Overcoming Hurdles

Arundel Wetlands for another session today and the boys finally got to test themselves and make their presentation about their experience of the John Muir Award so far.

We are a much smaller group again as some of their peers have decided to leave and to be honest although it's a shame, the intimacy of the group, suits the boys better...they are shy and self conscious when it comes to a study situation.

However, they both blew me away with their composure this afternoon. They stood in front of their friends and took it in turns to overview the sessions so far, talking about their highs and lows and giving snippets of what they have learnt. I value that they were honest and real. I've copied their presentations on each of their pages on this blog.

It would be unfair if I left out the fact that they were all BRILLIANT. Each one of them was apprehensive about having to perform in front of their friends and us Mums were quietly nervous for them too; but overcoming these hurdles brings a huge sense of achievement for them and will instil confidence for them in the future.

The second part of the session was to create some posters about the award to be displayed in the Wetlands Centre over the summer holidays. Time was very restricted but Nath and Connor worked together - with me poking my nose in every now and then - and put together a humorous collage! I'm not sure it really gets across the message of what the Wetlands wanted them to convey but they liked it.

During the session, Monica flicked through their folders to check their ongoing monitoring work and gave them some more ideas of how to collate their information. I've listed their additional individual work on each of their pages but they worked together on hedgerow weeding and monitoring notes and their nature reserve in the wild garden.

The biggest buzz of the day was seeing Nath get involved. He stood up and talked in front of everyone when just a few short weeks ago he was adamant it was something he couldn't do. He actually wanted to make the poster and remained cheerful and confident throughout. During his presentation he mentioned how difficult he has found some of the sessions because he's been unwell but I felt today he turned a big corner.

Their little sister (the confident one) performed at our local theatre in her end of year 6 production "Hoodwinked" this evening, so they've all had a big day...I'm one proud mumma this evening.

Poster work

We spotted Ratty happily chomping away on our way out

A Little Hedgerow survey on the way to the Park

Lots to do - The reeds 15 weeks on

The amount of ongoing tasks for the John Muir award is building. With each new session comes new monitoring and assignments; so today we had a morning of playing catch up after our week away. The boys will be required to make some kind of 10 minute presentation at their next session (as part of the "share" aspect of the award) which will involve talking about what they have experienced since they started the award in February. In the 3 months leading up to February the boys were involved in 3 general workshops too.

October 2014 - What Lives in this Habitat
November 2014 - How do Birds Fly
January 2015 - Migration

February - 1st Session (we were absent)
    Learning about Peter Scott and John Muir

March - 2nd Session
    Water Vole survey

April - 3rd Session
    Hedgerow Planting and Monitoring

May - 4th Session
    Bat Boxes and the Bat Walk

June - 5th Session
    Random Sampling and Hedgerow Weeding and Monitoring

Today the boys measured their reeds, updated their graphs and typed out some observations about the changes. The reeds have been placed outside since they last measured them which has caused some visible differences.

Connor's reeds and marsh marigold!

Nath's reeds, one dying invader and another invader about to bud

They followed this with some notes and observations from their last session where they weeded and monitored the hedgelings they planted in the wildllife garden in April.

They made good progress today. They still need to type out the results from the random sampling and explain their reasons for choosing a particular area of the wildlife garden as a nature reserve. They've decided to tackle this after another visit to the Wetlands tomorrow - a little jogging of memory is required and Nath was unwell at the last session so not totally with it!

They also need to start work on their presentations. We talked about focusing on their experiences so far, what they've learnt, enjoyed and disliked. Nath is reluctant to stand and talk in front of others - always has been - so he will work on a powerpoint presentation; but Connor is willing to give it a go.