We have received in the most delightful Forest School home learning ambassador from year 5 and we wanted to share her with you...

Meet Feathers...

If you have an ambassador that helps you learn about nature at home, please send them to us via your year group blogs. We can't wait to find out all about them.

Hello Crawley Ridge, welcome back to the forest school blog. 

We hope that you enjoy reading about habitats and look forward to receiving photos of your stone towers (via your year group emails).

Here is the link if you would like to follow Badger Watch (please remember to check with your adult first): https://www.essexwt.org.uk/wildlife/webcams/badger

Have a wonderful half term. See you soon!

Temperatures over night dropped, brrrrr! When we opened our curtains this morning we were greeted with a beautiful powdery flurry of snow. We shall have to wait to see if it settles long enough for us to build a snowman (fingers crossed).

Until then, here is the latest blog from the Forest School team, so pour yourself a hot chocolate to warm your toes and get comfy...

I wonder if you guessed correctly what the animal prints were? 

Click on this link to check if you were right: 

Send us in a profile of your very own Forest School Ambassador and make Maisie smile with all your exciting woodland adventures.

We love hearing all about what you have been up to and Maisie's grin will grow even bigger every time she hears from each of you!

Get in touch by sending your profile to your year group email address.

Forest School Blog 2

Good morning everyone,

Hope you all have had a good week.

Below are some activities you may like to try at home when the weather improves.

Germination experiment

Natural hammered leaf printing

• A selection of leaves
• Kitchen paper
• Art paper
• A hammer
• Chopping board

1. Working on your chopping board, position your leaf on the art paper, covering with 2 sheets of kitchen paper.

2. Start hammering (but mind your fingers)

3. You will know when it is working as the natural pigment from the leaves will start to show through on the kitchen paper.

4. Gently remove the kitchen paper, and peel back the leaf - it should leave a beautiful print on the art paper - some leaves work better than others, experiment, it's fun!

Nature Weaving

Good morning everyone!

This week's blog is all about the rainy weather. Below you will find some fun experiments you can do at home that relate to the weather.

Making Rainbows

Evaporation Investigation



What happens to the rain after the rain? Find out for yourself ....

Sprinkle water on a hard surface in the sun, and a hard surface in the shade. Chalk a line around the damp patch and time how long it takes to evaporate in each area.

Knot of the Week

You will need two pieces of string for this knot.

Wildlife in Mrs Cherry's garden

Below are a couple of pictures taken of some of the wildlife that Mrs Cherry has found in her garden this week.

If you have any pictures of wildlife in your garden, send them in and we will put them on the blog.

Have a lovely weekend,

Mrs Cherry and Mrs Turland

Good morning everyone,

Hope you have had a good week, despite the weather change.

Below are some more activities that you may like to try.

How to work out the age of a tree

Did you know, the oldest living tree is the bristlecone pine in the USA? It is almost 5000 years old!

You might know that counting the rings on a tree stump will give you the approximate age of the tree, but we do not want to cut trees down to find out how old they are! However there is another way ....

What you will need:

A tape measure

A calculator

What to do:

1. Face the trunk of the tree and measure 1.3m from the ground. This is the point at which you need to measure the circumference of the trunk.

2. At 1.3m from the ground, use the tape measure to measure the circumference of the trunk in cm. Make sure you avoid any lumps or branches.

3. To get the approximate age of the tree, convert the measurement of the circumference in cm, to inches. Here is an example of the calculation.

1 inch = 2.5cm

Tree circumference = 110cm

Calculation: 110cm divided by 2.5cm = 44

Age of the tree = 44 years

See if you can find out what is the oldest and youngest tree in your garden or local park.

Go butterfly spotting

Butterflies are all around at this time of year - but which ones can you spot?

Below are pictures of some of the butterflies you might find in our area.

See how many you can spot!

Brimstone

Comma

Holly Blue

Peacock

Red Admiral

Once you are back inside, why not research them and have a go drawing your favourite. Send them in to your teachers,  we would love to see them.

