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.

Reading for Pleasure:

Reading for pleasure is important for us all, a fundamental building block of lifelong learning. The earlier we start, the better! That’s why in Reception we make time for this every day; it is a permanent feature of provision above and beyond our focus book for the half-term or listening to our readers 1:1. Indeed, children learning to read for pleasure means that they get excited for, and take more from, the structured reading that forms part of our core curriculum. 

When Shapes and Art Join Forces!

This week, the children have been diving deeper into their learning about shapes - and what a creative journey it’s been! Shapes are everywhere, and the children discovered just how amazing they can be when used to make art. After enjoying creating with circles, we explored what other shapes could inspire our artwork. With Christmas just around the corner, we couldn’t resist giving it a festive twist! The children enhanced their fine motor skills by cutting out shapes and transforming them into Christmas-themed creations like snowmen, holly, angels, and Christmas trees. These beautiful masterpieces now brighten up our maths working wall. In provision, the children also used pins, playdough, and other materials to craft shapes while confidently discussing properties like sides, vertices, and the concept of 2D shapes. What incredible superstars they are!

Shapes!

Our children have embarked on an exciting new maths topic—shapes! They have been exploring a variety of shapes and discovering their unique properties.

So far, the focus has been on circles and triangles. Inspired by the artist Fiona Rae, the children created vibrant artwork using only circles. They explored the classroom for circular objects they could print with, trace, or draw around and were beautifully documented in their floor book, alongside discussions about the key properties of circles.

The learning didn’t stop there! The children then discovered that triangles have three vertices and three sides. They have now begun an imaginative project: crafting fish using triangles and bubbles using circles.

We can’t wait to see what shape will take the spotlight next—stay tuned!

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!

Patterns

Forest School

The children have continued to enjoy their time outside in our Forest School area. They have talked about the change in the weather, noticing that it is getting colder and the ground is getting harder.  When listening to the birds, some of the children asked how the birds will get their food over the winter.  We decided to make some bird feeders to help the birds.

As the freezing weather suddenly hit, the children explored the ice which had formed in the area. They were surprised to see that the bird seed was frozen in the tuff spot!

Ice!

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!

Investigating numbers - 1 more and 1 less

Part Part Whole Models

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. 

• Andersen Class - The Little Red Hen

The Little Red Hen Hook

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. 

Exploring, climbing, signs of Autumn and mud cakes!

Stick Man

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 Artist focus for this half term is Giuseppe Arcimboldo. We looked at the different foods which he used for creating portraits, talked about how they made us feel and then created our own portraits in the style Arcimboldo. 

Guiseppe Arcimboldo

 

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! 

A great start to the year