In Mantle this half term, Reception will be commissioned by a struggling farmer, whose turnip has grown so big, he needs some help! We will be focusing on the Understanding the World area of our curriculum, specifically looking at plants and growing. The children will have opportunities to explore a variety of fruits and vegetables, learn where and how they grow, and even have a go at planting and growing their own cress seeds.

Keep checking in here to see how our story develops!

To begin our mantle story, we read the story of The Enormous Turnip.  After reading the story, we discussed the characters we saw and then went and drew a character of our choice. We used our independent writing skills to label the characters.

Next, we began our research of various fruits and vegetables. We enjoyed exploring turnips, carrots, leeks, onions, potatoes and peas. We then decided to draw and label some of our very own fruit and vegetables. We chose our favorites and used our phonics skills to independently label them.

Before we could qualify as landscapers and gardeners from the University of Fruit and Vegetables, it was important that we understood exactly what plants need to grow. As a class, we sorted out a variety of fruit and vegetables into things that grow in the ground, on trees and on plants. We then spoke about the three most vital things plants needed to grow... soil, water and light.

To put our skills to the test, we planted some cress seeds. With our new knowledge of plants needing plenty of water and sunlight, we added our cress seeds to some cotton wool, added water and kept them somewhere bright and sunny. We have been keeping an eye on them and have noticed they are growing very well. We are ready to become landscapers!