Category: Room 15

Room 15 Staff Team

Teacher:

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Secondary Update

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School closure activities for Room 15 – Week Four

Thanks to Amanda for sharing her activities this week! Below are some ideas for families wanting to do “school” activities with their children – if any of these ideas look good to you, give them a go! Equally, if this isn’t what your child is needing just now please don’t put pressure on yourself or them to complete this. It’s also great to take more time on a previous week’s activities if your child is benefiting from those. Let me know if you have any particular learning requests for future weeks.

This week has LOTS of ideas – please don’t worry about fitting everything in, please do what works for you and your child.

Literacy – Theme park

This is an activity we do in class to work on communication skills without even realising it! You’ll need our theme park PowerPoint (https://bit.ly/2S8rOUR – please download for best use) and you might want to add to the experience with props at home – maybe a water spray for the water slide, use a garden swing for the pirate ship, you could even create your own rides – bubble boat ride? You choose! A wee video with how to do this activity is here https://bit.ly/3ax4IgP How does this build communication skills? We can talk about:

· I like it!

· I don’t like it!

· Scary! / I’m scared!

· Exciting! / I’m excited!

· Faster!

· Slow down!

· Help!!!

· Let’s do it again! / Do it again?

· Do something different?

· More?

· What’s next?

· You choose a ride.

· Oops! You’re wet!

· Finished?

And many more!

Please remember that as we model with our child’s communication device (e.g. PODD, PIXON, TouchChat) that the device should not be taken away from the child.

 

Numeracy and mathematics – Applying money skills

For those who have been learning to recognise a coin, we’re going to apply that skill in two ways this week.

First – sorting. You’ll need two places to sort coins into, it might be two boxes, it might be two sheets of paper on a table or the floor, or it might be two cereal bowls – absolutely anything! More confident learners might work with lots of different coins, those building their confidence might work with two different coins to sort. Ask your child to sort the coins – the one they have been learning to recognise into one container, the other coin(s) into the other – you will probably need to show them what to do the first few times. Some learners who are not yet working at the level of recognising a coin might still choose to do this activity looking at “same” and “different”.

Second – add coin skills to the theme park activity (see literacy, above). Each ride costs the coin your child has been learning to recognise. Provide your child with a container (purse, food tub, envelope, anything!) with several coins. If your child has become very confident with recognising a coin you could put lots of different coins into the container, if your child is still learning to recognise their coin then perhaps just a few of the coin they are learning to recognise and a few of a very different looking coin. Ask your child to find the coin they are working on each time they want to access a theme park “ride”. If you’re wanting to expand this, you could have items for sale at the theme park – snacks, bubbles, light up toys – or you could add additional rides (there are some great videos online, just check them first so you know what to expect and there isn’t anything too scary!).

Alternative option (for learners not using coins): Let’s build a tower

Use any items you have at home for this – they don’t have to be building blocks! Using different items helps us to understand shapes and their properties – brick shapes are useful for towers, balls are not! We might count how many bricks we have, we might focus only on communicating “more” or “all gone” when it falls down.

 

Health and wellbeing – body parts & self-care

Body parts – https://bit.ly/3cM9h8G will take you to some of the songs we use to practice finding body parts. Can you find the body parts mentioned in the song? Can you use your communication system to label body parts?

Self-care – What makes you happy? During a stressful time such as this, it’s even more important that we look after ourselves. Can we share with others what we would like to do? Can we communicate how we feel afterwards?

For physical movement this week, you might want to try some yoga (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rzw-Oir8UPw – this one continues our theme park theme for this week).

 

Social studies – weather record or job role play

Weather – we looked at the weather in weeks one and two – let’s link it to our work on the season by keeping a note of the weather for a longer period (it can be more than a week if you’d like) to help us build our understanding of a season as a longer unit of time. You might record the weather with symbols, sensory resources (e.g. smooth / shiny materials for sunny, cotton wool clouds, sponge for rain, folded paper fan for wind) or with photographs of yourself in the different weathers. A simple chart and symbols can be found here: https://bit.ly/3aKT5Dr Can you use your communication device to share what the weather is today? Where is the sun? How long is the sun in the sky for?

