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Here are today’s musical activities from Emmeline.
Favourite Song: Sleeping Bunnies
Today’s song is Sleeping bunnies. This is such a popular song with many of the pupils we work with. If you are able to you could pretend to be asleep and wait in anticipation of when the music will change and jump awake to be a hopping bunny! You could also make music along with the song, gentle calming music with any instruments you have for when the bunny is sleeping and then much more excitable music when the bunnies are awake!
Someone You Loved: Part 2 – Verse 1
Today we will be singing and signing the first verse of Someone You Loved. The words are;
I’m going under and this time I fear there’s no one to save me
This all or nothing really got a way of driving me crazy
I need somebody to heal
Somebody to know
Somebody to have
Somebody to hold
It’s easy to say
But it’s never the same
I guess I kinda liked the way you numbed all the pain.
to being someone you loved.
Welcome to tonight’s bedtime story. Every week night we will bring you a bedtime story for you to watch and listen to. The stories are read by staff and pupils and we hope you enjoy seeing some familiar faces and hearing some familiar voices.
If you would like to join in and record a new bedtime story to share, please contact Amy Dunnett (Principal Teacher Primary) adunnett@aberdeencity.gov.uk for more information.
So get comfy and cuddle up because it’s time for a new Bedtime Story. Tonight’s story is…
We’re Going On A Bear Hunt (written by Michael Rosen and illustrated by Helen Oxenbury)
We’re going on a bear hunt. We’re going to catch a big one.. Will you come too?
Welcome to the final week of term! We enjoyed the sunshine last week, perfect for our Virtual Sports Day activities, and there was lots of fun had by everyone that participated. We also had a range of activities ongoing through our Google Classrooms with remote learning taking place across the classes. If you’ve not yet engaged with Google Classroom but would like more information please contact the Class Teacher. Here are some of the fun activities from the last week.
Literacy
One of our classes read the story of the Rainbow Fish and produced some art work in response to the story.
Some other pupils have been reading the Picture News each week and completing a range of literacy activities connected with it. This week, the focus was on Zoos. One of our young people designed her own zoo. She also did some research into Sea Turtles and learned lots of interesting facts.
As we move into the summer holidays it would be good to see reading continue. Did you see the post on Friday about the Reading Challenge from Aberdeen City Libraries? It would be great to get involved with, either individually or as a family. Have a look for more information:
We also continued our Life Skills around the home. It’s great to see so many young people becoming so independent!
Transitions
Looking ahead, we’ve been putting plans in place for transition of pupils to their new classes, staff sharing information with one another in virtual meetings where pupils are moving on. It may be that there are things about your child that have changed during the time at home. We’d be really grateful if you would share this with us – information such as any changes in likes or dislikes, motivators, sensory needs, communication or diet. These will be passed on to the new teachers.
We have some more activities from our Expressive Arts team for you to enjoy at home throughout the week.
There is an art activity from Diane for you to copy and drumming from Keith. There is also information about Sam’s online dance classes and don’t forget that Emmeline’s musical activities will be posted daily.
And finally, get ready to join Keith and Emmeline, along with a very special guest, in a pirate adventure on the high-seas in this week’s Trash Band!
If you would like to share how you have got on with our activities, please send any photos via your child’s teacher, the Orchard Brae School Facebook Messenger page or email Amy Dunnett (Principal Teacher Primary) adunnett@aberdeencity.gov.uk. Downloading videos from the Orchard Brae School Facebook Messenger page appears to be working again (fingers crossed!) however if you are having any issues, please send them using a free transfer site such as Dropbox or WeTransfer.
Art: Painting With Objects
Art: Rotary Appeal
Bon Accord Rotary Club are hoping to spread some joy by organising for pictures to be sent to care homes and to those living on their own. The theme for the images is ‘The Seaside’ and they would like you to get involved so get your creative imaginations going and help to brighten up someone’s day. Full details of how to participate can be found in the picture below.
