Orchard Brae School

Room 5 have been taking part in a sensory art project. This is a structured hour once a week which includes mindfulness practice, sensology and art. We spent the first four weeks exploring different objects and materials in order to show our preferences and make choices. These will then be used going forward to be able to create art. This week we made our first pictures using a mixture of oil paint and poster paint. The oil paint will dry with a bumpy texture which is great for those of us who are tactile learners. We had lots of fun creating our pictures and will continue this project all term. We hope you enjoy seeing some of our work!

This week in our classroom, we embarked on an exciting journey into science, focusing on following instructions and sequences. Our thematic exploration led us to an intriguing experiment, “The Exploding Lunch Bag,” inspired by our ongoing theme of “The Snail and the Whale.”

As part of our scientific adventure, we delved into the fascinating realm of marine life, particularly exploring the unique characteristics of the puffer fish. We discovered this extraordinary creature’s remarkable abilities and peculiarities through discussions and a captivating video presentation.

To further enrich our learning experience, we tried to recreate the pufferfish phenomenon through an engaging experiment. Guided by careful instructions and precise sequences, our young scientists eagerly took on the challenge.

Here are the steps we followed in our experiment:

1. Put 1/2 cup of vinegar in the sandwich bag.
2. Add three teaspoons of baking soda to the tissue, then fold it up.
3. Zip the sandwich bag shut, but leave a corner open to fit the tissue full of baking soda in.
4. Slip the tissue in, quickly seal the bag, and step back.
5. Watch the bag slowly expand and explode!

Through careful execution of each step, our pupils witnessed the magic of science unfold as the lunch bag transformed before their eyes. The sense of wonder and excitement in the classroom was palpable as they observed the delightful “explosion” – a testament to the power of following instructions and understanding sequences in scientific experiments.

This hands-on experience encouraged curiosity and critical thinking and highlighted the importance of precision and attention to detail in scientific exploration.

We are proud of our pupils’ enthusiastic participation and interest throughout this experiment. Their willingness to explore, discover, and learn is truly inspiring.

We have been exploring water in room 8. We have had lots of water play where we have been melting ice and finding different ways to do this. When there was some snow we were able to melt the snow as well. To make the snow and ice melt we have used warm water, a hairdryer and sitting ice in the sun. We have also used water to make art, by putting watered down paint in spray bottles and spraying on paper. We made some sensory bottles with water too. We have also begun exploring what lives in the water, such as fish, jellyfish and octopus. 

Room 9 dived into their new water topic with an exploration of the story of “The Little Mermaid”.  We’ve danced to “Under the Sea” as we’ve explored listening skills, shared our likes and dislikes about the story, designed our own mermaids (and underwater scenes for them to swim through) and acted out simple scenes.  Our numeracy activities followed the story of Ten Little Mermaids and during our Makaton song sessions we learned the “Mermaid Song” – some of us do a fabulous impression of singing mermaids!  We also have explored lots of different sea themed sensory play opportunities and interactive board games.

In amongst the joy of the January term we had plenty of snow, so we brought that into the class for some joyful play opportunities (and sneaky relationship-building, social skills and communication learning!).

We’ve recently moved onto our next story and book study, “A Hole in the Bottom of the Sea”, which between the music and the toy shark used to support understanding we have been loving so far!

We have also been voting for which story we would like to explore for the last few weeks of the term – at the moment, “The Snail and the Whale” is in the lead, but there’s one more vote to go, so watch this space!

In Room 9 last term we explored different Winter Festivals and how they are celebrated. 

We decorated the classroom, with lights, tinsel, and a few window pictures.  Our story study was “Dear Santa”, our comprehension work asked who is hiding in the Christmas present, our listening tasks explored moving to Christmas music, our numeracy activity counted elves.  Our morning choices included lots of dressing up options alongside puzzles, colouring and decorations.

Our Makaton song sessions included plenty of Santa getting stuck in the chimney, Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, and wishing a merry Christmas.  For bucket time we had a dancing Christmas tree, racing Santa, novelty glasses, snowman splat, and for stage three a chance to decorate the Christmas tree and chased Santa!

As part of our journey to becoming a Rights Respecting School, we’ve explored a wider range of Winter Festivals in class.  Between Christmas, Yule and Hannukah, we noticed that lights played a recurring role in many winter festivals, so we made and decorated our own tealight holders from salt dough whilst listening to Christmas and Hannukah songs.

We also collated this into a wee video which we are thrilled to share with you.

In Room 6, we’ve been on an exciting journey exploring the wonders of water in nature, and we couldn’t wait to share the highlights with you!

One of our recent and engaging activities involved the enchanting process of melting a snowman. This hands-on experience allowed our little ones to witness the magical transformation of snow into water. Each child had the opportunity to take turns building the snowman and using blow dryers to melt it. The activity provided a fun and interactive experience and instilled the valuable skill of sharing among the children.

As they giggled and watched the snowman transform, our pupils also learned new words in Makaton, a fantastic tool for communication. Words like “cold” and “hot” became a part of their vocabulary, adding an exciting linguistic element to their snowy adventure.

We believe in making learning a joyful experience, and this activity perfectly combines fun, interaction, and skill development. Seeing our little learners embracing new experiences and acquiring essential social skills is heartwarming.