Our Learning - Autumn Term

Autumn 2

Hello and welcome back after half term. We hope you had a lovely week off with your families and enjoyed Halloween and Bonfire Night. We are so excited for this term and all things Christmas!

This week we are going to be reading the story 'Hello! A counting book of kindness.' It focusses on counting whilst also addressing immigration and how families travel to the UK from other countries. We will be reading it lots so the children talk about it and hopefully tell you about it at home. 

We had the best visitors come in today to show us their fire engine and to tell us about what their job is and how they fight fires. The children were able to go and sit inside the fire engine and even got to point the hose at the playground and turn it on. It was so much fun and the children loved it. They all said thank you at the end when the fire men had to go and respond to a call out. What a brilliant day we had in Nursery!

We have also been playing lots outside and getting used to putting our rain suits and wellies on ourselves. We have been exploring the water wall and enjoying seeing the leaves change colour and fall off the trees. 

We have made tunnels using the cardboards boxes brought in and loved taking it in turns to have a crawl through. We also have played emotions bingo which has linked to our story this week 'Hello! A counting book of kindness.' The children were able to take it in turns to pick a card from the table and see if it matched their picture board. They could then tell me what that child was feeling in the photo from happy to sad to tired. They also took it well when another child won. Well done Nursery.

This week we are doing all things Halloween and have had two brilliant stay and pay sessions with parents. We have also read this story, Meg and Mog, which is all about a Halloween party that goes wrong!

We have made some lovely potions using vinegar and bicarbonate of soda which makes the water fizz and bubble. The children have loved experimenting with the water and mixed the colours together, making green and orange and then ending up a very dark blue. They added eye balls and bats wings to their potions and talked about how full or empty the cauldron was. “It’s up to the sky,” said Rosie. 

We did lots of mark making, (and learning how to hold our pencils correctly) cutting and sticking and made lots of different shapes in the playdough including skulls, bats, ghosts and skeletons. The children have loved exploring is week and were especially excited to write on the pumpkins using fancy pens. They made marks and some even attempted to write their names. Amazing!

We made pumpkin soup using pumpkin, carrot, onion, a stock cube and water. The children peeled the carrots and helped cut up the pumpkin with support. They listened brilliantly to the instructions given to them and were very careful with the knives and peelers. We enjoyed tasting it once it had cooked. 

We are enjoying the story 'Goldilocks and the three bears' this week.  The children are joining in where they can and we are using different voices for the bears.   

We are using numbers in our play and as we talk about the pictures and are showing a good understanding of 'three',   encouraging children to instantly recognise when they see three of something! (This is called subitising and a fabulous early number skill to master).

 Three bears         Three bowls of porridge

  Three chairs   Three beds

We made porridge, weighed out oats and measured the milk then gave it five stirs each before cooking it .  It got really hot, we saw it bubble in the pan. We waited until it had cooled down and then enjoyed a taste, some children had a little sugar and others a little syrup. Yum yum!

After making porridge we had fun exploring porridge oats, we mixed them with water and fed the bears. 

Look at the fabulous Goldilocks and bear that some children made.

The children are enjoying the story ‘Owl babies’

They have talked about the pictures in the story and have joined in as we have read the story together.   

We enjoyed reading the story Owl Babies this week and exploring lots of different things about owls. We looked at the life cycle of an owl from an egg to and adult owl. We were amazed to find out that most owls only live for 2 years. 

This week we have been reading the story ‘We’re going on a bear hunt’ which is about a family who try and find a bear.  

We have had lots of outdoor play this week and enjoyed getting muddy in the mud kitchen. 

We have also been doing lots of mark making and giving meaning to the marks we have made. We have practised holding our pencils correctly and have been able to describe what we have drawn. We have used lots of different colours. We also did some glueing and sticking with leaves and autumnal materials. 

We have enjoyed the story ‘Elmer’ which is about a patchwork elephant. 
        

At nursery we encourage our children to become as independent as 

possible. We ask children to have a go at putting on their own coats, shoes, aprons etc and of course help where necessary but it is fabulous when a child manages to do something on their own or with very little help, the sense of achievement is clear to see.  We have already seen children showing great independence and also working together to help each other out.  

We love to be outdoors and the children may choose to spend the majority of their day outside whatever the weather. Learning outdoors provides so many different opportunities for our children. 

We have enjoyed matching different patterns on the elephants. The children were able to select one and find the matching colour or pattern. We then had a game which tested the children’s memory. Well done Nursery. 

We also made our own patterns on the elephants using purple mash, a programme used throughout school for ICT lessons. The children chose their favourite colours and made some lovely patterns. 

In the painting area we mixed lots of colours together. We painted one hand one colour, the other hand another colour and the mixed our hands together and made a new colour. The children loved it and were amazed at the colour change. 

Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?

This week in Nursery we have still been learning new rules and routines and practising our tidying up! We have been listening well and enjoying getting to know new friends and classmates. We have also been reading and singing the story, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? The children have joined in with the repetitive phrases and enjoyed guessing the colour of the next animal. We have practised our colours and explored different animals too. 

In Nursery, we love the painting table and this week we have made our own brown bears using brown paint and forks. At first the children were unsure what to do but with a bit of guidance they were loving making their bears and making a mess at the same time. They then cut out their own shapes and made eyes and ears for the bears. 

We have also made our own paper plate bears using ripped up paper and we have cut out our own ears and noses. The children we given a picture to follow as an idea and they came up with their own brilliant bears.