This term Cherry Class’ topic is all about growing. The children played a game of ‘you are only safe if you are touching….’ to learn the names of some of the trees on the playground. We identified the silver birch, cherry and horse chestnut trees, then made tags with the tree name and picture and some illustrated the leaf shapes and some of the fruit the trees will produce. We had lots of fun hanging them in the trees and watching them twirl in the wind. Some of the class created rubbings of the tree bark with wax crayons.
The children learned to use secateurs safely to cut some willow ready for making and creating. There were imaginative ideas with lovely woodland crowns and plaits and some groups made miniature dens. Fallen blossoms was used to decorate crowns and some children made inventive rings for their fingers using ivy leaves.
Cherry Class also planted a cherry tree at school. They dug carefully and talked about animals such as worms living in the soil. They also shared their knowledge that trees and other plants give the world oxygen and take in C02. It was great to hear their knowledge and see them take great care of the sapling tree as they planted it.
The children each chose a ‘sit spot’ and spent 5 minutes sitting and listening to environmental sounds. Some children used this time to make small collages with the fallen cherry blossom. At the end of their session each of the class played a game of ‘Spirit of the Forest’. They had to imagine being an animal in the woods and if they were tagged, they changed into a tree.
At the end of the afternoon each of Cherry Class had a go at writing what they had enjoyed about the afternoon.
“I liked being calm on my own spot”
“I liked making my miniature den”
“I liked the label I made, it was for a cherry tree and I drew cherries on it!”
