The day started bright and early; luckily the weather was in our favour as we loaded the minibus with all the equipment for the day.
Activities for the day started as son as we got there through unloading the minibus, getting our boxes and finding which fire our activities were based at. Myself and Beth were leading the activity on making charcoal - Beth was absent this day but I had help from some of the others who were free for that time slot.
Before activities started I headed over the to car-park with some of the others to meet the children as they departed their coach. The children were all given name stickers to help us when we were leading the activities, then sorted into their groups for the day. Myself and the rest of the 'greeting group' split up so there were a few of us with each group as we headed to the start of the trail where Lauren and Harriet started the days tasks with some decoding.
When the fire safety talk had been given by Duncan - including where to walk and how to kneel while next to the fire. It was time for myself and others to continue with the activities of the day. So we took two of the groups up to another fire circle so we could make some charcoal.
At the beginning of the activity, the children were really enthusiastic and excited about what they would be doing and about where they have seen charcoal be used before. All of the children enjoyed stripping the bark off their pieces of wood; getting ready to turn it into some charcoal they could take away with them.
Once all the stick had been put in the tin and onto the fire, the children had to write down words about the fire and their surroundings. A lot of the children drew pictures to help them with this activity. After a while they started to get bored, which wasn't good - when we planned the lesson we hoped that the charcoal would have been done and so there wouldn't have been time for them to get bored.
To improve this activity in the future I would plan a game or something for the children to play once they had finished with the words and pictures so that they wouldn't be as bored. Apart from that one point, I feel that the activity was successful and the children enjoyed stripping their sticks and drawing the pictures.
At lunchtime I also went with Lauren C to collect any children who wanted to make cakes with Jess or popcorn with Zoe.
I think the whole day was a great success and really showed me how much children can learn even outside of the classroom, and how much they like to get stuck in with activities - especially if it includes getting their faces covered in charcoal and giving me a charcoal beard!
Monday, 16 April 2012
Sunday, 15 April 2012
My day in the woods with the Year 2 Class
The day in the forest with the Year 2 class was such a great
experience! It gave me opportunity to really look at the benefits of forest
schooling and how different it is to your usual classroom.
The day gave me opportunity to show pupil’s how to make
cupcakes in orange skins, and begin to talk about irreversible change. The
original plan was to make eggs in the skin but then soon figured we needed
something which would really interest the children! We were aiming to touch
upon key ideas of irreversible change and how it works; we had to take into
consideration the children’s age and therefore the pitching of the content of
the teaching. The way we approached this was to ask children their thoughts on
cooking, and compared how baking a cake means that you wouldn’t be able to get
the mixture back. However melting ice is a reversible change and tried to take
this approach to give them something to apply the ideas to. We asked the
children to have a very hand on approach to the activity ensuring that they
were always engaged. They scooped the insides out of the oranges and made the
cake mixture, pouring it into the orange skins. Then Richard put the oranges
onto the fire to bake, at the end of their day children were allowed to take
one if they so wished.
On the other hand although the activity was successful it
did have its faults, ideally we would have more time and space to conduct the
activity in. We could have also perhaps pre scooped out the oranges as this was
not key to the learning objective of the activity and was quite time consuming,
messy and difficult for some of the pupils. Maybe a practise run ourselves may
have told us this but time was not permitting, however I do feel the activity
was overall a success as the pupils enjoyed themselves!
Jess Tracey.
Thursday, 12 April 2012
Making Popcorn with Red Class (Zoe)
My day in the woods with the year two class was enjoyable
but also an interesting opportunity to talk to and observe children as they
explored the outdoors.
The task I led was making popcorn on the fire at lunchtime -
an optional come-and-go activity. The practicalities of the task were tying together
two sieves containing popcorn kernels in, tying the sieves to a long stick, and
put over the fire (avoiding setting the string alight) until popcorn is made.
I had a practise run by myself whilst the children were
constructing their dens and discovered that the stick I was using was not long
enough and it would be a safety hazard to have children sitting that close to
the fire. With a bit of help I found a longer one which was heavier but safer.
