Group 2
Story Sticks 16/06/21
What another glorious day to be going down to the dene. On the way we past many flowers that are coming out. The Dog Roses and Elderberry were especially nice. We picked a few flowers and other interesting leaves so that when we got to our Forest School site we could use them for a story stick that recorded the journey to Forest School.
The stream in the dene looked so inviting in the sun that we had to have an Amazon adventure. We were careful not to get eaten by piranha fish, crossed incredibly wobbly bridges and climbed up huge waterfalls. What a brave group of adventurers.
By the time we made it to our site then of course my idea of story sticks was changed to suit what the children wanted to make. They looked fantastic. Some children preferred to play games or explore so they had a very dusty time doing that. All in all it was a very productive and fun session.
Distractions Galore 09/06/21
It was the first trip to the Dene for a new group of Newburn Forest Schoolers. We set off full of purpose and determination to get to our site quickly but as usual we lost the focus and got distracted very quickly as we found a clump of buttercups so of course we all had to test each other and be tested to check if we liked butter. I then found a clump of Sticky Jack and couldn’t resist trying to get some on to people, but then decided to make myself a crown instead. The children followed suite.
With the small amount of rain we have been getting the last few weeks the stream was very low so for those in wellies we went on a river walk. Those rocks are very slippy when wet, but no one fell in and I think I might have been the only one to slide. At the end of the walk I saw a huge bracket fungus which I think could have been ‘chicken of the woods’. Not being sure meant we left t alone. I would love to learn more about fungi as I think it would have great if we could have foraged some.
To introduce the area and get us to the boundaries we set upon the children we played a variety of games. After everyone was puffed we decided that some children could carry on if the wanted but others chose to explore, play in hammocks or start to make some things.
After our quite reflection time it was time to come back to school. I was feeling very pleased with myself as we had actually left on time. On the way back, however, there was one more distraction. We met one of the staff from the Riverside Falconry Centre. They had a baby Eurasian Eagle Owl that they offered to show us all. It was fantastic and even though it still had it’s chick down on it, it was massive! All the children were incredibly brave and everyone stroked it’s back. Maybe next week we will be on time.
