Castle Room News

The Fortnight Focus of Learning is the area of Understanding the World. We will look at the signs that autumn is here and that our environment is changing with the seasons. We will provide experiences, activities and investigations that enable our children to view the changes that are happening around them. We will use technology in the form of cameras and iPads that allow the children to capture the changes they can see and document them to review as we head further into Autumn. We will introduce new vocabulary around the seasonal changes and how we describe the weather and model key discussions about the seasonal changes.

Alongside this, we will have a focus on mathematics as we tease out the prior knowledge of the children and introduce new ideas and language.

In the Outdoor Area we will be following our group time focus of the poem 'Autumn is Here' using the language from the first stanza as we explore the colours and movement of leaves in autumn. We will start by using large paintbrushes on the perspex to create an autumn scene, using an empty tree as a prompt to consider where the leaves have gone. We will repeat the language of the colours and the 'falling, swirling and drifting down' language of movement as we swirl our fingers through the paint. We will then consider different ways in which we can show this falling motion by creating a leaf mobile, recalling the descriptive language of the autumn leaves and capturing the movement in the wind.

We will also be using technology to photograph and document the different autumn objects around the garden, such as the empty trees and the leaf-covered ground. We will use these images to compare the later appearance of the garden, so we can clearly see the changes of autumn that happen over the late October and early November weeks.

In the Loose Parts Area, we will be creating a pumpkin market, filling the space with pumpkins of different shapes, sizes and appearances. We will include different boxes and bags for the children to explore filling, as we encourage the children to compare the differences within the pumpkins and the reasoning for the way they pack them into the different boxes and bags, considering how we need to fill the spaces and if we can squeeze more in.

We will be taking part in an ongoing experiment as we observe the changes within a carved and whole pumpkin. We will be tracking the rate of rot and looking for the signs that the pumpkins are breaking down in the damp weather. We will use technology to track the different stages of decomposition, looking out for changes in shape, firmness, smell and appearance.

In the Snack Area, we will experience using pumpkins to create a warming pumpkin soup. We will follow Unplugged Programming Cards as we prepare the ingredients. We will recall the experiences we may have had with carving pumpkins to talk about what is inside the pumpkins and recall the celebrations.

Over the half-term, some of our children may celebrate Halloween, Diwali and Bonfire Night. We will prepare displays and talking points throughout the room to encourage the children to be able to recall their experiences to share with their friends. We would love families to share their festivities on Tapestry to provide visual reminders and prompts to support the children in recalling their fun!

Our first Book of the Week will be The Little Red Hen, the story of a hard working hen who wants to make some bread from scratch, from sowing the wheat seeds to baking the bread. When she asks who will help her, she always gets the same answer, 'Not I!' What will happen when she finishes her delicious bread. Our signs for this story are hen, no, help, bread and myself. The first Song of the Week is Dingle Dangle Scarecrow, a fun song that gets you jumping up and dancing around. Here is the Mr Tumble Song with the Makaton Signs. https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/watch/dingle-dangle-scarecrow 

The second Book of the Week will be Leafman, a wonderful story about the life of an autumn leaf. Where will it go? Only the wind knows. The signs for this story are; leaf, goes, wind and where.
Our second Song of the Week is Five Little Pumpkins, a short counting rhyme about five pumpkins on an autumn evening. The signs for this song are Pumpkin, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and roll.