Wildlife yoga

Our last bird update

As you can see the young blue tits have grown quite big now and since this picture was taken they have flown the nest. Mum and Dad have done a good job.

Hopefully next year there will be a new family.

Finally, just to let you know the Forest School blog will only be posted on a Friday from now on.

Have a lovely weekend,

Mrs Cherry and Mrs Turland

Hello,

 It is fantastic Friday again and half term next week.

Below are some fun activities you may wish to do over half term.

Where's Wally?

Weather Diary

Are you a budding meteorologist?

We have the perfect activity for you. Grab a notebook to use as your very own weather diary and have a go at predicting the weather.

Did you know that pine cones are brilliant for predicting rain as they usually close up before rain and open when it's dry. Some flowers do this too. 

Use your notebooks to predict and record the weather and temperature each day. You could also draw pictures and add photos to your diary and even have a little competition with your family to see who predicts the weather correctly.

Knot of the week

This knot helps to cause tension on a rope and is particularly good for putting up a tarp. Mrs Turland and Mrs Cherry use it all the time.

Bird Update

Our baby blue tits are growing fast.

Also Miss Chick sent these pictures this week. She had a little visitor in her kitchen.

Update on Forest School area

We have been busy this week developing another area in our Forest School for you to enjoy.

Lastly one of our teaching assistants sent in a self portrait this week. Can you guess who it is?

Have a lovely half term and enjoy some rest as you all have worked so hard at home.

Mrs Cherry and Mrs Turland

Can you believe it's 'Terrific' Tuesday again!

The sun is shining and 1/2 term is in sight.  

FOX WALKING

Want to walk like a fox? We have taken this from another Forest School Leaders site - it links with mental health and the environment around us.  Before you decide it's not for you....just take a minute and read through.  What harm is there is giving it a go?.....

YOUR GARDEN/FOREST SCHOOL IDEAS

One element of Forest School, that we really believe in,  is that in sessions we give you the opportunity for some 'child-led' learning.  It might be we introduce a game and you change and develop into your own.  It might be we start talking about one thing and it leads to an investigation of how soil is formed or a group of you set your own challenge to make a fort....which turns into a volcano and lava game and happens to take the whole of after school club to play!  These moments are magical and it when the real understanding and development happens.

With this is mind.  We challenge you to email your class teacher with some Forest School ideas that we can share with the whole school to challenge them to try over 1/2 term.

You could send us: drawings, photographs and/or written instructions

MRS TURLAND'S VEG PATCH WATCH

Week 9

Well, I spoke too soon, there was an unexpected night frost at the end of last week and a few of my plants have not survived.  I'm not deterred.  I have planned some more seeds in the greenhouse to replace them.  Whilst sowing the seeds I began to wonder....why when you plan a seed - for some the germinate and produce a plant that then goes on to produces a single vegetable - carrot/onion.  While others - you sow one miniscule seed and the plant it produces goes on to deliver multiple vegetables - peas/chilli/tomatoes.  Can you think of other examples? Nature is AMAZING!

Sunflower update - do you remember in week 7 I told you about the sunflower seeds I planted under mini greenhouses made from recycled plastic bottles? Well, if you look closely at the photo, you can see green shoots sprouting!  If the warm weather continues I will be able to remove their protective cocoons.

Mrs Cherry will be blogging on Friday, so I will wish you a happy and safe 1/2 term.

Mrs Turland & Mrs Cherry

Good morning it's fantastic friday!

Hope you have enjoyed your week.

Here are some activities that you may want to have a go at.

Mini Nature Reserve

Stick Maze

If you have large sticks you could even make a human sized maze.

30 Days Wild in June

The Wildlife Trust are running a nature challenge during the 30 days of June. They are asking you to do one wild thing a day throughout the whole month.

When you sign up you will get a free downloadable pack full of goodies, including activities and ideas.

