In Here comes the Crocodile by Kathryn White (Little Tiger Press, 5.99), croc is sniffing and snarling, grumbling and growling, because he's hungry. He's on the prowl looking for a tasty treat to satisfy his rumbling tummy. But the animals Crocodile hunts in the jungle all have a good reason why they shouldn't end up as his dinner and it looks like he's going to go hungry until they all share their food with him. Then a hungry Tiger leaps out from behind a tree looking for his tea...
Children will love the rhythm and rhyme in the story and Michael Terry's hilarious illustrations in this riotous book.
Approach
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 that offer challenge
* suggests ways to enhance areas of core provision, to consolidate children's learning about the theme. It is the practitioner's role to observe children's learning daily to inform individual children's profiles and future planning. Children should be encouraged to use the resources to support their own learning, so the possible learning outcomes will be wide-ranging and varied for each child
* advocates that settings should be organised and resourced using a 'workshop' approach so that children can access resources autonomously and independently (see box).
Adult-led activity
Sounds and movements
Encourage children to appreciate new vocabulary associated with sound and movement as you introduce the story.
Key learning intentions
To extend vocabulary and explore the meanings and sounds of new words.
To use imagination in dance and role play.
Adult-child ratio 1:6
Resources
*Here comes the Crocodile by Kathryn White (Little Tiger Press, 5.99) Activity content
* Read the story to the children and then talk about the content together.
* Emphasise words associated with crocodile sounds, such as 'sniffed', 'snarled', and 'growled'. Invite the children to try making these noises themselves, and explore the sounds made by the other creatures in the book.
* Read out some movement words, such as 'roll' and 'stroll', and try to imitate the relevant creatures.
Extended learning
Key vocabulary
Words in the story associated with sounds, such as sniffed, growled, screeched, chattered. Words associated with movements, such as snapped, whipped, shook, quivered, scuttled.
Questions to ask
* How would the monkey 'screech and chatter', or the flamingos 'chuckle'?
* Can you 'scuttle', 'slither' or 'strut' like the crocodile, or 'dance'
and 'fluff' your feathers like the flamingos?
Extension ideas
* Make up dance sequences related to the movements of the creatures.
* Talk about how the flamingos look like candy floss and the elephants like solid grey rocks. Encourage the children to try to find appropriate comparisons for the other creatures.
Child-initiated learning
Role play
Additional resources and support
* Set up a role-play area depicting the environmental features in the story. Make jungle vines from rope entwined with tissue paper leaves suspended from the ceiling. Drape blue and green fabrics across the floor to represent water and open plains.
* Create different coloured tabards so that the children can pretend to be the creatures featured in the story.
* Supply natural coloured fabrics, crates and planks, cushions and plastic fruit so that the children can build dens and share meals.
* Visit the area and re-read the story to stimulate imaginative play and model use of resources.
* Ask appropriate questions to encourage children to explain their ideas and actions.
Play possibilities
* Re-enacting Here comes the Crocodile.
* Making up their own stories about jungle life.
* Using available resources to build shelters and dens.
Possible learning outcomes
*Working as a group, co-operating and negotiating.
*Interacting with others, negotiating plans and activities and taking turns in conversation.
*Designing and making things for a purpose.
*Using imagination in design, role play and stories.
Adult-led activity
Down in the jungle
Discover more about jungle creatures, and extend children's mathematical skills through small-world play.
Key learning intentions
*To find out about, and identify, some features of living things *To count reliably up to 10 everyday objects Adult-child ratio 1:4 Resources
*A builder's tray, moss, compost, house plants, plant pots, plant spray, shallow dish, small-world jungle creatures, books and posters about jungle life.
Preparation
* Spread a layer of compost across the base of the builder's tray, and cover the part of the surface with moss to represent grassy plains.
* Plant small house plants, such as spider plants, in pots and stand them in the compost to form a jungle, leaving a space in the centre. Spray the plants regularly with water to keep them fresh.
* Spread pebbles in the space and push a shallow dish into them. Fill the dish with water to create a pool.
* Provide a container of small-world creatures that feature in the story.
* Display the posters on a nearby low display board and arrange the books on a small table.
Activity content
* Invite the children to explore the landscape you have created and explain the different environmental features.
* Examine each creature in turn together, encouraging close observation of colour, shape and features.
* Look at the posters and books to find out more about the creatures.
* Invite the children to count the creatures in the jungle in different ways.
Extended learning
Key vocabulary
Jungle, plain, tail, teeth, jaws, wings, beak, trunk, striped, fierce Questions to ask
* How does a monkey move? Can a crocodile swing from trees like a monkey? Can any of the other creatures fly like a flamingo?
* Can you find two different animals with stripes?
* How many elephants are there? Are there more flamingos or more elephants?
Child-initiated learning
Sand tray
Additional resources and adult support
* Provide twigs, moss and shallow foil trays along with a selection of small-world jungle creatures.
* Supply relevant reference books and posters.
* Visit the area to share the posters and reference books with the children and support closer observations of the creatures.
* Pose simple mathematical problems to encourage counting skills.
Play possibilities
* Using the resources to create their own landscape.
* Finding out more about the features of living things.
* Developing counting skills using the resources.
* Using their imaginations to make up stories.
Possible learning outcomes
*Counting to ten using everyday objects.
*Finding out about the features of living things.
*Expressing and communicating ideas, thoughts and feelings using resources available.
Child-initiated learning
Creative area
Additional resources and adult support
* Make 'crocodile printers' from scraps of vinyl flooring cut into the shape of a crocodile's foot and glued to a wooden block. (Use the picture inside the front and back covers of the book as guidance.) Leave the printers on the clay table with some clay and rollers.
* Provide sponge pieces cut into animal footprint shapes.
* Fill a sand tray with damp compost.
* Provide old wallpaper, shallow dishes and thick paint.
* Show the children the crocodile footprints in the book and suggest using the resources to create patterns of animal footprints.
* Model how to use the printers.
* Draw attention to patterns the children have created and encourage them to compare their shape and size.
Play possibilities
* Rolling out clay and pressing the crocodile printers into it to form tracks and patterns.
* Using print-making resources to form tracks across compost in a sand tray.
* Creating footprints with sponge pieces along lengths of old wallpaper.
* Trying out a range of print-making ideas and selecting the most successful.
Possible learning outcomes
*Talks about, recognises and recreates simple patterns.
*Uses appropriate language to describe shape and size.
*Handles tools, objects and malleable materials safely and with increasing control.
*Explores colour, textures, shape, form and space in two and three dimensions.
