Biodiversity week in Ballyfin N.S. May 2021
May 10th to 15th 2021 biodiversity week took place in our school.
On Monday each class planted cress seeds and over the course of the week we watched them germinate from seeds to plants in front of our eyes.
Throughout the week our teachers taught us about biodiversity and the green schools committee announced information about the week on the intercom.
Throughout the week we were all encouraged to have a plastic free and tinfoil free lunch in order to reduce the amount of Waste we all had.
On Thursday the 14th of May we had our Biodiversity action day. Luckily the weather held up and we were able to enjoy the outdoors along with an occasional spell of sunshine!!
Thursday was a swarm of activity and our school was full of children chatting about mini-beasts and biodiversity as each class took to the great outdoors for a wildflower and mini beast hunt. Each class were told about certain wildflowers to keep an eye out for.
Each class took a trip to the school vegetable garden, our bug hotel and hedgehog house as well as the hedgrow of our school to locate and identify as many plants and animals as possible.
We were also very lucky to have Gemma Dunphy working in our school. Gemma is also a beekeeper along with her father. Gemma visited each of the nine classes and taught us all about the honey bees and shared facts and information with us. It is fair to say that every child was amazed by Gemma and learning about how to keep bees. Gemma brought in some honey for us all to try. It tasted so much nicer than the honey in the shops.
Thanks to Michele Castiaux each class had a very fascinating video to watch about biodiversity in our locality. Micheles video was full of information about mapping our school grounds and was made especially for us in Ballyfin National School.
On our biodiversity day each class took some time to learn about the lifecycle of the dandelion. Often we think of the dandelion as a weed... but we were very wrong, the dandelion is a wildflower which the honey bees absolutely love. Gemma told us the best honey is even made from dandelions. We need to be mindful when cutting our lawns to think of the bees and how much they love to eat dandelions before we cut them down.
We also had a power free hour which was really fun. Initially we thought it might be a tough ask to use absolutely no electricity for a full hour. That meant no light, projector, laptop and internet. Surprisingly we all survived without any trouble. We have learned to be more aware of our electricity use and not to waste electricity by leaving lights on when not in use.
Such an enjoyable and busy week was enjoyed by all but most importantly we all learned so much about biodiversity and ways in which we can improve it in our school.
On Monday each class planted cress seeds and over the course of the week we watched them germinate from seeds to plants in front of our eyes.
Throughout the week our teachers taught us about biodiversity and the green schools committee announced information about the week on the intercom.
Throughout the week we were all encouraged to have a plastic free and tinfoil free lunch in order to reduce the amount of Waste we all had.
On Thursday the 14th of May we had our Biodiversity action day. Luckily the weather held up and we were able to enjoy the outdoors along with an occasional spell of sunshine!!
Thursday was a swarm of activity and our school was full of children chatting about mini-beasts and biodiversity as each class took to the great outdoors for a wildflower and mini beast hunt. Each class were told about certain wildflowers to keep an eye out for.
Each class took a trip to the school vegetable garden, our bug hotel and hedgehog house as well as the hedgrow of our school to locate and identify as many plants and animals as possible.
We were also very lucky to have Gemma Dunphy working in our school. Gemma is also a beekeeper along with her father. Gemma visited each of the nine classes and taught us all about the honey bees and shared facts and information with us. It is fair to say that every child was amazed by Gemma and learning about how to keep bees. Gemma brought in some honey for us all to try. It tasted so much nicer than the honey in the shops.
Thanks to Michele Castiaux each class had a very fascinating video to watch about biodiversity in our locality. Micheles video was full of information about mapping our school grounds and was made especially for us in Ballyfin National School.
On our biodiversity day each class took some time to learn about the lifecycle of the dandelion. Often we think of the dandelion as a weed... but we were very wrong, the dandelion is a wildflower which the honey bees absolutely love. Gemma told us the best honey is even made from dandelions. We need to be mindful when cutting our lawns to think of the bees and how much they love to eat dandelions before we cut them down.
We also had a power free hour which was really fun. Initially we thought it might be a tough ask to use absolutely no electricity for a full hour. That meant no light, projector, laptop and internet. Surprisingly we all survived without any trouble. We have learned to be more aware of our electricity use and not to waste electricity by leaving lights on when not in use.
Such an enjoyable and busy week was enjoyed by all but most importantly we all learned so much about biodiversity and ways in which we can improve it in our school.
Green schools committee activities during biodiversity week!
The Green Schools committee were active outdoors during biodiversity week.
Firstly they informed classes what biodiversity week entails. The 6th class representatives announced on the intercom about the week and that each class had seeds and pots to plant during the week.
