Discovery walk in the forest

To assess the children's interests I took them for a walk in the forest and recorded the things that captured their attention and questions that came to mind. We walked along a new path that we've never walked before and discovered so many different plants we hadn't seen. We had such a great time that we lost track of time and returned late for lunch, but no one seemed to mind, chatting away blowing dandelion seeds and putting flowers behind our ears.

The children were given a challenge to focus their attention on the walk: look for roots, stems, leaves and flowers! My recordings will help guide my planning to include their interests. Here are a few things that came up . . .

The children knew the names of some plants and the question arose "Do all plants have names?"

Natalya noticed a large leaf with black spots and wondered what happened to it which could lead into a study of plant disease.

We discovered a stem covered in sharp prickles. When I asked why some stems were like this while others weren't Nicki offered "The prickles are for protection so dogs don't bite them" This could lead into a study of the attributes plants have that help it to survive.

Sarah asked "Can we eat Buttercups?" which could lead into a study of edible local plants.

Tomorrow we will web the things I recorded to see which the peeks the groups interest the most!