Job role play – as part of our ASDAN work we have explored lots of different jobs through role play. I’m sharing with families some resources for role-playing a dentist, but you might prefer to role play a job that a friend or family member does (or has done in the past). Some learners will be learning what a dentist does, others might explore sensory resources such as toothpaste, toothbrushes, mouthwash (if they won’t swallow it!), or mirrors to look at their teeth. Through this we get to experience different roles people in our communities have and how they can help us. Resources: dentist PowerPoint (download for best use) here: https://bit.ly/3bQUzwU and Makaton signs about the dentist here: https://bit.ly/2Y62t1z

 

Technology – cooking!

It’s been a while since we did any food technology, so this week I’m sharing a few ideas for easy recipes to try at home. These are symbol supported recipes – no quantities are mentioned, just the

actions, but I promise you can’t go too wrong! Your child might focus on one part of this activity – perhaps washing their hands, perhaps wearing an apron, perhaps mixing skills or knife skills, perhaps safety. If your child will get more from the activity by focussing on one element, please do spend time on that!

(I’m sharing several recipes so you can choose (or your child can choose) which one looks best, you don’t have to do all of them!)

Recipes: Coleslaw: https://bit.ly/35d9m2D Guacamole: https://bit.ly/2Y2RJ49 Strawberry smoothie: https://bit.ly/3bGQQ51 Vegetable wedges: https://bit.ly/2KyI8Ka

 

Science – spring “treasure” hunt

Can you find each item from the worksheet (https://bit.ly/3aKUfPj )? For any you might not be able to find in or around your homes, fear not – I’ve put together a document with pictures of each item (https://bit.ly/2Y8tAcb ). Equally you might have toy animals at home or perhaps you could use your art work this week?

 

Sensory play – flower ice

Freeze some flowers in ice and enjoy melting the ice together to get to the flowers and splashing in the water once the ice has melted!

 

Expressive Arts

Can you sing / sign along to “Bring Me Sunshine”? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmOPSpIDIKY&list=PLjT4XhijakZjgDSblHxgYBiN4R9V2BZnA&index=6&t=0s Can you dance along? Can you add your own music?

Spring art – can you choose one of the projects on the worksheet (https://bit.ly/3bFA3PR) to try at home? (If you don’t have any paints at home, you might want to try an online recipe for making your own, or you can leave this option out)

 

RME

Ramadan has recently started, so let’s explore things with links to Ramadan.

An interactive colouring activity can be found by logging in to TwinklGo (https://www.twinkl.co.uk/go/sign-in ) and using the code PU7192.

Muslims often break their fast by eating dates – can you try a date (or other dried fruit such as raisins if you don’t have dates). Do you like it? Can you share the fruit out to your family?

(Note for health needs – dates are very healthy in many ways, but for anyone watching blood sugar you might want to check how dates fit into your diet plan!)

 

Sensory Story

In other news, one of our pupils has been having fun at home with his brother, making Sensory Stories. Here is one that they have given permission for us to share:

http://pamis.org.uk/news/news/a-visit-to-the-zoo-by-shehzad-ahmad-to-share-with-his-brother-waleed/

It’s lovely to see how creative everyone is being and the different ways we’re finding to pass time and have fun!

Secondary Update

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We hope that you are all able to enjoy some of the lovely weather we’ve been having. We’ve enjoyed hearing from you through replies to our e-mails. Please keep replying and do get in touch if there is anything further we can do to support.

Some ideas that have been shared with classes may be of interest to other families. Have a look below:

 

Making Natural Paints (Room 16)

Step 1 – collect items when out on a walk, in the garden or in the kitchen

Step 2  – make the paints

Step 3  – paint!

There are several websites with different ideas for what to use.  These are the websites Jenny looked at for inspiration:

Twinkl – mud paint https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/t-t-26921-mud-paint-recipe-outdoor-activity

Activity Village – https://www.activityvillage.co.uk/painting-with-natural-paints

Recycle Nation  – https://recyclenation.com/2015/04/how-to-make-dyes-paints-from-plants/

Jenny had a trial run with her kids yesterday.  They think they added too much water.  So they collected up loads of old calpol syringes from the kitchen drawer and had fun in the garden (remember to take in the washing first!).  If you use less water, you can paint with a brush, like water colours.  It was great fun, very sensory (smell, touch, sound, physical) and as it had 3 steps, it became a project to revisit throughout the day. Best of all it was free and used what they had in the house and what they found on their walk.  You can also use food colouring if you prefer.

