Category: Playground

Buzzing with the bees

On Wednesday it was the Biggies turn to work with Meik and the beehive.

First we got suited up: Trousers inside wellies, Fully zip head mask, no gaps, gloves.

A tip: Don’t push face mesh onto face cause a bee could sting you!

If a bee gets in the mask you stay calm and squish it with your gloves. 

At the hive we learnt about bees. We pulled the frames out to check on the bees and make make sure the queen was there. 

A group of children in beekeeping suits stand outside their school.
Suited & booted
A beekeeper stands beside a colourfully decorated beehive
Meik Explains
Child own bee suit removing frame from bee hive
Listing the Frames
Dro=nes developing on frame. Domed cells in the middle.
Drone Cells
The Queen Bee on a frame surrounded by other bees
The Queen
Marking the queen Bee with a marker
Fresh makeup
A be on a gloved thumb. Pollen on back leg
Pollen Carrier
Frame from bee hive, showing different colours of cell
Pollen Colours
Child in beekeepers suit putting a frame back in the hive.
Putting back a frame

What we learnt

Meik told us a lot about bees, this is some of what we remembered:

  • The different colour of the cell things on the frames you could tell the flower the pollen was from 
  • If there was a new queen the queen would get some of the hive and swarm 
  • You need to destroy the queen cells 
  • If you take the queen away for 2 or 3 minutes and bring her back they will kill her and raise a new queen 
  • They try to clean the queen after she’s in the cage on the hive 
  • Only smoke calms the bees 
  • There is a strap around the hive so it doesn’t blow over. 
Juliet
  • We pulled out all of the frames to see the buzzy bees 
  • To make honey bees take nectar the digest it vomit it up then an other bee takes in and vomits it up till it makes honey!
  • He destroys the other queen been eggs so that they don’t develop to bees and take away the other bees to start a new nest 
  • The nectar that is in the middle are different colours because it is from different flowers
Chloe
  • Only one drone mates with the queen.
  • The queen mates once in her life.
  • Different colour of cell – different flower.
  • The paint on the queen depends on how old she is.
  • Drones don’t do anything but eat the food.
  • Bees eat the nectar and vomits it up, another bee eats it. It keeps going until honey is made.
  • The hive is really clean, you could eat your food out of it.
  • If a new queen is born the queens swarm.
  • Bees dance to communicate. 
Olivia Rose
  • Different coloured pollen depending on the plants
  • The queen will be killed if left for only 2-3 mins
  • The queen bee cells grow on the side of the honeycomb
  • The drone bee cells grow on the centre of the honeycomb
Harry
  • I learned that the queen does not control the hive
  • I learned that the different colours of pollen cells can tell you what flower was used.
  • I learned that bees vomit into each others mouths to make honey
  • I learned that they have to destroy the queen cells to make sure no more queens are born.
  • I learned that bees dance to communicate.
Rory

Outdoor Learning day June 2024

Photoblitzer

The first thing we did was Photoblitzer. At it’s core, photoblitzer is a website that Mr. Johnston gave all of us. The web page had a small list of photo ideas, then we had twenty minutes to take pictures going along with the list.

Nathaniel

Capture the flag

playing capture the flag

Next we had a game of capture the flag in the playground. This is a new game for the Biggies and went down really well. Lots of running, laughing and thinking.

After our photo blitz challenge we did a game of capture the flag, I had never played it before but it was really fun. Mr. Johnston split us into two teams team red, & team yellow. My group started off as team yellow, my team had me, Olivia, Lexi, Alexia, Rory & Tony. In the first round most of them came sprinting and I tug Juliet, Harry, & then Xander. Team yellow won the first round

Chloe

Dow’s Wood

After the interval we headed down to Dow’s Wood. We started by searching the wood for new creatures to add to our collection at the Banton Beasties. This is a new site that well will make public soon. We found quite a few interesting ones and a few more got away.

One Beastie was not very welcome. We were attacked by swarms of midges. This made our other activity in the woods more difficult than usual, we stopped to spend some time writing and drawing. It is a credit to the Biggies that they got some done! 

In the woods, a thick tree canopy shades mossy rocks. 
In the woods, big blue flys lurk uncatchable. 
In the woods, midges bite continuously and with no mercy. 
In the woods, ferns are everywhere.
In the woods, there is no escape from midges.

Juliet 
King of the Forrest
For he is king of the forest 
He has a centurion of bugs
For he is king of the forest 
There’s a smile on everyone’s mug

For he is king of the forest 
He cares for the children 
For he is king of the forest
He has a crown of ferns 
Placed on by a hern 

Nathaniel
The Nature Poem

Deep down in the woods,
Through the lush leafy forest
At the heart of the woodland,
This is how it starts.

Xander

Pendulum Painting

We constructed some painting pendulums in the playground in the afternoon. This was messy but fun and gave some interesting results. The next day we took our art, edited it in Snapseed to boost the colours. We then but it on a virtual gallery wall and added ourselves as a visitor.

Biggies in the Rain!

The Biggies took part in the school outdoor learning day yesterday. The weather was unrelentingly wet! We got on our waterproofs and took part in a full program.

