Last year, we were invited to get involved with a new educational outreach initiative by Suffolk Agricultural Association. The plan was to visit schools across Suffolk with a roadshow of activities, put on by a variety of organisations linked to Agriculture and the Environment.
The pandemic caused us to rethink our plans, so that instead of physically visiting each school in person, we were able to provide some activities which could be delivered by the teachers using our materials. For this, we chose our Pellet Detectives kits, which have proven to be very popular in the past 18 months, especially with the upturn in home learning.
42 schools across Suffolk received a box, which contained other activities such as a flatpack nest box for small birds, some sapling hedgerow species and wildflower mixes for planting, as well as resources and lesson plans to aid the teachers with the activities. These activities were delivered to over 1,000 students.
These boxes were delivered to schools in March and April, and we have recently received some amazing feedback:
How did you use the resources to engage your learners in countryside and conservation activities?
They really enjoyed the pellet detective work, Finding the different parts of the smaller animals. They loved trying to match the bones to the Guidance paper and practice redrawing and labelling them.
With the current owl nesting season being upon us, the Y3 will be engaging in writing an explanation text linked to experiencing the owl pellet dissection. We will link this with live web cams of nesting barn owls and information videos about owls. This is planned to start next week.
The owl pellets were used with a Year 3/4 class and they were very excited at examining them. The identification chart was very useful. They came to conclusions about the owls’ diets and were surprised at the tiny bones that were undigested.
Photo by Kerri Walker
What progress did your learners make during these activities?
Their observational skills as well as sorting and grouping skills improved a lot to. Their ability to explain their reasons for thinking their bone belonged to which animal, justifying it to their partners.
There will be progress within the children’s writing due to the interest in the dissection activity giving them a great stimulus for writing. They learned and used lots of technical vocabulary. The unit created interest in the countryside around them and gave them the incentive to look out for owls in the countryside and some knowledge of how to care for these birds.
An understanding of an animal’s diet, where its habitat must be to fulfil its food needs. It promoted their thinking scientifically skills.
Photo by Natalie Parren
After many months of online/at home learning, what benefit was there to enjoying these outdoor learning activities? What, if any, wellbeing benefit was there?
Lots of opportunities for collaborative working and discussion which was sorely missed during lockdown.
Huge benefits of practical work – both in terms of knowledge and team learning
Their mood improved greatly and it also felt as if a weight was lifted off them, they were care free and stress free, at least for the duration of the task.
Photo by Emma McColl
What food/farming/countryside environment resources would be useful to you and your learners?
Like many other schools, we are keen to starting getting out and about on visits again. These would be of huge benefit to our learners.
Pellet detective work was amazing,
Photo by Lee Wood
For more information about our work with Suffolk Agricultural Association, please visit:
https://suffolkshow.co.uk/education/suffolk-schools-outreach-project/