Hi Bulb Buddies,

Today is the last day for collecting weather data before Christmas! The next week for weather records will be 8th-12th January. When entering data to the website please enter 'no record' for the dates that you weren't in school to take readings.

There's no need to take your pots home with you over Christmas. So long as they are in a safe place in the school yard where they are unlikely to get blown over by the wind, they will be fine. The bulbs are insulated by the soil and can withstand the winter weather.

The weather has been mild in many places again this  autumn/ winter, and it will be interesting to see how this effects our plants. November 2017 saw slightly higher temperatures and less rain than last year. And, although we had slightly less sunshine than last year, it was still the second sunniest November since our nation wide records began in 2012! These are good conditions for our bulbs and if this pattern continues, we may see our flowers bloom earlier than last year!

Have a lovely break Bulb Buddies.

Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year from

Professor Plant & Baby Bulb

Comments:

Thank you for all of your comments, we had some very detailed weather summaries in this week which I am extremely impressed with! We’ve also been notified by a couple of schools that shoots have appeared in their pots! I’d be grateful if these schools could share photos with me from before and after the Christmas holidays, so that we can all see how much they grow in this time!

Thank you for all of your hard work Bulb Buddies. I look forward to continuing again in the New Year!

Professor Plant

Some shoots have appeared:

Ysgol Beulah: Mae pedwar blaguryn wedi dechrau tyfu.

Ysgol San Sior: Our crocus plants have already started to grow! We are very excited – A.

Ysgol San Sior: A lot of our plants have started to grow but I am still waiting for mine. I'm checking every morning. – C.

Adamsdown Primary: My plant has started to grow.

St Julians Primary School: Lots of our daffodils have started to peek through the compost now.

Hemlington Hall Academy: Some of our crocuses have begun to grow. We can see them peeking through the top of the soil about 1-2cm. We didn't expect to see this until the spring.

Comments about the project:

Ysgol Gymraeg Dewi Sant (Llanelli): Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda oddi wrth Blwyddyn 4 Ysgol Gymraeg Dewi Sant, Llanelli.

St Andrew's RC Primary School: It was really enjoyable to go outside to measure the status of the plants and to plant them.

YGG Tonyrefail: Having fun

Our Lady of Peace Primary School: First day of doing this in December can't wait for Christmas see you then.

Ysgol San Sior: We have asked a school in Barcelona to join us in this project. They have planted some bulbs that we bought and sent them. Their plants haven't grown like most of ours. Carys and Amelia are still checking every day for some growth. Professor Plant: That’s fantastic Bulb Buddies! Please keep me updated on how your projects go and what you learn.

Falkland Primary School: Plants are epic

Comments about extreme weather:

Ysbyty Ifan: Dim ysgol dydd llun oherwydd eira dydd mawrth roedd 110 mm o eira yn y mesurydd glaw diolch am y cerdyn

Garstang St. Thomas' CE Primary School: We had local flooding this week!

Auchenlodment Primary School: Storm Caroline brought high winds this week to Johnstone.

Beaufort Hill Primary School: School closed on Friday due to snow

St Teresa's Primary School: The school was closed on Monday due to snow/ ice.

Ysgol Bro Pedr: 2 days off this week due to the snow

Henllys CIW Primary: the school was closed on monday and tuesday and on wednesday it was 43 mm

Shirenewton Primary School: Snow day Monday

Weather summaries:

Ferryside V.C.P School: Roedd wythnos hyn yn oer a cael lot o glaw.

Ysgol Casmael: Cesair ac eira wythnos yma.

Ysgol Carreg Emlyn: Roedd yr ysgol ar gau dydd gwener oherwydd yr eira felly nid oedd yn bosib cofnodi'r tywydd.

Ysgol Y Traeth: Wedi bwrw cenllysg ac eira ychydig heddiw (Dydd Gwener 8/12/17)

Ysbyty Ifan: mae hi wedi bod yn bwrw eira heddiw

Darran Park Primary: It’s the same as last week the lower the temperature the less rain and the higher the temperature the more rain.

Auchenlodment Primary School: It was a cold and dry week. We were off on Thursday as it was St Andrew's Day (Scotland's patron saint).

Carnbroe Primary School: Hi Professor Plant, we have had mixed weather this week. It was really wet on Monday, on Wednesday it was icy and today it was mild. Our plants are doing fine.

