Hi everyone,

This week we were very lucky to receive some outdoor learning input from the Rangers from Eglington Park. They came to us on Wednesday the 22nd of September to show us a variety of activities outdoors that we could then incorporate into our literacy work! We all had loads of fun, which is clear from the following pics:

Activity 1 – Den Building

In our groups, we were tasked with building a den which would provide us with some shelter. We were given the materials, some safety tips and then left to come up with our own designs, here’s what we came up with:

As you can see we came up with very unique yet equally awesome den designs. From this we will then tie it into our literacy by writing instructions on how to build a den and then have groups following other groups instructions. Do you think we enjoyed the den building? Well lets ask Jessica. Jessica, did the class enjoy den building?

Activity 2 – nature walk and items:

In this activity, the children were challenged to walk around the area and choose 1 item from nature that caught their eye. Once they had their object they explained why they chose it and what they liked about it. Next, they were split into teams and challenegd to create a story using their chosen items, heres some photos from another fun activity:

Activity 3 – Kennings:

Our third and final activity was kennings. These were used a lot by Vikings, amazing story tellers whose stories continue to entertain and inspire us to this day, perfect influence for literacy lessons. Kennings are ways to embellish and improve stories through metaphors, similes etc. Here the children were to explore and examine the nearby trees and pick out their most striking features. From there they then tried to compare these features to object with similar features to create similes and metaphors, here’s how we got on:

 

So as you can see it was a very successful outdoor learning experience. The class had a fantastic time and loved getting to explore the local area whilst learning. We have also been given some materials to continue exploring the outdoors – including a fire pit – which we cant wait to use. A massive thank you to the Rangers for coming to visit and give us such a lovely morning exploring different activities and we look forward to the next visit in the spring!