Den Day at Glaitness School

The weather was kind to us yesterday for Den Day.   There were lots of great ideas on how to build shelters, with folk spending time building, taking down and building again!  Here are a few of the many examples.

Shelters with sticks

This term we have got some big willow sticks in school ready for Den Day.

We have been trying out how we can build different types of shelters without and with trees to support them.

Keep Scotland Beautiful 'Hero of the Month' Award for Glaitness School

This month we had a lovely surprise when the whole school was nominated and won the national Keep Scotland Beautiful 'Hero of the Month Award' for our Pick Up Three Pieces work. Here is the Mission Explore group who lead the Pick Up Three Pieces initiative and help organise for Bag the Bruck at our school with the award.

New litter pickers

We are getting ready for Bag the Bruck 2016. We have new litter pickers - they are strong and really grippy. They are the right length for us too. We hope everyone looks after them and they last a long time. We will use them all year on our class walks and in our playground to Pick Up Three Pieces.

We thought we should try them out in the playground. A lot of litter was stuck in the hedge from Pickaquoy Road. We had to stop before we got it all but we have made a difference already. 

Please Pick Up Three Pieces when you are out and about - this will stop it going into the sea and harming wildlife.

Some more images from Monday!

 

 We all had a go at trying to make a spark with the fire steels.  It required a little bit of skill!

 

Everyone worked well to move our pallets into position.  Keep an eye out for how we plan to use the space we have created.

Gloves, pallets and firesteels.

Hot chocolate on a winters day!

 

Today we had the opportunity to use the Kelly kettle to make some hot chocolate. A great way to end a day of learning!

 First we played a game of 'Fruit Salad' to ensure we remembered the rules about keeping safe.

Then we put all the materials in the kettle ensuring there was just the right amount to light the fire.

Once the water was warm we could enjoy our drink.

I wonder if other classes would like to join us one day?

 

Fire pit area designs

This week we thought in detail about the design of the fire pit area in the front playground - where things would go and what materials we need. If we have a fire and we want to use the Kelly Kettle at the same time where does it go?

 Next we need to find out about what materials are available - what can we use to build it and some seating. We need some shelter around it too.

How big should it be? What size? How much stone or sand and chips do we need?

Do we need logs or planks for benches to sit on?

Finding a place for a fire

Today it was too wet to fire up the Kelly Kettle so we thought about where a good place for having a fire would be in the school grounds. Mrs Miller agreed that we could have a corner of the front playground. The playground group are focussing on the back playground so we can go ahead with our plans.

What kind of fire area should we have? What materials do we need? Do we need help to make it?

Do we need some more materials to build shelter aroung the fire pit? Pallettes? Fencing stabs? Could we reuse Christmas trees in the structure?

What have we got? What do we need?

This week we made some lists of equipment we have for outdoor learning. We split up into two groups and made lists of what we could find and some suggestions for what we might need. We also asked Mr Scott to bring one of the big guide tents to our space so that we would remember it (there are two tents but they are quite big so one in our space is enough).

We definitely need more Paracord - our rope is great but heavy and difficult to work with.
We could make up our own fire making kits if we get some tins and some fire steels and metal colanders.

It would be good to have a special place to use the Kelly Kettle and practice bushcraft in the front playground.

We wondered about having an 'Open Tent Day' when the weather gets better. We could put the tent up in the front playground in the  morning and invite every class could be to visit the tent through the day.

Some of the things we would like to have are wheeled carts to carry our equipment up to Muddisdale and across to the Peedie Sea.

Next week we will use the Kelly Kettle and think about the best place for doing that in the school grounds.

Muddisdale

Today the Mission Explore Group went to Muddisdale to have a think about activities all classesd at Glaitness could do there. Three of us had never been there before. 

There has been a lot of rain recently and some of the path is washed away. It has been eroded  by all the rain water draining off Wideford Hill. The ditch was very full of muddy, fast running water.

We had a good look in some of the areas off the path too to think of things we could do in different places.

It was a long walk for some of us. 

We worked out it was about 1.5 miles all the way round and to and from school.

Its important to always have wellies for our trips. 

It makes puddles fun rather than something we have to avoid.

Back at school we just had enough time to write some of our ideas down. They will be laminated and put on the activity tree for everyone to browse and think about.

The ideas for activities at the Peedie Sea are blue and the ideas for activities at Muddisdale are green.

Here is our list. If you think you can add more please write them in the comments below. 

bird watching

tree identification

den building

path repair

stick shelter making

stick sculptures

measuring

hide and seek

stick arrow trails 

minibeast hunt

leaf matching

picnic

hot chocolate and kelly kettle

dough twists

exercise circuits

treasure hunt - aniumal cards

troll hunt

guided talks

tenting

insect traps

photography

drawing and painting

bridge building

racing model boats/ rafts

relaxation/meditation

Pick Up Three Pieces

storytelling