Autumn 2 week 2

Expressive arts and design – Poppy art 

The children explored poppies through a variety of creative activities. They began by painting red poppies, using photographs of real flowers for inspiration to create their own unique designs. Then, they experimented with poppy printing — using halved apples to stamp poppy shapes and explore different patterns and textures.

Understanding the world – Remembrance Day

Our teacher showed the children a special item from her box – a poppy. We talked about if anyone had seen one before and what it is for.

We then listened to the story Where the Poppies Now Grow and watched the video Poppies, which shows how animals experienced the Great War. We discussed why people wear poppies on Remembrance Day, learning that in November poppies are worn to remember the soldiers who lost their lives in the war. 

Understanding the world – Messy poppy play

The children created their own “poppy field” using mud, artificial poppies, shovels and plant pots. They enjoyed digging, filling and planting.

Autumn 2 week 1

Understanding the world – Exploring light and colour

The children explored a colour-changing light box. They experimented with how different materials and colours interacted with the light, observing changes and making predictions.

Understanding the world – Why are Diva’s lit during a Diwali celebration?

Throughout the week, the children explored Diwali through books and video clips, discovering how people prepare for and celebrate this festival. They explored items and photographs associated with Diwali, such as diva lamps, candles, patterned fabrics, saris, Mehndi designs, and Rangoli patterns.

We shared the story of Rama and Sita to help the children understand why diva lamps are lit during Diwali. The children discussed the emotions the characters might have felt and reflected on how the lights in the story symbolise hope, happiness, and the triumph of good over evil. Using pictures and puppets, they considered who was ‘good’ and who was ‘bad.’

Mastering numbers – counting, cardinality, ordinality 

This week, we explored counting and finding out “how many” objects there are. The children practised counting carefully and learnt that the last number they say tells them how many things are in the set. We also enjoyed counting while moving around or tagging objects, which helped us understand the order of numbers and practise our counting skills in a fun way.

Autumn 1 week 7

Understanding the world – Fun in the forest

We’ve really enjoyed exploring our forest area. The children were curious and confident as they investigated the natural world around them. 

Literacy – Exploring books and sounds 

We’ve really enjoyed exploring our reading area! The children loved sharing books together, looking at pictures and talking about what they could see. They’ve also been busy recognising and sharing the graphemes they have learnt. 

Understanding the world – Squish, scoop and explore!

The children used all their senses to explore the jelly bath! They were fascinated by its colours, wobbly texture, and cool, squishy feel. They used their hands to squish and scoop. They enjoyed watching it move and jiggle.

Expressive arts and design – Cut, stick, create 

The children explored a range of creative tools, including scissors, glue sticks, hole punches, and cello tape. They were encouraged to use them independently, building confidence and developing their fine motor skills through cutting, sticking, and joining materials.

Understanding the world – Growing and changing

The children explored the concept of growing and changing over time. Using small world people, they arranged figures from youngest to oldest — baby, child, teenager, adult, and elderly — and used a timeline mat to support their understanding of life stages.

We looked at images and books showing people at different ages and had lovely discussions about how our bodies and abilities change as we grow. The children especially enjoyed looking at their own baby photos and thinking about how they have changed since then, from learning to walk and talk to becoming more independent.

Fine motor development –Twist and turn

We've been developing our hand-eye coordination, concentration and finger strength. We've been using our fingers and hands carefully to twist and turn.

Autumn 1 week 6

Literacy – Putting the story together

Our ‘Finding a Friend’ story map was cut into sections. We worked together to put the sections back in the right order and used them to retell the story.

Fine motor skills – Tweezers at work

We used tweezers to pick up small objects and place them into pots. 

Expressive arts and design – Our little builders

Children developed their problem-solving and teamwork skills while building structures using blocks and other materials. They experimented with balance, shape and size. 

Autumn 1 week 5

Personal, emotional and social development – Our feelings 

This week, we explored the idea that our feelings can change throughout the day and that we don’t always feel the same. We linked our discussions to the Zones of Regulation, focusing on the green zone, which represents feeling happy.

The children explored green-themed items and emotion cards. We also used mirrors, loose parts, and cork boards to create different emotion faces, helping children to recognise and express how they’re feeling.

We shared books about emotions and used these activities to support emotional awareness and language, encouraging children to talk about their feelings and understand that all emotions are okay.

Mastering number – Subitising 

When exploring shapes made by Numberblock Four, children began to develop conceptual subitising, noticing subgroups within 4 (for example, 2 and 2 or 3 and 1). We then used this understanding to create our own patterns of 4.

