Forest School  Class 5

Autumn 2024

Week 1

We were so excited this morning for our first Forest School day. The weather was dry and sunny so we could explore the garden and play games on the field.

What a great day we all had, here is what we got up to….

As part of our Science, we learnt how to classify objects into ‘LIVING, DEAD and NEVER ALIVE’ – did you know that to be a living thing it needs to grow, eat and breathe! We loved looking for things that were living, dead and never alive and found lots of exciting things.

Mrs Platts took us to look at flowers in the garden. We discussed the different parts and what their function is. We know that the roots not only take water to the plant from the soil, but also help to anchor it to the ground.

As part of our DT work, we made a courgette cake. We talked about healthy and unhealthy foods.  We measured ingredients, mixed them and learnt how to safely use the graters.

In Art we used clay to make pinch pots. We collected natural materials from the garden and used these to decorate our pots. We took inspiration from the Sheffield artist Penny Withers.

In the afternoon we did lots of other activities including gardening jobs, den building and Art sculptures inspired by Andy Goldsworthy’s work. We also had fun games on the field. At the end of the day we got to eat the courgette cake and some of us had seconds, including Mrs Everitt!

 Week 2

We had another great day in Forest School. The weather was a little bit cooler and damp but this made it perfect conditions for doing our Science work.

This week our Science focus was mini-beast habitats. We thought about the different micro-habitats in our school garden and WHY a mini-beast would choose to live in a certain environment. The key words we came up with were:

Habitat  Conditions  Shelter

   

With Mrs Platts we learnt about how plants reproduce, using pollinators which they attract through their scent, shape and / or colour. We had a look at some flowers in the garden and in the plant pots.

Another Science/DT focus this week was making bug hotels. We made some fabulous habitats for mini-beats and hope to encourage more into the school garden.

In our Art activity we got to make clay coil pots! Some of us found this a little harder than last weeks’ pinch pots, but we all did really well and understand what slip is and how it is used.

Here are some of the photos from the rest of the afternoon’s activities. We enjoyed gardening, bug hunting, bird watching, den building and making more mini-beast homes.

 Week 3

A cold but dry day for Forest School today and another busy day learning lots of new skills and facts.

Our key word for the day in our Science was ADAPTATION. We can all adapt to hot or cold weather but we also learnt how insects have adapted to help them survive in the habitats in our garden.

We learnt the meaning of the following new words:

• Camouflage
• Exoskeleton
• Survival/Protection
• Movement

We thought about how certain insects and mini-beasts have ADAPTED to their habitats to SURVIVE.

We learned about snails, spiders,  woodlouse and other mini beasts.  We used our insect adaptation sheet to record the different ways insects have adapted to survive. Did you know that some mini beasts have an Exoskeleton which is on the outside of their bodies?

 

With Mrs Platts we looked at plant lifecycles. Just like us, plants live, reproduce and then die. 

We talked about the meanings of the following key words:

1. Germination
2. Growth
3. Flowering
4. Seed

As part of our DT work we practised our knife skills and grating skills as we made apple and carrot traybake. We took it in turns to weigh the ingredients and add them to the bowl. We all had a turn at gratingand peeling  the carrots and apples as well as mixing the ingredients together.

In the afternoon we loved making different weaving frames using sticks and leaves. We also enjoyed bird watching and designing bird boxes for our chosen birds.

Week 4

It was very sunny in  Forest School today so we were very keen to  take part in all of the fun activities.

Mrs Platts took us around the school grounds to identify different trees. We ticked off the ones we could find including oak tree, silver birch and ash.

We learnt about animal food chains with Mrs Everitt. Do you know what the difference between PREDATOR and PREY is? Or what a PRODUCER and a CONSUMER are? We created some food chains together thinking about the mini-beasts / animals that we would see in our local environment such as our gardens or local woodland. We then played a fun food chain game on the field.

As part of our DT learning we worked with Barry and Mrs Palmer to make our own weaving frames. We worked in small groups and helped each another tie the knots to make a stable framework. We then used natural materials to weave into our frames.

In Art we did careful observational drawings of different leafs. We used pencil and pen and thought carefully about line, shape and scale.

In the afternoon we finished our weaving frames and helped Mrs Platts with the gardening. We also went on a bug hunt around the garden. We enjoyed playing some more field games too!

 

Week 5

Today was another sunny but cold day in Forest School. For our Art this week we did some observational drawing of acorns, conkers and pine cones. We thought carefully about line and shape and discussed what trees they came from.

We worked with Mrs Palmer to learn about the artist Barbara Hepworth. We used clay to make our own sculptures inspired by her work.

Mrs Platts and Neviile showed us how to use a peeler carefully to whittle sticks. In the afternoon we decorated them with felt tips.

We really loved working with the Autumn leaves to make leaf collages of animals!

In the afternoon Mrs Platts taught us about fire saftey. We had a campfire and toasted marshmallows. They were delicious!

 

 

 

Week 6

Today was our last Forest School session. As a special treat we went on a local walk and put lots of our learning to use.

As we walked we discussed the different trees and plants we could see. We were able to identify a Rowan tree and an Ash tree. We also found some red clover and some mini-beasts.

Mrs Grayson told us a story about pack horses and how hard they worked. We had to close our eyes as we listened to the story. We were sure we could hear the horses but when we looked we couldn’t see them! We played pooh sticks with the sticks we whittled last week before walking back to school.

We have really enjoyed our time in Forest School.