All things Autumn

We have been very busy in Elmers learning about Autumn. 

Each of the seasons bring such great learning opportunities for us, as we look around our world at the changes that are happening. We have talked lots about the changing colours, temperature and how things are beginning to look different.

The children have had great fun building their own Autumn trees and creating artwork using the Autumn colours we have spotted. 

We have also been learning about animals that are busy around Autumn time and what Autumn means to them. 

We read the story -'Thats Not My Hedgehog' 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu82zpNng7A

The children were really good at thinking about how to describe the different features using some great new vocabulary. 

We continued with our Hedgehog theme. We made some salt dough and modelled our own Hedgehogs looking at the shape of the body and how to create a similar shape with the dough. We then thought about what we resources we could use for the spikes - we chose matchsticks. 

And look at our fantastic Hedgehog paintings. Can you guess what we used to create the spikes this time?   

The Colour Monster

Starting Nursery or returning after a long break can make our children feel a little nervous and us adults too. In Elmers we want our children to feel, loved, happy, calm and welcome but to also understand any other feeling that might pop up while they are in school. 

For this we seek the help of our classroom colour monster 'Monty'

We have introduce 'Monty' to the children and he joins in our morning circle times every day. They know that he is part of the class and is someone they can call on if they need a friend. 

This week we have ready monty's favourite story - 'The Colour Monster' 

please click the link to listen to the story at home. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6wIEp-M4tg

We have explored our feeling, looking in a mirror, playing guessing games with the teachers and sorting the colours as we sort pom poms and ask the children about the feelings for each colour. 

We are the Elmers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFrD18XLmlM

This week we have been looking at why we are called the Elmers.

The children have enjoyed using their listening skills to listen to the story. We talked about what Elmer looks like and how he is different to his friends. The children noticed that we are all a bit different too.

We have talked about the colours on Elmers body and what a patchwork is. The children were all very keen to share their favourite colours often linking them to their favourite toys and characters. 

We have also started making our own Elmers. The children have been brilliant at following instructions and working independently to create some beautiful Elmer collages. 

Getting to know Walkley Primary

This week we have been thinking about being part of Walkley Primary School. 

We found some pictures in Mrs English's special bag of people who we might meet in our school. We had to walk around school and see if we could find them, say hello, find out their names and what they do. 

We walked carefully and quietly through school. We asked sensible questions and found everyone in the bag. 

This week we have also had a little help from Mr Potato head to help us remember our school rules and why they are important at Walkley. 

The children were brilliant at explaining what each of the rules meant we had to do.

Welcome to Elmers

What a great start to the new school year it has been. 

We have welcomed back some of our older Elmers and This week have had the pleasure of some new friends joining the class. 

The children have al settled well in their routine, separated exceptionally well from their grown ups and have all been ready to get stuck in. 

Here are a few pictures of what we have been getting up to so far. 

The children have enjoyed exploring our new mark making and painting area. 

The children love being in the outdoors. We are so lucky to have a lovely outdoor space to enjoy the last rays of Autumn sunshine. 

Outdoor learning provides us with so many more opportunities to practice a range of different skills like; mark making, turn taking, fine motor, gross motor and of course using our imaginations.

Well done to all the Elmers!

A super first full week.