Room with a view! This stunning photo was taken by Mrs Sawtell from the special window in Isobel, Olivia, Natasha and Grace’s room. 

Lights out!

9:30pm and time for lights out. The children have had a fun-filled day and then a bit of downtime in their rooms before settling down for the night. 
The teachers now start their second job: night guards, patrolling the corridors until all children are happily asleep. 
I wonder whether The Mill or Valley Farm will win the competition for who had everyone asleep first!

Favourite moments

Edward’s Group about pond dipping

• Freya - it was fun and mucky but I really enjoyed seeing the fish. 
• Esmee - I liked using the net
• Delphi - I liked looking in the tray for new creatures and seeing what my friends had caught 
• Archie - I liked looking at the bugs because they were fascinating to look at because the variety of difference they had. 

Bingley Group about disappearing animals

• Isabelle - I found a crab spider. We shook the tree and found it in the diamond net. 
• Ariana - we went to wild woodland and found loads of millipedes, spiders, woodlouse and crab spiders and worms. 
• Oscar - I’ve really enjoyed the millipedes as I found three. I found two of them under the log and one above the log. Also a giant woodlouse. 
• Christian - I volunteered and it smelled sweet. It was rabbit poo! 

Edward and Bingley Group

With our bellies full, we were ready to start our evening activity: Night Walk. 
 

We had to use our senses (sight, smell, touch and hearing) to identify different sounds and smells around the Flatford site. We won’t tell you on here what we smelt as it’s a surprise for the next group! 
 

We also completed an obstacle course - blindfolded!!! We had to trust our partner to guide us round the course and help us avoid a while range of obstacles. 

 

Small Mammal Trapping

Our next activity was small mammal trapping. We learnt the difference between mice, voles and shrews. Do you know which have the largest ears? Who has large eyes? Who prefers to move during the day? 

Here is a photo of what the traps look like hidden amongst the bushes. Also some photos of some traps we have set. 

Bingley Group

Bingley’s first activity was ‘Disappearing Animals’. First, they went on a bear hunt…sorry, I mean a poo hunt. They scanned the ground looking for examples of different animal poo. Some brave volunteers even kneeled on the floor to smell some!

Next, they learnt why some animals are considered to be ‘disappearing’. They then tried to find as many animals as they could across Flatford’s habitats, tracks and trails. They used diamond nets and sweeper nets to catch the creatures. 
 

Finally, they played a game learning about the impact humans can have on the environment. 

Edward’s Group

Our afternoon activity was ‘Secret Ponds’. 
We learnt about different types of animals, from vertebrates and invertebrates to annelids and molluscs. The first part of the activity was to turn our bodies into the shape of certain animals. I think you’ll agree from the pictures that the children made some fantastic poses. Can you work out what animals we were making the shape of?

After learning about the different types of animal, we went down to the pond to see what we could find. We found some incredible finds! We found a lot of tadpoles, a leech, damselfly, water beetle and a swimming mayfly nymph. When we returned to the classroom, we looked at some of our finds under a microscope and had a go at drawing them and labelling their features. 

Orienteering

Our first activity was orienteering. We split off into our two work groups: Edwards and Bingley.
We went for a walk around the Flatford site, along some public footpaths and then back to the field behind Valley Farm for a spot of lunch. 

Here are some photos from both groups during our walk. 
 

We have arrived! We’ve walked our cases down to the building and have just had a snack and drink and topped up with suncream. Now for our first activity: orienteering. We have sticky strips and are going to see what we can stick on there whilst out and about

Big smiles from everyone this morning as we get ready to leave. We are now on the coach and heading towards Flatford. The children are hunting for the signs in their booklets, which are all somewhere enroute.