Welcome to Zebra Class
Meet the Teaching Staff
Class Teacher: Sarah
HLTA: Jo
Teaching Assistants: Caitlin, Georgia, Hayley, Abbie, Cara
SPARKLE CURRICULUM
The children in Zebra class follow the 'SPARKLE CURRICULUM' which is delivered in a multi-sensory, creative way which enables pupils to access learning using their senses.
The SPARKLE CURRICULUM is:
· MOTIVATING Our pupils learn when they are interested, stimulated and engaged.
· RELEVANT It is relevant to the learning styles of the pupils and takes into account their prior knowledge and learning needs.
· CHALLENGING All teaching staff have high and realistic expectations of the pupils and with specialised, inclusive teaching — progress is evident.
· FOCUSED Shared targets from EHCP, Physiotherapists, OT, SALT etc. are central to the pupils provision.
IMPORTANT DATES
Zebra class have swimming every Monday and Tuesday, Rebound Therapy every Tuesday and Thursday and they go out on the bus on Friday.
Summer Term Topic Web-
Week Beginning - 8.7.24-
Friday the 12th of July-
Physical Development-
Today was our sports afternoon. We all had an excellent time. We enjoyed the enormous slide, the disco ball and the ball pool. We had lots of fun bouncing and jumping together. We were also very lucky as the weather stayed dry! Thank you to all of the parents who came to support us.
Week Beginning- 1.07.24-
Wednesday the 3rd of July-
Expressive Arts and Design-
Today was very exciting. We went to watch a theatre company that had set up on the field. We met some animals there;- a fox, a mole and a mouse. We had an absolutely fantastic time. We listened to the story and joined in with all of the different sensory activities.
Week Beginning- 24.06.24-
Friday the 28th of June-
Physical Development-
We have had an exciting morning. We have enjoyed ourselves very much in the hall today using lots of different physical equipment. We finished the session by relaxing to music.
Tuesday the 25th of June-
Personal, Social and Emotional Education/Knowledge and Understanding of the World-
Today, we visited Throston School to have a look around their Forest School. We went with Pangolin Class which was a treat too.
We walked up to the school and investigated the Forest. It was very exciting! There was a pond and a swing and everybody had a great time running around.
Thank you Throston for letting us visit!
Week Beginning - 17.06.24-
Friday the 21st of June-
Personal, social and emotional development-
We have had an amazing day out today. We have had our class trip to Saltholme and to Seaton Carew. It was fantastic!
Saltholme had a brilliant play park and then we went on a long walk to see some of the birds there.
Then we moved to Seaton Carew where we ate our lunch in the shade. To end the day, we went onto the beach. Everyone loved the sand!
It was a hot day today but everyone enjoyed themselves.
Week Beginning- 10.6.24-
Monday the 10th of June-
Expressive Arts and Design-
Today, we have completed some pictures of animals and birds as part of a Nature competition. We all worked very hard and concentrated well on our individual pictures. We used tissue paper to create our artwork. A fantastic job Zebras!
Week beginning-3.6.24-
Wednesday the 5th of June-
Physical Development-
Today we spent lots of time cutting and tasting vegetables. We did this as part of our new book “Grow Strong.”
We had a lot of fun and made lots of mess. Our cutting skills have got much better! Well done everyone.
Week Beginning- 20.5.24-
Thursday the 23rd of May-
Personal, Social and Emotional Education-
Today, we all had a fantastic afternoon playing in lots of different sensory experiences. We all got a bit messy but everybody was very happy.
Thank you for all of your support this half term. Have a very happy holiday.
Week Beginning- 13.05.24-
Wednesday the 15th of May-
Personal, Social and Emotional Education-
Today, it was our class assembly with Pangolin class. We completed some activities around our book “Oliver’s Fruit Salad.”
We watched a PowerPoint of the story and made a fruit salad with lots of different fruits. The best part of all was that lots of Mums and Dads came to help us too.
We all had a lovely time.
Week beginning -28.4.24 -
Wednesday the 1st May -
Expressive Arts -
Today Bamboozle came to visit us. We all got the chance to watch Bamboozle. They were amazing, we all loved it very much !
