2022/23

Term 4

Welcome to term 4, we are adding to our learning in Pear Tree Class by focusing on a new book each week. We will also be learning some new songs as well as singing some old favourites, and looking at poetry and nursery rhymes that may be based around our book for the week.

Reading Challenge

Keep up the fantastic reading Pear Trees

Week 4

This weeks focus book is

'Supertato'

In our group learning we made lolly stick puppets of our favourite 'Supertato' character,

checked out the cover of our new book, had a very silly story with Miss Wade and made a superhero mask.

We talked about who our Superhero was and, you will be pleased to hear its 'YOU'

because you look after them, love them, read with them, cook nice cakes and play with them.

Outside in the sun

We made the most of the sunshine this week and got outside on the bikes and adventure playground.

Miss Wade found some bubbles which we all loved having a go with.

Learning Time

Our learning was amazing this week take a look at what we did!

Reading Challenge

Pear Tree Class you are amazing readers

Week 3

This weeks book focus is

The Elves and the Shoemaker

We learnt about how to be kind to each other and how we can help our families and friends.

We also thought about how it makes us feel when people are kind and help us.

We made a Kindness Tree and added our thoughts. 

The children did an amazing job and came up with lots of ideas like; saying something nice to people,

using kind hands, sharing is caring and sharing our toys, playing and reading together and having lots of cuddles.

In our group work we sorted kind and unkind behaviours

During our independent learning time we joined in the dancing, Did some yoga with Jamie (Cosmic Yoga) and Miss Wade, built walls and ice creams, blew bubbles, designed shoes, checked out the plants that have started to grow, did some amazing shape work and found out 'half' while we were cutting and so much more.

Reading Challenges

WOW! Pear Trees you are doing an amazing job with you reading challenges

16 of you have completed the challenge so far!!!

Week 2

Our book this week is 'No matter What' by Debi Gliori.

We  thought about how Large and Small felt throughout the story and how we might feel when things don't always work out the way the we want them too and how other people feel about us. Do they still loves us when we are grumpy? How can we make others feel better? The children also did a fantastic job of explaining how people felt by looking at their facial expressions. 

Singing

The children have enjoyed singing again this week,their favourites are 

Five Speckled Frogs

Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed

 Sleeping Bunnies

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Five Currant Buns in the Bakers

Our independent learning time has been very busy this week, we have learnt how to be safe using the knives and accepted a helping hand when we needed it, we took turns when trying out new skills with the basketball and hoop and worked in groups sharing our resources. 

Week 1

This week we have read 'Aliens love Underpants by Claire Freedman and Ben Cort

We wrote our own Alien Poem, the children came up with some nice ideas and then Miss Hall and Mrs Lawson joined in too!

We have explored what we thought aliens might look like and drew our own, made our own alien underpants and did some pants maths! ordering numbers from 1 - 10. 

We went outside with the parachute, blankets and some teddies to role play part of the story.

The children and adults had a lovely time. There was lots of giggles when they were trying to see

how high the teddies could go!

Reading Challenge

Pears are on a roll with their Reading Challenges well done to you all, remember you can still take part next term

Three have been completed this week!

Reading Challenge

We have our second completed Reading Challenge in Pears.

Well done Pears, there will be more next week as I know two more children will be collecting a new books on Monday.

Week 5

The children learnt about road safety this week and after watching a video about how to keep safe when crossing the road we went out onto our own road system and practiced using the Zebra Crossing.

Forms of Transport

The children thought about where the different forms of transport would travel, for example in the sky, in the water, on the farm, on the path or on the tracks. The children worked independently for this activity and did some fantastic learning. They made some amazing comments like "the boy is safe on the path" and "the boat goes on top of the water the submarine goes under it", "we learnt before that lorries bring us food" and "people go on holiday on a plane".

Child Initiated Learning

We have practiced our letters, name and number writing, made transport from tyres, crates and junk modelling. we played games together making sure we took turns, discovered reflections and light, and shared our learning environments with Peaches and Plums.

