Forest School Autumn Term 1
Forest School
22/09/2022
Well what a fantastic week weather wise it has been to start forest school again.
This week all classes have been looking at native trees to Britain, their leaves and seeds. They have explored the Outdoor Learning Area and the playground to collect leaves from trees and their seeds. Most groups were extremely successful collecting almost ten different species.
On returning to the classroom the pupils identified the leaves and the seeds. We discussed why trees have leaves and the importance for the trees to produce energy to create seeds.
The pupils then had the chance to colour in a variety of leaves in an Aboriginal Art style. With the leaves we are going to create a display in the main hall. There were some fantastic creations.
29/09/2022
This week all groups have been looking at apples. We are fortunate to have about eight apple trees with different varieties around the school. So we collected a sample and much to the delight of pupils carried out a taste test.
The pupils have learnt about the different varieties (there are over 2500 varieties in Britain) and how they differ in size, shape, colour, flavor and even texture. They were amazed to find out the health benefits from reducing cholesterol and reducing blood pressure and that they are full of fibre and antitoxins.
We looked at the life cycle of the apple and it’s seeds and all pupils made an Apple Card with a poem inside.
We discussed buying British Apples and trying different varieties at home.
All going well we are looking at having an Apple Day on Monday 10th October when we will be collecting our apples and turning them in to apple juice for the pupils to have at lunchtimes.
07/10/2022
This week groups have been looking at Sunflowers. Last Spring Class 2 planted out some seedlings and over the summer months they grew and provided us with a fantastic display outside the main hall.
The pupils have learnt about the lifecycle of the Sunflower and some interesting facts:
Each sunflower is actually made up of thousands of teeny flowers .
A sunflower head can have somewhere between 1000-2000 seeds
The tallest sunflower ever grew was over 30ft !
Sunflowers are heliotropic meaning the heads follow the sun during the day. Wow !
The pupils then made their own sunflowers showing the life cycle and also produced some fantastic bookmarks.
All going well we will collect and dry the sunflower seeds and create an even bigger display of blossom next year.
Mr.Wiggans