Hello Bulb Buddies,

We are off to a fantastic start this year. With 177 schools and 6,339 pupils taking part in the Spring Bulbs for Schools investigation 2015-16.

Each pupil taking part has planted their Daffodil and Crocus bulb and labelled their pot. Schools have been using the thermometer and rain gauge provided by the project to take weather readings on days they are in school, and have been uploading their findings to the National Museum Wales website.

You can see the findings so far on the Spring Bulbs project webpage

The results for each participating school are illustrated by graphs. The website has been edited this year to include results from previous years. This means that returning schools can easily see how their data compares to previous years!  

Schools in Wales took part in the Edina Trust’s ‘Planting Day Photo Competition’ for the first time this year. We had some lovely photos sent in by participating schools and it was very difficult to choose just five winners. You can see all of the photos on the Spring Bulb project Twitter page: @Professor_Plant

There have been many interesting questions and comments sent in with the weekly data. Please see below for these and my responses.

Keep up the good work Bulb Buddies,

Profesor Plant

Your questions, my answers:

Stonehouse Primary School: Tuesday was a strange day for weather. It was frosty in the morning but in the afternoon all the children had their coats off because it was so hot. Ysgol Pentrefoelas: Mae hi wedi bod yn gynnes wythnos yma a nin chwarae allan heb ddim cot. Professor Plant: Hello Ysgol Pentrefoelas and Stonehouse Primary. You both noted in the first week of weather records that it had been warm enough to play outside without coats. Aren’t you lucky! Other schools reported lots of rain and frost! It’s interesting that you are both so far apart and that one of you is on the coast (Conwy) and the other is in-land (South Lanarkshire). What strange weather for November! Have you seen that the warm November weather has caused Daffodils to flower in Cornwall! Daffodils flower slightly earlier in Cornwall because it is slightly warmer there, but this variety of Daffodil would usually flower in December and they were a month early! I wonder if our plants will be earlier than usual this year!

School: Hi, I'm unsure as we are recording the amount of rain- do we need to water the plants ourselves? Professor Plant: Hello, thank you for your question. Yes, please do water your plants twice a week if they look like they need it. You won’t need to water them on days where it has rained enough that the soil is moist.

St David's RC Primary School: It was sunny at the start of the week and then the rain came and got heavier and heavier through the week and it was terrible weather for us. We had to stay inside through the rest of the week it was awful weather we had on Wednesday Thursday and Friday. We did not like the weather, did you have good weather where you are or bad weather because we didn't have very good weather it was horrible it was very, very, very boring for us because we had to stay in side for 2 weeks isn't that boring Mr Plant what would you do if you stayed inside for 2 weeks. Professor Plant: Dear St David’s RC Primary, I’m sorry to hear you had such awful weather during the first week of the project. I hope it has improved! I will look at your weather reading now to see! Inside for two weeks! I would probably read lots of books if I had stay indoors that long. There are some things you can read on the Spring Bulbs website. When you are next stuck indoors why not have a look for the ‘Life of a Plant – make your own Origami booklet’ resource on my website!

Severn Primary: We had an INSET day on Monday November 2nd, so we didn't take any readings. It wasn't really 0degrees. Ysgol Mair: On Monday 2nd November we were not in school so have no data but we were not able to record 'no record'. Professor Plant: Dear Severn Primary & Ysgol Mair, I’m sorry you weren’t able to record your inset day. We had a slight blip with the website where the ‘no record’ button wasn’t working. In future please record all days where there are no readings as ‘no record’. Thank you for spotting that readings of 0degrees can affect the results and for letting me know Bulb Buddies!

Betws Primary School: We collected the data for our class. It was warm and sunny at the start of the week. We had a lot of rain on Thursday and Friday. Our bulbs should be happy! Professor Plant: Well done Betws Primary. Keep up the good work.

Castlepark Primary School: P6 were very enthusiastic about keeping track of the temperature and rainfall this week. They felt like real scientists and are ready to show another class how to record the details next week. Professor Plant: Fantastic Castlepark Primary. I’m glad you are learning new skills through the project and that you are having so much fun doing so. You really are Super Scientists!

St. Oswalds V A School: We are worried about having a true reading on a Monday if it has rained over the weekend. Shall we empty the rain gauge Monday morning and take the rainfall measurement as normal? Professor Plant: Hi St Oswalds. That’s a good question, well done for thinking about the effect this has on Monday’s results. The reading on Monday afternoon will include any residual (left over) rain fall from the weekend. Please don’t empty the rain gauge before taking Monday’s reading, as we want the reading to reflect the weather over at least the last 24 hours. Keep up the good work bulb buddies.

