Climbers and Creepers- Plant and Insect Life.

 
Anansi and the Magic Yams . The three spirits in the garden.

This term we look at Plant and Insect Life during the first half and Castles in the second half of the term.

Continuing our African theme and following our work with the October Gallery and the work of El Anatsui, we have looked initially at spiders, using the West African and Caribbean tales of ‘Anansi the Spider-Man’ as our inspiration, to create our own narratives with a simple story structure to further develop the children’s writing. We have begun to independently research insects using information books and are collating our own information books with labelled diagrams. We shall be looking for Mini-Beasts in the local area and looking at habitats at Kew Gardens. We have started to grow magic beans and are experimenting with planting different seeds-who knows what may grow! We will be observing the growth and development of our plants and recording our observations in a science diary. At Kew Gardens we will visit the new early years interactive garden – ‘Climbers and Creepers’ where we will participate in an interactive area especially designed for young children.

In the second half of the Summer term our magic beans will have grown all the way up to the giant's castle and we will investigate Castles with a visit to Leeds Castle in Kent. Here we will participate in a workshop on the ‘Swan Princess’ as part of our focus on Fairy Tales. The children will dress in costume and act out the story in the castle grounds. We are also fortunate as we will watch a magnificent Falconry Display and get lost in the maze!

A busy time ahead for all ……..together with an investigation of weight, money and data handling and the further development of team game skills with outdoor games of Skittle Ball and Rounders! Creative Arts will include painting and clay work, collage and model making.
We have written our own Anansi tales,with a beginning, a middle and end.