Forest School Fun in UK

Why did I quit forest school? Working outdoor in this weather is one of the reasons.

Ice, frost, snow ❄️ are very good materials for winter activities. Mark making, role playing, sensory activities are some of the activities that I can come up with. Children are learning and exploring in the nature. However, before this magic happens, forest school leader were at the site an hour earlier to set up.

Is it worthwhile to go into the forest everyday? It really depends on how motivated you are. Once an excolleaguend I were chatting while we were setting up. We both agreed that it’s not worth to accept negative feelings from work. If the job made us feel bad about the nature, it’s time to end this toxic relationship and give ourselves some time to restore our love of nature ❤️

11月嘅時候中咗人生第一次嘅手足口，有人問我有冇去睇醫生，其實學校爆發睇唔睇醫生都係一樣。 #英國學校

想唔想知喺英國點樣揀幼稚園？或者邊一類型嘅幼稚園適合你小朋友？揀幼稚園嘅時候要考慮以下幾項：

一、價錢
差不多每一間幼稚園都係要俾錢，所以你要睇吓你嘅預算係幾多。我做開嘅都通常100磅一日起跳，咁當然有啲可以平一啲。有啲通常返多啲日子會有優惠，每一間都唔同。

二、時段
最常見有全日制同Term Time兩種，即係可以由八點送佢去學校直至6:00先至接走佢，亦可以8:30至3:30。亦有啲幼稚園可以選擇半日, 即係食完午飯就走。

三、地理位置
雖然有啲出名好嘅幼稚園，但係如果要搭半個鐘車去就要諗吓值唔值得啦。畢竟舟車勞頓其實都好辛苦, 除非你揸車啦。同埋有好多幼稚園都會收遲到罰款, 即係如果家長遲過6:00嚟嘅話, 佢可以逐分鐘逐分鐘咁收，因為你阻住老師收工，但係學校唔想俾OT。

四、膳食
基於食物安全同敏感嘅問題，多數幼稚園都會包膳食，亦都唔准家長自己帶嘢食。最好睇清楚除咗正餐以外嘅小食係啲乜。如果正餐食唔飽，都可以食吓生果嗰啲頂住。當然最重要係家校合作，鼓勵小朋友唔好揀飲擇食。

五、設施
好多新嘅幼稚園，啲硬件真係唔錯。好多Interactive嘅適齡設施。我見過有BB房可以有練行嘅樓梯，又有啲好靚嘅燈箱玩具。所以都一定要去參觀一下，唔好淨係上網睇相同聽人講。

六、師資
做幼稚園老師學歷唔係最重要，公司最主要睇你有冇牌，因為有排先可以計入個師生比，從而決定嗰間房可以收幾多學生。而家讀一個Level two大約需要一年，Level three就大約年半，但係人工就超級無敵低，所以主要都會有機會係啲十七八歲嘅啱啱畢業學生做老師或者黎考牌。呢個年齡層可以好成熟，亦都可以好小朋友，不過大多數照顧方面都問題不大。我認為參觀嘅時候可以同d老師傾下計，睇吓佢地大約喺呢間學校做左幾耐，從而估計下turnover rate有幾高。turnover rate越高，即係越唔好做，亦即表示你嘅小朋友嘅key person有機會成日轉，長遠都唔係好事。另外都可以睇下manager嘅年紀，二十幾歲就做manager嘅setting我唔會揀，除非佢後面個operation manager有番咁上下資歷。

#英國幼稚園 #英國教育

It’s Good Friday today.

🥚Managed to watch a David Attenborough’s documentary this morning. It’s a brilliant show telling you all about eggs.

🥚 One interesting fact is that once a chick was hatched, it’d try to ‘talk’ to those still struggling inside and wake them up, too!

🐣It’d be a good ‘talking stick’ topic inspired by the nature of “What would you ‘tell’ those still struggling if you’re the first one awake?” That’s sounds interesting to me but thoughts are welcome 😊

Photo: Mama duck in Kew Gardens

Spring has come and it’s great fun to pick up flowers and petals with children and make some floral arts. Pounding flowers is a good idea too!

