Welcome to the Butterfly class! This year in our room, we have the children turning 3!

Our room is really lucky to have the conservatory which has views of the woodland garden. Being so close to the woodland area means we'll be able to use this garden for gardening and bug hunts regularly as well the main nursery garden which we share with the Buzzy Bee class.

As with all the classrooms, we have divided up the areas using shelving, so children have direct and easy access to the resources available to support their independent play. We tend to have many resources that stay the same, so that children can return to their activities over a period of days, and revisit their favourite activities.  

All children have their own designated coat peg. Upon arrival in the morning or afternoon, we encourage children to find their peg, put all their belongings away and self-register by finding their name card!

Who is in the Butterfly Team?

• Katy - Class Teacher
• Helen - Classroom Deputy / Classroom SENCo
• Becki - Early Years Assistant
• Briony - Early Years Assistant
• Wendy - Centre Support Worker 

Spring term 2 2026

This half term, our learning has been inspired by the much-loved story 'Shark in the Park' by Nick Sharratt. The children thoroughly enjoyed exploring the different versions of the story, including:

• Shark in the Dark
• Shark in the Park on a Windy Day
• Shark in the Snow

Through these stories, the children developed their imagination, storytelling skills, and early language. One of the highlights was making our own telescopes, just like Timothy Pope, using them to look for “sharks” around our environment!

Spending time in our garden continues to be a daily joy. The children have shown great curiosity and excitement when watching the squirrels and birds, sparking wonderful conversations about the natural world and encouraging careful observation skills.

We have embraced the spirit of the Olympics and Paralympics, exploring a range of sports and physical challenges. The children have been developing their coordination, resilience, and teamwork skills through active play. A particular highlight was our visit from the Peterborough Phantoms, where the children were introduced to ice hockey. It was an inspiring and memorable experience for both children and staff!

Bertie’s visit was, as always, a huge success! The children loved the opportunity to stroke him and give him a treat, helping to build confidence, empathy, and gentle interactions with animals.

A huge thank you to all the parents and carers who were able to join us during World Book Week.  We created a range of cosy reading spaces across the classroom, and it was so special to see families sharing stories together. These moments truly support children’s love of reading and strengthen our nursery community.

We began the half term by celebrating Lunar New Year, where the children enjoyed learning about traditions and taking part in a lively and exciting Chinese dragon dance.

We have lots to look forward to! … Our learning will focus on life cycles, with some very special arrivals:

• Eggs that we will watch hatch into chicks 🐥
• Caterpillars that will transform into butterflies 🦋

This hands-on experience will give children a real understanding of growth and change.

We are incredibly excited to begin preparing for Caverstede’s 80th Anniversary celebrations. The children will be involved in a range of activities as we celebrate our rich history and bright future.

Our next core story will be 'The Three Billy Goats Gruff', which will inspire storytelling, role play, and problem-solving through play.

Thank you, as always, for your continued support. We love sharing these special moments with you and look forward to another exciting half term ahead!

Spring term 1 2026

This half term has absolutely flown by — can you believe we are already at half term?

The children returned after the Christmas break full of exciting stories, sharing what they had been doing with their families and all the special moments they enjoyed. We always love hearing their news and seeing how confidently they communicate their experiences.

The children have thoroughly enjoyed exploring our Core Story ‘Dinosaur Roar’. It has inspired so much imaginative play, creativity, role play and language development. The children have been especially fascinated by comparing dinosaur sizes, using wonderful vocabulary such as long, huge, massive, short and enormous.

The story has also supported the children in developing their understanding of positional language, such as above and below, which they are beginning to use more confidently in their play.

Throughout the half term, the children have taken part in large collaborative paintings, individual drawings, dinosaur-themed messy play (including some wonderfully slimy activities!), and even dinosaur-inspired snack times.

Bird Watching Week was another huge success. We created a bird hide area in the conservatory, complete with binoculars, bird identification sheets and photographs. The children have loved watching carefully out of the windows, spotting different birds — and of course keeping an eye on our resident squirrels in the Woodland Garden too!

