Spring
Week Commencing 31st March and 7th March
Sensory Story of the Week: Webster Witch’s Wacky Weather 🌪️🧙♀️
Love of Reading: The Gruffalo 🐻🐭📖
Colour of the Week: Brown
Number of the Week: 2️⃣
Over the last two weeks of term we enjoyed exploring our story of the week in an interactive way. All of the children enjoyed using their senses as they explored the 'Gruffalo Crumble' alongside a variety of textures objects and food sources.
The children all had a fabulous time during their hydrotherapy sessions as they worked on their individual targets.
Additionally, we have continued to work on our personal social and emotional development as we enjoyed and embraced turn taking activities and working alongside one another! Through engaging games and activities, we have been promoting communication skills. This includes through turn-taking opportunities, playing alongside others and through intensive interactions.
We had a great time completing all of our Easter crafts and activities and we hope that you have a wonderful break!
Week Commencing 24th March
Sensory Story of the Week: Webster Witch’s Wacky Weather 🌪️🧙♀️
Love of Reading: The Gruffalo 🐻🐭📖
Colour of the Week: Black ⚫
Number of the Week: 2️⃣
This week we really enjoyed sharing an assembly with Lion class and welcoming some of our family into school. The assembly was lots of fun and we loved seeing you all, we hope you enjoyed it too!
We also had a visit to summer hill were the children practiced their communication and interaction skills by using PECs to select their preferred snack choice. During our visit everyone enjoyed working on their gross motor skills.
During Attention Autism, we have began to explore the Gruffalo. Each day we have explored a range of props, toys and activities through the attention autism stages in relation to each part of the Gruffalo story.
Week Commencing 17th March
Sensory Story of the Week: Webster Witch’s Wacky Weather 🌪️🧙♀️
Love of Reading: Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See? 🐼📖
Colour of the Week: 💚 Green
Number of the Week: 1️⃣
This week we celebrated the first days of spring by embracing the season with outdoor activities and a wonderful visit to The Dutch Garden Centre. 🌷During our visit, the children practiced their communication and interaction skills by using PECs to select their preferred snack choice. Additionally, we received a generous donation of plants. Later, the children enjoyed planting some herbs in our garden.
During Attention Autism, we continued to develop joint attention and engagement. Charmaine created a beautiful 'spring tree' we were all captivated by the process! 🌷🌳
In Stage 3 Attention Autism, the children participated in a fun and engaging rainbow dance. 🌈
This activity allowed them to express themselves creatively while enhancing their motor skills and coordination. The vibrant and energetic nature of the rainbow dance captured their attention and made learning enjoyable, reinforcing the skills we've been developing in a playful way.
Week Commencing 10th March
Sensory Story of the Week: Webster Witch’s Wacky Weather 🌪️🧙♀️
Love of Reading: Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See? 🐼📖
Colour of the Week: 💚 Green
Number of the Week: 1️⃣
This week, we focused on gross motor skills during soft play and outdoor activities, helping to build strength and coordination. 🏃♂️🎾
We worked on communication systems and encouraged the use of PECS to support the development of our communication and interaction skills. 💬📸
During Attention Autism, we counted 1, 2, 3 elephants 🐘🐘🐘, and some children had fun helping to clean the messy elephants! In Stage 3 Attention Autism, the children took turns planting their own sunflowers. This sensory experience provided children with a rich learning opportunity by engaging their senses, developing motor skills, providing visual learning, promoting social interactions and fostering an understanding of nature. 🌻🌱
We also had a fantastic time celebrating the Holi Festival with powder paints and a colourful baking activity, bringing lots of joy and creativity! 🎨🎂
To top it all off, we captured some cheeky selfies and had lots of fun together! 📸😁
Week Commencing 3rd March
Sensory Story of the Week: Webster Witch 🧙♀️✨
Love of Reading: Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See? 🐼📖
Colour of the Week: ❤️ Red
Number of the Week: 1️⃣
An exciting first week back for Elephant class! This week has been filled with captivating activities centered around sensory experiences and a love for reading!
