At group time, we read the numeral on a beehive then grew that many fingers to represent the number. We then counted that many fuzzy bees onto the beehive, learning to stop at the target number. 

At home you could count out objects from a larger group and practise stopping at a target number e.g. counting out a specific number of grapes from a bunch. 

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We progressed by exploring the numbers on the beehives in more depth. We partitioned the bees in different ways, making marks and even writing number sentences to show this!

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Through stories and our play, we learnt how bees make honey. We acted this out in our Messy Play Tray using the new vocabulary and knowledge. The children learnt that bees slurp up nectar from flowers using their long tongue; that bees have two tummies, one is a 'honey tummy' for this process...which the children found hilarious! They learnt that the bees make a long line in the hive to pass along the nectar and mix it up, then they find a hole in the hive to put the nectar and fan it with their wings to make thick sticky honey! 

At home you could invite your child to describe the process of how bees make honey

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At the workshop, the children used different tools and materials to create their own beautiful bee artwork! They described the bees features...such as them having a black and yellow stripy pattern, having six legs, having four wings, having antennas, having a stinger...but what the children found most impressive was that bees have five eyes! 

At home you could invite your child to create bee artwork and encourage them to name the various features of a bee. 

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During our play, we reinforced our learning of the features of a bee whilst modelling bees at the playdough table. The children also remembered the symmetry vocabulary from last week and tried to make their bee the same on both sides! 

At home you could invite your child to create a model of a bee, encouraging them to name the various features of a bee, and also making their bee symmetrical. 

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We developed our fine motor skills in the Funky Fingers area by making yellow-black a-b pattern bees. We moved the resources using tweezers, holding them with a 'pinchy parrot' grip.

At home your child could use big tweezers, or kitchen tongues, or chopsticks; to sort items such as buttons, grapes, pom poms etc. 

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At the writing table, we drew pictures of bees and tried to include all of their features in the detail of our drawings, using the vocabulary we have learnt.

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We enjoyed stories in our minibeast role play area (whilst dressed as minibeasts, of course!), and enjoyed stories outside in nature with our reading volunteer governor, Alan. 

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We did active maths on the field; we read the numeral on a beehive, grew our fingers, did that number of actions, and then flew the matching bee to it's beehive.

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The children combined materials from inside with materials from outside to make their bees...evening remembering they need five eyes! 

At home your child can finish their bee rock by adding antenna, a stinger, and size legs. 

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Making a beehive... ...searching for flowers... ...sucking the nectar from flowers and storing in 'honey tummy'... ...bees passing and mixing the nectar... ...then putting it into a hole in the hive... ...then the bees using their wings to fan to make thick, sticky honey! Finally we explored real honey!