Guest Posted June 2, 2007 Share Posted June 2, 2007 Hi there, next term our topic is minibeasts and I was thinking of introducing the topic usign the simple yet effective story, ' A Snails Trail,' b Ruth browne. I was thinking the children could draw or create their own maps of their mini beast hunt and recount the trail to others using first, next, then after ( I have year ones and reception children) Has anyone used this book, made any resources for retelling? I also thought the children could recount the snails journey usign musical instruments??? We are also going to look at the painting 'Snail' by Matisse and tie that in! What do people think??? Any other ideas would be welcome?? thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan Posted June 2, 2007 Share Posted June 2, 2007 Dont know that book at all but sounds good to me! Could you bring some snails into the classroom and observe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tinkerbell Posted June 2, 2007 Share Posted June 2, 2007 It sounds great to me Lotte. We are doing minibeasts too, I bought some life cycle beasts today from Early Learning £7 frog and butterfly you get 5pieces each eg tadpole,tadpole with legs, tadpole with legs and stumpy tail,froglet and frog. The very hungry caterpillar is always a favourite too. Tinkerbellx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 2, 2007 Share Posted June 2, 2007 Hi lotte it all sounds great. We have the ELC sets as well and they are very good. Our children made their own pictures in the style of 'matisse' we drew a spiral and they stuck coloured shapes on, they looked great. We focused on a different minibeast each week,until the last week when we covered the leftovers. Ours also enjoyed the Hungry caterpillar, we spent a lot of time on that one counting what he ate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inge Posted June 2, 2007 Share Posted June 2, 2007 we brought snails into the setting and watched them, discoverd life cycle of snail...parent brought in African Land Snails to compare..... Put snails onto black paper and watch the trail they make try to recreate this using glue and glitter or powder paints, our children decided to try snail races too..why do they never come out whne you want them to? Clay or playdough snails we used clay and painted them when they where dry why do snails make bubbles? ours did and we never found out why. Afraid snails are a constant topic with us... seems childrn cannot get enough of them. (my nightmare) Make spiral using wool or string on paper Inge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 2, 2007 Share Posted June 2, 2007 (edited) I love this story. I have found a number of interesting things on the www. I am doing the same theme this term so I will share what I have found. I hope these are useful. http://www.silkysteps.com/UserFiles/Image/...vity_sheets.pdf http://www.thesnailtrail.co.uk/kidzzone.htm http://www.silkysteps.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2143 http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/society/engagement/..._bugs_23_43.pdf Edited June 2, 2007 by Guest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 3, 2007 Share Posted June 3, 2007 thanks so much guys for sharing your ideas and reassuring me with mine!! Very much appreciated!! Really don't know how I would do this job withput this forum!!!! Thanks again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 3, 2007 Share Posted June 3, 2007 If you put snails on perspex sheets you can look at them from underneath and see how the foot ripples. This shows up really well with African land snails. If you wipe cucumber over the perspex then you can see the snail's mouth opening and closing as they try and suck up the juice - again, works really well with the African land snails as you can see their teeth! We also try and imagine what it's like to be a snail. We cut out snail headbands and go out on the field. We talk about what likes to eat snails. We cover our eyes over with our hands and notice how we can only see light and dark in the same way that a snail can. Can you look out for birds that way? We then split half the class into birds and the other half into snails. The snails have to try and get away from the birds by only clenching and unclenching their tummy muscles. Unsurprisingly they all get found and eaten by the birds. This then leads into a discussion about why snails don't usually lie around in the open and where might be better places to find them so of course then we have to go off and have a look. Thinking of describing words for how a snail moves is good and we then write the words in glue and sprinkle it over with white glitter so that it looks like a snail trail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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