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This week in Forest School, the boys and girls worked in groups and pairs to create a seasonal tree, made from pine cones, sticks, flowers and bark etc.
One of our WAU topics that also links in with PDMU that we have covered is ‘Me I’m Unique’ and we discussed how we are like trees in many ways. We are planted on earth, have roots that connect us to an area, we need things to help us grow and as we grow we blossom. We discover things we like and don’t like and we gain lots of experiences. What makes us unique is that we are all different just like trees and we have our own individual talents that we are gifted with.
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Primary 4 have started a new topic entitled 'Healthy Places, Healthy Children.' This week in Forest School, both Primary 4 classes had to create something that made them happy and healthy. This corresponded with all that's been learnt in this topic so far; what makes us healthy and how do 'places' actually effect our health (Places like play parks, football pitches, restaurants and even the places we live).
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Today in Forest School P4 imagined they were evacuated children during World War 2 who got lost in the Forest. In groups they had to build shelters using only two sheets of tarpaulin, some clothes pegs and a few bamboo sticks. They were also allowed to use whatever they could find around them, including trees, branches and the fence. One of the P4 classes went outside before lunch and the other after lunch.
The children all worked very well in their groups and it was interesting to hear of the different problems each group encountered when designing their shelter.
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Today saw the start of Forest School for our current P4 children. We put on outdoor boots and coats and went on a full perimeter walk. The children walked over all sorts of ground and helped to pick up litter that they came across. When we got back to our Forest School bases, both P4 classes had the opportunity to try and create a birds eye view of the school, picturing what it would look at from above.
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P3 & P4 enjoyed using the beautiful autumn leaves to create their own leaf creatures. I think you will agree they are fantastic.
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Our second Forest School challenge from home involved children finding the area of things using non-standard (and in some cases standard) units.
It was great to see the creativity.
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We asked our P4s to use their Forest School skills to create an animal using materials from inside and outside of their house.
Have a look through the gallery and see what they came up with.
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Today Primary 4 had an exciting Forest School lesson looking at 'Little Red Riding Hood'. The class helped Miss McAnearney to dramatically retell the story of Little Red Riding Hood before being split into small groups. Whilst in their small groups, they had to decide what scene of the story they would like to recreate using the natural materials found around them. Pupils then worked in their teams to gather materials and create their spectacular pictures.
Some pupils also helped Mr Gault to plant some elder wood, donated by the Woodland Trust.
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Read more: P4 Forest School 5 - Little Red Riding Hood Scenes
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Today in Forest School the children had an opportunity to use vegetable peelers and tent pigs to help create bug hotels. Using elder wood, the children peeled back the bark and then used a peg to pull out some of the soft wood in the inside.
Children also used whatever else they found on the ground to create 'comfortable' areas for bugs to enjoy.
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P4G had a special Forest School lesson today as they displayed what we do to a group of Stranmillis PGCE Students accompanied by Mrs McClelland. As P4 have been looking at maps in both their 'Life in the Recent Past' and 'Polar Region' topics, it got us talking about birds eye and aerial views. The children, after completing a perimeter walk of the school last week, had to design an aerial view of the school grounds using only the materials around them.
Each group had a chance to talk about what they made and were questioned by their classmates, encouraging using cross curricular skills and many of the thinking skills and personal capabilities as outlined in the NI Curriculum.
The children also spoke with the visiting students and were great ambassadors for Waringstown Primary School. We're very proud of how well they listened and behaved.
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Read more: P4 Forest School 3 (with Stranmillis PGCE Students) - Aerial View
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The work of NIFSA (Northern Ireland Forest School Association) is constantly developing and this year they have introduced three accreditation levels for Forest Schools to work on. Today, with the work we've already completed, we were accredited with the 'Elder Award Status.'
Hopefully, by the end of the year, with the development of our own Forest School P4 Curriculum and aiding in the training and development of Forest School in other schools, we will achieve 'Birch Award Status' and then 'Oak Award Status.'
We'll keep you posted.