Week 4

Pear Tree learnt about the weather this week, we played a listening game and worked what the season and the weather was by listening to the rain, the wind, the thunder, and the crunching of the leaves and snow. The children  listened really carefully. Someone even said 'I didn't know I could hear the weather!' As part of our learning we made a small weather station to measure the rain, the wind, the snow (just in case we got some more) and the temperature.  We designed rain sticks, kites and a pair of Wellington Boots. We learnt that our boots needed to look the same to make a pair!

Reading Challenge

Our first Pear Tree Reading Challenge has been completed for term 3 

and I know there are others that have been started, keep up the good work!

We even did Squish the Fish yoga together as a class and watched the Rainbow Fish

Week 3

This week Pear Trees have been learning about people who help us in our environment, the children have had some great discussions about the police, firefighters, paramedics, doctors and nurses, vets, dentists, lifeguards, teachers, dustbin men/women and post men/women, they were surprised to discover that men and women can both do lots of these jobs.

Learning Across the Nursery Environment

This week we have started to share our class learning space with our friends from Peaches and Plums. The children have really enjoyed exploring each others learning environments. It was lovely to see Pear Tree children helping the younger children when they came into their class and we had trouble getting some of Pears to leave Peaches and Plums they were having such a nice time.

Child Initiated Learning

What an amazing week of learning in Pear Trees! Exploring the ice (there's been a lot of it this week), Reading together with Elmer the elephant, using their senses and cutting and crushing (using the mortar and pestle) to investigate the feel and smell different herbs and spices. Finding ways of learning with loose parts especially in the inside and outside kitchens. Some even built churches and houses to show their learning from previous weeks. There has been so much going on! 

Reading Challenges

The Reading Challenges for terms 3 and 4 for are ready for you start, go to the tabs at the top and select News and Events, Letters and then Reading Challenges. Don't forget to post you pictures on Seesaw so you can claim a free book when all you challenges are complete. Happy Reading Pear Trees.

Week 2

We have had an amazing week this week, we started it off by visiting St Martins Church on Monday.

All of the adults are so proud of Pear Tree Class as they walked beautifully to the church and back, one lady stopped to watched and said it was lovely to see us all out together and how well behaved the children were. We sat and listened to Esther as she explained what the church does to help the community and then we looked around inside.

The children built towers and buildings using different resources in class and then copied a plan that someone else had made. They did a fantastic job and looked at the planned buildings carefully to make sure they were doing it right.

Pears made a castle from a box...

... and then tried to get as many Pears in as possible.

Pears have been very busy during child initiated learning, drawing, building, exploring shapes and colours, matching numbers, chatting to our friends, making ice creams and so much more.

Term 3

We would like to welcome our new children and families to Pear Tree Class and welcome back everyone from what sounds like a very busy Christmas time for you all. The children have been very excited to tell us what Santa bought them!

During Term 3 we will be learning about our local environment, we will be including learning about the school grounds, how different people in the local community can help us, we will take a trip to the local church, learn how to cross the road safely when we go to post a letter home and practice our counting when we do a traffic survey around the school area.

Week 1

Our new children have enjoyed exploring their new learning environment and making new friends

Week 7

The children enjoyed a very quick 10 minute snowball adventure!

PARTY!

We had a lovely party, with the food provided by the ladies in Pear Tree Class as the Tesco delivery couldn't get through!

Christmas Cards

Week 6

We have had a very busy week this week, starting with our Christmas Shop where the children went to buy their parents, brothers, sisters or grandparents a Christmas gift. Hopefully they are hidden away, so no peeking before Santa arrives!

Then our amazing parents and grandparents came into class for our Christmas Stay 'n' Play. Thank you so much for coming the children loved having you all in the class listening to their song '10 Little Elves' and creating some amazing art work with them. We have put up all the pictures taken of the event on our Christmas board and the children have enjoyed finding pictures of themselves and you.

We made Christmas cards (I will put those on next week after we send them home so we don't ruin the surprise) and Christmas Baubles and decorated Christmas Stockings.

