Group 1

Hearts and Slides 15/02/23

The last Forest School session for this group so I was keen to finish off all the loose ends that were left. The children are very use to the routine by now so we leave the class, gather our things, go to the shed, make sure everything is packed and then organise the trolley. It might seem a lot but everyone has a good idea of what to do. This week we seemed to have an extra weight of things so the lovely whippy willow was carried separately.

Job 1: Collect stones from the stream for Mrs. Miller. We had gone down to the stream last week for adventures but this time Mrs. Miller had asked us to collect some flat stones for an art project. We found plenty of flat pebbles and an old basket which we recycled to carry them all in. It was a hard job to get them back up the bank.

Job 2: Use the willow withies to make patterns join them with string then make some paste to stick tissue paper on them.

Job3: Go on the epic ‘Slope of Dooooooom’. This is a very long slope that is fantastic for sliding down. It is so big that I put a rope down one side to make it easier to get back to the top.

Job 4: Finish the wheels for dog log and make Forest School medals.

Job 5 and 6: Fit ibn a game of Fox and Rabbit, Oggle Poggle and sing our song. This is in addition to having quiet time to reflect upon all the marvellous things we have done over the last 6 weeks.

Well believe it or not we just about got everything done, even fitting in a snack and a drink. No wonder we are sometimes a bit late back for our lunch.

Fashionista Fun 08/02/23

I knew that we had a lot to get through today and so we only stopped for a short time to listen to the robin calling out his territory. We spotted a finch too but didn’t hear him sing.

We fitted in a game of fox and rabbit. The hiding has got so good that I was stood right over one child and still couldn’t see her. I think the foxes need to get smarter!

Instead of going our usual route we decided to have an early rope adventure next to the stream. From above the water did not look very deep but as we got down to it I could see that there were some deep pools. After splodging and stone throwing we decided that we could have another go if it did not rain this next week otherwise it is just too deep.

It seems that some children just love rope adventure and can not get enough of it so they set up their rope and started to have their own adventures. Others set up some hammocks and had a swing. I had brought an electric drill as the last time we came it was quite frustrating having to drill, drill, drill all the time for just one hole! There were still some children who enjoy drilling and they did a great job of making holes by hand. For those who were more interested in the crafting side I helped out with the drilling. It made things go a lot quicker. As well as the dog logs we made forest glam glasses, I thought they were fabulous.

I enjoyed using the tarp as a mat to look up through the trees. There are no leaves yet, but I am sure it won’t be long before the first buds appear.

Which Tree is Me? 25/01/23

The weather is so variable at the moment, I bought along a hat, full gloves, full water proofs and a scarf. In the I took most of it off as I was too hot. It is a bit early to be thinking of spring but never the less it does enter my mind. I heard my first wood pecker this week so I was looking forward to a trip to the dene to see if I could hear one there.

We didn’t stop at all today as we walked to the dene. There was some debate whether we should play the fox and rabbit game but more children were keen that we get to the dene so we could get on with the crafting projects. Strangely when we arrived I seemed to be left with only a few children who wanted make some wheels many wanted to still play rope adventure and since I packed the hammocks others wanted to use them.

Part of Forest School is to learn about where they are having so much fun so we did spend some time identifying oak, hazel and beech trees. That sounded a bit easy so we got out the blindfolds to see how good people were at locating just one tree amongst the whole forest!

By 11:20 it had started to drizzle a bit but since we had missed the quiet time last week we couldn’t miss it again. It was nice to take some deep breaths of woodland air. Although I did not hear a woodpecker I did hear a Blackbird singing – nice.

Snow tracks and games. 18/01/23

What a lovely treat – a snowy Forest School day! When I was getting things ready I noticed all the tracks in the snow. The clear contrast the impressions have made make it easy to identify the animal and see where they are going. By far the biggest number of tracks were made by rabbits. You can tell when the rabbit is hopping slowly and when it was running fast by the distance between the front and back paws. We tracked the rabbit hopping about, it looked like they were having some kind of party. Then the tracks changed and the stride lengthened enormously. Just then we saw some new prints, these could have been of a dog but if you look carefully the second set of pads are fully behind the first set. This means that it was a fox! The rabbit was being chased we tried to see where it went to but the snow had started to melt in that part. I thought it was very exciting to the adventures that the animals get up to on the school grounds.

We went off to the dene a bit later than usual but we still had plenty of time to do things. We played a game of fox and rabbits in amongst the bracken. There was some excellent rabbit hiders and some very scary fox hunters. We had to be mindful of how slippery and hard the frozen ground was so running and sliding was limited to areas where there were plenty of leaves.

When we got to our Forest School area had spent so long exploring and discovering that it was already time for our hot drink and snack. It was delicious, I think the snow made it taste extra delicious.

There was only time for a bit of sawing for some more dog logs and then it was time to come back to school.

Mud, Rope and Dog Logs 11/01/23

I was looking forward to my first Forest School session with Year 2 and was wondering how much they would remember from the previous year. I am pleased to say that they remembered the safety rules we have when we go along to the dene.

Listening to the weather report in the morning, I decided not to take the tarp for a shelter. Within a couple of minutes of setting off it had started to rain. Luckily, we had some rope and the sitting mat. We put up a make-shift tent that kept off most of the showers that came and went throughout the morning. It also gave us an opportunity to play around with knots. I like to use a simple shoe lace knot and then put a twig into the loop so that the knot cannot pull out.

There were some bow saws and drills in the trolley today so some children decided to use these to make some woodland animals; dog logs were very popular whilst other children wanted to slide on the hill. I helped with the sawing; I could hear a lot of laughter from Mrs Heslop’s group on the slope. Next week it might be worth bringing along the other small tarps to make a slide.

Before we left for school there was time for the children to find a quiet spot to reflect upon all the morning’s activities. I like this time of quiet as it allows the children time to listen to the sounds of the woods without all the noise of our group. A few deep breaths and we were all ready to get back to school.