Online Learning Survey

We’ve now been learning remotely for more weeks than we care to remember! This week is particularly exciting with the launch of our Google Classrooms (GSuite) and it’s great to see so many families getting involved with this.

As always, our aim is to support our children and young people as best we can, and we have a Leadership Group working together to focus on how do this as we move towards ‘blending learning’ from August. In order to support their work we’d really appreciate your thoughts on what we have offered so far, any issues or difficulties you’ve experienced, and what you would like to see as we move forward.

All feedback is welcome so please take a few minutes to share your views if you have not already done so. Thank you.

https://forms.gle/oparbBDTDzYbex8Z7

 

Secondary Department: Wk Beg 15th June

It’s been another busy week for our learners at home and once again we’ve enjoyed sharing the stories of what you’ve been doing. It’s lovely to hear that among the challenges we’re also having fun with our families and enjoying activity together, such as the Joe Wickes PE sessions. I wonder how many of us (adults) will come emerge from this fitter than when we started.

Now that our Google Classrooms are up and running it will hopefully be easier for you to share your learning experiences. If you would like to be on the website please share let us know when you share photographs with the teachers.

Here are a few snippets of what’s being going on over the last week.

 

Science

We enjoy investigating and you’re never too old to learn through ‘play’. We made our own lava lamp and there have been experiments with colour – isn’t it amazing what you can do with Skittles? We have also made our own slime and dough.

If you’d like to try making your own ‘slime’, give this recipe a go and let us know how you get on:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kM11fgB1ZdQp3ffUeTuftcshzOx3KQjM/view?usp=sharing

 

Life Skills

Our work on life skills has continued at home and again it has been very heartening to hear how you’re getting on. Helping with making beds, hoovering, doing the dishes and supporting with meal preparation benefits the whole family.

We’ve enjoyed baking (honey biscuits) and have made fruit kebabs.

Let us know what you’ve done to help out at home this week. Have a good week whatever you do!

 

 

Secondary Update: Wk Beg 8th June

We’ve had some lovely days over the last week and it’s been good to see many of you enjoying your time outdoors. Please keep sharing your photographs with us by sending them to your Class Teachers Gmail accounts.

Learning Outdoors

A walk in the woods is good for our mental health and wellbeing, enjoying the peace and quiet, away from the hustle and bustle of life in the city. It’s amazing what you can find!

The fine weather has also been great for gardeners and one thing many people celebrated this week was the reopening of our local garden centres.

 

Science

Home learning can be lots of fun. What do you like doing best? This pupil loves science!

 

Life Skills

Our Howes Hoose pupils are continuing to spread their wings and show how much they’ve learned over their time in Orchard Brae. How happy does this young man look as he sets the table for a meal and cooks for himself!

 

We hope you all have a good week and look forward to seeing and hearing what you’ve been doing.

Secondary Update: Week Ending 29th May

Thanks to everyone that has shared photographs of their remote learning this week. It gives us all joy to see your photographs or hear how you’re getting on. We hope that you all have a lovely weekend and enjoy the sunshine. It looks like it’s going to be very warm so remember your suncream or protective clothing if you’re advantage of another spell of fine weather.

This week you’ve all been very busy! Here are some of the photos that have been shared …

Life Skills

Pupils from Howes Hoose have continued working on their life skills both indoors and out. It makes us very happy to see how you’re transferring your skills and becoming very independent at home.

 

Minibeasts

One of our Room 14 pupils made a ladybird using playdough and a rock he found when out on a walk.

He also recreated his favourite scene from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. This took a lot of time, making paper mache rocks and a spider’s body, and then painting the box to hold the scene. I’m sure you’ll agree it looks amazing!

 

Family Time

I know from staff as well as pupils that it can be tough just now trying to find creative ways to keep the family entertained. Please always remember that we’re all doing the best that we can! One family in particular have been going to great lengths to entertain themselves and even features on a TV series of Lockdown Diaries.

 

Fitness

Our PE colleagues have shared some links for fitness videos you can try at home. Why not give them a go as a family? The feedback from one of our young people was that the whole family enjoyed lots of fun and laughter as a result.

https://imoves.com/home-learning/1257

https://imoves.com/home-learning/1330

 

Thank You!

Finally, thank you to Mortey and Sam from Aberdeen Bon Accord Rotary Club. They visited school this week, having been in contact to arrange a way of accessing the grounds to avoid being in contact with anyone, and very kindly cut our grass. It had been growing very long during the period of lockdown. This is very much appreciated by us all.

 

 

 

 

Google Classroom Survey

Thank you to everyone that has completed our Google Classroom survey for their child to date. If you have not already done so, we would be grateful if you would complete the form on Survey Monkey. This is to ensure that you have access to the necessary IT to enable your child to access it. Please click on the link below:

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/GLX5LM5

Please note this applies to Primary and Secondary pupils only.

Remote Learning in the Secondary Department

While we very much miss seeing our young people in person, it’s lovely to receive your e-mail updates sharing the learning that you’re doing in or around your homes. We hope you’re benefiting from the learning ideas our teachers are sending out. Please remember to let us know what’s going down well (or not) and if there’s anything you’d like more of. We’ll do our best to accommodate your individual needs.

 

Life Skills

Life skills is a big focus in the secondary curriculum and young people are encouraged to be as independent as possible. It’s great to hear that this is carrying on at home with support being offered in day-to-day activities around the home.

 

Leisure Time

Learning is important, but equally so is leisure and relaxation. Although we’re all adjusting to things, these are challenging times and it’s important for everyone in the family to take time to relax in whatever suits. Our mental health and wellbeing is very important at all times, but particularly just now.

 

 

Clap for Carers

Some of us have joined our families and neighbours in clapping and making lots of noise to show support for all the carers and keyworkers who continue to work in our hospitals and communities just now.

 

Enjoying the Outdoors

Naomi sent home a recipe for Dandelion Honey a couple of weeks ago. Dandelions can be the bane of your life if you’re a gardener, but this may let you see them in a different light. Give it a go and let us know how you get on!

https://veganonboard.com/vegan-dandelion-honey/

 

Looking After Myself

It’s important to look after ourselves. Tempting as it is to stay in your PJs as there’s nothing to get dressed for, getting up, showered and dressed can make you feel so much better about things if you’re having a down day. It’s good to see our young people from Howes Hoose continuing to take pride in their appearance. We’re also taking care of our physical health and continuing our physiotherapy and MOVE work at home.

 

Have a good week and please share your photos with us (via our GMail accounts) if you’d like to feature on the website. I’m sure your friends would love to see you!

 

Secondary Update

We hope that you’re all doing well and surviving life in ‘lockdown’. Thank you for sending us updates from home and replying to our e-mails. We do enjoy hearing from you and are always happy to have feedback on what activities young people are enjoying at home in order that we can provide suitable resources and activities. Please remember that we’re here to support you and welcome contact; everyone is missing school!

Some of our families have been sharing some lovely photos from home. If you’d like us to share photographs on the website please let us know. These should be sent to your child’s class teacher via their G-Mail account.

 

The following website is worth a look as there are lots of fun sites for online learning and activity:

https://chatterpack.net/blogs/blog/list-of-online-resources-for-anyone-who-is-isolated-at-home

Keep in touch!

 

Secondary Update

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

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

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.