Autumn delights

CHANGING SEASONS


The children have taken time to enjoy the treasures that come with Autumn. We are blessed with many trees in our outdoor environment and masses of leaves have been falling!

There has been lots of fun with burying wellies in the leaves as well enjoying the wonderful rustling and crunching sounds as the children have jumped on and trodden in them.

The horse chestnut tree has been supplying us with seemingly endless conkers too! We had to dodge a few that fell while we were under the tree!

 

Going on a conker hunt was very exciting!

"Come and look! It's a tiny conker!"..."My bucket's nearly full"..."I've got more than you"...

Next the children arranged their collections on the ground. With support they counted how many they had and we talked about how long some of the lines were.

Back indoors the arranging and counting continued.

INVESTIGATING

This young lady spent a great deal of time in the fruit and veg shop studying what happened to the balances and dial scales when she added or took away items. 

Following the children's interest in sound making last week, the introduction of a keyboard was very popular. The children worked out how to change the sounds by pressing certain buttons and they also discovered the preset tunes - resulting in "Jingle Bells" being heard throughout the room!

There has been some super story telling this week, and it has been pleasing to see children sharing and enjoying stories together, maintaining their focus for long periods of time.

Another great week of fun and learning!

Play is such a powerful way to learn

GET YOUR FRUIT AND VEG HERE!

Our little shop has helped some of our newer children begin to build relationships as they have played at being shop keeper and customer

 The children have found the balances intriguing and have spent a long time observing what happens and trying things out.

 "All of the food has gone. I'll ring up for a delivery!"

 Naming the different fruit and vegetables as well as feeling their textures has prompted the children to talk about which ones they like to eat at home, as well as other foods.

 Anytime is a good time to practise some counting!

LET'S MAKE SOME SOUNDS!

 Enjoying moving, dancing and singing with friends!

ON THE GO ALL OF THE TIME!

 Exploring colour mixing.

 Printing with and talking about shapes and colour.

 "These apples are very slippery!"

 And, of course, we can't forget a few early visits by Santa this week, 

with a very heavy case of presents!

The fun and learning continues...

ENGAGING IN LOTS OF MARK MAKING

One of the focus areas was mark making this week and it was very pleasing to see children showing interest and maintaining their concentration with these activities.

Mark making doesn't need to be permanent - salt in a shallow tray proved to be popular every day.

A great deal of mark making took place on vertical surfaces which also helps to strengthen arm muscles.

This little superstar had a go at copying, instead of tracing, letters from her name. She looked looked closely at her name card and wrote recognizable letter shapes 

for the first time!

PLAYING AND WORKING TOGETHER

The children are only into their second week this term and are still getting to know each other, but there have been many times when I have seen children initiating play with others and building relationships. 

There have been some great conversations where children have had the confidence to speak and have listened and responded to each other.

ENJOYING THE WEATHER, HAVING A GO

GROWING AS WE MEAN TO GO ON

We love growing flowers, fruit and vegetables over the year. We enjoyed a lovely strawberry harvest in the Summer from our huge and very hardy plants.

Numerous runners had grown and so each child has gone home this week with their own little strawberry plant to care for and hopefully have their own harvest next year.

Next week... 

The children will having their own fruit and vegetable shop in the classroom, complete with till and real pennies, of course! Happy buying!