Term Dates / Calendar

The Snail and The Whale!

This week we have been concentrating on learning about repeating patterns both inside and outside the classroom. We have made a wide variety of patterns out of natural materials, beads, Lego, fruit, shapes, Hama beads and pegboards. We have even made patterns as a class with our bodies by making different alternate shapes.

We have studied signs of autumn and carefully observed and looked at autumn objects, drawing them carefully with oil pastels. There were some wonderful masterpieces!

The book we have used for our topic work this week is ‘The Snail and the Whale’ by Julia Donaldson. We have talked at great length about journeys and holidays we have taken ourselves and discussed what the term ‘Having an itchy foot’ means as the snail in the story was desperate to travel around the world on adventures! As you can imagine, some of the answers when asked what ‘Having an itchy foot’ meant were hilarious!

We have collected snails, talked about their habitats and the conditions that they need to survive. We have looked at the snail shell and body, thinking carefully about adjectives to describe them. We have made collage snails in camouflage colours and made spiral shapes in glitter, buttons, beads, pasta and even conkers! We also made a family of snails from playdough and learnt lots of snail facts too!

Forest School has been filled with magical fun as the children created their own wands by using the willow that they peeled themselves! Prepare for a lot of magicians over half term!

If you are looking for some autumn half term activities, why don’t you play autumn eye spy to help reinforce the initial sound work that we have been doing at school? The letters we have learnt so far are m,a,s,d,t,i,n,p,g,o,c,k,u,b and f. Go on a treasure hunt and make sets of different autumn treasures. Help your child to draw the numerals that represent each set of objects. Talk about the objects that you have collected and sort them with your child by different criteria e.g. all the red leaves, all the round objects, all the prickly objects, all the oval shaped leaves etc. You could always make some repeating patterns with your objects – make these as tricky as you like!

The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School
The Snail and The Whale!, Copthill School