: Learning

The Spring Bulbs deadline has arrived! I would like to say a HUGE thank you for working so hard to get all your weather and flower records in to me on time.

Which schools have had their first flowers?

Balcurvie Primary School, Chatelherault Primary School, Glencairn Primary School, St. Blanes Primary School, St. Patrick's Primary School, Tynewater Primary School and Wormit Primary School in Scotland, and Brynhyfryd Junior School, Cleddau Reach VC Primary School, Coed-y-Lan Primary,St Athan Primary, St Mellons Church in Wales Primary School, Ysgol Bro Eirwg, Ysgol Iau Hen Golwyn and Ysgol Y Plas in Wales, have all seen their first flowers open. In England, Bleasdale CE Primary School, Combe Primary School, Cutteslowe Primary School and Flakefleet Primary School, all sent their first flower records.Well done and thank you to these schools! 

Keep sending in your flower records!

As I said in my blog last week, if your plants have flowers but they have not opened yet, please keep watching them and send me your records when they open. They will not be in time to be in this year’s Spring Bulbs Report, but they will make next year’s report more accurate.

What if you didn’t have a flower?

Thank you to all the pupils who have sent me a record to say their plant did not flower, or that their flower did not open (you can do this by clicking ‘Didn’t open’ in the Flower Record). I know it can be a bit disappointing if your plant does not flower. But please don’t be sad! One thing that a Super Scientist must learn is that experiments don’t always work out the way we want them to! This does not mean that the experiment has failed. For a scientist it is JUST AS IMPORTANT to record when something does not happen, as when it does.

You will get a Super Scientist certificate and pencil if you worked hard and helped with the Super Scientist Investigation – whether your flower opened or not!

Wildflower Meadow at National Museum Cardiff

Here at National Museum Cardiff we are experimenting with growing a wildflower meadow. Do you have a wildflower meadow at your school? We have planted some seeds and bulbs and the first flowers to appear have been crocuses and daffodils! Here is a picture of them. It doesn’t look much like a meadow yet does it? But hopefully by the summer it will look very different. The muddy circle is where we have planted lots of red Poppies to remember the First World War. This year it is the 100^th anniversary of the start of the First World War and here at Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales, we will have events and exhibitions that tell the stories of the people of Wales during the War. Click here to find out more.

Your questions, my answers:

Dallas Road Community Primary School: Hi Proffeser Plant!! Prof P: Hi everyone at Dallas Road!

Pinfold Primary School: nearly all the bulbs have opened. The mystery bulbs are blooming very well. The crocus is growing purple flowers. Prof P: What were your mystery bulbs Pinfold?

Glyncollen Primary School: Hello Professor Plant, We're excited because our bulbs have now sprung and we can't wait to get our certificates. From, Year 4. Prof P: Congratulations Year 4! I look forward to sending them to you, you are Super Scientists!

Ysgol Terrig: Our Bulbs have opened and they are 15cm tall :). Prof P: Great measuring Ysgol Terrig.

Rougemont Junior School: What a warm a dry week Professor Plant, our crocuses are all blooming as are our daffodils. Prof P: All the colours look so lovely don’t they?

St. Ignatius Primary School: We have uploaded our weather records for this week but unfortunately our bulbs have not flowered just yet. We are disappointed as this is the last week and we can see them coming along but not as quick as we would have hoped. We will continue to keep an eye on them and let you know when they have flowered. Our teacher will need to do this next week as P7 are off to Kilbowie in Oban for an outward bound trip. Prof P: Please don’t be disappointed P7, your results are still really important, even if your flowers didn’t open by the deadline. Enjoy your trip it sounds like fun!

Kilmaron Special School: We are using the findings of our daily temperature readings and rainfall as evidence in our SQA National 1 Measurement unit. Prof P: That is fantastic Kilmaron, I am so glad it is helping you with your qualification.

Stanford in the Vale Primary School: Thank you very much we really enjoyed it and are datherdils are blooming and are very healthy and strong through all of these conditions. Stanford in the vale gardening club. Prof P: I am so glad you enjoyed it Stanford, that makes me very happy!

St. Blanes Primary School: Hi Professor Plant, the start of the week felt much warmer. It's the first time we saw the temperature in double figures! Prof P: I hope you enjoyed the warm weather.

Gladestry C.I.W. School: it has grown well i'm a mum. Prof P: Congratulations! You must have looked after your baby bulb very well.

Chatelherault Primary School: Some of our plants are starting to bloom the daffodils are showing the most. The crocuses are still growing but not as much as the daffodils. Prof P: That is very interesting as crocuses usually flower before daffodils.

Ysgol Gynradd Cross Hands: Dyma ein blodyn cyntaf gan LM o Ysgol Gynradd Cross Hands. Mwy o haul plis!Prof P: Llongyfarchiadau LM o Ysgol Gynradd Cross Hands!

The Blessed Sacrament Catholic Primary School: my plant is just the same as the plant I got at my home it has grown twenty cm. Prof P: It’s wonderful to hear that you are growing flowers at home too, well done!

