The BBQ and day 3 at Nethy

Wednesday night ended with a barbecue and some songs round the campfire with all the schools together as the sun set and the moon rose in a clear sky.

 Day 3 started with  the silver maze and problem solving in the forest. Team work and cooperation helped. Some of the problems required perseverance and quite a few attempts.

In the afternoon we went canoeing and did archery. The canoeing at the pond was great fun as we competed at picking up the balls to win points and had the obligatory jump in to freezing water at the end of the session.

It looked inviting in the hot weather, but it was a little more refreshing than expected!

The winers of the art competition with their work and their prize.

Tonight a DVD and a good sleep, then a Forest Adventure tomorrow morning before we leave.

World War 2 radio play

We have finished our radio play and it is now on our wiki.

Listen here.

Bin questions and answers...

Today Maria Cuthbertson, Waste Services Manager for Orkney, and Dennis MacDonald, Team Leader Waste Operations, visited our school to answer some questions we had after thinking about bin design and what would be good for collecting marine litter at Scapa. We found out that a plastic bin would be best as it wouldn't rust and it could be picked up by the lift on the bin lorry. A large sliding lid which opens wide enough to take big items would be best. Dennis thought that locking wheels would be enough to keep the bin in place and that it wouldn't need an anchor post. This type of bin already exists and is used in our school grounds. At 1100 litres it has a big enough capacity and there is no need for bin liners. In winter the bin would be emptied once a week but in summer the bin would be emptied three times a week. We thought this was great! When the beach is busiest more people might help remove the marine litter and more capacity would be needed.

Our next job will be to design signs and decide how to tell people at Scapa what the bin is there for and try to encourage them to use it!

The S Team : Research and Development

Back in class the S Team continued their work by sorting and cleaning smaller items to be used in art work.

We identified some of the livings things that make up the ecosystems at Scapa and started compiling our 'biodiversity' list - a list of all the living things we find on our visits.

Some of the larget items have to be hosed outside.

Next we designed and made models of bins which we thought could be used at Scapa to solve the problem of where to put marine litter. If visitors to Scapa used the bins that are there at the moment for marine litter they would fill up very quickly and that would create another problem. Some of the items are quite large and don't fit in a regular bin.

'The Rubbish Digester'

'The S bin'.

The Scaspa Box

Scapa Litter and Information Station

The Green Giant

The Wheely Bin 7000

Evaluating our designs meant we had to think critically about the problems of collecting and removing litter as well as how to encourage visitors to Scapa to help.

How to make a model igloo

Last week there was not enough snow to build an igloo outside so we used John Rae's notes and drawings, and a Ray Mears video, to make a model igloo.

The last debate

We have finished term  1 with a series of debates. The last debate was about comparing life in Orkney in 1861 with life in Orkney today. Everyone is getting better at listening and responding to the points the other team makes and often we are persuaded to change our minds by the end of the debate!

The last debate was about comparing life in Orkney in 1861 with life in Orkney today.

Were people happier? Was life better? What do you think?

Shelter building at Muddisdale

We went to Muddisdale to build shelters based on designs agreed by the groups. Each shelter had to be built in 15 minutes and everyone had to fit inside. Once they had built the shelters they ate their bannock and butter inside.

The Hudson Bay connection

This week Kim Foden came in to tell us about her ancestor Magnus Twatt who grew up in Orphir and spent 30 years working for the Hudson Bay Company in the late 18th century.

Kim shows us how the teepee is contructed.

We learned all about Magnus's life and heard how Kim found out about Magnus and discovered her Cree cousins at Sturgeon Lake.

Some of the Canadian artefacts Kim brought in to show us.

In the afternoon there was a technology challenge, to construct a model shelter that could be moved from place to place. Some groups tried to use the teepee construction, while others tried to use the traditional A frame tent shape.