Carnforth North Road Primary School: We had some very cold weather.

Ysgol Iau Hen Golwyn: not much rain.

Stanford in the Vale Primary School: It's been a cold and frosty week!

St Paul's CE Primary School: Lots of heavy snow this week and very low temperatures. Snow lying thick on the ground Thursday and Friday. Frosty every morning.

Inverkip Primary School: It was frosty throughout the week. This will not help. There was barely any rain.

Waddingham Primary School: Overnight on Thursday, it snowed. By the time we did our readings on Friday, the snow had melted and the water level was 2mm.

Canonbie Primary School: We have had a slight flurry of snowflakes. We have not had much rain. It is quite cold.

Ysgol Bro Pedr: Beautiful and chilly end to a week that started miserably.

Stanford in the Vale Primary School: Hi been a cold and windy week, very cold and wet. Not excited for the winter coldness ahead. BYE BYE.

Beaufort Hill Primary School: Very cold week!

Garstang St. Thomas' CE Primary School: Brrrrrr!

Peterston super Ely Primary School: It was very cold this week for our bulbs!

St Robert's R.C Primary School: We didn't get much snow!

Inverkip Primary School: On Wednesday, we had lots of rain. This would help the plants grow. But because the temperatures were low, they might not grow.

Arkholme CE Primary School: This week was fairly cold and wet. In the mornings it was very frosty. We could not get to bulbs because of the plumbers. The temperatures were all above minus because we checked them in the afternoon and by then it was warmer.

St Robert's R.C Primary School: It got cold this week and we had a little bit of snow in Bridgend, but not much!

St Paul's CE Primary School: Heavy rain Thursday Friday. Cold all week. Frosty mornings

Pembroke Primary School: Would you like more detailed information as provided previously? I can include daily high, low and weekend information. Professor Plant: Hi Bulb Buddies, if you have time to enter the detailed information that would be lovely! And if you are doing any activities in the classroom using this data I’d love to hear about it!

Bardney Church of England & Methodist Primary: Cold!

Henllys CIW Primary: actual rain fall on Thursday was 25ml and friday raingage had fallen over with the snow

Portpatrick Primary School: Snow on Friday!

Canonbie Primary School: It has been a cold wind and we might be getting some snow. We have had a busy with our Christmas play.

Carnbroe Primary School: Hi Professor Plant the weather has been very cold this week. It started quite mild and damp and then on Thursday it dropped to 4°C. On friday it dropped again down to 2°C and it is very cold and icy but our plants are still thriving.

Darran Park Primary: Its kind of done the opposite to last week. The temperature has been higher and on Thursday we had more rain. Today we had some snow and the temperature has dropped.

Ysgol Iau Hen Golwyn: There was not that much rain this week and the temperature was high on the first 4 days and then on the last day it was 4 which is low.

Ysgol Bro Pedr: Rather chilly in the west of Wales!!!

Stanford in the Vale Primary School: We've had snow flurries this morning - it's been a cold week.

Llanishen Fach Primary School: It has been really cold this week. We have checked our bulbs but they haven't grown yet.

Carnforth North Road Primary School: Its been very cold this week.

Carnbroe Primary School: Hi Professor Plant we hope that you have been wrapped up this week. It has been very cold and icy in Carnbroe this week. It rained on Wednesday and today and because it has been so cold its iced over. Our plants are still sleeping. Professor Plant: I have been wrapped up, thank you Bulb Buddies. And thank you for sharing your lovely photos.

Edenham Church of England Primary School: Monday - snowfall not rainfall!!! Professor Plant: Exciting Bulb Buddies, I hope you enjoyed bringing the snow in to melt before taking your readings! Keep up the good work.

YGG Tonyrefail: On Monday Tuesday and Wednesday it was snowing so no record

Ysgol Iau Hen Golwyn: The temperature and rainfall have both been very low as there was not much rain and not very hot.

What’s it all about?

‘Buried in the Borderlands’ is a brilliant Community Archaeology Project at Wrexham Museum, funded by the Saving Treasures; Telling Stories Project.

It’s based on the recent acquisition of a hoard of 15^th century gold and silver coins and a gold and sapphire ring, known as the Bronington Hoard, found by local metal detectorists.

The project is working with the local community, inspiring creative responses to the material heritage on their doorstep, which will go on display in March 2018.

This post introduces two museum volunteers who have been working on the project.

