Apple Class Blog 2023-2024
2.5.24
Hello!
Well May is here, and we have finally enjoyed a bit of Spring warmth and sunshine this week!
Our themes this week have continued to centre around London and royalty. We have found out about Buckingham Palace enjoying a virtual tour. We were impressed with the opulent décor inside and amazed to find that it houses over seven hundred rooms! We thought it would be good for games of hide and seek.
We have read The Cook and the King by Julia Donaldson as our Literacy focus book. This led to us discussing our favourite meals and writing sentences about the story. We have also been writing sentences about King Charles using one of our new tricky words ‘have’ and using our phonics knowledge. The children are becoming so much more independent when writing sentences. In Drawing Club, we have watched The Wacky Races and drawn characters and vehicles, and written sentences about the story.
In other areas the children have been busy making crowns, showing off their effective use of tools and developing fine motor skills. We enjoyed singing London Bridge is falling down and added instruments to accompany us. In the water tray we have built bridges with Duplo to go across the ‘River Thames’ and have enjoyed adding Union Jack flags to our sandcastles in the sand.
In Maths we have been adding and subtracting. We played games adding and taking people off a London bus and have begun to write and record our ideas simply.
In Phonics we have been reading words with adjacent consonants and have learnt four more tricky words to add to our lists. This week’s tricky words are, were, there, one and little. Thank you for all your support with reading and the sentence work in the homework books. It really is a team effort!
Just a reminder that Monday is a Bank Holiday so we will see you all on Tuesday.
Enjoy the extended weekend!
Apple Class Team
26.04.24
Hello!
This week we have been excited to start our transport and travel topic. We have read Emma Jane’s Aeroplane by Katie Haworth and Daniel Riley, a rhyming book about a girl who visits various cities of the world and meets animal friends along the way. One of the cities she visits is London so our focus has been on London Landmarks, the royal family and the ravens who live in the Tower of London. Raven is one of our lost words and we have found learning about how they’re taken care of by a Ravenmaster in the Tower of London. Did you know that legend says that the Kingdom would fall if the ravens were to ever leave the Tower?
In story time, we have been reading The King’s Pants by Nicolas Allen and have been doing lots of pants-based activities. We have coloured in pants for various occasions and written sentences to describe the pants! We have also had fun making split-pin Royal Guards and learning about the line of succession to the throne. We have also been using the Bee-bots to travel routes on simple maps, including visiting the London landmarks.
In Maths, we have been recapping teen numbers and how to make them using tens and ones. We have also been practising ordering them and using them in play. We also played a game in class where we put our legs in a circle and count until we get a target number! Whichever leg is the same as the target number gets tucked away until there is only one winner!
During phonics, we have been practising writing words with adjacent consonants and using them correctly in sentences. We are already seeing an improvement in sentence writing and increased confidence and hope that this continues throughout the term. Thank you to grown-ups for their continued support!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Apple Tree Class
18.04.24
Welcome back!
We hope you all had a lovely holiday! It has been lovely to see the children come back so happily after their Easter break.
This week we have been talking about our holidays and how we spent them. We have also been learning about the Muslim festival of Eid. The children were interested in finding out about how special food is eaten and how families get together to celebrate. We have been finding out about the custom of wearing hijabs and the children have enjoyed wearing their own in the classroom.
In Phonics we have moved onto the next stage of our work, and we will now be reading longer words with the sounds we know in them. The Sound Book has now been replaced with a Sentence Book for homework to reflect the progress the children have made with their writing.
Our Drawing Club story has been Pete the Pirate by Nick Sharratt. We have enjoyed drawing and writing sentences about pirates and treasure chests!
In Maths we are developing our understanding of teen numbers and have been playing counting games and building numbers with Numicon and tens frames. We are encouraging the children to see teen numbers as ‘10 plus another amount’ , so 13 is 10 + 3 more. All in all a very busy start to the term!
Have a lovely weekend and we will see you all on Monday.
Apple Class Team.
28.03.23
Hello!
This week, we have enjoyed taking part in all sorts of Easter-themed activities. We have listened to the Christian story of Easter and talked about Easter traditions. On Thursday, we took part in the FORP Easter Egg Scramble. The children were really well behaved and enjoyed finding out which egg they had won! A big thank you to our PTA and FORP for organising such a lovely event.
Earlier in the week we had a visitor coming in to talk to us about the importance of Road Safety. We now really understand the importance of paying attention when cars are around and know to Stop, Look and Listen before crossing any roads. We also had a stay and play session for parents on Wednesday. We really enjoyed having our grown-ups come into class with us to see some of our work and go on a tricky word egg hunt with us! Thank you to all of the grown-ups that visited us.
We have worked on writing simple sentences about flowers and are getting so much better at writing full sentences independently. We have been working on using full stops, finger spaces and making sure that our sentences start with a capital letter.
In Phonics, we have been consolidating our knowledge of phase 3 digraphs and tricky words
In Maths, we have been working on recognising 3D shapes and creating patterns. We have been keen to practise more complicated repeating patterns that use two objects such as AABAAB or ABBABB. Maybe you could try some at home!
Reminder: There is no homework set over Easter (reading books have already been sent home) and have changed library books on Thursday instead. Please keep Sound Book 2 at home and we will issue you with a brand new book for Summer Homework when we come back.
Have a Wonderful Easter Break! We look forward to seeing you when you return and hearing about your holidays.
Apple Tree Class
22.03.24
This week we have continued to find out about ‘People who help us’ and have been imagining what we would like to be when we grow up. It has been interesting to hear the children’s ideas; we have budding doctors, teachers, paramedics, ballet dancers, and even a shark hunter to name but a few!
Jack and the Beanstalk has been our story for Drawing Club. We have been drawing the giant and his castle and writing codes to go with these. In phonics we are continuing our recap of all the sounds and tricky words taught to date. The children are now using this knowledge in their reading and writing with increasing skill. Thank you for your continued support at home - it is appreciated. This week’s homework focusses on tricky words which can be just that!
In Maths we have continued our work on number bonds to ten, exploring using three numbers to make ten. We have also been playing games involving doubling and exploring odd and even numbers - lots of fun!
We have been thinking about seasonal changes and listened to a story called The Little Raindrop which explains the water cycle simply. We are looking for seasonal signs around us and thinking about what plants need to grow. We have planted seeds and will be watching their progress; fingers crossed they grow!
As part of our P.E work this week, we had a visit to the KS1 climbing frame and the trim trail. The children enjoyed the challenge of the higher climbing frames.
Next week is our last week before we break up for the Easter holidays - where has the term gone?
We are looking forward to welcoming you into school for a Stay and Play session on Wednesday 27th March as you bring your child to school.
Have a lovely weekend!
Apple Class Team
15.03.24
We've had a very exciting week in Reception class!
We kicked off the week with two special visitors - Jane and Harold the Giraffe! Harold is a popular character from our PSHE scheme and they came in to talk to us all about keeping healthy. We discussed the importance of exercise, healthy eating and mindfulness. The children listened well and joined in with the activities and movement games.
Later on in the week, we had Katherine from Tiny Tales visit us to read and re-enact the story of Little Red Riding Hood. We had a great time dancing to different songs and rhymes, dressing up and ending the session with parachutes and pompoms. Please see our Gallery below for more pictures.
In Literacy this week, we have continued on with our theme of The Elves and the Shoemaker, writing sentences from the story.
In Drawing Club we have read The Girl, The Bear and the Magic Shoes by Julia Donaldson. We've enjoyed designing our own shoes too. We have also been learning about different jobs and roles in society, including people who help us. We've been excited to learn a bit about different jobs such as beekeeping and palaentology and what shoes or clothing you would need for these.
In Maths, we have been making number bonds to 10 and already know a fair few! We have been practising making them with Numicon and writing them out as number sentences.
Today is our non-uniform day organised by FORP. Children in Reception have been invited to bring in a red coloured prize for the Rainbow Hamper Fundraiser due to be drawn at the end of term.
We hope you have a super weekend and that the weather picks up again for Spring soon!
Apple Class Team
8.3.24
We have had a busy and exciting week topped off yesterday with World Book Day. The children all looked wonderful in their costumes and talked enthusiastically about who they were dressed up as. We were impressed with the work that had gone into their Little People Big Dreams bubbles. Thank you for your support with this event; it really is vital that we make reading fun for the children if we want to foster lifelong readers!
Shoes have been the theme for the remainder of the week. The children have thoroughly enjoyed playing in the shoe shop role play area where they tried on shoes and pretended to serve customers. We have read and re-told The Elves and the Shoemaker story and sung the nursery rhymes Cobbler Cobbler mend my shoe and There was an old lady who lived in a shoe.
The children enjoyed the challenge of building a better house for the old lady using a variety of junk modelling materials.
In Drawing Club, we watched an animation called The Shoe People and drew the characters and setting to develop our own stories.
We have looked at shoes from the past and thought about their materials and purposes. Our fine motor skills have been tested when threading laces.
In Maths we met numbers nine and ten and used Numicon to work on their composition.
Next week we are learning more about people who help us and also have a Storyteller coming on Thursday as a belated World Book day treat!
Enjoy the weekend.
Apple Class Team.
01.03.24
In class this week we have continued our work on The Tiger who Came to Tea by Judith Kerr. We have written Super Sentences about the story, made animal masks and continued having fun tea parties in the water area and the small world. We have also been reading Little Red Riding Hood in Drawing Club. We have enjoyed making our own maps showing the route to Grandma’s house and designing inventions that could get her through the woods safely.
