2022/23

Term 5

This term in Cherry Tree class we will be focussing on a range of books during our adult-directed learning: Handa's Surprise, Owl Babies, The Hungry Caterpillar and Fish. These books will help us focus on the topic of growing and we will be engaging in a range of creative, written and active tasks around these books to help develop our understanding of the stories!

Week 3 - The Very Hungry Caterpillar

This week we have continued to look at the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar! We role played being caterpillar eggs, hatching into a caterpillar, curling up in a cocoon and turning into a beautiful butterfly before creating puppets to further act out the story.

We have been thinking all about life cycles this week.

And during our child-initiated learning we have continued to show a real interest in wildlife and gone on many bug hunts around the garden!

Week 3 - The Hungry Caterpillar

We have a very fun week planned in Cherry Trees! We will be beginning to look at the story of The Hungry Caterpillar, as well as celebrating the King's Coronation. And very egg-citingly - we have some chicken eggs join us in class!

The chicken eggs arrived and we had one very eager baby so excited to meet us that they have already hatched! It was amazing to get to watch! 

We eventually had seven chicks in class! We loved watching them break out of their eggs and then grow into fluffy little chicks in such a short space of time!

We started the week with a road safety talk, where we learnt all about the 5 things we need to do when crossing a road: stop, look, listen, think and hold hands.

We have also been celebrating the King's coronation! On Friday we all creating a bunting triangle and got to go to the field as a whole school to participate in a range of activities and a tea party!

Week 2 - Owl Babies

These week we have been reading the story Owl Babies. We had an absolutely amazing time during our school trip to Eagle Heights where we got to see and learn about real life owls and other birds of prey, as well as meercats, pigs, alpacas, sheep, goats and huskies!

We started reading the Owl Babies story and wrote about where we thought the Mummy owl could've flown off to! We then created our own owl baby crafts - which were very cute!

During our maths this week we have been focussing on size and describing whether things are big or small and having a go at ordering items based on their size too!

Well done to our Greenfields Greatness award winner this week! 

Week 1 - Handa's Surprise

This week we looked at the story of Handa's Surprise. We first had a go at sequencing the story.

We also had a go at tasting the different fruits we came across in the story! We were very brave in having a go even if we felt nervous! We used some brilliant descriptive words to help us talk about how the fruit tasted.

This term our focus during PE is on balance. This week we found different ways of balancing on different parts of our bodies and exploring how we could balance bean bags on us too!

We are beginning to learn some trickier sounds during phonics this week, but had a really good go at using them in sentences!

We've really enjoyed ourselves during our child-initiated learning this week and have enjoyed activities related to Handa's Surprise, such as still life painting of fruits!

Well done to our first 2 Greenfields Greatness winners of the term!

Term 4

This term in Cherry Tree class we will be focussing on a range of books during our adult-directed learning: The Jolly Postman, Good Little Wolf, On Sudden Hill and Whatever Next. We will be engaging in a range of creative, written and active tasks around these books to help develop our understanding of the stories!

Week 6 - Whatever Next

This week we looked at the story of Whatever Next, all about a little teddy bear who flies to the moon in a cardboard box! We were incredibly interested to learn more about space and had a go at writing descriptive words and sentences around some images of space.

On the final day of term we got to bring in our own teddy bears to help us re-enact the story! The teddies were all very good pupils for the day and also helped us sing and dance along to songs such as Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear and The Teddy Bears' Picnic.

During our child-initiated learning this week we have continued to be interested by shapes, especially during construction and love showing off the new writing skills we have learnt in our phonics lessons!

Week 4 - On Sudden Hill

This week we have been reading the book On Sudden Hill. As the story centres around 3 children who love playing and exploring outside we did just that and spent a lovely afternoon in the woodland area of our school - hunting for frogs and bugs and just enjoying and investigating the natural world!

We listened to the description of Mr. Climb Fierce (the amazing box creation the children make in the story!) and drew what we thought it could look like.

We then designed what we would try to make out of boxes and had some super creative ideas!

We then got to have a go at making our box designs!

During maths this week we have been thinking about 3D shapes. We had a go at building with them to help us figure out how certain shapes act. Would they be strong and sturdy to build upon or wobble and roll away?

We've had lots and lots of messy fun during our child-initiated learning time this week! We've explored cornflour gloop and even had a go at making our own dough (which was surprisingly successful!). Outside we worked together to build our own super long slide out of blocks!

Week 3 - Good Little Wolf

This week we have really enjoyed the story of the Good Little Wolf and have done some fantastic writing based on the tale!

We have continued to work hard on our phonics application this week and had a go at labelling items in our classroom, describing aliens, writing around pictures of ourselves and writing about some silly scenes!

During maths this week we have been focussing on 2D shapes and had a go at drawing different shapes in a variety of media!

We have been especially creative during our child-initiated learning time this week and enjoyed some large scale building and playdough!

And another 2 Cherries completed their reading challenges this term! Well done guys! 

Week 2 - The Jolly Postman

We have continued reading the story of The Jolly Postman this week and had lots of opportunities for open-ended writing opportunities related to the story! We have written wishes to our Fairy Godmother, made birthday cards, roleplayed being postmen ourselves and even created postcards that might be making a special surprise home soon! 

We've been having lots of fun in phonics this week and applying our phonetic knowledge in a variety of ways! We've practiced writing on different surfaces, in different materials and written about funny scenes and our favourite characters!

During our child-initiated learning time we have been really enjoying hoop games and even turned hoops into fishing rods to help rescue items from the sandpit! We've also loved building our own dens!

We had another Cherry to complete all their reading challenges - well done!