Leon and Tom’s story

Hello everyone, we’re Leon and Tom. We’ve been working recently on the very exciting Buried in the Borderlands project with Wrexham Museums and Archives.

The two of us are currently studying AS Levels at The Maelor School, Penley. I (Leon) am studying Biology, Chemistry and Maths whilst Tom is studying Politics, English Literature and Psychology.

But we have one subject in common, that’s History!

We’ve both always loved history, from learning about the World Wars, to the history of Wrexham county. That’s why we are thrilled to be volunteering with the Bronington Hoard.

We get to learn about the history of the Maelor, complete our Community Challenge for the Welsh Baccalaureate, and work with all our Friends at Wrexham Museum. Win, win, win.

We’ll keep you up-to-date with our progress as part of our Blog every 1 to 2 weeks.

We look forward to your feedback and hope you’re as ecstatic as we are for the arrival of the Bronington Hoard in March 2018. 

Stori Leon a Tom

Helo bawb, Leon a Tom ydym ni. Rydym ni wedi bod yn gweithio ar brosiect cyffrous Yn Gudd yn y Gororau yn ddiweddar gydag Amgueddfa ac Archifau Wrecsam.

Mae’r ddau ohonom ni’n astudio Lefel AS yn Ysgol Maelor ar hyn o bryd. Rydw i (Leon) yn astudio Bywydeg, Cemeg a Mathemateg tra bod Tom yn astudio Gwleidyddiaeth, Llenyddiaeth Saesneg a Seicoleg.

Ond mae gennym un pwnc yn gyffredin, sef Hanes!

Mae’r ddau ohonom ni yn mwynhau hanes, o ddysgu am y ddau Ryfel Byd, i hanes bwrdeistref Wrecsam. Dyna pam ein bod wrth ein boddau yn gwirfoddoli gyda Chelc Is-y-Coed.

Rydym ni’n cael dysgu am hanes Maelor, cwblhau Her y Gymuned ar gyfer Bagloriaeth Cymru, a gweithio gyda’n ffrindiau yn Amgueddfa Wrecsam. Mae pawb ar eu hennill.

Fe fyddwn ni’n eich diweddaru gyda’n cynnydd yn rhan o’n Blog bob 1 i 2 wythnos.

Edrychwn ymlaen at glywed eich adborth a gobeithio eich bod chi'r un mor hapus â ni y bydd Celc Is-y-Coed yn cyrraedd ym mis Mawrth 2018. 

Takover Day at the National Roman Legion Museum 2017.

Pupils from Lodge Hill Primary reviewed and created a promotional video for our latest digital learning resource called the Roman School.

The aim of the day was to provide pupils with an opportunity to build on their confidence and to enhance their digital and presentation skills.

Pupils took part in a role play Roman classroom session. Then created their own film called – ‘What was school like in Roman times?’ which will be used to promote the resource to other schools on social media and the museum website. They learned how to create a story, write a script and select actors for each scene. Click here to view the video https://www.peoplescollection.wales/items/635461

The feedback and the suggestions gathered from the children are being worked into the final version of the Roman School resource. The resource supports our popular roleplay workshop called Grammaticus - Roman Classroom.

During the day the pupils also had a chance to find out more about Roman weapons. After completing the challenge each pupil was presented with a certificate by Eleri Thomas - Kids in Museums Trustee.

Earlier this month saw the takeover of our brand new Atrium space by Cardiff High students. Over 80 year 10 pupils from their Art, Music and Drama departments filled the space with their performances and artworks inspired by the museum’s collections. This was the culmination of 6 weeks of work by the students, although the planning goes back almost 6 months!

We were initially contacted by Eve Oliver from Cardiff High with an idea for a cross-curricular project in the summer. The idea was to bring together pupils studying the creative arts together to work on the same theme. After discussions with Elen Phillips, the Principal Curator Contemporary & Community History at St Fagans, the idea of working around the theme of ‘Protest’ was suggested. This was chosen because it would give the pupils an opportunity to explore their own beliefs and values as they responded to the museum’s collections.

The project began with a visit to St Fagans on October the 4^th for 85 pupils. Elen gave a presentation to the pupils around ‘Protest’ using objects from the collection as inspiration. These included objects around the suffragette movement, anti-racism protest and the miner’s strikes of the 1980s. It was an opportunity for the pupils to hear the histories of these objects but also an opportunity to see them in the flesh, and you could see how inspiring this was for them.