We have also enjoyed learning all about our Mums and their roles in society. We asked our mums to tell us a bit more about themselves. We had lots of fun reading the clues and playing “guess the mum”. Our mums are talented, have jobs, are studying and do lots of exciting things…but they all said being a mum was their favourite job!
Our new phonics sounds this week are air, ure and er and we are learning the tricky word they. These are the last of the Level 3 sounds and we will spend the remainder of the term re-capping them and using them in caption and sentence writing.
In Maths, we have been looking at time. We have started by ordering the days of the week, ordering our timetables and using timers. We had to see how many times we could do an activity in a minute such as writing our names or drawing circles…we soon realised that a minute can be a really long time to do the same thing over and over.
Housekeeping
Monday 11th and Wednesday 13th March - Parents' Evening will be held on these dates. For Red Apple Class, Mrs Deen will run the Monday appointments and Mrs Mace will run the Wednesday appointments. You can book on the School Interviews website from 4pm on Monday 4 March 2024.
In the meantime, we wish you a happy and safe weekend!
Apple Tree Class
23.02.24
Welcome back after the half term break!
This week we have been listening to and re-telling the story The Tiger Who Came To Tea. The children have been making tiger stripes with rollers in the painting area, playing tea parties and making puppets of the story characters. We have been looking at the images in the story and looking for clues about the past. The children were very good at noticing the greengrocer and milkman and how the clothes looked different to those we would wear today.
In Phonics we have learnt the sounds ur,ow,oi and ear and our new tricky word is you. The children are enjoying learning these digraphs and trigraphs and are beginning to use them in their writing. Our story for Drawing Club has been Mr Wolf’s Pancakes, where we thought of our own pancake toppings.
We have been exploring measurement in Maths having lots of fun building towers of differing heights and lengths and using the associated language.
We have started visiting our school library on a Friday to give children the opportunity to choose their own book to share at home during the week. We will keep records of borrowed books and help them in their selections. Books need to be returned in book bags by the following Friday and then a new one can be chosen for the weekend. We have discussed in classes the importance of looking after library books and ways we can keep them safe.
This half term we are looking at the occupations and roles of our Mums. We'd love to know all about your hobbies, jobs and roles outside of being a Mum. Perhaps you could share some special achievements and events? Using Tapestry, please tell us:
Your name (and what your child calls you if different to mum/mummy)
Job/Occupation
Roles/clubs outside the home
Hobbies/talents
Special achievements/interesting events in your life
We will also be sending home a sheet to fill in to give us a little more information about yourself (with the help of your child of course!). Please send this back into school on Monday/Tuesday next week.
We can't wait to learn all about our super Apple Tree mums!
Enjoy the weekend.
Apple Class Team.
09.02.24
In class this week we have continued our birds topic and learnt more about penguins. The children have been interested in how they differ from the birds we see in our garden, and we have explored where they live in the world and some of their characteristics. We were very surprised to find that some penguins live at the beach! We have read lots of penguin stories and enjoyed learning some fun songs and rhymes whilst waddling like penguins! We have made penguin collages and ordered the life cycle of an Emperor penguin as part of our challenge work. We have felt a bit like penguins ourselves thanks to the cold, snowy weather on Thursday. We made the most of the flurries and had fun moulding and playing in the snow.
After reading some non-fiction books, we wrote some simple facts about penguins in sentences. We have also been busy writing around our classroom: taking telephone messages, writing shopping lists in the home corner and labelling the models we make in the construction area.
Our new phonics sounds this week are long and short oo, ar and or and we are learning the tricky word my. Look out for these in sound books and practise them with your child as these digraphs are getting tricky now!
In Maths, we have been looking at how to make 6, 7 and 8 and we have also been making and learning doubling facts. We’ve been trying to find doubles by rolling two dice and recognising when something has been doubled.
This week has been Online Safety Week. We have talked to the children about how to stay safe online and to speak to a grown-up if they find anything uncomfortable as they are watching videos or using the internet. We have watched Episode 1 of a series called  Jessie and Friends to explain to younger children how to keep safe. For more information on Online Safety Week, please visit: https://saferinternet.org.uk/guide-and-resource/parents-and-carers
Housekeeping
Today we break up for half term. We return to school on Tuesday 20th February. Monday 19th February is a Teacher Training Day so school is not open to pupils.
In the meantime, we wish you a happy and safe weekend!
Apple Tree Class
02.02.24
This week we have continued to find out more about birds with our focus for literacy being on non-fiction books which we used to find out simple facts about birds.
In Drawing Club sessions, we read Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers and used this to draw characters, settings and write our codes.
On Wednesday we managed our postponed walk to Yeadon Tarn to feed the wildfowl and do some bird spotting. We saw swans, geese, moorhens, gulls and mallards. We had fun feeding the birds a mix of seeds, oats and peas (thank you for all your donations) from behind the safety of the railings. We had a play in the park before returning to school having worked up an appetite for our morning snack! We were very proud of the children’s behaviour who all walked sensibly and were polite to the members of the public that we met. We would like to say a huge thank you to our volunteer parents/carers who came with us.
