This week in Year 1D we became weather explorers! We have been learning about different types of weather and discovering how wind works.

We started by talking about the kinds of weather we see throughout the year. The children shared lots of great ideas such as sunny, rainy, cloudy, snowy and windy weather. We discussed how the weather can change from day to day and why it is important to wear the right clothes for different types of weather.

This week our activity was exploring the wind. We went outside to feel the wind on our faces and watch how it moved the trees and leaves. We held a windmill and saw how a windsock shows us how windy it is and where the wind blows from.

We made our own colourful wind socks from cardboard tubes and took them for. a run across the playground to see how the wind caught the streamers and made them move in the breeze.

Back in the classroom we became weather reporters and described the weather using our new vocabulary. 1D has a weather chart to record the weather every day.

This week we talked about the start of Lent and why we eat pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. In class we read the story from the bible about Jesus spending 40 days and nights in the desert, avoiding temptation.

We followed the recipe and then cooked the batter on the camping stove. While we were making the pancakes we observed liquids turning into solids snd solids turning into liquid.

This week we struggled to get out on our bird hunt due to the rain and wind! However we found a room to play bird bingo, which helped us to recognise and remember the birds around our school.

We made some simple cheerio bird feeders to keep the birds warm and active in winter. Threading 20 Cheerios onto pipe cleaners needed concentration and a good maths activity too.

WE managed to dash out in the rain to hang them on the branches!

This week we made a tasty treat for the birds by turning a pine cone into a high energy treat. We carefully spread lard into the scales of the pine cone and rolled it in seeds.

They are hanging from tree branches around school so hoping the birds have found them!

This week we went on a journey around school looking for birds. First we looked at pictures of birds that we might see and where we might see them.

Then we learned how to use our binoculars. Off we went!

We saw a robin, crows, pigeons, red kites, sparrows, pied wagtails, but we didn’t expect to see a heron on a roof of a house! We think we saw a sparrow hawk too.

This week we thought about the meaning of Remembrance Day and why we wear poppies at this time. In the quiet of our woodland, and with a candle lit, we made poppies using wool and sticks. Afterwards we said a prayer to say thank you for the people that gave their lives for us and talked about our hope for a peaceful world.

Children from Mrs Barnes’ class helped to plant daffodils in terracotta pots. First we looked carefully at a daffodil bulb and many thought it looked just like an onion! But of course an onion is a bulb that we can eat. We checked carefully that we were placing the daffodil bulb the right way up, point at the top, flat plate at the bottom, and then covered it carefully with soil. We look forward to seeing the beautiful yellow flowers in spring!

In forest schools we celebrated harvest by going on a pumpkin hunt around school. We followed clues to lead us to the next pumpkin.

Each pumpkin was a different size and different colours and patterns!

This year, children in year 2 are involved in a project called ‘Grow to Schools’ This organisation works with schools to deliver food growing programmes and will enable our children to grow, cook and eat healthy food. So on Monday we had our first session with Rachel and Mrs Whittaker. We weeded the vegetable beds, topped up the compost and planted winter salad and cabbages, learning that food growing isn’t just a spring/summer activity; a vegetable bed can be productive all year round! 

This week we were leaf detectives in forest school. We each opened an envelope and identified their leaf using this leaf ID chart from the Woodland trust.

We talked about the size and different shapes of the leaves. The big envelope contained the horse chestnut leaf!

We then turned to being leaf artists and we printed with each of the leaves.