Autumn Term 2 2022
Hello and welcome back! We are all very excited to begin the new half term, starting with a topic on Africa and leading up to finding out all about the First Christmas. Please have a look at all of our learning below and continue to share your adventures at home with us too!
Collective Worship
Our Candle
This week we have been talking about our candle that we keep on the Worship Table. We know that Jesus the light of the world is with us.
Remembrance Day
During our collective worship, we prayed for those who fell fighting for our country and also for their families. The children looked at poppies and discovered that the money raised from selling these goes to veterans and their families. They took part in the 2 minute silence and watched the short film below.
Crib Service
Thank you to all of the families who attended our Crib Service and made it such a special occasion. The children put so much work into their beautiful cribs and we were all so proud of them for joining in with our Prayer at the end of the service. We would also like to say a huge thank you to the Mini Vinnies for their help and support. They put all of the hay in the bags for the children to take home, set up the hall and the Church, as well as greeted all of our special guests.
Thank you all for helping us to celebrate the beginning of Advent, we really enjoyed it.
Worship Table
This half term, we have changed the cloth on our table to purple as we prepare for the birth of Jesus. The children have also made their own Advent Wreath, which we will be adding another flame to every week as we count down to Christmas.
RE
God’s Family
We had a fantastic RE session this week learning all about God’s family. The children started by talking about their own families and who they live with. Then they talked about their extended family. We discussed how special our surnames are and the children told one other what theirs was. The children found out that we are all special and different and belong not only to our own family but to our school family, Church family and God’s family too.
In our second session, we learned about all of the different people in God’s Family and the ways that we can show our love to God by caring for these people. We found out that God makes us all different, special and unique, from hair colour and skin colour to whether we are boys or girls. We found out that there are people like police, teachers, cleaners and cooks that help us and they are all part of God’s Family too. We can show our love to God by helping others, by being kind, sharing, taking turns and being a good friend. We then discussed who is in God’s Family further.
Charlie D “Maybe my mummy.”
Rosie “Me and Mummy.”
Amelia “Me, Mummy and Daddy.”
Harriet “Baby boys.”
Albert “God.”
Myla “Mummy and Daddy and me and Joshua.”
Aoife “Father God.”
Greta “Mary, Jesus’ Mum.”
Ettie “My Grandma.”
Orla “Jesus.”
Martin “Mama, Dada.”
Sophie “Mummy, Daddy, Jessica, Sophie, the baker, the children, Ettie, Miss Hutchinson.”
We know that we are all part of God’s Family and that we can show our love to God, our family and friends in a number of ways. Here are some of the things that we do in FS1 to show how much we care.
Orla “I press the button for Mummy when she is washing up. The washing machine.”
Charlie D “I help people draw their names.”
Lennon “I carry something for my mum.”
Aoife “When we go shopping I get carrots in the bag.”
Harriet “I help Mum carry my book bag.”
Albert “Share.”
Myla-Grace “I play with my friends.”
Ettie “I help people draw.”
Rosie “I help Mummy to tidy up the living room.”
Amelia “I share my dinner with Mummy.”
Greta “I help my Mummy and Daddy to clean up the books at my old house and then I moved out with all of the books and they are all still in the box and I have to go and get the books out of the box.”
Sophie “Well I help my Mum put the washing on the radiator to dry.”
We then found out that we also pray, use our prayer garden and go to Church to show our love to God.
People who help us
We started our session by talking about who is part of God’s Family.
Ava “Daddy, Mummy, our families.”
Harriet “Teachers.”
Rosie “My brother, Mummy, me and Daddy.”
Ettie “Us, all of the children.”
Sam “God.”
Orla “The babies.”
Sam “St Gerard.”
Myla “Friends.”
We then found out that we can show our love of God by helping one another. We started by looking at a PowerPoint and the children talked about their thoughts and ideas.
Orla “Chefs help us.”
Ettie “Dinner ladies, like Kirsty.”
Sophie “Lollipop man.”
Rosie “They stop cars to help us to cross over.”
We then saw a picture of a Priest.
Charlie suggested that it could be St Joseph and Sophie wondered if it was St Gerard.
We discussed how we can go to Church and that Father Andrew helps us to learn more about God.
The children then acted out how some of these people, as well as others help us. For example, Charlie suggested driving a police car for a police officer. We pretended to cook for a chef and put out a fire for a fire fighter.
After sharing ideas on what people do to help others, we talked about what we could do to help our friends and family.
