Term 5

 

Handa's Surprise

This week's book is Handa's Surprise. We looked at different tropical fruits and smelled and tasted them. We have found out that some of us love mango! 

We found out how hard it was to walk with a basket on our heads.

Apples have done some great writing about Handa carrying her basket of fruit to her friend Akeyo.

 

                      

 

 

Butterflies!

 Our butterflies have hatched! We released them outside, waving goodbye as they flew away.

       

 

 

 

 

Owl Babies

We have been reading the story of Owl Babies.

We have made a giant nest for the owls to sit in by collecting sticks , leaves and  then adding soft materials, so the owls would be comfortable. 

  

Apples have been learning about how to use clay and experimented with using different tools to make and an owl.

  

Apples have been learning to manoeuvre their balance bikes through the cones. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apples have been learning to glide on balance bikes.

In PE this term we will be using balance bikes, strengthening our core muscles and learning about safety.

First, we are learning to balance on benches. 

 

 

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Apples have been reading the Very Hungry Caterpillar. We have real caterpillars in our class and we are looking forward to seeing them change into cocoons and then into butterflies. We have been looking for more bugs in the outside area and we have also made puppets and acted out the story in the puppet theatre.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Term 4 

'Whatever Next'

We created our own moon using paper mache

  

We used boxes just like Baby Bear did but we wrote what we remembered from the story.         

     

Maths - Height

We explored height in lots of different ways

      

Maths- Having an understanding of time 

We had been reading the story of Jaspers Beanstalk when learning about height. We used the story to sequence time. We thought about the days of the week and what happened to the beanstalk on each day. 

We created a timeline and even labelled our days of the week 

    

'Good little wolf'

We created our own wolf masks. We decided whether we were the good little wolf or the big bad wolf

                       

We made our own puppet show to retell the story. We used a wide range of materials and tools. Look at our amazing puppets we created too

    

Maths - Numbers 9 and 10  

  

'What the Ladybird Heard'

We looked at maps of our local area and then made our own maps just like Hefty Hugh and Lanky Len from the story

 

                                                                 

We created Ladybird stones in the garden

          

Maths - Making 10- Number Bonds

 

                                                                                                                            

We created our own number bond trains. The carriages had to make 10. Some of us made ten in 2 steps and some in 3 steps. Once they were ready they could go round the track... Choo,Choo!

           

'The Jolly Postman'

We created our own Postbox, this become very popular in learning time

We wrote our own letters home to our adults. We got the envelopes ready and created a picture to go inside...our adults will be so excited to receive them. 

   

Child initiated learning around the Postoffice and writing letters has been great fun and brilliant for our independent writing

  

                 

Maths - 1 Less

We made our own 10 Green Bottles and a wall. The children used a beanbag to knock off the bottles and work out how many they had left

 

We created our own ladybirds! 

     

 

Term 3

'How do Dinosaurs learn to read'

We read the story 'How do Dinosaurs learn to read' and thought about how we learn to read and how the dinosaurs did it. We identified what they did well and what they needed to do better at. Look at our fantastic writing. 

 

We looked at different types of dinosaurs, their features and names. We then created our own, using chalk, paint and pens. 

     

Some of our child initiated learning

It has been freezing cold so far this term, our learning with the Ice has been amazing.

      

Maths 

We were learning how to find an amount to five, including zero. We did this by playing throwing and rolling games. We were fantastic at subitising the skittles and beanbags before counting them to record our scores. 

   

We looked at different dinosaur pictures to write sentences to describe them. 

  

During Child initiated time the children created clay dinosaurs. We had to use tools, our fine motor control and strength to mould the clay. 

 

During child initiated time the children have shown a real fascination in using junk modelling to create with. We used glue guns and a range of materials to find the best way to connect items together. 

   

'The Colour Monster'

We have been working on the colour monster in week 3. The story talks about lots of different emotions, how we feel and how we help to ease those emotions. The children have loved this story and understood how and why they feel different things. 

The children drew and created their own Colour Monsters. 

   

During child initated time the children could choose to create a loge colour monster, look at their fantastic monsters. 

                                                                                                     

We chose an emotion colour and created a mood board for this emotion. The children were fantastic at using a range of materials to create their emotion. 

                                                                             

We made our own colour monsters

  

We explored with colours all week

  

 

Maths 

We worked on length. Understanding mathematical language such as long, short, longer, and shorter. 

    

We threw willies, seeing the length we could throw. 

 

Maths in child initiated time 

  

'Room on the Broom'

We focussed on the story of Room and the Broom. 

We visited Jeskyns Country park to complete the Gruffalo trail

We created potions, just like the Witch did in the story

We visited the Fairy village as well

In the days after we got back to school, we looked at pictures from the trip, drew characters we had seen and wrote about the wooden animals from the story that we saw.  

                                                                

We searched for the biggest stick we could find when we were in the park to make the most magnificent Broom stick, just like the one in the story. The children created their broomstick in learning time. 

 

  

'The Witches Kitchen'

We tried lots of different foods in a Kitchen we made in the classroom

   

Miss Mack made her own witch kitchen with lots of horrible things in items, just like in the book. We had to walk around the kitchen and write a shopping list of things we needed to buy

     

Maths - Weight and Capacity  

           

  

 

Term 2

'How to catch a star'

We read the story 'How to catch a star' by Oliver Jeffers. 

We went to the woodland area to try and catch stars. We used a range of different ideas and equipment. We were very resourceful with sticks and rope. 

        

We thought about what we would wish for if we were like the little boy in the story. Our ideas were brilliant and so was our writing. 

  

We have loved exploring our environment during child initiated learning time.

We wrapped up different items using paper, scissors and tape. We had to use our understanding of shape and space to cut the paper the correct size. 

    

It was great to paint on a different texture. 

 

Maths 

We focussed on 1 more and 1 less. We created our own Hungry Caterpillar books, adding 1 more fruit each time. We then used threading fruit to see if we could add 1 more and subtract 1 less. 

  

'The way back home'

We wrote sentences about what we read in the story, using a range of different media. Look at our amazing writing. 

     

We focused on the aliens from the story. We thought about what they looked like and what it would be like to be in the dark on the moon if they were there. We labelled our monsters with fantastic adjectives. 

  

As part of the 12 days of Christmas celebrations we went on a Santa trail. We had to work out the clues and find each card. 

  

Maths 

We focussed on shapes with 4 sides. We identified which shapes had 4 sides and which did not. We had a shape hunt in the classroom, to find shapes to sort into 4 sides or not. We used these shapes in the environment to create our own pictures. 

  

Term 1 

Child Initiated learning

Throughout our Child Initiated Learning we have been exploring our different learning environments. See what we have got up to this term during Child initiated Learning.

 

Phonics

We have been working really hard to learn our new phonics sounds over Term 1. We have learnt the actions and the sounds as well as practicing our handwriting too.

 

 

 

Term 1 PE

We have really enjoyed our PE lessons this term! We have been learning about spaces and have also been working on our balancing. 
 

 

 

 

 

We're Going On a Bear Hunt
Our first story we looked at this term was 'We're going on a Bear Hunt'. We made dens, created our own scenes from the story and even went on our own bear hunt!

 

 

 

 Our First Week!

Our first week in Apple Tree Class involved making new friends, exploring our new learning environment and reading lots of stories.