Our Journey through Autumn 2
This half term has started with a bang! The children have been demonstrating our focus value of kindness and learning what it means to be collaborative.
Maths - Patterns!
This half-term has started off wonderfully in maths, with the children diving into the world of patterns! They began by exploring ABAB patterns, learning how to continue and copy patterns, as well as creating their own independently. Now, they’re moving on to the exciting challenge of ABC patterns. Watch this space to see the fantastic patterns they come up with!
Remembrance
Our reception children went on a thoughtful journey this week in learning about remembrance day.
The children explored the significance of this time through videos and stories sparking meaningful discussions about the importance of remembering those who served in the wars. It was truly touching to see just how much some children already knew and the sensitivity with which they approached this learning.
We learned about the tradition of wearing poppies as symbols of remembrance. We watched a CBeebies video that introduced the children to the poppy’s story in a gentle, age-appropriate way. The children then put their creative sides into making their own poppies using recycled plastic bottles. These handmade poppies now stand proudly in Sophia’s Garden, part of the beautiful poppy display here that the whole school has contributed to!
T4W
To start off our T4W unit, the children received a letter from the Old Man and Old Women explaining that they needed help to find their Gingerbread Man as he had escaped. He had been seen running from our cookery room with his friends!
Our Journey through Autumn 1
Maths
In Maths, the children have started to investigate numbers and what they represent. They have counted objects, written numbers and started to explore 1 more and 1 less than.
The children have also been learning about the Part, Part, Whole model; a pictorial representation that shows the relationship between a whole and its parts. We even managed to find a way of linking their exploring of this model to our English focus: The Little Red Hen! We used birds nests and numbered eggs for the children to create their own models and they loved it!
English
This half terms English started with excitement! Flour was left by the Little Red Hen with a latter asking for help. The children spent the morning hunting for more clues, thinking about where the hen came from and drawing maps to find the hen.
We have been learning the story 'The Little Red Hen'. We have learnt new words, explored how characters feel and retold the whole story! We sieved, mixed and kneaded when we made our own bread just like The Little Red Hen. We have also used the structure of the story to create our own versions.
Click on the links below to see the of the children retelling the story.
Baking Bread
The children have worked incredibly hard on learning their story: The Little Red Hen, this half-term. In this story, the Little Red Hen makes her very own bread and we wanted to do the same! All children contributed to making some delicious bread! We practised our measuring, mixing, kneading and, most importantly of all, tasting! We are definitely spying some little bakers in Reception!
Forest Schools
In Forest Schools, the children have been exploring their surroundings, looking for signs of Autumn, creating dens, climbing trees, making mud cakes and working together collaboratively. One session involved the story Stick Man and the children created their own stick people.
Crinkle Crag
The children enjoyed a session on the Crinkle Crag. They had to be brave and show courage when climbing, balancing and travelling across this piece of equipment. Lot's of problem solving skills were used when children had to work out a way down from the Crinkle Crag.
Art
Art has been a fabulous, creative time for the children so far!
First, we learned how to make different colours by mixing certain colours together. We discovered that by mixing the colours yellow and blue together, you can make green, just as one example of the many we found and made!
The following week, we explored painting pictures with string! This was a fantastically messy time which resulted in some fabulous paintings!
We have also used water colours to create a background. We found the the paints blended together well and we needed to use more if we wanted a brighter colour.
Our First Week at Drake
The children have settled well during their first week at School. They have explored their new environment, made crowns, drawn their portraits, mixed colours using the paints and most importantly started to form friendships. What a great start to a their first year at Drake!