Charlie “Help everybody to make jigsaws.”
Aoife “Hold hands over the road.”
Orla “Help Mummy look after Albie.”
Lennon “Play with everybody with the blocks.”
Elizabeth of Hungary
We read the story of Elizabeth of Hungary today and learned about how she kindly used the Prince’s corn to make bread for the poorer people. Other people were very cross about this and felt that Princess Elizabeth should have kept the corn for herself and the Prince. When the Prince returned, Princess Elizabeth hid her basket of bread but God very kindly changed the bread into roses to prevent Princess Elizabeth from getting into trouble with the Prince.
Rosie “Princess Elizabeth.”
Aoife “She lives in a castle.”
Lennon “She has lots of money.”
Orla “There was no food.”
Harriet “No sunshine or water.”
Sam “Made bread.”
Rosie “Under cloak.”
Charlie D “It was roses.”
Orla “God did it.”
Literacy
Our School Library Visits
We have enjoyed a visit to the school library and have borrowed a book each! The children all enjoyed exploring the library, listening to stories and pretending to scan our books out, with Mrs Sperke as the librarian! Our aim is to provide the children with a lifelong love of books and reading.
Our class reading area
We have lots of lovely books in our reading area that we change every two weeks to match our topic. This half term our key texts are Fatou, Fetch the water by Neil Griffiths and Goldilocks and the three bears. We also have books across our provision areas to inspire our imagination and creativity.
We also have books across the different provision areas which inspire the children’s learning.
Words of the week
During every topic, we choose two words from our key texts to explore even further. The children learn about the meaning of the word, count the syllables and talk about the initial sound. Staff and children try to say these words in different contexts across the week. These are our words of the week this half term.
Authors and Illustrators
We are learning all about the author and illustrator Nick Butterworth this half term. Our reading area has lots of his Percy the Park Keeper books and the children have been learning about what an author and an illustrator do. They have also been learning facts about Nick Butterworth, such as that he was born in London and grew up in a sweet shop from the age of two years old. We watched a clip of Nick Butterworth with a blank paged book and then watched as he drew a picture of a fox. Sophie really wanted to make her own book and this short clip then inspired other children in the class to write and illustrate their own books. We are so proud of the children for the story language that they used and they were just as proud when they realised that they were the authors and illustrators of their books! We have displayed some of these books in our reading area for others to enjoy.
Fatou, fetch the water
The children really enjoyed retelling the story of Fatou’s adventures as she explores her village in Africa on the way to a well for some water.
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Our second topic this half-term is based on the story Goldilocks and the three bears. Our provision challenges have supported the children in retelling the story and creating the characters. During our story times, the children have shared their ideas on alternative endings and we have discussed how the characters are feeling throughout the story.
Retelling the story
We are so proud of the children for their determination and skill whilst cutting out scenes from Goldilocks and the three bears. They then placed them in the correct order and told their friends the story, using well known phrases and fantastic story language.
During one of our circle time sessions, we discussed alternative endings to Goldilocks and the three bears. Here are some of our ideas-
Sam “Goes to her house, gets up the stairs, gets into bed, hides under the blanket.”
Orla “The bears build her a house but she never comes back.”
Harriet “She made her own bed.”
Aoife “Run away into her living room and into her bed and never seen again.”
The children said that Goldilocks was frightened (Sophie) and sad (Pollyanna).
Mrs Gray “I think she could say sorry to the bears. She could go back with Mummy and Daddy.”
Orla “She could tidy up and make it tidy again. She could fix the chair back.”
Sophie “Make some more porridge.”
Charlie D “Say sorry to baby bear and be friends.”
Lennon “Goldilocks and baby bear can hug each other.”
Phonics
Listening walk
The children had a great time on their listening walk this week. In small groups, they walked around school, drawing pictures of all of the sounds that they could hear.
Ettie “Rain on the roof. Something coming off the trees.”
Aoife “My feet stamping.”
Sophie “I can’t hear anything because the library is so quiet.”
Orla “People.”
Charlie D “Washing up.”
Harriet “Hand dryer.”
Initial Sounds
We have been busy making some ‘silly soup’ in FS1. The rule was that the ingredients had to start with a ‘p’ sound. The children were able to identify which objects started with a ‘p’ sound, add them to the bowl and then sing ‘We are making lots of silly soup, we are making soup that’s silly. We are going to put it in the fridge, to make it nice and chilly!”.