Website: https://action.wildlifetrusts.org/page/57739/petition/1

Knot of the Week

This is a beautiful knot for you to have a go at.

Bird Update

This week the chicks have been very hungry. Keeping Mum and Dad busy.

Pictures you have sent in



It's terrific Tuesday again!

Hope you had a lovely bank holiday weekend and enjoyed the sunny weather.

I found a perfect spot for Forest Bathing - it's something I hope to keep up! 

We would love to see picture of you Forest Bathing. 

This weekend's blog is all about enjoying yourselves with your family and relaxing. 

Baked Bananas

If your having a BBQ this weekend why not try this recipe.

Forest Bathing

In this glorious weather and now the leaves have come out on the trees. Why not have a go at forest bathing.

Forest bathing originated in Japan. Shinrin-yoku is a Japanese practice that literally translates to 'Forest bath'. To forest bathe, you immerse yourself in the forest, taking in the atmosphere through the senses. It's being calm and quiet in a forest, observing nature around you while breathing deeply- similar to mindfulness that we have done in class.

How to forest bathe

1. Either in your garden or out on a walk in a forest near you, stand or sit down for 5 or 10 minutes.

2. Feel the earth below you, think about the work of the earth, the wind and the sun.

3. Clear you mind of all your thoughts.

4. Open you senses. Listen to the sounds around you: birds, insects, bees, the sound of the leaves blowing in the breeze.

5. Look up at the leaf canopy and pay attention to the light coming through.

6. Look at the pattern on the bark or the rustle of the leaves.

7. Take slow deep breaths and smell the fragrance of the air around you.

8. Touch the trees, feel the leaves and soil.

The phytochemical that trees release are making us healthy each time we breathe them in. ENJOY!

Below are some pictures that Mrs Cherry took in her garden, forest bathing. We would love to see your pictures.

Bird update

WE HAVE BABIES!

Lastly Mrs Cherry has also been planting seeds, with the help and advice of Mrs Turland. Here are some pictures and will keep you updated on how it goes as this is my first time.

Lettuce leaves, rocket and carrots so far.

Enjoy VE Day and the weekend,

Mrs Cherry and Mrs Turland

It's terrific Tuesday again!

What a mixed bag of weather we had over the weekend - hopefully you found time to get outside.

Mrs Cherry and I were in school last week, we had hoped to get down to the Forest School area to see what had changed and do a bit of work, but will all the rain, we did not manage to get down till the Friday morning!

The site is in good repair, only a few fallen branches.  The bamboo has gone bonkers.  The friendly little robin popped down to say hello to us.  We even managed to start to build a raised bed - ready for planting up with vegetables when we all get back to school.

A few ideas to keep you going....

The National Trust - ‘50 things to do before you're 11¾’

No. 17 set up a snail race

Snails move super slowly so it's best not to give them too far to race, but that's not all you need to think about. 

This is just common sense once you've handled anything that lives outdoors, but you might especially want to do it after seeing snail trails everywhere!

We would love to see some pictures of your winning snails!

If that is too sporty for you...

How about making your own Green Eco-system?

You need a clean glass jar or bottle, some gravel, soil, plants (permission from parents to dig up weeds, moss or self seeded saplings).

Start off will a layer of gravel or small stones for drainage.

Next add a layer of soil (check it's an area your parents are happy for you to dig from!)

Carefully position your plants - you may need to use a long handled spoon or fork...

Lightly spray or water your plants

Check daily, it should not need watering, if the eco-system is functioning correctly! Why is that?

Mrs Turland's Veg Plot Watch

Week 7

With all the rain, the plants are starting to grow stronger, but it has also meant that the slugs are out and about!

You can see the carrot seeds I planted directly in the ground have just started to sprout.  The sweetcorn has doubled in size!  The greenhouse is now empty, so I will be sowing my next crop of salad leaves and peas.  Might even sow a few herbs.