As with any painting activity, be aware that this may stain fabrics.

 

Ideas from Room 15

Below are some ideas for families wanting to do “school” activities with their children – if any of these ideas look good to you, give them a go!  Equally, if this isn’t what your child is needing just now please don’t put pressure on yourself or them to complete this.  Let me know if you have any particular learning requests for future weeks.

Information about how to do each activity is underneath.

 

 Literacy – Let’s share our likes and dislikes.

There are lots of ways to talk about what we like or don’t like – perhaps the most useful is for us to frequently share both likes and dislikes (some of our learners worry about sharing dislikes, so it helps to see us talking about likes and dislikes).  Please use the child’s communication system (e.g. PODD, PIXON, TouchChat).

One way to share likes, dislikes (and everything in-between) is a talking mat inspired activity.  I’ve popped together a video for how you might do this (https://bit.ly/2VmeRIS ), and if you’re keen, this could go towards your ASDAN Transition Challenge Citizenship unit, if you want to send a photo and/or a wee sentence I’ll pop it into your evidence folder.

 

Numeracy and mathematics – Applying money skills.

We’ve been looking at recognising one coin – let’s continue to apply that skill (and maybe refresh our memories after a wee holiday!).  I’ve shared with our class a symbol food shopping list for learners to use (and a template you could use them on can be found here: https://bit.ly/3bk3CGy ), but you can use whatever resources you have at home – perhaps packaging to recreate a food shop, maybe books to make a book shop, clothes to make a clothes store or toys to make a toy shop.

When your child has found the items on their list, ask them to pay for it with the coin they have been working to recognise.  Don’t worry if your child “buys” an expensive item with a 1p coin, it’s the skill rather than the realism that matters!

 

Alternative option (for learners not using coins): Play music and dance with your child.  Pause at different points and ask your child “More?  Or Finished?” (encouraging signing, use of communication device or personal signifiers as your child requires).

 

Bonus Easter activity – if you haven’t already, you might want to try an egg hunt.  You could give clues with directional language (up, down, left, right, near, far), talk about the colour of eggs, how big they are, how many there are – there’s lots of maths hiding in an egg hunt!

 

Health and wellbeing –can you try two different activities and show which you liked the most?  Ideas could include listening to music, watching a movie, playing a ball game, playing a card or board game – you choose! This could link to your ASDAN recreation work if you’re very keen – a photo and/or wee sentence about what you’ve done could be added to your evidence folder if you’d like to share one.

 

Physical activity – quite a few of our class enjoy Kidz Bop, so I’m sharing a video here you might want to dance along to together (and there are many more on their channel if you’re interested in more).  You might try to copy the moves or enjoy freestyle dance – enjoy!

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

 

Social studies – I’m not suggesting anything for this week, as if you’re doing the shopping role play above you’re already learning about how shops provide us with what we need in our daily lives.

 

Technology – Can you activate your preferred choice from the song PowerPoint from before the holidays (you can find it here if you need – https://bit.ly/2wU3yyr ) yourself?  (With physical help as required).  Can you tap a touch screen or click a mouse positioned over your chosen song?  This can contribute to your ASDAN ICT work if you’re super keen – take a photo and/or write a wee sentence about what you have done and we’ll pop it in your folder.

 

Science – Spring sensory profile.

We’ve looked at some of the features of spring already (weather and flowers), let’s build our understanding of the season with more sensory work.

What can you see?  (The sun?  Flowers?  Leaves coming out on the trees?)  What can you feel? (The breeze?  Lighter clothing with warmer weather?  The warmth of the sun?)  What can you hear? (Birds or other animals?)  What can you smell?  (Flowers?  Spring foods?)  What can you taste?  (Spring foods might include carrots, mint, lettuce greens, peas.)

