Wow, we are now about to start the last term of your child's first year at school! It's wonderful to observe how they've thrived and soaked up so many new experiences in the last 2 terms of school.

During our 'New Life' topic last half-term, Cook Class enjoyed planting and taking care of cress, broad beans and sunflowers. As well as learning about the key things that the plants needed to grow and looking after them, we also made observations along the way. 

The cress grew very quickly and a week later we made ham and cress sandwiches using the cress that we had grown. We followed instructions and practised our fine motor skills to: butter the bread, add the ham and use scissors to cut the cress. We then enjoyed eating them!

We started growing the broad beans in clear bags, so that we could observe the growth of the roots as well as the stem. We were very excited when the roots shot down. After 2 weeks, we planted them in soil and will continue to look after the beans when we return after Easter! 

We planted our sunflower seeds straight into soil in pots. We will continue to look after these after Easter too and measure how tall they grow!

This half-term we are learning all about Mini-beasts. We will have some real-life caterpillars arrive for us to look after and help us learn first-hand about the life cycle of butterflies. We will also become 'Bug Detectives' on our school trip to Wellington Country Park. Some other mini-beast activities include looking at the environment, mini-beast hunts around the school grounds, reading the Hungry Caterpillar story and exploring non-fiction books. Please find attached our keyword table for the vocabulary we will be using and introducing.

Please see our Mini-beasts topic web and family learning pdf's attached below for more information.

Mrs Garrett