Apple Tree Class – Nursery and Reception
Welcome to Apple Tree class 2026-2027
Term 1 - Super me, super community
Week 8
The end of a busy and wonderful first term!
On Monday at Forest School we continued our Autumn explorations, finding the hidden pumpkins, scooping out their seeds and tasting some pumpkin soup. As always, we loved feeding and interacting with the chickens and ducks too!
On Tuesday we enjoyed our PE session where we played our favourite movement games from the term and finished with parachute games!
This week we’ve been voting for our favourite books of the term by placing our counter on our favourite book - You Choose was the clear favourite!
Reception have been practising forming numerals to 5, learning the rhymes to help them remember how to correct form each. In phonics Reception are recapping their Set 1 sounds and using these sounds to read words and write words - using their 'Fred fingers'!
Nursery have been practising their counting skills through playing lots of Orchard Toy games. They've also enjoyed meeting Fred Frog who can only talk in sounds- they've been listening to the sounds he makes and telling us the word he's saying ("c-a-t = cat!").
On Tuesday we enjoyed joining the school at the Harvest Festival at the church.
We’ve been practising our scissor skills by cutting out healthy foods to stick onto our plates.
Wishing all a wonderful half term next week. We look forward to seeing you again from Tuesday 3rd November! 😊
Week 7
A week of autumnal fun!
On Monday at Forest School we continued our Autumn explorations, collecting fallen leaves and shaking them on the parachute - great fun! We created our own Autumn trees too, using orange, red and brown paint.
On Tuesday, we enjoyed our PE session, which was called "dinner time!", with activities that involved co-operating with a partner and using tennis balls (such fun!).
We've shared the book ‘Animal Doctors’ and have spent lots of time talking about the ways we can keep our bodies healthy – including healthy food, exercise, drinking water, getting enough sleep and brushing our teeth. We also spoke about these ways we keep healthy as some responsibilities we have during PSHRE.
We've really enjoyed playing with the doctors/vets role play this week!
Reception have been continuing and creating patterns. In phonics, Reception are recapping their Set 1 sounds and using these sounds to read words and write words – using 'Fred fingers'!
Nursery have been practising their counting skills through playing lots of Orchard Toy games. They've also enjoyed meeting Fred Frog, who can only talk in sounds – they've been listening to the sounds he makes and telling us the word he's saying ("c-a-t = cat!").
Week 6
On Monday at Forest School, we continued our Autumn explorations, creating conker necklaces and looking for leaves that are changing colour. We also really enjoyed interacting with the chickens and ducks.
On Tuesday we enjoyed our PE session with a theme of ‘at the shops’, where we learnt to follow a path and take turns.
We've shared the book ‘Clothesline Clues to the Jobs People Do’ and have spent lots of time talking about the people in our community and the jobs they do that help our communities.
Reception have been finding, naming and describing 2D shapes. In phonics, Reception have learnt the next five sounds in Set 1 (v, y, w, x, z) – look out for their new phonics cards. We have continued using the sounds we know to blend them into words using our magnetic tiles. Look out for the words they are bringing home to show off their reading skills.
Nursery have been comparing sizes, sorting things into ‘bigger’ and ‘smaller’. They've also enjoyed creating 'voice trumpets' and practising making different sounds.
We've continued to enjoy colour mixing and this week we’ve been painting vehicles that people in our community would use. We've also been cutting out pictures of people that help us (practising those scissor skills).
We have also been busy painting some wonderful fruits and vegetables, in preparation for our Harvest service at the church next week!
Week 5
On Monday at Forest School we continued our Autumn explorations, creating conker snails and enjoying conker rolling. We also really enjoyed creating potions in the mud kitchen, chasing bubbles and interacting with the ducks. We had our first campfire of the year too and toasted some crumpets and sang our camp fire songs. We'd like to create an Autumn interest table and need your help! If your child is able to collect any Autumn objects that they find we'd love them to bring them in for the table.
On Tuesday we enjoyed our PE session, learning new movement games to safely use the space and successfully following the rules of the games. Our favourites were ‘musical statutes’, ‘cross the bridge’ and ‘duck, duck, goose’ - lots of giggling could be heard! 😊
We've shared the book My Mum is Fantastic and have spent lots of time describing the people in our family.
Reception have been comparing amounts, using the words 'more' and 'fewer'. In phonics they have learnt the next five sounds in Set 1 (e, l, h, r, j) - look out for their new phonics cards. We have continued using the sounds we know to blend them into words using our magnetic tiles.
Nursery have been doing lots of jigsaw puzzles this week as they develop their spacial reasoning skills. They've also enjoyed creating 'silly soup' adding in ingredients that start with the same initial sound (i.e. sssssssun, sssssssock, ssssssssstar!)
We've continued to enjoy colour mixing and this week took part in an investigation to see what would happen to the colours from the sweets when they got wet. We've also enjoyed colour mixing in the water tray, exploring new colours as we make potions using the pipettes and test tubes.
We've had lots of opportunities for using scissors as we continue to develop the hand strength to use scissors in one hand (with our thumb on top!) It would be wonderful if your child could practise using scissors at home too! :-)
Week 4
What another fantastic week we have had- bursting with learning and fun!
On Monday at Forest School all children were given the opportunity to make a leaf crown as we began our conversations about the season of Autumn. On Monday we also enjoyed baking cupcakes together. The children showed some great baking skills!