In other areas we have continued with our work on the next set of sounds in phonics. The new digraphs are more of a challenge, but the children are recognising them well and are working hard at careful pronunciation. Click here for further information about these sounds. Guide to Phase 3 sounds This week, we have learned ai, ee and oa and the children were very excited to learn our first trigraph – igh.
In Maths we have worked on the composition of 6, 7 and 8 and exploring all the ways to make these numbers. We have also been making longer, thinner playdough worms to feed the birds.
Have a lovely weekend!
Apple Class Team
26.01.24
Hello!
Birds, migration and measures in Maths have been themes for this week.
A cold and windy week has helped us to understand a bit more about why we need to help look after birds in wintertime. We have made bird feeders and fat balls to hang in our garden as we know that food can be scarce for them. The children have been interested in learning about the similarities and differences between the great variety of bird species. We are looking forward excitedly to our re-scheduled walk around the tarn next week (weather permitting), where we will do some bird spotting and feeding of the birds!
26th-28th January- The RSPB are having their Big Garden Bird Watch. This is a garden wildlife survey where children can spend an hour watching out for birds and recording the birds that land. Bird guides and information can be found on the RSPB website and results can be submitted online. Click here for more information and to sign up.
We have enjoyed a measurement topic in Maths this week. We have been using balance scales to compare weights and learning about the capacity of different containers through our play. The children are learning to use the correct vocabulary such as heavier, lighter, when using scales and full, empty and half full to explain what they are doing.
Language and vocabulary have been the focus for our literacy work this week. The children have been re-telling our story Calvin Can’t Fly and have impressed us by how well they have sequenced events and used vocabulary from the story. Some super listening at story times!
In Phonics we have learnt some more digraphs sh, th, th and ng and the tricky words we, me, be. It a pleasure to see the children are building up their skills for reading and writing on a daily basis!
Enjoy the weekend!
Best wishes
Apple Class Team.
19.1.24
Starlings and Calvin Can't Fly!
Our second week of the Spring term has been so cold and - despite it making our journeys to school tricky - it has helped embed the work we did last week on freezing and melting at least!
We began the week with the enjoyable story 'Calvin Can't Fly: The story of a Bookworm Birdie' by Jennifer Berne. Calvin is a starling who would rather read and study books than learn how to fly with his family. The children have written sentences all about Calvin and his learning to fly. We have looked closely at starlings and learned about murmurations (when hundreds of starlings fly together - click here for an example). We learned that starlings murmurate to warn, keep warm at night, confuse predators and to communicate with each other for survival. The children have also painted pictures of starlings and will be added to a classroom display. We have also enjoyed learning the rhyme 2 little dicky birds and a song called “cuckoo where are you?"
In Maths, we have been learning about different ways of making numbers up to 5. We have been using our five frames and fingers to help us if we need them.
In Phonics, we are continuing with Level 3 sounds and have learned y, z/zz, qu, ch and tricky words he and she. New sound sheets will be in books this Friday as usual.
In Drawing Club, we used the Story Rapunzel to inspire our drawings and code making. We enjoyed thinking of alternative ways for the Prince to climb the tower to reach Rapunzel!
In PSHE, Harold the Giraffe has helped us to talk about what is safe to go into our bodies and discussing the importance of medicine safety. We know the differences between medicine and other things that go into our bodies, when we may need medicine, who can give us medicine and understand why medicine is stored in safe places (and away from children).
Next week, we are continuing our work on Calvin Can't Fly, taking a walk to Yeadon Tarn and making our own winter bird feeders!
Have a great weekend!
Apple Class Team
12.1.24
Happy New Year!
The children have all come back very happily and now seem to be old hands at school life!
It has been lovely to hear about the children’s holidays and the fun they had. They wrote some super sentences in their writing books.
We have had a wintry theme this week and through story we have learnt about seasonal changes. We heard about a character called Jack Frost in drawing club and learning to mix shades of blue to create pretty winter colours. We have also been looking at freezing and melting – we chose some toys to freeze and have discussed how water changes to ice and what needs to happen for ice to melt. We have set them to defrost in different areas of the classroom. We think the ones outside will take the longest to defrost as it is much colder out there than it is in our classroom. We also remembered that our carpets get very warm (thanks to underfloor heating) so predict the ice around these ones will melt quickly. We will have another check at the end of the day on Friday! Today in our PSHE lesson we learnt about how to keep our bodies healthy and the importance of tooth brushing. The children were very knowledgeable about how to clean their teeth.
In Maths we have been looking at the composition of 5 and sharing. We played ‘picnics’ making sure we had equal amounts and were sharing fairly.
