Autumn 1 Learning

When we start at Barrow Hedges Primary School, it's so exciting as there is so much to learn! We read the story 'Don't Eat the Teacher!' which helps us to understand and follow our class rules.

This theme helps us to learn about our class rules and to be school ready! We learn to listen, walk indoors, use a quiet voice, share, be kind and to look after our toys so we can all feel happy and safe at school. 

We listen to the story carefully and discover that the sea creatures forget the school rules. We need to learn the rules to show them what to do! 

We learn that we must listen to the teacher. In the story, Sammy Shark forgot the rule his mummy told him. She said, "Don't eat the teacher!" Sammy didn't listen and gobbled the teacher right up!

We teach Sammy Shark to be good at listening.

We learn that we must walk in school. In the story, Sharon Shrimp ran around so fast she fell over and bumped her head. We teach Sharon Shrimp to be good at walking indoors.

We learn that we must use a quiet voice. In the story Howling Haddock howled loudly. The noise hurts our ears! We teach Howling Haddock to use an indoor voice.

We learn that we must share and take turns. In the story, Larry Lobster used his 'pinchy' claws to snatch a paint brush. We teach Larry Lobster to share.

We learn that we must be kind. Jimmy Jellyfish pushed and shoved and hurt his friend!  Oh dear! We teach Jimmy Jellyfish to use kind 'hands'. 

We learn that we must look after our toys and use one toy at a time. Colin Cod threw a toy and hurt Sharon Shrimp in the story. Oh dear! We teach Colin Cod to look after our toys.

Now we know to listen, walk, use a quiet voice, share, be kind and to look after our toys!

We're going on a pirate hunt! In our new learning, the children are so thrilled to be learning all about pirates.

For Pirates Ahoy! we learn to play cooperatively in a group, tell stories and to ask and answer questions. 

On the first day of our new themed learning, we find some muddy footprints and clues as to who might have left them there! We discuss and share our ideas with the rest of the class.

There is a spade; could it be a builder with dirty boots? Could it be a gardener? We also find some treasure which we use to bury things. Finally, we find a map and decide that a map helps us to find our way. We ask lots of questions: Who left the clues behind? Where did they come from? Why did they leave the spade, map and treasure at our school?  What should we do with them?

After lots of discussion, we decide that Pirates might have been to school and that the 'muddy' footprints are actually from Pirate Pete!

We then embark upon a pirate hunt to find that pesky pirate! We learn the story 'We're Going on a Pirate Hunt' using actions to help us remember the story.

We learn to retell the story of 'Going on a Pirate Hunt' using story language and our own words to talk about what happens.

We enjoy making up our own pirate stories in play; outside in the 'Role-Play' area, in the Construction area after building a big pirate ship and in our Small World area. We have so much fun telling our friends and teachers our pirate stories. We never do find that pesky pirate though! 

We can now ask and answer questions and tell stories with our friends, playing cooperatively in a group. 

During our themed learning 'Where Does Our Food Come From?' we start to notice the changes to the season. It starts to get colder outside and the leaves begin to fall from the trees. Lots of children begin to collect autumn treasure and we explore the seasonal changes.

We are learning to notice and talk about change and growth in our environment.

We venture out on an autumn walk and find lots of autumn treasure.

We share our ideas of the changes that happen in Autumn.

Children with older siblings are always excited to bring donations to our Harvest Festival. This raises the question 'Where does our food come from?'

We found out that some fruit and vegetables are harvested in the Autumn time. It is so exciting to learn about combine harvesters and other machines which are used on farms during harvest time. 

Watch this video to find out more about machines used during harvest https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=475FcEdBrzg 

We read the story of 'Clifford the Big Red Dog's First Autumn'. Clifford has lots of fun at the park chasing leaves. He notices the changes at the Grocery shop as Autumn comes. 

Clifford The Big Red Dog leaves us a special package from the Greengrocer. We find out that there are lots of fruit and vegetables. Where do they come from? When are they ready to be harvested?

We learn that fruit and vegetables come from seeds and learn that seeds need soil, sunshine and water to grow. 

Some vegetables grow under ground like carrots and potatoes. We plant carrot seeds and look after them until they start to grow. We notice the changes that occur over time.

It is fascinating to see how tiny the seeds are.

Some fruit grow on trees like apples whereas others grow on plants above the ground like blackberries, pumpkins and butternut squash.

We read Oliver's Vegetables and lots of other stories about growing our own food. 

You could read this book at home too!

Because we are so interested in finding out more about where food comes from we listen to the story of 'The Little Red Hen'. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTCsL26vob4&vl=en

The Little Red Hen makes bread from flour. Flour comes from wheat. We sequence the story and use our words to talk about the events. We watch a video on how we make bread too! We learn about the stages of making bread and how. Now we know what bread is made from!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISirmom0C-E 

Here are some children talking about how they made bread. Maybe you could try and make some bread at home. What changes can you see as you add the different ingredients? 

Oliver made Milkshakes. We learn that milk can come from a cow.

Have fun sharing this book at home! 

We find out how cows are milked. 

We finish our learning by matching the food to where they come from. 

Now we know about the changes that happen in Autumn. We know that some fruit and vegetables are harvested in Autumn. We know where fruit, vegetables, wheat and milk come from.