Lilac Class Forest School

After the wet and cold weather we have been so used to, it was gorgeous in the sunshine today.

Miss Banks brought her dog Poppy this week and she enjoyed playing with sticks as much as the children. Many of the class added to their 10 minute school running challenge by running stretches of the railway line on the way to the woods.

The impact of Forest School can be seen through their observations of their environment. This week we walked along a badger path and looked at evidence of them looking for food and at the entrance holes of their sets.

In preparation for their topic next term ‘survival’, the whole class learned some knots. They will hopefully use these skills to make shelters with next term.

The Impact of Forest School for the children is the knowledge the children have gained from the Forest School experience. Today they learned how to tie a ‘clove hitch’. They had a go at teaching and supporting each other with the steps involved.

They started with making a joined up ‘ee’ digraph out of string. They then put the right loop behind the left loop and put it around the stick they had collected.

The children then learned how to square lash their stick to another one and how to tie it off at the end.

Some children carried on exploring knot tying and practised and developed their new skills.

Some went and explored the fallen tree and decided it would make a great adventure playground, with a trampoline, balance beam and slide. A group of children fetched digging tools and explored what animals they could find below the surface of the woodland floor.

The children played some stealth games which they had learned previously and made up imaginative role play stories. There was time for some more physical challenge with the slack line.