Autumnal fun with KS1

Selected song: In the autumn

Introduce the song

Talk about the signs of autumn and emphasise summer’s legacy of sunny days. Use the performance tracks to introduce the song and listen out for the lazy bass part which gives a slightly dreamy quality to the music.

If you have no kazoos, encourage a small group to perform this instrumental section by humming while holding their noses. It sounds like a kazoo - and will make everyone laugh!

Verse one and three are identical except for the unexpected key change at bar 13 (the second time it’s sung), so practise this very carefully. The song ends with a kazoo flourish for the last two bars!

Literacy

Speaking and Listening and Writing: Random poetry

Encourage your children to help you make a collection of all the words associated with autumn and write them on individual cards: e.g. 

red, gold, brown, leaves, yellow, bonfires, chilly, nights, bare, trees, waving, branches, dark, flames, leaping, coats, scarves, mittens. 

Sprinkle the word collection with some simple connectives and prepositions: ‘and’, ‘in’, ‘round’ plus ‘a’, ‘the’ etc. then encourage the children to arrange the words in free-form lines [random poetry] and then perform the poems in Speaking and Listening: e.g.

Leaves falling
Red, gold
Brown, waving branches
Dark!

Coats, scarves, mittens
Chilly nights!
Smoky bonfires
Leaping flames
Red, gold

Reading

Read the evergreen children’s favourite: ‘The Owl who was Afraid of the Dark’ by Jill Tomlinson, which lends itself very well to this time of year as the nights are drawing in. In one chapter about fireworks, the hero, Plop, is mistaken for a Catherine wheel!

Tell the story of ‘The Little Fir Tree’ by Hans Christian Anderson, which is currently available on the 
CBeebies website, providing the text in both Danish and English. It’s the story of small fir tree who wishes he was taller. 

Use these stories to develop role play in drama and to stimulate discussion in PSHE about the issues presented in these two simple texts: e.g. expectations about growing-up, irrational fears [darkness, being left alone], old age and loneliness.

Art and Design

Press prints: Collect leaves for press-printing using autumnal colours. Cut out the leaf shapes and use to edge a display board, providing a border to highlight written work.

Painting: Mix sunset shades of pink, red, orange and yellow. Paint these in stripes across A4 sheets and then using a wet brush, blend the stripes together where each colour meets. Create stark autumn landscapes by cutting out silhouette shapes of bare trees in black paper to stick on to the sunset sky backgrounds.

Close observational drawing: As the Harvest gifts arrive, borrow some fruit and vegetable items to study and draw using a variety of pencils. Experiment with the soft, smudgy leads i.e. 6B, and also the harder H range. Encourage children to look really closely at the shapes and textures and to experiment with different ways to achieve their drawings.

PE [Dance]

Create an autumn forest dance. Firstly, ask everyone to stand in a space and make a strong tree shape, standing tall with rigid limbs outstretched for branches. Play gentle sounds on an ocean drum to signal to the children to sway in the autumn wind.

Change the sound to a shaker and ask the children to dance like falling laves, spinning their hands, arms and bodies from a high position, fluttering and turning gently as they reach the ground.

Numeracy 

Invent some autumn problem stories for the children to solve. 

• Each pine tree in the forest has 6 branches; how many branches would there be on three trees?

• A squirrel hoards 10 acorns each night for four nights; how many acorns will he have in his store?

• A chestnut leaf is 20cm across; how many leaves could be fitted side by side into a metre? 

…better still - suggest that the children make up their own problems!

Science

Conduct research about animals that hibernate to discover how they prepare for their long sleep. Talk about the birds that leave our shores in the autumn to migrate to warmer climates.

Find out about animals which change their appearance to match the environment when the seasonal changes occur, e.g. the Arctic fox.

Make a weather chart, collecting information about each day. Can the children think of a way to measure rainfall? Can they use a weather vane to determine the direction of the wind and read a simple thermometer and record the temperature? Use the gathered data to make graphs.

RE and PSHE

Learn about festivals celebrated by other faith groups at this time of year such as Chanukkah and Diwali and find out about the significance of light in the ceremonies for these special days.

Light up! Sing this simple song about candlelight to the familiar tune of ‘Pease Pudding Hot’. It was written for the Singing Breakfast Club pack, commissioned by ContinYou, an associate partner of Sing Up. The changing lines can be altered to suit any occasion.

One candle flame,
One small light,
Changes a dark room
Makes it bright!

Two candle flames…
Changes a window ledge
Three candle flames…
Changes a birthday cake….

Four candle flames….
Changes an Advent crown…. 
Five candle flames…
Changes our festival…

This version has been adapted to support the festival of Diwali, focusing on divas, rather than candles:

One diva flame,
One small light,
Changes a dark road
Makes it bright!

Two diva flames,
Two small lights,
Welcome Prince Rama
Make him bright!

Three diva flames
Three small lights
Welcome Queen Sita
Make her bright

Four diva flames
Four small lights
Welcome brave Hanuman
Make him bright!

Five diva flames
Five small lights
Welcome Diwali
Here tonight.

Design Technology

Ask children to work in pairs to design and make a hot water bottle cover. Think about the materials that insulate, and decorate your cover for a real ’customer’. Think up really imaginative ‘fair tests’ to see which cover works best!

Another project might be to design and make a suitable hibernation ‘home’ for a tortoise. This would involve lots of research about the pet’s needs, suitable materials and monitoring an appropriate environment.

Autumn creeps up on us so quickly, so download this super seasonal song to add your favourites. Teach it to your class to springboard your topic!

Song Bank

Try out these other seasonal songs from the Song Bank online - 

Cauliflowers fluffy 

Easy, peasy harvest

Dreidel song