Playgrounds and spiders webs
Mon, Oct 5th 2009
The last two days, last week, I’ve spent in a small infant school. The first day I ran 4 circle times (with all their teachers, MDSA’s etc. observing) and went out twice into the playground. IT WAS AMAZING. They had wonderful versatile equipment called ‘snugs’(?) which encourages the children to rearrange it/rock in it/balance on it/crawl through it. Fab. They also had a big green field to play on. They’ve been working hard on the Golden Rules. This indignant child hauled a small boy, by his fur lined hoodie to me. “Miss – he’s showing DISRESPECT to that tree, that tree is feeling VERY disrespected! But what touched me most was later when I sat for ages quietly with three children who were just sitting looking in a gloriously untended flower bed at the spiders in their webs. They were mesmerised and knew so much about them. Sooo gently they touched them to explain things to me. I remembered the days when I was a teacher, in Clapham and we all kept small furry animals, newts and stick insects in our classrooms. Awe and wonder all round. Now, kids are lucky if their teacher has a furry class mascot with a squeaky voice. Thank goodness for the growth of Forest Education.
Related Tags »
Tell a friend
Enter yours and a friends name to send them this page.
