Special Events in Room 15

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Room 15 have been learning about time by exploring when special events occur as part of our ASDAN (mathematics) work recently.  We used symbol information to work out when different special events take place, including Fireworks night, St Andrews Day and Christmas, as well our class birthdays, and added this information to our calendars.

We’re now extending this with our ASDAN ICT project to use ICT to prepare for a special occasion – we’re filming our Christmas video!  (Too early?!?)

We voted for our preferred song choice on the interactive board and we’re exploring different ways to share communication relating to the song – through signing, using our AAC, through our actions – and recording this together.  We’ll also be using technology in our video, switching on Christmas lights and using a camera.

We’ve had lots of fun going through our Christmas resources too, lots of fabulous sensory opportunities with tinsel, hats, baubles and more!

BookBug

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We hope all our pupils in Primary 1 are enjoying exploring the books that they received in their BookBug packs which were sent home recently. These are a free gift from Scottish Book Trust, and the three picture books they contain are those shortlisted for the BookBug Picture Book Prize.

Children are invited to place their votes for their favourite title either using the following link to vote through the Aberdeen City Libraries poll https://forms.office.com/r/r2M2bVuPbk or alternatively, directly with Scottish Book Trust by following this link Register and vote: The Bookbug Picture Book Prize – Scottish Book Trust.

Voting closes at 5pm on Friday 10 December 2021.

Aberdeen City Libraries have also launched a video, featuring a read-through of all three of the Picture Book Prize shortlisted titles, which can be accessed through https://fb.watch/9ugmSKuarm/.

Exploring Colours In Room 3

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Pupils in Room 3 have been exploring colour.

We each chose which colour of paint we wanted. We then added our colour to the pumpkin and rolled it down a ramp. When it landed on the Tuff Tray we heard a thump and saw the paint SPLAT.

Have a look at the PowerPoint below to see what happened.

Room 8 Create A Cute Autumn Foliage Craft Using Broccoli

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While some of our pupils may not eat broccoli, we bet you’ll have no trouble convincing them to do this fun craft with the cruciferous veggie.

The painting technique is not only simple, it’s also inexpensive. There’s no need to clean paint brushes when you’re done!

By using a palette of four quintessential fall colours (red, orange, yellow and brown), we dabbed the raw broccoli in the paint and then stamped our paper. The broccoli florets lent the tree leaves a nice texture.

Look at how the trees are bursting with autumn colours.

If you aren’t great at painting the foundation of your trees — the trunk —use a free tree printable that you can download and print.

So, while we may have told our kids before not to play with their food, there’s nothing wrong with making art with it, right?

George’s Marvellous Medicine

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Room 18 have been hearing the story of George’s Marvellous Medicine during lunch time book club and we are really enjoying it!  We had a go at making our own potions by measuring out different colours of water and mixing them together.  We have been learning how to measure water in different ways and it was a good chance to practise pouring and measuring carefully.

Exploring ‘Things That Go’ In Nursery

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The children in Howes Road nursery class have been exploring lots of ‘Things That Go’ in their play and have been engaged in a series of art opportunities. 

We have explored painting with balls of different sizes and textures on a big and small scale – a big group session where there was lots of fun throwing, dropping and rolling and as individuals where we used trays – some children chose to move the balls in the paint independently and others had lots of fun tipping the trays to make them roll. 

Driving toy cars through paint and using rollers of different sizes had us working hard on controlling our hands as well as watching and tracking the movement.  Toy cars on the ramps outside combined with paint was a great experiment too… ‘ready steady go’ and lots of laughter could be heard from afar! 

There has been so much creativity and a lot of very active participation in these sessions as you can see from the photographs. 

Switch fun in Room 17

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Room 17 have been developing our skills of switch work through exploring different ways to use our switch button. We have been using our switch to play music on the white board, to activate toys and lights, to engage in sensory stories and even to make popcorn and to carve our pumpkin at Halloween! The switch has lots of uses which allows us to interact with our environment as independently as possible. We have great fun using them at the same time!

Music Therapy at Orchard Brae

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There are a variety of musical experiences on offer throughout the school week.  We are delighted to announce that for the second year running we have a Musician in Residence from Drake Music Scotland, who is supporting secondary pupils to develop digital music skills.  We have weekly drumming sessions in class and individual lessons with Keith from Rhythmbox and we also have our Music therapist from ELM Music Therapy delivering individual sessions.  Below is a quote from Emmeline explaining what can be achieved through music therapy.  And we have a selection of happy and engaged pupils clearly enjoying their music therapy sessions. 

“I aim to support the pupils to make meaningful musical interactions through the use of instruments, voice, movement and more, to interact and communicate regardless of ‘musical ability’. Within the music therapy sessions, I take a pupil-centred approach where musical improvisation and active music making are the predominant therapeutic intervention methods. 

The music therapy sessions can create a safe space for pupils to express themselves and to develop language, communication skills, movement, fine and gross motor skills or to help with emotional regulation. Often the music therapy space can create opportunities for spontaneous learning and an outlet for emotions.”