Welcome to the Goldfinches Class!
Staff
Teacher: Shazia Ahmed-Dunnighan
TAs: Allyce Firth, Gemma McDaid and Sam Broadbent
Mid Day Leader: Ellie O’Brien
Newsletter
Ticket to Ride
The Goldfinches have enjoyed this half term’s topic ‘Ticket to Ride’. We have listened to ‘The Magic Train Ride’ as our sensory story. The children have then explored a variety of vehicles and had access to them during their ‘Play’ sessions.
During creative art sessions we have used vehicles for mark making, rolling them through paint and then onto a large canvas to produce a lovely piece of art work.
Our Music sessions have centered around ‘quiet’ instruments and ‘taking turns’. The children have really enjoyed playing xylophones, bells and rainmakers.
This half term the children have had both ‘Sport’s Week’ and ‘Languages Day’ which were both big hits. During Sport’s Week the children enjoyed ‘Boccia’, ‘Human Skittles’ and a very fun packed and competitive ‘Sport’s Day’. Our ‘Language Day ‘was themed around Spain. The children enjoyed painting using the colours of the Spanish Flag, they sampled Spanish Food and enjoyed listening to live Spanish music.
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
The following is a list of home learning activities you can enjoy with your child at home. The activities link closely to the activities we complete in school and our topic ‘On the Move’
- Offer me choices using real objects or photographs.
- Support my independence by encouraging me to dress/undress myself, complete fastenings such and zips and velcro and encourage me to carry my own school bag.
- Encourage me to use a spoon or fork at meal times.
- Sing songs and rhymes with me, using props if possible. Encourage me to join with action songs such as ‘wind the bobbin up’.
- Provide me with multisensory toys and everyday objects I can explore, e.g. Rainbow Hoops (Asda) and different sized bowls and containers so I can fill and empty. Model ways I can play also mirroring my play.
- Engage in ‘intensive interaction’ which includes copying my sounds, body language, and facial expressions.
- Provide different colourful materials to explore mark making and fine motor skills, e.g., coloured rice (adding paint to rice and allowing it to dry) coloured sand with glitter, shaving foam, and flour/oats. Mark make wiggly snakes in the different materials.
- Share picture books and stories with me, especially books with buttons, flaps and different textures, encouraging me to hold the book and turn the pages.
- Watch our class sensory story ‘Animal Boogie’ following the YouTube link below.
- Make instruments at home that you can use as sound effects for each part of the story.
- Share songs and rhymes linked to jungle animals. This is one we enjoy in school.
