Infants embrace autumn
Nursery, Reception and Year One children have been finding out about the changes that autumn brings by taking part in a range of fun activities.
Nursery
Our youngest girls and boys explored their local surroundings as they embarked on look, listen and talk trips.
On a walk that left the school grounds, pupils immediately noticed signs of nature as they picked up acorns, pointed out holly and berries and lifted leaves. They found out that leaves and sticks come in different sizes and shapes and that some leaves change their colour.
The children used the sticks, leaves, pinecones and conkers they had collected to make collages and to paint and print with to create some ‘big art’. They also exercised their arm muscles by rolling conkers in paint.
Lucy J had lots of fun exploring the colours and textures. As she painted she said: “It’s changing! I made some brown…look, yellow changed to brown and I saw it change to brown. It is my masterpiece!”
The boys and girls also learnt more about hedgehogs. Wilson M found out that hedgehogs build nests because “they need to stay warm in the winter…in the winter it is freezing and our winter is dark.” In the classroom they helped Hattie the hedgehog make a warm nest for the winter, ‘fed’ the squirrels in the Maths area and sorted an autumn basket.
The creative pupils then made playdough hedgehogs and kept their eye on their outdoor classroom where they loved watching a little squirrel collect conkers and then bury them in the grass!
Finally, the boys and girls enjoyed lots of Autumn stories, including ‘We’re Going on a Leaf Hunt’, ‘Hedgehogs’ and ‘The Lost Acorns’ – as well as learning an action rhyme, ‘The Nut Tree’.
Reception
Reception children headed to a shop in Davenport where they bought ingredients for fruit kebabs, spoke to the shopkeeper and helped count out the correct amount of money to pay.
On the walk, the pupils learned how to cross roads safely and searched for colourful leaves in the park – which they then took back to school to make autumnal pictures.
The trip was designed to aid their personal, social and emotional development and their understanding of the world around them.
Year One
Pupils in Year One enjoyed studying ‘Leaf Man’ by Caldecott Honor–winning author and illustrator Lois Ehlert.
The book follows the journey of a man made of leaves who goes where the wind blows – be this over the marsh or above the orchards and prairie meadows.
The children used leaves to make leaf rubbings using autumnal colours and were impressed as they watched an image appear!
