On Wednesday we were exploring the platypus. We started off by reading Plaidypus Lost by Janet Stevens. I had to explain what plaid was to the class so they could understand the play on words in the title. It’s an adorable little story about a platypus made from Grandpa’s old plaid shirt. The plaidypus is lost over and over again only to be found again and again. The story has repetitive text and the class enjoyed repeating the “Plaidypus lost, plaidypus found. This story goes round and around.” You can see the story read below.
We followed up our story by talking about what we know about the platypus. We know they lay eggs, they have webbed feet to swim with and they have a bill and a tail. We then went to the activity table to make a paper bag playtpus. These can also be used as a puppet. We found the pattern for the platypus at Danielle’s Place. The cutting was a little difficult and not something I would attempt at the beginning of the year. The class’ fine motor skills are coming along and almost all of the children were able to cut around the tricky bits without too much trouble. After we cut the pieces out we glued them onto the paper bag and drew on eyes. We added a few of them to our Australian Bush display and the rest went home.
(FYI: Did you notice that I purposely avoided using the plural of platypus? There are arguments in abundance on the internet about the correct term but from what I could tell scientists use the term platypuses.)