Stories from the Forest 2

On Thursday 19th March, the day before the eclipse, I has my second visit with the Primary 3,4,5 class at Resolis.

What happened...

The day aimed to build on the project’s theme of ‘Stories from the Forest’ and to help prepare for the Wild Forest Day next Friday. This time we were focusing on the Forest's wildlife, how bird songs, animal tracks, and other signs tell us what's happening and how important it is to use every sense and be still to ‘listen’. There were lots of stories from the children, from me, and some wonderfully imaginative role-play shows about how it might feel to be a creature of Millbuie Forest.  

We started by talking about how to understand the ‘secret’ languages of the forest. Since the last visit the children have worked very hard on the challenge I set them to learn the names of the Forest wildlife by playing the wildlife card games I made. So we played some fun games of ‘guess what animal I am’, with the kids playing roles, which was great. The children had lots of their own stories about seeing and hearing wildlife. One girl had a buzzard nesting nearby, several children had lost chickens to foxes and pine martens, (we talked about wild animals behaving like wild animals), some had seen red squirrels in the Cairngorms National Park. One girl was terrified of moles because of the way they look, so we spent a bit of time in a discussion between her and two other girls trying to allay her fears..

I showed some wildlife photos on the computer with plenty of sound effects and images. I asked them to shut their eyes and listen to birdsongs, and kept them interested by asking lots of questions. Plenty of important themes came up for discussion, including life cycles, habitats, ecosystems and seasons, threats faced by animals, predators and prey, migration routes, native and non-native species. We practised recognising birdsong and making bird calls again, which they enjoyed. 

I was so pleased by how much their knowledge and awareness of the Forest's wildlife has improved! That was one of the aspirations for the project, as it will really help their awareness and creativity when they are outside. They all got a sweet for all their efforts!

After the break we all had a discussion about the children's favourite animals. Each chose a creature living in the Forest and we thought about that creature’s favourite food, scariest thing, best day ever etc. We then went through to the drama room and the children split into groups of 2 or 3 and prepared short role play shows, where each was acting his or her favourite animal. We talked about how it was important to be in character – if you were a siskin talking to a goshawk or a field vole talking to a tawny owl, your chat might not be so friendly! I kept the birdsong playing at low volume all the time, as it was so lovely and calming to listen to, and like being outside.

The children and I shared filming the shows, which were really entertaining and imaginative as well as ecologically surprisingly accurate. They included a play about a poorly-sighted bat (roosting with its feet in the air), being harassed by two pine martens and finally scaring them away, one about a wildcat and a fox exchanging tips on catching food, one about a pine marten who encounters a squirrel eating a nut and discovers he has a nut allergy(!), one about a coal tit escaping from an osprey and a buzzard who get into a fight over it (‘See ya suckers!)’, and one about a bat giving a mole a big worm, then a tawny owl killing and eating the mole and the bat escaping….Life can be tough.

By then it was almost lunchtime, and we had just enough time to return to the class and, with help, for the children to sew up the A5 workbooks of cartridge paper, with each child decorating the front cover and writing down his or her chosen ‘Forest name’ eg Foxie. Each one will contain a tracks sheet, mammal and bird spotter sheets, a sketch map, spare pages for writing/drawing, and will be kept in a plastic Ziploc bag that can be used for collecting small things when we are out in the Forest.

The children had hoped that I would tell them the ghost story I'd talked to them about that takes place on the Millbuie, but that will have to wait until next time....

A few reflections...

I had been prepared to break up the half hour powerpoint with games, but in the end the children were too interested in it and it wasn’t necessary.  The powerpoint lasted for longer than I’d thought because it was so interspersed with comments and discussions and anecdotes from the children. I made a point of asking them about almost everything I showed as it really kept their attention. I had planned to play bingo and some more formal games, but found it easier to ad lib with ‘guess the animal’ and bird calls at appropriate moments. I left the bingo cards for them to use in class later. The sweets were useful, because they helped keep the children focused (before I’d handed them out!) on the outline for the shows, until we went to the drama room.

The plays themselves were much more realistic and less fantastical than last time, and the children seemed to completely grasp the challenge of giving some sense of the animal/bird’s actual daily life as well as providing entertainment. The improvised lines were excellent and often funny, and the ecological relationships were impressively accurate.  It was a Thursday, so the children all had school uniform on. That did not seem to affect their spontaneity or imagination, but the filmed outcomes were not as colourful as last time, when many were dressed in animal onesies.

One aspect that was excellent was that the autistic boy played a full and active role throughout, doing exactly what the other children did and joining in with them. This was a marked improvement on last time, when he remained drawing pictures at the edge of the class. The teacher remarked on this and was amazed that he had not even lost interest in the fairly lengthy powerpoint.  I had hoped that he would become more involved, so it was great to see this level of engagement. The other wee girl who has certain issues on the spectrum was fantastic, acting her role as a hunted siskin with great energy.

I had various additional activities that we could have done, given the time, but I chose to spend time on the open-ended discussions as they seemed to stimulate a lot more imagination and creativity, as well as being great learning opportunities. The talk and discussion really helped with the realism of the plays. I believe that in a project that is all about creativity born of keen awareness and use of all the senses in the natural environment it is vital that there is a basic interest and knowledge in the ecology of the Forest.

The teacher and pupils all helped with taking pictures and filming. One regret about the day, however, is that it was too intrusive and difficult to record the children’s spontaneous anecdotes and comments, which they often came right up to tell me. These stories were at least as alive and creative as the plays, but impossible to capture without losing them. I suggested to the teacher that she might try to capture one or two later in class.

I got positive feedback from a couple of the children I talked to about the morning. One said that the ‘best thing was making up the shows’ and ‘doing the guessing games’. 

Another said that she enjoyed the powerpoint and, ‘I really liked all the really cute ones like the little baby bat, and the baby squirrel and the baby wildcat’, and that the ‘sound bits were good’ She also said, ‘I liked the way you asked lots of questions so we wouldn’t get bored’.

So - another fun creative day! Hoping for good weather on 27th!