Minibeasts

Over the last few weeks, we have been learning about a variety of minibeasts through stories, songs and role play.

The children enjoyed learning about The Very Hungry Caterpillar story by Eric Carle and acting out the different stages of the life cycle of a butterfly.

In the light of the moon, there was an egg on a leaf...

Out of the egg came a tiny and a very hungry caterpillar. It started to look for some food...

After eating a lot, it got bigger and bigger and made a cocoon:

Later, it became a beautiful butterfly!

The children have also enjoyed watching our own class caterpillars grow!

Inspired by all these activities, they have made their own life cycles and had a go at writing and describing them.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar story was followed by The Very Busy Spider story, also by Eric Carle. There was once again some acting as the children thought about how the animals felt when the spider was ignoring them and spinning his web. We also discussed how the spider felt when the animals kept interrupting his work!

Bumblebees also learned about the life cycle of a spider and brought it to life...from the daddy spider spinning his web:

To the mummy spider laying the eggs and making a sack to cover them...

And, finally, the spiderlings emerging!

The children have been learning to take responsibility for watering the beanstalk we planted last term and then transferred to a vegetable patch.

In maths, they learned how to solve problems and talk about which leaves had more, fewer or the same number of insects as well as finding the total and recording it. They also learned how to estimate by looking at a group of objects without counting at first, which was a strange concept!

Our role play turned into the minibeast café and the children had fun ordering and cooking a range of very strange dishes such as spider spaghetti or ladybird juice!

Outside, the children loved going on a minibeast hunt and keeping a tally of all the bugs they found!

Bumblebees have also began to practice for their sports day in their different teams...

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

This week, our learning has been focused on the story of Goldilocks and The Three Bears. The children enjoyed taking on the role of Goldilocks and the bears and pretended to speak in different voices.

They also loved making their own masks!

One of the highlights of the week was making porridge. We talked about what porridge feels and smells like. We also discussed how it changed when cold water was added to it and what it was like after it was cooked. All children had a taste and most liked it.

In Maths, we learned words to describe size and the children had fun choosing the sizes of chairs, bowls and spoons for the bears. In addition, they found out how to order a range of everyday items and toys by height and length.

The children have started learning to work as a team in their colour groups.

With a lot of rain in the week, there have been some opportunities to enjoy the outdoors. 

We are all looking forward to the sunshine next week!

Beans, beans are everywhere!

 Welcome back after the Easter holidays. We hope the children and their families have had a great break and a lot of chocolate fun.

Our theme for the first half of the summer term is traditional tales. This week, we have been learning about the story of Jack and the Beanstalk.

The children enjoyed exploring the new role play area, dressing up and saying the giant's words.

 

However, afternoon Bumblebees were not keen on being giants...They did, however, enjoy counting the giant's money and dressing up as princesses!

The children learned a lot about beans this week. 

They made beanstalks from playdough...

...put numbered beans in order...

...built beanstalks from numbered  Duplo blocks...

...and filled containers with beans.

We also planted some beans as a class and are looking forward to watching them grow.

Bumblebees have been very creative this week. Some drew pictures and made books of the story...

Others had a lot of fun making castles and having a go at wellie printing.

What a great first week back!

Space and the start of Forest School

Over the last 2 weeks, Bumblebees have been on a mission. When they came in one morning, they noticed that an alien spaceship had landed. Being naturally curious, they were keen to find out what was going on. They couldn't believe their eyes when they discovered that aliens have been stealing pants from planet Earth...

To find out who stole the pants and what the stolen items looked like, they needed to learn about patterns so often found on underwear...

Bumblebees enjoyed printing patterns, too!

 

 Once they got to grips with patterns, they reported the stolen undergarments to the police!

To find out where the cheeky aliens came from, Bumblebees needed to find out about the planets in our solar system. They enjoyed learning songs and spinning around the sun!

A week later, our learning moved on from stolen pants to alien tea on  the planet Zum Zee. This involved thinking about different types of food we could take with us. One of the favourites was a strange looking, gloopy, jelly like substance...

In maths, the children found out what happens to the number of food items during meals...They enjoyed learning songs about '1 less' and acting them out. Have a look at what happened to 10 green bottles:

One of the highlights of last week was the first session of Forest School!

The children quickly learned the forest school rules and had a lot of fun exploring different areas.

Take a look at some creatures Bumblebees discovered...

Thank you to parents and carers for your support with Forest School. We are looking forward to more adventure as we continue to explore the magic of nature.