Day trip to the stables at Les écuries du Vieux Moulin à Saint Germain

 Friday, 17^th of June 2021 the children of the 3-6 class went on a day trip to the stables at Les écuries du Vieux Moulin à Saint Germain.

It was the culmination of our horse theme semester which we had to defer due to the pandemic, and the health restrictions. This meant that our children were well versed in proper horse terminology and know-how and were very happy to demonstrate it.

The weather was very hot, but the children behaved admirably throughout the day. We met up in the parking lot between 8-9 in the morning, and after putting our yellow safety vests on we walked to the cafeteria where we were welcomed by Laetitia, and we were allowed to put all our backpacks down.

The children were split into three groups so that every child would have an equal amount of attention: one group went to ride ponies, one group went to learn how to take care of a pony, what to feed a pony, where it sleeps, how to clean out its box. This activity also allowed the children to brush and wash a pony, which was a lot of fun! 

The third group did craft with a horseshoe, one horseshoe per two children, so make sure you check out their work when you come to see us at school! The activities were rotated so that each child was able to do every activity.

We all ate our lunch together in the cafeteria. Afterwards, we went to a small park nearby and had a run and a dance, Stéphanie brought the speakers! Some of us had a lie down in the grass and others had fun racing and rolling down the hill.

When we returned to the stables we split into two groups, one group went for a lengthy walk and ride on horseback, they saw a lot of fun nature. 

The other group did acrobatics on horseback! Afterwards, we did a quick swap, and both groups had a chance for a second ride on horseback and little acrobatics.

By this time the children were quite exhausted, but all very happy. So, we took them to a field to have their snack and wait for mum and dads, and that’s where they were all collected!

All in all, a really great day, which we all enjoyed! Thank you to the great staff at Les écuries du Vieux Moulin and thank you to our accompanying parents for the support and the effort!

Gabrielle

Parrot World

On the 1^{st of} June 2021, we took the 2 to 3 years old class and the 3-6 years old class out on an outing to Parrot World in Crécy-La-Chapelle. We were very lucky to have beautiful weather.

 

The parents dropped the children off at Parrot World, and after a short walk, we were welcomed by the staff. We were able to leave our bags and extra coats in the cloakroom at the entrance.

 

At 9:00 we were taken on a guided tour during which we were introduced to a lot of interesting animals, where they came from, how they live, what they like to eat and how they have their young. They also showed us skulls and what their teeth looked like. We saw penguins, which confusingly are not called penguins in French, parrots, otters, jaguars amongst many other animals.

 

For lunch, we went to pick up our things at the entrance, and we found a place in the grass, in the shade as it was already quite warm, on the picnic field. We ate our packed lunches together, after which our older children were allowed to go explore the climbing area, a wonderful wooden structure with lots of different challenges. Our youngest returned to school to rest at this point.

 

We took the children on another tour of the park, and this time we saw both jaguars walking about and having a little stretch. We watched the otters being fed fish. We even caught the capibara go for a swim and a run!

 

We returned to the picnic area to have our snack: some children choose to sit together on the grass while others preferred to share a bench seated near each other. With snacks finished and our area cleaned up, we returned to the climbing area which was such a success before!

 

We were all tired and happy at the end of the day! Thank you to all the parents who came along, we really appreciated your company, and you were a great help to us! Thank you also to the staff of Parrot World, for an excellent day, the instructional tour and the support around the park!

Gabrielle