Room 16 have been preparing their up-cycled Christmas jumper for Christmas Jumper Day next week. We made a Christmas tree template and stuck it onto our jumper then used our hands to paint on with green for the tree, red and yellow for the baubles and lights then we used a pom-pom to bad some gold sparkly paint for the star on top. When we peeled off the template we could see our beautiful tree! It gave us the opportunity to practise turn taking as we had to work one at a time on our jumper. We are excited to display it for all our friends to see and to see the other classes creativity with their eco-friendly jumpers.
Room 16 have been continuing to work on their use of household appliances for their SQA award. We have been having great fun learning to use an electric fan and blowing things around our classroom using the different settings. We experimented with throwing leaves into the fan and feeling them land back on us. Spraying water into the wind was definitely a firm favourite and we ended up with a lot of wet faces! At least we had a fan to blow us dry again!
Room 16 have been working hard learning to use the toaster in class. We are enjoying the smells, tastes and sounds of the crunchy toast. Some of our class have been using their toasting skills to work towards an SQA award Using General Household Electrical Appliances.
Some of the pupils in Room 16 chose that they wanted to learn how to wash hair as part of their ASDAN award. They practised brushing hair, rinsing, applying shampoo and conditioner and drying it. We were all very impressed with how careful everyone was – there was no shampoo in anyone’s eyes! The end results were fantastic and there were two very happy staff customers.
Room 16 have been celebrating Star Wars day! We made a google form questionnaire together to find out what everyone’s favourite Star Wars character is. We showed our results using bricks to represent the number of votes for each character. We then ordered them from the most popular character to the least popular character. Chewbacca is officially Orchard Brae’s favourite character!
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.
We’ve had another busy week of remote learning. Starting on Monday with our whole school Burns Day Celebration, the week was started with great enthusiasm!
Daily Circle Time
To keep our routine going, many classes continue to do daily circle time. Some of our learners have their own circle time packs at home to support the familiar routine, others use the class slides to provide structure. It’s great to receive feedback on how our learners are getting on: ‘He thoroughly enjoys circle time.’
For one young man, circle time is also an opportunity to practise his bench sitting.
Personal Independence and Life Skills
We continue to develop independence in personal care. Staff take time to support us in doing things for ourselves. Handwashing is very important during a pandemic!
We’ve been cooking and baking. There was some delicious French Onion Soup on offer this week and beautiful golden shortbread. Look out Masterchef, here we come!
Expressive Arts
We enjoyed art, PE, drumming and music through Makaton Choir. A very detailed drawing was done to decorate a drum for a music session with Keith – the drawing is of a hunter being chased by an African lady that is protecting the animals!
We also took time to relax, both indoors and out.
Working Hard
We worked hard on a range of learning activities and tasks, some online and some more practical.
One of our senior pupils made an amazing cat house as part of her SQA work. I think you’ll agree, this is for one very lucky cat!
Assembly
Finally, to round off the week we had an Assembly. We talked about mental health and the theme ‘Express Yourself’. Staff shared the ways that they express themselves and show that they’re unique. The slides are available to view in the Google Assembly classroom for anyone that was unable to join us. Our challenge for the next assembly on 12th February is to share a photo of us doing something that we enjoy – anything goes!
It’s been an interesting couple of weeks for both staff and pupils in our Secondary Department. With a new round of remote learning we’ve slipped back into things a little easier. We’ve got lots of activities on offer within our Google Classrooms and we’re seeing more pupils engaging with this. Circle time and stories are proving popular and it’s great to see our young people getting involved in helping around the home.
Although we have some sessions ‘live’, such as Makaton Choir (every Monday at 2 pm) and Assembly (1:30 pm on Friday 29th January), other activities are in the form of pre-recorded video or materials that can be accessed at a time of your convenience. We do appreciate that family life is busy, everyone juggling remote learner(s) with other commitments, so we invite you dip in and out when it suits your schedule.
Here are a few photos from our remote learning over the last couple of weeks. If you’d like your child to be featured, please let the class teacher know that you’re happy for your photographs to be shared.
Life Skills: Home Economics
Outdoor Education
Sharing our learning through Google Meets
Circle Time
Expressive Arts and Communication
Life Skills: Household tasks and shopping
We’re learning in everything we do. Please ask your class teachers if you need any further support.
Tomorrow (14th January) we will be having our first Secondary Assembly of the New Year. Our assemblies have been virtual since our return after the initial lockdown due to having to restrict the numbers for gatherings and our young people have responded well to this.
Tomorrow we would like to invite both our remote learners and those staff and pupils in school to join us. If you have not yet signed up, please do so by accepting the invitation sent via Google Classroom. If you are having any issue, please contact the Class Teacher for further support.
The link will go ‘live’ in Assembly Classroom a few minutes before we start. I hope you can come along!
The holidays have arrived and we hope that you are enjoying the Orchard Brae Advent Calendar and that today’s festive features get you into the spirit for a fun filled Christmas.
For Day 15, Room 16 are delighted to share the story of ‘Jack Frost’, narrated by the pupils in class and featuring music created by one pupil in music therapy.
For Day 16, Room 11 are delighted to share their WOW moments from class in a very festive way.
