Author: Amy Dunnett

Expressive Arts – Week Beginning 18th May

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Our Expressive Arts team have been busy creating more videos for you to enjoy at home throughout the week.

They include an art activity from Diane for you to copy, drumming from Keith and a trash band video from Keith and Emmeline as well as information about Sam’s online dance classes.  Don’t forget that Emmeline’s musical activities will be posted daily.

If you would like to share how you have got on with our activities, please send any photos via your child’s teacher, the Orchard Brae School Facebook Messenger page or email Amy Dunnett (Principal Teacher Primary) adunnett@aberdeencity.gov.uk.  Downloading videos from the Orchard Brae School Facebook Messenger page appears to be working again (fingers crossed!) however if you are having any issues, please send them using a free transfer site such as Dropbox or WeTransfer.

Art: Shadow Drawing

Drumming: Session 8 – Duets

Trash Band: Session 5 – We Are, We Are The Trash Band

Dance: Online Classes

Sam is holding two online dance classes this week on Wednesday 6th May and Friday 8th May at 1pm.

Both of these classes will be taking place through his YouTube channel.  You can join in by searching Sam Stephen on YouTube or you can subscribe to his channel by following the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWqBDh0VNpocZvdW29VlfPg/

Primary Department Activities – Week Beginning 18th May

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Here are some fun activities for you to try at home this week.

If you would like to share how you have got on with our activities, please send any photos via your child’s teacher, the Orchard Brae School Facebook Messenger page or email Amy Dunnett (Principal Teacher Primary) adunnett@aberdeencity.gov.uk.  Downloading videos from the Orchard Brae School Facebook Messenger page appears to be working again (fingers crossed!) however if you are having any issues, please send them using a free transfer site such as Dropbox or WeTransfer.

Story Of The Week: ‘The Snail And The Whale’ By Julia Donaldson

This week’s story is about an adventurous snail who longs to see the the world and his unlikely friendship with a whale.

Click below to watch and listen to the story:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000cslw/the-snail-and-the-whale

The book study below has some great activities for you to try at home based on the story.

Links and additional documents to support the activities can be found below:

Activity 1: Design Your Own Sea Creature

These templates can also be downloaded using the link below:

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/us-t-2549335-sea-creature-templates-cut-outs

Activity 2: Move Like A Sea Creature

These can be downloaded using the following link:

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/t-t-29366-ocean-animal-movement-cards

Activity 5: Snail Trails

Other Activity Ideas:

Colour By Numbers:

Make Your Own Paper Whale:

Draw Your Own Snails:

These activities can be downloaded using the following link:

https://www.panmacmillan.com/blogs/books-for-children/snail-and-the-whale-kids-activities

Sensory Tub:

You can find out more about making your own ‘Snail And The Whale’ sensory tub at:

https://growingbookbybook.com/the-snail-and-the-whale-virtual-book-club

Science: Slugs And Snails

In keeping with our Story Of The Week, ‘The Snail And The Whale’, here is some interesting information about slugs and snails.  The download links can be found below each activity.

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/t-sc-270-snails-powerpoint

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/t-t-27019-all-about-slugs-and-snails-eyfs-information-powerpoint

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/t-t-27018-slugs-and-snails-eyfs-fact-cards

Now that you know a bit more about slugs and snails, why don’t you try these activities?

Make A Snailery:

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/roi-sc-49-making-a-snailery-instructions-activity

Parts Of A Snail:

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/roi-sc-42-parts-of-a-snail-activity-sheet

Learning Grid: Life Skills

Here is a learning grid for Life Skills.  It contains 16 activity ideas for you to help develop and promote your child’s independence in a range of household and life skills tasks.

These activities are only suggestions and we would recommend that, where appropriate, you adapt these activities to meet your child’s ability level.

Learning Grid: Get Active!

Here is a learning grid for Getting Active!  It contains 16 activity ideas for you to help promote physical activity both in and out of the home on a daily basis.

