One of our topics this term focusses on collecting data and, this week, the children have been recording information about things they’ve found in the woods. They’ve spotted bugs, slugs, fungi and animal poo. They’ve recorded their findings by placing sticks or cones beside pictures to show how many they found. They’ve also been checking the thermometer and colouring a leaf on our temperature tree according to the day’s reading.
These are simple records, but there is a lot of thinking behind them. The children have to decide what they’ve found, remember what they are counting and find a way to show someone else their result. As the leaves build up on our temperature tree, we hope we’ll be able to look back and see the temperature changing as autumn goes on to winter. Their marks and coloured leaves give them something to revisit, compare and talk about.
We’ve been making connections in other ways, too. We picked apples from our tree in the garden which has been totally laden this year. We tasted brambles in the woods and listened to The Gruffalo Granny read aloud. Familiar stories and previous experiences help the children add words to what they encounter outdoors.
One of my favourite connections this week has been at lunchtime. We often listen to and see birds in the woodland although usually from a distance. But, some robins have been coming closer and closer while we sit around for lunch. The children have started giving them names, calling them after friends who left nursery to go to school after the summer holiday. It’s lovely to think that, in noticing the birds, the children have found a way to remember their friends.
A temperature tree, a row of sticks and a robin with a familiar name are very different kinds of record. Each gives us a glimpse of what the children have noticed and remembered—and what matters to them.
Next time you are out for a walk or a drive, see what you can notice – it could be birds, red leaves or puddles. Find a way to record what you see, maybe make a mark on a scrap of paper, use pebbles or pine cones as counters, or simply count aloud.
You could try the same journey another day and see what has changed.
