Thursday 11th February 2016
Following yet another storm earlier in the week, we were very lucky with the weather and were blessed with a wonderful afternoon; blue skies and plenty of sun. In this week’s session we began by playing some of our favourite team games including ‘Giants, Dwarves and Wizards’ and ‘Squirrels in a tree’ as well as a new game, which again needed perseverance and good co-operative work. The children were placed into 2 teams and holding onto a large knotted rope they had to make different 2D shapes. The circle seemed an easy task, but forming a square and triangle took more thinking about and deciding who was going to form the corners. One of our squares looked more like a pentagon!
At the end of our games, to show good sportsmanship, the children went around shaking each other’s hands to say ‘Well done, I enjoyed taking part’.
As it was Year 1’s last Forest School session the children were given time for free exploration and took ownership of their own learning. It was a sheer pleasure as the Forest School Leader to observe ALL children fully engaged in a plethora of activities; respecting the environment, having regard for their own and others safety and working in complete harmony with each other.
Here is a flavour of our learning that was observed:
Exploration around the pond…the children were fascinated by a dead caterpillar and speculated how he came to be in the water.
Practicing tying a timber hitch knot.
Will it hold my weight…Yes!
Mud pie sculptures. A birthday cake…yummy!
Let’s lie down and study the clouds passing by.
A mud face pack!
Shelter building for tiny creatures.
Lots of mud and team work!
Our session drew to a close this week with our usual hot chocolate and biscuit, a good sing song and a reflection on the past six weeks at Forest School. What a wonderful magical journey we’ve had!