The Singing Mermaid

Susan lead our topic linked to the book The Singing Mermaid. The children read the story all week to become familiar with it, they were then able to join in with refrains from the book and re tell parts of the story, developing their knowledge in literacy and how stories are structured. They used their creativity and problem solving skills to build tents in our deconstruction area, to represent the circus tent that the singing mermaid went to work in. As the book focussed on a character from the sea, we explored reflections and the children used mirrors to explore and discover what they could see in the mirrors, not just themselves. They built with contruction materials on mirrors to give them a 3 dimensional aspect and the children explored with light and colour, representing the reflections of the ocean. We also learnt about floating and sinking, encouraging children to predict whether they float or sink and learn about materials that are heavy and materials that are light. Our song focus was one, two, three, four, five, once I caught a fish alive and children were supported in matching numerals while singing the song, exploring number. Parents were given an activity to extend the children's interest at home, where you had to design your own mermaid using materials of your choice. The returned mermaids can be seen displayed in nursery.