 

Expressive arts – Can you sing / sign along to “Try Everything”?  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBzYZE80pfY&list=PLjT4XhijakZjgDSblHxgYBiN4R9V2BZnA&index=27&t=0s Can you dance to the music?

 

Additional suggestion – Let’s “try everything” with an art version of Simon Says!  (This might get messy depending on the activity you choose!)

Choose any art activity that engages and you have the resources for.  Using your child’s communication system (being mindful to not take it from them!), take turns to give a simple instruction – e.g. if I was painting I might instruct a colour or where to paint (or both!).  If your child is less familiar with the instruction, you might start with a small range of instructions to keep it simple.  It might be one or both of you that creates their own piece of art, but whoever is taking part MUST “try everything” that is instructed with the communication system.  Once understanding is evident, you might have some fun with silly instructions!

 

RME – sharing.

Using a preferred toy or resource of your child’s, take turns using it to encourage your child to understand how to share.  (If your child is very new to learning how to share, please start with something they can happily part with for a short time so that sharing does not become a negative experience.)

 

 

POSTPONED: Friends of Orchard Brae 5k Fun Run

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Due to the ongoing situation with COVID-19 our planned Fun Run is postponed until further notice. We will maintain contact with the City Events Team at Aberdeen City Council and hope that we can have our event at some time in the future. For now, our priority is to keep our school and wider community safe and well.

 

Home Learning: Secondary Department

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We hope you’re all fit and well, managing to find your new ‘normal’ during these difficult times.

Our teachers are working hard to try to support you and your child in learning at home. Please check your e-mail as ideas will be popping into your Inbox regularly. These e-mails are intended to give suggestions of activities that might help to fill your day. There is no expectation that things must be done and we most certainly do not wish to add additional stress to your family life! Dip in and out of learning as you feel appropriate and do let teachers know if there’s anything you’ve found particularly useful.

We would be very grateful if you would maintain contact with your child’s class teacher during this period of closure to let us know that you’re safe and well. If we can support in any way, please do let us know.

Healthy regards,

Clare

School Closure Activities for Room 15 – Week Two

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Below are some ideas for families wanting to do “school” activities with their children – if any of these ideas look good to you, give them a go!  Equally, if this isn’t what your child is needing just now please don’t put pressure on yourself or them to complete this.  It’s also great to take more time on Week One’s activities if your child is benefiting from those.

Information about how to do each activity is underneath.  Let me know if you have any particular learning requests for future weeks.

Literacy – Let’s play a game!  You can play any game you have at home, but I’m also sending to families in Class 15 a simple snap / memory game you can use at home too if you’d prefer.

How does this help build literacy skills?  We learn how to interact in a social situation (playing with others), build the language of turn-taking (“my turn” “your turn”) and encourage spontaneous communication related to the game.  Can you copy any of the signs?  Can you use your communication system to share communication?

I’ve popped together a video on how to use communication devices / core vocabulary when playing a game here: https://bit.ly/3bz6ZZY

 

Numeracy and mathematics – If last week you managed to match two coins of the “same” value, this week we can try to make it trickier!  Choose one coin (I’d suggest a £1 coin – it’s a helpful coin to recognise when doing shopping, however any coin will do).  You’ll need two or more of your chosen coin – mix the coin amongst other coins (start with a small group first), keeping one aside to show your child.  Show your child the coin and encourage them to repeat what it is called (using their communication device as applicable).  Ask them to find that coin amongst the mixed up coins.

Alternative option (for learners not using coins): Use a ball to play catch with your child.  Pause at different points in the game and request the ball from them (“ball please”), allowing them to build an understanding of exchange (the foundation of money work!).  Pause at other points and ask your child “More?  Or Finished?” (encouraging signing, use of communication device or personal signifiers as your child requires).

 

Health and wellbeing – let’s talk about how we feel.

We have a daily “how are you?” time in Class 15, and even if our communication doesn’t always appear to be entirely accurate, it is helpful to have a chance to share.

“Hello [name], how are you?  Hello [name], how are you?  Hello [name], how are you?  How are you today?”

Some learners will choose from two symbol options, some will use their communication devices, some will sign.  Encourage full sentences where appropriate (especially with our PODD and TouchChat users!) – “I feel [emotion]”.  Our most able might be able to tell you why they feel the way they do.

