Welcome to the Parrots Class!
Staff
Teacher: Emma Hamnett, Jack Hobson (Thursday, Friday)
TAs: Jack Hobson, Rachel Mitchell, Runa Lyla and Elaine McCreedy
Mid Day Leader: Ellie O’Brien
Newsletter
Food Glorious Food
As the sun begins to shine and the days start to get a little lighter, the children in the Parrots have shared lots of fun learning experiences together.
During our sensory food exploration sessions, the children enjoyed different fruits linked to the story of The Hungry Caterpillar. Using fresh whole fruits, fruits in desserts and fruit juices to develop their independence, chopping skills, using a spoon or cup for drinking and with the aim of trying new tastes. The following day, the children used the caterpillar in the Parrots’ sensory story session, exploring fruits hidden in sensory materials, soft toys in boxes and bags, and watching and listening to the animation.
As always, we have continued to focus on our communication skills; the Parrots are developing their turn-taking skills, demonstrating the ability to watch their peers, take turns and follow the photograph cues successfully to understand whose turn it is next. We have also seen the children’s understanding of signs to communicate develop this half term, and some children are making the sign ‘me’ to show that they want to take a turn. The children have transferred these skills to our Respond, Create and Interact sessions. We begin our week very calmly on a Monday as the children listen more intently to the different sounds that their peers are making with the different instruments. We always end the session with a pom-pom and ribbon dance to DJ Raphi and Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.
Our Skill Building sessions have included hunting for bugs using tweezers and magnifying glasses. The children have been looking for toy frogs and ducks in various sensory materials, filling and emptying colourful easter eggs and practising our threading skills. We have been threading onto straws, pasta tubes, and Cheerios. Most of the Cheerios ended up in our tummies!
It has been a crafty half term as we have experienced many special events and celebrations such as Mother’s Day, World Book Day, Red Nose Day and our India Languages Day. We have also enjoyed some immersive sensory stories in preparation for Eid and Easter. We hope you have enjoyed receiving some of the special pieces we created together.
Have a great half term, and we will see you in the Summer term for lots more fun.
Signalong
At Kingfisher we use Signalong as a part of a Total Communication Approach, we are constantly using core vocabulary with the children to support their language development and then through each of our topics we introduce new signs and language, which extends their vocabulary further. We also have two “Signs of the Week” which helps maintain and extend key knowledge and skills of everyday vocabulary.
Each half term we will be creating a short video showcasing and demonstrating signs relavent for the current term so that you can learn the signs and further this learning at home.
Click play to watch this half terms Signalong video!
Lunchtime
If your child has a school dinner, the school menus can be accessed by clicking here. For children who bring a packed lunch, please remember to provide healthy and balanced options. We are a Healthy School and will be focusing on healthy eating and how children can make healthy lifestyle choices.
How You Can Help at Home
Communication
- Object request – put favourite objects in a cupboard or out of reach so that your child has to initiate interaction to request the objects that they want. If possible take photographs of favourite foods and objects and use them alongside the objects.
- Songs and rhymes – use bath toys such as rubber ducks, frogs, boats or a toy bus, teddy bear or figures and give your child a choice from 2 for them to request a song for you to sing or for them to watch and listen to on websites such as Super Simple Songs.
- Intensive Interaction – copy the sounds, movements and actions that your child makes and watch and wait to see how they respond when you mirror what they are doing.
Sensory Story
- Doing the Animal Bop – create your own story using the animals from the book and everyday objects such as pans and spoons, Tupperware boxes and recycled bottles filled with rice, to make sounds along to the story.
- Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see? – Read the story with your child and focus on a different colour each time that you read the book or watch online via You Tube. Create a different colour sensory experience for your child to explore linked to your chosen page of the book: red – strawberry jam or jelly, blue – ice and blue food colouring, yellow – custard or bananas, green – cabbage or green lentils.
Exploration and Investigating
- Support your child to learn the different parts of their body by singing or watching and listening to songs such as:
- Head, shoulders, knees and toes
- Baby Bear is sleeping
- One little finger
- If you’re happy and you know it
Being Creative
- Be creative using different body parts by making edible paint, and use a giant piece of paper, roll of wallpaper or old sheet and make whole body art, stomp some colourful foot prints or make a pattern of colourful handprints.
Edible paint recipe – https://www.learning4kids.net/2014/10/07/homemade-edible-finger-paint/
