The Ladybird Class Blog: May 2014

This week we have chosen to write a story all about a bee and put it on our blog.
Our story is called: The Three little bees.

Once upon a time there were were three little bees. One was a big bee, the other was a medium sized bee and the 3rd one was only a tiny baby bee.
They were out flying one day when suddenly one of the bees got stuck in a goalpost. It was the big one. He got stuck in the goal post because he was so big he didn't notice that the hole was too small. The medium sized bee and the tiny baby bee tried to pull him out by his knees. He was too heavy and they were too small. Big bee and medium sized bee shouted "help, please, our Daddy bee is stuck and we can't get him out" Lucy bee was out flying and heard the shouting. She went to help and said "wait a minute, I'll help you" She held onto medium sized bee and baby bee who were pulling big bee and they pulled and they pulled and they pulled. He didn't move. Lucy bee went to find some of the 'hive' workers to help her get big bee out. The hive workers were busy protecting their hive, but when they heard that the big bee was stuck they flew quickly to rescue him. 10 hive workers tried to pull daddy bee out and he moved a little bit but he was still stuck. Lucy bee went to find Queen Elsa Bee and asked her if she could help to get daddy bee out of the goalpost. She said 'yes of course I wil but I will have to bring my husband the king his name is Wenda'
Lucy Bee, Queen Elsa and King Wenda went to rescue daddy bee. They pulled and pulled and pulled. Medium sized bee pulled, baby bee pulled, Lucy bee pulled, the 10 hive workers pulled, Queen Elsa pulled, King Wenda pulled but they couldn't get him out.
So then Lucy bee went to find, hulk the frog, the Manfly, Anna the baby bee and veena the princess.
They all helped to pull Daddy bee out of the goalpost. They pulled and pulled and pulled and pulled and pulled and pulled and pulled and finally he POPPED out of the goalpost. 'Hurrah' Said Daddy bee I can fly around and find some nectar now. I need to make more honey.
"Thank you everyone for your help"
Daddy bee, Medium sized bee, baby bee, Lucy bee, the 10 hive workers, Queen Elsa, King Wenda, Mr Manfly, Hulk the frog, and princess Veena all cheered and shouted.

The End

I am delighted this week to talk about our week on Ladybirds.
The children have been very excited about learning about Ladybirds and have been keen to learn about the mini beast that their class is named after.
We have also had a few changes this week especially for Year One. The Year One children no longer have to be dropped off in the classroom. Their parent/carer drops them off in the playground so that they get an extra playtime and another chance to see their Year One and Two friends. We understand that this is a bit different and I am pleased to say that our Year One children have behaved so sensibly with this change. Of course we know that this is a bit of a change so if you feel that your child is feeling a bit unsure about joining us on the playground then please remember that they are welcome to go into class as normal and meet up with their reception classmates.

We have also seen a change in the afternoons with our Year One children. The Year One children are involved in the Year One Topic of 'growing and food' and are doing a weekly visit to the other classes either on a Tuesday afternoon or a Thursday afternoon. This is to help with their transition to Year Two and last week was very successful. The children are given the opportunity to carry out lots of practical activities alongside the other Year One's and then experience an afternoon playtime. If this continues to prove successful then this time may increase to two afternoons a week, which would mean that all topic would be carried out with their fellow Year One peers. If you have any worries or would like any information about this transition then please speak to Miss Brind. This opportunity is being provided as a positive for your child and we would like to make this as pleasurable as possible. The transition will be tailored to your child so therefore please discuss any concerns with Miss Brind.

This week we started our topic by asking the children to think of questions that they would like to know the answers to.

Here are a few of the questions that the children wanted to know the answers to:

Do Ladybirds eat leaves?
How do Ladybirds see things?
Why do Ladybirds have spots?
Can Ladybirds fly?
Do all Ladybirds have spots?
Have Ladybirds got red wings?

The children have looked at information books, used our ICT tools such as 'Espresso' and 'Young Explorer' and also investigated Ladybirds in the sensory garden.

The children have made split-pin Ladybirds, painted, used their cutting skills to decorate spots on their ladybirds and written information packs.
We have used Ladybirds to help with 2 Mathematics topics this week. We have used ladybird spots to make number sentences and added the spots together. We have also used Ladybird spots to help with our understanding of 'Doubles'. The children are getting very good at doubles to 10 and some to 12. Ask your child over this bank holiday weekend to double the amount of grapes/skittles/Chocolate Buttons they have in a bowl.

In PE this week we have been thinking about throwing and catching. We have started with beanbags and have learnt to balance them before we think about how we catch them from the air. We have also had a think about where we need to be looking.
Over the Bank holiday (depending on the weather) take a trip to the park with a larger ball and practise catching with your child. Focus on what their hands and eyes are doing.

Here are a few of the things that we caught on camera this week: