During our weekly meetings in November we learnt a lot about the country where our partner school is located. Students prepared presentations about Madrid, Barcelona, Andalusia and Seville. We found out a lot about Spanish music, art, film, sport and cuisine. Travel broadens the mind. We believe that it really opens your eyes when you know what and why you should see. All the presentations were in English , so we practised our speaking skills as well!

October 2022

Lichen Scale

On October 18, field classes in biology entitled ‘Lichen scale’ were held. The classes were conducted by Mrs. Małgorzata Siuta from the Chojnów Landscape Park. Students learned that lichens serve as an indicator for us to assess air pollution. They studied lichens growing in Zalesie Górne and determined the degree of pollution. According to the lichen scale, Zalesie Górne is located in zone 4, where the concentration of SO2 in the air is 69-50 μg / m³ . How is this possible? These organisms have a narrow tolerance range  to sulfur dioxide pollution.This is due to their anatomical structure, because they do not have a covering tissue and therefore there is a direct penetration of gases and dusts into their thallus. Lichens occur in large numbers and are easy to find, and knowing the lichen scale, you can assess the degree of pollution of our environment. Only the species growing on the bark of trees (so-called epiphytes) are used to assess pollution, because they absorb water directly from precipitation. The shape and size of lichens depend on the amount of pollution in the air. In Poland, a 7-degree scale is used  which  looks as follows:

I – no lichen, there may be green algae on the bark, very strong air pollution, contaminated centers of large cities and industrial centers; SO2 concentration in air above 170 μg/m3

II – there are only crustacean lichens (powdery) (e.g. impetigo, Lecanora conizaeoides), very heavily polluted air, large cities and industrial centers; SO2 concentration from 100 to 170 μg/m3

III – there may be leafy and crustacean lichen (e.g. yellow wall lichen, Physcia adscendens), polluted air, trees near cities, parks, SO2 concentration 99-70 μg/m3

IV – leaf lichen, few bushy ones appear (e.g. monk’s hood lichen, Parmelia sulcata), medium polluted air, forests near cities, SO2 concentration 69-50 μg/m3

V – leaf lichens occupy a significant area of bark, more and more bushy (e.g. oakmoss, tree moss), which, however, are not fully developed, air pollution is weak, most forests in lowlands and foothills, SO2 concentration 49-40 μg / m3

VI – various sensitive species of crustacean, leafy and bush lichen on trunks and branches (e.g. fishbone beard lichen, Platismatia glauca, well-developed species from zone 5), the air is slightly polluted, natural, large forests mainly in north-eastern Poland, SO2 concentration 39-30 μg / m3

VII – a lot of various lichens on trunks and branches – crustacean, leafy and bushy, thallus very large, hanging (e.g. cartilage lichen, beard lichen, tree lungwort),  the air is almost completely clean, few

 Iwona Warmiak, Agnieszka Lechowicz

October 2022

A Trip to ‘Nasza Tłocznia’

In mid-October, all  Grade 4 students went to "Nasza Tłocznia” (Our Pressing Plant)  in Konary, where real juice is made. Students took an educational walk around the orchard where they collected delicious apples . With their own eyes they saw how the juice was pressed.  They tasted it afterwards. No sweeteners,  just the sweetness of the apple itself!  There was also a tour of the entire pressing plant facility. After the educational part, there was time for fun in the Enchanted Garden of the Press.

Iwona Warmiak

September 2022

We Plant Oxygen

In our school, we held pro-ecological workshops "We Plant Oxygen". Their aim was to promote tree planting as one of the most efficient pro-ecological activities that can be carried out for climate change mitigation. In addition to the talk which presented the role of trees in the process of air purification, each student was involved in making a pot for plants from milk cartons and in sowing plant seeds. The culmination point of the workshop came with the gift of two seedlings of the Oxytree "oxygen tree".

Iwona Warmiak