Had a wonderful day with Robin Class from Gretton Primary School. The topic of the day was water. 

After the health and safety talk we went into the shade of the play wood and made boats from sticks, leaves, feathers and a few pieces of string. Later when we launched the boats, they all floated! 

The rest of the morning was spent pond dipping. I can’t believe how many baby newts the children are finding in the pond. 

After morning snack the children lay some closed pine cones out in the sunshine. When we came back for lunch, the pine cones were noisily popping open and spreading their seeds.  

After lunch many of the class enjoyed building an extra long slide in the play wood. 

The lovely Year 2 children from Dean Close Preparatory School braved the rain to look at the topic of habitats. After the health and safety talk the children visited the calf pen to look at the ‘habitat’ we provide for our young stock. I explained all the things farmers think about when making sure the ‘habitat’ is correct for the animals; food, water, shelter, space to move and friends. Throughout the day the children asked some fantastic questions. 

During the farm walk we thought about both the farm animals and the wild animals which live on the farm. The children learnt that farmers work hard to provide habitats for lots of wild animals. We walked along the beetle bank, past the wild bird seeds and then saw a badger hole. 

 

The children loved exploring which creatures live in a freshwater habitat. Whilst we pond dipped we found an adult sized smooth newt which was really exciting. The children found lots of clear jelly with eggs in which are pond snail eggs. 

The children loved the play wood. 

This week I have had the pleasure of meeting all the reception children from St Richards C of E First School. Our topic was Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The children remembered the traditional tales that they had been working on in class. They told me about making gingerbread men which sounded delicious. I put out clues and the children had to tell me which traditional tale I was thinking of…

The children then helped me to remember the story of ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’ by finding the correct picture for my story board. After snack we walked up to the little wood, via the calf pens and muddy puddles. 

In the little wood I gave each group a ‘Goldiducks and the Three Brown Pine Cones’. I asked the children to build a bear house, a bowl of porridge, a chair and a bed. Although some children were less used to the great outdoors than others, it was a very positive experience for all. 

After lunch some of the children found my muddy puddles!  

This week all three Reception classes from Bengeworth CE Academy came out to the farm. The children all did very well with the extremely muddy conditions. I have washed a lot of wellies this week. 

Their topic of the term is fairy tales and we had fun remembering as many fairy tales as we could. I did put out props along the kitchen worktop to give the children ideas. Sadly one of my seven dwarfs appears to have gone on holiday, as I was down on numbers. 

The children were asked to find a partner and in their pairs each given a toy pig. We went out to the large cow shed and used straw to make a home for the first pig. The children saw how farmers use straw for calf bedding. They also experienced being sucked by calves and how the wind blows straw about. After seeing the one year old calves eating their breakfast we then headed off into the woods. 

The children then made a house of sticks for their pig. There were some great ideas and many children remembered a chimney for the house. Then for the third house made of bricks, the children used my wooden shapes collection. I was very impressed how the children used the shapes. 

After lunch the play wood was a great hit. One group invented a new game for me which I now call the walking see-saw and will use with other groups. 

All the wonderful Year 2 children from Bengeworth Academy came out to me over three days. I had the pleasure of meeting them in their Year 1 last year. It was amazing to see how much they had remembered about their previous trip. They were very excited getting off the coach, which I took as a compliment! 

The children are studying the story ‘Into the Forest’ by Anthony Browne. With my wood, the play house, the tree house, a very long piece of string and lots of props we recreated the story. The children were put into small groups and asked to concentrate on a particular page of the book. They have clearly loved working on the book in class. 

After seeing various levels of acting ability (!) we headed down to the pond to see if we could spot any signs of Spring. After the previous cold weeks the pond is still looking very winter like. I feel the pond is at least two if not three weeks behind where it usually is. I haven’t even got the pond dipping nets out yet!

After lunch the children had lots of exploration time in the play wood.