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Our Beautiful Pond

 

We are so lucky to have a beautiful pond in our woodland area which we can explore all year round. The pond provides wonderful learning opportunities for the children.

In the first instance it provides opportunities for the children to risk assess. On first entering the woodland area the children are curious about the pond and when reflecting on how to stay safe in the woodland area they need to consider the pond and the potential hazards associated with it. As part of our ‘rules to stay safe in the woodland’ the children have come up with many rules linked to the pond. Then when it comes to pond dipping as a learning activity the children need to consider staying safe by the pond in a more detailed way as well as considering how to show respect to the living things that live in the pond.

Of course, the pond also provides us with many opportunities for identification and the study of living things that live in the pond (as you may have spotted in previous posts). We have been lucky enough to witness all stages of the lifecycle of frogs, newts, dragonflies and mayflies at various points over the year. We have a lovely range of classification keys and books which allow all children to have a go at identifying what they have found.

The pond also provides the children with opportunities to take part in maintaining our woodland area, which is something they love to do. Removing weed and leaves from the pond teaches the children respect and responsibility and helps them to take ownership for our lovely area.

 FROG NEWS UPDATE

We have enjoyed looking out for tadpoles, however we had been a bit suspicious that we hadn't seen any signs of them. We thought they would be well camouflaged but thought we might have fished one out when pond dipping by now. This week we made an interesting discovery when reading one of our pond books. We found out that Newts love eating tadpoles and so do Backswimmers! Our pond is full of both these animals, so we are thinking that maybe our tadpoles have been eaten! This makes us happy for the Newts and Backswimmers but a little bit sad for our frog friend that we see regularly. We are now hatching a plan as to how we might protect our tadpoles next year. Watch this space!