Our Lady of Peace Primary School: Hello we had fun planting the bulbs. It wasn't the first time we have planted something. We have planted spider plants in primary 1. Hopefully our plants come up healthy. Good bye. Professor Plant: Hello Our Lady of Peace Primary, I’m glad to hear you enjoyed planting! You sound like experienced gardeners now! Keep up the good work!

Drumpark Primary ASN School: We have had fun taking data. Professor Plant: I’m glad to hear it Drumpark Primary. Keep up the good work!

Biggar Primary School: We are enjoying the experiments. Professor Plant: I’m glad to hear you are enjoying the project Biggar Primary. For more experiment ideas look for ‘Professor Plant’s investigation Ideas’ on the Spring Bulbs website: https://www.museumwales.ac.uk/spring-bulbs/

Maesycoed Primary: A very mild start to the season. Our year group is split into two classes with a different facing outdoor area. We are monitoring the effects the other class experience against our own as we have more sunlight then they do but they are more sheltered. We will let you know if their flowers appear first. Professor Plant: Fantastic experiment Maesycoed Primary! Please do let me know what your findings are and what you learn from them! This also gives you an opportunity to practice averages. As only one reading a day is needed on the Museum website, you could look at the readings taken by each class and work out the average to enter to the website! Keep up the good work Bulb Buddies.

Brisbane Primary School: Our Monday reading is collated over the weekend. We are taking our readings at 2.30pm Mon - Frid. Thank you Professor Plant. Professor Plant: Hello Brisbane Primary, thank you for your up-date. It’s great that you are managing to take your readings at the same time each day, as this helps to ensure a fair experiment. Keep up the good work Bulb Buddies.

Hello Bulb Buddies,

There is only a week to go before planting day on 20th October! Are you ready? Here are some helpful resources to prepare you for planting your bulbs and for looking after them over the coming months! These are also on the Spring Bulbs for Schools website: http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/spring-bulbs/

Before planting day you should have read these documents:

• A Letter from Professor Plant (introduction to the project)
• Adopt your Bulb (an overview of the care your Bulbs will need)
• Planting your Bulbs (guidelines for ensuring a fair experiment)

And completed these activities:

• Bulb Adoption Certificate
• Make Bulb Labels

It's important you read these as they contain important information! For example, do you know how deep you need to plant your bulbs? Or how to label your pot so that you know where the Daffodil and Crocus are planted?

Remember to take photos of your planting day to enter into the Planting Day Photo Competition!

Best of luck Bulb Buddies! Let us know how you get on!

Professor Plant & Baby Bulb

St Brigid’s primary in Denbighshire won a trip to The National Slate Museum in Llanberis and a day of nature based activities as their prize for participating in the Spring Bulbs in schools project 2014-15. St Brigid’s year 6 class worked very hard on the project this year, taking daily weather readings and sending these in weekly to the Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales website. Each pupil cared for their plants and entered their individual flowering dates and heights to the website.

It was very hard to choose winners this year, as many schools had complete or near complete weather records. To make the decision fair the top schools were entered into a hat and a winner picked out at random for Wales, England and Scotland. Those that were not picked out became the ‘runners up’ who each received £40 gift vouchers to spend on gardening resources for their schools. The ‘highly commended’ schools received meadow resource packs, meadow seeds and sunflower seeds. The ‘special recognition’ schools received meadow resource packs and meadow seeds. All schools who entered data were awarded Super Scientist certificates and pencils in recognition of the fantastic work they have done for National Museum Wales through taking part in the investigation. 

St Brigid’s visited Llanberis on 22 May, where they were greeted by Dafydd Roberts the Museum’s Keeper and myself, the Spring Bulbs Project Co-ordinator. We began by discussing the project results for 2014-15 and comparing these to previous years. You can study the report summary 2005-2015 for yourself here.

Next, we were escorted to the Quarrymen’s Cottages at Fron Haul and given a fascinating overview by Wyn Lloyd-Hughes of how life for the inhabitants would have changed over the course of 100 years. This was a fantastic way of bringing the stories and lives of the families associated with the local slate industry alive and the group enjoyed exploring the houses and discussing differences in décor and possessions between 1861, 1901 and 1969.

Following Fron Haul, we rushed over to the yard for a short introductory film about the history of the North Wales slate industry; ‘To Steal a Mountain’. This was very atmospheric, with the class falling silent as the lights dimmed and gasping at dramatic (or loud) intervals in the film. This was followed by a slate splitting demonstration by Carwyn Price, who split and dressed slate in front of the group. We watched as he split slate tiles and dressed slate into the shape of a heart. He showed us other examples of art that could be created with these methods, such as fans and love spoons. Carwyn offered the audience a chance to try their hand at slate splitting and the class nominated their teacher Mr Madog! He did a great job and was cheered throughout by the class.

