Active Learning
- The Seasons
- Harvesting Food
- Pumpkin Soup
- Donating Food
English Reception Autumn Lists and Storytelling
Sharing the Harvest
Enjoy sharing texts such as The Enormous Turnip and Pumpkin Soup, as well as the rhyme One Potato, Two Potato, Three Potato, Four, as inspiration to talk, read and write about autumn, harvest and related foods.
Lists and storytelling (suggested as 5 days)
Creating and Thinking Critically
- Sorting Harvest Food
- The Enormous Turnip
- Jobs List
- Harvest tasks
Exploring and Playing
- Role Play
- Small World
- Harvest Patterns
- Malleable
Books to Share
- Enjoy The Enormous Turnip. Discuss why so many people were needed to pull the turnip. List the characters on the board.
- Read The Enormous Turnip several times until the children can confidently sequence the story. Provide suitable props/costumes; support the children to act out a story retelling.
- Music Learn, sing and adapt We Thank You for the Harvest (resources).
- Read Pumpkin Soup. Notice the animals work together to prepare a shared meal. Why did feel upset? Reflect on how his friends felt and what they did to help.
Poetry/Rhyme of the Week: One Potato, Two Potato, Three Potato, Four (see resources)
Recite at suitable times throughout the week. Encourage children to vary the tone to emphasise the counting words, e.g. one, two, three... Children learn and perform in small groups.
You Will Need
Essential Texts
Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper, any version of The Enormous Turnip, e.g. The Enormous Turnip: Ladybird First Favourite Tales by Irene Yates; The Enormous Turnip by Katie Daynes, or The Enormous Turnip by Vera Southgate.
Desirable Texts
The Enormous Potato by Aubrey Davis, Oliver's Vegetables by Vivian French, Harvest Festival (Holidays and Festivals) by Nancy Dickmann, First Favourite Tales: Little Red Hen by Ladybird
Weblinks
One Potato, Two Potato, Three Potato, Four from youtube.com
The Enormous Turnip Retold online by Irene Yates
Music for We thank you for the harvest (sung to the tune of: Here we go round the mulberry bush), from bbc.co.uk
Resources
A range of fresh and dried/tinned food
Compost and other items to make turnip farm