This term we have gone mini-beast mad!  What an environment Burton Hathow has for exploring this first hand! The children had their first go at pond dipping and couldn’t believe their eyes when they caught a little fish and discovering that there were lots of other little bugs that lived in the water that we didn’t know about. There has been many a bug hunt in the woods where the children have had to look high, low, behind or underneath things. As well as learning what different environments bugs like to live. 
The Butterflies have loved learning about all the different cycles that butterflies, frogs and bees go through, which has tied in well with learning about patterns and symmetry. The Butterflies are also flourishing with their phonics, I think we are going to have some real bookworms amongst the group.
The Caterpillars have been using books such as ‘What the lady bird heard’, ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’ and ‘Superworm’ to support their learning.  They have enjoyed the repetitiveness of the stories, repeating key phrases alongside using props and pictures to retell the stories within their play. They particularly enjoyed making their own props for the song ‘Incy Wincy Spider’. 
Thank you to all our parents for your kind donations, the children have been busy getting the garden ready for next terms topic: ‘In the Garden.’ Let’s hope the sun decides to come out soon!