The Snow

It's really exciting when it snows, especially when you're young. Last year we had hardly any to speak of and by the time we got outdoors in the morning it had all gone.


The first day with snow - not much really!

Usually snow means sit in your classroom it's wet play and just look at the outdoors but with Forest School it means 'fantatastic' we get to go out in it.

Almost a snowman

Here at Lyndon Green the children go out on a bi weekly cycle for their lessons and sadly the weather doesn't understand Equal Opportunities, so not lasting the full two weeks some missed out.

The snow gave the children a chance to see the outdoors in another way, there was a feeling that it would be cold but the outdoor thermometers told us that it was not as cold as some of the frosty mornings we had had in the sunshine, the snow just made it feel colder.

And then it really snowed

Planned activities were put to one side and the children explored how the snow could be used to create characters. It was very powdery and difficult to get it to stick together for most of the time and it was not until some of the moisture from the ground was absorbed that we could start to roll giant snowballs or make huge snowmen.

Snow Hedgehogs

Here are some of the things we did make and what fun we had.

 

Environmental Art

Land Art in  the middle of winter! Well Year 6 have started their new Cornerstones topic on Gallery.

As part of the engage week they had arranged for a day to immerse the children in a whole range of art activities and of course Forest School could offer Environmental Art. Also taking part in the day was Spencer Jenkins http://www.spencerjenkins.co.uk/ Teachers and TA's provided the other activities.

We explored the work of Richard Schilling and how he used natural materials in the landscape also interesting is the way he records the decay of his artwork.

This inspired the children to collect and find as much as they could to create their own pieces of work.

Thanks to http://fagleyforestschool.blogspot.co.uk/2012_05_01_archive.html I'd picked up the idea of using material and leaves to create a picture on material by bashing the colour out of them, we also found that on one side the leaf completly embeded itsefl into the material.

This proved a popular option on a very cold day with few materials available to collect and the results of the sessions can be seen in the book below.

Winter Comes

It has been a strange term in Forest School this year and the result must be down to the weather we have had. Last year there was an abundance of fruit on the site, beech nuts, cherries, acorns and so on. The children had great fun making fairy plates with all that they found. But this year nothing!
By contrast the dry winter last year has given way to a very wet period and managing movement around the site has been important to preserve the grassed areas and prevent it becoming a mud bath.

However, at least this year Winter has made an appearance and finding out from the children why they think it is cold has been most interesting, from 'it's because of Father Christmas or Jack Frost' to the child who thanked the Head Teacher for the decorating the perimeter fence for Christmas (frozen cobwebs). It has provided a wonderful time to explore what things look like in the cold and why it happens.

The children have also had the opportunity to be creative using the frosty nights to come up with their own creations.

Below is just a glimpse into Winter at Lyndon Green. All we need now is the snow!!

Dragons

This has been one of our most successful topics of late. The children have not only worked fantastically in Forest School lessons but have wanted to follow up this in their own time creating comics about the dragons.

We started the lesson with a game of true and false where children had to run between trees to select their answer to a statement.

Marco Polo encountered dragons on his travels. True or False
Legend says Alexander the Great was the son of a dragon. True or False

After this links were made to their heroes work through discussion before starting on creating the dragons.

For some lessons children made themselves into the dragon but as the weather deteriorated dragons became creatures to ride upon the back of.

Some of the children were so excited they wanted to take the work further to put their dragons in to a story. After a few lunchtimes this is what they came up with.

Open publication - Free publishing - More comic

More Lost Garden Sculptures

The next round of Year 6 classes have been making their Lost Garden Sculptures. Witches, a snake, elves, a wasp and a dinosaur. Can spot them? Here they are:-

Winter in the Lost Gardens

Today in Forest School we have been looking at the signs of Winter and found plenty of interesting things on the site. From fungus to nests but the one everyone wanted to find just wasn't there. Can you guess what it was?

Fungus

The Winter Spotter Sheet

Moss

Year 6 have been introduced to the mysterious characters in the Lost Gardens of Helligan.

The children worked to create their own mini characters to reflect a woodland setting and we hope to make some large size versions in the New Year.

Which is your favourite?