Next, Peredur Hughes took us for a tour of the Museum’s working water wheel and explained the process that turned it and how this power was harnessed to operated machines in the Gilfach Ddu workshops. This is the largest water wheel on the British mainland with a diameter of 15.4 meters, and was used between 1870 and 1925 when it was replaced by a Pelton wheel. Standing under the wheel as it sprays water, gently groans and continually turns is quite an experience, especially when you begin to comprehend the engineering skills needed to design and build it. As part of the Spring Bulbs project schools are provided with resources to aid discussions around climate change and different energy sources - seeing a massive water wheel in motion added a level of understanding to these investigations.

A quick break for lunch and we were off up to the quarry for our nature activities. To begin with we discussed the smells, textures, sounds and sights of the woodland. We then went on a mini-beast hunt which led to discussions on how to classify different species and the different habitats our mini-beasts favoured. After making our own ‘perfumes of the forest’, finding out how many legs a woodlice has and that boys are just as squeamish as girls – we moved on to our next activity and built a nest! The group were very enthusiastic, as you can tell from the pictures and the size of the branches/ trees they managed to move with their makeshift beaks (I think there may have been a little cheating here!). It was a fantastic photo opportunity and great fun.

Peredur met us at the Vivian Quarry and gave us an insight into it’s history, including a closer look at the cliffs of slate and an insight into how the Quarrymen worked and interpreted the face of the Quarry. He discussed the rock man’s terms used to differentiate sections of slate, the geology behind their make-up, and how being able to tell a ‘trwyn’ from a ‘cefn crwn‘ helped Quarrymen interpret the slate, manipulate it to the results they wanted, and lessen the risk to their lives through making it possible to predict the results of their work. This was fascinating, the Vivian Quarry provided a beautiful setting, and it was a lovely way to end our day.

I thoroughly enjoyed meeting year 6 St Brigid’s and being able to thank them personally for their contribution to the Spring Bulbs in Schools project. It was a fantastic day, and I would like to thank the staff at the National Slate Museum for their hospitality and the time and effort they gave to make the trip such fun.

Applications are now open for schools in Wales to participate in the Spring Bulbs Project 2015-16. The winners will receive an action packed class trip full of nature activities to their closest Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales site.

Apply here!

Applications are now closed for schools in England and Scotland, but these schools can find information on next years project (2016-17) on the Edina Trust website.

Climate-change study in your own school yard
Science & Geography (KS2)

Make use of your outdoor classroom! Join the 175 schools taking part in this exciting investigation.

Spring Bulbs for Schools provides primary school pupils with the opportunity to adopt, study and record the development of spring bulbs as part of a spring watch network. Each pupil will receive a Tenby Daffodil, Crocus bulb and garden pot to record growth and flowering times.

Through collecting and comparing real data pupils discover how our changing climate is affecting our seasons and what this means for ourselves and the nature around us. Pupils take part in Professor Plant's Challenges to receive a super scientist certificate.

Any schools in Wales can take part as results are collected over the internet (or by post if necessary). This is an on-going investigation which means schools can take part year after year.

To apply for Spring Bulbs for Schools 2015-2016 please fill out the online application form by following the link below.

Application are now open but numbers are limited so apply soon to ensure your place on the project! Application is only open to schools in Wales. Recruitment for English and Scottish schools has closed but please contact The Edina Trust for information about taking part in the project 2016-2017.

Spring Bulbs for Schools - Application form

For enquiries please Email SCAN

Climate-change study in your own school yard
Science & Geography (KS2)

Make use of your outdoor classroom! Join the 175 schools taking part in this exciting investigation.

Spring Bulbs for Schools provides primary school pupils with the opportunity to adopt, study and record the development of spring bulbs as part of a spring watch network. Each pupil will receive a Tenby Daffodil, Crocus bulb and garden pot to record growth and flowering times.

Through collecting and comparing real data pupils discover how our changing climate is affecting our seasons and what this means for ourselves and the nature around us. Pupils take part in Professor Plant's Challenges to receive a super scientist certificate.

Any schools in Wales can take part as results are collected over the internet (or by post if necessary). This is an on-going investigation which means schools can take part year after year.

To apply for Spring Bulbs for Schools 2015-2016 please fill out the online application form by following the link below.

Application are now open but numbers are limited so apply soon to ensure your place on the project! Application is only open to schools in Wales. Recruitment for English and Scottish schools has closed but please contact The Edina Trust for information about taking part in the project 2016-2017.

Spring Bulbs for Schools - Application form

For enquiries please Email SCAN