 

Wanting to burn some energy?  A few pupils in Class 15 are big fans of Jump Start Jonny – you can access his free material at https://www.jumpstartjonny.co.uk/free-stuff .  If you’re wanting more, he is streaming kids exercises on YouTube weekdays at 9am (available to view afterwards too) – https://bit.ly/2WKR5ri

 

Social studies – What signs of spring can you notice?   Building on last week’s weather communication, can you talk about what weather you can see and feel?  As adults we can help make links – flowers are starting to come out because there is more sun.  Do we need to water the flowers, or has there been enough rain?  What weather does spring bring?

 

Science – Observe how materials change by playing with water.  Can you help to make ice?  How does the ice look and feel?  Can you put the ice in water?  What happens to the ice?  How does it look and feel now?  Can you notice the difference?  Can you repeat a word to describe the look or feel of the ice (using communication systems too)?  If you’re really keen, take a photo and we can pop this in your ASDAN folder!

Can you keep an eye out for any spring flowers coming out?

 

Technology – I’m sending a shorter version of our class song choices PowerPoint to families.  Can your child communicate which song they would like to hear?  If you child uses a communication device, please use it as you encourage them to share their preference.

Next week we’ll be using the same PowerPoint, but work on using technology skills to activate our preferred option ourselves!

 

Expressive arts – Can you sing / sign along to “Make your Own Kind of Music”?  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzzBg1TnPAM&list=PLjT4XhijakZjgDSblHxgYBiN4R9V2BZnA&index=23  Can you dance to the music?

Can you make your own kind of music?  Pots and pans?  Clapping your hands?  Stamping your feet?  Vocalising / singing?

 

RME – we’re coming up to Easter.  Can you make an Easter card?  As we build our understanding of religious symbols, you might want to return to the egg shape we worked with last week (or another shape, up to you!).  Eggs are used to represent new life – what animal comes from an egg?  Can you communicate who your card is for?

Optional idea – Can you try a hot cross bun?  (This can link to some of your technology work if you toast it!)

Storytime: Elevenses with David Walliams

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You’re never too old to enjoy a story! Many of our senior classes enjoy listening to stories and in these uncertain times all of us (adults too) can benefit from a bit of escapism! Please tune in daily to listen to author David Walliams sharing stories. While stories are shared at 11 am, they can be accessed throughout the day.  The link to his website is:

Home

Room 15 General Learning Activities

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Many of our learning activities have focused on life skills, and should be easy to include in daily routines without many / any resources.  Below are a range of ideas and a sample of what a day might look like – please take from this anything that you find useful.

 

Communication

  • Encourage your child to use their communication system throughout the day. (Cannot stress this one enough – insisting on communication device usage all day has seen incredible progress, we’d love to see this continue for when school re-opens!)
  • Read a story together – there are signed stories on YouTube if you’re looking for something new! One example of many – https://bit.ly/3aj0z0L
  • Share a signed song or two together – I’ve linked some class favourites: https://bit.ly/39468Pa
  • Practice the Makaton “sign of the week” – https://wetalkmakaton.org/
  • Bucket time – we know this has been popular with many of our young people so have put together a few videos showing bucket time if you’d like to try something similar at home. A more detailed explanation with video links is on a separate sheet. These are for your benefit, your child will respond more to your presence than a video.
  • Role play – perhaps different jobs, perhaps different stories, perhaps something different but of particular interest to your child – we like our theme park role play in Class 15!
  • Watch TV together, using your child’s communication system to talk together about what you see, what you like, what you don’t like, etc.

 

Food and drink

  • Help to make breakfast / lunch / dinner
  • Help to chop snack foods (safety, hygiene, not eating food before serving!)
  • Using communication system to request snack foods.
  • Explore how ingredients change when cooking (this is part of the ASDAN science module – if you’re super keen you could take a photo or write a wee note about what your child did and we can put it in their evidence folder!)

