After finding lots of different minibeasts on our walk last week, we decided to have a go at making some of our own and up - first was the bee! The children loved getting stuck in using pasta tubes, paint and glue to create their own beehive. We were very lucky, as Mrs Cooper lent us her real beehive to borrow! The children were fascinated to look at the different shapes and holes and we were intrigued by the material it was made from - it looked like cardboard!

After finishing their beehives, some of the children then had a go at making bees to go inside. We used pompoms to make the bee's body and added wool to make the stripes. This was a very fiddly job but I was so proud of how hard the children persevered using the scissors and glue to add their bee’s stripes.

During carpet time, the children helped me to read the story The Very Hungry Caterpillar. They were fantastic at counting each of the fruits the Hungry Caterpillar ate and were not surprised when he got a tummy ache after eating all of those treats! Transition must be very healthy eaters, as they told me no one has ever had a tummy ache after eating too much food, unlike me, who always has a tummy ache after eating too much Christmas dinner!

The children loved acting out each stage of the story as we explored the caterpillar’s life-cycle and they were experts at knowing what came next. Some children even remembered that caterpillars make a chrysalis and other minibeasts make a cocoon. The children then helped me to use photographs to make our very own butterfly life-cycle. We noticed that caterpillars and butterflies are all different colours, shapes and sizes, just like people.

We continued exploring caterpillars as we read The Cautious Caterpillar. This was the story of a young caterpillar who was feeling a little bit worried about becoming a butterfly as she had never done it before. Her minibeast friends tried to encourage her that it would be okay, but she wasn’t sure. The children were excellent at spotting how the young caterpillar felt at different points in the stories and they came up with some excellent examples of times when they had felt worried or nervous too. We discussed lots of great ideas of things we could do to help us feel better, and the children suggested some lovely ways we could help the young caterpillar. At the end of the story, the young caterpillar was feeling brave, so she made her chrysalis and metamorphosed into a beautiful butterfly, realising that it wasn’t scary and that it was great being a butterfly. The children then continued exploring their emotions using the playdough to create lots of different faces.

In maths this week, we explored the properties of shapes. The children helped me to draw some 2D shapes on the board, remembering what each shape was called. We then counted together to check we knew how many corners and how many sides each shape had. After we had double-checked our knowledge, it was time for the shape game! The children took it in turns to describe a shape using its corners and sides and the other children had to draw on their whiteboards which shape they thought it was. The children listened very carefully to their friends to work out which shape they were talking about and made some fantastic guesses.

Finally, I would like to say how proud I am of everyone in Transition who have all worked so hard to learn the songs and words for our Coffee Morning. They have performed with confidence and most importantly, with big smiles on their faces. Well done everyone, you all certainly deserve a rest over the half-term break!