On a Journey with Sunny

This half-term, the Year 1 children have embarked on an exciting journey inspired by Meerkat Mail. Just like Sunny the meerkat, who travels across the Kalahari Desert visiting different relatives, the children explored the themes of adventure, home and belonging.

To bring the Kalahari Desert to life, they used sand to create their own mini desert landscapes, imagining what they might find there. They carefully selected items to include, making their scenes as realistic as possible.

The adventure continued as they wrote packing lists, carefully deciding what to take on their journey. Using their lists, they packed their suitcases and set off on a ‘trip around the world’—walking around the school just like Sunny. Their favourite destination was Madagascar! Inspired by Sunny’s visit to his cousin Edward, who lives on a farm, they created their own animal farm. Connecting their learning to Science, the children explored animal classification.

They went on a nature walk to identify different types of animals, compared bunnies and meerkats as mammals and visited the school pond in search of amphibians. They also studied a world map to locate the Kalahari Desert and were surprised to discover that Madagascar is much farther from South Africa than it first appears.

Their enthusiasm for Meerkat Mail was so great that they acted out the story, taking on different roles just like in the book. Through this, they learned the story by heart and used their story maps to retell it with confidence. Inspired by Sunny’s adventures, they even created their own imaginative stories.