Mama Beech

This week we brought Forest School indoor at school for the children who still attend. It's always a challenge to keep children engaged when the age range runs from 5 - 11, but some things are too much fun not to engage in!  I have said before - I have a large IKEA bag full of activities for children to do inside. It is rarely needed, but if there is high wind or thunderstorms and I need to take the outdoor learning inside, I am prepared! So we started the day allowing the children to look through all the different things available, Insect life cycles, picturebooks with props, Bug Top Trumps, wildlife encyclopedias, photo books, playmobil wildlife, bird toys that tweet.... etc In the morning we read them all Bog Baby A great book about removing a creature from it's habitat. It caused great discussion about why this might not work, and children's own wanderings through bluebell woods and near rivers and ponds with family. It also sparked a discussion about NOT goin...

It's not entirely accurate to say I'm in lockdown, I am a key worker, a member of school staff, and there is a rota, and there are responsibilities, and on occasion I do get to leave the house. I get straight in my car, drive straight to work, and there we try very hard to adhere to the 2 metre rule (adults are better at this than children!) and we nag everyone to wash their hands after every activity inside or out We try to take the children out as much as we can as fresh air is much needed right now. It is a strange time for them and us, and I for one have never spent so much time within 4 walls before and am missing open spaces! I have been into work this week and will go in if needed over the next couple of weeks. The children have worked hard since September to improve their outdoor areas, and I can take a small group out with me to help maintain a lot of what they have achieved so far. I also took the opportunity of being on site to complete the planting of ba...

On a completely unrelated note to Outdoor Learning - how did we reach a third of the way into March 2020 already? Not only has this school year galloped along but this brand new decade has got off to it's own flying start! We've passed the half way mark for the academic year. Here we measure that time in 6 Terms not 3 Terms cut in half, and Term 4 is well and truly established! Those of you not in the education system will be watching the first season of 2020 fading already. Whichever way you view your year, we are racing towards the Easter break....😮 So even after a Half Term Holiday not that long ago (but faded from memory already) and the weather improving slightly (as long as it's not a weekend!) days are hectic and busy and Outdoor Learning is beginning to grow. We received our first batch of Woodland Trust Trees for Schools on Tuesday (the second batch arrived on Friday) and the small groups I work with immediately got stuck into planting. Our plan is that every ...

The last few days before the Christmas break. Forest School celebrated with campfires and marshmallows and hot chocolate, and as the afternoons began to look more like evening, as dusk made the school day dull early, we decided the rest of the children need not miss out. Every class had the opportunity to come outside to basecamp and to sit by the campfire and listen to a story. For some this may have been the latest chapter in the novel the class is hooked on, for others it may be a book randomly chosen by one of the pupils, for many it was a picturebook with an Autumnal theme. No one is ever too old for a picture book, they differentiate themselves, and every child vies to see the illustrations. The children watched the flames, put up with the smoke, and listened to the tales they were told. A great way to end the year