It has been wonderful to hear lots of lovely feedback about how much the children have been enjoying our ‘Out of the Egg’ topic.  Thank you for taking the time to let us know that your child has been talking about it with you at home – we really appreciate hearing about these moments!

Thankfully, the wind died down this week and we were able to hang out the rest of our bird feeders.  You may have spotted them on the trees just to the right of the path as you walk in through the garden gate at pick-up.

Close by, we have set up a camouflaged bird-hide so the children can sit quietly and somewhat hidden while they wait for our feathered friends to visit.  We even made binoculars and used bird spotting checklists to help us identify different birds.

Despite our enthusiasm as bird-spotters, the birds felt a little too shy to pay us a visit whilst we were actually out in the garden.  However, they often visit when we are all inside the classroom and they can have the garden to themselves!  This week, we have been lucky enough to spot a magpie and a crow.  I wonder which birds we might spot next week?

Later in the week, we turned our topic focus towards those creatures of a more creepy-crawly nature by reading two super spider stories.  The first was ‘Aaaarrgghh! Spider!’ by Lydia Monks which tells the story of a spider who is desperate to become the family pet – unfortunately the family in question are terrified of spiders and completely misunderstand his behaviour!

You can revisit the story again here:

The second spider story was another fantastic Eric Carle book called ‘The Very Busy Spider’ which follows a spider as she spins her web.

Inspired by these spidery tales, we made our very own spider webs by carefully threading different coloured wool through holes we had punched into paper plates.  I was so impressed by how independent the children were when it came to completing such a tricky fine motor challenge!

Our final story of the week was a delightful follow-up to the story of Peely-Wally that we read last week.  At the end of that story, Peely-Wally’s egg hatches and she welcomes her new baby into the world.  Quite by luck, I came across a story about the new baby and we discovered that her name is Polly-Wally!

By the end of the week, our classroom was bursting with all manner of creatures that hatch from eggs; from mini-beasts to birds, from snakes to dinosaurs!  I wonder what hatching creatures we might meet next week…?  Have a lovely weekend, everyone!