Investigation Hub and Discovery Hub at Deckham

This week we have been looking for birds in the outdoor area to add to the RSPB’s Big School Birdwatch count. 

We looked online to find out what kinds of food birds like to eat and the children created bird feeders. They threaded cereal hoops onto pipe cleaners, demonstrating their concentration and developing their fine motor skills. 

As the children particularly enjoyed this threading activity, we provided further resources for them to develop their threading skills with strings and dry pasta. They have also been developing their fine motor skills in other ways this week, for example, using a peg to pick up pipe cleaner ‘worms’ out of the soil and using tweezers to pick up large pom-poms. 

The Investigation Hub children looked at pictures and photographs of different types of birds, and described what they saw. They listened to and learned the names of the birds. We thought about where the birds might live and if we would be likely to see them in our local area. 

“Penguins live on the ice.”

“You see ducks on lakes.”

“That’s a pigeon – I’ve seen one of them before!”

“I would love a flamingo to live at my house! They’re very pretty.”

The children then drew their own pictures of birds, using their observations of the birds in the photos and pictures to help them. 

We have been extending our experience of the story ‘The Little Red Hen’ through using objects related to the story, for example, feeling feathers on our hands, listening to the sound of seeds and grains as we shake them in a bottle, and seeing what flour looks and feels like. At the beginning of the week, the children made bread, just like the Little Red Hen! They listened to instructions to follow a simple recipe. They scooped flour and added water and salt. Mathematical language was used during the activity, such as “more water,” “two scoops,” and “one more.” The children used their hands to knead the dough. They watched the bread go into the bread maker and waited patiently while it cooked. It smelled delicious! When it was ready, the children ate the bread they had made, as their snack. 

Investigation Hub story of the week: The Little Red Hen 

Discovery Hub story of the week: Don’t Tickle the Crocodile 

Song of the week: Little Speckled Frogs

Signs of the week: Play and tidy 

Parents as partners 

We have enjoyed learning about birds this week. We have attached a picture of the RSPB bird identification sheet in the photos below. You might like to see with your child if you can spot any of the birds near to your home or when in an outdoor area such as a park. 

We hope that you have a lovely weekend.