S

Welcome to Starfish class page!

(Reception)

We are a kind and happy class who welcome you into our classroom to share our lovely learning.

These are the people who help us learn in Starfish

 

Mrs Eldred Class teacher	Mrs Rente Teaching Assistant

Miss Bondar Teaching Assistant (am)

 

If you need to contact Mrs Eldred, please email: starfish@maybury.surrey.sch.uk 

**Please click here for Starfish Home Learning**

 

Our PE day is on Friday.  Please come to school in your PE kit on a Friday.

 

Stay and Play is on every Monday morning, 8.35am to 8.55am 

 

December 2024

The Life Space

Harold the giraffe came to school to teach us how we can keep healthy. He told us we need to eat healthy food, get lots of exercise (an hour a day) and lots of sleep (12 hours a night). Did you know we grow when we are asleep?

.   

Harold reminded us about the importance of brushing our teeth after breakfast and before we go to bed and washing our hands before eating and after going to the toilet.

November 2024

Stay and Play Sessions

Today we had our first Stay and Play session in Starfish Class.  Lots of Mummies and Daddies came to play and help us with our learning.

            . 

Play and Stay sessions are every Monday from 8.35am to 8.55am.  It is a fantastic opportunity to see what your child is learning at school.  Please come along and join in with us whenever you can.

Little Street

Starfish had lots of fun on their first school trip to Little Street.  They got to dress up and pretend to be lots of different people within our community.  The children were so well-behaved, and we were so proud of them all.  The staff at Little Street also commented on how well-behaved our children were.  They were great ambassadors for our school.

Take a look at what we got up to...

We got to be the shopkeeper and go shopping for our tea.

    .   

We also got to be the doctor and the patients.

. . . 

Some of us were builders.

    

Some of us dressed up and put on a show.

. 

Some of us chose to be farmers and look after the animals. 

.   

We enjoyed driving the cars around the road, and we got a drink.

. 

Life stages

We have been reading 'As we Grow' and have been exploring what happens as we get older.  The children have been naming and ordering the different life stages.

 

 

Some children ordered the dolls house people and noticed that the elderly people had grey hair and the man had gone bald and lost some of his hair.

 

 

Some children ordered the different life stages outside from baby, toddler, child, teenager, adult to elderly.  The children noticed that the elderly man had a walking stick to help him walk.  We talked about how when we were a baby we couldn't walk, then we learnt as a toddler,  got better and faster as we became a child, teenager and adult but then needed help as we got older again.

        

The children have also been comparing themselves now to when they were a baby.  Wow, we have learnt to do lots of things.  We can now walk, talk, run, jump, eat, drink from a cup, sleep in a bed, learn our sounds and use them to read words.  The list goes on and on....

 

Remembrance Day

The children in Starfish Class remembered the brave soldiers that fought and died in the war.  We talked about the poppies that people wear to remember the brave soldiers.  The children decided to make their own poppies to help them remember and say thank you.  We also observed 2 minutes silence to remember them.

  . 

Autumn

Autumn Walk

Starfish went on a walk looking for signs of autumn.  We have learnt that in the autumn the weather gets cooler, and we start to need to wear a coat.  It can be quite a windy time of year too.  The leaves on the trees change colour and then fall to the ground.  

We learnt a poem about the leaves falling in autumn.

Leaves are falling, leaves are falling.

One fell on my nose.

Leaves are falling, leaves are falling.

One fell on my toes.

Leaves are falling, leaves are falling.

One fell on my head

Leaves are falling, leaves are falling.

Yellow, orange, red.

 

We read the story of Leaf Man and used the autumn leaves to make our own leaf people.

.   

October 2024

International week

​

 

The week before half-term was international week.  The children enjoyed learning about the country, Belgium.  They particularly enjoyed cooking and tasting Belgium waffles and dressing up in the colours of the Belgium flag..​

    

. . 

 

We found Belgium on a world map and the globe and discussed how we would travel to Belgium.

 

We found out that football is a popular sport in Belgium, and it is where The Smurfs came from.  In Belgium, people speak French, German and Dutch.

 

Belgium is famous for Belgium chocolate, Belgium chocolate and fries with mayonnaise - yummy!

 

The children in Starfish are really enjoying their phonics learning and are excited every morning to find out what sound they are learning each day.  The children have enjoyed practising their sounds as they play in our school role play being the teacher and engaging in the activities in the classroom..

. . 

 

In maths, we have introduced children to subitising, an essential maths skill for developing composition of numbers.  The children use their 'fast eyes' to say the amount of objects/dots they see, they don't count and  also represent each amount on their fingers.

 Subitising and copying dice patterns.

​

Have a go at home. 

"Fast eyes, don't count, say the amount!

Saying what you notice, 'I have 3 dinosaurs', 'I see 1 cherry on the cake', 'The car has 4 wheels, 2 here and 2 here'.

The children are really enjoying taking turns on our interactive whiteboard, where they are learning to play games and draw by clicking on icons to make things happen.

    

Practise i p n g o at home.  Click on the QR codes to watch videos with Fred the Frog.  The codes will expire in December.

Protected Characteristics

This month we have been reading the book 'You Choose'.  This is one of our 'Protected Characteristic' books which promotes children saying what they think and having a choice. 

We have also been talking about keeping safe when we are 'online' and enjoyed discussing what "clicking chicken' got up to on the computer.  

One night, Chick hops into the farmer's house and has a browse on his computer - CLICK - soon she's shopping online for the whole farm! But when she arranges to meet up with a friend she's made online, she discovers all is not as it seems...

More sounds to practise at home.  The link runs out in December 2024

September 2024

Welcome back and welcome to our new children and families.  The children in Starfish Class are settling in very well to life at school, exploring their new classroom and garden, learning our new routines, making new friends and are developing their listening skills, which are so important for learning.

The children have adapted to having lunch at school really well, trying new foods and trying to use their knives and forks.  I have never seen so many clean plates!

See photos below of our happy, settled children.

  

 

We have begun our phonics learning in Starfish Class.  Below are QR codes to some videos that will help to reinforce the sounds we have learnt this week.  These links will be valid until 31 Dec 2024.

Phonics learning

Clear pronunciation of sounds is extremely important when teaching phonics. This video will demonstrate how to say sounds clearly.  Click the link below.

How to pronounce sounds RWI

Here is a useful video for you, to help you know how to support your child at home with their first stages of reading.  Children need to learn many things such as their phonic sounds and being able to use 'Fred Talk' before bringing home a reading book from school.
Any questions about reading and reading books please ask me directly.
Thank you.
Mrs Eldred

Click on the link below to find out more about our phonics teaching at Maybury.  

A Parents Guide to Read Write Inc Phonics