Search for Benny Bear

Last week Year Two went to Red Hill Common for a walk in search of Benny Bear! We had been asked to investigate the area.

While we were there we identified the trees and plants we found. We found pine trees and holly bushes and knew they were evergreen trees. We found dead oak tree leaves so know that there are also oak trees there as well as silver birch trees.

We also found out that a tree can be a habitat not just for animals to live in but also for plants like ivy which we saw all over them. We identified different birds like pigeons, magpies, robins and blackbirds and described where they lived and why. We found some micro habitats like under logs and were able to name the insects we found there like worms, beetles, woodlouse and snails. The children could explain why the insects lived there because it was damp, dark and offered them protection from predators like birds.

We also saw some spider webs on bushes so talked about why their habitat was a bush. There were also plenty of signs of spring. We found deciduous trees had buds on them, we found some shoots on the woodland floor and also saw daffodils growing. We knew that daffodils came from bulbs. We talked about why we did not find the daffodils growing the thick woodland area and the children could explain that it was because they needed sunlight to grow so were near the edges of the wood where there was more light.

We identified some dandelions and discussed how they grew from seeds and how the seeds spread. They also knew that they need nutrients from the soil and water to grow. We were excited to see a squirrel and also some rabbit holes which showed us what other types of animals lived in the woodland. Looking around us we could identify things that were living, dead and had never been alive.

Sadly we couldn’t see any signs of our Benny Bear whilst we were at the common but there was a surprise waiting for each class when we got back to school. Benny Bear was sat in our classroms waiting for us!