Please find details of the Aberdeen City schools telephone information service for parents/guardians. This is the Schools Information Line. The main...
Orchard Brae Connect are delighted to be hosting a Parent Workshop in conjunction with Alyson O’Brien from Sleep Scotland. This will take place online on Tuesday 8th June between 10-11 am.
In this session Alyson will talk about why we sleep, what happens when we don’t sleep, why we wake through the night and general ideas on how we can get a better nights sleep. Although Alyson might not be able to discuss specific individual sleep issues, it would be useful for her if you are able to briefly describe your child’s sleep problems, to allow her to focus on any common themes, only if you are happy to do so of course.
Please note that this event is only open to parents and carers of pupils attending Orchard Brae School and nurseries.
If you are interested in attending this event please email rebecca.j.duncan@gmail.com by Monday 17th May
The NHS Grampian CAMHS Early Intervention team have developed a series of webinars to support parents to support themselves and their children during a time when they know anxiety is likely to be increased.
CAMHS Grampian – a mental health service for under 18’s based in Aberdeen and Moray.
The videos are linked below.
Episode1: Welcome and meet the team
Episode2: Body tools for anxiety
Episode3: Thinking toolsfor anxiety
Episode4: Managing anxious behaviours
Episode5: Talking to your child about anxiety
Episode6: Understanding the adolescent brain and impact on teen mental health during the Covid-19 lockdown
Episode7: Looking after your mental health and wellbeing
Episode8: Resources you may find helpful
Episode9: Supporting your child on the return to school following lockdown
Supporting Families experiencing anxiety on the return to school
Thanks to Room 19 for getting Food Waste Week off to a flying start. Having enjoyed a healthy vegetable snack, they went on to make models using their peelings and offcuts. A great effort!
Please share anything you do for Food Waste Week in the Google Classroom, ‘Whole School Events’.
Pupils and Staff at Orchard Brae are always doing their bit for the environment reducing food waste, using the green food compost caddy or creative sensory play. But there is always more we can do. Next week, every day on our WHOLE SCHOOL EVENTS Google Classroom there will be ideas, recipes, videos, crafts, music and science activities for you to explore. Please share your favourite recipes or lifehacks on the Google Classroom or directly with your child’s teacher. Room 19 will then compile these for everyone to enjoy.
Huge thanks to Room 19 for launching our Food Waste Week at the Secondary Assembly on Friday. It was really informative and you all did a great job in presenting and sharing your ideas!
Aberdeen City Libraries’ will be releasing a Bookbug video this Saturday (27 February) and it will feature a few more extra-sensory elements and communication supports than usual.
The session includes a visual timetable (Boardmaker symbols), some Makaton signing, an accessible music-and-movement activity and a sensory story time, with suggestions and encouragement for families to create their own sensory stories at home using basic materials. We really hope that this sort of session will be even more engaging for all families than our regular selection of songs, rhymes and a story.
We have big news this week! Tomorrow (Wednesday) we will have a LIVE PE lesson. To join us all you need to do is to check the ‘PE at Home’ class on Wednesday at 2 pm and there will be a link for the ‘Meet’.
You will need: comfy clothes and a willingness to have fun!
Amanda and Salvi look forward to seeing you!
The PE at home classroom on Google is updated weekly and the team are doing a great job in providing a range of activities to suit pupils of all abilities. These include Dance, Boccia, Orienteering, Scavenger Hunts (this week’s is a lovely sensory, texture hunt) and our regular PE with Salvi and Amanda, ably supported by our own Young Leaders in school.
Please ask your child’s class teacher for a link if you are not in the PE at Home classroom.
You might also enjoy this pancake day song from CBeebies…
…or why not take part in the Blue Peter pancake flip challange!
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.
This week we are continuing to use flour to create our artwork by exploring the different consistencies we get when we add water! Get ready for some messy fun and as always, the process is the main focus rather than the finished artwork.
Remember to warm up your 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: At this stage we are looking for the pupils to show a simple response or reaction as the explore the different consistencies of this week’s flour art. With hand over hand support from an adult, mix flour and water together to make a thick paste. Try using your hands to manipulate the paste. Can you squash and pinch it? Can you roll it? Why don’t you try seeing if you can use different objects to roll your paste. Now add more water and turn your thick paste into a thin, runny paste. Explore the sensations of allowing the paste to dribble through your fingers. Does it feel hot, cold, sticky, slimy? What words can you find to describe how it feels? Using your hands to make some prints with the paste on paper. You could always add some food colouring to the paste to make some colourful prints!
Stage 2: With appropriate support, mix the flour and water to make a range of pastes with different consistencies. What happens when you add a little bit of water? What happens when you add lots? Which consistency do you like best? Use your hands to manipulate and move the paste around on your surface. Which consistencies can you pinch, squeeze and roll? Which consistencies are best to dribble and push? Use different objects to make marks and impressions in the pastes. Be as creative as you like but you could try forks, spoons, sticks or toys? Do they leave the same impressions in each paste or does the paste react in different ways? Try creating some artwork using the different pastes you have created. You can use your hands or objects to make marks and why don’t you add some food colouring to make your artwork really stand out!
Stage 3: For this stage you will need a clean surface, a mixing bowl, a piping bag or sandwich bag, paper and paint or food colouring. This activity will need to take place over two sessions to allow for drying time.
Mix your flour and water into a smooth paste with a similar consistency to icing. Carefully spoon the mixture into a piping bag. If you don’t have a piping bag, you can use a sandwich bag and carefully snip off a little piece of the corner to create a nozzle. Squeeze the paste onto your paper to create a pattern and leave somewhere safe to dry. Once the paste is completely dry, use your paint or food colouring to colour in the spaces in your pattern. Make sure not to use to much paint or else your hardened flour paste will start to dissolve! Leave to dry and then gently rub off the flour paste to show your pattern. You could try creating your artwork on different backgrounds to investigate which works best. You could try cardboard, fabric or even a cardboard tube if you want to try making a 3 dimensional piece of art! You can also try adding glue to your flour paste if you want to make your pattern permanent.
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.
