This week in Reception Elmer has inspired our learning! The children have enjoyed getting to know the story of Elmer and understanding that he is different and that is okay. There have been a range of Elmer activities for the children to engage in, like painting Elmer in the style of Piet Mondrian and creating party invitations for our special Elmer Day. At the start of the week, the children learnt about different feelings and how things make them feel. They were then able to write down different feelings that they thought Elmer was feeling in the story and also design their own patterned animal to represent difference.
We have also been busy learning about harvest festival. We learnt that harvest festival is about saying thank you for the people who grow crops and food for us to eat. We spoke about the different foods that we might say thank you for as well as the children looking at the growth of an apple and how long it takes! Some children were able to share their experiences of celebrating harvest festival. They then had the chance to investigate pumpkins as part of harvest. They liked scooping out the fiber, pulp and seeds of the pumpkin.
How to support at home:
- Keep reading with your child everyday.
- Ask the children if they can find any foods around the house that we say thank you for during harvest festival.
- Review the phonic sounds coming home in your child’s book bags at the end of this week and play some phonic games to support their development.
- Talk about Elmer and his feelings towards being different with your child and ask them about their own feelings.
It has been a wonderful first half term in Reception and has been such a pleasure to see each child settle in to Merry Hill. The reception team have already seen great development from each child and we look forward to welcoming the children back after half term.
Have a restful break,
The Reception team x