Some tips for these two activities:

1. Camellia, magnolia, daffodils and cherry blossoms are blooming recently, which pink/ red camellia and yellow daffodils are the best for pounding and seeing the effect

2. White muslin cloth good to see effect quickly. If you have some old one that used to be your children’s muslin cloth, that would be a good option for upcycling

3. Some cherry blossoms fall as in a whole flower instead of just petals

Happy Year of Dragon 🐉

Want some ideas for forest school this week?

Lay a roll of paper out on the ground and put a card board dragon head on one end (a tail on the other is optional)

Spread white glue / put some double-sided tape on the paper

Pick up leaves to be the ‘scale’ of the dragon

Stick them on the glue/ tape

Lift the whole thing up (2 grown ups, with children in between)

It’s the Dragon dancing in the forest!

Where does the dragon go? How does it move? Does it need to take a rest or eat something? Let them decide!

Photo credits: Pinterest

(Please dm for the picture of ‘forest dragon’ as I couldn’t share due to company policies)

Got a chance to see a real one in the forest before. It’s tiny and it wiggles!

“Saw”

When I talked about ‘’Saw”, what pops in your mind?

The shark. (The movie poster engraved in my mind)

Sawfish. (I know there’s swordfish but good to know this new species)

Chain saw. (There’s a new Japanese anime has a character which is an orange chain saw)

In forest school, we always use a bow saw. Although it’s not my first time sawing with the students, it’s still hit my nerves sometimes if the saw doesn’t move along the line.

But that’s the learning process for both parties. They learn how to saw and turn on their listening ears while I have to give simple and clear instructions.

*****
There’s a child keep asking to make a chain saw the other day. I made him a hand saw at the end as I can’t picture a chain saw in my mind except the blade 😅

嚟咗英國差不多6年，都未試過尋日咁濕咁焗嘅天氣，出好多汗，好似香港咁。森林勁多蚊，但係每個人體質唔同，我貼左蚊貼同蚊怕水都比佢哋咬到傻，啲小朋友都係。相反，我同事話佢冇嘢咬🥲

終於落咗一場大雨，小朋友望住啲雨都好興奮，即刻涼爽番😌

#森林教育

While we were trying to do a printing activity in the forest, we found that we got no paint.

Oh what should we do? Shall we just put this activity away and do something else?

Then a child started to use some mud and water from the mud kitchen to paint through the gaps in the stencil with a paint brush. What a brilliant idea 💡

It then inspired me to give them choices on using paint brushes or rub it on with their fingers.

近日有Montessori 老師喺佢個page度分享佢嘅forest school初體驗。作為一個喺英國forest school教左四年嘅老師, 亦都係forest school leader,希望都可以釐清一下筆者對forest school嘅misunderstanding, 唔希望佢嘅讀者喺睇左佢嘅文章之後對forest school有誤解。

1. 其實forest school 係有ethos嘅，詳細就自己上番forest school association 個網頁度睇。
2. 其中一項係有講 「A Forest School programme has a structure which is based on the observations and collaborative work between learners and practitioners. 」係唔係’free flow’, 就睇吓個老師嘅能力，有啲老師可以將小朋友嘅play變成一個學習嘅機會，有啲好talk得嘅老師可以將小朋友嘅play變成一個language learning。我冇去過香港嘅forest school, 但係所謂嘅systematic係咪真係好呢？係咪真係可以cater到唔同嘅學習能力？
3. 嗰條喺你面前抰黎抰去嘅蟲，其實係一個好好嘅learning resource, 亦都應該要appreciate一下呢個世界仲有咁純真嘅好奇心。
4. 隻手凍到紅晒凍到喊，家長同學校都有責任教小朋友戴手套，同埋喺適當嘅時候時候有intervention, 例如俾暖手包佢哋，或者冇防水手套就唔好去會掂水嘅地方。

如果有家長對英國嘅forest school setting有興趣，我好樂意分享，我d學生都係得2至5歲😊又或者可以問一啲小朋友讀過嘅家長，畢竟未必適合個個小朋友

Child-led story writing activity 🐌🐌

After searching for snail adventure, children were sitting down to talk about snails. Then they tried to make fun of me and said some funny things about the snail climbing on Karen’s face. Instead of stopping them, I asked them elaborate that and make it to a story together that go with some pictures as well.