We started by preparing a fire and making some sticks to toast marshmallows. Next we worked on our maths making circle paterns in the playground.
after the interval we got the fire goign and helped our wee pals from Primary !-2 to make s’mores.

Circles
Circles
Children round a fire
Fire Circle
Bee Cafe
Planting Willow
Willow Nursery

After lunch we cleaned up the Bee Cafes and cut and planted some willow whips.

I really liked yesterday it was really fun . I liked the fire pit with the p1,2s and planting the wild flowers I did not like how wet it was because we had to draw circles with a piece of string.

Lexi

I thought it was really fun but soaking wet. I loved the fire pit and the marshmallow. I liked playing the games with the little ones I had so much fun. It was fun watching matheo eat his s’mores like he does with his sandwich. I didn’t necessarily liked making the circles it was challenging but instead I made a monkey with Lexi.

Alexia

Yesterday was a fun and exciting day, our class got split up and we taught the wee ones how to make s’mores safely, we partnered up and used home made compasses to draw circles and we done some gardening, I enjoyed planting the wildflowers and I also enjoyed the fire pit, I enjoyed leading games with my peers and I enjoyed explaining the games to the wee ones. Yesterday I think I used the skills, Leadership, Communication, Planning and Organising and much more. I liked being outside for the day and it was really fun to do those different activities all day, outside.

Olivia

I enjoyed everything. Apart from the tired legs and soaking things of course. Another thing I didn’t enjoy about is the fact I couldn’t finish the gigantic circle. But I feel brilliant about the good comments of the dry s’mores we roasted over the fire.
The planting was very enjoyable, especially the bug saving. I found an adorable centipede. I hope the willows grow nicely.

Nathaniel

I Liked doing games with the wee ones & making s’mores with them. I Also liked spending time with them, planting the willow trees was a little hard because of the shovel but I liked it. I Really liked making the wild flower beds with Alex & Lexi I thought it was really fun. I liked being partners with Faith for the circle art and the rest of the day!

Chloe

Autumn Haiku

After reading Write Out: Gathering Sensory Details for Haiku on Kevin’s blog I though we could join in. We are a little late for Write Out which inspired this, on holiday last week.

We watched the video embedded on Kevin’s blog and looked at his classes examples. Then we went out into the playground. A cold breeze and some drizzle did stop the Biggies gathering words. Back inside we polished these a little.

Hand written Haiku The Crispy Leaves The Birds are chirping loudly I'm cold everywhere
nights getting darker A full moon calls for werewolves marks hallween's start
The summer has slowly fading The Autumn has quickly come in The dark is waiting
The cold organge leaves birds chirping in the cold rain Marks winter's start
The Autumn is here Brown orange the colour of the leaves As they fall down
The Breeze is blowing Some of the leaves are rustling The birds are chirping
Trees are still, red, brown orange, the sand is smooth and the sound of woodpeckers chirping
Fingers are colder The soft rain feels electric grey forms in the sky
The cold air is coming the leaves fall into the wind The birds start to rest
Birds calling While yellow to red leaves appear Autumn is here
Occasionally I see a robin with starlings flying with the breeze
Leaves falling off the trees cold air blowing through the breeze Autumn is here
Ourtside in autumn Orange leaves, summer is gone with the hot sun

Outdoor Learning Day June 2023

We started the day by going to the woods to gather a bit of firewood and different things to test as tinder.

The woods have changed quite a lot since our last visit, the grass & bracken is a lot higher. Down by the Gladstone we saw a woodpecker and later on a frog.

Back in school we tried different items as tinder with our flies and steels. not much success. The only thing that really caught was some bog cotton we had picked on our previous visit.

Next we mixed up some dough to cook over the fire later on in the day.
Dough in a bowl

We then explored a new App Seek by iNaturalist , which helped us identify plants and animals in the school grounds.

In the afternoon we rolled out out dough and wound it round some twigs, while the dough was rising we set up the fire pit.

Some marshmallows might have been toasted too.

Outdoor Learning Day with the Biggies

Today the whole school had an outdoor learning day. The Biggies:

Went to Dow’s Wood, we collected a hoard of words to use later, had a treasure hunt and collected some kindling.

Next we prepared the fire pit, reminding ourselves about the safety rules and chopped some kindling with great care.

After that we read some of the playground poems we wrote last week to the rest of the class.

In the afternoon we made a fire and cooked some marshmallows.

Finally we went to help primary 1 & 2 to tour the village and take photos of some of the important places in Banton.

No photos of the fire pit or the preparation:(

Playground Picnic & Play

This term of The Biggies Health & Wellbeing work included  being part of a group in a range of situations and enjoying  eating a diversity of foods in a range of social situations. We combined these by organising a “picnic” for the whole school.

The class spent the morning baking cookies and dipping strawberries in chocolate. After lunch they made smoothies.

The class then brought the whole school out into mixed groups served up the food and encourages some conservation.

After they had tidied up the Biggies used their Junior Leader training to lead the groups through some fun and healthy games. The other children rotated  through the groups lead by the Junior Leaders and had a great time.

We could see that all the team work we have been doing this session has really paid off. The Biggies took their responsibilities seriously with out losing a sense of fun doing a great job all day.

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