In Phonics we have begun learning the Level 3 sounds. The children are excited to learn another set of letters and look at the display each day to see what the new sound is before we begin our phonics session. This week our sounds are j, v, w, x. The homework continues with the same format as before but in new sound books (Sound Book 2)- thank you in advance for your support with this and reading little and often.
Next week we are continuing our Winter theme and beginning to learn about garden birds. If anyone has any spare bird feeders or yoghurt pots to donate, they would be greatly appreciated - we are hoping to attract birds to our garden area although we will have to play quietly…
Have a lovely weekend,
Apple Class Team
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22.12.23
A festive final week!
This week we have enjoyed lots of different activities in the build up to Christmas. On Monday Miss Simms led a singalong for the children in the hall; we enjoyed learning some new songs and joining in with old favourites too. On Tuesday afternoon we had our class party - we played a variety of games and had some lovely treats for our party food. We also had a special visit from Santa who brought all the children a gift. The children were fantastic at taking turns, being good sports and using their manners during the party. Everyone had a super time as you can see in our Gallery.
On Wednesday we took a walk to St John’s Church where Reverend Richards led a Christmas service for us. We joined in with singing and listened to the Nativity story. The children were a credit to you and the school both on our journey there and during the service. Thank you again to our parent helpers for giving up your time to help during this busy time of the year.
Today we have rounded off the term by making some lovely crafts with our friends in Oak class. The children really enjoyed working with the older children to make some snowmen figures and some even went to visit the Year 5 classroom. It has also been our school Christmas dinner and we have worn our Christmas jumpers, so all in all a thoroughly festive end to the year!
Finally, we would like to say a big thank for all of the kind wishes and generous gifts that we have received. They are always enjoyed and greatly appreciated. This Autumn term has been a very busy one and the children have done so well at coping with the lengthy term. They have learned so much and come such a long way. We are proud of each and every one of them and look forward to seeing them all again in the New Year.
(School re-opens on Monday 8th January 2024)
We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and peaceful Happy New Year!
Apple Class Team
15.12.22
Lots of festive fun this week as our countdown to Christmas continues!
Of course, the highlight of our week has been putting on our show Wriggly Nativity. The children’s hard work learning songs, lines, actions, and dances paid off in their lively performance. We were so proud of all the children who sang beautifully and spoke clearly - well done Apple Class and our Nursery friends! We hope you enjoyed the show as much as the children enjoyed performing it. See our photos below.
In other areas, we have enjoyed getting really Christmassy! We have drawn Christmas pictures, written cards and letters to each other and learned a bit more about how Christians celebrate Christmas. We also had a special gymnastics session where we got to make different shapes and balances on mats.
In phonics we have continued to embed our knowledge of all the sounds and words we have learnt this term. (These can be found in sound books). We have enjoyed beginning to write lists for Santa and sending Christmas cards to each other. Thank you for your continued support with the children’s reading and phonics homework - especially during the busy run up to Christmas. Sound books have been returned to bookbags ready for next term!
Thank you for bringing in your Lost Words scrapbooks. We have really loved seeing your photos, drawings and clippings of all of our Lost Words. We have shared some in the gallery below. Please keep them up!
In Maths we have been learning about rectangles and a special rectangle called a square. We have been making these shapes and with a variety of equipment and talking about their similarities and differences.
Next week we continue our countdown to Christmas and on Tuesday we have our Christmas party. The children may wear their party clothes for the day but please be mindful that we will still use our outside space, so party clothes and shoes need to be practical. Please avoid jewellery for safety reasons. Thank you for all the contributions that have come in towards the cost of the party so far. We also have our visit to the Church and a special Christmas service to look forward to on Wednesday morning. Thank you to all the parent volunteers who have offered to join us! Friday is Christmas Dinner and Christmas jumper day!
Have a lovely weekend,
Apple Class Team
8.12.23
Hello!
This week, we have been finishing off our work on hibernation and cracking on with Nativity rehearsals. We are performing "A Wriggly Nativity" on Tuesday 12th December at 9:30am. Tickets are being sent home this week in bookbags.
In maths we have been working on different ways of making 5 such as 5 ones, 3 and 2 and 4 and 1. We have practised forming 5 and working on our subitising skills.
In phonics we have continued to embed our knowledge of all the sounds and words we have learnt this term. We are so impressed by how well the children are recognising the sounds and words as well as how well they are blending them for reading. Thank you for all your support with homework and reading books especially in the busy run up to Christmas! The final sound book homework for the term will go out on Friday 8th December, these are checklists of the sounds and words as well as a letter formation sheet. Please return for marking and checking on Thursday 14th December we will then keep the books until the New Year when we begin learning our next set of sounds in phonics.
In other areas we enjoyed the story A Little Bit Worried . This reminded us how the seasons are changing and about the cosiness of Winter months too. We learnt about weasels and their habitats.
Our photos below are of the one day when the sun made an appearance this week fingers crossed for some drier weather soon! We hope you are all getting into the festive spirit, and we look forward to seeing you at our Christmas Performance!
