Hello Bulb Buddies,

Thank you for all the work you have done so far and for sharing your photos! It was extremely hard to choose just five winners. The chosen photos are from schools in Wales who are not participating in the Edina extension projects. If you are participating in the Edina Trust extension projects then your photo has been entered into that competition, and the Edina Trust will announce winners soon.

Here are the winning schools:

Severn Primary School

Ysgol Trellech

Ysgol San Sior

Ysgol Abererch

Ysgol Pennant

Your prizes will be posted to you soon. Well done Bulb Buddies.

I’d like to send a big thank you to all the schools that have shared photos with us. It has been lovely to see the work that you have been doing, so please continue to share your photos!

Some lovely comments were sent in with the weather data entries this week. It has been very interesting to read your observations. Here are my favourites:

Your comments

YGG Tonyrefail: Mae wedi bod yn wythnos sych iawn....a very dry week Professor Plant!

Ysgol Tal y Bont: Mae'n oeri yn araf yn nhal y bont wythnos yma yr athro planhigin

St. Charles Primary School: The weather this week was cold and mostly dry.

The Blake CE Primary School: It has been a bit damp this week especially at the end of the week. It is starting to feel a lot colder as winter is coming.

St Robert's R.C Primary School: It's been getting colder!!

Boston West Academy: We think the weather has been warmer than we would have expected for this time of year and there has been hardly any rain.

Darran Park Primary: We have noticed that the temperature has started to drop over the week. It has been mostly dry, however, there was a shower on Thursday night.

Ysgol Iau Hen Golwyn: It was fun. There wasn't much rain.

Broad Haven Primary School: A dry sunny week cold in the mornings but warm by the afternoon. Rain expected this weekend -but only showers

Stanford in the Vale Primary School: Monday we had no school. Enjoying looking at our planted bulbs! We have had some frosty mornings.

Carnbroe Primary School: We have had a sunny, dry but cold week. We have decided to make predictions about our bulbs and we are all excited to find out what will happen.

Henllys CIW Primary: We have had no rain and we have been allowed out to play!!!

Hudson Road Primary School: It has been really nice Autumn weather. We hope our bulbs are warm in the soil.

Ysgol Rhys Prichard: First frost of the Autumn this Wednesday!

Auchenlodment Primary School: We all enjoyed collecting the data and from next week we will work in pairs to collect the data.

Trellech Primary School: Thank you for letting us complete the bulb activity we really enjoyed taking our measurements. Diolch yn fawr.

Professor Plant: Thank you for taking part Bulb Buddies, I’m glad that you are enjoying the project!

Breckon Hill Primary School: We have measured the temperature and the rainfall in the location of the pots (front of the school) and in the flower beds (at the back of the school). We have noticed that it is slightly warmer at the front of the school as this area gets a little bit more sun.

Professor Plant: It’s fantastic that you are observing these differences and logging them Bulb Buddies! Which bulbs do you think will flower first?

Our Lady of Peace Primary School: This was our first week. Mr Kelly showed us what to do.

Barmston Village Primary School: We are noticing some liquid in the rain gauge when it has not rained. We think it is like the dew that has been on the grass as there is only a little bit of it.

Professor Plant: Hi Bulb Buddies, well done for noticing the liquid and questioning how it will have come to be in the rain gauge! I suspect that you are right and that the water is the result of dew forming inside the gauge. Air contains water vapour, and the higher the temperature the more water vapour it contains. When the temperature drops (as it often does overnight) the air cools and releases the water vapour it has been carrying. When surfaces or objects cool to the point that the air around them can no longer contain its level of water vapour, the air will condense and form droplets on the surface of the object. Fantastic Work Bulb Buddies!

Law Primary School: All pupils in Primary 5 have really enjoyed planting the daffodils and crocus. They are working in pairs to record rainfall and temperature each day.

Hi Bulb Buddies!

I hope you all enjoyed your half term holidays!

I want to say a big thank you for all your hard work on planting day. You helped to plant 13,829 bulbs across the country! And from the photos I’ve seen, it looks like you all had a great time doing it!

Weather records should be kept from 1st November. So please make sure that your thermometer and rain gauge are in a suitable place next to your bulbs so that you can take weather readings tomorrow afternoon!

It’s a good idea to practise taking readings beforehand. You can do this by adding water to the rain gauge, noting the measurement and then checking that everyone has taken the same reading!

There is a resource on the website to help you prepare for taking Weather Records. I’ve attached this here in case you haven’t already seen it! This resource helps you to answer important questions, such as ‘why rain fall and temperature readings are important to our investigation into the effects of climate on the flowering dates of spring bulbs’!

Use your Weather Chart to log the rain fall and temperature every school day. At the end of the week, log into the Spring Bulbs website to add your weekly findings. You can also leave comments or ask questions for me to answer in my next Blog!

Schools taking part in the Edina Trust Extension projects should also enter their weekly findings to the Edina Trust Moodle site.

Let me know how you get on! You can share photos with me via email or Twitter.

Keep up the good work Bulb Buddies!

Professor Plant

Hello Bulb Buddies,

There isn't long to go until 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: https://museum.wales/spring-bulbs/

These resources will help you on planting day:

• 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 these activities are fun to complete:

• Bulb Adoption Certificate
• Make Bulb Labels

It's important that 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 the Planting Day Photo Competition!

Keep an eye on Professor Plant's Twitter page to see photos from other schools: https://twitter.com/professor_plant

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

Professor Plant & Baby Bulb

The Spring Bulbs for Schools project allows 1000s of school scientists to work with Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales to investigate and understand climate change. School scientists have been keeping weather records and noting when their flowers open since October 2005, as part of a long-term study looking at the effects of temperature on spring bulbs.

Certificates have now been sent out to all of the 4,907 pupils that completed the project this year. See Professor Plant's report to view the finsings so far.

• Make graphs & frequency charts or calculate the mean.
• See if the flowers opened late in schools that recorded cold weather.
• See how temperature, sunshine and rainfall affect the average flowering dates.
• Look for trends between different locations.

I would like to thank all of the Super Scientists that participated this year!

Professor Plant www.museumwales.ac.uk/spring-bulbs/

Twitter http://twitter.com/Professor_Plant

One hundred and forty schools across the UK are to be awarded Super Scientist Certificates on behalf of Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales in recognition for their contribution to the Spring Bulbs - Climate Change Investigation.

Huge Congratulations to all these schools!

A big ‘thank you’ to every one of the 4,907 pupils who helped this year! Thank you for working so hard planting, observing, measuring and recording - you really are Super Scientists! Each one of you will receive a certificate and Super Scientist pencil, these will be sent to your school by mid-May.

Many thanks to the Edina Trust for funding this project.

Super Scientist Winners 2016

Each will receive a class trip of fun-packed nature activities.

Ysgol Pentrefoelas - Wales

Biggar Primary - Scotland

Carnforth Primary - England

Runner's up:

Ysgol Nant y Coed - Wales

Severn Primary - Wales

Abbey Primary School - Scotland

St. John the Baptist Primary School – Scotland

St. Nicholas' Primary School - England

The Blessed Sacrament Catholic Primary School - England

Highly commended schools:

Schools with special recognition:

Schools to be awarded certificates:

Thank you for all your hard work Bulb Buddies,

Professor Plant