Year 4
The first term has included the learners getting to know the site. The Forest School Association believes that learners should have around 5-7 weeks of getting to know their surroundings before getting into fully planned sessions. This is to ensure that learners feel safe in their new learning setting, are aware of the health and safety of the site and resources being used, observations can take place for the Forest School lead to thereafter plan sessions around learners interests, enhancing individual learning needs and supporting the six main principles of Forest School.
There are different objectives which are covered over the forest school sessions which are planned from previous observations and cover the forest school principles such as building resilience, focusing on team work, improving self-esteem and confidence, gaining life skills. The activities planned link into curriculum subjects such as maths, english, science, art and design, R.E, history and geography.
Over this term the following activities have been completed to include the objectives and principles:
- Creation of rules
- Tool talk - bow saw/bush craft knife/hand drill
- mini-beast hunting
- fire lighting
- noise hunt
- clay creations
- acorn designs
- tree mobiles
- singing
- role play
- leaf identification
- Halloween activities
- tree identification
- making smores / toasting marshmallows
Autumn 1
The activities throughout Autumn term were focused on team work, building friendships and working with a kind manor towards everybody and all of nature around us. We have been so busy working as a team or in small groups to achieve a positive outcome throughout all sessions. The following activities have been completed to achieve these objectives and different learning links alongside this.
- Friendship mud pies
- leaf heart and star bunting
- friendship bracelets
- obstacle course created from natural resources
- oil pastel leaves
- cooking bread twists
- den building
- hedgehog home creations / autumn and winter habitats
- tool use
- journey sticks
- stick stars
- tree cookies
- tree identification
- tree climbing
Autumn 2
For this term we are concentrating on animal groupings; mammals, amphibians, insects and reptiles. As well as this we will be completing different activities which link in with the Forest School principles and other events through the term.
- Habitat creations
- den building
- amphibian creations - imagination
Spring Term 1
