Reception- Autumn term 1
Topic- All about me!
Learning all about ourselves and the season Autumn
Our core books this term focused within drawing club
The colour monster
A great story introducing children to different emotions. The story begins with a young girl narrating the story, by introducing her friend the colour monster. He's feeling all mixed up and confused, and the girl begins a mission to help her friend recognise and separate his feelings by assigning them to colours.
How it can support learning: learning different emotion names, learn how to recognise and separate emotions, discussions about feelings, actions that may cause these and strategies to use to support feelings etc.
Possible themes within the story: Anger, tantrums, kindness, anxiety, sadness, emotions, friendships, fears, loneliness.
Key vocabulary: Happiness, sadness, anger, fear, calm, confused, anxious, feelings, emotions, colours, red, pink, grey, yellow, green, blue.
Not now Bernard
How it can support learning: Not Now, Bernard supports children's learning in reading by encouraging them to explore character emotions, predict outcomes, and develop comprehension skills through its simple text and engaging storyline.
Possible themes within the story: include communication, seeking attention, and the consequences of being ignored.
Key vocabulary: Monster, ignore, attention, parent, garden, hungry, shout, play, scared, danger.
The little red hen
The story of The Little Red Hen is about a hardworking hen who finds a grain of wheat and asks her farmyard friends—a lazy dog, a sleepy cat, and a noisy duck—for help to plant, grow, harvest, and bake it into bread. When they all refuse to assist, she does all the work herself. In the end, she bakes the bread and chooses not to share it with those who didn’t help, teaching the importance of teamwork, responsibility, and effort.
How it can support learning: The Little Red Hen can help children develop an understanding of responsibility, teamwork, and the value of hard work. It encourages discussions about helping others, making fair choices, and understanding consequences. The story also supports early literacy and sequencing skills as children follow the step-by-step process of making bread. Additionally, it introduces concepts of farming, food preparation, and collaboration, helping to build knowledge and social skills in a relatable way.
Possible themes within the story: Includes hard work, responsibility, teamwork, and fairness.
Key vocabulary: Hen, wheat, bread, mill, farmer, plant, grow, harvest, grind, flour, bake, loaf, share, help, lazy.
The start of your child's reading journey...
Reading is a vital skill that supports children's learning across all areas and can help them to make connections within their own experiences and play; this helps develop their understanding of the world they live in. These connections through the use of print and their first hand experiences help create an enthusiasm for reading, providing enjoyment and pleasure in the joy of story telling/being read a story. Exposure to print, stories rhymes, and books from an early age, are all ways to inspire and instil a love of reading in young children.
This term we have started with wordless books, reading a wordless book is a valuable introduction into the world of reading and books; and are a beneficial tool in developing those early literacy skills. A wordless book encourages your child to be a 'co-author' using their imagination to create their own stories using the illustrations provided and offer opportunities for you and your child to engage in more complex conversations and rich vocabulary.
Please find attached underneath some tips on how to share wordless books with your child.
A taster of some of the activities the children have explored..
EAD- Exploring painting techniques through Jackson Pollock painting
in our Expressive Art and Design lessons, we have been focusing on painting this term with one of our sessions focusing on exploring the artwork of Jackson Pollock. We looked at some of his famous pieces, read the book "Splashed Paint and Wasn’t Sorry," and then watched Miss Clarke demonstrate Pollock's unique painting techniques, such as splashing, splatting, dribbling, and flicking. Afterward, we had the chance to create our own pieces of art using these fun and exciting techniques, just like Jackson Pollock!
