Welcome to Apple Tree class 2026-2027 

Term 1 - Super me, super community

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...