Friday 19th December

Special visitor

This afternoon, to end a wonderful festive period in school, we had a very special visit from Santa Claus, who brought gifts for the children. What a treat! 

Wednesday 17th December

Christmas Lunch

We had a great time enjoying Christmas lunch together with the rest of the school. We sang songs, pulled crackers and had yummy cake and custard for dessert! 

Tuesday 16th December

Christmas Party

This afternoon we enjoyed a disco in the hall with our friends from around school. We listened to the music, looked at the bright lights and interacted with others. What fun we had!

Monday 15th December

Hartfields Christmas Carols 

This morning we joined the residents at Hartfields for a Christmas sing-a-long. We performed some classic songs and had a lovely time socialising with the residents. 

Thursday 11th December 

Christmas Performance

This week we performed our song 'Santa Claus is coming to Town' on stage for all our families in the school Christmas show! We were fabulous! Look how smart we are! 

Wednesday 10th December

Today we explored the decorations and put them on the angel brought in by one of the children - thank you mum! We enjoyed looking at and feeling the different pieces and choosing which one we wanted to add to the angel tree. 

Over the past few weeks we have been preparing for Christmas with lots of crafts and sensory fun. We have made cards, calendars and some lovely decorations. We can't wait to share them with our families.

Monday 8th December

Today we enjoyed a fresh morning walk to Ward Jackson park where we fed the ducks and had a sneak peek in Santa's grotto in the cafe. 

Friday 5th December

Sensory Fayre

This morning we had a load of fun in the hall exploring the Sensory Fayre and all it had to offer. We explored a range of sensory materials, created some special reindeer dust to sprinkle on the lawn on Christmas Eve and had our feet painted to create a beautiful piece of art work (which will be sent home before the end of term)!

Thursday 4th December

We made chocolate brownie reindeer today in sensory cookery. We did lots of work on colour and some of us helped to match the smarties to the correct coloured cup. 

Wednesday 3rd December

Decorating the tree

Today we made choices about which baubles we wanted to put on to the Christmas tree. We explored with our eyes and our hands and then worked together to place them on the tree. Didn't we do a fabulous job!?

Thursday 27th November

This week we created salt dough star tree decorations and decorated them ready to be put up on the tree in St Hild's church. What a great job we did!

Tuesday 25th November 

Today we had lots of sensory fun moving along the 'bubble path'. We stilled and listened as the wheels of our chairs rolled over and popped the bubble wrap. We talked about all the things it sounded like; popcorn, thunder, fireworks... 

Monday 24th November

This morning we had a trip to the town to see the beginnings of the Christmas decorations in the shopping centre. We loved looking at the lights of the huge Christmas tree - we even got to stand inside and see the twinkling lights! It was magical!

21st November 

This week we have been working hard in Lion Class to work towards our individual targets. We have shown and developed our exploration, anticipation, perseverance, initiation and realisation skills across a range of activities and experiences. 

Wednesday 19th November

Musical Play 

We took part in a musical play session this afternoon - exploring and having lots of fun with a range of musical instruments. 

Monday 17th November

Thank you to the parents and carers who were able to join us on Monday to help develop our outdoor spaces by planting lots and lots of trees. We hope you enjoyed the well deserved cuppa and biscuits after!

Thursday 13th November

Gingerbread Baking

This week in Cookery we made gingerbread men and trees and communicated our choice of how to decorate them. 

Week Commencing Monday 10th November

On Monday we visited the Cenotaph in the town centre to pay our respects to the fallen soldiers and look at all of the beautiful poppy wreaths. On Tuesday we created poppy art work and explored red sensory materials. We observed the 2 minute silence at 11am and listened to the sounds of Big Ben and the bugle call. 

Friday 7th November

Good as Gold

To end a wonderful week in Lion Class, we joined the rest of school for a Celebration Assembly where the 3 Lion children received a 'Good as Gold' sticker for their hard work! WELL DONE, EVERYONE!

Thursday 6th November

Hartfields' Halloween Treats

The residents of Hartfields Retirement Village love to see the children when we visit and decided to treat them for Halloween. Today we managed to meet up with Marilyn and Fran who very kindly put them together, even creating the gift bags themselves. We are so lucky! 

Thank You both!

Thursday 6th November

Cookery - Bonfire Cupcakes

Today we put into practise our learning from the hand washing session earlier in the week. Once we were ready, we explored the ingredients and took turns to mix. Look at the final product - we are so proud of our efforts!

Week Commencing 3rd November

Bonfire Night Fun

This week we have been celebrating Bonfire Night in school - exploring colour and sound with a range of media and materials. 

Wednesday 5th November 

We have had a great time in Hydrotherapy this week - some of us experienced Springwell pool for the first time and absolutely loved it! The water helps to relax our muscles and the close interaction with familiar adults provides a great opportunity for us to develop our communication skills. 

Tuesday 4th November 

Hand Hygiene Session

This afternoon we had a visit from the school nurse to teach us about the importance of hand hygiene. We listened to a great story about why it is important for everyone to keep their hands clean and then we took part in a little experiment to look for germs on our hands. We then washed our hands with soap and water and looked again under the special light. We could see the germs had gone!

