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AUTUMN Second Half Term

Week beginning 31.10.17

Our new topic is, 'Where do squirrels hide their nuts?'

This half term we will be learning and exploring all about the Autumn season. We will be reading lots of autumn books and exploring the changes that occur during Autumn.

Exploring pumpkins

This week we have been exploring pumpkins, many of the children had carved their own pumpkin at home. The children scooped out the insides of a pumpkin to investigate what was inside, discovering different textures. The children wore goggles and used hammers to knock golf tees into a pumpkin using fantastic hand eye coordination. We also had a variety of autumn vegetables on display to explore. In our small world we had a pumpkin house which the children used some fantastic imagination to create their own stories.

Pumpkin Soup

This week we got to make and taste pumpkin soup. The children had great fun helping to prepare the pumpkins for the soup. We scooped, chopped and mashed the pumpkin during the process of making the soup, once it had cooked and cooled we tasted it.

Shape monsters

We have had lots of fun this week making spooky shape monsters. The children have been identifying different 2D shapes and talking about their properties.

Hedgehogs

We had had lots of fun learning about hedgehogs and making our own hedgehogs using clay and sticks.

Firework paintings

We spoke about Bonfire night and how to keep safe around fireworks. We explored our voices making different firework sounds. The children then made some fantastic firework paintings using paint, glitter, pipettes and straws.

6th November 2017

This week we have been investigating the outdoor environment and the huge amount of leaves we have in our garden . The children worked hard to clear up the debris, having fun along the way! They enjoyed watching the leaves flutter as they threw them in the air and used them as a soft cushion to have a rest. It was great team work - but we may have to do it all again next week! .

After making pumpkin soup we decided to role play and make our own version from lentils. We used measuring jugs and discussed capacity as we measured the ingredients into the saucepans.

Tasting Autumn Produce

This week we have been exploring the delights of the fruits and vegetables available in the autumn. We have tasted sweet potato, curly kale, swede, parsnip and blackberries. The children are becoming more confident at trying new foods and widening the variety of foods they enjoy. This week's food definitely received a thumbs up.

CVC Conkers!

We used the conkers we had been given to help us build CVC words to match the picture cards.

Budding builders

We had some new blocks given to us , which stimulated some great maths work. Measuring the length of the wall, how many we had and how many more were needed to finish the job. They used the spirit level to check the line of the wall and worked as a team to get the task done. Great job !

Art

We created some autumn sun catchers this week using leaves and coloured translucent paper to allow the sun to shine through. We also used autumn leaves , cones and other items collected in the garden to create autumn pictures.

13th November 2017

This week we read a poem called 'Autumn Winds'.

Autumn winds begin to blow

Coloured leaves fall fast and slow,

Whirling twirling all around,

Till at last they reach the ground.

The children explored the meaning of the words through drama .

the wind begins to blow

fast and slow

whirling and twirling,

till at last they reach the ground.

Following the children's interests this week the Grove building site office opened. It was certainly very busy with lots of customers and building projects going on. The garage was also open for car washes and services, with children discussing their needs and waiting patiently for their turn.

Pattern

This week we have been exploring pattern . Making patterns with bricks and even human patterns! Can you spot which patterns have been created?

We also made apple crumble. Carefully chopping the apples, adding some raisins and then making the topping. First we had to mix the flour and the butter, and then rub it in to make breadcrumbs. We then added a little bit of sugar and spread it on top of the fruit. It was yummy!

Autumn Homework

It has been wonderful to see families working together to produce some wonderful examples of 'Autumn'. Have a look at a few of the examples on display in our creative area. Thank you for all your hard work!

Children in Need

Thank you for all the donations for Children in Need and again for the wonderful Pudsey bear themed costumes . We had a lovely day and raised money for this worthy cause.

Week beginning 20/11/17

This week we have been looking at Autumn non fiction books. We have been learning new facts about the changes that happen in Autumn.

Tasting session

On Wednesday, Ms Wilson the cook came to visit us, she brought chocolate and strawberry milkshake and biscuits for us to try. The children all gave this a massive thumbs up! They then had a discussion with Ms Wilson about where milk comes from and what foods have milk as one of the ingredients such as; yoghurt, cheese and chocolate.