The children also made bird feeders to take home, and have been fascinated by the squirrels busily burying their treasures around the garden, which has sparked lots of excited discussion and observation.

We were delighted to welcome Bertie the Labrador again this half term. The children loved meeting him, gently stroking him and learning how to be calm and kind around animals.  His visit brought lots of smiles and was a wonderful confidence building experience for the children.

Our Winter Olympics theme has been going brilliantly. The children took part in an Athlete Parade in the Nursery Garden, waving flags that represented the heritage of both children and staff. A special thank you to Caroline from the Ladybirds, who kindly brought in her skis for the children to see and try on — such an exciting experience! We also have a new smaller pair of skis that the children have enjoyed using in their play around the room.

Next week we will be celebrating Lunar New Year, using this as a wonderful opportunity to learn about different cultures and traditions. The children will be making Chinese lanterns, tasting new flavours, exploring noodles, trying on traditional clothing and creating dragons for our annual Chinese Dragon Dance in the Nursery Garden. The Ladybirds will come along to watch the Butterflies and Buzzy Bees perform their dragon dance, which is always such a special event.

Looking ahead to next half term, our new Core Story will be ‘Shark in the Park’ by Nick Sharratt — so you may well hear some Baby Shark singing at home!

We will also be enjoying lots of exciting experiences linked to Pancake Day, World Book Day, Science Week, Mother’s Day and Eid. It may be a shorter half term, but it is certainly going to be a busy and memorable one!

Thank you, as always, for your continued support — we hope you all have a restful and happy half term break.

Autumn Term 2 - 2025

We’ve had such an exciting and busy few weeks at nursery, filled with exploration, imagination and lots of learning through play. The children have really embraced our core story, “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt”, and it has been wonderful to see how much language, and curiosity this has sparked. From swishy grass to squelchy mud, the children have loved retelling the story through actions.

We have all loved meetings the alpacas who visited us this week. There are some lovely images of the visit on our Instagram page.

We have also begun introducing 3D model making, using recycled boxes and materials. The children have been experimenting with new skills such as using tape, and joining two objects together. It has been a brilliant opportunity to build confidence, independence and problem-solving skills.  We are at the true beginnings of this learning, but their enthusiasm to have a go is exceptional!

A daily highlight continues to be watching the squirrels in our garden. The children have been comparing what they see outside with the pictures in our squirrel fact book—spotting similarities, noticing differences and sharing their own ideas.

Rainy days have brought us even more fun as the children have embraced puddle play, splashing, jumping and investigating how water moves. Indoors and outdoors, they also love a good dance session, moving to music in the classroom or in the garden to burn off energy and develop coordination.  We are exploring different genres of music as we do!

We have now started practising our Christmas songs, and the children are already singing with so much enthusiasm. We are really looking forward to welcoming you all to our December Christmas Singalong and sharing the festive joy together.

Recently we celebrated Nursery Rhyme Week, exploring a different rhyme each day. From pirates to animals to actions, the children joined in beautifully—though the clear favourite this year has been “Two Little Dickie Birds”!

Thank you for your continued support. We are so proud of how confidently the children are exploring, playing and growing every day.

Autumn Term 1 - 2025

🦋 The children in Butterflies have all settled beautifully into the new term. The classroom has a lovely calm and focused atmosphere, with lots of learning and exploring taking place each day. The children are becoming familiar with our simple routines and are really enjoying singing times, as well as making full use of both the classroom and outdoor areas.

We’ve been exploring lots of different art techniques to reflect the Autumn season — from sticking and clay work to painting and printing. The children have loved taking part in our pumpkin patch role play and have been busy with a wide range of apple-themed activities — including apple printing, bobbing, and, of course, making delicious apple juice. We even enjoyed apple crumble and custard for snack! 🍏

A huge thank you to everyone who kindly donated apples and pumpkins — your contributions have made a massive difference and helped create so many rich learning experiences for the children.

Recently, we’ve also started going on local walks, noticing the changes in nature and developing our gross motor skills by using the park equipment.

It’s been a wonderful start to the term, and we’re so proud of how engaged and happy the Butterflies are in their learning. 🍁