After the visit to the museum, the pupils returned to their school to unpick these themes in more depth. Over the next 6 weeks the pupils enjoyed masterclasses with Timothy Howe from the Sherman Theatre, Anita Reynolds from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and the artist Anna Barratt.

The culmination of this part of the project came on November the 16^th. Cardiff High returned to St Fagans National Museum of History to display and perform the work that they had done. We used the new atrium space at the museum which was filled with artworks and performances. We invited the parents of the pupils to watch, and including some museum staff, there must have been around 50 in the audience.

The drama students performed extracts from the play The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning by Tim Price while the music students performed the classic call to arms Yma o Hyd by Dafydd Iwan. The backdrop to the performances were a mass of protest banners and placards created by the art students. The performance culminated in a sing-along of Yma o Hyd by the entire cast as well as the audience. It was truly a powerful performance which brought the atrium to life!

The project has been a great success with the pupils debating and questioning their understanding of ‘Protest’, using contemporary references to deepen their understanding of the past and gaining insights into the beliefs of others. For the museum, it was a fantastic way of engaging with a local secondary school, using a model that we are keen to use again. We have already begun discussion on what other themes we could explore next year!

Diolch yn fawr Cardiff High!

Hello Bulb Buddies,

Thank you for the comments and observations you sent in with last weeks weather readings. I've included some of these below. Many of you have commented that the temperature has dropped and that you have had higher rain fall. Some of you have even had snow! For this reason I want to talk to you about how Meteorologists (weather scientists) measure snow. 

It is a lot trickier to measure the amount of snow that falls than it is to measure the amount of rain. This is because snow misbehaves! Snow is often blown by the wind into drifts, which causes some areas of deep snow and less snow in the areas around it. Because the snow fall is uneven the measurements from these places will be wrong! This is why we have to measure snow on flat surfaces, in the open and away from areas where drifts happen! Snow also likes to play games with Meteorologists who want to measure it, it melts into water and re-freezes into ice! This means that the snow measured on the ground isn’t always the same as the amount of snow that has fallen. Another problem is that new snow settles on old snow, so it is difficult to tell how much snow has fallen in one day from the snow that fell the day before! 

Meteorologists have to take all these tricks the snow plays, and work around them to discover how much snow has fallen. They look at snow fall (the amount of snow that falls in one day) and snow depth (how deep the total snow level is, old snow and new snow). One way that Meteorologists measure snow fall is to use a piece of ply wood. They place the wood in an open location away from areas where snow drifts occur, and measure the snow on the board at 6hr intervals, clearing the snow from the board each time they measure it. This means they are only measuring the snow from that day, which will tell them how much snow has fallen on that day in that area! 

Snow fall can also be measured in its melted state, as water. This means that you can use your rain gauge to measure the water equivalent of snow fall! If you only get a bit of snow then it should melt in your rain gauge anyway. But if you get a lot of snow, take your rain gauge inside to the warm and wait for the snow to melt into water. Then measure the water in the same way as you have done each week and report this as rain fall in your weather logs. 

If you have snow and enough time for an extra experiment – why not have a go at measuring snow depth? To do this all you need is a ruler (also known as a snow stick!). Place the snow stick into the snow until it touches the surface underneath, and read the depth of the snow.You need to take these measurements from flat surfaces (benches work well) in open areas and away from snow drifts! You need to take at least three separate measurements to work out the average snow depth in your area. You work out the average measurement by adding the different readings together and dividing them by the number of measurements. So, if I measured the snow depth of three surfaces at 7cm, 9cm and 6cm, I would add these together (7+9+6 =22) and divide that by three, because there are three readings (22÷3=7.33). So 7.33 would be my average reading for snow depth on that date. 

Weather stations such as the MET Office have come up with new ways of measuring snow depth, using new technologies. The picture on the right shows one of the MET Offices snow stations. These use laser sensors to measure how deep the snow is on the flat surface placed below it. This means that Meteorologists can collect readings from all over the country at the push of a button – which is far more reliable and a lot easier than sending people out into the cold with snow sticks! The map on the right shows how many snow stations the MET office has and where these are, is there one close to you? 

If you have snow and measure the snow fall with your rain gauge or the snow depth with a snow stick, then please tell me in the ‘comments’ section when you are logging your weekly records! I would be very interested to know what the snow depth is compared to the snow fall collected in your rain gauge! 

