Lesson video

Hello, everybody, Miss Hughes here.

What's your name? Great to meet you.

I've come for a walk in the woods today because it's a beautiful time of year to go walking.

The leaves on the trees are starting to change colour, shades of red, and orange, and yellow.

It's getting a bit chilly though.

You can tell that summer is over.

Can you guess what season it is? Tell your screen.

It's autumn.

And in this lesson, we will explain the changes that happen in autumn.

There are three lessons on autumn.

Number one with me, number two with Miss Sidenius.

And number three with Mrs. Garrard.

In this lesson, we will listen to a story, learn about autumn, and then you will have a chance to go on an autumn walk with your family to find some autumn objects.

You're going to need your listening ears, which are already on your head.

You're going to need a bag and you're going to need your eyes to look for some autumn objects.

Pause the video here if there's anything you need before we start the lesson.

Great, I hope you're in a quiet, comfy space because it's time to listen to a story.

And this story is about a little creature who lives in the woods.

His name is Nog.

Can everyone say, "Hello, Nog?" Do you know what type of animal nog is? Nog is a hedgehog.

And Nog might look very cute, but Nog has lots of prickles all over his back.

So you can't touch hedgehogs.

Hedgehogs live in the woods.

And every year in autumn hedgehogs, along with lots of other woodland animals, go into a long sleep called hibernation.

My turn, hibernation, your turn.

And animals hibernate, they go into a long sleep so that they can survive winter, where there is not much food available.

Let's listen to the story of "Nog's First Autumn." Nog was a baby hedgehog who lived in the woods with his family.

Nog and his family were preparing for hibernation.

They were preparing for hibernation.

A long sleep that would last all winter.

Nog and his family gathered up lots of food so that they would stay full during the winter.

Nog was fascinated by all of the different colours.

The leaves were changing red, and orange, and yellow.

One day, Nog scuttled off following a tray of beautiful red leaves.

But he scuttled a little bit too far, and soon he couldn't see his family at all.

Nog was lost.

Nog began to feel worried because it was soon time to hibernate.

And he didn't know how to do that without his family to help him.

Nog looked for his family.

He came across a tree.

Maybe I could hibernate here, Nog thought.

But just then an animal swooped down beneath him.

"What are you doing here?" It was a bat.

Said the bat.

"This is my home, please go away and let me sleep." Nog scuttled off.

Nog came across some long, tufty grass.

"Maybe I could hibernate here," he thought.

But just then an animal with big ears came out of the grass.

"What are you doing here?" said a little mouse.

"This is my home, please go away and let me sleep." Nog scuttled off.

Soon he came to a hollow in a large tree.

"Maybe I could hibernate here," thought Nog.

But then an orange animal with a large bushy tail came out.

"What are you doing here?" said the squirrel.

"This is my home, please go away and let me sleep." Nog felt really worried and upset.

What was he going to do? The leaves when nearly fully off the trees now.

And soon it would be winter.

Just then, he heard a snuffling and a scuffling in the ground.

"Hello, Nog." It was mum and all of Nog's family.

Nog was delighted to see them.

And Nog's mum took him to a pile of orange, and yellow, and red, and green leaves.

And the family tucked under and fell fast asleep for the whole of winter.

The end, your turn.

Well, I'm glad that Nog found his family just in time to hibernate with them before the winter.

Let's hear a little bit about what happens in autumn.

Autumn is one of the four seasons.

Can you name the four seasons? Say them with me, if you can.

There are spring, summer, autumn, and winter.

Once more, spring, summer, autumn, and winter.

And in this lesson, we are looking at autumn, the season that comes after summer and before winter.

The season in our lesson is autumn.

Here is a picture of autumn.

I can see a large tree.

Can you see it? What do you notice about the tree? Tell your screen.

Wow, you're very good at noticing things.

The leaves on this tree are oranges and yellows, and some of them have even fallen off onto the ground.

That's because in autumn the leaves on some trees start to change colours.

They go beautiful shades of red, and orange, and yellow, and brown.

The leaves on the trees change colour, and eventually they will fall off, ready for the winter.

Now, as well as leaves, other things fall off the trees too.

Seeds like conkers and acorns.

And they can be food to lots of animals.

There are patterns that happen in autumn.

The days start to get shorter.

The days get? Shorter, and the weather gets cooler.

The weather gets? Cooler, look at this picture.

There is a lady who is wearing some clothes that show the weather is getting colder.

What is she wearing that tells us autumn is when the weather gets cooler? Tell your screen.

She's wearing a coat, and gloves, and boots.

In autumn the days get shorter.

And the weather gets cooler.

Well done.

Now, in the autumn, there is less food for the animals to eat.

Lots of plants have stopped growing.

And leaves have fallen off lots of trees.

That means that the animals need to find a way to survive the winter.

So lots of woodland animals store food in the autumn in their cheeks, or eat lots of foods.

What kinds of foods do you think woodland animals might store? Tell your screen.

They might store acorns, or conkers, or lots of the other plants.

So the animals store the food and then, when they have enough, they can hibernate.

They can? And hibernation means going into a long sleep that lasts all of winter.

Remember, in Nog's first autumn, Nog went into a long sleep so that he could survive the winter.

Other animals like squirrels do that too.

Animals hibernate to survive the winter.

Now we know a lot about autumn after this lesson.

So now we're going to go on a walk and look for signs of autumn.

You might want to collect some things, but remember to check with an adult before touching anything, so you know the object is safe.

Only pick items that have already fallen from the trees.

And please check beforehand that the park doesn't have any restrictions on what you can take, because some of these things are food for animals.

Here are some things that you might see on your autumn walk.

Tell the screen what they are.

You might see some leaves of different colours, some pinecones, conkers, maybe even in their spiky shell, or acorns.

You can collect some of these items, or take a photograph, or make a drawing.

So here are your instructions.

Take a walk, put the items in a bag, feel them, and describe them.

And here are some words that you might like to use to describe what they feel like.

Your item might be shiny, like a conker, spiky, rough, smooth, wrinkly, or fuzzy.

I found a pinecone on my walk and when I touch it, it's quite spiky.

I might say the pinecone is spiky.

I've also found some colourful leaves on the ground.

There's a red leaf, a green leaf, and a yellow leaf.

I could say these leaves are wrinkly.

When I feel them, they're quite wrinkly.

I wonder what you will find.

Or, if you're doing this lesson at at time that is not autumn, you could always ask your grownup to show you some pictures on the internet.

Have a wonderful day, everybody.

And I hope you enjoy your autumn.

See you soon, bye.