Author: Clare Russell

Clothing Exchange

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Room 16 have been doing a great job, supporting the Clothing Exchange scheme. Pupils are regularly tidying up the area, washing, sorting and folding new clothing. It’s good to see an increase in sizes available too. Please keep sending items in if they’re in good condition and no longer of use to your child. Do also feel free to pop in and browse any time or let us know via the home school diary if you’d like the class team to have a look on your behalf.

Room 12 Experiment with Art

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Room 12 experimented with different media during an art session in class. We had tin foil folded over a square of cardboard to keep it secure and solid. Instead of paintbrushes, we used cotton buds which are great for our fine motor skills. We dipped these into the paint and swirled and dabbed patterns all over the tin foil.

The pupils were all very engaged in this activity and one pupil especially amazed us all by doing the activity all by herself.

The object of this activity wasn’t to display the picture (the paint tends to flake off when dried) but to be able to hold, use and manipulate the cotton buds through the paint and seeing what our actions do.

Life Skills in Room 15

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In Room 15 we have been working hard on applying our learning to recognisable contexts that will support our functional independence in the wider community.  In particular, we have been making fantastic progress with our shopping skills.

Each pupil uses a symbol shopping list to know what they need to look for, with a personalised focus – whilst some of us work to match the shop items to the symbols, others are counting, labelling colours, comparing big and little or choosing flavours from the available selection.  Our symbol-shopping lists are relatively recent but the class are already demonstrating familiarity with how to use them as we promptly and accurately find the items we need to find.  This also gives us an opportunity to develop our reading skills as we identify information from (symbol-supported) text and apply our communication skills including using our communication devices.

Once we have found all of the items on our list we go to pay for our items.  As before, each of us has individual targets – some are working on matching one coin with another, but some of us have recently progressed to beginning to label a small range of coins.

The whole class has shown notable progress in recent weeks in these skills which we can take with us as we explore our wider world.

Friends of Orchard Brae Fun Run: 28th April 2020

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Many thanks to the brother of one of our pupils who has asked if he can fundraise individually through sponsorship for the 5k Fun Run for Friends of Orchard Brae. If anyone else wishes to raise money through the Fun Run or any other sponsored activity in future, sponsor forms can be obtained via the Friends of Orchard Brae by contacting school, or a sponsorship page can be set up at: https://wonderful.org/charity/friendsoforchardbrae

Lisa Thomson (Chairperson of the Friends) is the normal point of contact for any fundraising. Clare Russell can also be contacted regarding the Fun Run.

Full information regarding the Fun Run can be found here: https://scottishrunningguide.com/race/fun-run-for-friends-of-orchard-brae

or check out the Friends of Orchard Brae Facebook page.

Please remember, all participants must be over 12 years of age to enter, and must be accompanied by an adult at all times if under 16. Donations are optional – the event is free to run for everyone!

If we have wheelchair users who wish to participate, an adapted course that avoids the rooty / muddy trail section will be available.

Duke of Edinburgh Award

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Our pupils in Room 19 and Howes Hoose having been working hard on their Duke of Edinburgh Awards. We have some pupils doing their Bronze Award and some working towards the Silver Award. We have now completed our Skills and Physical sections and continue to work on our Volunteering.

Our sandwich enterprise has in Room 19 has been very successful and we have made lots and lots of sandwiches!

We have been playing table tennis and practising yoga for our physical section.

We have volunteered at Airyhall Community Centre and helped in various roles in and around school.

Well done to everyone involved!

Room 18 Pom Poms: Decorating the Fences

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Room 18 have been learning to make pompoms using a pompom maker. We have been using our new skills to decorate the fencing outside our classroom. We used lots of different types of wool and tried out different colour combinations. They really do brighten up our outdoors!

Room 14 Feeding the Birds

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Room 14 have been making bird feeders as part of their ASDAN work. We all enjoyed feeling the bird seed and playing with it. Then we covered pine cones and cardboard tubes with lard and rolled them in the seeds. We have hung them up so we can see them from our classroom window and have been having a great time watching the birds enjoy the treats!

Room 17 Enjoying Duthie Park

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On Monday, Room 17 enjoyed a trip to Duthie Park. We had something to eat in the park’s café and then had a wander around the beautiful gardens. There are lots of daffodils at this time of year. The class enjoyed the sensory experience of visiting each section of the garden.

We also met one of the park’s rangers whilst looking at McPuddock the Frog. He was using a powerful magnet to scoop up the coins that visitors throw into the pond around McPuddock. He explained to us how all the change collected goes back into maintaining the gardens.

 

Enjoying the Outdoors: Room 13 visit Burn O’Vat

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On Friday Class 13 went on an all day trip to the Burn o’Vat near Dinnet.

We had a wonderful day out and the weather was excellent for exploring and walking.

There was also an information station on site which we found very interesting and informative.

We had a picnic, albeit on the bus, but we tidied up well afterwards!

A very pleasant day out was had by all!

Room 12 Celebrate Chinese New Year and Burns Night

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Room 12 have been learning about Chinese New Year (also known as Spring Festival). It starts on 25th January and goes on to 8th February and we have learned that it is the Year of the Rat.

We watched and listened to the story of the animals race on the whiteboard.

We made rat masks by sticking fur and felt on to the rat faces. We also investigated our sensory trays, which are filled with rice, money bags, easy-grip chopsticks and Chinese soup spoons. We had clothes and hats to try on too.

We also celebrated Burns Night. We designed our own tartans using the interactive weaver and made thistles by printing with green paint and then gluing on wool in different shades of purple. We think they look very effective!