The session started with a reminder of all the tools and equipment we'd need to do the Castle Restoration job! We thought of everything, from safety gear to cement mixers and ladders!
We put our helmets and high-vis jackets on and went walkabout around the site to see what jobs had to be done. 

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The list was long...
battlements to be repaired
new wooden drawbridge to be made
rusty chains to be scrubbed
moat to be dug out
leaking well to be fixed
safety lid to be made to cover dangerous well
portcullis gate to be welded
smashed curtain wall to be fixed with cement
carve new leg for the throne
repair spiral staircase
mend windows

We drew sketches of the parts of the castle we wanted to restore and shared our ideas with the rest of the team. 

We started our session by talking about the wild flowers that we know about already - 
daisies, dandelions, bluebells, buttercups and forget-me-nots.
We noticed that some of the flowers had 5 petals, but the daisy had lots more. We chose a 'chunky' daisy each and counted its petals - we had  47, 48, 49, 50 petals.
We went exploring around Forest School to see where the wildflowers were growing. Most were in shady patches that got some sunlight.
We found some others - wild garlic (ramsons), violets, granny's bonnet, cow parsley, lords and ladies, pink clover, nettles and some that we still need to identify.
To finish our session we had some choosing time using the tyre swing, slides, rope walk, mud pits, tunnels and Forest School environment.

25.04.22 Castle Restoration Team – Mantle of the Expert.
 
DANGER! NO ENTRY!
What do you think might be happening in this story?
Mia – there is danger, do not come in
Macy – you can’t get in, it’s locked                
How do you feel?
Layla – tense
Jaylen – scared
Oscar – scared, it makes me afraid
Kalina – a little scared
Poppy – worried – why is the sign there?
Jude – I’ve seen signs like this before outside buildings.
“Am I doing the right thing?”
As she turned, she saw a white van with the words “Castle Restoration Team” painted on the side. These were the people she had been waiting for. They were going to look at the castle and tell her what needed to be done to repair it.

Poppy – she doesn’t know if she has done the right thing.
Tillie – maybe a dragon swished its tail at the castle
Amelia – the van did say ‘Fix the castle’.
The owner of a ruined castle calls in a restoration team to restore the castle and make it safe for visitors.
If we were the people in the van, come to look around the old castle, what kind of equipment do you think we would have to keep us safe?
 
Teddy – hard hat – incase something falls on our head
Jude – High-vis jacket
Eliza – because they are bright
Ryan – safety goggles, tape measure
Amelia RH – hammer and nails
Dominik – materials & bricks
Lottie – torch
Layla -ladder

 
 
What do we want to find out?

• How a castle was built
• When people live in castles, what do they wear?
• Why do castles become ruined?

Today we have talked about what money is , where it comes from, how we can keep it safe and what to do if we find money.
There were lots of different ideas about where money comes from (some of the teachers have gold it seems!), but we agreed that we needed money to buy things. We could buy food and clothes, but also treats like toys and books.
We looked at coins and notes and talked about how they were worth different amounts.
In groups we made up some stories about money - here are a few of them....

The characters in my story are Jude & Isabelle.
They got their money from growing some blueberries and apples.
They are going to sell the fruit and old toys. They will buy a new book for Bluebells with the money.
by Jude & Isla.

The character in my story is Daisy. 
She got her money from the bank.
She is going to repair the ruined castle with the money.
Layla, Summer & Theo.

The character in my story is Dexter
He got his money from selling some strawberries to people
He is going to share the money with the class.
by Poppy, Dexter and Teddy.

The characters in my story are Ted, Poppy & Lottie
They got their money from God
They are going to go shopping with the money.
by Lottie and Macy.

We started the session by reminding ourselves of some of the common garden birds. We regularly see Blue Tits, Great Tits, Sparrows and Blackbirds by Bluebells Class. We have a resident Buzzard that hangs out in the oak tree in the field next to class. We loved listening to the Long Tailed Tit's chatterbox song. It reminded us of Beegu - the alien we have been reading about.
Next we made some Cheerio Treats to feed the garden birds at home. We were engrossed in threading cheerios onto pipe cleaners - great for our fine motor skills. 
We had a HOT CHOCOLATE TREAT ourselves, before tackling the obstacle courses that we made last week. 
We had a great afternoon! Brilliant Bluebells!

We talked about feeling safe in school. In Bluebells we feel safe.
We decided to talk about reasons why someone might not feel safe. 

The children said:

- We might not feel safe if our Mum's and Dad's aren't with us.
- We might not feel safe if we hear unkind words or someone hurts our feelings.
- We might not feel safe if someone grabs or pushes us.

We thought about what we should do if we or someone else wasn't feeling safe:

- Find a friend or a member of staff - they will keep you safe.

To make sure our friends feel safe, we said we:

- Should think before we do something.
- Follow our class rules.
- Should use kind hands and kind feet.
- Should only say something if it is nice.

We drew pictures and wrote our advise for others.

We talked about which pets we had at home. Some of us had pets and some didn't so we talked about which pets we would like when we were grown ups. We drew a picture of the pet we wanted and talked about all the different things pets needed. 

We talked about why we needed to have rules. We looked at our class rules and discussed why we had each rule - to keep us safe.

We talked about rules in other places - in a shop, at a playground. Some of the rules were the same but some were different and we decided rules change depending on the situation.

We worked in groups and discussed which things went into our body, onto our body, should not go on or into or bodies and which we should ask an adult about. 

Today it was all about the garden birds! We started the session by making some 'Pinecone Treats' for the birds. We squished sunflower hearts, mixed seeds, and breadcrumbs into suet and then squished that into opened up pine cones. It was a mucky job, but some of us loved it! Spot the SMILES!
We hung our cones in the silver birch trees. The birds were delighted...they'd never seen such a delicious feast!

We imagined what it must be like to be a bird trying to find materials for nest building. We found dried grasses, leaves, soft materials and feathers and made our own cosy, little nests. The birds were delighted once more, lots of materials for them to pinch (or magpie) and take to their own nests in the trees. (Magpies like to steal shiny objects and put them in their nests)

We topped up the bird feeders. They are obviously hungry. So far we have seen:-
Blue Tits, Great Tits, Blackbirds, Magpies, Pigeons and Crows.