These activity are only suggestions and we would recommend completing one activity each day.  However, we would love to see what other creative ways you and your family are using to Get Active daily!

Links to YouTube Channels and websites can be found below.

Oti Mabuse Official YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/mosetsanagape

Joe Wicks – Body Coach YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/thebodycoach1

Cosmic Kids Yoga: https://www.cosmickids.com/

Cosmic Kids Yoga YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/CosmicKidsYoga

Learning Station YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLearningStation

Bumble Bee Physio: https://www.facebook.com/bumblebeephysio/

imoves.com also have lots of fun exercise activities for you to try at home.  Here are some of the challenges and the links to access them:

Mountain Bike Challenge: https://imoves.com/home-learning/723

Exercise And Health: https://imoves.com/home-learning/1272

Wellness Warrior – Fruit And Veg Dance: https://imoves.com/home-learning/1332

Positions And Directions: https://imoves.com/home-learning/1334

Samba Carnival: https://imoves.com/home-learning/1340

Disco: https://imoves.com/home-learning/1346

Balance Challenge: https://imoves.com/home-learning/964

Strong Core: https://imoves.com/home-learning/1393

Music with Emmeline – Monday 18th May

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Here are today’s musical activities from Emmeline.

Vocal Warm-Up: My Mum Made Me Mash My M&Ms 

This week’s vocal warm-up is going to be singing the riddle;
‘Mummy made me mash my M&Ms’.

We are going to gradually move up the scale singing this, see how high you can sing it. Maybe higher than Emmeline!

Proud: Part 1 – Chorus

“This week’s Makaton Song is going to be ‘Proud’ by Heather Small. We have chosen this song as we think everyone should be feeling very proud of themselves at the moment. Today we are going to learn the chorus of the song. The words are below.

What have you done today to make you feel proud?
It’s never too late to try
What have you done today to make you feel proud?
You could be so many people
If you make that break for freedom
What have you done today to make you feel proud?

NHS Inform Website

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Keep up to date with the latest COVID-19 with the NHS Inform website.

People whose first or preferred language is not English can also get information about coronavirus (COVID-19) in Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Polish, Romanian, Slovak, Urdu, Spanish and Punjabi translations.

Additionally you can access British Sign Language (BSL) translations and, for those with sight loss, an audio version is also available.

https://www.nhsinform.scot/illnesses-and-conditions/infections-and-poisoning/coronavirus-covid-19

A Busy Week In Primary

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All the staff at Orchard Brae are missing seeing all our pupils every day and we are always eager to see and hear what you’ve been up to.  We love seeing what everyone has been busy doing while they are at home and we have some wonderful photos and videos to share with you this week.

If you would like to share what you have been up to at home, please send any photos or videos via your child’s teacher, the Orchard Brae School Facebook Messenger page or email Amy Dunnett (Principal Teacher Primary) adunnett@aberdeencity.gov.uk.  Downloading videos from the Orchard Brae School Facebook Messenger page appears to be working again (fingers crossed!) however if you are having any issues, please send them using a free transfer site such as Dropbox or WeTransfer.

Birthday Boy

One pupil shared some photos and a video from his birthday celebrations!  It looks like he had lots of fun celebrating with his family.

Working Hard

We’ve been delighted to see how well some of our pupils have been working at home on continuing their learning.

There has been lots of work on this week’s story ‘The Story Monster’, listening to monster stories, exploring the colour of emotions and creating your own colour monsters.

Others have been busy practising their writing.

Getting Crafty

We love seeing how you are all exploring your creative side!

Making Music

It certainly looks like there has been lots of fun being musical this week, making and playing instruments and listening to your favourite tunes!

Life Skills

Once again, we’ve been impressed with you’re life skills, whether it be developing your independent feeding skills…

…exploring tastes…

…or helping to bake some yummy treats!

Out And About

Despite our delightful Scottish climate and having four seasons in one day this week, you’ve managed to get out and about and explore your local area.

Animal Antics!