Can you spot my homemade mini green houses? Under those are sunflower seeds....I have challenged staff to a sunflower growing competition! There are no rules! We will let you know how it goes - judging won't take place till September.

Would you like to join in? There are no prizes - just the glory of growing and taking part.

We have the following categories:

Tallest Sunflower

Shortest Sunflower

Best Looking Sunflower

Most Vibrant Sunflower

'Ahhh Bless!' Sunflower

Even though it's a very special bank holiday on Monday - Mrs Cherry will be posting our usual Friday blog.

Take care - have fun,

Mrs Turland & Mrs Cherry

SORRY FOR THE DELAY WE HAD SOME TECHNICAL ISSUES.

It's fantastic Friday again!

It has been quite a wet week, but the forecast is looking better for the next few days.

Here are some more ideas for you to try.

First of all here are some creative ideas using stones

All you need for this activity is your imagination. Use whatever natural materials you can find and have a go at creating as many animals as you can. 

Another idea ........

Knot of the Week

Hedgehog Awareness Week 2020 - 3-9th May

Welcome to terrific Tuesday.  What a change in the weather - we have been very fortunate to have such dry weather.  We're now forecast for a couple of weeks of mixed wet weather.  So keep an eye for the dry spells and try to spend sometime outside.  

Did you guess who our first self portrait was? We have had a few more entries .....

Please send your entry to your year group email and your teacher will forward them onto us.

 MAKE A WORMERY

This activity is great for learning about soil and the marvellous little worms that make our soil healthy. To make a Wormery simply cut the top off a large clear bottle, fill with a layer of gravel and then alternating layers of sand and soil, on top of the last layer of soil add a few worms from the garden. Finally cover with some leaves or vegetable peelings like grated carrots for food. Keep moist with a few drops of water and watch the worms tunnel their way up and down.  After a few days, please release the worms back into the garden! We would love to see some of your pictures.

DANDELION PICTURES

Something you can do inside.  Toilet rolls are on everyone’s mind, could it be possible that people are using more these days? Anyway, there are so many useful projects we can make with the interior cardboard part of the toilet roll and now more than ever before, making the most of every bit of toilet rolls has become very important to many.  Dandelions are one of my favorite flowers.

You will need:

• Empty Toilet Paper Rolls
• Scissors
• Poster Paint (white)
• Cotton Wool (or cotton balls or squares)
• Dark coloured paper

Next use the cotton  wool, dipped very lightly in the paint, dab on spare paper first to get rid of most of the paint, practice a few times before you go for it on your picture. Next add the detail, you could use a strip of thick card dipped in paint to make the stalks.

We would love to see your masterpieces - again, send then to your year group email address.

Just wondering....could we form a Forest School Band?

We challenge you to find a dandelion trumpet.  Look for a dandelion with a big chunky stalk.  Have fun hunting down dandelions and if there are only a few, leave them for the bees and search out a bigger patch.  Before you pick the dandelion just think where it is, make sure it's not from near a road or where dogs and other animals might have been! Remember you are just blowing through the stem...not eating it!

I managed a squeak!  Below is a 'youtube' link to show you how it works.

Again, we would love to see/hear your creations.

Mrs Turland's Veg Patch Watch

Week 6

Well, with the glorious weather - I have been able to transfer some of my plants from the greenhouse to my raised beds. Fingers  crossed the drop in temperature, especially at night time won't affect them.

Keep practicing the knot Mrs Cherry shared with you last week - you will need this skill at the end of the week!  

Some pictures you have sent in to share...

Take care,

Mrs Turland

Fantastic Friday !!

Hope you are enjoying the beautiful weather.

The weekend forecast is looking splendid. So why not get out in the garden and try some of these simple but fun activities.

Self portraits

It's time to get really imaginative!

Can you create your own portrait out of natural items? Gather up what you can find on the ground in your garden or out and about and use your imagination to create a masterpiece. Be creative and think outside of the box, you can be as abstract as you want.

