11th March Fun with Snails

Year 1 at school are having fun studying minibeasts. They combine a science unit with an author study of Eric Carle focussing mostly on his wonderful minibeast books ... The Very Hungry Caterpillar; The Very Busy Spider; The Bad-tempered Ladybird (or The Grouchy Ladybug); The Very Lonely Firefly; The Very Clumsy Click Beetle;  The Very Quiet Cricket  and  The Honey Bee and the Robber.

They have spent a lot of time observing minibeasts and one class had a large collection of snails. On the weekend the snails escaped their 'container' and went exploring. While they were out they also must have been hungry because when the children arrived at school on Monday they found that the snails had eaten a substantial amount of paper in two books ... Clementine by Sebastian Loth and Snails  by Monica Hughes. The children thought it so funny that they had eaten only books about snails!

When I found out I dug out an old and tattered copy of Snail Mail by Hazel Edwards and Rod Clement for the teacher to share. In this story the snails in the mail box eat letters and this has actually happened in my mail box! When I have read it the children always say that couldn't happen. This class knows that it could!