This week in Foundation Stage we have been learning about Autumn. Over the half-term break children collected Autumn treasure and we have used these lovely resources to further enrich our learning. Children have used the Autumn coloured leaves to sponge print using Autumn coloured paints. We have practised our cutting using scissors to cut leaves and small twigs. We used large tweezers to collect conkers from beneath the spider web, honing those important fine-motor skills. We held conker races using the large marble run and positioned conkers on ‘5-frames’ to support our mathematical understanding. Children used small sticks from the Autumn treasure to push into playdough to create pumpkins, scarecrows and hedgehogs. We used magnifying glasses to closely examine and discuss some of the Autumn treasure children had collected and used toy diggers to explore the black rice and orange lentils in a ‘tuff tray’. All of these learning experiences were further contextualised using the beautiful Story Orchestra book, Four Seasons in One Day, by Jessica Courtney-Tickle. Each page of the story is accompanied by short passages of Vivaldi’s famous The Four Seasons. We explore the story, the music, and the picture it helps paint in our minds. By far the most popular activity this week was the enormous pumpkin! Children used mini hammers to knock one hundred golf tees into the pumpkin. They then help each other to remove them before starting over again. The size and shape of the tees along with the larger movements with the hammer are perfect for developing the muscles needed for holding a pencil and improving handwriting.

Thank you for helping to collect our Autumn treasure and for your continued support.