Dunham Massey

Year 1 were lucky to experience a special Victorian Christmas at Dunham Massey. We arrived at Dunham Massey to discover that we were not on the list to see Lady Stamford! We went to the house where we dressed in Victorian costumes. Year 1 were asked by the butler to help with the preparations for a Victorian Christmas. Year 1 took part in lots of activities, baking chocolate bread and gingerbread biscuits, making cards and crackers, pomanders and Christmas boxes. Our work was checked by Mr Hughes, the Butler who was happy with our hard work! Well done Year 1! You created a wonderful Victorian Christmas!

Clay Leaves

Year 1 looked closely at the shapes, colours and patterns of leaves. We carefully moulded the clay using rolling pins and plastic tools. Our leaf templates allowed us to cut the leaves shapes accurately. We were careful when adding the veins to our clay leaves, only pressing lightly with our cutting tools. We waited patiently for our leaves to dry before painting them in autumnal colours.    

 Bring Your Wellies

St John's Tree Hunt

Year 1 had such a lovely afternoon identifying trees in St John’s Church garden. There are some fantastic nature detectives in Year 1. The children were very quick to match the leaves on the trees to the named trees on the Tree Identification Sheet. We can now identify the following trees:

Ash Tree - Beech Tree - Horse Chestnut - Tree Oak Tree

Hawthorn Tree - Silver Birch Tree - Holly Tree

We now know that the correct name for the ‘Conker Tree’ is a Horse Chestnut Tree. This tree is on the corner of Chapel Rd and Vicarage Road. We know that acorns are found on Oak Trees. The impressive magnificent tree on the corner of Vicarage Road and Liverpool Road is a Beech Tree. Year 1 have learnt so much about trees. Well Done Year 1!

The highlight of this week has to be our fantastic trip to Bring Yer Wellies. We had such a lovely warm welcome from our hosts, Mellisa and Nigel, and of course we must not forget Ricky and Barney, the resident horses at Bring Yer Wellies.

Our first activity involved investigating and learning about the conditions required for plants to grow: water, soil and air. Then we had a brilliant time learning how to correctly plant spearmint and peppermint at the potting benches. We have all taken our herbs home to grow and add ‘just enough’ water to allow the herbs to grow well. Fingers crossed all the children in Year 1 will have an impressive pot of mint leaves by January! Please remember to keep the pots indoors.  

For our playtime we had so much fun building tunnels on a beach in a greenhouse.

Next we learnt about how important good soil is for growing plants and herbs. We looked at a working Wormery. We discovered that worms actually do not like fresh vegetable waste. They like to eat the waste food after it has started to rot! We found out that the natural action of the worms converts the ordinary kitchen waste into a rich organic compost.

After lunch we built and raced cork boats along a stream. We really enjoyed cheering our boats along.

Last of all we had an amazing time den building in the woodland. We certainly developed our team building skills. We have lots of natural leaders in Year 1!

We will definitely be returning again next year. Thank-you for such a fantastic trip.