You could make a portrait of every member of your family and play a guess who game.

Below is a portrait of one of your Forest School leaders. Who do you think it is?

Don't forget to send in your pictures via your teachers and let us know who you think it is.

Make bark and leaf rubbings

Forest school News

Welcome back! We hope you enjoyed the Easter break and made the most of the sunny weather.

How did you get on with spotting the signs of spring? If you have any pictures or diary extracts you would like to share – just email them to your year group email and they will get forwarded onto us.  We can, with your permission, post them.

A few activities you get you started this week

Butterfly Feeder – with the warm weather some of the smallest visitors to our gardens are in need of a little help – butterflies and bees.  You can look online for other ideas…

Sky Scanner – not very ‘high tech’, but just as enjoyable.  Decorate your own scanner and take time to really look closely at what can you see. How about adapting it to make a flower bed or grass scanner...

Have found this posted on a school website – with all the talent we have at CRJS, we think we would be in with a good chance of winning – give it a go….

https://creativeplayuk.com/playground-design-competition/

Mrs Tuland’s Veg Patch Watch

Week 5

Well, after coming to an understanding with my little visitor…I feed it cornflakes and he leaves my seeds alone…I have lots to show this week!

As you can see spring has sprung in my greenhouse – I have turnips, tomatoes, broccoli, cucumbers, peppers, sweetcorn, spring onions, beans, peas and onions.  If you look closely, you can see emerging from the initial leaves each plant is starting to grow it’s first proper set of leaves – in a few weeks they will be big enough for me to ‘pot on’. Lettuce and onions are coming to life in the raised beds and potatoes are starting to sprout .

Is anyone else growing plants? Mrs Parrott and Mrs Cherry have now joined in the growing game – why don’t you?

Enjoy the rest of the week - Mrs Cherry will be FS Blogging on Friday

Mrs T

Good Morning

The weather forecast for the weekend and into next week looks amazing. A perfect time to get outside and enjoy spring! 

This will be our last blog before Easter so we have included some activities you can do over the period. 

1. Spot the signs of spring

The beauty of spring is hopefully giving us all a much-needed boost of cheer and positivity.

Why not try to see how many spring sights you can spot in the garden or out and about during your daily exercise.

Ideas

• Make a list before you go out, keep your eyes peeled and try and tick off everything.

• Take pictures while you are out and send one of your favourites in so that we can include it on the blog

• Keep a diary with hand drawn pictures of what you have found.

• Frothy blossom falling like confetti
• Buzzing bumblebees - see if you can spot the different types
• Different colourful spring flowers - can you name them?
• A butterfly resting on a leaf
• Ladybirds in the grass
• Fresh vibrant leaves bursting out of buds

Here are some pictures taken yesterday from Mrs Cherry's garden.

2. Easter tracking game

• stones
• sticks
• easter eggs

• Lay out a trail using stick arrows
• Make it more difficult by using a code that you can construct yourselves
• Hide a easter egg at the end of the trail

For example:

crossed sticks mean - do not go this way

a stick with a stone on the left means- go left

 a stick with a stone on the right means - go right

a stone on top of another means go straight

3. Pretend to be nature pirates

Fun for all the family!

How much hidden loot can you fit in your miniature treasure chest?

Search for tiny natural items in your garden or when you are out for exercise. See who can fit the most inside a matchbox or small container.

See if you can find tiny twigs, blossom petals, grass, leaves etc. The list is endless!

Why not set a time limit and see who will be the winner.

4. Knot of the week

Here it is the Clove Hitch - also known as bunny ears, a good one for Easter!

This knot will come in handy for an activity after Easter, so get practising.

5. Your pictures of activities

Thank you everyone who sent in their pictures and own instructions of how to build a bird feeder. Below are some of the beautiful pictures.

We especially love this one of a robin contemplating a nibble.

Don't forget to send in any pictures of the activities you have completed, we would love to see them! Email them to your teachers and they will pass them on.

