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This week we are making Vegetable Chow Mein to celebrate Chinese New Year and we have a few different recipes for you to try. You don’t have to stick to the vegetables in the recipes, you can be creative and try something new or use vegetable that your family like or whatever you have in the fridge!
You also might enjoy watching this short video on the Story Of The Sugelan Dragon before you start.
We would love to see how you get on with you Home Economics activities so please feel free to share any photos or videos via your child’s teacher, through Google Classroom, or email Amy Dunnett (Principal Teacher Primary) adunnett@aberdeencity.gov.uk.
Wow! It has been a very busy week across the Primary Department, both in school and at home and once again, you have blown us all away with how hard you have all been working on developing your skills and learning.
Here’s just a wee snapshot of what’s been happening over the week.
Big Burns Day Celebration
On Monday, we held our first whole school themed activity day as we celebrated the birth of Robert ‘Rabbie’ Burns.
There were lots of fun activities for everyone to participate in whether they were at home or in school.
We got creative and designed our own versions of the saltire flag.
We made shortbread and of course we had to make sure they tasted good!
We were very fortunate to have one of our Pupils Support Assistants, Claire, play the bagpipes for us on Monday. One pupil had a go at creating his own Scottish music at home using a chanter.
In the afternoon there were a series of live Google Meets hosted by our drumming instructor, Keith and our music therapist, Emmeline. It was great to see so many familiar faces join in with the drumming, ceilidh and Makaton choir sessions.
It’s safe to say that everyone had a fantastic day and a huge thanks to everyone who helped to organise this event and everyone who participated so enthusiastically!!
Karen’s Creative Challenge
Last week Karen, Head of Primary, set everyone a tower building challenge. This week she challenged us to develop our throwing skills and as you can see below, we all had a great time taking part! We’re looking forward to seeing what challenge Karen sets us next week.
Keeping Active
It’s important to keep active and we’ve been busy using equipment in school and at home, working on developing our balance and core strength as well as relaxing with some yoga. We’ve explored the great outdoors and despite the cold and wet weather this week, we still managed to have fun with some puddle jumping!!
Life Skills
You’ve continued to share with us with how you’ve been progressing in the development of your life skills. You’ve been very busy making lots of yummy looking treats, washing your hands and we are absolutely amazed with how well one pupil managed to use chopsticks.
Another pupil has been developing his independent feeding skills and we were delighted to see him not only try tastes of foods but also help feed himself via his gastrostomy tube. We were really impressed with his co-ordination!
Working Hard
Everyone has been busy working and learning new skills over the week.
Pupils in Room 5 have started reading the book The Colour Monster. Throughout the book different colours are associated with different emotions. This week they were exploring the colour yellow which represents happiness. These yellow themed activities certainly looked cheerful and fun and brought a smile to our faces!
Others were learning through play and sensory activities, developing their fine motor skills.
We’ve also been developing our fine motor skills through a range of craft activities too.
We’ve also been working hard on developing our communication and literacy skills this week.
In this video, one pupil wowed us with his ability to anticipated what was coming next during the story ‘Hole At The Bottom Of The Sea’.
His mum said ‘He actually got up off the chair knowing he had a seal somewhere about and had to grab it in line with the animals being mentioned as from the bottom of the sea! ‘ What a special WOW moment!
As you can see it’s been a very busy week in the Primary Department and there has been lots of fun and lots of learning taking place. Keep on smiling, have a wonderful weekend and we can’t wait to see where our learning will take us next!
I hope you are all well. I have a few things I would like to share as we come to the end of another week.
I attend a weekly head teacher drop-in session with colleagues from Health Protection Scotland. They were able to share that the current lockdown restrictions are beginning to bring the number of cases down within the NHS Grampian area. Positive daily cases have dropped by about a third which is positive news. It is good to know that all of our hard work as a community is making a difference. 😊
They also shared that NHS Grampian are in the top 3 of health boards when it comes to administering the vaccine.
I hope you managed to join in some of the Burns Day fun on Monday. We have had some really positive feedback so thank you for sharing that with us.
We have additional Chromebooks being delivered to pupils to support online access so please let the school know if you do not have a device for your child and we will do our best to remedy that.
The First Minister will be reviewing restrictions on Tuesday 2nd February. I hope to be able to update in my email next week.
The parental monthly newsletter from the Education Service will also be coming out via groupcall today as well as being uploaded on to our website.
Please keep a look out for pictures of Andy Gerrie whose wife Ann is an EYP. He raised £440 by shaving his beard, eyebrows and head to help raise funds for the school. Very brave Andy and a big thank you.
I hope the weather improves for the weekend and you are able to get some fresh air.
Today sees the start of the 42nd annual RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, which sees birdwatchers across the country join in the UK’s largest garden wildlife citizen science project and we would love for pupils and staff at Orchard Brae to get involved.
Taking part in the Big Garden Birdwatch is really easy. Simply watch the birds for one hour at some point over the three days. This can be done in your garden, your local park or even sitting looking out your window!
Last year, over 500,000 birds were counted by Big Garden Birdwatchers in Scotland giving real insight into how our birds are doing.