Pear Tree Class loved going around the rest of the school on the Santa Trail on a very cold and frosty morning. They managed to find all but one of their pictures (it was up very high and they are only little so we missed it completely), however because they did so well and listened to and followed all of the adults instructions they still won o chocolate Santa lollypop.

Week 5

We finished our food topic in style this week with a cooking trio. First, we decorated a cupcake, then we made Rice Krispie Reindeers which the children loved as the marshmallow was very sticky and looked like 'spiders webs' and finally we made Gruffalo Crumble. The children remembered lots of detail about the Gruffalo as we made our treat, they were able to describe the apricots as his 'orange eyes', the raisins as his 'black tongue', they said 'the wart on his nose' were the green smarties or jelly tots and the 'purple prickles down his back' were the purple sweets. The children did an amazing job adding the ingredients, then mixing them together and decorating. They were especially good at breaking all the biscuits for the crumble. Mrs Jessop from Apple Class enjoyed her Rice Krispie Reindeer with a cup of coffee and took some Gruffalo crumble home for her children as we made so much!

Christmas

The children sat and listened beautifully to the Nativity Story and then drew Mary, Joseph and the Baby Jesus in the stable. When the all-day children listened to the story again with the afternoon children, they were able to remember who the Shepherds were, 'they look after sheep and follow the star', and that the Wise men bought 'presents for the baby'.

During child-initiated time there has been so much fantastic learning this week the children have improved their balancing skills on the stilts, made their own pond and extended their learning to create a beach inside and outside. Pear trees love their new mud kitchen and have cooked up all sorts of lovely dinners this week. They have recused various dinosaurs and toys from the ice making sure they kept themselves safe by wearing the safety glasses, while using the real tools. Some of them are becoming more independent and learning to zip up their own coats. There has been more number writing and discovering letters and finding out how they can make words. Even though it was getting chilly outside they made pirate boats and luxury yachts and did some sunbathing out on the deck. We saw adventures in the Jurassic Garden and took the opportunity for a quick photo with the passing reindeer.  

Week 4

Continuing with our food topic this week we have grown some of our own, we planted some Cress seeds on Monday, and we will update you as they grow. Last week the children looked at the Tesco grocery website and chose some food they would like to try so, on Tuesday, being very mindful that some children have different food preferences we tried some different types of bread. The children tried Brioche, Focaccia, Brown Soda Bread and a 7 Seeded Loaf. The children loved the different breads, especially the Brioche because it was 'soft', 'sweet and buttery'. We tried both black and green Olives and it was a tie on which were better as they were a bit 'slimy' and 'squashy'. Some really liked the Chicken Liver Pate and most liked the meringue and it was 'sweet' and 'crunchy'. Don't tell anyone but we bought posh Mcvitties Chocolate Caramel Digestives for snack too as we had watched how they were made in the factory. They were a little bit 'Yummy' according to the children.

Maths 

We looked at how repeating patterns work as some children have been thinking about this in their independent learning time over the last few weeks. I think you will agree they did a great job! 

We also learnt how to sequence by working out how to make a jam sandwich and some of the children wanted to make a real one, and yes, they did eat them afterwards!

Cress Update

The children were a little disappointed with the cress seeds as some grew better than others!

Look at our amazing child-initiated learning this week!

We built ramps inside and outside (we even added shaving foam outside), explored numbers and found the letters in our names, transferred water using the pipettes into other containers which was a bit tricky, made our own computer, treaded pasta and strings, made a giant marble run, made beautiful clingfilm art, went canoeing in tin tubs, got chilly fingers investigating the hanging ice globes and discovered the new small world garden which was improved even more once Miss Wade and Mrs Relf got involved.

