Tag Archives: outdoor learning

Literacy, Outdoor Learning, Social Studies

Languages Week Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Leave a comment

This week is Languages Week Scotland 2023 where we celebrate language learning and multilingualism in Scotland. This years theme is “Languages for a peaceful world”.

This morning the children came across some stories and we discovered they were in different languages. This got us chatting about what language we speak in and how not everyone speaks the same language.

“What does this say”

“That is the title of the story, “The tortoise and the Hare” written in Mandarin, Chinese”

”When I went to Italy I hear a different language”

“Can you say any words in Italian”

”No”

“What language is the Elmer book in?”

“The Elmer book is in English and Polish”

“ how do you speak to someone if they don’t speak the same language?”

“Say Hello”

We used the internet to find out how to say Hello 👋  in other languages and wrote them down so we could practice how to say them.

The children were developing their mark making and writing  skills as they wanted to copy the words so they can practice.

We can now say Hello in different languages to welcome our friends who speak English as an additional language.

Digital Technology, Literacy, Outdoor Learning, Special Event

Big Garden Birdwatch

Leave a comment

This week we have been preparing for the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch. We discussed why birds might come into the garden. “It’s for seeds, we have some in my garden”. We then decided to to make our own bird feeders and hang them up on a branch.

The birds might need a drink as it’s been very cold and all the puddles are icy, so we made the birds their own drinking bowl “Let’s put sticks near it so they can stand on them”.

We then did some research by looking at some of the information sent to us by the RSPB which showed us lots of pictures of the birds that might visit our garden.  “ I have seen some of these birds, that’s a magpie”.

It was very exciting watching for the birds. Some were far away so we used our binoculars. Then we could see some birds sitting in the trees and on top of the houses. We then thought about where else we could see the birds so we went for a bird watch walk.

We collected our bird watch recording sheet and set off.  I will hide in the trees like a bird watcher and see if the birds come near me we have to be very quiet 🤫. Look I saw a blackbird let’s mark it on the sheet .

We managed to spot magpies, blackbirds, crows and blue tits. We all had a turn of recording the bird we had seen on our RSPB sheet, it was great fun!

The children are continuing to watch for birds in our garden and are independently recording them in our nature corner.
If you would like to join in this weekend the RSPB ask that you record the birds that visit your garden within 1 hour and then you can upload your results at rspb.org.uk/Birdwatch using the code BH35.

Everyone has worked very hard recording the information and have had great fun developing their skills of mark making, data collection, fine motor skills, health and well being and lots more. Happy bird watching everyone!

Outdoor Learning, Social Studies

Big Wild Walk 2022

Leave a comment

This week is the Big Wild Walk week organised by the wildlife trust. It is used to raise money and awareness of the importance of protecting our wildlife. Adults are encouraged to walk 30 km over the week and children are to walk 3km as this is the same distance a hedgehog can walk in a night. We have used this as an opportunity to highlight the importance of caring for our natural world.
We started by discussing what we know about wildlife, what animals live in the forest and how to look after them.

“We can build wee homes.”
“We can make beds with leaves.”
“We can go a walk to check on them.”

Then we spoke specifically about hedgehogs and what we know about them. We also made our own hedgehogs using pine cones.

“Hedgehogs have little feet.”
“They’re really spiky”
“Hedgehogs like chestnuts.”

Then we went for a walk to see if we could find any hedgehogs having a sleep and decided to collect leaves while we were there.

When we got back we used our Autumn leaf spotter sheet to identify the leaves and discover which types of trees are in our forests.

If you like to join in you can find more information here;

https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/bigwildwalk

Happy walking 🚶‍♀️ 😀

Expressive Arts, Outdoor Learning

Today we had fun painting in the style of Kandinsky😁

Leave a comment


Kandinsky was a pioneer of abstract art he is known for his inventive use of of colour and one of his most well-known images was a colour study with concentric circles. The children decided to recreate this famous piece of art work putting their own unique spin on it. First
We went on a circle hunt around the nursery to find objects we could use for our outdoor Kandinsky painting. “There’s lots of different shapes in here look here are two circles we can use” “ Look this would make a good circle shape it could also be for a robots eye” “I have shapes we could use to paint circles on my tower” “ cardboard tubes would make good circles”

We had great fun using the objects we found to make our circle designs developing our gross motor skills. The children were very creative making their painting. “ I want to use the plunger” “ I think the cardboard tube makes the best circles” “


“Im using the blue paint and the tube to make a big circle then I’m putting a smaller one inside it” “Circles, everywhere big ones small ones and tiny ones too”


The children were excited about their finished art work and we all think it looks amazing. Well done everyone great team work 🤩

Uncategorized

Harvesting our vegetables

Leave a comment

We noticed something about our planters in the garden today… they had vegetables in them! We looked deep down to the roots to make sure that they were able to be harvested.

We noticed that we had different varieties and colours of turnips and baby potatoes that were ready to be picked.

       

Some of them were a little bit tricky to pull out of the ground so we had to work together as a team to make sure we could do it.

”I am an expert at digging for potatoes”

”That one is so big, I need help with this turnip”

Look at all of these potatoes and turnips that we grew!

We then decided to offer our turnips to the parents at Cart Mill, so displayed them at our front door, please feel free to help yourself to one!

