Moving on from our tree identification, we have started to think about why trees are so important. One crucial factor is that they support wildlife by providing food, shelter and habitats.

This week’s whole school challenge is to become super nature detectives and get animal tracking! Take a walk in your garden or local area and see if you can spot any animal tracks. Can you figure out who the tracks belong to? This tick sheet will help you.

The printable version can be found here http://www.treetoolsforschools.org.uk/activities/pdfs/pdf_animal_tracks_spotter_sheet.pdf

To extend your knowledge you could find out more about the animal you have identified. Do some research on the internet or from a book. You could produce a fact sheet, poster or PowerPoint presentation to record your findings.

Our Forest school groups have been thinking about ways to support the wildlife in our gardens or local woodland. A few weeks ago we made birdfeeders, below are some other ideas for birdfeeders that you can make at home.

You could also leave out shallow dishes of water for thirsty nocturnal visitors.

Another exciting way of helping wildlife is by building an animal habitat! Here are some ideas to help you:

We can’t wait to see what you get up to!
Please send your pictures or videos to forestschool@allertonceprimary.com

Here is a reminder of our whole school challenge this week:

This week’s whole school challenge is a winter tree ID. Can you take this sheet with you to help you identify the trees in your garden or local area? How many different trees can you find? How do they support the wildlife in the area?

What else could you find out about the trees you identify? Use a book or the internet to research one. Perhaps you could design a leaflet or a fact sheet on paper or using the computer. Could you create a model, collage, painting or picture of a particular tree?

here is a printable version:
http://www.treetoolsforschools.org.uk/activities/pdfs/pdf_winter_tree_spotter_sheet.pdf

Please send your pictures or videos for us to share to forestschool@allertonceprimary.com

2YON have been having lots of fun making some bird feeders. They put some lard and bird seeds into a jug and mixed them to form a mixture. Next they took a small handful and moulded it into balls to create fat balls. They then took the remaining mixture and made moulds which they added string as a handle. When they were ready, they hung the bird feeders on the trees in the garden and the fat balls were put into a bird feeder. The children were really happy with what they made and I bet the birds can not wait to try the tasty bird feeders.

Well done 2YON the birds are very lucky.

2YON have been very busy taking part in different activities around birds. They went on a bird watching walk where they had to find the birds on their piece of paper and tick them off when they found them. They used their senses to listen and hear the birds.

One of our local grandparents from the school has a 12year old male Harris Hawk called Oli and when he heard the children, he showed him the bird by letting the bird fly around. The children loved this experience.

They also made some birds out of paper plates and paints.

Fantastic 2YON

3YON have been very busy making some lovely ice art. They selected different shaped moulds, which included a train and butterfly, and went around the garden to find some items to put in the moulds. We found different sized leaves, sticks and some herbs. Nursery then put them in the moulds and using recycled rain water from the tray, we filled them up. Then we added some blue ribbon and left them to freeze over night. The next day the children were so excited when they found that they were frozen. We took them out of the moulds and hung them on the tree.

Throughout the process we talked about freezing and melting.

Well done.

If you enjoyed the ice art activity, which many of us in school did, then why not give this ice lantern a go? Taking inspiration from our creative ice art, could you add any natural materials, glitter or food colouring to the water to decorate it?

Please send your pictures or videos of your activities to: forestschool@allertonceprimary.com

Here we have more examples of our brilliant ice art! Well done Ellie in Y2 who also made a bird feeder which was visited by a few birds before a cheeky squirrel ran away with it!!

Thank you to all the class bubbles in school who have taken part in creating their own ice art and hung them on trees in our school orchid. It looks so wonderfully wintery and has become a delightful talking point in school this week. The first ones were placed outside on Monday and have still not melted! ❄️ What a chilly week we have had!

Here is a clue, the blue gems represent pips of ice used to melt someone’s heart 🤔. Add your answers in the comments below..

Thank you so much Neave for sending this in!