This half term, we are learning all about minibeasts!

We kicked off the term by exploring bees. We danced to Flight of the Bumblebee, read lots of bee-themed books and even built our own hives. Our story of the week was Bee and Me, a wonderful wordless book. We became authors ourselves, creating our own words and stories to match the illustrations.

This week, we have been learning about spiders and enjoyed reading Aaaarrgghh Spider! We discussed whether a spider would make a good family pet and created a tally chart to show how many children liked and disliked spiders. It turns out that most of us do like spiders! We went on a web hunt, made our own spider webs and even took part in some spider yoga.

We also enjoyed Forest School this week, where we made our own natural paints using chalk, flower petals, beetroot, paprika, and charcoal. It was lots of fun experimenting with different colours and materials from nature.

In phonics, we learned the 'h' sound along with the mnemonic, “down the path and over the hill.” See how many things you can find at home that begin with the letter 'h'!

 Summer 2 Week 3 

This week in Nursery, we have been learning all about beetles! We enjoyed reading the story Billy's Beetle and even had our own class beetle to look after. However, he kept escaping! As we searched for him around the Nursery, we practised using positional language, looking under, in, on top of, behind and next to different objects and places.

We decided that a simple box was not the best home for a beetle, so we worked together to build him a new habitat using blocks, bricks, stones, and plants.

Over the weekend and beyond, please help to reinforce positional language at home. You could place toys in different positions and ask your child to describe where they are, using words such as under, behind, next to and on top of.

In phonics, we have been learning the 'b' sound and the mnemonic: "down the beaver and around its bottom." Please encourage your child to practise recognising and saying the sound at home.

 Summer 2 Week 3 

This week, we have been learning all about ants! We have enjoyed singing the song "The Ants Went Marching Two by Two, Hurrah!" and would love for you to ask your child to sing it to you at home.

To extend our learning, we visited the Secret Garden to look for ants and other minibeasts. We discovered snails, spiders and lots of ants, although they were quite tricky to spot as they were searching for shade in the warm weather!

We have also been finding lots of ways to keep cool during the hot days. The children have enjoyed water play, mindfulness activities, a relaxing yoga session and even some refreshing ice lollies.

In phonics this week, we learned the 'f' sound and the mnemonic: "Follow the fish fins down, from its tail to its face." The children have enjoyed practising the formation of the letter and recognising its sound in words.