Firstly, an apology. Due to a technical issue, I’m not able to put any photos on the blog until Monday, so this one will be a bit boring till then, when I can add them in.

Due to home learning, it was a short week, but the Little Badgers still got up to plenty! They continued practising getting ready for bed and waking up in the morning, when the alarm went off (and not before). They also brushed their teeth and got dressed. We have been encouraging them to do as much as they can by themselves. They also had lots of fun reading the Owl Babies and exploring the story resources.

Some parents have asked what “Bucket Time” is. This is the first stage of Attention Autism, which is a strategy to help children with autism and attention difficulties learn to focus on learning tasks. In our class we have a beautiful green bucket and when the children see it they come and sit on the carpet. In the bucket are some special toys which an adult takes out one at a time, after we have sung a special bucket song. The children can’t touch the toys, they just have to watch and respect the bucket time rules.

In Stage Two, we spread out a shower curtain on the floor and the adult demonstrates an activity. In Stage Three, the children get to take turns to do the activity and in Stage Four, they get their own set of equipment to carry out the activity independently. The whole session lasts between five and thirty minutes, depending on the children’s attention skills.

We have just started Stage Two and the children have astonished us with their attention skills and with how quickly they have learned to follow the rules.

Well done Badgers!

Our Star of the Week this week was Haseeb, who has been learning to cooperate with adults and follow the class rules. He has had a really good week this week, so we thought he deserved it.

Hello Badgers! I hope you are all well and ready to do some home learning! Morgan and Harrison have been busy already, practising using a toothbrush on the big laminated teeth. See if you can do this too!

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If you have paint available, you could try using the toothbrush to do some mark-making. If you don’t have paint, you could use toothpaste or tomato ketchup on a tray but make sure you are in the kitchen, it might get messy!

Teach your family the actions to our good morning songs and sing along! But be warned- we usually go out to play after the second song.

Talk about what time it is, daytime or night time, and the different things we do at different times. In school we use photos and music to help the Little Badgers know what time it is. Our lunchtime song is Food Glorious Food. Maybe you could find songs use for bedtime and some other times of day.

Last week we started to roleplay getting ready for bed, getting pyjamas on and settling down to sleep. Not all the Little Badgers were able to do this because either they were not in school, or were doing some different work. We would like to try this again when they all come back so please remember to send in pyjamas if you didn’t send them in last week.

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Some other things the Little Badgers got up to last week:

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Here’s hoping we can get back to normal from Wednesday!

Hello Badgers! Some of you are learning at home for a few days, so here are some things to help you. We have been reading the Owl Babies story and here is a link to the story on YouTube. The Little Badgers can practise saying and signing ”I want my Mummy” like Bill does.

Owls are awake in the night, like some of our Little Badgers, but we have been learning about getting ready for bed at night. We practised putting our pyjamas on and cuddling down under the covers. Maybe your Little Badger will let you have a duvet day!

We rang a bell to signify morning, then jumped up and sang a morning song, then brushed our teeth.

I hope you have as much fun practising going to bed and getting up as we did in school!

More home learning ideas to follow later!

Happy New Year, everyone!

The Little Badgers have had a great start to the term and we’re all very keen to come into school on the first day. They are getting used to our new story, Owl Babies and starting to learn about the difference between day and night. They have been practising cleaning their teeth after snack time and are doing really well with this.

Next week we would like to do some role play, so please could you send in a spare pair of pyjamas so your child can dress up in them? Please send them on Monday and we will send them home on Friday.

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Bucket Time

This week we started something new. Attention Autism is a scheme designed to develop the attention skills of children with autism. They often have difficulty focusing on adult-led learning activities and following rules. During these highly structured activities, the children learn to focus, to wait, to follow instructions and to attend.

We got off to a flying start this week with Bucket Time. We were all amazed at how well they sat from the start, how they responded to the cue of the bucket and how they paid attention and followed the rules.

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Next week we will move on to the next stage- I can’t wait!

The Badgers have had lots of other fun this week, including getting to know our new hairdressing doll, a lovely music session with Bev and testing out our new water-absorbent mat- Rizwanul put it through its paces!

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Our Star of the Week this week is Manraaj, because he has started to spontaneously sign “finished” when he’s had enough of an activity. Well done, Manraaj!