Outdoor Classroom
17th January 2020
Welcome back to the Outdoor Classroom! It has been a wet and wild week out in the forest, so much so, that the children haven’t really ventured in amongst the trees, but have stuck to the perimeter of the school grounds and used the open spaces available.
This term, the topic is birds and the children will take part in the RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch. The classes have started by looking at bird anatomy. Birds have two different types of feathers; the outer ‘contour’ feathers, which enable flight and the fluffy ‘down’ feathers which lie close to the bird’s body and keep it warm.
Year 2 searched for the different types of feathers on the ground; they located several but they were hard to catch in the wind. It was good fun trying!
Tuesday proved a real test for the waterproofs. Reception ventured out into the wild wind and rain, to experience the full force of the weather first hand. The children walked around the school perimeter and ended up on the main field, watching the horizontal rain and trying not to be swept off their feet! The wind was so noisy it was hard to be heard and when the children returned to school – rain battered, windswept and looking quite interesting – the power was out and the search for dry socks was by torchlight!
Year 1 were slightly luckier; the rain still poured but the wild wind had stopped, therefore communication was much easier! Year 1 watched puddles merge into a stream, and the stream gather speed as it ran downhill towards the pond at the bottom. The children pretended to be different types of birds, they swooped like seagulls, strutted like peacocks and balanced like flamingos.
Hopefully the weather won’t be quite so wild and unpredictable next week.