We will be kicking off the Autumn Term with our project ‘All About Me!’
We will be starting off with a very popular project which is perfect for us to learn about your child, and your child to learn about us. Friends old and new will discover each other, and the things that we like and don’t like.
‘All About Me’ helps children with discovering themselves as individuals. What makes us different or similar to others? This topic allows opportunities for incorporating learning about our families and their pets, health, emotions and wellbeing and promotes acceptance of others who may have different cultures and beliefs to our own.
Family can mean something different to different children, and in nursery we start to look at what these differences might be. Do our friends’ families look like our own?
Learning about ourselves is a fundamental part of childhood development, especially as children start to ask questions about who they are and how they are the same, or different, from others.
We encourage our children to be aware of their bodies. Mirrors are a fantastic way for children to look at the differences between themselves and friends. The colour of our hair, eyes and skin. How tall are we compared to our friends? Mirrors are also a helpful aid for speech and language development as children concentrate on the shape their mouth needs to make to form the sounds.
This project is a fabulous way to teach children about diversity and inclusivity. Our Montessori ethos encourages children to explore and experience the full richness of the world, and all the many different people who live in it. Joining in with other people’s celebrations and festivals helps to promote a greater understanding of the world.
‘All about Me’ leads on well to another topic planned for later in the term……
Sports… when we will be talking to the children about various types of sport, and thinking about which ones we like to do the best. We will be looking at different sports from around the world, and incorporating discussions about the Olympics (winter and summer).
Some of the more obvious benefits of taking part in sports in the early years include improved fitness, improved strength and stamina, improved motor skills, and better coordination and balance. All these things will, in turn, improve the lives of children in their daily activities as they grow older.
Discussions about sports will allow us to learn about the importance of keeping fit, and the different foods that are good for us and help to keep us healthy. This is a great extension to our ‘All About Me’ project as it helps children to focus on their body and what it needs to keep happy and healthy.
Lunch and snack times are a great opportunity to talk about healthy eating, and also the things that we like to eat at our own family meal times. We would love for you to share any simple family recipes that the children could try cooking in nursery.
Later in the term we will also be learning about ‘People who help us’.
This topic gives our children plenty of opportunity to make connections between people and places. It includes every aspect of the local community, from teachers to lollipop ladies and from shopkeepers to fire fighters.
Children bring their own ‘cultural capital’ to nursery in the form of their previous experiences and contacts in their own communities. We can look at the different roles that people play within these communities and which of these are helpful to us, such as the emergency services, including paramedics and first aiders.
Discussions about road safety can easily be included in this topic.
The Autumn provides lots of great opportunities to look at the changing seasons and how our local wildlife is affected by the shorter days and cooler temperatures. We take the children on woodland walks to collect natural items showing the signs of autumn. The beautiful coloured leaves make great resources for use in collages and arts and crafts projects.
Our discussions about the autumn will also include autumnal festivals such as Harvest, Halloween, Diwali and Fireworks night.
And finally, we will be having some roooarring fun with a Children’s House favourite ….the dinosaurs!!
This will include learning about the prehistoric world and the creatures that lived there. What did they look like? What did they eat? What other animals and plants were around?
And most importantly…. are there still any around today?!!
As you can see, we will be having a jam-packed Autumn Term with lots of project ideas to keep our little ones excited to be learning.
If anyone has anything related to any of our topics that would be of interest, please do speak to a teacher. We love to include stories, songs or activities from home, and the children are always very proud to share these with their friends at group time.
We’re really looking forward to getting to know new friends in our ‘All About Me!’ project, and welcoming all of our new children and parents to the Children’s House family!
