When we arrived at school today all of the children were talking about how cold it was and how ‘Jack Frost’ had been out. 
As part of our science we went outside for a sense walk and we discussed what we could hear, see, smell and feel. We spoke about why we could feel/see/hear these things and how they were different to when we done our spring walk, e.g. not hearing as many birds because they’re in their nests staying warm, not seeing flowers growing etc. 
We then looked at a large block of ice in our tuff tray and spoke about how ice is frozen water and when the water freezes it goes from being a liquid to being a solid. I then asked the children what happens to ice when it is hot and they told me that it ‘melts’ and goes back to being water, a liquid. 

Reception had a fantastic time at the autumn forest school! 
When we first arrived the children enjoyed a play on the outdoor play area, before going inside and listening to a story. We then went outside and took part in our first activity, Toffee Apple cooking at the fire pit! This started with a briefing from the forest school leader about fire safety and the expectations of the children whilst they were near the fire for the activity. We then observed Jenny lighting the fire and we had a go at making out very own toffee apples! All of the children listened externally well and no one needed reminding of the fire safety rules, which was super! 
We then went on to our next activity, a scavenger hunt. We had a list of different outdoor autumn things (e.g. berries, fungus, leaves, acorn, pine cone, leaf) which the children had to find and collect whilst exploring the grounds. 
After this we went for our picnic, before enjoying our final activity which was Berry dyes, where the children collected various berries from the grounds (elderberry, blackberry, rowan) and then used a hammer to mush them into some fabric, resulting in different patterns being made. 
Everyone had a great day and they impressed me so much with their fantastic behaviour and positive attitudes. We look forward to out next class adventure! 

Last Academic Year 2022/23

Here in Buttermere class we see our outdoor areas as an extension of the classroom!

 We love using our den building resources to improve our team work, creativity and gross motor skills. 

Messy play in the mud kitchen is one of our favourites! We love making potions, measuring ingredients to make tasty treats or treating the grown ups to a mud coffee on a cold day!

We love using our balance bikes on the yard to develop our gross motor skills.

Using our chalk outdoors always leads to creative writing and number practice! 

Now the weather is warmer our water tray is a great place to cool down and also learn! We use our containers to fill and pour and learn about capacity. Our pipes teach us about transporting and how water flows. We love talking about which animals live in the water learning about how they move and survive!