On Wednesday Year 3 visited the Thames Explorer Trust at Linden House in Hammersmith.
This was a special Geography fieldwork trip for our Spring Term Rivers and Flooding topic.
When we arrived we met Simon and Jess who were going to lead our session and got down to the river!
Jess taught us that the banks of the river are called the foreshore and that we were on the western side of the Thames in London. It was interesting to discover that we were closer to the mouth of the river in Southend-on-Sea than the source in Thames Head. This part of the river is quite wide and the current is fast. We also talked about why people settled by the Thames and what we use it for today, for example, transport, sport and drinking water. We found out that the sea pushes the water level up which causes tides to rise and fall. The foreshore where we were would all be covered up by water by lunchtime so we had to get cracking!
Our first activity was to do some calming exercises and observe the foreshore before noting down our first impressions of the river including the things we could see, hear and how polluted we thought the river was. In order to investigate this we looked for signs of life such as living things living in and around the water. We found plants, leeches, shrimp and calms in the river which showed us that the Thames was capable of sustaining life.
For the next activity we used a thermometer to compare the air and water temperatures. The air temperature was 12 degrees and the water of the river was 8 degrees Celsius meaning there was only a difference of 4 degrees!
Lastly, Simon helped us to test the PH of the water. He explained the difference between strong and weak acids and alkalis and that the mid point of these was called neutral. Simon tested citric acid using universal indicator paper and showed us where it was on the scale. He also tested soap which is a weak alkali and we saw that it was on the opposite end of the scale! Finally, we tested the water in the Thames and found it was neutral! This was very good news for the wildlife living in the water, and for us as we use the water for drinking (but it is filtered 6 times before reaches our taps!)
Thank you to the SVPA for funding our trip and to all of the parent volunteers who joined us! Thank you for giving up your time to support us.
This experience was so amazing! I actually couldn’t believe how many creatures live in the river Thames. We found few of them but there are loads more bigger river creatures. Even though the river looks muddy and not so clean it is actually a very healthy river.
Thank you SVPA for this trip.
This trip was phenomenal we got to learn so much! We learnt that where we went was called the foreshore. Thank you mr kersys for giving us this opportunity to let us go on this fantastic trip and to the people who were teaching us about the river Thames.
WOW year 3! You must have had so much fun at the river Thames. On your picture’s I can see all the amazing creatures you guys found.
This experience was so amazing! I actually couldn’t believe how many creatures live in the river Thames. We found few of them but there are loads more bigger river creatures. Even though the river looks muddy and not so clean it is actually a very healthy river.
Thank you SVPA for this trip.
I liked the trip especially when I was fishing.I can’t believe seals go to the Thames in Winter
This trip was phenomenal we got to learn so much! We learnt that where we went was called the foreshore. Thank you mr kersys for giving us this opportunity to let us go on this fantastic trip and to the people who were teaching us about the river Thames.
This trip was so fun. I liked looking at the PH of the water.
Thank you to all the teachers who helped organise this great trip.
I loved this trip! Thank you teachers for organising it! 💕
I learned about the middle course, the lower course and the upper course and I learned
about the current. I really liked this trip.