On Tuesday we enjoyed our PE session, learning new movement games to safely use the space - this time with the balls too! We enjoyed rolling and bouncing our balls as we visited each other’s 'houses'!
We've shared the book Love Makes a Family and have spent lots of time talking about our unique families.
Reception have been ordering numerals to 5/10 and matching numerals to the amount they see or hear. In phonics, Reception have learnt the next five sounds in Set 1 (c, k, u, b, f) - look out for their new phonics cards. We have continued using the sounds we know to blend them into words using our magnetic tiles.
Nursery have been naming colours and using different resources to create repeating patterns and sharing rhyming books. Can they spot words that rhyme in their books at home?
We all went on a treasure hunt around the school on Tuesday afternoon - finding the people and places in the photos and helping us feel increasingly more confident in our school community. We really enjoyed finding all seven clues and meeting some people along the way!
We've had lots of opportunities for exploring paint and how different colours can be mixed to make new colours - can your child remember which colours they mixed together?
Week 3
What another fantastic week we have had- the children are really engaging with their learning and following their learning routines.
We are continuing to strengthen the muscles in our hands through clever hands activities and dough disco, which they children are enjoying.
On Monday at Forest School all children were given the opportunity to make a spider. We spoke about spiders as at this time of year you may start noticing them in your homes, looking for a warm and dry place. They also helped take some of the sunflower seeds out of the large sunflower heads, as well as played creatively with large wooden blocks and dinosaurs. As always, it was lovely to have the ducks join us too!
On Tuesday we enjoyed our PE session, learning new movement games to safely use the space with our friends.
We've shared the book Paper Dolls and have spent lots of time thinking about how we grow and change over time and identifying things that they can do now, that they couldn’t do when they were a baby. We'd love you to upload a photo of your child as a baby so we can continue these conversations into next week - thank you!
Reception have been looking at the composition of numbers three and four and in phonics learning the next five sounds in Set 1 (i, n, p, g, o) - look out for their new phonics cards. We have started using the sounds we know to blend them into words using our magnetic tiles.
Nursery have been busy subitising (speedily recognising amounts without needing to count) 1, 2 and 3 and showing 'finger numbers' to match.
The children have continued enjoying role playing in the garden - we've had lots of fires being put out all round the garden! It's also been wonderful to see some of the children role playing schools and teaching their friends the sounds they know! We’ve also enjoyed making obstacle courses!
We’ve really enjoyed the sensory tray this week ~ scooping rice, pasta and rice crispies into bowls.
We've had lots of opportunities for practising our scissor and collage skills - we hope you like the paper dolls the children made and brought home this week!
Week 2
What a wonderful week we've had - our first full week and the children are settling beautifully into the new routines! We have started everyday with either dough disco or clever hands activities - having lots of fun while strengthening the muscles in our hands.
On Monday we had our first Forest School of the year and enjoyed exploring the site and seeing how things had grown and changed. We were able to harvest some tomatoes and pears and looked at the seeds growing inside our sunflowers. We enjoyed making our own lavender pouches. We also loved spending time with the ducks who were very happy to roam around with us at Forest School, some of the children made them a grass cake to eat!
On Tuesday we enjoyed our first PE session of the year and the children loved the movement games we played - pretending to be ambulances, doctors and firefighters. We were so impressed with how well everyone listened and joined in - well done everyone!
We've shared the book Strong Like Me and spent time talking about what makes us special and what our skills are.
During Maths, Reception have been practising their counting skills and in Phonics learning the first five sounds in Set 1 (m, a, s, d, t)
Nursery have been busy sorting objects by colour, animal, type etc!
Together the children decided to turn the outside role play shed into a police and fire station. They have loved dressing up and using the keyboards, torches and play phones to respond to 'emergencies' across our garden!
We've had lots of opportunities for practising our collage skills
2025-2026
Our topic for term 6 is
Under the sea
We will be thinking about all the wonderful sea creatures that live under the sea, and learning about them. Some we may already know and some may be new. We will use non-fiction texts to find out facts about the sea creatures. We will be able to think about what types of sea they like to live in and how they may move and breathe. We will enjoy a trip to Science Oxford to explore the water lab area and also to explore science in a fun explorative way!
Our topic for term 5 is
Once upon a time
We will be looking at some traditional tales and exploring their themes deeper. There may be gingerbread people to make and porridge to taste! It will be a lovely topic to share well-known stories together and discuss the varying parts of a story. We can think about how to choose a book and where we can borrow or buy stories from. We will be able to bring all this to life with a visit to The Story Museum!
Our topic for term 4 is
Old MacDonald had a farm
We will be discussing all things farm, from animals, machinery and what happens on the farm. We will look at animals and their young, thinking about their correct names and also helping to care for our very own eggs that will hatch into ducklings – we can't wait! We will also see signs of spring popping up during this term, which we will discuss and will learn about how to care for plants and what they need to grow.
The topic for term 3 is
Explorers
We are looking forward to going on many adventures throughout this topic, exploring different modes of transport, comparing places and looking at transport both old and new!
Our topic this term is
Celebrations
During this topic we will look at a few different festivals and events that people celebrate around the world. We will think about why and how we celebrate these events and will finish with our very own performance of the Christmas story.
Our topic is
Superheroes
and we are exploring all the things that make us special and unique and all about real life superheroes in the world around us! Take a look at the photos to see the fun we've been having...
