This has to rate as one of our best! We had 36 children in attendance – only three of them in the ‘Little CBN’ category. These were most competently absorbed in stories by Lisa Witherden, and some teddy bears, while the rest settled in for some serious work with books and reading.
The theme was ‘Underground’ – an unusual topic, but one that caused deep interest. This was part of our theme for this year of Time and Landscape and will be incorporated into a reading toolbox of the same name. We find that our children react well to themes that stretch and challenge them. It has taken some time to reach the point where they can exercise their imaginations to this extent, but the results are truly interesting. We will be continuing the theme with work on Underwater and The Sky above.
We used a selection of large format photographic books showing aerial photographs of land formations, underground scenes and caves. We read some thrilling accounts of cave exploration and discussed the role of a dog called Robot in the discovery of the caves at Lascaux. We will be developing the rock art theme in subsequent workshops.
See also the amazing input into CBN by Inge Mfundisi, a South African Junior Chess champion and finalist in Miss Teen South Africa – and notable role model for our children.
Images by Cat Palmer
