The photographs show plaster casts being prepared of a gull’s footprints, pine tree saplings being pulled up so they do not take over the dunes (which they would given half a chance!) and using quadrats to identify living things on the dunes and salt marsh – we calculated that as there were 25 squares on the quadrat each row would be worth 20% therefore one square would be a fifth of that meaning 4%. Looking at the algae on the salt marsh we estimated that 32% was within the quadrat and that this was very close to one third. We took a water sample from Morston and will check for salinity back at school, we also checked the tide height and discovered it was much lower than predicted – we researched this too.

This was a great session with ‘hands on’ activities helping us really understand the fragile nature of our coastline. We are looking forward to developing our work with the Norfolk Wildlife Trust over the coming weeks, keep a look out on the web site.

We recorded tide height at Morston and took a sample of seawater to bring back to school to test for salinity and acidity. Rob and Henry brought special digital scales with them which are worth over £1000 so we had to be careful! The scales were VERY precise measuring to the nearest one thousandth of a gram, the scale showed four decimal places so it gave us the chance to practice our rounding up and down. At Holkham we took a close look at different habitats and living things in the pinewoods, dunes and beach we used quadrants to get an accurate result. We even managed to take plaster casts of different bird and mammal footprints in the sand.

On our return to school four petri dishes were weighed, they were all quite different. Using a very sensitive pipette 2ml of sea water was added to the dishes. We are now evaporating the water and we hope that traces of salt will be left. We should be able to calculate how much salt was in the water. We shall carry out these tests over time to see if there is any change and to ask why this might be.

We had a brilliant time, it is SO good to do all of this great maths and science outdoors. Our next monitoring visit will be on Tuesday January 17th – we can’t wait!

This term class 3 are studying Settlements.  As our “Entry Point” to this project we had a go at building our own structure for a settlement…a geodesic dome.  Such fun!  Although I think if we had to rely on it we would definately be cold and wet!

Take a look at how we got on…

When we are deciding whether or not to settle in a particular area, people today are concerned about the affordability of buying or renting a house, convenient transport links to their place of work, availability of good local schools and hospitals, a variety of shops, restaurants and recreational amenities. Our ancestors, on the other hand, would have been more concerned about fulfilling their most basic human needs – a fresh and reliable supply of water, food and fuel supplies, the availability of local building materials and a defensive location to protect them from hostile neighbours.

We are very excited about our up-coming visit to Sutton Hoo – to learn all about the Anglo-Saxons.  Come back soon and see what we have been learning and doing.

Dr. Phil Smith is keen on us using our local coast to carry out repeated tests over time such as tide measurement, salinity, acidity and erosion. The project is to be called ‘The Secrets of the Seaside’ and we can add our own creative ideas to the work. Charlie Ward (Governor) together with Rob Green and Henry Creisson (Phd students) will be working with us to inspire scientific thinking and to make the most of our wonderful local treasure, the coast.

We shall be undertaking numerous visits throughout the year in all seasons and weather. We hope this will create a lifetime interest.

This morning we were very lucky to have a group of children and teachers from Burnham Market Primary school to show us just what Speed Stacking is. Basically, it is a new sport, developed in America, which uses hand eye co-ordination skills to “up stack” and “down stack” a series of cups. Excellent skills used in many areas of sports.

We had a demonstration, and then we all had a go at it. Great fun!

“Fantastic! Everyone has got to try it!” – Archie Y5

“Fantastic! I was very good at it! – Lucy Y5

“Excellent! Everyone had great fun doing it.” – Georgina Y5

“It was fab!” – Blue Y4

“A brilliant brain teaser!” – Isobel Y6

“Fun, fab and fantastic!” – Hollie Y6

“I loved it!! – Lily Y4

Check out this link to see some amazing SPEED STACKING across Great Britain.

http://greatbritain.speedstacks.com/about/history.php