The Year 2 children ventured to the London Wetlands Centre in Barnes which is a protected nature reserve. Upon walking, there was a mysterious sign labelled ‘Wild Walk‘ that the children really wanted to follow so the brave parent volunteers and teachers led the quest into the wetlands.
The walk started on a tight beam for over 100m with wooden poles separating platforms and suspension bridges - the children were loving it. The sheer joy of accomplishment when they did not fall into the mud was palpable. The glistening smiles were priceless.
The children then had a workshop on the ‘Pond Life‘ which covered the key areas for a pond organism to live comfortably in its habitat, this included shelter, food, water and oxygen. Thereafter, the children were split into groups and given a net with a tray of water. They had to swirl the net in a figure of eight in the pond, collecting all different organisms for their tray. The children would dip their nets in the trays and observe closely to see which organisms they caught. What they found was astonishing! Organisms ranged from small fish, waterlouses to water boatmans and pond skaters and the list goes on. Finally, all groups brought their samples in a container back to the learning area and answered questions from the instructor which required them to identify their organism using the identification key booklet. The children were excited with what they had found. It was an excellent way for the children to explore the pond life and understand what a key role these organisms play in our ecosystem and food chain. We then explored the other areas of the Wetlands before heading back to school.
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