In Azure Class we have been learning about rivers and the water cycle. We have learnt about the river process and how the river flows from the source to the sea. We now know that bends in rivers are called meanders and that where one river joins another there is a confluence.
We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Creekside Discovery Centre. We were able to go into the river and explore. We had to put on large wader wellies and red raincoats and had a big stick to help us walk safely. We were nervous at first and the river, despite being low tide and shallow, was flowing quickly. We carried out an investigation with plastic ducks, which we named Bob and Duck, to see how fast the river was flowing. It took Bob 14 seconds and Duck 17 seconds to travel 10 meters. The fastest recorded duck by Creekside was 13 seconds so we were able to conclude that the river was fast on the day we visited. We found out that the reason for this was because there had been so much rainfall in the previous days. We were surprised to find out that even though we could see lots of plastic and rubbish in the water, that actually the river is very clean and there is lots of wildlife and plants to prove this. We were interested to find out about the raft that had been built for a pair of swans to nest on. We were shown how to use small nets to find creatures that are living in the river. We found shrimps, leeches and tubiflex worms. Sadly we didn’t get to catch a crab.
In English we have been learning reading the book ‘What a Waste’ and have been learning about different types of pollution and made our own factual leaflets about how pollution damages our planet. We are now learning more about water pollution and we will be writing and performing our own speeches about the problems of water pollution.
