Thanks to Amanda and the team in Room 15 for sharing this lovely video. This is the Room 15 version of two stories that they’ve read in recent weeks. I’m sure you’ll enjoy seeing their lovely smiles and greetings. This work is also part of their ASDAN award, showing that our pupils know how to greet people.
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Room 19 Return to School
Our return to school after the Easter break has been pretty hectic. There has been lots of giggles as we all enjoyed being back in a bigger group. The pupils all worked hard with Google Classroom and Google meets last term. I am so impressed at the communication skills and confidence the pupils developed during virtual lessons. We still enjoy conference calls with peers at home as well as live music lessons online. Here are a few photos from our first week back in school, playing “Headbandz” and mindfulness.
ASDAN Work in Room 14
We are happy to all be back together in Room 14 this term. Our focus is on developing independence and working on our ASDAN modules.
Following on from last term when we focused on handwashing, we tried out the Glitter Bug to see how thoroughly we had washed our hands. It was fascinating to look under the UV light to find which parts we had neglected. We will continue with this and we are going to be learning some Makaton signs for parts of our body.
In HE, we made ‘yogurt’. It got a mixed reaction when we tasted it, with some of us loving it and others just having a tiny taste before decided that it wasn’t for us. It’s good to see that we are developing a willingness to try tasting new foods as this may build to expanding our diet.
We have been learning about other cultures. We have done some Spanish inspired art work and we learned a Turkish dance. This is a social dance, usually done on occasions such as weddings. We all had great fun learning how to do this and really enjoyed the music. We will be learning more about Turkish and Polish culture this term.
Finally, we have been working on our end of day review, sharing our opinions on what we have liked and disliked during the day. It is important that we are enabled to give our thoughts on learning.
Autism Outreach Service – World Autism Awareness Day
World Autism Awareness day is being held this year on April 2nd.
As this is during the holidays we are asking schools to take part on the last week of term.
If you would like to get involved, we are asking you to decorate a pair of glasses with all the things that make you unique. How do you SEE the world?
If you would like to, we would love to share any photos that you take on our twitter page.
Please send any photos you are able to share to Tricia at TrBruce@Aberdeencity.gov.uk
Enjoying our Learning in Secondary
Burns Celebrations to start the week
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!
Countdown To Christmas
Orchard Brae Advent Calendar: Day 24
Christmas Day is almost here and we are delighted to share the final installment of the Orchard Brae Advent Calendar.
Today brings you a message from Caroline Stirton, Executive Head Teacher, along with a special video from staff.
Have a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year from everyone at Orchard Brae.
Countdown To Christmas
Orchard Brae Advent Calendar: Days 3 and 4
We hope you enjoyed the first day of the Orchard Brae Advent Calendar yesterday and we are delighted to share the next instalment with you.
For Day 3, Room 3 bring you a very special sensory retelling of Twas The Night Before Christmas.
For Day 4, Room 14 perform ‘I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas’ featuring a great vocal accompaniment from one of the pupils.
Join In The Festive Fun!!!
This festive season, our expressive arts elves – sorry, team 🧑🎄 – have been busy supporting classes in creating videos for a Christmas Countdown Calendar. However, for the final video they need your help!
They are looking for as many people as possible to be involved in the ‘Rockin Around The Christmas Tree’ video including all staff, parents and partner agencies.
To get you started, Keith and Emmeline have filmed an example including makaton signing.
To get involved we would like you to film excerpts of yourself signing or dancing along with the song which will then be edited together to create the final window on the Orchard Brae advent calendar.
Here is some filming information on the best way to film your excerpt.
Once you have your final video, please email it to Keith or Emmeline via their gw emails:
Return to nursery
All the returning children from Orchard Brae at Ashgrove have settled well since starting back in August. We have been able to welcome new children to our Nursery and it has been great to see how quickly they have adapted to their new setting. They all appear to be enjoying and becoming familiar within the Nursery environment.
We have been doing lots of sensory activities with painting, gloop and shaving foam. We have also been making vegetable and fruit printing pictures. We have been planting our spring bulbs and enjoying what remains of the “summer weather.”
As the trees are now beginning to change colour we have been exploring this concept as we go for walks in the local community. Some of the children have shown great interest in our apple and plum trees which grow in our outdoor play area and have been collecting them. We have used some of the plums for our snack. Next week we are planning to use the apples to make apple pie.
The staff team at Ashgrove are all looking forward to working with the children and supporting them throughout their time with us.
Autism Outreach Service – Presentation: Nursery to P1 Transition
This is a new presentation written by Hayley McFarlane, a member of the Autism Outreach Team. Under the current circumstances we thought it would provide useful information for those schools with pupils transitioning into Primary 1 from Nursery.
Specifically the presentation will look at how to support transition through the use of visuals.
