Category: Core Curriculum

This is an introductory paragraph about Core Curriculum at Orchard Brae.

Bedtime Story – Saturday 21st November

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Tonight, we are delighted to bring you a new bedtime story.

This story is one of Room 8’s favourites and is read by the class teacher and a very special helper. 

Remember, you can always look back at our previous stories on our new Orchard Brae YouTube Channel.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTu54C_q3kCJsdSO8mlIonw

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

The Paper Dolls (written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Rebecca Cobb)

A string of paper dolls go on a fantastical adventure through the house and out into the garden. They soon escape the clutches of the toy dinosaur and the snapping jaws of the oven-glove crocodile, but then a very real pair of scissors threatens. 

Special Activity Exploration in Room 15

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One of the learning aims we are exploring this term is building our resilience to changes in routine – this time of year has plenty of them! – as we use the symbol for “special activity” to reassure our learners that the changes are planned and can be something to look forward to.

We had a celebration of our class achievements at the end of term, with each of our learners choosing photographs to go into a presentation of what they have done.  Everyone took home a certificate and some of our learners were very proud of theirs!  A special mention must also go out to our class member who won the secondary department star of the month for her fabulous signing – well done!

Since returning from the October holidays we have been as busy as ever!

We have worked hard on our ASDANs, exploring team work and group work skills.  We worked in teams to build towers, and created a beautiful Halloween collaborative art project.  We had lots of fun decorating our pumpkin for Halloween as well as Halloween themed bucket time activities.

This week we have had lots of firework related activities – we made cheese straw bonfires in home economics, focused for lots of fireworks activities for bucket time, a cola mentos firework for our ASDAN science (causing a change) and for outdoor education we went out to search for sticks to build our own bonfire before watching fireworks.  As we build our familiarity with seasonal events we also build our resilience to routine variations and our capacity to communicate about them.

We’re looking forward to lots more “special activity” events this term!

Bonfire Night With Room 5

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Remember, remember, the fifth of November
Gunpowder treason and plot
We see no reason
Why Gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot….

This week in school Room 5 have been learning about Guy Fawkes.

To mark this celebration we watched a short animated video about Guy Fawkes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGJ5G4UNFJI

We also created our own firework pictures. We think our night sky guy Fawkes picture are really effective.

Why do we learn about Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot?

In England, in 1605 during the reign of James I, an act of treason was planned that could have changed the course of our history. At the last moment, the Gunpowder Plot was foiled, and now we commemorate the traitors – and in particular, the scapegoat Guy Fawkes – every year with Bonfire Night!

Who was Guy Fawkes?

Guy Fawkes (1570 to 1606), also known as Guido Fawkes, was one of a group of Catholic plotters who planned, but failed, to blow up Parliament – now known as the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.

What was the Gunpowder Plot?

At the time, King James I was on the throne. England had broken away from the Catholic faith and the Church of Rome in Henry VIII’s reign (by 1536), but there were still many Catholics in the country. Guy Fawkes joined up with a group of thirteen Catholic plotters, led by Robert Catesby, who planned to overthrow the King and put a Catholic monarch back on the throne.

The plotters rented space in the cellars of the House of Lords and filled it with gunpowder. Guy Fawkes was put in charge. They planned to set off the gunpowder during the opening of Parliament, on 5th November 1605. One or more of the plotters, however, were worried that some of their fellow Catholics and friends would be at the opening and get caught in the explosion, and wrote to warn them not to be there that day. We know that a certain Lord Monteagle received a letter warning him to go to the country because Paliament would “receive a terrible blow”. Lord Monteagle showed the letter to the King, and the cellars were thoroughly searched and Guy Fawkes caught.

After several days of horrible torture, Guy Fawkes gave up the names of his fellow plotters and eight of them went to trial in January 1606. All were found guilty and executed in the terrible fashion of the times.

On 5th November 1605 Londoners were encouraged to celebrate the King’s escape from assassination by lighting bonfires, provided that “this testemonye of joy be carefull done without any danger or disorder” – and indeed an Act of Parliament soon followed, declaring 5th November as a day of thanksgiving throughout the country for “the joyful day of deliverance“.

Modern Celebrations

When we celebrate Bonfire Night now, it seems very far removed from the events of four hundred years ago! For centuries since then, communities have come together to build a big bonfire and make an effigy – a model – of Guy Fawkes using old clothes stuffed with newspaper, to burn on the bonfire (see Penny for the Guy).

Fun fact: When you use the word “guy” in your sentences, have you thought where it comes from? The “guy” tradition of Bonfire Night gradually found it’s way into our language, and by the 19th century the word “guy” was used to refer to a strangely dressed man. From there it was adopted into American English to refer to any man, and is of course still commonly used today!

Room 8’s Rocket Bat

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There’s an old saying: what goes up must come down. This activity is a perfect chance to challenge that idea, shooting a rocket high into the air by rapidly squashing a plastic bottle launcher. We’ll never get this rocket into space, but some real rockets do go fast enough to prove the saying wrong.