Week Beginning-22.4.24-
Friday the 26th of April-
Knowledge and Understanding of the World/Literacy-
On Friday afternoon, we went out on the bus. We went to the Museum of Hartlepool where we looked (and found) some tigers! While we were there, we read "The Tiger Who Came To Tea," which is our latest book.
We found lots of different tigers in the Museum and we also had a sneaky trip on the boat.
What a busy day!
Friday the 26th of April-
Personal,Social and Emotional Development-
Today we had a very messy sensory session! We used lots of different sensory resources and we spent a lot of time understanding how they felt, moved and sounded. We were very messy at the end, as was the classroom, but we had enjoyed ourselves very much. ( Apologies for the very messy uniform today! )
,
Week Beginning- 15.04.24-
Welcome Back!
We hope you have all had a lovely break.
Today, Thursday, we visited Ward Jackson Park as part of our new topic, "Healthy and Active Lives." Clinton loved spinning around on the roundabout. We took it in turns to do some walking and Clinton walked all of the way to the park and Georgie walked all of the way back to school. Well done boys!
Whilst we were visiting the cafe, Clinton was very interested in the game where the coins spun round and round in a circle.
We all had a lovely morning.
Spring Term topic web-
Week Beginning- 25.3.24-
Wednesday the 27th of March-
Knowledge and Understanding of the World-
Today we had a visit from an extra special visitor, the Easter Bunny came to see us!
Zebras enjoyed hunting around the playground for all of the hidden eggs. We all had so much fun!
Week Beginning- 18.3.24-
Friday the 22nd of March-
Knowledge and Understanding of the World-
Today we went for a walk on the Headland. Flying above us was the Coastguard helicopter. It circled above us for ages and then it landed on the moor. We were all very impressed with the helicopter and watched it for a little while.
Wednesday the 20th of March-
Expressive Arts and Design-
Today, we had a very exciting time. We all went into the hall to watch a production of “The Selfish Giant.” We were all engaged and enjoyed ourselves very much. We liked listening to the singing the best.
Week Beginning - 11.03.24-
Wednesday the 13th of March-
Maths/Knowledge and Understanding of the World-
We have had a very busy day today in Zebra Class.
This morning, we have practised our counting and number formation skills. Everyone was engaged and tried very hard.
This afternoon, we learnt about honey bees and we made a bee for our wall display and we tasted some honey. The bees work very hard to make the honey and we have worked hard today.
Week beginning- 4.03.24-
Thursday the 7th of March-
Literacy-
World Book Day-
Today was World Book Day. We have spent this week in Zebra Class reading and investigating a range of both fiction and non- fiction texts. We have enjoyed this very much. Thank you to all those children who brought in their favourite books. We have enjoyed looking through them in Zebra Class.
Wednesday the 6th of March-
Knowledge and Understanding of the World-
Today we read our new topic book. It is “Jasper’s Beanstalk.” In the story, Jasper plants a bean in the soil and watches it grow. We planted our own beans today. We had lots of fun investigating the beans and the soil together. Now we will have to care for them to make sure they grow.
Week beginning 26.2.24 -
Friday the 1st March -
Number -
Today we sang some number rhymes and had a multi-sensory session with numbers up to three. We used shaving foam, playdough and our mark making skills. We all ended up very messy.
Wednesday the 28th of February-
Knowledge and Understanding of the World-
Today, we went into the playground to search for some minibeasts as part of our topic on “Nature.” We found lots of minibeasts; including a worm , a centipede and a woodlouse. Some of us were very interested and some of us didn’t like them at all!
Tuesday the 27th of February-
Literacy-
Welcome back after the half term holiday. We hope you all had a lovely break.
Today, we received some new writing equipment to help us make marks. We were all very excited. Everyone had a go at making some marks and some of the children worked independently. They loved the fact that you could wipe it all off in one go!
Wednesday the 14th of February-
Valentine’s Day-
Knowledge and Understanding of the World-
Today is Valentine’s Day. We made some little salt dough hearts, a heart wreath and a beautiful card. We are sorry but they weren’t dry enough to send them home tonight but they will be ready tomorrow.
We all love our families very much.
Tuesday the 13th of February-
Pancake Day-
Knowledge and Understanding of the World-
Today was Pancake Day. We had a lot of fun. We made the pancakes and all of us had a go at tossing the pancakes. We chose different toppings and some of us tasted and really enjoyed eating the pancakes. Well done Zebras!