When the children came to make popcorn the longer stick
turned out to be better anyway; two or three children at once could hold it and
be at a safe distance. I talked to the children about whether they’d seen
popcorn being made before and I discovered that about half of the children that
participated had seen at home popcorn made from the kernels before, and half
hadn’t. I talked to the children about what they thought was happening to make
the corn turn into popcorn and with two boys in particular we talked about the
water inside the kernel and how it heats up/ gets excited etc. The girls were
less interested in talking about the science of what was happening and seemed
happier to sit back and watch me make the popcorn. The boys however tended to
want to talk and be involved and close to the fire.
A criticism of the activity is that the popcorn took a long
time to get going – a few children lost interest because they were just waiting
for it to heat up. The other thing was it was quite a lot for me to do on my
own and I had to stop early because my eyes were stinging from the smoke! However
another time this would not be a problem because Emma and I would take it in
turns. All in all, I think it was a successful lunchtime making popcorn!
Wednesday, 11 April 2012
Which should we choose for woodlands like Seeley Corpse- to be ‘wild’ or to be managed actively so they stay ‘natural’?
Which should we choose for woodlands like Seeley Copse- to be ‘wild’ or to be managed actively so they stay ‘natural’?
MANAGED
Arguably woodlands
can be seen as one of the UK’s most iconic and rewarding habitats. Woodlands
provide a range of services from recreational, to sustainable natural resources.
Many of the systems which use these goods sustainably have since collapsed.
This has had damaging effects, for example, Hazel poles are much better for garden
use and desperately need removing from neglected coppice but it is cheaper to
buy bamboo poles imported from Asia.
Many of our local woodlands are no longer managed because
they have stopped providing any economic benefit. Although recently the value
of the woodland has been recognised, and the loss of land has decreased, the
biodiversity this habitat contains is still under threat. The woodland
management decline that has occurred has placed, not only rare, but many
widespread species in danger. The concern is that only a small area of woodland
will be left remaining to support a handful of the most common plants.
The key reason for these concerns is down to the decrease in
woodland management. Many woodland areas have been fenced off and are becoming
overgrown or simply overgrazed. In times where the woodland was part of the
working community the people using the forest would visit different areas thus
creating a patchwork of habitats. This caused biodiversity to blossom as the woodland
responded to this long term cyclical management. With the decline in this
management many types of woodland have sunk into neglect, and the mosaics of habitats
have been lost to dense scrub and darkness, where few species are found.
WILD
Clearly woodland management techniques are vital for
preserving the UK’s biodiversity. Nevertheless sometimes woodland management
isn’t always the most appropriate course of action. A key example of this is illustrated
when considering climate change. This can cause two problems, one being the
need for differentiation when it comes to planting and management techniques. The
other is in ensuring that management of the woodland now is appropriate to both
current and future climate change implications.
Currently woodland management can involve the planting of
local stock which is taken from seeds that come from native trees in the area,
this management method is important for maintenance of the local biodiversity.
However this approach is flawed when considering climate change. It assumes
that, although the tress will be adapted to the current climate, they will also
be adapted to the future climates, a prediction that is not an accurate one. This provides a strong argument to review the
use of woodland management in this way.
In conclusion the best option appears to be careful
management of Seeley Copse to ensure that the wide variety of biodiversity that
the woodland holds is preserved. Seeley copse in the last century has had a
variety of what are considered ‘exotic’ tree species planted however due to a
lack of management in 2009 these trees were felled to allow the woodland more
light. Therefore if management is to occur in the woods then this needs to be
maintained and a variety of different tree species need to be planted to
provide the widest chance of adaptation for future climate changes.
Lauren Harden
Saturday, 7 April 2012
Types of Precipitation
If anyone wants to find out more about precipitation, here is a fun, easy to understand, youtube video to watch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNIPBfKbec8
Emma, April 7th
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNIPBfKbec8
Emma, April 7th
Monday, 2 April 2012
What is hail?
What is hail?
Hail is precipitation in solid form. It can vary in size from
smaller than peas to larger than golfballs!
Ice is formed when condensation in the sky freezes solid, and this
turns to hail when it starts falling but gets pushed back upwards by warmer
air. This cycle continues multiple times, each time adding a layer of ice to
the hailstone, until it falls to the ground. “If you cut a hailstone in half, you would see alternating concentric layers
inside it.” (http://weather.about.com/od/h/g/hail.htm)
Holding the very large hailstone that fell in her garden:
Sources used:
(Zoe)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)