Many Thanks

Professor Plant

Yesterday, Natural Sciences Staff took part in the 'Meet the Pollinators' Event run by First Campus, a partnership between higher education institutions, further education colleges and schools in South East Wales. The event was part of National Science and Engineering Week and was attended by approximately 100 Year 9 pupils from six schools. The pupils had the opportunity to speak to the curators and find out about 'a day in the life of museum scientists'. 

I am so excited because my flowers have finally opened! They are so pretty and make me smile every time I see them! My crocus opened on 16 March and was 90mm tall, my daffodil opened one day later and was 240mm tall. Here is a photo of them.

Thankyou very much Stanford Gardening Club from Stanford in the Vale CE Primary School in England for sending me a photo of your first daffodil! Would anyone else like to send me some photos of their plants? I will put them on the website too!

Which schools have had their first flowers?

Abronhill Primary School, Culross Primary School, and Glencairn Primary School in Scotland, and Christchurch CP School, Coleg Meirion Dwyfor, Gladestry C.I.W. School, Rogiet Primary School, Ysgol Clocaenog, Ysgol Gynradd Cross Hands, Ysgol Deganwy and Ysgol Santes Tudfulin Wales, have all seen their first flowers open. In England, Arkholme CE Primary School, Burscough Bridge Methodist School, Coppull Parish Primary School, Hillside Specialist School, John Cross CE Primary School, Pinfold Primary School, Scotforth St. Paul's CE Primary School, SS Philip and James CE Primary School, St Laurence CE Primary School and Woodplumpton St. Anne's Primary School all sent their first flower records. Well done to all these schools!

One more week to go…

There is only one more week to go before the Spring Bulbs project deadline. Please remember to send in your records by the 28 March.

What do you do if your flowers have not opened by the deadline?

Please keep sending in flower data! If your flowers have not opened and you would like to carry on with your investigation then please do! When they open you can still record the flowering date and plant height on our website.

I set a deadline because every year I write a special report that gives a summary of all the data sent in so far. I need to write the report in April. All records sent in before the deadline will be included in this year’s report. Records sent in after the deadline will be added to our database and will be included in next year’s report.

All the records that you send are very important. I promise you that all your data will be included in the project and will help the investigation to be more accurate in the future.

Have you seen any signs of spring while you have been out playing? On the weekend I saw a bumblebee, a ladybird and some little baby lambs! I looked in a pond but I didn’t see any frogspawn. Have you seen any frogspawn? What other signs of spring have you seen?

Professor Plant

Congratulations to Ladywell Primary School for sending in the first flower records for Scotland! Lakeside Primary School in Wales have also sent in their first flower records – their first crocus and first daffodil opened in the same week! Great work bulb buddies.

Three weeks to go… The deadline for sending in your weather and flower records is Friday 28 March, so there are just three weeks to go!

If you have been keeping records but haven’t sent them to me yet then please send them soon – all your weather and flower records are really important to me! Every record you send in will make the Spring Bulbs Investigation better and more accurate.

Don’t worry if your flowers haven’t opened yet, a lot can happen in three weeks, especially if the sun shines!

Would you like to do a Super Scientific Investigation with your plants? I have put together some great ideas for experiments you can do in your school! Can you trick your crocus? Can your daffodil move? Click here to have a look: Professor Plant’s investigation ideas. As well as exciting experiments you will also find my favorite Spring Poem here! It is about daffodils and this is the first verse:

Daffodils

I wander’d lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

By William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

Beautiful! Have you ever tried to write a poem about Spring? Or about your favourite flower? Why not give it a go?

Your questions, my answers:

Ladywell Primary School: We have had our computer system upgraded in school and it has been difficult for us to send weekly weather reports because we lost a lot of data which was stored on our apple mac and which we cant convert to PC. However we have been taking temperatures and it has not really been cold and we have had a lot of rain. Some of our plants didn't grow very well but our first daffodil opened today 25th February and it is 28 cm tall. We have another one about to open and some others not far away. We hope this is ok with you and we will send more information soon. Prof P: Sorry to hear you have had computer trouble Ladywell School, don’t worry, I completely understand. Thanks very much for sending your first flower record! Keep up the good work and send in your other flower records when they open.

Lakeside Primary: Daffodil comment: Only one is open and the one that has opened has only got half a pot of compost, we think it was knocked over and some soil lost so perhaps less soil has led to quicker flowering, but why? Prof P: Great question Lakeside! Do you have any ideas? This is my theory: A bulb closer to the surface may flower sooner because it warms up quicker and has less soil to push through when it starts to grow. So why don’t we plant them all close to the surface? Well, if there is a very cold winter the frost can damage bulbs that are too close to the surface, and then they may not grow at all.

The Blessed Sacrament Catholic Primary School: We all brought our wellies into school this week so that we can go out and look at our bulbs whatever the weather. We went to check on them all on Friday and measured how tall the leaves were, and started recording them in a table like we had been doing in maths. We hope to do this every week now then we can make a graph of the results. Still no sign of flowers yet! Prof P: What a fantastic idea! I love making graphs, they are a great way to see what the numbers are telling me. You must be very dedicated scientists to bring your wellies in to school so you can measure your leaves. Well done, I am very impressed!

Professor Plant