Owls

Yesterday we had visitors from the RSPB in our class.  They were telling us about how owls survive in Orkney.  We learned that owls are birds of prey and they have sharp talons and a sharp beak to help them catch and tear into their prey.  They eat small birds, mice and shrews but their main source of food in Orkney is the Orkney vole.  Owls can't digest the bones and fur of their prey so it is regurgitated.  This ball of fur and bones is called an owl pellet.  In small groups we worked with cocktail sticks and tweezers to pull the fur apart and see if we could find any vole bones.  We had to put the  bones onto a picture of a skeleton.  It was very interesting and we couldn't believe how many bones we found!  

Chicks

P1 have been making up their own 'chick character.'  They had to give their little chick a name and think about what it might like and dislike.  They then had the challenge of making their chick a home using junk materials.  We are now enjoying playing with the chicks and making a street with roads and houses in the sawdust.

Bendy Plants!

P1 have noticed that our plants are not just growing, they are bending too!  Through discussion, we discovered that they are bending towards the window to catch the sun.  We tried turning the tray around and guess what - the plants moved and started to bend towards the window again.  Miss Pirie said the plants in her greenhouse aren't bending and Sofia thought that would be because the sun is coming in the greenhouse roof so they point upwards.  I think we will need to move our plants into bigger containers soon.  Look out for them around the school.

The marigolds grew two round leaves first and have now grown two spiky leaves.

Living Things

Today we spoke about how we know plants and animals are alive and what they need to stay alive.  We discovered that everything living needs food and water, grows, can have a baby or make a seed and can move.  We then went outside and had a look around at the living and non- living things in the playground.  We didn't want to collect anything living because then it might die so instead we collected non-living things.  We then talked about why they are not alive.  We found things like stones, string, glass, plastic wrappers, toys and dead flowers and plants.  

Now we know a little better about what we need to do to keep our plants alive.

Plants and Animals

This term our project is about ‘Plants and Animals,’ how they grow and what we need to do to look after them.

This afternoon Thorfinn’s granddad came in with lots of chicks.  

He told us about how they keep the eggs warm in an incubator instead of having a hen sitting on them in a nest.  He told us that when the chicks start to hatch they peck a peedie hole and you can hear them cheeping inside the egg.  When they first come out they are all wet and sticky but they soon fluff up and start to peck.  

The chicks eat chick crumbs and drink water. 

Now they have started to get bigger feathers on their wings and when they get all their feathers they will be able to go outside to eat grass.

We all really wanted to touch and hold the chicks.  We had to be quiet and touch them very gently so they didn’t get scared.

Thanks very much to Harvey for taking the chicks in and sharing with us how to look after them.

Grandparents Museum

P1 have worked really hard this week to set up a museum to display the images and objects brought in and the work we have done about grandparents.  Everyone helped to make posters and little labels to explain the artefacts to our visitors.  We have also had a pretend 'old school' set up for us to play in and to show our visitors.

Thank you to everyone who came to the museum today.  Telling everyone about what we have learned about the past was a good way to round off the topic.  

A Week of Bonny Weather!

We have had great fun this week playing outside at playtime and lunchtime with the Scrapstore Playpod.  P2 were doing an assembly this week about sharing so we talked about this in class and tried really hard to share the scrap.  Here are a few photos of us having fun and doing good sharing with P2 :)