We decided that our potatoes looked far too yummy to give away, so we cooked them and tasted them for ourselves…

Expressive Arts, Outdoor Learning

Introducing Cart Mill’s butterfly family 🐛🦋

Leave a comment

On the 1st of June our caterpillars arrived at the centre and we have been doing a great job of helping to care for them each day since. We started by investigating the caterpillars 🐛 we watched how they wiggled when they walked and counted how many feet they have; can you believe they have fourteen?!
We watched as they ate their food and got bigger and bigger. They have to shed their exoskeleton in order to grow and we got to feel it, it was very fluffy! Then when we came back after the weekend they had formed their chrysalides! We learned that butterflies come from a chrysalis and it is moths that come from a cocoon.

“They’re so hairy.” “I have caterpillars in my garden.” “Argh, they’re wobbling!”

The chrysalides shook as we transferred them to the butterfly net and we found out that they do this to scare off predators. Next we had to prepare for the butterflies emerging.

“I think they like the nectar.”

When the first butterfly came out from his chrysalis we prepared sugar water for him to drink and put it on some flowers. We also cut juicy oranges and placed them in the net. We learned that butterflies use their feet to taste their food and their mouth is like a curly straw; they unfurl it to drink and then curl it back up again when finished. We now have five butterflies and we have named them Ozar, Mo, Flutter, Anna and Ruby.

“It goes round and round and round.” “I’m colouring my butterfly’s wings.”

After watching the process of the caterpillars changing to butterflies, we were inspired to create our own version of the lifecycle.

Then this morning it was time to let them go….

We started by putting sugar water and oranges on the butterfly table we had previously made with Lauren. Then we opened the butterfly net and waited. And waited 😆 The butterflies were a little hesitant to come out but when they made an appearance they wanted to get up close and personal. One of them landed on the jacket to get a quick cuddle before flying off and the other let us have a turn of holding him.

 

Outdoor Learning

Exploring our garden

Leave a comment

Today in our garden we have been exploring a variety of areas. We have been focussing on developing our fine and gross motor skills and practiced this by using our pincer grip to create a den. We also used our obstacle course and pieces of material to develop our den building skills.

We have also been making the most of the huge puddles the rain had left us overnight! We put on our puddle suits and wellies and had lots of fun jumping in the muddy puddles. We have also been practicing measurement by pouring and filling using different sized containers.

And finally, we have been developing our balancing skills on our obstacle course that we put together ourselves. Look at how high the children can jump and their excellent balancing

Outdoor Learning

Sunflower seeds

Leave a comment

Here at Cart Mill we were very lucky to have received our good to grow package from Morrison’s, thank you to all the parents who supported us with this.

After having a look at the seeds the children asked to plant  the sunflower seeds.

We read about  the life cycle of a sunflower then  gathered together our plant pots, soil, trowels and seeds then set to work.

“we need to leave room for the seed”

”the seed got stripes”

After carefully planting our seeds we filled our watering can to give the seeds a drink before we very carefully carried them to the greenhouse.

“seeds need water and  sun to grow”

We are so lucky to have received a donation of sunflower seeds from Barrhead Garden Tidy team.  The team worked hard to harvest seeds from their own sunflowers which they have carefully packaged with sowing instructions on them.

We have used our excellent mark making skills to create some planting instructions and a lovely Sunflower display at our front door.  Please feel free to take a packet of seeds.


We would love you to share your photos of your sunflowers growing with us.  Why not ask the children to measure them and we can have  a competition to see who’s sunflower grows the tallest!

 

Outdoor Learning, Snack

Fun at Forest School

Leave a comment

We are always so excited when it’s a Forest School day! We have been observing the changes in the Forest over the last few sessions.  As it has been sunny and dry over the last week, it was safe enough for us to explore the river.  We collected our nets and set off!

The water was so clear we could see right to the bottom. Unfortunately we didn’t see or catch any fish! We used a stick to measure the depth of the water and then held it against our boots so that we could see where it was safe to stand.

We found our very own stoney beach where we could look for stones and throw them in the water.  As a group, we conducted a risk assessment and discussed safety rules we should follow when throwing our stones.  We had to be careful to look around us and stay a safe distance from each other before we threw our stones into the water. We had so much fun investigating who could throw their stone the furthest and make the biggest SPLASH! We found lots of different sizes and shapes of stone. We were able to identify which were bigger, smaller, heavier and flatter.  We found one that looked like a pizza and put two together to make a duck!


Of course we have to have snack when we’re at Forest School.  We enjoyed apple, hot chocolate to warm us up and a biscuit (to give us energy!)

There was just time for us to make a few trips up our favourite hill! It was hard work climbing to the top! We were able to feel our hearts beating really fast! Our favourite part was pulling Angela back down the hill with us. She was going really fast!

We can’t wait to see what we can discover and explore next week!

 

 

 

 

Outdoor Learning

Big Garden Birdwatch

Leave a comment

This morning the boys and girls have taken part in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch 2022. We started by trying to invite the birds in to the garden. Helen and the children discussed what birds might use to create their nests and filled the whisks with a variety of these items and also some seeds.

“They like fluff.”

We looked at pictures of the most common garden birds and learned the names of them and also some of their features. Then we created a chart to record which birds we saw and how many of each type.

“I like robins.”
“I see blackbirds in my granny’s garden.”

We used the binoculars to look for birds and then marked which ones we saw on the chart.

“I saw two and two blackbirds, that makes four!”

The children even drew pictures of their favourite birds. Look at this lovely starling!


The Big Garden Birdwatch runs from the 28-30th January, you can find more details on the RSPB website. Why not take part and share your findings with us on Twitter. Have a nice weekend 🦜