Best wishes
Apple Class Team
01.12.23
This week, we have been finishing off our work on hibernation and cracking on with Nativity rehearsals. As today marked the 1st of December, we all helped Mrs Richardson to put up our Christmas tree and started our sweet Advent Calendar. We are performing "Wriggly Nativity" on Tuesday 12th December at 9:30. The office will be sending out details about ticket allocation shortly.
This week, we have been learning about different autumn animals and have enjoyed the dusting of snow we had on Thursday! Check out our gallery to see how much fun we have had.
In Maths we have been working on different ways of making 4 and 5 using stem number sentences such as “2 and 2 make 4”. We have also been making “Stampolines” using paint and blocks to make the different numberblocks “splatting” in different combinations.
In Phonics we have learned the digraphs ff/ll/ss and have practised writing words that use them in our literacy books. We have finished learning Level 2 sounds and will spend the next two weeks recapping and consolidating learning.
Parent Volunteers Needed- On Wednesday 20th December, we will be visiting St John's Church in Yeadon for a Christmas Service to be held 10:00-10:25. We are looking for parent/guardian volunteers to walk up with us from school to the church and back again when the service ends. We will need grown-ups from 9:30 until around 10:45 when we get back to school. Please let a staff member know if you would be available and you will be contacted if you are needed.
We hope you are all getting into the festive spirit and have a super weekend!
Best Wishes
Apple Class Team
24.11.23
Hello!
This week we have been learning more about seasonal changes and the world around us. We have been identifying the leaves and seeds of common trees such as oak, sycamore and horse chestnut as well as learning about the life cycle of an oak tree. This links to a new book that the children will be bringing home this weekend. We have made the children a Lost Words scrap book each. The Lost Words book by Robert McFarlane has beautiful illustrations from the natural world and helps to promote words which are getting lost from our language.
Once upon a time, words began to vanish from the language of children. They disappeared so quietly that at first almost no one noticed – until one day, they were gone.
It is our aim to ensure that these words do remain in our language hence the scrap books to share at home. In these books are the words we have been learning so far, we will add more throughout the year. On the rest of the page your child could draw the animal or plant, or write the word. They could glue in the actual leaves if they liked or make rubbings of the leaf. You might stick in photographs of your child with the things if you find any out on walks or have them growing in gardens. The choice is theirs - have fun! We look forward to seeing what you add to the pages.
You can keep the book at home, and we will send a Tapestry memo when they need collecting in again.
You may have noticed the children singing some new and festive songs at home as we have now begun practising for our performance of the Wriggly Nativity in a few weeks, all very exciting!
In Phonics, we have learned some new sounds: h, b, f and l. We have sent these sounds home to learn and practise in Sound Books as usual - thank you for your continued support with this work.
In Maths, we have been identifying and comparing circles and triangles. We have been describing them using the language curved and straight and looking for almost triangles (such as a slice of pizza) and circles in the real world. We had fun hunting around the classroom for examples - we wonder if the children will find any more at home...?
Saturday is the Christmas Fayre. Have a lovely time if you are able to make it!
Best Wishes
Apple Class Team
16.11.23
Hello! This week has only been a short one but we've certainly been busy in Reception!
We have continued our work on Autumn and have been learning to recognise oak, sycamore and horse chestnut trees so if you spot any out and about on walks, please do point them out to the children. We have matched leaves and seeds to the trees and completed crafty activities. Leafy stories we have read include We're going on a leaf hunt , Leaf Man and The Leaf Thief. We have also been learning a bit more about the Hindu Festival Diwali. Aveer and his family celebrate Diwali and showed us some pictures of their celebrations. Aveer showed us how his house was decorated with lights to end the year just gone and bring in the new. A big thank you to Aveer and his family for talking us through some of their customs.
In Phonics, we have learned some new sounds: ck, e, u and r. We have sent these sounds home to learn and practise in Sound Books. We enjoyed making watches to practise tricky words ‘the’ and ‘to’. - see some of our work in the Gallery below!
For Maths, we have looked at numbers 1, 2 and 3. We have also been practising our counting skills and sorting objects into groups of 1,2 and 3 and finding one more and one less of a number.
In Drawing Club this week, we have been learning the story of Hansel and Gretel and drawing our ideas for what the house made of sweets might look like! We have come up with interesting codes to match too such as drawing spiders with different numbers of legs and using our tricky words ‘the’ and ‘to’ to make different things happen in our drawings. This week has been National Nursery Rhyme Week so we have been recapping and learning Nursery Rhymes.
We ended the week with our Children in Need fundraiser. The children came dressed up in non-uniform and dotty clothes and gave their donations to Pudsey Bear. They were very sensible and made us very proud.
On Friday 17th November school is closed to pupils due to staff training. Enjoy the long weekend and we will see you on Monday 20th November.
