Greenfield Primary School
Welly Wednesday Summer Term 2021
23.6.2021 Elder Flowers
The children learnt how to forage in the forest, identify Elder and make elder flower cordial.
They successfully identified two Elders in the forest.
The challenge was how to get the flowers, they were hidden behind lots of long grass!
After a little recalling of the bear hunt and a few attempts to go 'through it', the children decided an adult would reach best. But which one?! The children lined us up to decide who was the tallest, great problem solving and Mrs Sharman is the tallest!
The children were able to take some of the flowers from the lower branches. They were careful to leave some on so that they could develop into berries.
The children recalled the ingredients really well from the recipe; "8 flower heads into the pan and snip off the stems!"
"now we need lemons"
"but we don't have lemons in the forest?!"
Luckily the grown ups had brought lemons!
Look at how carefully and safely the knives were used to slice the lemons.
The pan of elder and lemons was taken back to nursery to be boiled up and chilled to make Elder Flower cordial.
Look how busy the children were in other parts of the forest. They revisited their learning and some went foraging again, this time making their own recipes in the mud kitchen.
In the afternoon we had a official opening of the new willow tunnel!
The forest is growing and changing weekly and the children are finding it so exciting to explore and discover new pathways.
17.6.2021 Caring for our forest
This week the children were back in the forest for the first time after the half term. The children recapped the rules of the forest and how to stay safe.
The learning focus this week was caring for our forest area and making it safe for us and the animals by collecting the rubbish. The children were amazing with the pickers and knowing how they work. They understood the reasons why we don’t want to pick rubbish up with our hands and learnt about what happens to the rubbish after its been put in the bin.
You can revisit the clip we used: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCS6iOG5G68
We were so impressed with how the children noticed the mud kitchen needed tidying and that the bug hotels needed building back up. They worked together to lift and move heavier logs. Great team work!
There were a lot of differences in the forest this week, some that were obvious as soon as we stepped through the gate:
"it's like a jungle!" said Frankie
"the grass is so big, taller as me" said Angel-Mae
" what has happened to the mountain? It's small now"
The willow den had gone wild and we wove in some of the new shoots. We also tried out the new willow tunnel, it was like "going on a bear hunt"!
The children were really observant and so caring towards the creatures they found.
Can you remember the different bugs we spotted this week?
26.5.2021 CLay Bugs
This week the children used their knowledge of minibeasts to sculpture their favourites.
The children explored the texture of the clay, warming it up in their hands to get it malleable. With pinching, poking, squeezing and rolling the children manipulated the clay to create a bug of their choice.
The children compared their clay bugs with one another, looking at features and being generally complementary of one anothers' work.
The children decided to leave the clay models in the forest, decorating the willow den and bug hotels with them.
The children are beginning to really grow an awareness of the needs of the forest and their responsibilities. Some children collected up the loose logs and posted them into the bug hotel, others felt more 'soft' was needed in them and so added grass and leaves.
Check out the team work taking place to carry the heavier and awkward shaped logs.
Some of the children asked for the litter pickers getting out, they had spotted crisp packets in the grass and wanted to collect them for the bin. How observant!
19.5.2021 minibeast hunt
The children explored the forest, searching for minibeasts. The children had great ideas of places to look, lots could recall the places they had found ladybirds last week.
The children remembered to replace the logs and stones when they had up turned them.
Some children decided to use the magnifying glasses of examination pots to take a closer look at the features of the bugs they found.
The children were so careful with the creatures and took care to return them to where they had found them or into the bug hotel.
Can you remember these minibeasts and plants that we found?
The children also noticed changes on some of the leaves. The magnifying glasses were great for a closer look.
After the rain there were plenty of muddy puddles to jump in and explore. The children were interested to know how deep they were and as you can see they enjoyed finding out!
12.5.2021 spring!
This week the children shared all their knowledge of Spring with us. They recalled all the different signs of spring they had seen and learnt about in the last few weeks; new leaves, nests, flowers and weather. Brilliant!
The children used the collection bags to gather as many fallen leaves and flowers as they could. While they were searching they found many ladybirds basking in the sunshine and cheeky children hiding in bushes!
Once the children had collected the spring flowers and leaves they created spring crowns. The children were so careful when placing the delicate flowers in place. They showed some brilliant recall of flower names too!
The children enjoyed trying out Hapa Zome. To do this the children placed an arrangement of flowers and leaves between two pieces of fabric. Then repeatedly tapped the hammer over it to transfer the natural pigments into the fabric.
Look at how we did!
5.5.2021 Hey Duggee - leaf badge!
Duggee loves leaves and collecting them; he has his leaf badge!
The children went to the forest and earnt their leaf badges too!
The children explored the variety of trees in the forest. To achieve the badge the children needed to find 3 different leaves.
They discussed the different leaves, their size, shape and key features and names.
They made some fantastic leaf rubbings to record their findings.
The leaf id dials helped the children to become familiar with some tree names.
Trees have roots, trunks and leaves, revisit one of today's songs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7dKRBZVLvI
Use this video to recap some of the names to the leaves we found in the forest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2K9MEkesto
28.4.2021 Tap the sap
This week the children began to look at the differences between trees and sought out the Birch trees in the forest.
The children learnt that sap contains nutrients and minerals. The sticky liquid runs through the tree and down to the branches to help generate energy while new buds are forming during springtime.
Look how we used the drill to tap into the tree to release the sap.
When the hole was the right size the children pushed in the tube and secured a pot underneath to collect any dripping sap.
The sap was very slow so, while the children waited they had a go with the palm drills.
The children needed lots of persistence to get a hole started in the wood but they were so proud when they checked their progress!
The children left the drilled pieces of wood in the forest, they had great ideas about bugs living in the holes!
The children also had lots of fun being inquisitive in the forest and leading their own learning.
They are developing a great sense of responsibility to our forest area, this week they used the litter pickers to collect rubbish that has been blown in.
21.4.2021 Pond dipping!
The children have been learning about the lifecycle of frogs and the changes that happen from frogspawn to frog. So this week they went to investigate our school pond!
Everyone who wanted to, had a go at dipping into the pond with the nets.
Look how good the children are at staying safe by laying on their tummies.
The children enjoyed returning to the group with their pots of pond water. How interested they were to see the creatures that they had caught!
The children used their identification sheets to help them find out about what they were looking at.
The children had some good hauls, they found pond skaters, water louse and tadpoles!!
We brought some pond water back to the classroom for our tank. The children can keep learning about the pond minibeasts and see if the tadpoles make any further changes before we put them back.
