As we delved into the exciting world of ‘Animals’ this term, the Caterpillars have visited the jungle, wrapped up warm to visit the cold Artic and donned their wellies for a stay on the farm.  It has given lots of opportunity for sensory, exploratory play as we investigated which resources worked best to free animals that were frozen in ice.  The soft squishy shaving foam lent itself perfectly to create homes and hills around the animals, all of which are valuable activities to help strengthen little hand muscles ready for mark making and writing skills.

The Caterpillars have embraced number activities the term – placing 8 peg legs on spiders, counting spots on ladybirds, legs on mini beasts and followed patterns after reading all about Elmer the Patchwork Elephant.  This also coincided with Spanish this term as Mrs Oldfield explored number while consolidating colour names.

Our ‘Let’s Get mMoving’ sports event was a great success for our little Caterpillars building on developing gross motor skills, balancing, throwing and kicking a ball alongside exploring the woods and outdoor space where we climb, jump and balance as well as develop an understanding of how to keep safe in the woods.

The big Caterpillars relished the challenge of participating in Sports Day with the Butterflies helping with their transition in September.

This term, our Butterflies have had lots of opportunities to demonstrate how far they have come since joining us in September, most notably on Sports Day. We are extremely proud of their confidence in participating in their races in front of their special grownups and how they came together as a team. 

The creativity of the Butterflies has also advanced greatly this term and they have produced lots of wonderful work, both independently and collaboratively. We have also enjoyed exploring art through nature in our Forest Ranger sessions with Mrs. Bowden, including using natural loose parts to create images and developing our skill with the hammers to produce some beautiful floral fabric through Hape Zome. We also very much enjoyed one last very muddy sessions and an afternoon of puddle jumping on the playground – the Butterflies certainly know how to enjoy all that the British weather has to offer and aren’t fair weathered children, just as we hope for at Burton Hathow, as embracing all opportunities is very much our ethos!

In addition to our topic work this term, we have enjoyed a few exciting visitors this term, including the police and fire service! Exploring the vehicles was a firm favorite and the children were brilliant at asking lots of questions about the equipment and uniforms, putting their wonderful communication skills to good use. 

The children have also consolidated a wide range of skills over recent weeks, particularly with their number skills, phonics knowledge and learning about ourselves, such as when our birthdays are and recognising our surnames. We are very proud of how ready the children are for their transition to Reception Class, and to new schools for some of them in September, with their independence and resilience skills being the front runners of their greatest achievements this year.