Best Wishes
Apple Tree Class
10.11.23
Hello!
We have had a fun filled first week back at school after the holiday with the children all coming back refreshed and ready to go!
We have learnt about the festival of Diwali, listened to the story of Rama and Sita and made rangoli patterns in the loose parts area. We shared our experiences of Bonfire night and made firework pictures in the creative area. We have also had a bit of a spooky theme going on reading lots of stories about witches and spells. We have really enjoyed our potion making station in the water!
This week we have also added a new session to our timetable called Drawing Club. This is a literacy session that involves lots of new vocabulary, reading stories and using our imaginations to draw characters, settings and our own ideas for stories. The children have loved using their ‘Adventure books’ to record their own ideas.
In Maths we have worked on numbers 1,2, and 3 and have been using the language one more and one less. The children have used lots of real objects to help embed these concepts.
House Keeping
A polite reminder that Reading Record books need to be initialled so that we know to change your child’s book. Now that we are back after the holidays, hopefully it will be easier to get into the routine of reading regularly.
Friday 17th November is a Teacher Training Day and so school is closed to the children on that day.
Have a lovely weekend and we will see you all on Monday!
Best wishes
Apple Class Team.
27.10.23
Hello everyone!
We started our week with an Autumn Walk. We talked about signs of autumn and collected some autumn treasures for our curiosity display and for pattern-making in maths. We have also continued work on the Gingerbread Man and ended the week decorating our own gingerbread man with jellytots and icing! We really enjoyed eating them as part of our teddy bear’s picnic with our favourite stuffed toys from home. It was a lovely end to the half term.
We have also continued working hard on our phonics, embedding our first set of sounds in preparation for reading books. We have been recapping i,n,m,d and learning how to write them. In Maths, we have looked at pattern all around us and have been busy making our own patterns with natural objects, cubes and beads.
Today we break up for half term holiday. We are very proud of how well the children have settled in and wish you all a restful week’s holiday.
See you on Monday 6th November
Best wishes,
Apple Class Team.
20.10.23
Hello,
We have been reading the story of the Gingerbread Man this week and have been completing lots of activities related to the story. These include making Loose Parts Gingerbread Men and cutting out gingerbread men in the playdough.
We have been comparing sizes and using the related language in Maths and have recapped our first set of sounds in Phonics. We are trying hard with letter formation and blending the sounds to read words with those that we know. Click the link to listen to and sing along with the Level 2 songs.
It was lovely to see all of you at Parents' Evening and share how well the children have settled and we hope you found it useful.
Have a super weekend!
Apple Class Team
12.10.23
Hello again!
This week, we’ve been finding out more about textures and also about clothes from the past using our ‘Button Box’ story. We talked about how the buttons felt in our hands and the words that we use to describe rough, smooth, bumpy, soft and hard textures. In maths, we have sorted buttons and other objects in lots of different ways. We ended our week by making some yummy teddy bear toast and munching on blackberries. It was great to practice our spreading and cutting skills and every bear was unique and delicious!
Our new phonics sounds for the week are g/o/c/k. The children are picking them up well and are getting better at using their robot arms to sound out words. We have really enjoyed exploring ‘o’ with oranges in particular! Next week, we will be re-capping all s/a/t/p. We have also been learning the songs to match each sounds. You can download the powerpoint to practice them on here.
Next week we are looking forward to seeing you at Parents' Evening. These are to be held on Monday 16th and Wednesday 18th Oct and you can book up via the online booking system. If you have any problems in doing so, please contact the office who will make an appointment for you.
Friday 13th is a Training Day for staff and school is closed. Enjoy the long weekend and we will see you on Monday.
Best wishes
Apple Class Team!
6.10.23
Hello!
This week we have learning more about our families and how they can be in all different forms. We have read and listened to lots of different family stories and made pebble people and families in our loose parts area.
On Thursday it was World Poetry Day. Throughout school each class learns a poem to perform. This half term our poem is called ‘All of Me’ we have recorded our performance for you to enjoy.
We are now well under way with our phonics sessions and the children are doing well with letter recognition, saying the sounds and blending. Thank you to all who could attend our meeting on Wednesday afternoon - it was lovely to see so many of you and we do hope it was useful. We will share the power point and links on Tapestry for your information.
In our Maths sessions we have been thinking about positional language and sequencing. The children have enjoyed sequencing events from their day and from the nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty.
Next week we will be making sock puppets so any donations of old socks would be really appreciated as the children love to make their own sock puppet friends!
A reminder that next week on Friday (13.10.23) there is a Teacher Training Day and so school is closed to the children on that day.
Have a lovely weekend!
Apple Class Team
29.09.22
Hello!
We have had another super week of learning, playing and sorting. We have been doing some more work on Old and New Toys. We have been comparing old and new toys – thank you to the grownups who allowed us to borrow their old toys. We have enjoyed having a good look at them! We have also been reading Dogger by Shirley Hughes and Paper Dolls by Julia Donaldson. We have been cutting and sticking toy rooms and have been making our own paper dolls!