Drumming: Orchard Brae Favourites
Dance: Online Classes
Sam is holding two online dance classes this week on Wednesday and Friday at 1pm.
Both of these classes will be taking place through his YouTube channel. You can join in by searching Sam Stephen on YouTube or you can subscribe to his channel by following the link below:
Wow! We’ve made it to the last week of what has been an unusual and difficult term. We would like to say thank you to all of our pupils for their ongoing engagement with learning from home as well as a massive thank you to the parents who have helped to support this while juggling the other daily demands of home and work life during a global pandemic – you are all amazing!
Your child’s teacher will be using Google Classroom to share activities with you this week but we are aware that some families are waiting on technology and other supports to enable them to access Google Classroom so we will still be posting a selection of activities here too. If you haven’t logged in yet or having difficulty accessing Google Classroom please contact your child’s teacher who will be able to offer you support and advice. Here is a short video to show you some of the exciting things happening on Google Classroom.
If you would like to share how you have got on with our activities, please share any photos via your child’s teacher, through Google Classroom, the Orchard Brae School Facebook Messenger page or email Amy Dunnett (Principal Teacher Primary) adunnett@aberdeencity.gov.uk. Downloading videos from the Orchard Brae School Facebook Messenger page appears to be working again (fingers crossed!) however if you are having any issues, please send them using a free transfer site such as Dropbox or WeTransfer.
Aberdeen Reads Challenge:
Once again Aberdeen City Libraries will run a reading challenge during the holidays. Aberdeen Reads is open to everyone to challenge themselves to explore reading this summer and will run from 27 June – 29 August 2020. People can take part as an individual or as a group, so please register and get involved!
Although library buildings are closed Aberdeen City Libraries continues to provide services 24/7 via our digital offer. There is a wide range of ebooks, eaudio books, ecomics, emagazines and online resources suitable for all ages and abilities. They will also continue to deliver regular Bookbug sessions digitally via YouTube and Facebook.
The Challenge aims to support children to develop language and literacy skills by encouraging all kinds of reading – instructions, recipes, picture books, sharing stories with younger siblings. There are a series of suggested challenges; many of which can be easily carried out as part of a daily routine; on a range of topics to inspire everyone to try different genres and types of reading.
Children and families who register will be entered into a prize draw and there will be another prize draw for those who complete 3 or more challenges/reads.
Reading activity can be recorded on a Challenge card which be printed or downloaded from the Aberdeen City Libraries website to a mobile device. Information on the Challenge and how to register is on our website www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/aberdeenreads
Story Of The Week: We’re Going On A Beat Hunt by Michael Rosen
This week’s book study is a favourite with many of our our pupils – We’re Going On A Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen. In this story, a family go on a fun day out, looking for bears and exploring a variety of wonderful places, but they’re in for a BIG surprise!
Below you can read and listen along to the author Michael Rosen retelling the story:
The book study below has some great activities for you to try at home based on the story.
Be Resilient!
Education Scotland, in conjunction with Aberdeen City Council, produced a Resilience Alphabet full of fun think, say, do activities designed to promote resilience and develop coping strategies. There are a series of activities for each letter of the alphabet, so pick a letter and give it a go!
Here is a learning grid for Life Skills. It contains 16 activity ideas for you to help develop and promote your child’s independence in a range of household and life skills tasks.
These activities are only suggestions and we would recommend that, where appropriate, you adapt these activities to meet your child’s ability level.
Learning Grid: Get Active!
Here is a learning grid for Getting Active! It contains 16 activity ideas for you to help promote physical activity both in and out of the home on a daily basis.
These activity are only suggestions and we would recommend completing one activity each day. However, we would love to see what other creative ways you and your family are using to Get Active daily!
Links to YouTube Channels and websites can be found below.
Here are today’s musical activities from Emmeline.