Finally an update on Mrs Turland's vegetable patch. It has been discovered that the vegetable patch has a little visitor who is partial to a little nibble at the seeds. Poor Mrs Turland has to start again! 

HAPPY EASTER TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY. 

STAY SAFE.

MRS CHERRY AND MRS TURLAND X

Morning!

The sunshine may have disappeared behind the clouds for a little while, but it does not stop us from getting outside.  Wrap up warm and enjoy the fresh air.

How did you get on with the bird spotting sheet? Keep it handy, as spring continues more birds will visit your gardens. A crane landed on my fence on Sunday….I just stood for a moment and watched.

1,2,3 Monkey!

A new game to try…you will need to recruit a few members of the family! We look forward to playing this with you when we are back at school.

1, 2, 3 Monkey !

As well as moving around to keep warm this is also brain-gym, which means it helps to get both sides of your brain working.

Get into pairs. Pairs face each other two arms lengths apart, and away from other pairs and any bump hazards.

Practice each stage, so you are familiar with the actions.

 Stage 1: couples repeatedly count to three, taking turns to call each number

A “one” B “two” A “three” B “one” A “two” etc

Stage 2: repeat as above, replacing “one” with a clap ~ A clap B “two” A “three” B clap etc

Stage 3: as above but now also replace “two” with the following action ~ both arms up above head, kick one leg out and shout “Hiya!” ~ A clap B “Hiya” kick A “three” B clap A “Hiya” kick B “three” etc

Stage 4: now also replace “three” with this action ~ bend over double at waist, sweep arms down to ground, shout “Cheeky Monkey!” ~ A clap B “hiya” kick A “cheeky monkey” bend B clap etc

See how long you can keep going, maybe switch A & B, so you get a chance to do the other actions.

How could you develop the game? We cannot wait to try your ideas back at school.

 Finally…

Mrs Turland’s Veg Patch Watch

Week 2

With a rapid change in the weather…there is very little to see.  Maybe we will have some green shoots next week.  Are you growing any plants?

Here are a couple more ideas that you can do at home.

Make a loo roll bird feeder

You can make this bird feeder with items you probably already have at home.

 You will need:

• 1 cardboard tube
• Peanut butter
• Bird seed
• String

1. Cover a cardboard tube in peanut butter.

2. Roll it in bird seed and thread some string through the hole.

3. Tie it up in your garden or on your windowsill, where the birds will feel safe eating.

Now the fun begins!

Why not keep a diary of how many birds you can spot. Below is a website that you will find useful.

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2019/03/10-garden-birds/

Knot of the week

We thought it would be fun to teach you a new knot each week, which you can use at home but also when we return to Forest School in the future.

Timber Hitch

The timber hitch knot is great for pulling a log or a stack of sticks. This knot locks when you apply pressure by pulling an object, but practically falls apart when you release the rope. The timber hitch is especially good for putting up a tarpaulin, shelter or hammock. You can attach one side to a tree and know that it is secure. It is particularly good as it is self-tightening and easy to undo. 

GREAT FOR MAKING CAMPS IN THE GARDEN!



Tuesday 24th March - FS

Welcome to our first Forest School blog. 

We will post little and often – with ideas and links.

Stone Balance Towers

This is surprisingly addictive! For adults and children, if you have access to some pebbles or stones in the garden then give this a go and see how high you can go! It seems simple but… well give it a go and find out!  It's like Jenga in reverse.

Parents

A useful and at the moment free to sign up:

outdoorlearningmadeeasy.co.uk

Login – freeparentmembership

Password – freshair

Mrs Turland’s Veg Patch Watch

Thought it would be fun to photograph the progress the vegetable seeds I sowed at the weekend – hoping that if they are 'staring' in our blog…then they might grow quicker!

Take care,

Forest School Team

Please click on the link to follow our posts.

We will be posting about all the exciting things we get up to and have planned.