This week I’m handing over to Miss Silvester and her Living Skills Pathway group, to tell you all about their learning and achievement so far this term – Oh the places they’ve been!  (This will probably make more sense when you’ve read the rest of the blog 🙂).

Before I do though, I’ve got a couple of special mentions.  Firstly, in the build up to Halloween, Ms Taylor and her class have been using the appliance of science to create some ‘ghost balloons’.  By mixing bicarbonate of soda with vinegar they’ve caused a chemical reaction that creates carbon dioxide which they’ve harnessed to blow up the balloons.  Very ghoulish!

Secondly, Ms Coleman-Celis and her class have begun a brand new ‘Sign of the Week’ project.  Their aim is to record a series of short films, each one featuring a different sign.  They’re planning to share one each week with classes across the school so we can practise the signs we use every day to communicate with each other.  What better place to start than with ‘Hello’ which is their first ‘Sign of the Week’.  You can check it out below so please have a go yourself just like James, Mr Cottam and Ms Coleman-Celis.  Keep an eye out on our Facebook and Twitter pages for a new sign each week.

[fvplayer id=”136″]

For now then, it’s over to Miss Silvester..

We’ve had a busy few weeks back in KS4TSR. Our theme this term is Dr Seuss,  focusing on ‘The Lorax’ and ‘Oh, the places you’ll go!’. We got started with lots of art work to decorate our display boards. We created some lovely Truffula trees along with our very own paper plate Loraxs and papier mache hot air balloons. We have made a giant Lorax for one of our boards too.

Mindfulness mornings have also been a focus for us, we have covered a wide range of techniques and practices to help and encourage us to relax, focus and feel safe to discuss how we are feeling. We have looked at different emotions; linking it to facial expressions, BSL signs and situations that make us feel different ways..

We have engaged in mindfulness colouring activities, yoga, guided meditation and getting active through dancing- the group especially liked our Zumba! sessions.

We have engaged in the mile a day walk which has fitted in brilliant with our mindfulness mornings and they’ve all worked really hard to hit that mile goal. It’s had a really positive impact and we’re really enjoying getting outside.

In English we have been focusing on The Lorax story and getting familiar with the characters and plot. We have been participating in phonics and communication focused activities also.

In Maths we have completed some sorting, matching and sequencing as well as our tin bucket challenge which links to our Lorax story.

Our CCT themes have included a famous person in history and designing our own country. For our famous person we decided to learn more about Dr Seuss and explored other books he had written and the characters in them – we had fun with our masks and in our prior learning sessions had a game of guess who with our pictures.

We also had a look at The Wright Brothers, which linked well to our ‘Oh the places you’ll go!’ story. As we discovered their first flight lasted for 12 seconds, we completed a challenge to see what we could do in 12 seconds, for instance how many times we could clap/ jump/ raise our arms..

We also designed our own planes..

..and made our own paper planes and saw whose went the furthest..

We then had some fun dressing up as a pilot!

For our design your own country we chose a name, either by coming up with an idea or using our story dice and picking a number from 1-5 which linked to a start or end eg Land, Republic of, Isle of etc.

We then designed our flag and completed mind maps on what would happen in our country linked to personal characteristics and preferences.

We had lots of fun creating laws and deciding on what currencies would be used – toy cars and teddy bears to name a few!

All in the students have settled back brilliantly and adapted so well to the changes that have been put in place. They have come back with the same drive and focus and have completed some amazing work already. As a staff team we are very proud of how they have coped with the ever-changing circumstances.

Until next week, take care, stay safe.

Gavin

Click here for this week’s news from Graham

You can find Dawn’s blog for the Learning Centre here

For news on our Key Stage 5 pathway groups at New Bridge College please click here

You can find Gavin’s previous blog posts here