All Creatures Great & Small

As an extension to topic work, some of our Beacon boys were delighted, and a little apprehensive, to have some creepy crawly visitors!

Our boys in Early Years learnt about spiders during the Spring Term, and our Pre-Prep boys enjoyed their topic about the rainforest. To enhance their learning, they were excited to have a visit from 'Wild Science'.

The team brought in various rainforest animals, giving the boys an opportunity to get up close and even touch or hold some of the creatures. Following lots of discussions about spiders, our Reception and Nursery boys were especially intrigued to see a Tarantula up close and learn about its characteristics.

Remarkable Rainforest

As part of their rainforest topic, our Year 2 boys learnt about the effects that palm oil farms have on animals in the rainforest of Borneo. The boys read a story about an orangutan with nowhere to go, whose home had been destroyed due to deforestation. They quickly decided that something must be done to save the orangutans. They thought that by writing a letter to companies who use palm oil in their products, it would be a good way to communicate how they felt. Some of our boys wrote letters to ‘Dove Soap’ to try and persuade them to use more sustainable palm oil and think consciously about how they source their palm oil.

Also, in light of the rainforest topic, our boys took part in an Art lesson where they were tasked with creating detailed, life-like paintings of redeyed tree frogs. They discussed the amazingly bright colours on these rainforest animals and used a stepby-step guide to draw their frogs, using watercolours to create the detail on the frogs.

"The boys read a story about an orangutan with nowhere to go, whose home had been destroyed due to deforestation. They quickly decided that something must be done to save the orangutans. They thought that writing a letter to companies who use palm oil in their products would be a good way to communicate how they felt."

Incy Wincy Spider

Our Nursery and Reception boys focussed on Nursery Rhymes which underpinned their classroom lessons over the Spring Term.

During 'Incy Wincy Spider' week, our Little Beacons worked together to make a giant spider. They learnt facts along the way and discovered that some spiders have up to 8 eyes. A few of the boys had a go at making an individual spider using egg cartons and pipe cleaners. They also enjoyed an experiment where toy spiders were placed in bowls of water and left outside overnight to see what would happen. In the morning, the boys were thrilled to discover that the spiders had frozen in ice and they had fun trying to rescue them!

Our Reception boys got creative making their own spiders by painting and placing them in a giant web.

However, the highlight for all was the visit from friendly tarantula named Tequila from South America!