Note: some photos/videos are not uploading fully during the day, so please check albums again in the evening to see any photos you may have missed. 

Bingley Pond Dipping

_{Our activity this morning was learning to classify animals and then identify them from a range of pictures. Take a look at the pie chart- type picture at the different classifications.} 
 

After becoming experts at identifying them from pictures, we went outside to the pond to see what we could catch. We used nets to sweep the water and then emptied our finds into a tray. Anything we wanted to look at in more detail, we then transferred into a small pot and took back into the classroom to look at under a microscope.

Our last activity was to try and use our bodies to recreate the shape of an animal of each type. Can you work out from the pictures whether we were being insects, arachnids, annelids, molluscs or crustaceans?

Ennion group - disappearing animals

Our last activity today was disappearing animals. We learnt how animals camouflage in the wild and had a go at spotting different animals hidden in photos. Then, we learnt about the different kinds of animals we may find around Flatford. 
After learning how to identify different species, we headed outside to see what we could find. We used a sweep net in the bushes and a diamond net to catch things falling from trees. 
 

• Darcey - I really liked finding the poo!

Group 2

We’ve arrived! 
We arrived with beautiful sunshine and began our orienteering around Flatford. Then, as you’d expect with British weather, the heavens opened for a burst of rain and hail, followed by glorious sunshine again. However, we didn’t let this affect us at all as we used compasses to navigate the countryside and spot human and physical features in the landscape. 
 

• Jocelyn - I enjoyed the walk because we got to collect lots of flowers and plants.
• Seren - I liked how we got to walk around the fields and saw a massive Oak tree. 

As with any large group photo, someone always has their eyes closed or is looking the other way, so here are 4 photos :-) 

After we ate our lunch, it was time to head to our accommodation blocks and find out what our rooms were like. 
Task number 1: make our beds! 
 

Turning our duvet covers inside out and then grabbing the corners was a really easy way for us to make our beds. The group of 8 boys made their beds in record time!

• Gabby - I like the room as my friend, Tegan, let me have the bed next to the window. It has a view of Valley Farm. 
• Elliott - the building is really historic and it’s nice to see the marks in the old fireplace and see what it was like in the past. 

Edward’s Group

Edward’s group are learning about disappearing animals, including camouflage. Can you spot the animal?

• Oliver S: I’m looking for the smallest spider in the world. 
• Lucy: I caught a millipede!
• Emily W found a ‘mining bee’ on the floor. This is a bee that doesn’t live in a hive like other species.
• Dylan found an earwig - check out his picture in the pot

Constable Group - pond dipping

We began our afternoon by learning about different species in our classroom. We grouped pictures of animals into either mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish. After this, we then looked at vertebrates vs invertebrates. Invertebrates include molluscs, insects, arachnids, annelids and crustaceans. We realised we could find many invertebrates in the Flatford Mill Pond so headed outside to look. 

In the pond, we used nets to sweep through the water before putting anything we found in a tray. For closer inspection, we put some of our favourite finds in a pot and took them back to the classroom to look at under a microscope. 

Did you know that diving water beetles breathe through their skin and leeches through their skin through a process called diffusion?

Finally, we went outside and used our bodies to form the shape of different invertebrates. There are two photos below. Can you work out which invertebrate we are pretending to be?

• Freya - I enjoyed doing the pond dipping because we found lots of amazing creatures. 
• Tegan - I enjoyed the pond dipping because we caught a leech and we had lots of fun discovering the insects and playing games.
• Sienna - I enjoyed trying to search for animals in my tray.
• Mackenzie - I’m so happy I caught a fish!
• William, Alfie, Elliott and Richard caught damsel fly larvae and unidentified creatures!
• Freya, Jocelyn, Megan and Gabriella caught a leech!

Dinner Time! 
Another amazing dinner cooked by the centre tonight: spaghetti and meatballs served with veg and garlic bread, all washed down with sticky toffee pudding. 

Twilight Walk

Both groups went on their twilight walks tonight. We walked around the site and explored ways to heighten our senses. 
 

The first sense we tried to heighten was our hearing. We cupped our ears, to make them larger like an animal, and listened carefully to what we could hear around us. 
 

Next, we tested our ability to communicate whilst using our sense of touch to navigate around a course blindfolded. 
 

Finally, we learnt how to enhance our sense of smell. We smelt a mysterious scent and then smelt it again after wetting the end of our noses. It was so much stronger after making our noses wet!

• ‘It felt like I was right in the darkness and I felt my way. My partner was an excellent helper’ Alfie L
• James: octopus are another animal which use the sense of touch. Their suckers taste the environment to see if it’s food.
• ‘I thought I was going to fall over but I didn’t’ Noah
• Sienna ‘The Night Line course was very fun’
• During the night walk… Finley: What is that?!  Freddie R: it’s snakes! (We promise parents there were no snakes)
• Ewan: the night walk felt so weird especially when the ropes that dangled down hit you.
• Oliver S: the tyres were the most difficult, you didn’t know where to step