Our Early Years Curriculum
Autumn Term
🍂 Autumn Term – First Half Highlights 🍂
We had such a wonderful start to our year together! The children have settled in beautifully into our routines and are enjoying an exciting variety of topics, stories, and activities.
We begin with We Are All Different, inspired by The Ugly Duckling. We share stories about our own families and talk about why the people in them are so special to us. The children celebrate what makes each of us unique, and it’s lovely to see their pride in their own stories.
Next, Funny Bones takes us on an adventure into learning about our bodies. We discover fascinating facts about our skeletons, muscles, and the importance of staying fit and healthy. A favourite activity is making our very own skeletons from cotton buds – complete with vital organs – and talking about how amazing our bodies really are.
Our Autumn & Harvest theme brings a delicious fruit-tasting session, where the children explore flavours from all around the world. As part of our art activities, we have fun mixing primary colours to paint the Gruffalo, making sure to include his green warts, purple prickles, and bright orange eyes!
Finally, we celebrate the colourful festival of Diwali. The children create beautiful Rangoli patterns and design their own henna-style hand decorations, exploring patterns, shapes, and the joy of celebration.
It is a busy and joyful half term, and we are excited to see what the next one brings!
❄️ Autumn Term – Second Half Highlights ❄️
The second half of our Autumn term is full of excitement as we explore seasonal events and the festive period together.
We begin with Bonfire Night, inspired by My Mom is a Firefighter. We talk about the importance of staying safe around bonfires and fireworks, and we learn what to do if we ever encounter fire indoors – practising the “stop, drop, and roll” technique. The children listen carefully to the sounds fireworks make, explore the bright colours they see in the night sky, and use tissue paper to collage their very own bonfire scenes.
Next, we travel to the North and South Poles through the story Lost & Found. We carry out experiments with ice to investigate melting and freezing, discovering what affects how quickly ice changes. We explore the landscapes, weather, and wildlife in these icy places, and the children enjoy role-playing polar adventures while sharing their ideas about what life might be like there.
Finally, our classroom transforms into a wintery wonderland as we prepare for Christmas, with How to Catch an Elf as our festive story. We learn about Christmas celebrations around the world, exploring different traditions and customs. The children make beautiful cards and calendars to take home, and the term ends with the highlight of our Christmas play – performed proudly in front of parents and guardians.
It is a magical and joyful end to the term, full of learning, creativity, and festive cheer.
Exploring the World Around Us
In Reception, we learn through exciting topics that engage our curiosity and spark our imaginations. This half-term, we have been exploring three fascinating themes: Winter with Elmer in the Snow, Dinosaurs with Dinosaurs in Underpants, and Africa with Handa’s Surprise.
Each topic lasts for two weeks, and we alternate between a fiction week and a non-fiction week. Through these activities, we aim to develop all 7 areas of learning. This term, we have also become poets through our Poetry Basket sessions, enjoying singing and learning dinosaur poems together.
The children have taken part in a range of exciting activities throughout the term. During our winter topic, we learned with Elmer in the Snow, developing our phonetic writing as we shared ideas and recorded our thoughts. In our dinosaur topic, we followed a map to explore different dinosaurs hidden around our playground, encouraging teamwork, problem-solving, and imaginative play.
Here’s a sneak peek into some of the learning experiences:
Winter: Sorting clothes for hot and cold weather, conducting a melting ice experiment, creating winter-themed art using paint and glitter, and developing early writing skills linked to Elmer in the Snow.
Dinosaurs: Discovering different types of dinosaurs, learning about what they ate, creating dinosaur art, and following a map to hunt for dinosaurs in our playground.
Africa: Exploring the animals and fruits from Handa’s Surprise, creating collages, and enjoying sensory activities inspired by the sights, textures, and sounds of Africa.
Each activity is carefully planned to encourage hands-on learning, creativity, and curiosity, while supporting the children’s overall growth and development.