Week 1 - The Jolly Postman

This week we started reading the story of The Jolly Postman. We covered the first two letters the Jolly Postman delivers - to The Three Bears from Goldilocks and the Wicked Witch. We first had a go at writing our own letter to a friend just like Goldilocks did and used aspects of the story to help our writing. After reading the letter for the Wicked Witch, we had lots of fun making our own witchy potions! We read the labels on the ingredients and then got to add some bicarb and vinegar to make the potions fizz! We also thought about what would happen if someone drank our potion - we had some very creative and wicked ideas!

Later, we then had a go at writing the ingredients we included in our potions. We were very good at remembering what we added!

During our maths lesson this week we focussed on patterns! We looked at some patterns online, before having a go at making our own using a variety of resources.

We loved joining in with parachute games during PE!

During our child-initiated learning this week we have been exploring flowers and continuing our interest in patterns and potions!

We have had 3 Cherries complete their reading challenges this week, which is amazing! Great job guys 

And a massive well done to our 2 Greenfields Greatness award winners this week! You've both blown me away with how hard you've worked in phonics and how focussed you've been during your learning time!

Term 3 - All Around the World

Happy New Year and welcome back to another term in Cherry class! This term we will be going All Around the World! Starting with a focus on Maidstone before looking at England/London, we will then be diving under the sea, trekking through the desert, trying to keep warm in the Arctic and finally going swinging through the jungle!

Week 6 - The Jungle

This week we have been swinging through the jungle! We read the poetry book Rumble in the Jungle and spoke about all the different animals we could see within the illustrations, focussing especially on their patterns. We then moved onto having a go at recreating some animal patterns ourselves, using a range of media such as paint, pens and collage materials.

We have introduced the concept of subtraction during our maths work this week! We made a certain amount of playdough balls and an adult told us how many to squash. We then counted how many were left and had a go at writing the number sentence. We also counted cars and drove some away to see how many we had left.

We have continued to be really motivated to complete our reading challenges during our child-initiated learning time this week! We have also enjoyed exploring magnets and building unique constructions out of loose parts.

And finally, a huge well done to the first 2 Cherries who have completed their reading challenges for Term 3 and 4! You got to visit the vending machine and choose a book for free which was very exciting!

Week 5 - The Polar Regions

This week we have been looking at the colder places on the planet! We looked at the story Lost and Found and had a go at writing about some of the things we could see in the illustrations. Look how amazing our writing is getting!

We then practiced our scissor skills with a cutting and sorting task - deciding what we would need in the arctic, desert or under the sea.

During our phonics lessons this week we have been working hard on our writing and are becoming more confident in writing captions or longer words with our double letter digraphs in! We're very proud of how hard our Cherries are working 

During our child-initiated learning this week we have been especially motivated to work on our reading challenges! We've been acting out stories, reading to teddies and constantly asking to listen to the 7 Continents song! Don't forget to continue supporting your pupils to complete them at home too to encourage a real love of reading 

And a massive well done to our Greenfields Greatness Award winner this week! We're so proud of the progress you are making in your writing - well done!

Week 4 - The Desert

This week we have been trekking through the warm and sandy desert! After watching a video about the kinds of animals that live in the desert, we had a go at painting our own large scale desert scene as a group! Our favourite part of the video was the sideways snake who jumps along the sand so he doesn't burn his belly!

We created our own desert landscapes on paper plates using sand, tissue paper and pipe cleaners and ensured we included some of the desert animals we have been learning about!

We have been continuing to explore different ways of adding objects together during our numeracy lessons and are starting to become more confident in our understanding of the concept!

We have continued to enjoy the boat in our outdoor provision during child-initiated learning time!

And finally, a massive well done to our Greenfields Greatness award winner this week! You always try so hard in every area of your learning, both in school and at home, and are becoming such a confident reader! We are super proud of you! 

Week 3 - Under the Sea

This week we have been diving under the sea and looking especially at different kinds of sea creatures! We read Commotion in the Ocean before having a go at painting some of the creatures we spotted in the story!

We then had a go at using our phonetic knowledge to label parts of different sea creatures!

During our PE lessons with Mrs. Wickett this week we have been exploring different ways of moving a ball through rolling, bouncing or throwing!

We have really enjoyed ourselves during our child-initiated learning time this week! We've been incredibly creative, especially in the construction area and with our playdough creations! We've also been continuing our learning of the world, through exploring maps, globes and Atlases!

And a huge well done to our Greenfields Greatness Award winner this week! We're so proud of you improving your confidence hugely this week, especially when interacting with your peers! You also wrote your first sentence so neatly this week - well done! 

Week 2 - London

This week we have been thinking about London in preparation for our trip to the Excel Centre! We read the story of The Queen's Hat to introduce us to some London landmarks and then had a go at recreating Tower Bridge, Big Ben and the London Eye through a variety of crafts.

We then went on a virtual London bus tour - with our own bus tickets and everything!

Our school trip to the Jurassic World Exhibition!

We had a fantastic time on our trip to the Jurassic World Exhibition in London! We saw so many incredible life-sized dinosaurs, went on a boat ride, got to stroke some baby dinosaurs (the herbivores at least, we didn't want the carnivores to think our fingers were their lunch!), looked inside dinosaur eggs, saw Blue the Raptor's training session and escaped from a hungry T-Rex!

During our child-initiated learning time this week we have been enjoyed sensory exploration and cooking role play with pasta, investigating capacity with water and driving our cars over our own Tower Bridge, as well as many other things!

Well done to our final Cherry who completed all of their reading challenges for Term 1 & 2 and got to choose a free book from the vending machine!