Sorting words by their initial sound
This week the children were tasked with sorting objects by their initial sound. Some words started with a ‘s’ sound and some started with a ‘p’. They said the word, identified the initial sound and then found the correct letter. We think they did a fantastic job!
Maths
The number three!
It has been all about the number three in Nursery this week! The children have been working on recognising the numeral, forming it and counting three fingers. They have counted three objects, recognised three dots on dice and recognised the Numicon for three.
Show and Share- The number four
We have had a wonderful show and share all about the number four. The children counted to four and then formed a number four with their parents. They looked for fours in the classroom and clapped and stomped four times too! A big thank you to all of the parents who joined us for our maths lesson, we loved sharing this with you.
Capacity
The children have been using different sized bowls to learn about capacity this week. They predicted which bowl would hold the most porridge oats and then used words such as full, empty, half full and overflowing to describe how much was in each bowl. The children explored this learning further in the home corner, setting the table for Daddy Bear, Mummy Bear and Baby Bear, ensuring that they all had enough porridge for breakfast!
Physical Development
Gross motor skills
We provide our children with a variety of different gross motor activities, such as dance, PE, climbing and obstacle courses. This week the children have also taken part in a sponsored walk, raising money for new resources for our FS1 garden. Here are some of the activities that the children have enjoyed this half term.
The children have been working on their balancing skills this week with Cosmic Yoga. They have shown fantastic listening skills and have tried their best at copying the movements. Please see the clip below if you would like to join in at home. There are lots of different stories to enjoy.
Cosmic Yoga
Manipulating dough
The children take part in lots of different activities across the week that all involve dough. We start our morning sessions with 5 minutes of dough disco and then also have challenges in the dough provision area. This week the children have been making their own bears, starting with rolling the dough into a sphere and then adding the different facial features.
Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED)
Class Responsibilities
We are wanting to give the children more responsibilities in class and we have therefore given some of the children a little job to do everyday. These will be rotated regularly to allow every child in class the opportunity to be responsible for a specific job.
Keeping Healthy- Dentist visit
We welcomed Mr Auld into EYFS today. He told us all about how to keep our teeth clean, such as through brushing them for 2 minutes every morning and evening and letting parents help us to reach the tricky spaces at the back. The children discussed healthy food and discovered that if sweets or chocolate are eaten, it is best to have them with a meal. They were advised to visit a dentist every 3-6months. They then had lots of fun keeping the false teeth clean!
Good touch, Bad touch
During our circle time today, we discussed the difference between good touch and bad touch. The children were introduced to a range of scenarios such as what they could do if somebody had a toy that they wanted. They agreed that the best action was to use their words to ask for it and not to take it or hurt the child that had it. That we should never use our hands to hurt. Lennon “Say please.” Charlie D “Ask.” Aliza “Use your words.”
We then discussed good touch such as giving a friend a hug or holding their parents hand.
The children were given different scenarios and were asked to stand up if they thought it was a good touch and sit down if they thought it was a bad touch. Here are some of the scenarios we discussed.
Holding a friends hand.
Holding a strangers hand.
Giving a parent a hug.
Pushing another child out of the way whilst lining up.
Anti-bullying week
We have had a great time celebrating anti-bullying week. We started by wearing odd socks on the Monday, showing that it is good to stand out. We talked about how God has made us all different and that we are proud of this. The children discussed the class and school rules and how we can be kind and caring to show our love to God and the people around us.
Ettie “When people fall over, we could hold their hands when they get sad.”
Harriet “Give a kiss.”
Luana “A cuddle.”
Myla “Play with Mum and Dad and then share.”
Greta “Play with my sister and play mums and dads. Matilda will be the mummy and then we swap.”
Hugo “Don’t break toys.”
Healthy choices
We have been learning all about germs in Foundation 1. We discussed that germs are so small that we cannot see them, unless we use something like a microscope. We then pretended that paint was germs and demonstrated how easy it was to spread the germs onto surfaces and onto one another.
When trying to wash the paint off, we realised that water did not work and that the only way we could get rid of it from our hands was to rub in soap and then wash it off with water. The children all then washed the paint off their own hands. They knew if they had not washed them properly as they still had red hands!
Lennon “When we go to the toilet, when we flush the toilet, we wash our hands.”
Myla-Grace “We wash our hands in the sink, use soap before we wash our hands.”
Rosie “When we touch the toilet seat.”
Lennon “When we cough, we put our hand over our mouth and that catches the germs. We wash our hands.”
Ettie “When you go for lunch.”
Aoife “When you touch your shoes, you wash your hands.”
