On Tuesday 9th July Year 1 visited Gatton Park in Reigate as part of our Science learning journey topic, with a focus on ‘growing’ and ‘trees’. The day started very excitedly for 30 children, as always when a journey on a coach is involved.
The day consisted of 2 sessions, the morning one focusing on trees. The elves of Gatton Park had been up to mischief and had hidden the Wizard’s wand in the grounds. It was Oak class’ job to solve a number of clues to discover the hidden wand in and amongst the trees. We worked in small teams to solve a clue, leading us to a tree. We had to use our clue cards to help us to recognise the leaves and features of each tree to make sure it was the correct one. Once we had found our tree we had to complete an activity to gain a stamp. 6 stamps were up for grabs and 6 trees needed to be identified. Luckily all our groups completed the challenges and were able to find their wands to give back to their wizards. Malia said, “I enjoyed it when we had to find the wands because we had to go to all different trees”. Lewis told us that the Weeping Willow tree looks like its crying into the water. That’s why it’s called the Weeping Willow.
Lunch then arrived which, as always is our favourite part of the day, and on a hot July day, well deserved. Sitting in the beautiful grounds of Gatton Park we took our well-earned rest in a shady spot.
As the sun got hotter in the afternoon, off Oak class went to learn about what all plants need to grow. We shared our knowledge that plants need sunlight, earth, warmth, air and water to grow healthy and strong. We played a game, with the help of our adults and had to find each of the elements to make sure they grew.
For the last part of our day, we took a trip into the gardens of Gatton Park to find labels, to identify the different parts of a flower. We wandered in and out, avoiding the ponds to find our sticky labels. We finished the afternoon with a rendition of ‘Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’ with a slight change to the words, ‘Flower, Leaves, Stem and Roots’, before heading back to the coach for a much quieter journey home.