On Wednesday P6′s started putting wild life like tadpoles and Pond Snails into the pond. There was about 20 tadpoles and 5 pond snails. The pond snails eat the algea (slime) and so do the tadpoles. We got some advice off a web site that said we should put netting in the pond so the frogs can jump out when they become older. The web site also told us that once the frogs have been in one pond they will come back every year to lay their frogspawn. The tadpoles that we put in are starting to grow legs so hopefully in a few weeks you can see them jump around (so be careful you dont squish them!) We put a log in so they can jump onto it and we also put a big stone frog that we like to call Papa Frog in that stands out in the pond area. We have also recently seen pond skaters zooming around on the pond! The snails are around the pond so when you are in the pond area make sure you dont stand on one also make sure you do not squeeze it to much when you are holding them because that can harm or even kill them SO PLEASE DO BE CAREFUL!! For any advice on building a pond or putting wild life in you or someone else’s pond please ask us, We are here to help.
From P6

Some of the P6/7 and P7s had fun putting the plants into and filling the pond today. We were trying to let it shower into the pond from as high up as we could as that produces oxygen in the water. We also dug a trench for excess water to filter out of the pond and down towards the drain. Our next steps are to put some more ‘natural seating’ around the pond area, to finish off and lay stones along the drainage trench and to make further plans to link learning for every stage to the pond and wildlife area. Here we are at work (and getting slightly wet)…

Water on PhotoPeach

On Ground Force Action Day we (P6/7 and P7) worked hard to move the pond forward. We worked with the East Lothian Rangers to get all the stones out of the pond, put in pond underlay and pond liner in readiness to fill the pond as soon as the weather is mild enough for us to plant pond plants. We began digging the area at the back of the pond ready to sew wildflower seed and used the turf to line the area just around the edge of the pond. We put down an edging of the paving slabs to allow classes to have a standing area for pond-dipping and pond exploration activities.

Our next steps are to finalise the pond plants ready for planting later in spring, to complete the wildflower area for seed sowing and to source more logs for natural seating. Watch this space…

To progress our pond project and as part of Force Friday P6/7 and P7 painted the fence. It is almost finished, if only we hadn’t run out of paint! Pictures of the hard working bunch:

It was a lot of fun painting the fence and we worked hard. Ross
We had lots of fun chatting while working. Niamh R
The pond fence is nearly done now and it looks good. Adam
Messy but fun! Chelsea
Really good fun. Sean

Have you seen our fabulous fence?.  When we first saw  the fence we thought it was brilliant!  We think that Greame, the joiner, did a great job and we  hope he comes to see it when the pond is finished. 

This Friday is ‘Force Friday’.   The whole school works to make our school environment a better place.   P6/7 and P7 are all going to be painting the fence on Friday with Spruce green waterproof paint.    Hopfully, we will  manage to get some pond liner soon and get it fitted. 

We also  had a  long think about doing more fundraising to help pay for the pond and fence.  So watch out for news of this.

Tell us what you think of our pond and fence so far  by leaving us a comment.

Karly and Toni P7

Pond Project Weblog Team

Pond Week 6 on PhotoPeach

Pond Week 6 on PhotoPeach

Over the holidays we’ve had community service round to dig our pond. The pond is looking really good and quite deep so we ask everyone near the pond to be sensible for their own safety. To avoid people falling in we have put 4 wooding stakes in to the ground and taped it off.

The builders have started to dig deeper so there is room for the sand and pond liner. They have also started marking out where the fence is going to be. We will blog about the fence size as soon as we know the decided size. We are also hoping to have a big mural mood board behind our pond.

William and Alia  – Web Blog Team

The Builders have been out planning and plotting exact measurements for the Community Services to start digging. We are hoping they will be starting at the end of this week and digging may continue into the holidays. Here are photos of the group’s plotting of the layers of the pond using different colours of electrical tape! There is also a plan drawn up by the Builders showing their exact measurements. Well done Builders (and Stacey).

Diary Keepers:They have been puting up ‘Team of the Week’ pictures on the blog and they have been putting them on the blog and putting up information for the Builder’s team page.

Web Bloggers: they have been making slide shows for the blog so people can see what we have been learning and doing over the past two weeks.

Film Crew: they have been filming the Builders to show people how our pond is going on and the other people in the group are going to be editing the film and they are going to put information for what they done on the blog at the end of the week.

Builders: they have been pegging out the stages of the pond for the Community Services people to show where to dig. Their task now is not to dig but to draw out a blueprint for the Community Service people to look at so they know what and where to dig.

Communicator’s:This group have been contacting the council to get people to help us dig our pond out. They got a hold of a council and they got some community servers to dig it out.

Groups in Progress on PhotoPeach