Mental Health Evidence
The rain has been good for the plants, trees and animals in the allotment.
We harvested our first crop of spring green cabbages and lettuces and had a taste of the lettuce – some of our staff had it with their lunch. Back in class, we prepared the cabbage and mixed it with other vegetables to make soup. Yum!
It’s a great feeling knowing that we helped to grow our own food.
In our allotment we noticed that there seemed to be a lot of strange looking ladybirds on our raised beds! After a bit of research, we discovered that many of them were in fact stages in the life cycle of a ladybird. We didn’t see any eggs, but we spotted lots of larva, pupa, and adult ladybirds. We had a little ladybird spotters guide and found that the most common ladybird in our allotment is the adult 7- spot ladybird, its larva and pupa. Apparently there are 46 different species of ladybird in the UK. We learnt quite a bit about them. They are great for our allotment ecosystem.
Who is up for a challenge?
Challenge the family in your house and try ‘The Outdoor Daily Walk Challenge’.
Hi everyone!
The 30 day Music Challenge is coming to an end…I hope you have all had fun choosing songs to suit each day.
Today is day 27 – “Listen to a song that you have listened to with your best friend”. A good choice for today might be, “You’ve got a friend in me” from the film Toy Story.
I hope you have enjoyed the challenge so far…only a few more songs to go 🙂
As you know, pets and other animals are so important to us and to our world. Here are some suggestions to help out our animal friends:
Being kind to animals
Have a kind play time with your pet. Even if it’s just 10 minutes to play, your pet should enjoy it.
Help to tidy up the area your pet sleeps in.
Create a corner for nature
A leaf pile – A leaf pile provides a place for worms, gives shelter to other creatures, and will also supply valuable compost that will naturally fertilise your garden’s soil.
Long grass and nettles – Long grassy areas will attract insects, provide shelter for animals, and give food for predators.
Logs – Logs provide an excellent hiding place for all sorts of amphibians, frogs and ground beetles.
Herbs and flowers – attracts pollinating minibeasts and birds.
A spoonful of water and sugar – a simple mixture of sugar and water will help revive an exhausted bee. Simply mix two tablespoons of white, granulated sugar with one tablespoon of water, and leave some on a spoon.
Bird feeder – recycle a plastic bottle.
Kindness is choosing to do something that helps others or yourself, motivated by genuine warm feelings. Kindness, or doing good, often means putting other people’s needs before our own. Another way of being kind is being kind to the world.
Here are some suggestions to be kind to the world.
Plant a tree or a plant.
https://www.rainforest-alliance.org/kids
Take a look at the games and activities on the above website.
https://schools.fairtrade.org.uk/resource/a-fair-story/
Watch the video on the story of Fairtrade and then try out the activities.
Make a list of all the things you can do at home and at school to look after the environment.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zdyycdm/resources/1
Check out the videos about the environment and how we can look after it.
Since the theme of this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week is kindness, we asked the children to ‘fill someone’s bucket’. This was inspired by the wonderful book by Carol McCloud. The children found different ways to show their love and appreciation for family, friends and teachers. We hope it fills your bucket when you look at the pictures and messages.
This year’s theme is kindness.
As you may not have seen some of your friends or family members for a while, let’s try spreading a little joy and happiness to make them smile. Here are some suggestions:
Being kind to family and friends.
Ask your parent or carer if you can make a telephone call to your friend or family member, with a kind or uplifting message.
Make a Things to Look Forward To With You Jar. Recycle an old jam jar or similar. Decorate it with beads, stickers or pictures if you wish. Every day, write a note to put into the jar. The note will be about something you will try to do when you are able to see your family or friend again. For example, To have a picnic, or To play a game together.
https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/wellbeing-craft-things-to-look-forward-to-jar-t-tp-2549511
Make a card or poster for your friend or family member. Take a photograph of it to send on to them, or put it somewhere that they can see it.
Take part in a video quiz with your parents or carer, to connect with friends or family.
Have fun!
Hosted by the Mental Health Foundation, Mental Health Awareness Week takes place from 18-24 May 2020. The theme for the week is kindness.
We know that the children at Harton are very kind. We want to celebrate their kindness by suggesting some activities that they could do during their time at home.
Being Kind to Myself:
You might like to try…
Jigsaws
Try completing a jigsaw – dust off those old Christmas presents!
Or, you could do an online jigsaw puzzle instead.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/puzzles/kiri-and-lou-jigsaw?collection=cbeebies-jigsaw-puzzles
https://www.digipuzzle.net/main/kids/
Or
Colour by Numbers
Try using paint, coloured pencils or felt tips.
‘Remember: kindness matters most’
https://youtu.be/Qcyc68d6OAk