Vocal Warm-Up: Pop The Gum
For this week’s vocal warm-up we are going to pretend we are chewing a piece of gum to get our mouths moving. First, we are chewing one bit of gum, then two and then three! We are also going to try and blow bubbles with our gum which will then pop!
Someone You Loved: Part 1 – Chorus
This week’s Makaton Song is going to be Someone You Loved by Lewis Capaldi. This is such a well-known song with lovely signs to accompany it. Today we will be singing and signing the chorus. Here are the words.
Now the day bleeds
Into nightfall
And you’re not here
To get me through it all
I let my guard down
And then you pulled the rug
I was getting kinda used to being someone you loved.
Huge thanks to Amanda and Salvi, our PE teachers and Scott, Active Schools, for organising our Virtual Sports Day, and thanks to everyone that took part. Pupils and staff have been joining in over the course of the week to complete up to 8 challenges. It’s been fun seeing how you’ve been getting on, how things have been adapted to support our individual strengths, and also to see some healthy competition within your families! We hope you enjoy the photos. If you’ve not had a chance to get involved yet, why not try out some activities over the weekend, or even in the summer holidays?
Beat the Goalie
We set up our own goals and took on a challenge. The different options suggested were:
Kick from further back
Kick backwards
Pass to someone before trying to score
Kick blindfolded
Obstacle Course
Your challenge was to be creative and have fun, using various objects around the house and garden to build obstacles.
Throwing
We practised throwing with different challenges for anyone finding it easy:
Throw from further back
Throw backwards
Throw under leg
Throw blindfold
Water Run
Always a popular activity on Sports Day, thankfully we’ve had some sunny weather! As you can see, some of us really entered into the spirit of things and got very wet! Trying out the different options, you can see we had some team work in action:
As a team
With obstacles
With holes in the cup
Add food colouring to water
Egg and Spoon
A sports day classic, this can be adapted by using a frying pan or plastic bowl instead of a spoon. All sorts of things can be improvised in place of an egg, such as a potato, a scrunched up sock, newspaper, and anything else you can think of!
The options included:
Race against each other
Add obstacles
Time yourself
Bowling
Our challenge was to practise bowling using empty plastic bottles as the target – a good way of re-using plastic. Keeping things safe for indoors, rolled up socks, a toilet roll or even a teddy were suggested alternatives to a ball.
Again, different options to increase the challenge:
Bowl from further back
Bowl from sitting
Bowl standing
Bowl blindfold
Running
The only event I personally tried, again there were options to make things a bit more interesting:
Have a race against each other
Run backwards
Shuttle run with toys
Run with obstacles (hurdles)
One inventive Grandad even encouraged running by turning on the garden hose!
Tower Building
This activity allowed us to be even more creative, using any number of objects to:
Build a tower and push it down
Shuttle run to build a tower
Build a tower as high as you can
Build a tower as a team
It looks like good fun was had by all.
A fabulous effort! We hope you had fun. You’re all winners!
Welcome to tonight’s bedtime story. Every week night we will bring you a bedtime story for you to watch and listen to. The stories are read by staff and pupils and we hope you enjoy seeing some familiar faces and hearing some familiar voices.
If you would like to join in and record a new bedtime story to share, please contact Amy Dunnett (Principal Teacher Primary) adunnett@aberdeencity.gov.uk for more information.
So get comfy and cuddle up because it’s time for a new Bedtime Story. Tonight’s story is…
The Yawning Game (written and illustrated by Greg Gormley)
Dog just can’t seem to stop yawning. This gives him an idea for a game. He starts to yawn at everyone he comes across and, one by one, each of them falls asleep. But will Dog’s yawning be too much, even for him?
We are delighted to reveal our newest additions to the school and we’re sure that they are some familiar faces you will recognise. Welcome to Alvin, Simon, Theodore and Turbo who will all take pride of place in our school.
We would like to say a huge thank you to the Play Specialists at Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital for their amazing donation to the school. We know that they will certainly be well loved and enjoyed by all at Orchard Brae.
