As part of our topic ‘Flow’ Year 3 visited Beacon Park, Lichfield.  We had a great day with Ruth the Ranger observing, sampling and measuring Leomonsley Brook.  After meeting Ruth, we split into three groups and started our activities.  Those of us with Wellies on were allowed into the brook to help Mrs Hall measure the width and depth of the brook, we had to convert the cm to metres too!  We then had to measure the temperature of the water and the last part was the most fun.  To measure how fast the brook was flowing we played the traditional game of Pooh Sticks with dog biscuits with a modern twist – scoring a goal between Mrs Hall’s two feet while she timed them to see how fast the dog biscuits took to travel down river.  Play was only interrupted once by the opposition when they sent in a rogue player; a black Labrador into the brook to paddle and retrieve a few of the stray dog biscuits.  Mrs Hall was unharmed just a bit wet around the edges.  We also measured how clean the water was, as this would tell us how well the plant would grow.  The more circles we could see at the bottom of the container, the cleaner the water was.

Next, we went pond dipping with Ruth to take samples of the different creatures living in the brook.  We managed to catch and observe; snails, caddis fly larvae, fresh water shrimp, tadpoles and water mites.  We dragged a net in the water and then emptied our nets into a tray, we then used an identification chart to help us identify the things we had caught.  It was great fun and really interested to see what lives below the surface of the water.

Miss Groom and here group looked at the trees along the river bank and identified them from our key.  There were eight different trees alongside the river. Why not ask Year 3 to see if they can name them?  We then observed the layout of the river and made a sketch of it.

A great day was had by all.

Sketching the layout of the brook.