Understanding the World -Magic potions!

The children had fun making scented potions by adding different fragrant ingredients to water. They enjoyed smelling each potion and describing the scents.

Autumn 1 week 4 

Understanding the World – Our first forest trip

We had an amazing time exploring the forest! We enjoyed making creations in the mud kitchen, digging and playing in the dens. We balanced carefully as we walked along the rope and the tyre swing was a big favourite too! It was a fun afternoon of team work and adventure. 

Expressive arts and design -busy builders

We've been exploring a wide range of resources to build our own models, indoors and outdoors. We have been developing our creativity and problem-solving skills, as well as our physical skills when handling different materials. 

Understanding the World -Tinned Food Sensory Exploration

The children explored tinned foods using different sized spoons, scoops, and bowls. They enjoyed the sensory experience of feeling and moving the different textures.

Understanding the world – Which people are special and why?

We displayed the children's family photos in the classroom and invited them to talk about the people who are special to them and why. This sparked lots of meaningful conversations, helping the children build confidence in speaking and deepening their understanding of what makes their families special. To support this, we provided small world people of different ages and family roles, along with a small house model and books about families and special people. 

Expressive arts and design – family portraits 

The children enjoyed drawing portraits of themselves and their special people, proudly sharing who was in their family. We also created junk model houses, using a range of materials. While building, the children talked about their own homes and who lives there.

Autumn 1 week 3

Mastering number – Subitising 

The children were encouraged to recognise small groups of objects by subitising — being able to just see how many there are without needing to count each one. Through games and hands-on activities, they developed their number sense and built confidence with quantities in a fun and natural way.

Literacy – Foamy fun and mark making 

The children had a fantastic time exploring shaving foam this week! They enjoyed the soft, fluffy texture as they squished, spread, and made patterns with it. Using their hands and fingers, they practised mark-making and sensory play.

Physical development – Knife and fork adventures 

In the playdough area, we've been practising our knife and fork skills, learning how to cut with care. We then put these skills into action by spreading butter on our toast! We explored our sense of taste. We really enjoyed eating our toast after. 

Understanding the world – Exploring our bodies and senses

The children explored different parts of the body using images, models and books. They enjoyed discovering what each part does and where it is, helping them understand more about themselves in a hands-on way.

We also explored our sense of hearing. The children enjoyed playing a listening game where they matched everyday sounds from a CD to the photographs on their lotto boards.

Expressive arts and design – Exploring sound

The children had fun creating junk model instruments like yoghurt pot shakers and kitchen roll rain sticks to explore different sounds. We played a variety of music pieces and invited the children to express what they heard using paper, pens and paint. They made lots of creative lines and marks, showing how the music made them feel through their art.

Expressive arts and design – Little doctors at work

The children have been exploring a doctor’s role-play area! They loved setting up a doctor’s surgery with plenty of bandages and medical equipment. They took on the roles of doctors and patients, explaining which parts of their bodies were “injured” and how to care for them.

Autumn 1 week 2

Expressive arts and design – Small world adventures 

The children have been enjoying our small world play, with people and a house. They have been using their imagination to create stories, acting out family life and daily routines.

Understanding the world – Chatterboxes 

We encouraged families to support their children in creating a simple ‘All About Me’ chatterbox at home, filled with photos, drawings, or special objects. The children then brought their chatterboxes to school and enjoyed sharing what makes them special.

With a little help from adults when needed, the children talked confidently about their interests, experiences, and the things that make them unique. It’s been wonderful to celebrate everyone’s individuality together!

Expressive arts and design – Our wonderful faces

We enjoyed some fun creative activities this week! The children drew themselves looking in a mirror, practising careful observation.

Expressive arts and design – Colour detectives

The children enjoyed using colour cards and loose parts to explore sorting by colour, shape, and size. They worked carefully to sort the items, building their observation and categorising skills in a fun, hands-on way.

Autumn 1 week 1

Personal, social and emotional development – Our school adventure begins!

This week we started school!

We’ve been getting to know each other while exploring our new classroom and discovering all the exciting areas and resources available to us. We’ve enjoyed trying out a variety of new activities and spending time both inside and outside, getting to know our new environment.

We’ve also been practising important skills like taking turns and listening carefully. We’re building our independence by putting away our bags, coats, water bottles, and lunch boxes.

It’s been a great start to our learning journey together!