We had an exciting visit to Tweddle Farm, where the children loved meeting the animals and exploring the farm! The story linked to many of of wonderful stories shared this week supporting the children to create connections and real-life experiences.🐄🐑🐰
We also celebrated World Book Day by exploring our favourite books all week, encouraging a love of reading through a combination of storytelling, sensory activities and art. Attention Autism Approach was used to retell the story of 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar.' Our week has included multiple opportunities for sensory experiences where the children explored different foods from stories through touch, smell and taste. They also had the chance to jump in muddy puddles like Peppa Pig!📚🎉
Happy Half Term Elephants! We hope you all enjoy your time off!
Week Commencing 17th February - Elephant class have had a very exciting week this week! The children enjoyed our "Webster Witches Wacky Weather" sensory story as well well as our weekly "On the Moon" love of reading story. During maths we enjoyed exploring the colour orange and singing our rhyme of the week - 2 little men in a flying saucer. Throughout the week, the children have been working on their communication skills using PECS, more switches, Makaton, gestures and more. It’s wonderful to see their confidence grow! They also had lots of fun discovering new textures and objects in our curiosity boxes. In art and DT we made and used wind socks, learning about movement and the weather. Some special visitors visited us this week to support us in developing our understanding and reinforcing the importance of handwashing, we all really enjoyed examining the dirt on our hands! ☔ Adventures in the Rain: This week brought the rainiest day of the year so far! We embraced it with a wet and wonderful walk, and some children enjoyed splashing in puddles. This was a great opportunity for the children to engage their senses, develop an understanding of nature and social skills whilst playing and experiencing the rain. In addition to this we created some joyful memories, promoted emotional resilience and developed an understanding of why Webster Witch stays in bed!
Week Commencing 10th February - Elephant class have had a wonderful week! We have continued to explore the fascinating story "On the Moon" and "Webster Witches Wacky Weather." Within maths our rhyme of the week was "2 little men in a flying saucer", our colour of the week was red. The children particularly enjoyed going on a colour walk within the local community, searching for red items. We saw numerous items including, doors, house numbers, signs and cars, it was a fun learning experience! Additionally, we continued to focus on communication and turn-taking through various indoor ball games, rhyme time interactions and PEC symbol exchanges which helped the children develop their social skills while having fun. Finally, our time at the park allowed for active play and exploration, further enhancing physical skills and turn taking skills.
Week commencing 3rd February - This week we introduced a new sensory story which we will continue to explore weekly until half term, "Webster Witches Wacky Weather." The new sensory story has been a hit with the children as they have loved exploring different weather phenomena through interactive multi-sensory experiences. Our new weekly love of reading story is "On the Moon," supporting children to spark curiosity about space and the wonders beyond our planet. We also celebrated Number Day with lots of outdoor sensory fun, allowing the children to engage with numbers in a playful and interactive way. We thank you all for your support and donations!
Week commencing 27th January - This week has been a vibrant and engaging week for Elephant class! Our story of the week was 'Elmer's Weather,' which supported our sensory exploration, activities and play. In line with this, our colour of the week was red, and the children enjoyed various activities related to this bright hue. We continued our Chinese New Year celebrations with a range of arts and crafts activities and tasting Chinese fortune cookies, noodles and prawn crackers. Additionally, we enjoyed celebrating another class birthday with a mini birthday party!
Week commencing 20th January - This week we introduced and explored a new story "Elmer in the Snow," which has captivated the children's imagination as they learn about winter and snow. Our colour of the week remains to be blue, allowing us to dive deeper into its various shades. We've also had a lot of fun with our "Squiggle While You Wiggle" activities, encouraging movement and creativity. Additionally, sensory activities focused on weather and seasons have provided hands-on learning experiences for the children.
Week commencing 13th January - This week we continued our focus story 'Polar Bear, Polar Bear What do you hear?' and our colour of the week continues to be 'blue'. The children particularly enjoyed exploring various sensory materials which linked to the story. During our sensory exploration, we explored ice. This was a fascinating experience which provided the children the wonderful opportunity to learn about the colour blue, the science behind ice and its connections to winter.
Week Commencing 6th January- A very busy week in Elephants, learning all about our new story “Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?”. During maths this week we were excited to explore the colour blue! We will be incorporating various activities that highlight the colour blue. The children also enjoyed an outdoor sensory assembly exploring a range of sensory materials which link to this terms extreme earth topic.
