Our teachers are really impressed with the amount of mark making in our class. Lots of us are really interested in drawing and mark making in lots of different ways. We are all trying hard to give meaning to our marks, think about what we are drawing and what it will look like, and some of us are now using the sounds we have learned in phonics in our writing too! What superstars! 

This year we are loving our construction area and have some very talented architects in our class. Take a look at some of our creations! 

As part of our work on circles and triangles in maths we have been creating art in the style of Wassily Kandinsky. We looked at lots of his work first and identified where we could see our focus shapes, then we collected some objects and used them to print with to create our own Kandinsky inspired masterpieces. 

We have enjoyed noticing and exploring the changes that happen at this time of year. We have had lots of leaves and other autumn finds fall to the ground in our outdoor area and have loved searching for them, sorting them and using them. We have learned the names for different autumn items as well as for parts of a leaf, and have identified which trees are in our outdoor area using the leaves we found. We have also been using autumn materials to create some natural artwork in the style of Andy Goldsworthy. 

We have loved exploring pumpkins. First we worked on our fine motor and hand-eye coordination skills by hammering golf tees into them. Then we opened them up and explored what was inside. After exploring with our senses we decided we wanted to taste the pumpkin so cut it up, then added some oil and spices to it and roasted it. We read Pumpkin Soup as our Key Text and decided we would also like to make soup with our pumpkins. We carefully chopped it up and added it to Miss Pell's blender along with the other ingredients we needed until it turned into soup. Some of us really loved eating pumpkin but some of us weren't too sure! 

In our maths session we have been learning all about repeating patterns. We made patterns using colours, shapes, natural objects and even made repeating fruit kebabs! Lots of us continued our pattern work in continuous provision time too. 

We noticed the apples on our apple tree were ripe and starting to fall off. We collected the good apples (making sure to check they weren't rotten) and washed them. We then helped to carefully cut them up, added some crumble mix to the top and cooked it in the oven. We enjoyed eating our apple crumble whilst listening to the poem about apples that we are learning as well as talking about other fruits that grow on trees.  

One of our Key Texts this half term has been The Dot. It is a story about a little girl who doesn't think she is an artist, her teacher tells her to just do one dot and before long this leads to more dots and some wonderful artwork! We used this story to inspire our own paintings. We have been learning how to use our paint area and have learned a song to help us remember the instructions and language. We have loved exploring combining the colours! Take a look at our masterpieces being created! 

The wet weather has given us the chance to practise our independent, self-care skills. We have been learning how to put on our waterproofs and wellies all on our own! 

As well as exploring our indoor classroom we have also been exploring our outdoor one. We have been very busy moving, mark making and building in big ways. We have also done some sensory exploration with sand, water, foam and bubbles and worked cooperatively to build towers and obstacle courses