Have a look at the RSPB website where you will find lots of fun activities and resources to help you participate in the Big Gard Birdwatch but here are a few to get you started.
Here are some simple tally sheets that you can use to keep track of the birds you see.
Don’t forget to let us know how you got on with the Big Garden Birdwatch survey and activities so please feel free to share any photos or videos via your child’s teacher, through Google Classroom, or email Amy Dunnett (Principal Teacher Primary) adunnett@aberdeencity.gov.uk.
This week we have two new art activities for you to try.
Activity 1: Climate Coalition Show The Love
You might remember that last year we made green hearts with recycled materials instead of the usual red valentines hearts! They looked so good that they were going to be exhibited at a big event in the Shaftesbury Theatre in London! Then………lockdown😒
There have been lots of disappointments for us recently with our artwork. But undeterred we keep showing the love! The green hearts are to show the love for our planet and I will be interested to see what you come up with! I don’t know what you have to work with but I know you will have some great ideas.
Have a look at showthelove.org.uk for some more ideas and inspiration but here are a few ideas to get you started.
Experiment with card, collage and paint.
Make some green rice crispy hearts:
You will need – 150g rice crispies, 100g unsalted butter, 100g marshmallows, Green food colouring (or blue and yellow mixed!), a Heart shaped cookie cutter.
Directions – Melt the butter and marshmallows in a pan over a low heat. Add the food colouring and stir. Add crispies and stir. On a greased and lined baking tray shape the mixture into hearts using a cookie cutter or your fingers. Yum !
Make an Andy Goldsworthy inspired sculpture with green leaves.
Take some photos of frozen grass.
Make some green salt dough make a heart.
Blend some newspaper with food colouring. Add some seeds and make a flower bomb!
Look at green foods.
What is still green outside? You could try making a heart out of moss or lichen.
Take some photos ! Send some pictures of your work and we can forward them to the climate coalition so they can see how creative the Orchard Brae pupils are!
Activity 2: Flour Art
This is a transient piece of art using flour and it can also be seen as a sensory therapeutic activity.
As always, the process is the main focus rather than the outcome but I’d be glad to see any photos from school or home!
Remember to warm up hands and eyes beforehand using some of the exercises we’ve practised before! This activity has been split into three levels focusing of different skills and levels of ability. Choose the one that is right for your learner but feel free the experiment and explore!
Stage 1: With hand over hand support from an adult, explore the flour with your hands. Make marks in it using your fingers, hold it in your hand, squeeze and squash it, push it with your fingers or an object.
Stage 2: With appropriate support, make a variety of marks in flour using a range of objects.
Stage 3: With appropriate support and using a range of objects, make an image using flour which shows a variety of qualities of line, e.g. wavy, hatched, broken, spiral etc. How can you demonstrate choice and decision making during the activity?
Extension: You could always try and make these activities a bit more challenging. Can you add another texture to the flour, e.g. pulses or pasta? How does the texture change? Is it still easy to make marks in these?
If you can take some pictures of your floury explorations to share that would be wonderful so please feel free to share any photos or videos via your child’s teacher, through Google Classroom, or email Amy Dunnett (Principal Teacher Primary) adunnett@aberdeencity.gov.uk.
We would love to see how you get on with you Home Economics activities so please feel free to share any photos or videos via your child’s teacher, through Google Classroom, or email Amy Dunnett (Principal Teacher Primary) adunnett@aberdeencity.gov.uk.
Welcome to the Orchard Brae Big Burns Day Celebrations!
Today, Monday 25th January, is known as Burns Day in Scotland because we celebrate the birthday of the famous Scottish poet, Robert ‘Rabbie’ Burns.
To help you celebrate, we have lots of fun-filled activities and events planned for our pupils and families to take part in throughout the day.
In the morning, there activities for you to try at home, such as making shortbread, some Scottish stories, music and dance to enjoy as well as a flag inspired art activity. These will be available on the Whole School Activities Google Classroom and also posted here on the website. The timetable below has some suggested times, but feel free to take part at a time that suits you and your family best.
In the afternoon, we have a series of live events that you and your family can join in with, hosted by Keith, our drumming instructor and Emmeline, our music therapist. This includes drumming, a ceilidh and a Scottish themed Makaton choir before the grand finale of Auld Lang Syne. Links to these live events will be posted in the Whole School Activities Google Classroom, so check your gw email and make sure you accept the invitation to join! Please contact your class teacher if you don’t have an invitation to join the classroom and they can share the class code with you.
Have a wonderful day and here is a wee video from the Senior Leadership Team to start off your Burns Day celebrations!
We would love to see how you get on with you Burns Day activities so please feel free to share any photos or videos via your child’s teacher, through Google Classroom, or email Amy Dunnett (Principal Teacher Primary) adunnett@aberdeencity.gov.uk.
Why don’t you have a go at making some shortbread to enjoy as part of your Burns Day celebrations. Here are a few different recipes for you to choose from.
We would love to see how you get on with you Burns Day activities so please feel free to share any photos or videos via your child’s teacher, through Google Classroom, or email Amy Dunnett (Principal Teacher Primary) adunnett@aberdeencity.gov.uk.
