We have had yet another busy week in Reception. The nine partridges that hatched last week got bigger and stronger over the weekend. The children loved observing them running around and gave them all names. They learned how partridges are ground-dwelling birds that can fly but often choose to run instead if there is danger. They learned why they are endangered in our country and what they need to thrive. On Thursday, the partridges went back to the farm that they came from. They will be raised to adulthood before being released as part of a conservation project to increase the population in the UK.
All of our chrysalis hatched and out popped five beautiful butterflies. The children had been making predictions about which type of butterfly would emerge, but nobody guessed that they would be painted ladies. The children enjoyed creating observational drawings of them and observing their movements. On Friday, we released the butterflies so that they could start the butterfly lifecycle again.
This week has been World Wellbeing Week and we have used the story ‘Argh, Spider!’ to spark our discussions. In the story, the spider wants to be adopted by a family so he keeps showing them how special he is, but the family does not want him as a pet as they are scared of spiders. In the end, they do see his true brilliance and adopt him. We considered what makes each of us special and created positive affirmations, starting with the stem sentence, ‘I am…’. The children created rosettes to wear to celebrate their unique attributes.
