoghurt bark and banana flapjacks. We are very excited to see what recipe is coming next!!!

Bats – from flying foxes to micro bats

This week we have been learning all about bats and making drawings and models in response to all the amazing information and videos we have been sharing together. We did some experiments to try and understand how bats use echolocation too. Hopefully we will also get some bat boxes made and hung up on the peninsula to encourage more of these incredible creatures to live with us.