Unicorn Class Blog                     Term 5 Week 2                        Week Commencing 20th April 2026

This week we have continued to be excited about having real caterpillars in our class. We have loved watching them eat their food, sleep, grow, crawl to the top and have been fascinated by the silk that the caterpillars have produced. We have been comparing the size of them and giving them names. We have been wondering when they will turn into chrysalis and then butterflies. 

This week we have also been exploring the life cycle of plants. As part of this we have been looking at the lifecycle of a sunflower. Sharing fiction and nonfiction books about sunflowers. We discussed what we needed to make plants grow. We have been acting out life cycles of sunflowers and we each planted a sunflower seed, which we are very excited about looking after and watching grow. We discussed what an artist is and what they do. Sebby told everyone he has an Uncle who is an artist. We learnt about Vincent Van Gogh, a famous artist and his Sunflower paintings. We then used watercolours to create our own amazing sunflower artwork. We wanted to know what a gallery was and enjoyed a story, ‘Katie's sunflower’. We have also been learning about the life cycle of a bean. Some of us planted beans and the rest of us will plant them next week. We have also enjoyed the story of Jack and the Beanstalk, discussing feelings, making a giant beanstalk, looking at different kinds of castles/homes and making castles/homes using junk modelling, magnetic shapes, blocks, Duplo and Lego. We also enjoyed working together to make garages, rockets and farms. We also shared ‘Jasper's Beanstalk’. 

Outside we have been enjoying the warm weather. We have used our great imagination to use the large loose parts to make cars, to go to the zoo and work, making rockets to fly around in space and getting off at the moon to go to work, and to make an aeroplane to rescue the hoop from the tree. We have also done great climbing, balancing, drawing beautiful pictures, looking for mini beasts, playing chasing games, using the ramps and cars and playing with the bikes. We were very excited when we saw lady birds and found a stripy caterpillar in the garden.

During our Tales for Tool Kit time we split into two groups and both groups made amazing stories about a butterfly, in one story the butterfly was called Twinkle and lived in a field with grass and stinging nettles, and in the other story the butterfly was called Lexi and lived in a grassy garden in Australia. In both stories they had a bird that was a problem and a sunflower that solved the problem. 

On Wednesday it was ‘Earth Day’. As part of this we discussed where we live on earth, other countries we knew and how we can look after our Earth. For example looking after plants and creatures, recycling items and reusing items. We made our own earths using a circle piece of paper, tin foil and paint. 

During phonics this week we have continued to play rhyming games, Georgie’s gym, used ‘Bingo the dog’ song and did oral blending and segmenting. We are continuing to learn the words and actions to our Alphabet chant. We have been recapping all the letters we have learnt so far and learning the letters ‘v’ (The vulture veers over valleys.) and ‘w’ ('Watch the worm wiggle.’). The writing cue we use to write the grapheme ‘v’ ‘Down one wing and up the other.’ The writing cue we use to write the grapheme ‘w’ is ‘Wiggle down, wiggle up, down and up.’ We practiced writing the letter ‘v’ and ‘w’ using our magic fingers in the air, chalk, compost and whiteboard pens. We also practised saying the sounds in words with these letters and breaking words down e.g. w-i-g wig and win w-i-n.

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 seed is smaller than the sunflower, comparing the sizes of our buildings, caterpillars and completing lifecycle puzzles.

Next week we will continue to observe our caterpillars and plant beans. We are going to have a bee theme and as part of this we will be cooking using honey and making handprint bees. 

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

Best wishes

Mrs Fenwick