Returning to Woodlands after lockdown I am not surprised to see our somewhat overgrown garden area.

Outdoor learning is about to begin in P1, P2 and P3 in August.  Due to Covid restrictions we cannot have parent helpers which is a huge loss as it is beneficial in many ways but that is a story for another post.  It is difficult to socially distance from young children who are excited about their learning and wish to share their progress.  Government guidance tells us the risk of catching COVID is reduced when outside, therefore being outdoors is a great place to work with the children.

P1 and P2 children will start where P2 were back in January, learning the rules and boundaries of where we can go and what we can do within our area.  They will explore nature, learn to work together, share and use natural resources safely, respect the environment and work responsibly. We have approx 45 minutes outside so will begin our lessons with whole class activities.

P3 seem much further down the learning journey.  Having worked outdoors last session we immediately organise a time in the week where we can do this again, we will be outside for almost 1.5 hours, giving us more time to practise and develop our skills.  This year I am linking each piece or block of learning to a book or books.

Primary 1 – Looking at colours and shapes in the natural world, we developed our fine motor skills, we learned how to work together and understand that if someone finds a leaf that we really like, there might be another, similar one nearby.  We discovered that a walk in the rain can be fun and discovered that we can manipulate shapes to become something else, we used our imagination lots and learned that you can find every colour of the rainbow in nature when you look really closely.

Primary 2 – Looking at sticks.  It was very important that the children understood safety in this topic.  It is so easy to hurt someone accidentally with a stick.

We started with a story about Stanley’s Stick and used our imaginations every week within this topic.  The children were learning to keep themselves and others safe when using sticks, to behave responsibly and follow the rules and to respect the environment and put any items they used away at the end of the session.  We finished the topic with the story of Stick Man and the children were able to make their very own Stick Man which they then took home.  I was delighted when the children took their Stick friend on an adventure around our garden, sometimes tucking him into bed, having him climb a tree, make a friend, their ideas were endless.