From feeding the ducks and watching the lambs when you’ve been out and about, to playing with a new kitten at home, we’ve loved seeing your photos of you interacting with animals.

Getting Active

You’ve all been busy exploring different ways to keep yourselves active from swinging around, bouncing on the trampoline, chasing bubbles, tiring yourselves out with some sport or simply having a stretch.

And Always Remember…

We love seeing all your smiles and even during this difficult and strange time it’s important to stop and smell the flowers…

…make some wonderful memories and have fun with those you love.

We can’t wait to see what you get up to next week!

Bedtime Story – Friday 15th May

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Welcome to tonight’s bedtime story.  Every week night we will bring you a bedtime story for you to watch and listen to.  The stories are read by staff and pupils and we hope you enjoy seeing some familiar faces and hearing some familiar voices.

If you would like to join in and record a new bedtime story to share, please contact Amy Dunnett (Principal Teacher Primary) adunnett@aberdeencity.gov.uk for more information.

So get comfy and cuddle up because it’s time for a new Bedtime Story. Tonight’s story is…

Peace At Last (written and illustrated by Jill Murphy)

It was late at night and Mr Bear was tired. But no matter how hard he tried, he could not get off to sleep. Mrs Bear was snoring and the clock went tick-tock, tick-tock.  Will he ever find some peace?

Happy Birthday!

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We would like to wish a very happy birthday to our pupils who are celebrating their special day next week.

Here is a very special song to each of you from our Music Therapist, Emmeline – trust me you wouldn’t want to hear the rest of us sing!

We hope you all have a wonderful day.

16th May

19th May

21st May

Music With Emmeline – Friday 15th May

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Here are today’s musical activities from Emmeline.

Musical Story: Commotion In The Ocean

Today’s musical story is going to be ‘Commotion in the Ocean’ by Giles Andreae and David Wojtowycz. Much like ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ this book lends itself to becoming music very easily because of the rhyming, rhythmic patterns.

Here is an ocean soundscape from YouTube for you to listen to after hearing the story if you would like to. Can you hear or see any of the sea creatures from the story in the soundscape? Which sea creature is your favourite?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGuBBKEGu9o

All The Small Things: Part 5 – Whole Song

Let’s try and put all of All the Small Things together today. Good luck everyone and thank you to whoever chose this song for the new challenge!

Bedtime Story – Thursday 14th May

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Welcome to tonight’s bedtime story.  Every week night we will bring you a bedtime story for you to watch and listen to.  The stories are read by staff and pupils and we hope you enjoy seeing some familiar faces and hearing some familiar voices.

If you would like to join in and record a new bedtime story to share, please contact Amy Dunnett (Principal Teacher Primary) adunnett@aberdeencity.gov.uk for more information.

So get comfy and cuddle up because it’s time for a new Bedtime Story. Tonight’s story is…

This Bus Is For Us (written by Michael Rosen and illustrated by Gillian Tyler)

It’s always fun to go travelling but will you travel far by car or take the train when it starts to rain?  You could always go on a trip on a ship, or what about flying to the moon in a hot-air balloon? But…which way is best for us?

Music With Emmeline – Thursday 14th May

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Here are today’s musical activities from Emmeline.

Familiar Song: She’ll Be Coming Round The Mountain

Almost everyone is familiar with the song “She’ll be Coming Round the Mountain”. Today we are going to be making up our own version of the song and encourage you to come up with your own version afterwards. After she has come round the mountain we are thinking about;

    1. What did she travel on?
    2. What was she wearing?
    3. What did she have to eat?
    4. What did she have to drink?

After you have listened to Emmeline’s version of the song can you come up with your own version?

All The Small Things: Part 4 – Verse 3

This is the last verse of All the Small things we need to learn before we put the whole song together tomorrow. Luckily we already know the first two lines of it!

Say it ain’t so, I will not go
Turn the lights off, carry me home
Keep your head still, I’ll be your thrill
The night will go on, my little windmill