Our current Talk for Writing text, ‘How to Catch a Star’ by Oliver Jeffers, has provoked some interesting discussion in RS. This week, children were invited to ask questions of children who had adopted the ‘character’ of the boy, the rocket, the seagull or the star.. Through effective questioning, we learned that (in our imaginations) the boy likes stars because they are shiny and sparkly and that he will “pop the starfish” he finds “in a tank and play with him later”. The seagull is prepared to “try a taste of crab” but thinks he’ll “prefer an ice-cream cone”. When the star was asked why she was pointy, she was clear that, “God created us with points”. The rocket felt he would need someone to “set him on fire” to shoot up into the sky.

When you read a story at home, why not encourage the children to be one of the characters and you can ask them questions? I’m certain that you will be impressed with where their imaginations take them (and you!)

Beans in a bag

Last week, we popped some broad beans into bags, added wet paper towels and attached them to the window in the hope that they would germinate. By Thursday of this week, we were rather concerned that the beans were more likely to bake than germinate in the strong sun that was hitting the window, so we moved them to a light but cooler area. In doing so, we were excited to notice shoots emerging from a few of of the beans. We wonder what will happen next.

A trip to our apple tree

….revealed that we were not the only visitors. We noticed that ladybirds were attracted to feast on the pesky greenfly (aphids), which want to eat the sap on the leaves of our apple tree. Mr Magnell showed us how the leaves curl in on themselves in response to the greenfly. Caterpillars also enjoy a leafy snack.