Coningsby St Michael's Church of England Primary School

Believe. Aspire. Succeed.

Owls

Welcome to our Forest school page

This school year we are working on our Hazel Tree wild passport.

Follow this page to see and hear about our progress.

20th March 2024

Recreating bird song using musical instruments

20th March 2024

In Forest School today, owl class listened to the bird songs of our soft toy birds and tried to recreate these using musical instruments. We had a beautiful book ‘A Year of Birdsong’ which had a QR code for each bird that we used to listen to the different bird’s songs before then trying to recreate this sound, this was a lovely experience and owls listened very carefully to the sounds and were able to pick out the different rhythms and changes in pitch, creating some beautiful sounds. Owl class also enjoyed searching for and creating homes for all of the snails that were out after the morning’s rainfall. Some of the children played a game where they covered their eyes and had a friend guide them around our site, this was a fantastic way of learning how to navigate the terrain and practise listening to each other. We also discussed Spring and the growing blossoms on our trees as well as what trees and plants need to grow, which linked in very nicely to a science experiment they are doing in their class.

13th March 2024

Owl class enjoyed playing team games during Forest School today, working hard on our listening skills by playing a whispering game as well as working together as a team in our birds and worms game. Plus other fun games such as four-corners and more.

6th March 2024

Today Owl class had a World Book Day themed Forest School session, we started with the story of The Gruffalo before then talking about the types of homes the animals lived in and whether we could create these using natural resources. We also listened to Superworm and had lots of fun playing a game and finding all of the hidden worms around our woodland area. Owls also created some lovely musical shakers to add some wonderful sounds to the song about helping others they have been learning.

28th February 2024

Owl class enjoyed identifying our Forest School toy birds today using the bird ID books, they then created lots of different nests for the birds using the natural resources around our site. Owls were very interested in looking closely at the rock collection that was set out for them, this featured lots of beautiful, different coloured and textured rocks from all over the world. They also spent time searching for insects (finding lots of different snails today) and creating nature teas at the potion station. Owls especially loved taking some quiet time to lay in the hammocks under the trees.

21st February 2024

Owl class had a wonderful first session back at Forest School. They explored our new temporary site, which after the earlier rain, meant there were lots of wiggly worms for them to observe and create homes for. Owls then got to take their insect pots and magnifying glasses out onto the school field to explore amongst the more mature trees, seeing what insects or signs of life they could find. After this, owl class were challenged to find signs of spring, they learnt all about snowdrops and how special they are, before being taken to a large patch of daffodils that were still in bud. Once owls were back in their classroom, they were asked to create their own observational drawing of the daffodils they had seen. We are looking forward to seeing the daffodils again next week to see what changes there are.

11th October 2023

Owl class had a very rainy Forest School this afternoon, this led to some wonderful creations in our mud kitchen area with lots of soups and cakes being made. The children enjoyed collecting the rain water in different containers and watching the patterns of rippling water made by the raindrops. Within the outdoor classroom Owls had the opportunity to do some leaf rubbing and sketching trees with charcoal. We then had some time to dry off in the classroom and draw some of our favourite Forest School experiences in our Forest School books.

4th October 2023

During Forest School today, owl class were set some challenges to work towards their wild passport level. They had a very messy den that needed rebuilding, lots of natural objects to study and sketch such as pine cones and conkers as well as a leaf identification station. Owl class worked really hard together to make improvements to the den, they supported all of the tarps using ropes and created a fantastic shelter to hide in. Owls completed some brilliant tree ID work, correctly identifying many of the trees on our site such as rowan, hazel, holly and oak by using the shape of the leaves. They also found lots of baby snails living in our nasturtium plants and even made a snail friend!

27th September 2023

Today Owl class were set a challenge to see if they could join two sticks together using rope, they had lots of fun exploring how to join the ropes and they created some fantastic knots. Owls have also been busy sketching some of the animals that live in the Mystical Garden, they made some beautiful drawings of Jammie and Dodger who were busy enjoying the corn some of the children had picked for them to eat. We finished our Forest School session with a class game of ‘Sleeping Owls’ moving around the Mystical Garden like owls and then guessing who was hiding.

20th September 2023

Owl class had a very windy Forest School this afternoon, but they didn’t let the weather dampen their spirits! They embraced the wind and had lots of fun with the ribbon wands, seeing which way the wind was blowing and making different shapes with them. Owl class created some beautiful drawings of flowers by carefully studying our nature pictures. They spotted some of the first signs of autumn in the changing colours of the leaves on our trees and drew some pictures of these too. Owls also took a look at the growing area and named the different vegetables and herbs they could see and smell, before finishing with a whole class parachute game, which was enjoyed by all.

13th September 2003

Owl class had a very enjoyable afternoon making their class animal ‘owls’ with clay. They carefully shaped their clay into an oval shape and pinched the sides to make the wings, then used their fingers to make eyes and beaks before decorating them with nature finds from around our Mystical Garden. Owls also enjoyed making recipes in the mud kitchen, creating a lovely birthday tea party. As well as spending time searching for insects and creating homes for the snails they found and enjoying a whole class team game.

6th September 2023

Owl class had their first session of forest school today and what a hot, sunny day it was! Owls enjoyed exploring the mystical garden and seeing the changes to the vegetables and plants over the summer as well as discovering lots of insects such as worms, caterpillars and snails. They used some of the dry grass to create some wonderful birds nests as well as creating some delicious mud kitchen recipes and potions with water. We were delighted to find that our chickens had laid some eggs for us at last! We then finished our session with some games in the classroom to give them some time to cool off before home time. What a wonderful way to start our new school year!

Our past Forest School sessions

Planting apple trees

22nd March 2023

15th March 2023

Today, owl class continued to work on their clay pots by painting them white ready for our leaf printing challenge next week.

The children were also challenged with creating a game that uses sticks. We had lots of great suggestions from turning sticks into a naughts and crosses game to a hide the stick challenge.

The children were also challenged to make kites. This was an unsupported challenge and the children really flourished, coping well with success and able to adapt and change things that didn’t work so well.

1st March 2023

Today Owl class made clay pots that we plan to decorate using items from nature. The children also made some really imaginative potions. They dug for treasure, created some delicious mud kitchen recipes and explored the bug hotel.

23 February 2023

Owl class were super excited to be back doing forest school again. This week the children were encouraged to look out for signs of Spring. Some of the class made lambs from wool and investigated different ways to draw daffodils. Lots of the children were fascinated with the addition of a new bug hotel which led to mini-beast hunting and creating the perfect habitats for them.