Expressive Arts and Design
African homes
The children have been busy working on their scissor skills and learning about different sticking methods whilst creating their own houses. They talked about materials such as wood and mud, which poorer African families might use to build their homes from and used different coloured brown materials to represent these.
Making a bed for Goldilocks
The children were challenged to make Goldilocks her own bed using the wooden blocks and to find her something to use as a blanket. Her blanket had to feel soft and comfortable. Here are some of their creations.
Understanding the World
Making Porridge
We have been pretending to be the Three Bears by making porridge and then we have been pretending to be Goldilocks by eating the porridge – it was just right! We all had a go at carefully pouring either milk or oats into the bowl and then we took turns to stir, stir, stir it up! Then we put it in the microwave for 3 minutes and 3 is also our number of the week! We then stirred a little bit more and then we tasted our delicious porridge. We all loved it and asked for more!
Some comments from the children included…
Aliza – “Can I have some more?”
Myla-Grace “I haven’t had porridge before, it’s yummy!”
Lennon “That was super nice!”
Sophie “I ate 2, yes 1, 2, bowls – I really like porridge.”
Martin “More porridge please!”
Ava “It’s so tasty!”
Elizabeth “Delicious – yummy!”
During our topic on Goldilocks and the three bears, we had a special visitor leave food hidden around the classroom and a note to say that it was for our teddy bears picnic. We think it might have been Goldilocks or the bears! The children loved using the ingredients to make their own bear shaped jam sandwiches. There were pom-bear crisps and barny soft bakes too!
Road Safety Awareness
We had a fantastic road safety workshop today with Amber. The children were able to identify some of the vehicles that may be seen on a road and learned some important safety measures. They started by identifying where the road, pavement and kerb were on Ambers picture. The children then thought about what might be seen on a road.
Amelia “Cars.”
Aoife “Bus.”
Harriet “Motorhome.”
Charlie D “Police car.”
Sophie “Motorbike.”
We also discussed the following important messages-
- The importance of wearing a seatbelt.
- The importance of sitting in a child car seat.
- To always walk on the pavement.
- To always hold a grown ups hand.
- To hold the push chair if the grown up is pushing that.
- To wear bright clothing so that drivers see you.
- To cross the road at a crossing or where there is a school crossing patrol.
We also learned a new song-
Let’s all do the seat belt, click.
Let’s all do the seat belt, click.
Let’s all do the seat belt, click.
We are going for a drive.
The children then created their own roads with pavements and zebra crossings.
Police Visit
Today we had a special visitor, Acting Inspector Robinson. The children tried to guess his occupation to start with.
Lennon “Firefighter because he has hair.”
Sophie “Policeman because he has a blue t-shirt.”
We discovered that he is a Police Officer by looking at the hats that he had in his bag. Acting Inspector Robinson then told us all about how the police keep people safe and some of the different things that they do, such as helping if there is a car accident. The children discussed how the police can be approached if they get lost and how they would help.
We looked more closely at the police hats, jackets and handcuffs and learned the importance of forgiveness, as we forgive those who have left prison and will try their best to be kind.
The children then spent the afternoon taking on the role of police officers.
Thank you Acting Inspector Robinson, we really enjoyed your visit.
Africa
We have had a fantastic time learning all about Africa through our story Fatou, fetch the water. The children have found Africa on a map, compared the animals to those we find in England and compared skin colour, clothing and housing too. We have created our own well in the FS1 garden and worked together to pull out some water. The children tried to carry the water on their head just like Fatou did! Back in the classroom, we made a small well out of Lego too. The children discovered that there are places in the world where water is not readily available from a tap.
We also tried some spicy rice, that was mentioned in our key text and the children really enjoyed it.
Orla “It tasted like beany rice.”
Harriet “It tasted onions.”
Charlie D “Hard.”
Ettie “It tastes like it has rice in it. It tastes splendid!”
Planting herbs
This week, the children enjoyed planting herbs which will go into our FS1 garden. They discussed what the roots were for and that we need to water them to help them to grow.
Indian Drums
It was a delight to take the FS1 children to watch the Year 5 children playing Indian drums this week. They all sat beautifully, listening carefully to the different beats and sounds of the drums. Thank you to Year 5 for allowing us to be your first audience, we had a great time.
Charlie D “It was so loud when they were using two sticks.”
Rosie “There were little sticks and big sticks.”
Lennon “It wasn’t the same as our drums. The drums were loud because they used sticks.”