Keep up the good work Bulb Buddies, 

Professor Plant

Comments from week three:

Ellel St John's CE Primary School: We had record amounts of rainfall on Wednesday 22nd November that resulted in major flooding. Our village (Galgate) was on the local and national news.

Professor Plant: I’m sorry to hear you’ve had such bad flooding Bulb Buddies! I did hear about this on the news, and other schools have commented to say that they were affected too. Thank you for informing me of how extreme the weather has been in your area.

Arkholme CE Primary School: This week it has flooded the garden and also the playground. As you can see, there has been quite a lot of rainfall and it has been quite chilly. Lancaster had the most rainfall recorded in one day ever.

Professor Plant: Hi Bulb Buddies, I heard about flooding in your area on the news. I hope the school grounds have drained now and that you are able to play outside again. Keep me updated!
 

Henllys CIW Primary: On Wednesday actual rainfall 22mm.

Professor Plant: Thank you for the detailed weather report Bulb Buddies.

Canonbie Primary School: It has been a busy week as in rehearsal mode for our school show. It has rained more this week. It has been icy and cold.

Professor Plant: Your comment is very Christmassy! I hope your school show goes well Bulb Buddies.

Auchenlodment Primary School: There was torrential rain on Monday night and we even had snow on Friday. It's beginning to look like Christmas!

Professor Plant: I hope you enjoyed the snow Bulb Buddies.

Carnbroe Primary School: We were off on Monday. We have had lots of different weather this week. It has been very wet, frosty and on Friday it snowed. We checked our plants and although they were a bit wet they were still fine.

Professor Plant: Your bulbs are very hardy and will be fine with some cold weather. Well done for checking on them, and thank you for sharing your observations of the week’s weather!

YGG Tonyrefail: Wet week professor plant!!

Professor Plant: Your rain fall readings testify to that as well Bulb Buddies. Keep up the good work.

Ysgol Bro Pedr: Very wet week.

Professor Plant: You’re not the only ones to report an increase in rain fall Ysgol Bro Pedr, I’m interested to see if this continues into next week!

Inverkip Primary School: Will our plants grow well with this temperature and rainfall? We think our plants will grow well because they are getting used to a new temperature and are not getting too much rainfall.

Professor Plant: Hi Bulb Buddies, your plants are very sturdy and are nice and snug in the earth. Your temperature and rainfall from this week will be perfect for them, it’s only extreme weather conditions or sudden changes in weather that would prove difficult for them!

St Paul's CE Primary School: Rainy and windy days, with heavy rain 23.11.17 overnight (22.11.17). Frosty on each of the mornings.

Professor Plant: Thank you for your weather observations Bulb Buddies. I can see that your readings show a much wetter week than in week two.

Peterston super Ely Primary School: The children were amazed by Tuesday's rainfall result!

Professor Plant: That is quite a high reading! I’m glad to hear that they are enjoying the project.

Bacup Thorn Primary School: The weather is really cold this week. Friday has been the coldest. We might get snow this weekend.

Professor Plant: Hi Bacup Thorn Primary, gosh it has been a cold week for you. I hope you are wrapping up warm to take your weather readings!

Ysgol Casmael: First frost today

Professor Plant: Do you think you will have snow before Christmas Bulb Buddies?

Ysgol Iau Hen Golwyn: There has not been a lot of rain this week and the temperature has been going down each day and then on the last day it went up one as well.

Professor Plant: Hi Bulb Buddies, it sounds as though you got of lightly in terms of rainfall compared to a lot of other schools! Thank you for your weather observations.

Darran Park Primary: We have had lots of rain with quite high temperatures except for Friday where the temperature was a lot colder with no rain

Professor Plant: Thank you for your observations Bulb Buddies.

Ysgol Y Traeth: Wedi bwrw glaw llawer ac wedi bod yn wyntog ofnadwy.

Athro’r Ardd: Diolch am rannu eich sylwadau tywydd Cyfeillion.

Ysgol Beulah: Mae'n llawer oerach heddiw na oedd e llawer mwy or wythnos.

Athro’r Ardd: Helo, dywedodd ysgolion eraill mai dydd Gwener oedd eu diwrnod oeraf nhw hefyd. Diolch am rannu eich sylwadau tywydd.