Nativity practice

This week we have been continuing to practice our Nativity. We have made great progress with our songs and are looking forward to showing our wonderful Nativity to our families. Some of the children have even been practicing our songs during continuous provision.

After the storm

After the storm there were so many leaves covering our outside area. We had lots of fun helping to sweep and collect all of the leaves.

Busy writing

This week one of our focuses has been writing. We have had lots of opportunities to mark make, write our letters, labels, words and some of us have been writing sentences!

Bedtime stories

Some of the children came back to school for bedtime stories. The children got to listen to three stories and enjoyed a hot chocolate and biscuits. It was lovely to see all the children looking warm and cosy in their pyjamas.

Week Beginning 27.11.17

We have been reading one of everybody's favourite books this week!

We have also been singing the song along with Julia Donalson and re-telling the story through drama and small world with story stones. The children have remembered lots of the story language and vocabulary and we have discussed the characters feelings and intentions.

Drawing the Characters

We have enjoyed doing observational drawings of the characters. The children have looked closely at the details and colours.

Our Gruffalo display

We are making a display to show all of our wonderful work. Look at our big hungry, hairy Gruffalo and some of the key vocabulary we have been using from the story. Next week we have decided to read 'The Gruffalo's Child' too.

Scrambled Egg

In the story the mouse told the snake the Gruffalo loved 'scrambled snake'! We thought we cannot eat snake so we tried some scrambled egg instead. There were mixed reviews, but most of us had a try.

Block Play

Look at our wonderful constructions! The children have been showing great collaboration when building bridges and complex structures.

Shapes

We have been exploring 2D and 3D shapes this week. We have used the Mathematical language 'sides' and 'corners' to describe 2D shapes and have introduced the term 'faces' to describe the newly introduced 3D shapes.

4th December 2017

This week we enjoyed the sequel to the Gruffalo, the Gruffalo's child. We compared the stories recognising the similarities and differences between the two. The children have really enjoyed using the stories as a basis for their learning and have been able to retell both stories through their drawings.

We have been investigating capacity this week using cubes, water and many other materials. We used the language of capacity such as full, empty, half full, half empty and empty. We also considered different sized and shaped containers to compare quantities.

Christmas Dinner

Once again Ms Wilson produced a fabulous Christmas dinner for the school. We enjoyed crackers containing our hats and jokes. It was a lovely whole school meal, thanks to all those in the kitchen and the midday supervisors who helped us enjoy our special meal.

Ice, snow and milkshake ice-cream!

After the snow last week made our outdoor area very exciting we discussed the process of freezing and melting with the ice. We then decided to change our milk shakes onto frozen milk pops! They tasted just as good !

Week beginning 11.12.17

This week we have been looking at another one of Julia Donaldson's books, 'Stickman'. The children have enjoyed this story and have been learning the story and using some of the story language.

Winter small world

The children had a wonderful surprise when they came in on Tuesday. They had a new winter scene small world to play and explore. The children loved the fake snow and different textures in the tray and creating their own stories.

Christmas decorations

The children have been making lots of Christmas decorations to decorate our learning environments. They have enjoyed making; Christmas trees, paper chains, snowflakes and lanterns.

Christmas role play

This week we had two very exciting outfits appear in our role play. The children have enjoyed using the Father Christmas and Elf costumes to enhance their role play.

Christmas writing

This week we have had lots of Christmas based writing opportunities. The children have been writing to Father Christmas, writing lists and drawing wonderful pictures. They have used a word mat to help them spell some tricky Christmas words, as well as using their phonics to segment. We also have a special post box to send our letters.

Hot Chocolate tasting

As the weather has been very cold later we had the opportunity to try hot chocolate with whipped cream and mini marshmallows. The children enjoyed mixing the chocolate into the warm milk and adding whipped cream and mini marshmallows to their own hot chocolate. Most of the children really liked the warming hot chocolate.

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

We have had a wonderful last two days full of festive fun! We all loved our Christmas party which involved dancing, party games and party food. We have also had the opportunity to do Christmas crafts and watch a film.

We hope you have a magical Christmas and a Happy New Year. We look forward to having you all back safely in January.

From all the Early Years team :)