Week Beginning-5.02.24-
Thursday the 8th of February-
Knowledge and Understanding of the World/ Physical Development-
Today, we went on a Nature Walk to link to our topic. We went to Summerhill. We looked through the fence to see the birds, we walked through the forest and climbed on the rocks. We had a lot of fun but it started to rain and we all got very wet. We are going to return when the weather is better.
Wednesday the 7th of February-
Computing-
Safer Internet Day-
Today, it was Safer Internet Day. We talked about watching things on our iPads that might worry us. The PowerPoint showed us who to go to if we came across things that we were unsure or worried about.
Then we completed a matching activity where we matched pictures of our emotions. We practised pulling the faces on the cards. Billy was amazing and completed the activity completely independently. Well done Billy!
Week Beginning- 29.1.24-
Friday the 2nd of February-
Maths-
Today we celebrated Number Day. We began by going to find some numbers in the environment. We did this by finding some numbers on the seafront at Seaton Carew. We found lots on signs there.
This afternoon, we continued our work by singing “One, two, three, four, five.” We played with the fish in the water and the class enjoyed splashing about. We have had a very busy day.
Monday the 29th of January-
Literacy-
Today, we began our new story, “Polar Bear, Polar Bear what do you hear?” We read this with lots of props and a sound board to help support us. We liked this story very much. Albie particularly liked the different furry animals and Emmanuel really enjoyed the sound board which he listened to repeatedly.
Week Beginning-22.1.24-
Literacy/Physical Development-
This week we have concentrated a lot on our fine motor skills and we have linked this to our story of “The Very Hungry Caterpillar.” On Monday, we used some playdough to make different characters from the story and on Tuesday we practised our fine motor skills by mark making with different materials.
We have been on some extra long walks this week to make up for missing our time in the pool.
Next week we are going to read a new book, “Polar Bear, Polar Bear, what do you hear?”
Week Beginning- 15.01.24-
Wednesday the 17th of January-
Literacy/ Physical Education-
Today we made some beautiful butterflies to support our work on “The Very Hungry Caterpillar.” Everybody worked very hard and they are now floating across the classroom.
Monday the 15th of January-
Physical Education/ Communication and Language-
Today, we went to our regular swimming session. Today we used our PECS in the pool to request the toy that we would like. We were fantastic today! There was lots of exchanging and the children worked largely independently. Well done Zebras!
Week Beginning- 8th of January-
We have had a very busy first week back. We have been swimming twice, walking lots and a session of Rebound. We have completed some food tasting, which is linked to the reading of our book, “The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” and we have done lots of fine motor activities including printing and writing our own name. Phew! We need a weekend off! Here are some pictures of our adventures.
Autumn topic web
WC 10th December:
This week Zebra class have worked so hard in our two nativity plays (both Monday and Tuesday), we hope you all enjoyed our reindeer song. We have enjoyed our Christmas party with a special DJ with lots of dancing and lots of eating food. We played pass the parcel to Christmas songs. We finished the week with a trip to Kosmic Kingdom and Christmas dinner.
WC 4th December:
This week we have took part in lots of Christmas activities. We have enjoyed listening to Christmas songs and practising for our Nativity. We have been developing our fine motor skills by doing Christmas painting and colouring and we loved spraying a giant Christmas tree green.
We also had a trip to Seaton park while it was sunny.
WC 27th December:
Zebra class enjoyed making Gingerbread houses this week and decorating them with sweets, just like the house in Hansel and Gretel. They used their senses to explore the mixture and had fun getting messy.
We have also been very active this week in Soft play and in the hall, developing our gross motor skills.
All the children loved dressing up in their Christmas jumpers!
WC 20th November:
We have had lots of fun this week in Zebra class.
We have enjoyed a trip to our school library picking out our favourite books to read and a book to take home to read with our family! We loved a trip to the shops looking at Christmas decorations, Christmas lights and picking out Christmas toys.
At the end of the week we enjoyed making hot chocolate treats and making snowflake decorations improving our fine motor skills.
WC 13th November:
We have done lots of learning in Zebra Class this week.
