Unicorn Class Blog                     Term 5 Week 1                         Week Commencing 13th April 2026

This week we have settled beautifully, been excited and enjoyed starting our new topic of ‘Is Spring here yet?’  with a focus on animal life cycles.

We have been fascinated by our class caterpillars and loved watching them wriggle and crawl around their container and learning about what will happen to them in their next stages of their lifecycle. We have been acting out the life cycles of a butterfly and frog using the vocabulary curl, crawl, wriggle, turn, twist, flutter and jump. Some of us wanted to draw pictures of butterflies and caterpillars using paints, felt tips, pencils and chalks. 

We enjoyed sharing and retelling the story of ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’ using puppets, acting and playdough. We also took part in a very hungry caterpillar yoga.

At Nettlebed school we are very lucky to have a beautiful stained glass window, by Lyn Clayden, a local artist, we have enjoyed looking at her sketches and the large window. We were very impressed by it and loved spotting the different creatures we could see including a ladybird, ants, spider, a stag beetle, snail, a snake, hedgehog and a family of field mice. We noticed the spider had 8 legs and the ladybird. We spotted the different colours used for different creatures. We noticed different stages of the lifecycle of a butterfly such as eggs, caterpillars, chrysalis and butterflies. There was a small tortoiseshell butterfly, a peacock butterfly, a red admiral and a painted ladybird butterfly. We took some pictures and started to draw some pictures using pencils. We used folded paper and paint to make butterflies.

During phonics this week we have continued to play rhyming games, alliteration and play Georgie’s Gym. We are continuing to learn the words and actions to our Alphabet chant. We have been recapping all the letter sounds we have been learning and practising segmenting and blending.

Our main Maths focus this week has been sequencing and comparing. We have been sequencing lifecycles and making comparisons between the size of each stage of the lifecycle e.g. The egg is smaller than the butterfly. We have also been ordering the story of ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’. Also completing a challenging layered lifecycle of a butterfly puzzle.

Our SCARF focus this term is ‘Being my Best’. This week we have been looking at ‘What my body needs’ such as food, water, sleep and exercise. The children learnt that healthy food and water gives our bodies the energy to make us feel great and ready to learn. They also learn that the very hungry caterpillar had a stomach ache after eating lots of unhealthy foods such as chocolate cake, cupcakes and lollipops.

This week we have also enjoyed playing with the sand, water, washing vehicles, doing puzzles, playing families, using the magnetic tiles, dressing up, looking for minibeasts, using the balance bikes, playing with balls and climbing on the climbing frame. Jumping on and rocking in two of our new garden toys, we have been very good at sharing and taking turns.

Next week we will be exploring life cycles of plants, we will be planting sunflower seeds, beans and sharing stories of Jack and the Beanstalk, Billy’s sunflower and other related books. If you have a version of the ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ story or other related book your child/children are welcome to bring it in to share.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend and look forward to seeing you all next week.

Best wishes

Mrs Fenwick