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Stars – Reception

Mrs Waller and Mrs Shelton (Class Teachers)

Ms Brougham and Mrs Hill (Support Staff)

Autumn 2018

What a lovely start to the new school year we have had in Stars class!  It has been an absolute pleasure to get to know our new starters and they have done so well.  The children have picked up the school routines quickly, they have made new friends and perhaps most importantly, they have had lots of fun!

We have kicked off the school year with a topic about Elmer and have enjoyed listening to Elmer stories.  We have talked about how he is different to his friends and related that to ourselves.  Using the children’s ideas, we moved on to celebrating Birthdays and planning parties.   The children have worked hard to count the people at their party, decorate our role play area so the animals can have a Birthday feast and write invitations to invite people to our party.

Stars class will continue to work as a team to plan the topics which will come next and we are all excited about the learning opportunities this will bring, both inside and outside of our classroom.

Summer 2018

It has been lovely to come back to some sunshine! Stars class have been making the most of the weather in our outside learning environment.  They have been directing their own learning and coming up with their own ideas.  For example, the children have been making potions in the mud kitchen, creating their own obstacle courses and building in the construction area.

We have kicked off this term by learning about “Dinosaurs” and have been sharing what we already know, learning facts about the different types of dinosaurs and reading a range of books about dinosaurs.  We have been writing our own stories based on the book, “Harry and the Bucketful of Dinosaurs”.  Harry has been on all sorts of adventures, including going to the funfair, soft play and space!  The children have also painted pictures of dinosaurs, made their own model dinosaurs and dug for dinosaur fossils in the sand.

Our dinosaur topic has lead onto us enjoying a wide range of topics related to the overall theme of the “World Around Us”.  We have learnt about minibeasts and looked for them in their habitats.  Stars class loved their outdoor learning session with the Wildlife Trust where they used nets to catch minibeasts in the grass to help identify them.

After learning about minibeasts, one of the children suggested we learnt about pets.  We have pretended to be vets in our pet role play area, brought in photos of our pets for a display and written letters to the zoo to ask for our own pets, based on the story “Dear Zoo” by Rod Campbell.

Spring 2018

The children have all come back refreshed and ready to learn after the Christmas holidays.  It has been fantastic to hear about the exciting things they have been up to with their families.  Our topics this term will be focused on the theme of “Celebrations”.  We will be learning about celebrations within different cultures, for example Chinese New Year, as well as finding out about how Christians celebrate Easter.  The theme will also incorporate celebrating new life when we have some ducklings coming to stay! As well as this, we will celebrate our favourite books around World Book Day.

Stars Class were very excited to have a whole day of cooking at school with the cooks from “Alphabake Cooking School”.  The children learnt about safety in the kitchen, how to cut vegetables carefully and how to mix ingredients to make their own meal.  Each child took a pasta bake and some banana muffins home for their tea.  We hope they enjoyed them and shared some with their family!

We loved having ducklings to stay in our classroom.  Eggs were delivered and we waited patiently until they hatched.  Luckily for us, we didn’t have to wait too long until the first egg started to crack and a baby duck poked its head out! Five ducks hatched and we were able to move them from their incubator into the bigger cage. The ducks grew bigger and stronger and we were able to hold them and watch them swim.  We enjoyed basing our learning on “Ducklings” and “Life Cycles” and shared this confidently in our class assembly.  Our duckling paintings are now displayed in our classroom.

Autumn 2017

Welcome to Stars class!  The children have made a fantastic start to school life and are enjoying their new experiences.  They are making friends with each other, being polite to all of the staff and showing care for the school environment.  In the classroom, the children have created a class gallery of their self-portraits and they are working very hard in their lessons.  Outside of the classroom, the children are sharing the equipment nicely and using their imagination to create exciting games and activities.  What a great start to the school year!

 

In Stars Class, the children choose the topics that they would like to learn about.  They have had some fantastic ideas already and these have included “Birthdays”, “Transport” and “Superheroes”.  The children have made their own vehicles using junk modelling resources, dressed up as superheroes and created their own healthy party plates.
We have also been learning about different festivals and special days that children in our class celebrate at home.  Our Harvest version of “Old MacDonald had a farm” went really well when we performed it to our parents and carers in assembly.  We have also learnt all about Diwali and brought in a range of things that light up which showed how we might celebrate the “Festival of Light”.  We have talked about our own experiences of Bonfire Night and how we can stay safe around fireworks, as well as drawing our own firework pictures.  As Christmas is fast approaching, we have been learning about Advent and the Nativity story.