Week 3

In Pear Tree Class this week we have been looking at where our food comes from, we looked at farms, factories (the children loved watching how biscuits are made and packaged), we even went online shopping in Tesco's watching a walk round one of their shops - the children pointed out all the things they knew on the shelves - and then went on their website and ordered the food for our food tasting lesson next week. Next, we learnt about how our food gets to us and how far it has to travel. The children very good at working out if the food came to the UK on a ship, plane, train or lorry. Finally, we looked at where our food grows, the children learnt that peanuts grow under the ground and already knew that pumpkins grow on the ground and apples grow on trees. There has been some amazing learning going on in Pears this week! 

PE

In PE over the last few weeks the children have been learning how to use the climbing equipment safely with Mrs Wickett our PE teacher. Some children were unsure of using the wall bars but have gained confidence and can now move freely from one side to the other. They have also learnt how to navigate the benches and beams improving their balance and finding ways to move their bodies quickly across the apparatus and jumping safely when they reach the end.

Pears Tree Class, we have been very busy during our independent learning time and have been doing some fantastic learning, making dough and making our own Pizza for snack. We practised number writing, built great castles, made dinner in the role play area. We have been painting with strawberry and raspberry puree and using fruit and water to print. We helped Miss Wade to string up the orange, lemon and limes slices so they dry out and then we can use them in our learning. We have also improved our fine motor skills threading and using the nuts and bolts. We loved experimenting with food colouring and bread to see what would happen and exploring different kinds of food.

Week 2

Fabulous Food and Remembrance Day

This week Pear Tree class have started thinking about our food topic, we have learnt about what food we think is healthy and unhealthy. The children were able to say that we need healthy food to make our bodies healthy and strong so that we grow. Following on from our discussions the children sorted food and tried really hard to work independently to sort food. They did an amazing job so don't be surprised if you get told for buying something unhealthy when you go shopping 

On Thursday we made a Poppy for our Remembrance Day service on Friday with the rest of the school, Miss Wade displayed them in the playground for everyone to see. The nursery children were amazing, they waited patiently and stood very quietly during the service and the nursery staff were very proud of them.

During our child-initiated learning time we explored reading in different areas, helped each other build fantastic marble runs, painted and stamped with vegetables, found ways to match numbers, listened to the seashells, got curious about nature; making a farm from natural resources, helped Miss Wade plant some bulbs while exploring with our gardening tools and so much more...

Term 2

Celebrations and Fabulous Food

Welcome back to a new and very busy term. We will be learning about some of the celebrations that happen at this time of year in different cultures including Diwali, Halloween, Hanukkah, Firework Night, Remembrance Day and Christmas. Our main topic for term 2 is all about food. Pear trees will be thinking about, where our food comes from, what we eat and how that differs from food in different cultures and how we can grow some of our own snack food in our own garden area.

Week 1 - Celebrations

We have thought about Diwali, Halloween, Hanukkah and Firework Night this week and learnt about why each is celebrated. The children listened carefully and enjoyed learning about other cultures traditions. 

Halloween

They children enjoyed decorating pumpkin biscuits and making their own pumpkin plate.

Diwali

The children followed the adults' instructions to create part of a Rangoli pattern for Diwali

Hanukkah - Menorah candlesticks

Fireworks

The children went off into groups to create their firework pictures, with each group using a different medium. They used either glitter, chalk, paint and toilet rolls (instead of brushes) or coloured sand.

Miss Hall was very proud of hers!

There has been some amazing learning and teamwork happening in our busy independent learning time.

We explored the pumpkins, worked on our fine and gross motor skills, worked in teams to help each other,

painted with Miss Wade, made ourselves comfortable for reading, went fishing, made patterns and corrected them when we saw it wasn't quite right, made potions and tried hard to tidy away the blocks and decided we might need some adult help!

Term 1 - All About Me

This term we are learning about ourselves, we will be focussing on us, our families and friends, pets and where we live.

We will also be starting P.E lessons and learning how our bodies can move. 

Week 6 - Friends

In Pear Trees this week we have been learning about friendship and how we can be a good friend to our classmates. The children talked about how friends play together, listen to one another, help each other and share their games and learning. We have made friendship bracelets using pasta and cheerios and a toilet roll friend, both of which the children loved making.