Year 2 (Meerkats)

 Welcome to your Forest School activities page!

Here you will find details and photos of all our sessions in the Woodland and on the Animal Park. 

Please scroll down the page to see what we have been getting up to each week!

On Monday 28th April, Miss T gave a brief Health and Safety in the Woods talk in the Year 2 classroom, just to familiarise everyone with our expectations during our Forest School sessions this term.

It is absolutely wonderful to be back, working with Year 2 in Forest School and we will now have sessions each week up to the end of term. 

THERE WILL BE A WHOLE CLASS SESSION ON FRIDAY 18th JULY AND THIS WILL BE OUR LAST FOREST SCHOOL SESSION IN YEAR 2

THERE WILL BE NO FOREST SCHOOL SESSION ON TUESDAY  15th JULY

Session 5 - 8th and 11th July

A Muddy Week!

Oh the weather was SO hot this week, but it was really important that we spent time with our animals to make sure they had enough water and shade to help them keep cool.  We filled up all the water containers with fresh water and made sure the animals all had plenty of fresh fruit.  There are lots of shady areas on the Animal Park and everyone was super chilled.  We made sure we stayed calm around the animals too so no one needed to run around too much.

We went down to the pond and we talked about the creatures and plants that live in this habitat.  The water was still flowing into the pond from the underground spring, and we could see fresh water shrimp, a few tadpoles and lots of pond skaters.  There is still lots of watercress growing in the pond and this helps to shelter all the creatures that live in there.  Miss T said we could go into the bottom pond to gather clay and to get muddy, and we had a fabulous time.  We were careful not to splash anyone that didn't want to get too muddy, and very nearly everyone came back with at least a muddy dot on their nose!  Some, I have to add, were a lot muddier than that !

We went down to the river to play and look for clay.  Some of us talked about how the clay is formed on the banks of the river over many, many years of built up layers of vegetation, slate and soil that is compressed, soaked with river water and eventually turns into clay.  We had a go at making pinch pots and we also climbed up the banks of the river, which was really hard to do...  it was fun to slide back down again though!

We had a super cool (literally!) week in Forest School this week and on Friday we had a go on the obstacle course that Miss T's Home Ed group have started to build in the Forest School main site.  We will have another look at this during our last, whole class session on Friday next week.

Take a look at the photos below.

Session 4 - 4th July

Whole Class session!

The whole of Meerkat Class came for a Forest School session this week, which meant that Mr Scott AND Miss Fenlon could join us too!

We spent some time on the AP and I was particularly impressed with how some children simply went and  found the right tools and started working!  Horace's water tub was beautifully cleaned out and re filled with fresh drinking water, paths were swept, and all animals were fed.. Everyone was very calm around the animals too, I think we all understand that not many of the birds like to be picked up, especially the chicks, because their mammas get very stressed as they think their babies are being taken away.  We do have two hens that love a cuddle, Bjork and Fudgeree!  If we put a bit of food in our hands these two will come over and quite happily come for a cuddle.

We went into the woodland today and sat on our log circle in the sunshine.  The woodland is looking very beautiful at the moment and there are lots of ripe cherries on the trees.  Unfortunately many of them are too high up to get to, so we couldn't try any today.  We split into three groups and went off to look at the different types of trees, by looking at the leaves and the bark.  Many of us could identify oak leaves because of their distinct shape.  Some of us hugged the trees.. this is a very calming activity as trees emit a lot of positive energy which can really help to balance emotions.  

We tasted some blackcurrants from our community garden, where we have corn, chard, beetroot, brassica, nasturtium, marigold and sunflowers growing.  However, because the weather has been so dry for the past three months, some of these crops have gone straight to seed, which is something plants do if they detect that the ground is too dry for them to flourish.  This ensures that the plant will survive through seed dispersal.

Some of us found some 'sticky buds', or goose grass.  This plant is deliberately sticky, because when it attaches itself  to us or to animals, this also ensures that it's seeds are dispersed.

We had a bit of free time in our main Forest School area, and it was fascinating to watch how everyone interacted.  There was good collaboration with the den building - some of the logs were too heavy to carry so several children worked together to lift, carry and place the log on the den.  Some found that the cherries that had dropped to the floor from the trees made excellent mud pies in the mud (or dust!) kitchen.  The juice stained hands, and turned dust into a dark red, sticky consistency, perfect for making into cherry pies!

An interesting and factual session this week Year 2.  We'll talk more about this during our sessions next week to see what you can remember.

Session 3 - 24th and 27th June

Let's see what's changed on the Animal Park!

We are having an absolutely wonderful summer, weatherwise, this year and I don't think our Animal Park has ever been this dry!  We must remember this in January, when, I'm sure it will be wet, cold and muddy again!

It's lovely to be back with Year 2 and we had two wonderful Forest School sessions on the Animal Park this week.  We couldn't believe how much our chicks and ducklings have grown, and how much fur the goats have lost.  They looked bald!  They shed their thick winter coats for the summer and it always makes them look very sleek and slim!

