A Volunteer's Perspective: From Our Classroom in England

Hello from St Matthews Primary School! We have really enjoyed taking part in the Cedar Creek project so we thought we would send you some information about us and why we have enjoyed the project.

St Matthews is a small school on the edge of Stoke-on-Trent it was opened on the 4th January 1892 as Rough Close National Elementary School with a total of 18 pupils.  The school originally was part of the church but a new school was built and opened on the 18th November 1896. In 1904 a school inspector reported that the pupils should stop using slate and write on paper. During the winter months school often closed early as it was too dark as the school had no artificial lighting. Since then we are all glad that the school has been improved and now we have good lighting! We have 89 pupils (aged 4-11) in 4 classes, our class has 9-11 year olds in it – in England we are a class of two school years (grades) Year 5 and Year 6.  By F.H.D

St Matthew’s from the common

   

 Two views of the school- as you can see we are quite small.

The common is still there but is now Barlaston and Rough Close Nature Reserve – we enjoy going there for lessons and looking at local wild life although none of us have seen a lizard but we are told they are still there.

Visitor sign to the common 

View of the common -We have had some light snow showers today and yesterday

Why we have enjoyed the project

“I really enjoyed this because I found it really interesting how you could see the animals for yourself. It was really good to find out different species some that we have never seen before and finding animals from under leaves and behind grass.  Learning about Cedar Creek was also interesting because it is a different environment to what we have. My favourite picture that I classified had to be the one with the spider, it was taken at night so it really stood out glowing white.” IW

“I have enjoyed the project because I like looking at animals and learning about animals because I want to be a biologist when I grow up” EAH

“My favourite picture was of a Sandhill Crane because it is the first ever one I had seen. The colour of their feathers were amazingly bright and very red” JA

“I have enjoyed the Cedar Creek Project because when I classifying I found out about species that I never knew about before and where they live. I enjoyed learning about Cedar Creek which is really interesting. There is so much to discover, learning about animals is fascinating to me”

“I have really enjoyed learning about the Cedar Creek Reserve project and classifying different interesting animals. My favourite animals were the different species of birds because they have very colourful patterns.” ME

“My favourite picture was of a close up deer you could see all of the details on the face.  Another favourite was of three racoons all sniffing the ground, it looked like it was a mother and her babies. It was like they were scavenging for food.” HF

“My favourite picture I found was one of turkeys, I never knew they looked like Peacocks with feathers coming up to display.” AP

“I really enjoyed the Cedar Creek project because I wanted to see all the pictures of the animals and I really enjoyed seeing the male deers and I really like their antlers it was really fascinating to see” ERH

“I enjoyed this because it is interesting seeing animals in their natural habitat and doing what they do in the wild.  Also because some of the animals in the pictures I have never seen before in real life."

"My favourite picture is of a squirrel climbing up a tree. It was my favourite because in one of the pictures it was looking at the camera.” EP

“I enjoyed the variety of pictures and to see how Cedar creek is different and similar to here.  I liked classifying the animals” MG

“I really enjoyed the Cedar Creek project because I learnt about many different animals and got to spot and classify them.” JJC

“I enjoy the variety of animals I could see and trying to figure out if what I see could possibly be an animal.” OA

Some drawings done by St. Matthews students, inspired by Eyes on the Wild finds 

Fox By MG

Raccoon by F.H.D

Bat by EAH

(Note from teacher Mr. Mitchell: Although we haven’t classified a bat yet, he presumes that you would have a few given the nature of Cedar Creek - he really loves bats)

From the Eyes on the Wild team: We LOVE hearing from the many students in your classroom who have helped out on the project! How special to know that there is a group of young scientists thousands of miles away learning about animals and the environment through our trail cameras. We really appreciate all the time you have put into classifying wildlife and to writing up this blog post! Fingers crossed you will find a lizard in the common when the weather gets a little warmer!


Are you a student or educator who has contributed to Eyes on the Wild? We'd love to hear your stories and share them on the blog! Email Caitlin (caitlin@umn.edu) and Emma (bubli018@umn.edu).