Nature Journal
Updated weekly by our very own Nature Club.
- 20/12/24
Thursday 19th December 2024
As we feel the chill in the wind and head into the shortest day, it is easy to understand why our ancestors brought evergreens like holly and ivy into their houses, to bring good fortune and fertility in the forthcoming spring. Fortunately, we have a lot of holly and ivy in the nature area. Th...Read Full Story - 16/12/24
Friday 13th December 2024
It definitely felt like winter today during nature club. Fortunately, we had gloves on to protect us from the holly and rose hips which are quite prickly. We talked about evergreens last week and we have holly and ivy in the outdoor classroom, which we supplemented with rosemary and rose h...Read Full Story - 06/12/24
Friday 6th December 2024
As usual, we started off with observations about the seasons, but it was an extremely mild day! However, the leaves were almost all down with the wind, so we did talk about winter. First, they talked about a drop in temperature and reduced sunlight and what this would mean for plant life...Read Full Story - 01/12/24
Friday 29th November 2024
It felt a bit like autumn was drifting into winter this lunchtime, but there was beautiful sunshine and the pond had thawed, which meant that the children could set apart fishing leaves out of the pond. We left them at the side so that any creatures that hadn’t gone into hibernation coul...Read Full Story - 14/11/24
Thursday 14th November 2024
Mulch To Do Excuse the pun, but the children have been enjoying all the beautiful leaves around the school. We started by talking about signs of autumn and the youngest children observed that first leaves change colour and then they fall. We also discussed the differences between plants and...Read Full Story - 18/10/24
Friday 18th October 2024
What a beautiful autumn day for a nature inspired art lesson. First job to collect leaves: ash, beech, oak and maple. Some green, some brown. They then had the choice of using oil pastels to rub over the leaf to expose all the veins and outline or watercolours. The watercolou...Read Full Story - 05/10/24
Friday 4th October 2024
It was lovely to feel the sunshine for a change at nature club and we were still witnessing the first signs of autumn in the form of a nibbled conker, ripening rosehips and fallen leaves. The children suggested the hole in the conker might have been made by a bird, mouse or hedgehog and some o...Read Full Story - 27/09/24
Thursday 26th September 2024
Fortunately, the first half was dry today. In pairs, the children were blindfolded and had to identify 12 natural things just using touch and smell. They did really well and the only ones they didn't guess were the sycamore and ash leaves and the oregano. They even managed to tell which le...Read Full Story - 20/09/24
Thursday 19th September 2024
This week with autumn officially starting on Sunday was all about looking for and collecting evidence of the autumn season getting underway Firstly however, we noticed all the feathers from a pigeon that had been eaten by a sparrowhawk and talked about that. There were loads of seedheads on th...Read Full Story - 15/09/24
Thursday 12th September 2024
It was lovely to have our numbers back up to normal this Thursday and it also meant the children from last week could explain what they had been doing. It is amazing what you can measure just with your senses and no scientific equipment. We felt how light and brittle the different seedheads we...Read Full Story - 08/09/24
Friday 6th September 2024
Nature club got off to a windy start this year, which is appropriate considering we are now in autumn. Firstly, I asked the children to use their senses to tell me if over the summer, it had been mainly windy or still, warm or cold, wet or dry. They had to give me the evidence for their...Read Full Story - 08/07/24
Monday 8th July 2024
Since we have missed the last few Thursdays, it was good to finally get together and celebrate the last session. The pond has been filled up for the summer and we enjoyed the fruits of last year in the form of blackcurrant tarts and this year in the form of elderflower cordial. We also h...Read Full Story