The committee collected rubbish around the school using liter pickers. They also weeded the vegetable garden where the spring onions and potatoes are growing.
Helping to keep our school garden blossoming they pruned the hydrangeas at the front of the school and tidied leaves and weeds in ‘Trish’s Corner’.
Firstly they informed classes what biodiversity week entails. The 6th class representatives announced on the intercom about the week and that each class had seeds and pots to plant during the week.
The committee collected rubbish around the school using liter pickers. They also weeded the vegetable garden where the spring onions and potatoes are growing.
Helping to keep our school garden blossoming they pruned the hydrangeas at the front of the school and tidied leaves and weeds in ‘Trish’s Corner’.
Biodiversity week in the junior infant classroom
In junior infants the children have been learning about biodiversity.
On Monday we all sowed some cress seeds in little pots.
Gemma showed us her beekeeper suit and told us all about the bees hive and how they make honey. We were so lucky that she had some honey for us to taste. It was delicious.
We also learned about mini beasts. We made a lady bird and a bumble bee out of recycled materials.
We made some mini beasts out of play dough. Using chalk we drew pictures of snails. We also made snails out of clay.
We learned about the lifecycle of the butterfly and made a craft piece of the butterfly.
We also have a vegetable garden in our classroom where we enjoy seeing what is growing and look forward to getting to taste the yummy vegetables.
We went on a mini east hunt around the school.
We also took a trip into Mrs.Milnes classroom to take a look at the bird box that has a camera in it. There are 4 hatchlings in the nest who make lots of noise when they are waiting for their Mammy to bring them back food.
On Monday we all sowed some cress seeds in little pots.
Gemma showed us her beekeeper suit and told us all about the bees hive and how they make honey. We were so lucky that she had some honey for us to taste. It was delicious.
We also learned about mini beasts. We made a lady bird and a bumble bee out of recycled materials.
We made some mini beasts out of play dough. Using chalk we drew pictures of snails. We also made snails out of clay.
We learned about the lifecycle of the butterfly and made a craft piece of the butterfly.
We also have a vegetable garden in our classroom where we enjoy seeing what is growing and look forward to getting to taste the yummy vegetables.
We went on a mini east hunt around the school.
We also took a trip into Mrs.Milnes classroom to take a look at the bird box that has a camera in it. There are 4 hatchlings in the nest who make lots of noise when they are waiting for their Mammy to bring them back food.
Biodiversity week in the senior infant classroom.
In the senior infant classroom we had a zoom call with Michele last week. In our classroom we have displayed our biodiversity craft where we drew some pictures of animals and plants we saw on our biodiversity walk of our school garden. We have a vegetable garden in our classroom where we have some different vegetables growing.
First class biodiversity week.
First class learned about Irish wildflowers and then took a walk around the school to see which wildflowers we could find. We learned about the dandelion, fuschia, poppy, daisy, bluebell and primrose We took a look at our onions and potatoes growing. We each sowed cress seeds as well as peas, carrots, beetroot, radish, salad leaves and spinach.
We learned about the life cycle of the butterfly. We made a light catcher butterfly craft which are displayed in our classroom windows. We also visited the bug hotel and the hedgehog house to see are there any creatures living in them.
We learned about the life cycle of the butterfly. We made a light catcher butterfly craft which are displayed in our classroom windows. We also visited the bug hotel and the hedgehog house to see are there any creatures living in them.
Biodiversity in Second Class!
We really enjoyed biodiversity day! We went out into the sunshine to search for mini beasts and different species of plants. It was very interesting listening to Gemma about the honeybees. We drew pictures of the plants and animals we saw on our walk.
Biodiversity week in Third Class!
Mapping the school grounds in relation to biodiversity was a fun yet tricky activity. It really asked us to view the school in a light we had never seen it before. We spotted different features and habitats throughout the school grounds. It is full of different plants and animals in each nook and cranny of the garden.
Biodiversity week in Fourth Class!
In fourth class we were busy setting our cress seeds and searching all around the school for mini beasts. It was great fun learning about biodiversity and ways in which we can help improve biodiversity at home and in our school.
Biodiversity week in Fifth Class!
Look at all the amazing plants that fifth class managed to find in our school garden. We couldn’t believe how much diversity was at our own doorstep. The beauty of each plant is that each one is different to the next with different features to focus on. This helped us in identifying the plants when we were on our walk.
Biodiversity day in 6th Class!
Biodiversity day was a great chance for us all in sixth class to get outside and explore the nature all around us. Going on a mini beast hunt around the school showed us exactly where little creatures like to hind and live. We found a huge variety of mini-beasts in the school garden. We examined each one closely so that we could identify what it was.
