Autumn has been at the centre of all activity in reception this week.
In literacy we have looked at fiction and non-fiction books and poems about autumn. You may like to look again at the autumn story entitled ‘In the Autumn’ on: sebastianswan.org.uk/autumn/bkau.html
The children looked at a non-fiction book on how to plant a hyacinth and we planted some in water and some in bulb fibre. The children then tried to complete a pictorial recall of the activity. We will be watching the hyacinths over the next few months. We planted different types of daffodil bulbs outside so we will be looking out for them growing in the spring.
We have been on a walk to look for and collect signs of autumn and the children have been using the magnifying glasses to look carefully at seeds and leaves.
We learnt about the geese and the swallows migrating and looked at the long journey that they have to make every autumn. The children made hedgehogs that are getting ready to hibernate and did some wool winding by matching wool to the colours they found in the leaves.
We looked at Autumn Leaves, a painting by John Everett Millais and some of the children painted their own pictures with the same title.
In our maths work we have looked at making and repeating a pattern, understanding and using the terminology of capacity: full, nearly full, nearly empty, half full, empty.
Our Autumn activity day was well supported by parents and the children did some orienteering, painting, indoor athletics and speed stacking. The speed stacks are an excellent present to put on lists for Santa as they make the child use both their left and right hand; this in turn uses both sides of the brain.
On Monday we are celebrating National Apple Day. Please don't forget to bring in an apple, in a bag with both the child's name and the type of apple written on the bag.
I am looking forward to meeting you on a more individual basis next week. Please remember that parents evening appointments are only for ten minutes. It is meant to be a quick chat about how your child has settled. If you have anything that you think will take longer to discuss another appointment will need to be made.