Welcome to the Toucans Class!
Staff
Teacher: Shazia Ahmed
TAs: Adele Berry, Gareth Phillips and Gaelle Daniel
Mid Day Leader: Jayne Lees
Newsletter
Earth, Wind and Fire
This half term our topic was ‘Earth, Wind and Fire’ our sensory story was ‘Room on the Broom’ the children enjoyed watching the adult take on the role of a witch just like the one in our story. They met all the different characters and explored sensory materials related to each one. The children made their own concoctions in individual cauldrons creating magical spells with the wands they had made in a communication session.
During sensory food play the children began the half term exploring and tasting pancakes and different toppings on Shrove Tuesday. We explored a variety of root vegetables, including potatoes, carrots, and sweet potatoes. Some of the children liked crunching on the raw carrots whilst others enjoyed mashing the cooked vegetables using a potato masher. We will end the half term creating our own chocolatey Easter treats.
During this half terms languages day the children learnt all about France, they explored the colours of the French flag during sensory play and built our own Eiffel tower during our session in the studio. They also built towers whilst playing a game of Hungry Hippos during our physical session. We visited a French café and tasted traditional foods including croissants and sliced baguette with a choice of butter, jam or chocolate spread. The children listened to French café music as they enjoyed the yummy treats, the music has now become integrated into our lunch time routine.
The children are all making fantastic progress during our weekly swimming sessions. They have all developed confidence and are all now only wearing arm bands, with some not requiring arm bands at all! The children have been travelling in the water and have enjoyed using some of the equipment including the floats and balls.
We were very lucky to continue to have the support of Jordon our Sports Coach during our physical sessions in the hall. This half term the children have been taking part in different assault courses, we can see the children slowly developing confidence, as many of them began the half term holding onto an adults hand and are now travelling and exploring the equipment with minimal support. Outdoors the children have been exploring the large equipment, but have particularly enjoyed going outside in all weathers wearing wellies and waterproofs and splashing in large muddy puddles!
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
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 ‘Earth, Wind and Fire’
- 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 in with action songs such as ‘wind the bobbin up.’
- Provide me with multisensory toys and everyday objects I can explore, e.g. dried pasta 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 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
- 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 ‘Room on the Broom’ on BBC iPlayer, using the link below
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0102qfj/room-on-the-broom
- As the weather is beginning to change, why not take me on a nature walk collecting natural materials to create a spring time collage. What do they smell, feel, and sound like?
- Plant some spring bulbs and watch them grow.
- Why not explore different habitats, what insects can you find?