 

Life skills

  • Washing hands – several in our class have been working on improving their hand washing skills prior to this, but this is an especially important time to build this skill. Encourage your child to rub soap into their hands.
  • Getting dressed independently – this also includes opportunities for labelling body parts (and which ones are private and should be covered).
  • Brushing teeth and washing faces.
  • Going for a walk – stopping at the road, looking or listening for traffic, communicating when to “go!”
  • Cleaning surfaces, washing the dishes, taking out the recycling.
  • Matching coins, naming coins, helping to buy items at the pretend supermarket.

 

Creative arts

  • Recreate trash band by making instruments from containers you have, pop on some favourite tunes and encourage your child to join in replicating rhythms. Communication work could include requesting a particular tune or commenting on the music they can hear.
  • Draw, colour in, paint, collage – any materials can be used!
  • Dance together – you can explore rhythm, communication, gross motor skills.

 

Outdoor ed

  • Enjoy the great outdoors, talk about what you can see, hear, feel, touch.
  • Talk about the weather, and if the weather means you can’t go outside perhaps you could recreate it indoors – water spray rain, torch (or mobile phone light) for sun, fan for wind.

 

Sensory regulation

Including sensory regulation activities will support our young people with their resilience at a challenging time.

  • Explore preferred sensory resources – perhaps large, soft blankets, possibly shiny card, maybe a cold drink, or perhaps a material to stretch or rip.
  • Messy play – brilliant for communication as well as sensory regulation! Squeeze mud in your hands, squirt shaving foam onto a table and draw shapes, or splash water in the sink.
  • Listen to calming music in an otherwise quiet space, dim lighting and offer your child a hand massage.

 

 

 

Room 15: Home Learning Ideas (Bucket Time)

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In order to give some continuity of learning, here are some ideas from Room 15.

 

Bucket time

 

Bucket time is an intervention devised by Gina Davies, a Speech and Language Therapist based in England.  She has shared some fabulous short videos recently explaining bucket time for families, including ideas for how to adapt to what resources you are likely to have at home for home-learning.

 

https://bit.ly/3bj5xdW – introduction to bucket time

https://bit.ly/3bqYsIG – Gina Davies Autism Centre YouTube page (lots of tips for home learning).

 

We know bucket time has been popular with many of our young people so I have put together a few videos showing bucket time if you’d like to try something similar at home.  These are for your benefit, your child will respond more to your presence than a video.

 

https://bit.ly/2U2t3WR

https://bit.ly/395JZ34

https://bit.ly/33w1hFt

 

Stage one – the bucket.

Your aim is to encourage focused attention from your child by creating an irresistible invitation to learn.  Choose high interest items that your child does not get to play with / use normally.  Keep spoken language minimal but be enthusiastic in your presentation.  As your child is learning to focus attention on you (not the item from the bucket), they do not get to use the items from the bucket.

 

If you’re interested in the other stages, I recommend this document for a quick overview: https://bit.ly/2IWV3oB

 

Have fun!

Animal Discovery: Live Webcams

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Some of our pupils show an interest in animals and nature. There are Live Webcams at Edinburgh Zoo and Highland Wildlife Park that the children may enjoy.

https://www.highlandwildlifepark.org.uk/webcams (Highland Wildlife Park)

https://www.edinburghzoo.org.uk/webcams/ (Edinburgh Zoo)

For our Secondary pupils, the National Geographic Kids website can provide more information. Although not all pupils can access it fully independently, there are pictures to look at and discuss, and some interesting video clips to watch:

https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/category/discover/

Have a look and find out what your favourite animals are.

 

 

Sport Relief 2020

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Many thanks to Amanda, Salvi, Sam and Scott for organising fun activities for us all to join in with to support Sport Relief 2020. We kicked off the morning with a select band signing up to Run a Mile. Thanks to Room 19 for braving the cold throughout our challenge, the spectators that cheered us on from the warmth of the classrooms and those that came out for playtime, supporting with cheers as we ran our loops. Each of us did 5 loops of the playground in total.

At lunchtime we enjoyed dance sessions with Sam. We all had lots of fun!

Finally, the whole school joined in for the afternoon to Walk a Mile with a Smile. We were grateful that the sun came out and warmed up the playground nicely for us. We also had some special visitors – the sumos!

Our day was just for fun, but we also received generous donations towards Sport Relief, raising a total of £165! Well done to everyone for taking part!