Approach
The Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage (page 11) emphasises the importance of providing children with a balance of adult-led and child-initiated learning opportunities. This project, therefore:
* identifies adult-led activities, to introduce or develop children's understanding of the topic through stimulating, meaningful experiences which offer challenge
* suggests ways to enhance areas of core provision, to consolidate children's learning about the theme. It is the practitioners' role to make daily observations of children's learning which inform individual child profiles and future planning. Children should be encouraged to use the resources to support their own learning. This means that the possible learning outcomes will be wide-ranging and varied
* advocates that settings should be organised and resourced using a 'workshop' approach so that children can access resources autonomously and independently.
Adult led activities
Take flight
Explore the life cycle of the butterfly.
Key learning intentions
To show care and concern for others and for living things
To find out about, and identify, some features of living things they observe
To begin to differentiate between past and present
Adult:child ratio 1:up 4
Resources
small caterpillars ,appropriate cage, butterfly house and foodstuffs
,information texts ,The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle (Puffin Books) ,photographs, puzzles and plastic models of the egg, caterpillar, cocoon, butterfly life cycle ,magnifiers/digital microscope Preparation
* This is a long-term project that requires organisation and planning.
Ensure that the caterpillars are sourced from a reliable supplier (see box or speak to colleagues for local information) and make sure the guidance given is followed carefully. All of these suppliers will provide 'easy to rear' caterpillars for beginners and suggest appropriate food sources.
* Inform families about the plan to observe the life cycle from caterpillar to cocoon to butterfly.
Activity content
* Ensure the children are familiar with the story of the hungry caterpillar.
* Spend time looking at information texts about the life cycle of the butterfly and discuss what caterpillars really eat.
* Look carefully at the live caterpillars, observing them using the magnifiers.
* Urge the children to respond to what they see using a variety of media.
Record their comments in speech bubbles.
* Plan to spend some time every day with pairs or a small group of children, and keep a 'Caterpillar Diary' to record significant changes, using photographs, words and children's drawings.
* Develop an interactive display around the cage and encourage family members to record their comments about the changes too.
* Plan a grand 'release ceremony' when it is time to free the butterflies into the outdoor environment close to an appropriate food source.
Extending learning
Key vocabulary
Caterpillar, cocoon, egg, butterfly, food, grow, bigger, change, metamorphosis (yes, some children will love this word)
Questions to ask
* Where do you think the caterpillars came from? How big do you think the eggs were?
* What do you think they like to eat?
* How do you think the butterfly could get out of the cocoon?
* What would happen if the caterpillar did eat all the cake?
* Why do you think the caterpillar changes into a butterfly at the end?
Extension activities
* When the caterpillars have turned into cocoons, carefully move one so that it can be viewed using a digital microscope. Images can be projected to many times the real size, so that children can see minute details of the cocoon.
* Make a setting version of The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
* Use the display to create a book charting the life cycle of the butterflies.
Child-initiated learning
Role play
Additional resources and adult support
* Develop a role-play cave by draping camouflage netting from the ceiling and adding more leaves and branches to create a gloomy cave area. Put bark chippings, dried leaves, tree stumps and logs on the floor. Add large plastic spider webs (or fabric with web patterns).
* Provide props such as explorers' rucksacks, torches, a compass, cages, battery lanterns, enamel crockery, metal cookware, maps, information texts, clipboards and pens and lots of large plastic bugs and creatures like snakes.
* Unlike many role-play scenarios, this situation will be based on the children's imagination, books or films, rather than first-hand experiences.
Support their creativity as they develop the role play to support their own fantasy play.
* Observe, and where appropriate, extend children's imaginative role play.
* Model the use of specific resources and act 'in role', as an explorer or someone who is lost and afraid.
* Ask open-ended questions that encourage the use of imaginative and descriptive language.
* Encourage the children to add resources or use equipment in creative ways to support their play.
Play possibilities
* Retelling stories and making up their own stories
* Creating a 'home' in the cave
* Filling and emptying the rucksack.
* Creating their own maps
* Building campfires and 'cooking'
Possible learning outcomes
Has a growing awareness of the needs of others
Uses language to recreate roles and experiences
Shows curiosity, observes and manipulates objects
Moves in a range of ways
Uses imagination in role play
ICT area
Additional resources and adult support
* Ensure the children are familiar with the use of the Bee-Bot programmable toy (see box).
* Provide a grid of card squares (15cm x 15cm), fixed together to form a route for the Bee-Bot to follow.
* Cut out pictures of flowers from catalogues or from the internet and fix these to some of the cards.
* Provide spare card squares, pictures, Blu-tack and masking tape.
* Supply information texts about bees and flowers.
* Discuss with the children the way in which bees collect pollen.
Play possibilities
* Exploring the way the Bee-Bot moves
* Discussing how the Bee-Bot bee could move to the flowers to collect pollen
* Programming the Bee-Bot to follow a specific track
* Making own tracks and routes for the Bee-Bot to follow
Possible learning outcomes
Persists at an activity of own choosing
Uses simple tools and techniques competently
Shows an interest in ICT
Show increasing control in using tools
Role play
Additional resources and adult support
* Familiarise the children with an insect house, through a small group visit to a natural history museum or local museum with an entomology department, or a zoo with an insect house.
* Set up an internet link to a live webcam of insects - for example, the London Zoo site at www.zsl.org allows children to watch leaf-cutter ants in action (this could also be projected on to a wall).
