We are an Year 1/Year 2 class with 10 children.
In our class we have five members of staff.
Jo is our teacher.
Catasha, Emma, Kathryn and Julie are the Teaching Assistants.
Sarah will cover PPA on alternative Mondays.
Our extra curriculum activities are as follows:
Monday- Bus trips (AM) every other week and Swimming (PM) on a rota.
Tuesday/Wednesday- Lightroom (PM)
Thursday - Soft play/Tyre park (PM)
Friday - Hall/P.E (AM) and Soft Play (PM)
Learning also takes place in our outdoor areas.
Pupils progress will be tracked via Evisense, parents will receive a log in to access the learning updates. If you are struggling to access this, please contact Jo or the office for support.
Houses.
During each area of our curriculum this half term we will be looking at;
Art-
- Draw our own houses / Card rubbing of house shapes.
- Printing - mono prints.
- Making houses with different materials.
- Looking at how different artists portray house.
- Making Easter cards.
- Decorating Easter baskets.
Computing-
- Theme - Digital writing.
- Exploring the keyboard
- To use a computer to write
- Use of cause and effect toys.
- Explore a range of tactile letter resources.
- Explore mark making and using tools with play dough.
Design Technology-
- Cooking and nutrition- Porridge and Gingerbread
- Feeling textures, wet and dry.
- Tasting porridge with and without flavours.
- Explore oats in a sensory tray.
- Understanding where food comes from.
- Make a 2D representation of houses by drawing or collaging.
- Practice placing the furniture in the correct rooms when exploring small world.
- Junk modelling.
Geography-
- Locations/Place knowledge. - Finding similarities and differences from the UK to another none European country.
- Identify seasons and daily weather patterns of the UK and identify hot and cold places.
- Continue to develop play based outdoor skills, linking to night and day/light and dark.
- Building dens, use fairy lights/ glow in the dark toys.
- Look at homes around the world.
- Visit Cheshire Falconry and experience the owls.
History-
- To continue to explore and celebrate personal history events such as birthday's and seasonal changes.
- To explore parts of the home in small world play.
- to hold different appliances old and new linked to the home.
- To look at photos of own family. explore family small world.
- Look at changes in the family e.g. new baby, new pet etc.
Music- Unit 5 Introducing March.
- To move coactively or independently.
- Move with the beat.
- Make eye contact towards instruments and staff.
- Begin to make choices independently.
- Play with awareness of style.
PE-
- Explore space and spatial awareness.
- Follow adult instruction.
- Maintain balance.
- Counter balance with a partner.
PSHE-
Science-
Religious Education
Here are some different resources to try if we do find ourselves having to stay at home.
Here are some different resources to try if we do find ourselves having to stay at home.
- Routine. Some children in our class benefit from following a stable routine. Could you create a daily routine that helps your child through the day? (this can just be written and drew on a piece of paper- including visual images will help support your child's understanding). I.e. brush teeth (draw a picture of toothbrush), breakfast (draw a picture of cereal) etc.
- Turn taking/sharing. Learning to play and share with other children is a big aspect of our children's lives, as it is a tricky skill to learn. It is important to model good turn taking/sharing with your child. For example, 'first its ____ turn, then its my turn' (some children may not be ready for this, use your own judgement of their play skills).
- Modelling language. Show your child pictures of animals. As you say the animals name encourage your child to say the sound of the animal. Another example is exploring a sensory tray and discussing the feeling i.e. hard, soft, squishy etc.
- Filling tray up with foam/oats/sand etc, can your child write different letters of the alphabet in the sensory tray?
- Writing different letters onto blocks- can your child spell their name? Can they spell CVC words?
- Interactive stories i.e. the 3 little pigs using pig teddies or printed out pigs and wolf, sticks, straw and blocks to make a house
- Phonics baskets- a basket filled with a letter of the alphabet and different toys/objects that relate i.e. for P- pinecone, pen, panda, polar bear, peacock, Peter pan etc
- Mark making to trace letters
- Share your child’s favourite stories with them. Ask them to point to pictures in the story or to recall events that have happened. Encourage your child to turn the pages independently.
- Different number songs on YouTube (10 in the bed, 10 green bottles etc)
- Numbering blocks 1-10 for your child to place in order
- Sorting objects by- size, colour, what they are etc
- Number hunt- sensory bin activity I.e. blended cheerios, the child has to dig for different
- numbers in the sensory bin and name or explore the number as they are found
- Shapes hunt- finding different shapes around the house. ‘can you find me something that is a
- circle?’
