Unicorn Class Blog                     Term 3 Week 5                         Week Commencing 2nd February 2026

There has been great excitement in the Unicorn Class this week with our birds in winter theme. We made bird cake for the birds because we found out it is harder for birds to find food in the winter because the ground is hard and the fruit comes off the trees in the autumn. We decided to make bird cake for the hungry birds. We broke up pieces of bread, carefully used a knife to cut up apples, and we scooped bird seed and raisins into the bowl. Next we used some of our senses to explore the lard that we were going to add to the bird cake. When we touched it we thought it felt “It feels smooth”, “Smooth like butter”, “Cold and silky” and “Sticky”. Some of us said, “It looked like butter but white”, “It looks like cheese”. Some of us liked the smell, whilst others did not like it. We needed to put it in the microwave before we could add it to our bird cake mixture. We were curious as to what it would look like after going in the microwave and we made predictions such as, “I think it’s going to melt and look white.”, “I think it is going to look like melted ice.”, “I think it is going to look like water.” When it came out of the microwave it was very hot so we did not touch it but noticed it had changed, we made observations such as “It’s changed, it’s runny like water”, “Look! The lard has changed colour, it is not white anymore it is yellow.”, “It’s melted like ice”, “It’s stinky, I don’t like that smell.”, “Look, it’s turned into a yellow liquid.” Mrs Fenwick carefully tipped the melted lard into the big mixing bowl and we took it in turns to carefully mix up the ingredients. We then put the ingredients into yogurt pots. When the bird cake had set in the pots we carefully took it outside and hung them on the trees and bushes for the birds. We made some binoculars to go bird spotting. We spotted a robin under our outside covered area, we were very quiet so we did not scare it away. We looked at photographs of birds and made our own bird pictures using paint sticks and some of us made concertina wings by folding the paper. There have been many discussions around children’s experiences with birds including times when birds have swooped down and snatched people's food. George told us about when his grandad fed some chicken to a red kite. There were also discussions about what birds can do such as swoop, sit, walk, eat and fly. It was also stated that not all birds could fly, penguins and ostriches do not, but penguins can swim. When penguins swim it looks like they are flying but in the water.

Outside we have loved looking for and spotting birds, playing the Gingerbread man, climbing and swinging from the bars, playing the floor is Lava, playing football, using the musical instruments, water play, making dens, using the balance bikes and playing hide and seek. 

Our maths focus this week has been exploring shape and describing the properties of shapes such as corners, sides, pointy, flat, round and straight. We have been on shape hunts in our environment, shape detectives, used the tap tap to make pictures, used plastic shapes to make bird pictures. The shapes were also used to make a camper van, rockets, boats, trains, aeroplanes and houses . 

During phonics this week we have continued to enjoy looking at and noticing rhyming in books, learning the words and actions to our Alphabet chant. We have been learning the letters ‘d’ (Don’t disturb the dinosaurs) and ‘m’ (The man marches on mountains). The patter we use when writing the grapheme ‘d’ is ‘Around his back then head to toe’ and ‘m’ is ‘From the man go down, climb one mountain then the other.’ We practiced writing ‘d’ and ‘m’ letters on the carpet, with our magic fingers, using pens and pencils. This week we have been recognising rhyme, alliteration and doing oral blending and segmenting.

This week we have also enjoyed making and playing with play dough, making food in the home corner, using the fishing rods and nets to catch number ducks, sharing stories, building with Duplo, Lego, Mobillo and building blocks.

Next week we will have a Valentine's Day theme. This will include decorating hearts, making cards and bracelets using pasta and beads. 

If you have any pants or socks that have outgrown your child please may we have these for spares as we are very short on these. 

Please can you check if you have Noah’s hoodie, it has his name in. There are also some jumpers hanging over the safety gate without names in them, please can you check if any of these belong to your child.

Hope you are all having a lovely weekend.

Best wishes

Mrs Fenwick