* Develop an insect house role-play area.
* Provide resources to support the role play, such as name badges for staff, tickets, till, money, swipe cards, plastic bugs in separate cages with appropriate twigs, stones, branches and gravel, information texts, computer monitor and keyboard, reference and identification posters and leaflets.
* Model the use of vocabulary and behaviour specific to the role play, such as an entomologist, visitor, ticket salesperson.
* Extend the children's role play by raising questions.
Play possibilities
* Taking on the role of a curator, visitor or ticket salesperson
* Moving 'bugs' in and out of cages
* Sorting and counting the bugs
* Caring for and feeding the minibeasts
Possible learning outcomes
Shows an increasing awareness of the needs of others
Experiments with the use of new vocabulary
Uses language to recreate roles and experiences
Uses numbers to support role play
Questions why things happen and gives explanations
Uses imagination in role play
Small-world play
Additional resources
and adult support
* Provide a builder's tray full of damp potting compost. Add areas of gravel, sand, bark chips, small pebbles as well as large rocks, potted plants, branches, leaves and fir cones.
* Hide assorted plastic bugs in appropriate places and provide plant pots, small hand trowels and laminated identification charts.
* Encourage the children to explore the resources and develop environments for the bugs.
* Ask questions which extend children's play.
* Promote the children's discussions about insects they have seen before.
Play possibilities
* Feeding the insects with leaves.
* Counting or sorting the bugs.
* Creating environments for the minibeasts.
* Telling stories about the bugs or talking about insects in the outdoors area or at home.
* Making connections between this environment and the 'wild area' or 'exploration and investigation' area outdoors.
Possible learning outcomes
Shows care and concern for others
Initiates conversations
In practical activities, begins to use the vocabulary involved in adding and subtracting
Makes connections between the small-world provision and events in their own lives and those of familiar others
Expresses creativity through imaginative play
Matching game
Additional resources
and adult support
* Provide the 'Wings of a Butterfly' matching game (see Resources) and a mirror or make a matching game. Download symmetrical photographs of butterflies and moths (from identification charts), cut in half, mount on card and laminate or print off two copies of each of 24 photographs of butterflies or insects. Make 24 individual laminated cards and four lotto base cards, each with six photos for children to match.
* Support the children as they play the game or make up rules for their own games using the resources.
Play possibilities
* Making connections with previous experiences of minibeasts in the outdoor area, park or at home.
* Sorting the pieces using own criteria.
* Matching the pieces.
* Using the mirror to create symmetrical images.
Possible learning outcomes
Persists at an activity of own choosing
Sorts objects
Comments and asks questions about the natural world
Demonstrates increasing skill and control when manipulating equipment
Measuring worms
Additional resources
and adult support
* Provide 'Measuring Worms' (see Resources), plastic minibeasts in different sizes, books about worms, minibeast puppets and pictures, narrow strips of card, assorted markers and pencils.
* Support children as they discuss the size and colour of the worms.
* Introduce and model the use of comparative language.
Play possibilities
* Sorting the worms by size or colour
* Lining up the worms or counting them
* Using the worms as a non-standard measure to measure other objects
* Drawing pictures or mark-making to record their investigations
Possible learning outcomes
Shows increasing independence in selecting and carrying out activities
Initiates conversations and takes account of what others say
Ascribes meaning to marks
Sorts objects using own criteria
Orders two items by length
Manipulates materials to achieve a planned effect
Judith Stevens is an early years adviser for Lewisham Education
The importance of open-ended questioning
One of the key findings of recent EPPE research (Technical paper 10, DfES/Institute of Education, 2003, London) is that 'Good outcomes for children are linked to early years settings that provide adult-child interactions that involve open-ended questioning to extend children's thinking.'
However, the majority of questions that practitioners ask (over 90 per cent) are 'closed' questions, for example:
* What colour is your jumper?
* How many cars are there?
* Do you want milk or water?
It is vital that practitioners plan to increase opportunities to ask open-ended questions:
* How do you think we could dry the clothes?
* What will happen if we add water?
* Why do you think Nikki isn't at nursery today?
* Can you think of a way to fix the boxes together?
Page 51, Focus on Planning - Effective Planning and Assessment in the Foundation Stage, LEARN, 2004
National Insect Week
* National Insect Week, from 19 to 25 June, is an ideal time to find out more about insects. See the website to join in the UK ladybird survey, explore ways of insect-friendly gardening or simply search through the wonderful photographs of common and easily recognisable insects.
www.nationalinsectweek.co.uk/growingschoolsprogramme
Areas of learning
Personal, social and emotional development Communication, language and literacy Mathematical development Knowledge & understanding of the world Physical development Creative development SECTION:Features NO PHYSICAL FILEResources
* Butterfly Seed Collection contains a mix of hedgerow flower seeds selected to attract butterflies. Suttons Seeds and the Association of Children's Hospices distribute the packs via Somerfield. For each pack sold, 53p goes to the charity.
* A range of quality minibeast puppets, priced 4 to 20, from Puppets by Post (tel: 01462 446 040, www.puppets bypost.com).
* Bee-Bot programmable toy, 39.99, and Motic Digiscope 300 digital microscope, 128.31, from TTS Early Steps (tel: 0800 318 686, www.tts-shopping.com)
* Wings of a Butterfly, 1.27, from Gazebo Games (01278 723 720) and Measuring Worms, 14, from Insect Lore (tel: 01908 563 338, www.insectlore-europe.com
