Hello everyone!
I hope you all enjoyed learning a little about some of the exercises children might experience in Primary 1. We are going to continue using The Very Hungry Caterpillar to look at exercises around Maths, Health and Wellbeing, Science and Technology.
First lets say hello to everyone with the help of BookBug.
Mrs Kay’s caterpillars finally hatched from their cocoons. Here is a video of Jessica releasing them into Mrs Kay’s garden.
Maths
Here are some ideas of ways to use Brilliant Bugs to explore maths.
Design your own board game.
You will need:
Paper or card
Pens, pencils or paint to decorate
Dice and counters (borrow some from a board game you have at home)
Some ideas include:
Spiders and Drainpipes
Just like snakes and ladders but using spiders and drainpipes instead. Climb up the spiders web and fall down the drainpipe.
Butterfly land
Draw a beautiful scene with lots of butterflies and other bugs. Make a path all round the board and see who can be the first player to reach the end. You might like to add some funny tasks or forfeits along the way.
Matching pairs
Cut out some square pieces of card and draw 2 of your favourite bugs, with one bug on each square of card. Once you have at least 10 pairs turn the squares over and take turns trying to find each pair.
Patterns, size and shape.
Using beads, buttons or whatever else you have at home make caterpillars. Try and create a pattern and see how many times you can repeat it before you run out of materials.
Look at the size and shapes of bugs in your garden. Can you find a large bug or one that is really very small? Look at symmetry, bugs should have a line of symmetry (when you draw a line down the middle, the image is the same on each side). Does the line of symmetry work for lines drawn top to bottom and from left to right?
There are lots of songs that feature bugs and maths, here are some examples.
Health and Wellbeing
Sticky Kids have lots of podcasts on their website. They are great for getting children to be more active and are fun for all the family to join in.
Week 6 can be found here.
https://stickykids.podbean.com/e/sticky-kids-workout-6/
The Bad Tempered Ladybird by Eric Carle is a great way for children to explore their feelings. It shows that it is better to be kind to our friends but that even ladybirds get grumpy sometimes!
Recipes
Here are some yummy bug inspired recipes to try at home.
Mrs Ross has a recipe for snail swirls she would like to share with everyone.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar Fruit Kebabs
- 1 apple, cored and diced
- 2 pears, cored and diced
- 3 plums, pitted and diced
- 4 strawberries, hulled and sliced
- 5 oranges, (make it easy on yourself and use mandarin slices)
Arrange all the pieces of fruit on sticks using any combination you want. Serve as a picnic lunch, and don’t forget to drop a few pieces in the grass for the neighbourhood caterpillars!
Perfect Picnics
Why not pack up as many of the foods that the hungry caterpillar ate and go on a picnic. You could have a picnic in your garden or while on a nature walk.
The hungry caterpillar enjoyed
- 1 apple
- 2 pears
- 3 plums
- 4 strawberries
- 5 oranges
- 1 piece of chocolate cake
- 1 ice cream
- 1 pickle
- 1 slice of cheese
- 1 slice of salami
- 1 lollipop
- 1 piece of cherry pie
- 1 sausage
- 1 cupcake
- 1 slice of watermelon
Send us some photos of you enjoying your treats! Children can help prepare these recipes developing their fine motor and life skills.
Science and Technology
Get outdoors and see what bugs you can find. Look under stones and logs, bugs prefer damp and cold places.
If you have a magnifying glass have a look at all the parts of a bug. Is what you have found an insect? How do you know what is an insect and what isn’t?
Insects have 6 legs, a head, thorax and abdomen. They may or may not have wings. If a bug doesn’t have one of these things then it is not an insect and may be something else like an arachnid (spider), an annelid (worms) or a myriapod (centipede). Lots of information can be found at www.natgeokids.com/uk/discover/animals/insects/15-facts-about-bugs/
Mrs Kays caterpillars are still wrapped snugly in their cocoons. They will hopefully emerge next week sometime, we will keep you posted. In the meantime this video shows the transformation from caterpillar to butterfly.
Mrs AC’s children Luke and Neve made a poster about bugs and their habitats.
Songs and Rhymes
Mrs Laing would like to share a new rhyme she has thought up just for Newport Nursery.
Mrs Ross has a worm at the bottom of her garden.
Mrs Kay has a rhyme about a little girl and her caterpillar.
Mrs AC likes this rhyme about 5 speckled frogs.
Thanks for reading the blog this week, have a great weekend and don’t forget to let us know what you have been doing. We miss you all very much. Lets listen to the Goodbye song.