- Measuring activities with different size straws- small, medium, big.
- Stacking activities
- Plastic plates with numbers 1-5 on, can the child place 1 pom pom on plate one, 2 pom poms on plate 2 etc. If the plates are different colours, will the child match the colour of the plate to the colour of the pom pom?
Vestibular (balance)
- Using a rocking chair to rock back and forth.
- Stretches- model this if your child will copy back. Make it fun!! For example- can you stretch to reach the dinosaur?
- Bouncing on a therapy ball.
- Row row row your boat.
- Playing on a swing.
- Swinging in a blanket (have your child lay in a blanket and have two adults hold each end and swing back and forth - always ensure the child wants to do this, can’t fall out and face isn’t covered)
- Balance board.
Auditory
- YouTube videos- ‘autism sensory meltdown’ provides different calming videos.
- Pans and spoons- bang the pans with your child.
- Plastic container (could a kinder egg container or plastic bottle etc)- fill with different things that make sound I.e. rice, coins, popcorn kernels.
- ‘Quiet area’- this could be a tent or somewhere at home that is quieter.
Visual
- Popping bubbles
- Make homemade lava lamps https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxAvnKutz2Y
- Sensory bottles- can be filled with paint, glitter, water + food colouring, pompoms etc (there are lots of ideas on Pinterest for this)
- Getting a big cardboard box and poking holes through the top for fairy lights to slot in
- Sand timers
- Sunglasses
- Kaleidoscope
Olfactory (smell)
- Filling up jars with different scents
- Using lavender (calming) body wash in a water tray to create bubbles.
- Adding different scents such as lavender oils to homemade playdoh.
Tactile (touch)
- Different food coloured cooked rice/spaghetti/ in a tray.
- Blending cheerios to make a sand texture (can be used with different animals in to act like the dessert)
- Under the sea animals frozen into ice
- Painting bubble wrap, waiting for it to dry and popping it.
- Putting different things into Ziploc bags i.e. paint, hair gel, foam and food colouring, pompoms etc- these can be attached to a piece of cardboard to create a sensory walk (lots of ideas on Pinterest under ‘sensory bag activities’)
Gustatory (taste)
- Chew tube
- Crunchy foods
- Drinking from a straw • Chewy sweets
- Vibrating toothbrush • Blowing bubbles.
Proprioception (body awareness)
- Body socks
- Stretches
- Rolling a therapy ball over your child’s body
- Trampette
- Push pull activities
- Bear hugs
- Chew tubes
- Play doh activities- doh disco on YouTube.
- Weighted vests (always ensure that it is to the correct weight for your childs size)
Easy baking ideas for children
- Make some chocolate angel delight and add farm animals to make a fun muddy sensory tray!
- easy chalk paint- water, food colouring and corn starch mixed together.
- play foam- soap, water, food colouring, blended together.
- slime- glue, baking soda, lens solution and food colouring.
- freeze some toy animals in water
Emotional well-being for children
- Making a worry monster.
- Make a happiness box- decorate it in all your favourite colours and crafts and place your favourite items inside.
- Experiments- put a mento in a coke bottle and watch it fizz. This is what can happen to us when our emotions get too much sometimes.
- Make a den.
- Adults, voice your emotions too. Children need to understand that sometimes adults can get upset and frustrated sometimes, but we need to do something positive to help us regulate our emotions again i.e. 'loosing this game has made me really sad, I'm going to play with ___ to make me happy again'.
- Space. Sometimes children need some space to regulate their emotions independently (Always ensure your child is safe doing this, your own judgement is key).
- Get 2 circle pieces of paper, decorate them with happy and sad faces. Attach to lollipop sticks and allow your child to voice their emotions using them. Sometimes it can be tricky to tell someone how you feel.
Adults emotional well-being
Just a reminder that you are all doing a fantastic job with your children at home, their pictures have made us smile at how happy they are :) However, it is extremely important to take time to care for yourself too.
- Do something that makes you happy.
- Self care routine- getting yourself ready of a morning, calling a friend, going for a nice long walk, bubble baths are some ideas.
- Make sure you stay in contact with people that are close to you. It is important to remember that even though we cant see each other, a phone call, face-time or a text message can make the world of a difference.
- Learn a new skill, something you are proud to accomplish.
- Small acts of kindness can make us positive- thanking people for helping you, asking people how they're feeling etc.
- Pay attention to the present. In times like this it can be difficult to not think about how the next few months can look. Be mindful to your present thoughts and feelings and the people around you. Remember that this is not forever.
- Feelings song