On Tuesday the 14th of May, Ms Begley’s Third Class were delighted to welcome a special visitor! Liz Tiernan, from Biodiversity Ireland, came to chat with the class and she helped us to explore all things to do with nature in a very hands on and interactive way. Liz was so impressed by the biodiversity of our school grounds and was delighted to show the children how diverse our nature is right here in St Paul’s!
In our classroom, she showed us the different types of sea life that can be found at our local beaches as well as the little insects that are so important for our biodiversity. The children were very interested in everything Liz had to say and they made plenty of sketches in their Nurture Nature booklets. You can see a sample of the children’s work in the pictures below!
We looked at the beautiful Irish native trees and their characteristics. We learned how to tell how old a tree is (without chopping it down to count the rings!) and we met many little friends on our nature walk – crawlers, flies and various types of birds including the goldfinch. We even met a not so common Ashy mining bee (Andrena Cineraria) – a type of sand bee who love to feed on fruit tree blossoms at this time of the year! They loved the area around our orchard!
The children were able to see everything up close and in detail thanks to their magnifying glasses and they recorded their findings in their sketch pads. We finished off by making clay pendants and using leaves to press into them as a keepsake of our special time with Liz.
It was a great opportunity for these inquisitive children to find out more about the world around them and they came away with a deeper appreciation of their environment. We are very grateful to Liz for coming to visit!
