Welcome to the Chaffinches Class!
Staff
Teacher: Lauren Whitehead
TAs: Lindy Cartwright, Nafisa Choudhury and Neve Gilraine
Mid Day Leader: Elaine Owens
Newsletter
Food Glorious Food
We have had a lovely half-term in the Chaffinches class, celebrating lots of events such as; Mother’s Day, Red Nose Day and Languages Day (India).
We have been working hard on our self-regulation skills and how we can use the Development Movement Play area in class to regulate and get ready for learning. We have also been using our outdoor area as a self-regulating area where the children can go out and have some free time to relax and get ready for their indoor learning.
In our Respond, Create and Interact sessions, we have been learning to play as a group and then play individually and this is something that has been beneficial for us learning to wait for our turn and listening to others explore instruments.
In our Move and Mark sessions, we have been using our gross motor skills to move our ribbons and socks in the air up and down. They then make a choice between poppers or sensory balls, and we work on our fine motor skills to explore these. Finally, they explore the dry material and use the water spray to make it wet. The children love making marks.
We have also been exploring themed tuff trays around our sensory story ‘We’re going on a Bear Hunt’ and have loved the different exploration media and sounds!
Attention Autism sessions have been a positive addition to the timetable and have allowed the children to sit and wait for their turn to engage in engaging material that motivates them. The children sit and watch an adult and then get to engage later in the different stages. This allows children to understand that they need to wait and allow their friends to have a turn before they get one also. We are now working at stage 3.
Finally, we have been enjoying interacting with adults in class through communication games. These have allowed us to make meaningful choices and explore items that are engaging and motivating to them. This has meant that a lot of the children have been interacting with adults and communicating wants and needs with them.
We hope that you have a lovely Easter break!
The Chaffinches Team
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.
You can view this half terms signalong video below:
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
- Our story is going to be looking at different people who may live in our town and their different cultures and beliefs. If you have any stories you can read them with your child at home.
- Immerse your children in different cultures and religions where appropriate.
- Encourage your child to make marks with pens, crayons and even sensory materials like cocoa powder or porridge oats at home.
- Immerse your child in numbers and embed this into their daily lives e.g. counting as you walk up the stairs.
- Play with your child and try to tap into their imaginary play skills.
- Immerse your child in language and talk to them/encourage them to talk to you throughout the day. Get them to ask for items and ask for ‘more’ if they enjoy things.
- Try to say ‘finished’ when an activity is over and see if your child can accept this and listen to your instruction.
- Ask your child to get things e.g. get a drink or get some food and see if they can follow the instructions that you ask, can they pour a drink?
- Play with musical instruments at home and play music for your children to dance to and enjoy. Can they start and stop when asked?
- Make musical instruments at home e.g. guitars with elastic bands and tissue boxes or shakers with rice and bottles.
- Use technology with your children where appropriate.
- Use cause and effect toys with your child so they know if they press something on a toy, something else will happen.
- Immerse your children in Special Events such as Eid, where appropriate.
