LONG BUCKBY INFANT SCHOOL
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Starfish & Shark Classes ![]()
Welcome to the Starfish and Shark Classes page!
The Starfish Class is taught by Mrs Musgrove and the Shark Class is taught by Mrs Wall but most of the time we all work together.
Term 5 - Ahoy There!
After the Easter holiday, we had not been back at school for very long when one of our lessons was interrupted by loud noises coming from our outdoor area. We went outside to see what it was and there were two pirates! They were filling up their treasure chest with all our toys. We told them to put them back but they said they needed to replace the treasure that was stolen from them before their captain found out. Eventually we came to an agreement with the pirates; they would leave our toys at school if we made them a very shiny crown for them to give to their captain. They said they would come back to choose the best one when we had finished making them. So we look forward to another visit from them soon.
The pirates left us a book all about pirates which we have enjoyed reading. We have been doing lots of activities such as making and tasting pirate grog, making a long plank and walking it, testing objects to see if they float or sink and acting/dressing up. These activities have helped us learn about pirates and to imagine what it would be like to be a pirate. We have transformed our role play areas so that one is now a pirate ship and the other is a pirate health centre.
Look at the leaflet about our topic by clicking on the link below:
Term 3 and 4 - Chilly Chilly!
Our topic started with a very chilly, nippy classroom. What had happened and why was it so cold? The children started to investigate.
The children decided that Jack Frost had been up to mischief in our classrooms and had worked his magic and true enough when we went into the playground, there was a book about him hanging up in the tree. The children came up with super ideas about how we could reach the book and Lani made a set of steps out of blocks to help us.
We couldn't wait to read the book and inside we discovered a silver ticket from Jack Frost telling us that we were going ice-skating on Monday. A huge cheer went up! So off we went and had a fantastic time.
We were really proud of all of the children for persevering at a tricky activity and for encouraging their friends. We received lots of comments about how well the children behaved throughout the trip.
We have started to make a 'chilly word wall' in the classrooms to help us remember interesting vocabulary for our topic.
We thought about appropriate colours that we could use to make cold Jack Frost pictures. What do you think of them?
We had fun creating sledges for a small penguin, using the junk modelling materials. When we had finished making them, we tested our sledges on a ramp to see if the penguin would fall out or stay safe inside and to see how well they slid.
We have been writing poems about snow, thinking about different words to describe it. We thought of words such as: soft, chilly, fun, crunchy and cold.
At the end of the Jack Frost book, the boy finds a snow drop growing on the ground. We created our own snowdrop pictures using different techniques such as chalk and collage. We had a wonderful time preparing for an art cafe for our families to come and see our work. We created invitations, bunting, table cloths and table centrepieces and when it was all put together it looked amazing! We were so excited to share what we had been doing with everyone who came to our art cafe.
Look at the leaflet about our topic by clicking on the link below:
Term 2 - Let's Celebrate!
We have been learning about autumn and the changes that we can see. We went on a walk to Mill Park to sing some autumn songs and do some activities such as bark rubbing and leaf snap. We have also learnt about how some people celebrate Diwali. We have made diva lamps using play dough and clay, designed some mendhi patterns, made rangoli patterns, enjoyed Indian stick dancing and learnt a new song.
We looked carefully at a pumpkin and sketched what we saw using sketching lines. We learnt about technology in school and used the photocopier to take 3 copies of our work. We painted one copy and used pastel crayons to decorate another. Then we had some tricky work to do by ourselves - we had to cut out and mount our own work! What do you think?
Our friends Skip (the scared monkey) and Bounce (the brave monkey) have been helping us learn how to write letters. We have been saying the movements as we do them such as: "Down, bump, back up, push over, down, bump, flick" for the letter h. We have made the letters with our arms on a large scale, in sand trays with our fingers and on whiteboards with pens.
Look at the leaflet about our topic by clicking on the link below:
Term 1 - Magical Me
We have settled in to school really well and we have been learning all about ourselves and our friends. We made some funny shark pictures and colourful starfish!
We went on a walk to Gretta's garden where we picked lots of fruit and vegetables. See the photos in our gallery below.
Look at the leaflet about our topic by clicking on the link below:
Ways you can help your child at home:
- You could sing along to the Jolly Phonics songs
- Play on the Phonics Play games together (we are currently working on phase 1 and 2)
- Practise the key words in your child's reading record
- Read to your child or hear them read for 5 minutes every day
- Look at the topic leaflets for activities to do at home
- Practise your child's targets with them (these were given out at parent's evening)
Anything you do with your child at home makes a huge difference and we really appreciate your support!