We loved learning about Diwali and enjoyed a Diwali sensory experience in the hall. We tasted Samosas, onion bhajis, poppadoms, naan bread and mango chutney. We decorated hands with patterns and made lamps from salt dough. We also explored coloured rice and made patterns and sprayed coloured paints. It was so much fun.
We listened carefully to the Hansel and Gretel sensory story with Lion class and enjoyed exploring the props.
We finished the week with a visit to Headland Park and loved taking part in different Pudsey activities for children in need.
WC 6th November:
This week Zebra class have had so much fun learning about Fireworks and Remembrance Day. We made some wonderful firework pictures by splattering paint and printing with tubes. We also made some hand print poppies and painted poppies with our fingers.
We have been developing our communication in our swimming session by doing ‘PECS in the pool’.
WC 23rd October:
Zebra Class have had such a fun week learning about Halloween. We enjoyed listening to the story ‘Room on the broom’ and exploring the props. We took part in lots of sensory activities with coloured rice, spaghetti, jelly and shaving foam. We listened to different Halloween songs accompanied with the Makaton signs. We went trick or treating around school and collected lots of sweets. We finished off the week with a Halloween party and loved meeting the special visitor ‘Mickey Mouse’.
We enjoyed a sensory assembly and we also finished the week with a visit to Tweddle farm.
Happy Half term everyone!
WC 16th October:
This week Zebra’s have been listening to pumpkin songs to prepare for Halloween. We have also painted pumpkins with our fingers, painted pumpkin masks with brushes and printed with apples to make pumpkin shapes.
In maths we have continued to learn about the number one and we made a number one using buttons.
All children enjoyed their rebound session on Thursday, lots of smiles and giggles.
We finished the week with a trip exploring seaton park.
WC 9th October:
Zebras have had another busy week.
We have continued to learn about Autumn and have listened to Autumn songs. We did mark making with Autumn colours and made some Autumn leaves with tissue paper.
We enjoyed a visit to the Headland park and we could definitely tell it was Autumn with the wind blowing on our faces.
We made some edible paint using yogurt and food colouring and dipped fruit and vegetables in it and printed.
We loved going to the town centre and buying lots of things for Halloween.
WC 2nd October:
This week we enjoyed a visit from the library ladies. We listened to the sensory story and engaged with the different props.
We loved listening to different number rhymes. Our favourites were ‘5 little speckled frogs’ and ‘5 little ducks’. We had lots of fun exploring the props and pretending to be little ducks and splashing in the water.
We went on a windy walk to Bishop Cuthbert park and had a fab time playing on the equipment.
We finished the week off by splashing in the puddles with our new all in one rain suits and wellies on the field!
WC 25th September:
Zebras have had a busy week. We have been learning about Autumn and enjoyed finding leaves in the playground and throwing them in the air. We used the leaves to decorate hedgehogs. We also went on an Autumn walk around Ward Jackson park and loved playing on the equipment too. We had fun in the water using the nets to get the fish out of the water.
We have finished the week off with learning about the number one, well done all children for practicing writing the number one and sitting to listen to songs about the number one!
WC 18th September:
We have had so much fun this week and Kipper the dog joined in with some of our activities. We have matched and printed with 2d shapes and we took turns choosing our favourite nursery rhymes with Kipper.
We loved visiting Tweddle farm and playing in the outside areas and we finished off the week making yummy cakes.
Good as gold!
Well done to Billy for winning “good as gold” today, for being fab all week. He enjoyed getting his sticker in Friday celebration assembly.
A Trip to the Arcades:
All the children in Zebra class today enjoyed a visit to Seaton arcades enjoying the different rides.
PE Session and Outside Play:
We have been developing our gross motor skills this week. We loved climbing, rolling and balancing on the apparatus in the hall and on the play equipment outside.
Walk to Grey-fields Park:
Zebra class enjoyed a walk in the sunshine to the park with their friends. All children loved playing on the slide, swings and roundabout!
TACPAC session:
Zebra class enjoyed a TACPAC session in the therapeutic room relaxing with fans, mops and massage oil.
A Trip to Headland Park:
All children enjoyed a bus trip to Headland park today improving their gross motor skills by running, jumping and climbing in the park. Lots of smiles and giggles!
Welcome Zebra Class!
Children in Zebra class have loved their first day back meeting new staff, children and getting used to the classroom environment. Children enjoyed smiling for their photos.