Natural Scotland Live Lesson

Early Years to P3

Storyteller and author Allison Galbraith, who you might remember if you joined our Water Live Lesson last June, will take us on an imaginary trip to learn about some of Scotland’s wildlife using old folk tales. Our thanks to the Scottish Book Trust. for their partnership in bringing Allison to our screens.

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Upper Primary

Through the series of daily lessons and follow-up activities, Natural Scotland Week aims to:

• Engage pupils with how fascinating our natural environment is.
• Increase pupils’ literacy on native species, habitats and the geology of Scotland.
• Spark the imagination and desire in pupils to learn more about it.
• Inspire classes to continue connecting, visiting and caring for our beautiful natural world.

Download lesson resources

Lesson 1: Native Animals

An initial introduction to the week of lessons will invite pupils to test their knowledge of some of Scotland’s nature, geography and geology through an interactive quiz.  This will be followed by our friends from the RZSS Highland Wildlife Park.

Based near the Cairngorms National Park, which is considered to be the most important mountain area in Britain for biological and geological/geomorphological conservation, and home to a quarter of Britain’s threatened species, Jasper Hughes will take pupils on a journey looking at some of these species and why they are so unique.

Lesson 2: Stories From the Rocks

First, we'll revisit what we learned from Lesson 1. Then, we travel in time with Andrea to learn about how continents collided millions of years ago to form what is now the UK,  created mountains like today’s Himalayas; and what has happened to these mountains since.

Next, we will demonstrate how the collision of continents formed our mountains. If you would like to carry out this demonstration in class, a description can be found in the resources folder.

Lastly, we will join Joe at the top of Conic Hill for a look at the Highland Boundary Fault and a chat about the different types of rock that can be found on either side.

Lesson 3: Scotland's Rainforest

A short introduction will revisit what we learned in Lesson 2.

This will be followed by our friends from The Woodland Trust, a charity that many will be familiar with thanks to their free trees for schools and communities. Daniel Aiken will share the beauty and uniqueness of Scotland's rainforest habitat, while teaching about the importance of knowing about them, restoring and conserving them.

He will also share with pupils another very special location of the Woodland Trust, where thanks to their work not only some of their inhabitants have come back to breed, but they have become worldwide celebrities thanks to live-streaming nest cameras.

As a follow up activity, pupils are invited to keep populating their map poster with information from this lesson plus extra landmarks that can be found in the folder of resources.

Lesson 4: Nature & Old Folk Tales

First, a short introduction to revisit Lesson 3. Then, our friend Allison Galbraith will use the story ‘The Magpie’s Nest’ as a gateway into the world of some of our native birds. While listening to this story, pupils will learn how long time ago, before the internet and these days’ large availability of books, people used to be much more knowledgeable in recognising our native animals and plants thanks to stories like this one.

Allison will also use a story stick as an important element for storytelling. Activities after lesson: Pupils will be invited to finish their map poster. They will also be invited to create their own version of story stick to either re-tale The Magpie’s Nest or to create their own version or story using their own local birds. A copy of The Magpie’s Nest can be found in the folder of resources.

Lesson 5: Celebratory Assembly

Assembly revisiting all concepts learned throughout the week, answering any questions sent to our guests, and displaying all the work shared with us throughout the week.