Monday 3rd November

Central Library Storytime

This morning on our bus trip we headed to the Library in the town centre to join the community for a Storytime session. We joined Joanna for a story and sang some familiar songs, making lots of noise with instruments!

WC 20th October

Halloween fun

Throughout the week we have been taking part in lots of fun sensory Halloween activities!

Tuesday 21st October

Lions enjoyed relaxation and foot spas this morning !

Friday 17th October

To end a wonderful week in Lion Class, we headed out for some fresh air this afternoon to a small local park. We listened to the crunch as we rode through the piles of autumn leaves that have fallen from the trees! 

Thursday 16th October

Pumpkin Soup 

We had an amazing sensory experience today making pumpkin soup; the classroom was full of fantastic aromas that we thoroughly enjoyed exploring. 

Wednesday 15th October

'On Halloween Night'; A sensory story

As we move closer to Halloween, we have been listening to a spooky sensory story, exploring the props and anticipating what comes next. We worked hard to demonstrate our want to continue exploring favoured objects and we were very clear in our responses when we didn't particularly like a stimulus. 

Tuesday 14th October

Halloween Exploration

Today we explored a range of Halloween resources and toys and made choices about which items we wanted to explore and wear. 

Monday 13th October

Bus trip to the pet shop

We went out on the bus this morning to Pets At Home to see the animals they have for sale. We saw lots of fish, gerbils and rats. We also listened to the crickets - they were very loud!

Tuesday 7th October

Number Nursery Rhymes

We have been listening to number nursery rhymes and counting the objects as we go. 

Friday 3rd October 

World Smile Day

Today we were super happy to be in school celebrating 'World Smile Day'. We often have lots of smiles and laughs in Lions Class. Here are a few of those moments...

Thursday 2nd October

Autumn Walk

This afternoon we headed out for some fresh air and to look for signs of Autumn. We noticed the changing colours of leaves on the trees. We even spotted and explored a conker. 

Tuesday 30th September

Walking Water

As part of our topic of 'Colour' we wanted to try the 'walking water' experiment. We used red, yellow and blue food colouring with kitchen roll. We watched as the coloured water was soaked up through the kitchen roll and the colours began to mix, making new colours!

Thursday 25th September

Colour mixing gloop

Today we had lots of sensory fun exploring colour mixing with gloop. We used our eye gaze to choose which colours to mix together and used our hands to mix and move the gloop around the tray. 

Week Commencing 22nd September

Strengthening our lower body through standing

Throughout each week we spend time in our standing frames, completing a range of fun activities linked to our targets. We love making marks on the interactive whiteboard and exploring sensory toys, making choices to indicate our preferred items. 

Wednesday 24th September

Switch work colour activities 

We explored and created colourful images on the interactive whiteboard using the Helpkidzlearn activities. We used the switch to create different patterns and are beginning to understand that our actions can create an effect. 

Tuesday 23rd September

Brown Bear art work 

We worked hard to make different shades of brown to create our own bear art work. 

Week Commencing 22nd September

Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do you see?

We have been listening to the story and exploring the props over the past few weeks. We have been developing exploration and anticipation skills through the repeated exposure to the story and props. 

Thursday 18th September

Chocolate crispy cakes

We had lots of fun in Cookery today using a switch to operate the microwave to melt the chocolate. We used our senses to explore the smell of the different chocolate, the noise the different cereals make and we watched each other as we took turns to mix the ingredients. 

Tuesday 16th September

Exploring Colour Mixing

This morning we conducted a science experiment all about colour. We added drops of food colouring to milk and used cotton buds to dip some washing up liquid into the mixture. The hope was for the colours to mix and swirl as the washing up liquid was added - this didn't quite happen like we thought it would. We will be trying this experiment again soon but with whole milk this time - let's see if that makes a difference... 

Physical Therapies

We take part in weekly Hydrotherapy and Rebound sessions which are perfect for us to relax our bodies and enjoy some 1-1 interaction time with familiar adults. We use this time to develop our communication skills to ask for more, to finish the activity or to let the adult know how we feel about our experience. Some of us love high bounces, while others might prefer more gentle, low bounces. We work hard to communicate our wants and likes!

Wednesday 10th September

Library Rhyme Time

We will be visiting Throston Library fortnightly for a special Rhythm and Rhyme time where we listen to stories and play along to the nursery rhymes with musical instruments. We love music in Lions Class!

Wednesday 10th September

Our first Assembly of the year involved a fun-filled session outdoors where we all had the opportunity to ride on the merry-go-round. We also explored a range of colour themed sensory resources. 

Thursday 4th September

Over the next few weeks we will be focusing on the colour brown, linked to our focus text of 'Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?' Today we baked brown bread, exploring the ingredients using all our senses. 

Wednesday 3rd September

We created our very own hand print art work to mark our first day of a new year; some of us beginning yet another year at Springwell with others just beginning their school journey. We loved the feel of the paint as it was brushed on to our fingers and hands.