Miss T had a surprise for us on the AP, but she said we needed to get some jobs done first.  So we swept paving slabs, raked up old hay, changed the water in Horace's drinking tub, changed the goat's drinking water, put fresh hay in the goat shed, and then we fed and fussed everyone.  The Park looked lovely and clean and tidy and then we cuddled our 3 month old guinea pigs, who have also grown a lot since we last saw them!

Miss T introduced us to the Barefoot Walk she'd prepared.  We looked at all the different trays and saw that there was a blanket, shavings, logs, sand, straw, roofing felt, soil and stones, mud, water and a towel.  Most of us couldn't wait to get our wellies and socks off and walk through all the sensory trays.  Some were tickly, some were soft, some were rough, spikey, tickly, squelchy, and wet!  We went round and round having lots of goes, and we loved it!  We also found a bucket of clay so we painted our faces and made some models.

We had a super time on the Animal Park and next week we'll go up to the Community Garden in the woodland to see what is growing there and try some berries and leaves that Miss T says are safe to eat!

Thank you Year 2, for super enthusiastic behaviour, I've loved being back with you all!

Session 2 - 6th and 9th May

Animal Park and Woodland exploring!

The beautiful, spring weather continued for both our sessions again this week, and I could not believe how hard everyone worked on the Animal Park.  We got loads of jobs done, from sweeping and raking, to changing the smelly water in Horace's drinking tub, to scooping poo, brushing the goats, feeding everyone from the fruit buckets and once all this was done, we cuddled our guinea pigs and some of our chicks.  Friday's group were very lucky because on Wednesday night, four ducklings hatched, so we cuddled those too!  They were SO fluffy and small!  We made sure we didn't keep them away from Mamma duck for too long, we could hear her quacking in the coop wondering where her babies were!

On Tuesday we went to the log circle to look at the dens, and everyone said they'd like to have a go at improving the dens that were already in the woodland, as some of them were falling down.  Miss Fenlon and Miss T were amazed at the collaborative work and communication between many members of Group 1.  They worked so hard to carry big logs to the dens, and managed to prop these up carefully, talking and guiding each other to keep safe.  Some of the group worked in the mud kitchen, tidying it and making some amazing concoctions for us to try!  It was lovely to just stand back and watch how everybody stayed on task, chatted, used their imaginations as well as helping to improve the dens so there was room for everyone who wanted to get inside.  A lovely session in the woodland, with lots of happy, smiling faces!

On Friday we went down to the pond to see if we could see any tadpoles.  There aren't many this year, but we did see a few and some of Group 2 saw a frog hopping about in the watercress, that is growing in the pond!  We tested the water to see how pure it is, as it comes from underground.  Miss T has a special machine that measures the amount of dissolved minerals that are in the water.  If the reading is below 500 , the water is pure enough to drink.  Our reading was 139!  We tried some of the watercress that was growing in the pond, some of us liked it but some of us said it was too peppery!

We looked at the dandelion seed heads, and we picked them and blew the seeds off.  We could see that every seed looked like a tiny umbrella!  We then identified the leaves of the dandelion plant and we went to find some to pick for the animals.  We had to make sure they were the right leaves before we picked them because some plants are poisonous to the animals.  Many of us know that we shouldn't pick flowers because the bees need to pollinate flowers to make sure they produce seeds, and also they need to take nectar from the flowers for their food. 

Two super sessions, thank you Year 2!

Have a look at our photos below,

Session 1 - 29th April and 2nd May

A visit to our Animal Park

We had beautiful summer weather for our first Forest School sessions this week, and we went to spend some time with our wonderful animals.  One or two of us were a bit nervous about meeting all our fluffies, furries and featheries, but once we got down to the Animal Park, we found that all our animals are so friendly and were so pleased to see us, we soon realised there was nothing to be worried about!  We made sure that everyone had some food and then we explored all the paddocks and sheds to find out who lived where.  There are two broods of chicks and they were both wandering around the Animal Park with their mums.  One brood has 10 chicks and two Mammas who are looking after them and the other brood has four chicks that are only a week old, and their Mamma brought them out for the first time on Friday!  We found out that if we want the chicks to come to us, it's best to squat down on the ground, to make ourselves look smaller, with some food in our hands, and that way they aren't scared and will come and eat out of our hands..

On Tuesday, Group 1 found Horace's wallowing pool, and so did Horace!  He paddled in and lay down in the cool, wet mud.. Group 1 decided to help Horace with this task and they covered his back in mud, and then proceeded to jump in the wallowing pool themselves.  I have included a short video of this at the end of the photos below... they had SO much fun!

We managed to get quite a few jobs done too, we made sure everyone had fresh water to drink, and on Friday we collected a lot of eggs.  We saw that a duck was incubating some eggs, and Miss T said that these are due to hatch within the next week or so.. she is sitting on both duck and hen eggs, so we'll see what hatches!

We swept paths, and tidied the Toddler Corner and we all had a fantastic time on our Animal Park in the sunshine!

Have a look at our photos below.