Blog 22nd October

Another amazing, Autumnal week in Apple class! A very busy one but enjoyable! The children have been very tired towards the end of the week and are definitely ready for a restful week off. Whatever you're up to, stay safe, have fun and make some unforgettable memories!

 

Just a quick reminder: this week we've had a real issue with lost jumpers, hats and shoes. The problems have occurred when they haven't been named. We have many children in apple class and lots of them do have the same shoes - and even in the same size! Please over the holidays could you write your child's name in all clothing and shoes! (Thank you again and apologies if this doesn't apply to you!)

 

 Our key vocab this week has been: season, Autumn, changes, pine cones, conkers, acorns. 

 

This week we have continued our Autumn learning and have focused our week around the story Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert (if you'd like to listen to the story follow this link https://youtu.be/bqW-j3WV6g8 ). This is a super story about a Leaf Man that is blown away by the wind. He travels over meadows, mountains, rivers and past lots of leaf animals. Can you remember any animals that he passes? We read the story everyday and practiced recalling key phrases. For example, "a leaf mans got to go where the wind blows". The children really enjoyed joining in!

 

Afterwards, the children had a go at creating their own leaf characters. Some of us made leaf men, ladies and some of us made leaf animals. We thought carefully about what they should look like and what type of leaf or Autumn treasure we would need. See the picture below of our fabulous Leaf Man display!

 

In our mathematical work, we continued with our leaf theme. The children were very excited to play my Autumn tree game! The children had to roll the dice and take away the correct amount of leaves from the tree. Whoever had the most leaves left at the end was the winner. As you can imagine, we had lots of competitive children! This game involves lots of important mathematical skills- rote counting (counting in order), counting out set amounts, counting objects 1.1 and subitizing (recognising the amount of spots on the dice without counting them). Lots of children were able to rote count but they struggled to subitize and count1.1 (counting how many leaves they had at the end). We will continue to practice these skills as the year progresses. As well as maths skills, this game allowed the children to practice their attention and concentration, turn taking and listening skills. If you'd like to have a go at home, all you need to do is draw a tree, make leaves to stick on and a dice. I would love to see some pictures on your journals of you playing at home with your family.

 

In our outdoor learning, this week we had a look at different coloured leaves. The children had to match the leaves to the correct colours on their worksheet. We really enjoyed this activity.

 

In other learning around the classroom, the children have been busy practicing their pencil grip whilst colouring Autumn pictures, weaving ribbon through cooling racks to develop their fine motor skills and developing their scissors skills to cut out leaves to make Autumn pictures.

 

We've really enjoyed our exploration in our tuff tray this week. We turned our 'Autumn themed' tuff tray into our 'Autumn cooking station.' The children have thoroughly enjoyed creating new delicious treats, using all our autumn treasures and utensils (pots, pans etc.) We've had things like coconut conker cupcakes to pine cone pastries! I wonder if an 'Autumn cooking station' could open up in your house/garden over the holiday? 

 

We really do hope that you all have a fun and happy half term week. We will see you all with smiling faces back in Apple Class on Monday 1st November.

 

Miss Whitlow, Mrs Grimes and the team