Hello from Lilac and Willow. We wanted to start with a very big THANK YOU for all of your continued support this half term. It was lovely to catch up with you all for Parents Evening. The children have been incredibly busy and have worked so hard over the last 2 months. We are so proud of how well the children have settled into life at Samuel Lucas and all of the fantastic learning they have demonstrated during their first half term in school. We have had lots of fun and hope your children have too!
This week
The children learnt about the different signs for Autumn including changes in the weather, differences in the trees and plants in the environment compared to Summer, any wildlife that is more commonly seen during Autumn and the various festivals and celebrations that take place during Autumn. The children began the week by going on a walk around the school. As part of the walk, the children were taught about the 5 senses the body has to help understand the world around us. The children were very observant and were able to explain all about the things they could see, smell, touch and hear.
The next day, the children had to recall what they found on their Autumn walk. We then shared a poem called ‘Autumn Leaves’ with the children. In the poem, the children were introduced to adjectives which are words that help to describe an object and give the reader more detail. The children enjoyed hearing all of the different words chosen to describe leaves. They then had an opportunity to use their senses again but this time to explore the various leaves collected from our Autumn walk in order to choose their own adjectives to describe their leaves. We then used these to create class poems. In preparation for our Harvest Festival on Friday we spent the rest of the week finding out what harvest is, why it is an important festival that people may celebrate and what people do as part of the celebrations. A Harvest festival is a celebration of the food that is grown on the land. In Britain, Harvest festivals are often celebrated in churches and schools. Often food is collected to share with others who are less fortunate.
We also looked at how Harvest has changed over time and in the past, it was not as easy to find food in the winter. The farmers had to bring in crops from the fields before the cold weather arrived. Now, we can get food from many different countries around the world. This means that we can buy lots of different fruits and vegetables all year long. We also discovered that farmers use machines to harvest some of their crops. As the machines are big and able to collect the grains, fruits or vegetables very quickly. Although the children cleverly worked out that some fruits and vegetables might get squashed by a machine so they need to be carefully picked by hand.
The children then learnt about how Christians celebrate Harvest in a special place of worship called a church. Our busy week came to a conclusion with our Harvest Festival, where we all came together to celebrate. We enjoyed listening to the story ‘The Enormous Turnip’ in which the farmer tried to harvest a turnip but due to its size, it would not budge. As the story continues, the farmer calls upon others to help him harvest the turnip.
The children enjoyed watching a short film about a boy called James who lived on a farm. In the film, we heard about how James was celebrating his first Harvest Festival with his family. The Reception Harvest Festival was rounded off with the children singing two songs they’ve been learning all week – ‘Oats and beans and barley grow’ and ‘Dingle Dangle Scarecrow’. It was a fitting end to a great week’s learning and busy half term – well done everyone!
Next half term
- We will be learning all about Fireworks and Festivals.
- The children will be visiting the Library in small groups as part of our weekly local trips.
- In Phonics, we will continue learning new sounds in Phase 2 as well as applying what we have already learnt to continue blending for reading and writing.
- In Maths, children will be learning to identify representations of 1, 2 and 3, compare numbers 1, 2 and 3 by counting more and less and be introduced to the idea that all numbers are made up of smaller numbers and learn about the composition of 1, 2 and 3.
- We will begin preparations for our Reception Nativity called “Whoops-a-Daisy Angel”
Supporting your child at home
- Before using junk materials for modelling, ask your child to design their model first and talk with them about their model, e.g.
- Can you tell me about your drawing?
- Why have you chosen to….?
- What material will you use for the….?
- Are you going to use…. or…. to join your materials?
- Look for things around your house that begin with s, a, t, p, i, n, m, d or g and encourage your child to say the sound.
- Encourage your child to help you with shopping or making a simple recipe by counting and collecting objects using the 1:1 principle e.g. Can you get 2 apples? Can you put 2 spoons of cocoa into the bowl?
Any other information
- TAPESTRY – We would love to see what you’ve been up to over half term. If you get chance to please upload a tapestry observation.
- MONSTER PHONICS FOLDERS – Please could you ensure that your child’s Monster Phonics Folder is in school every Friday so that we can add the new Monster Phonics sheet each week.
We hope you have a lovely half term break.
Mrs Fisher and Mr French
Willow and Lilac Class Teachers
