What a wet day! Well done to Year 4 of Sedgeberrow C of E First School who braved the elements and chose to stay on the farm in the rain rather than go back to school early. All the children left happy although with rather wet coats. Today the topic was Egypt, today’s rain was more related to the floods of the Nile Delta rather than the dry desert sand. 

After the health and safety talk, the children told me all the facts they have been learning about Egypt. Mummification was an area of great interest. I then explained about two symbols of Egypt the flail and the crook which each have origins in agriculture. We also discussed the flooding of the Delta and how the farmers would work for the Pharaoh during the flooded months, then plough and sow the rich land left after the flood waters.  The children learnt that agriculture was very important to the Egyptians and in particular wheat.

We then played a game of ‘beetle drive’ but rather than drawing a beetle the children drew six Egyptian objects; the flail, the crook, wheat, pyramid, death mask and the Delta. The children thought about whether their team won or lost the task and why. We then braved the rain and went into the play wood to build pyramids. Each group came up with very different approaches to the task but all groups worked very well together. Then over lunch the children dried out and then played a few more team games in the classroom before having a short play in the wood. 

The lovely reception class children from Our Lady’s Catholic Primary School in Alcester, visited the farm today. After the health and safety talk, I read the story of the ‘Little Red Hen’. The children then looked at wheat seeds, wheat plants, flour, a combine harvester and had a go at milling some wheat seeds. At first on the farm walk, we visited the Spring calves, avoiding the cow pats, we looked at what the calves were eating. The children learnt that just like them, it is important that calves eat lots of vitamins to help them grow strong. We then walked along the tram lines of the wheat field and saw that most of the wheat has pointy leaves, except the ones nibbled by rabbits.

Year 3 from Sedgeberrow C of E First School spent the morning thinking about Romans, before playing in the playwood after lunch. The children started the topic by telling me about Roman roads and how the Romans invaded Britain. I explained to the children about the importance of Agriculture in Roman times and gave examples of Roman goddesses connected to Agriculture. 

During the farm walk the children collected items from nature. Once inside the den building wood the children used their gathered items to design a roman mosaic tile and a lion which may have fought the gladiators. Some children also decided to make an elephant which Romans used in combat. 

The weather was so lovely we were able to eat lunch on the my new picnic logs. 

Having spent a cold January day on the farm, it was lovely to welcome back some of the Year Ones from Cropthorne-With-Charlton school to see the farm in the sunshine. The topic of the day was life cycles. The children learnt the name of a dad cow, mum cow and baby cow. Whilst on the farm walk we saw this years spring born calves. We also discussed some creatures born on the farm which don’t look like their parents. 

I had the most wonderful day with the delightful Year 4’s and 5’s from Cropthorne-with-Charlton CE First School. The first half of the morning was spent looking at Rainforests. The children thought about the height of the four different parts to the canopy in a Rainforest. We measured the very large ‘log’ outside the visitor room and calculated that it was well over 100 years old when it was cut down. We then took a walk on the farm to see the coppiced willow, estimated how tall the oak tree is and saw a real live example of plant succession in the nature area by the pond. After snack time the children completed a team activity based on Charlotte’s web.