What’s the science?

The bottle we used as the rocket launcher is not really empty: there is air inside it. Air is elastic (squashy), and when we compressed it, it pushed back and the pressure inside increased. In the activity, the sudden increase in air pressure inside the bottle pushed hard on the bottom of the rocket, sending it flying high into the air.

We challenge you to make your very own rocket mouse and launcher – see how high your bat can fly!

We needed:

  • An empty plastic milk bottle (4- or 6-pint bottles work best)
  • Things to decorate your rocket
  • Scissors
  • Glue
  • A rocket bat template

We followed these steps:

  • Cut out a template along the dotted lines.
  • Rolled it into a cone shape and secured it with tape – this was our rocket.
  • Decorated our rocket adding some bat wings
  • Popped it on top of our bottle.
  • Hit the sides and launched our rocket into the air!

Science in our world

Just as increasing the air pressure in the bottle sends the rocket flying, we use air pressure when we squeeze shampoo or ketchup from a plastic bottle.

Back to Nursery

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Our morning and afternoon nursery children at Howes Road have been very busy since starting Nursery this term. Many have been showing an interest in vehicles and we have been listening to stories and songs about cars, buses and other things that help us to move around. A favourite song is ‘The Wheels on the Bus’ and great fun has been had playing the desk bells which sound like the bell on the bus. Some children have been using vehicles in the paint and looking at their tyre tracks. Others have been exploring the paint with their fingers. The garage and toy cars have proven very popular as the cars go up and down ramps whilst some children have been exploring cause and effect steering wheel toys or completing puzzles.

We also made lots of playdough as part of a group and have been using transport cutters to make shapes of planes, cars, trains and motorbikes. Some have been rolling the playdough in their hands and squeezing it as it is lovely and soft. 

We have had fun in the nursery garden, watering the flowers when it has been sunny and jumping in the puddles when it has been raining. 

Marble Runs In Room 8

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Marble runs are great for open-ended building. They’re an example of using Science, Technology, and Math. And, they’re a lot of fun, both for the kids and the adults.

The boys and girls in Room 8 discovered so many benefits of building their two marble runs.

Everyone in Room 8 sloped, bent, twisted, turned to make building a marble run challenging, but it was fun.  So, engineering or building something is one of the benefits.

So many questions as ‘Will it work if I ….?’ The benefits are problem solving and trial and error.

Everyone from the box and the other people building the marble run. Next benefit – following directions.

It took a LONG time to build a big marble run. It can also take time to make something new work or figure out how to successfully connect different pieces. There’s not a lot of instant gratification with a marble run. So, the patience was the key.

Building a marble run wasn’t easy. But, sticking with the process and not giving up helped build patience and perseverance.

Marble runs are open-ended activities. There are lots of ways to build and construct marble runs, so the possibilities are endless. Being creative, wewere building two marble runs.

We needed everyone participating while building our successful marble run. So, we have been cooperative.

Weincorporated a lot of Math naturally when we were building our marble run. For example, counting how many pieces are needed to complete the marble run. Predicting which one will be fastest or estimating how long it will take to complete the marble run.

Precision and care were needed when we were connecting pieces of a marble run. So, building a marble run helped us to develop our hand-eye coordination.

All the colours, shapes, and different types of pieces, combined with constructing a marble run that’s long, tall, superfast, had many starting points, gave plenty of opportunities for children to use their imagination.

Home Economics: Developing Independence

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Liz and Grace have had a busy start to the session, working with many pupils across the school. In our primary classes pupils focus on experiencing foods with opportunities to handle, taste and talk about a variety of foods. Hygiene is also a very important part of the routine at all times.

In Secondary, pupils continue working on routine and hygiene, experiencing different foods. As they progress, skills and independence are developed. Pupils at Senior Phase make a range of snacks and meals, some showing great aptitude and skill. We use our skills in literacy and numeracy to follow recipes and practise measurement. We are very adept at cutting and chopping. We’ve enjoyed fruit pancakes and have made apple crumble, enjoying the seasonal produce available.

Watch out Beechgrove, here come Room 18!

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At the start of term, Room 18 planted some seeds. We planted carrots, lovely red radishes, cress and some lettuce.

We have already enjoyed eating the cress with egg in sandwiches.

We have watered the plants using our watering can and kept an eye on them as they grow. This week we re-planted the seedlings into the sensory garden vegetable trough which one of our young men had painted. The radishes will be ready for snack very soon. Watch out for more carrot updates!

World First Aid Day

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Today is World First Aid Day and the pupils in Room 5 have been very busy learning about first aid and helping others.

We are very boisterous and full of fun at Orchard Brae and sometimes we have bumps and falls when we are playing.  We had fun learning some first aid to treat our bumps.  We also celebrated World First Aid Day and found a free British Red cross App that our Mums and Dads can download so they know what to do if we have an accident. 

Here’s the link for the app: https://www.redcross.org.uk/first-aid/first-aid-apps

We also made a video showing some of the First Aid skills we learned. We hope you like it