This week, we have started our Level 2 Phonics lessons. We are holding a meeting on Wednesday 4th October to explain how we teach phonics and reading in Reception. The meeting will start at 2:40pm, which gives us time to prepare the children for hometime. We do hope to see as many of you at possible, as learning to read really is a partnership between home and school. A letter was sent out earlier in the term; please let us know on the reply slip if you can attend.
Our sounds this week are s, a, t and p. Sound Book Homework will start this Friday. In the books is a copy of each sound to write over, learn and practise at home. There is an action (mnemonic) and song to go with each one too. It is important that the children learn to hear the sounds in word and pronounce them correctly (ssss not “suh”).
Sound Book Homework
Sound books will usually go home in bookbags each Friday and collected in on the following Thursday for checking and adding new sound sheets. Unfortunately the sound books did not make it into bookbags this Friday and will be handed out on Monday. Please make sure that your child’s sound book is back in their bookbag for Thursday. We will also be giving some mini-books to go home in due course. These books are for reading with a grown-up and they introduce the characters and sounds in our phonics scheme. They can stay home to keep and collect.
Housekeeping
Outdoor Area – Please ask your children (and their siblings) to refrain from using our climbing frame and playing with our resources before and after school. We have found that we are coming out to learn in our outdoor area and things are not safe, tidy or where we left them. Thank you for your support in this matter.
Labels – please label all jumpers, hoodies, lunchboxes and water bottles that come into school!
Thank you for your continued support and we hope that you have a great weekend!
Apple Class Team
22.09.23
Hello!
This week the children have continued to do a brilliant job of exploring our classroom, making friends and understanding the many new routines and expectations that go along with starting school!
The children are now coming into school by themselves and following the morning routine really well. They are becoming much more independent carrying their trays and eating their lunches. Well done Apple classes as these are all big steps when you’re 4!
This week we began our phonics sessions and played some fun games to hear sounds in words and to begin using our blending skills. More information about Phonics will be given at our Curriculum meeting on the 4th of October (please see the Memo on Tapestry with regard to this).
We have also begun our ‘Squiggle whilst you wiggle’ sessions. These develop the children’s gross motor skills as a prerequisite to writing. We have had lots of fun learning dance moves and using our flipper flappers! Our first P.E session in the Hall involved balancing beanbags on different body parts and moving in a variety of ways.
We have also been thinking about our favourites this week. We have been collecting information about favourite colours, fruit and animals in our early maths sessions as well as doing lots of counting.
Thank you for the toys that you have sent in they will all be shared with the children, and we promise to look after them. It has been lovely to share the photos of the children’s favourite toys at home too.
Next week more toys and more settling in!
Have a lovely weekend.
Apple Class Team.
15.09.23
Hello!
We have had a super first full week in Reception. We have been busy making sandcastles and ice creams in the sandpit, making cards and pictures and enjoying playing in our outdoor area. We are also pleased to tell you that Reception children have been really good at remembering their manners in the dinner hall and have got to grips with lunchtime routines. The children have managed well with this week and continue to settle in nicely.
Reminder: Next Monday 18th September is our first PE lesson and PE will occur every Monday morning thereafter. Please ensure that children are wearing blue/black joggers or shorts, a plain white t-shirt, trainers and a blue hoodie. Please remove earrings on PE days and tie long hair up.
Just a reminder that children have snack in school so do not need to bring any food in bookbags. Please ensure water only is in water bottles. We will be starting milk soon with more information to follow.
We are starting a new topic on toys next week. If parents have any ‘old’ or interesting toys from when they were children, please bring them into school next week so we can show the children. We are comparing toys from the past with toys today. They won’t be put out for general play and we will be returned by the end of the topic.
Housekeeping - please label all items of clothing that come into school, including water bottles, PE Hoodies and jumpers.
We wish you all a lovely weekend.
Best Wishes
Apple Class Team
8.09.23
Hello!
A warm welcome to Reception Apple classes and to Rufford Park Primary if you are new to our school. On this weekly blog we will aim to update you with news, information and photos of the children.
Now you have activated your child's Tapestry account you can see all the things that your child is doing whilst at school. Please keep checking regularly on our blog as well as on Tapestry for the latest updates and housekeeping notifications. This week we have sent you a memo with information regarding P.E and other routines.
We have had a lovely first few days and the children have settled in very well. They have all been busy exploring their new classroom and meeting new friends. On Friday the children stayed for lunch, and all did brilliantly making their choices at the hatch, carrying their own trays and managing their cutlery. There were lots of clean plates!
Next week the children start attending school for full days as from Monday. The school day is 8:50am to 3:20pm.
Have a super weekend and we will see you all next week!
Best wishes
Apple Class Team
