Endings and Beginnings

As last term ended and each group sat round giving feedback of their first year in Forest School a small rumble of enthusiasm would overtake each group... 'Do you remember when... ? and within a short time nearly every lesson of the year have been covered with someone's favourite moment or with something that had happened which caused everyone to laugh.

As a school we are trying to build learning memories in to children's lives, by giving them experiences and an enthusiasm for learning that will last a lifetime.

As we start the new school year plans are busily being put into place to launch the Cornerstones Curriculum after a successful trial of the Champions unit at the end of the summer term.

Forest School is contributing to those memories, getting children excited about a different way of learning. Already walking down the corridor children are asking, 'Are we doing Forest School? Is it group A this week?' and as the first children emerged for Spy Camp in Year 6 and exclamation of 'Freedom!'

Forest School Olympics

To link in to the Cornerstones Champions project being run across the school in the final half term two of the year groups used their sessions to develop games for a Forest School Olympics.

The children discussed the different skills used by athletes and contrasted this with the attributes they need to succeed at a higher level. Then splitting into small teams went away to collect materials to create their own games.

Here the children's creativity came in to play. Time after time children came up with imaginative, individual games. They were thoroughly involved through planning, negotiation, imagination, cooperation, listening, watching, suggesting, testing. Their methods of presentation were individual too.  From groups that explained and demonstrated to those who turned it into their own TV show with commentators, awards and presentations.

Given the chance and a purpose this activity has shown just how creative and imaginative children can be.

Sometimes it rains

Sometimes it rains in Forest School. So it's Friday afternoon last lesson and we're to be outside making games to be played in Forest School. "Someone says can we stay in and watch the film?" So they take a vote on it. No one wants to stay in and out we go, get soaked but have a great time, for some like never before.

Making Music

This really simple but effective idea was picked up at the Embracing Outdoor Learning Conference in a workshop run by Chris Holland.

We started off with children finding a calm place on the site to sit and listen to all the sounds around them. Collecting back together the children shared their sounds individually. Next we put a conductor in the middle of the circle who began to blend together some of the different sounds using loud and soft and quick and slow to bring variety to the music.

Next I demonstrated how bits and pieces found in Forest School could be used as a form of musical notation. The children quickly picked up the idea and began to add suggestions and changes to my notation to develop the music further.

The children then divided themselves into pairs and began to compose and arrange their music in their own way. After a period of composition and practice each pair performed their piece of music.

There are ways to develop this further but working with Y3/4 this was about enough and we finished with a game. Hide and seek tig is the favourite at the moment.

Where a skills based curriculum is being used this activity is becomes easy to assess.
Level 2 Create and repeat short rhythmic patterns. Use symbols (standard and invented) to
represent sounds.
Level 3 Improvise repeated patterns. Compose and perform simple melodies and
songs independently. Can represent different sounds, e.g. The trees - birds singing (whistles), wind blowing/crash of thunder(clap) etc

Getting Ready for International Mud Day

I know it's tomorrow but we had so much rain today we just couldn't resist. 21mm of rain fell in a little over 30 minutes and it looked like more was to come so Y6 took to the mud pit to make their river and dam to keep the cities along the shore supplied with water.

The Three Little Pigs

This week with the Cognitive Learning Unit we took the theme of the Three Little Pigs. The children really enjoy stories and get involved in their telling so this was an opportunity to immerse them in the story and its telling using the Forest School site.

In class we read
  

It was great fun lifting the flaps and predicting what would be underneath.
Next we went outside and started with a game of Big Bad Wolf hide and seek.
The group of children were divided into each of the pigs and collected materials to make their houses.
After this we acted out the story, with the teacher in role as the Big Bad Wolf and narrator.
One of the children in the group used the iPad to photograph the story.
The pictures have been turned into a film to help recall the story.

Back in class the children completed sequencing and sentence writing activities.

Ladybird Hunting

It seemed like a really good idea to go ladybird hunting at the time. In the week before I'd noticed loads of them all over the site. So I got together some identification sheets and cameras, did some basic research to be able to dispel myths the children had about them (I was surprised how many children were afraid of ladybirds because they thought they were poisonous to humans, oh yes and their spots tell you how old they are!) and with clear guidance let Year 6 go hunting to see how many different kinds they could find. They must have known we were coming! But after a while we worked out their favourite habitats and soon had a good variety recorded. This took place as part of their lesson and was repeated for each of the six groups over a two week period. The children loved exploring and the shouts of I've found one    would regularly be heard all around the site.