Our key text this week is “The Crunching, Munching Caterpillar” we have read the story and talked about how the caterpillar might be feeling and what we would like to be when we are bigger.  To talk about the different abilities of the creatures in the story and the different things that we can do. 

We have learned the song “There is a Tiny Caterpillar on a Leaf” with the actions.  This is a great introduction to the life cycle of a butterfly.   

Our phonics game this week is “The Zoo Keeper is coming.”  The children have taken turns to play this game in small groups with an adult.  We continue to encourage mark making, sharing books, stories and rhymes both independently and in group, adult led times.

We have enjoyed listening to the story and singing minibeast themed songs such as “Hey Ho, Does Anybody Know”

We spent a morning in the woodland area investigating the sights, sounds, smells and textures.  Wild garlic was very popular!  We also went on a nature walk around the school grounds and collected all sorts of items for the Tuff Trays.

We have used coloured circles to make our own caterpillars and to practice counting skills.  This was supported by use of the whiteboard to practice number recognition, blocks to represent 5 and colour matching games and peg boards to create butterfly patterns with.

We have used large brushes in buckets of water to mark make on the playground, played on the adventure playground, used gloop, oats and mud to be creative with.

We have used the whiteboard to practice name and initial recognition. We have supported this by encouraging the children to find their own coat pegs in the cloak room and be independent with putting their things away in order to support our school ready children for their transition into school.

During PE, we followed the “Coco the Butterfly” Cosmic Kids yoga session.  We also listened to music with our eyes closed and thought about how the different tunes made us feel.

We have enjoyed quoits, bean bags, balls, hoops, large vehicles, hook a duck, mud Kitchen, play dough and much more.

Our pepper plants continue to grow and develop, as does the parsley patch.  The children were able to have some of the parsley in the playdough this week, the smell was wonderful!