Jamaica Forest School

Jamaica enjoyed their turn this week of going on a walk before entering the forest to spot signs of Spring. They did a great job of noticing many tiny buds on the trees as well as some small flowers in bloom. 

In the forest they were careful to look around to be sure not to trample on the bluebells beginning to grow across the forest floor. They enjoyed climbing the tree, digging for worms and making concoctions as always in the mud kitchen! 

Jamaica Forest School

After our Christmas break, the children in Jamaica Class got to head back outside to begin our forest school sessions. Once outside, we discovered that our forest had become bigger and we had lots of new areas to explore! 

We began our session sitting altogether, listening to all of the sounds that we could hear around us, followed by a fun game of hide and seek. Then, we used Y shaped sticks to build teepees, this time covering them with evergreen branches and many children enjoyed the challenge of the balance rope to walk along. We also spent some time using binoculars to take a closer look at our forest school creatures, as well as having lots of fun swinging in the hammock! There was plenty of good teamwork observed throughout the afternoon which was so lovely to see.

It was a week of very exciting discoveries for Jamaica class. We are looking forward to our next forest school adventure!

Jamaica's Afternoon at Central Park

Our current Jamaica class were joined by the nursery children coming into Jamaica in September for a trip to the park this afternoon. 

The weather was kind to us and remained fair while we sat down to enjoy a few snacks. Poppy said "I never tried this before, but I'm gonna have some now".

Ever the environmentalist, David reminded his friends that "we can't leave our litter because animals might eat it". Once we had tidied up after ourselves we headed into the play area.

The children were thrilled to discover the variety of equipment to play on. Yasmin was keen to show off her bravery, saying "I'm going on the big slide - look, watch me!" while Tommy and Sam were proud of their achievements, saying "we climbed up here by ourselves, no one even had to help!"

A great time was had by all, and what a lovely opportunity for both old and new Jamaica class students to spend time together!

Bye Bye Butterflies!

Over the past two weeks, the children in Jamaica class have done a wonderful job of caring for and nurturing 5 caterpillars through their life cycle from caterpillar to butterfly.

Each morning the children have been excited to carefully observe the creatures and see the changes that take place throughout their metamorphosis.

The caterpillars grew quickly and began making their cocoons by hanging down from the lid of the container. Todor said "It's moving! They're gonna turn into a butterfly now" while Evelin excitedly made predictions about how the butterflies might look: "Butterflies coming out! Small and pink, all gonna be pink and pink wings". 

Our predictions weren't quite right, but the children were all amazed to see the butterflies emerge from their cocoons. Mohammad commented "They have anntenae and wings now - they are not caterpillars anymore". Riley counted the butterflies he could see: "I can see 2 butterflies, they got orange to eat". Francesca noticed "They have patterns on their wings, and they only have little mouths"

We have loved caring for the butterflies in our classroom, but we all decided the butterflies would be happier in our outside area. Ty warned us "Don't put them near the climbing frame - they might get squished!". Tilly suggested "Maybe we could put them in the forest?"

And so we did...

Jamaica's Trip to Central Park

What a wonderful time the children in Jamaica class have had today.  First we went to Central Park and had lots of fun playing on all the amazing equipment and then when we returned to school we enjoyed our picnic all together on the field.

The children's behaviour was exemplary at all times from walking nicely to the park, always holding the hand of a friend to helping each other on the equipment, "I am helping to push the swing" said Sebastian, "then we will swap over and Ashton will push me."  What lovely turn taking!

Whilst having our picnic, the children chatted to each other about what was their favourite part of the afternoon:
Bella-Leigh - "I liked the swing the best cause it was going soooo high!"
Matteo -  "The game was my favourite, the one where you needed to tap the colours."
Ashton - "The twirly slide was my favourite...it make me dizzy!"
Rose - "The swings were my favourite cause I could go as high as the clouds."