Well - we spent our afternoon re-reading The Kapok Tree, and re-creating it on our Topic Wall. You can see the results (still a work in progress) above. The children did so well, and really took ownership of the different tasks. Each table was assigned 2 different animals/people/plants to make. They all knew that when they were finished with their 'big' animals, they should start making leaves and vines to put up. Everyone was really engaged, and I gave very little direction (I did have 2 additional adults in the classroom, which was a great help).
You can see a few labels (on the Kapok Tree, the anteater and the sloth). Further label cards will be available throughout the week, so children can make labels for the other animals when they are finished with other work. We'll also keep out the brown, green and coloured paper, so children can continue to make vines, leaves and flowers to add to our rainforest.
This was a great reminder to me that it's usually worth it to trust our kiddos and let them express themselves creatively! In the pictures below, you can see the man and anteater as 'works in progress' (left and right pictures respectively). In the middle is a close up of the man with an axe and the rainforest boy.