We were back at the National Memorial Arboretum again this week and it was even better than last week!

We used the Learning Centre as our base again and the children enjoyed the continuous provision activities available to them. Jaime and his team were amazing at making sure the activities and the environment met the needs of our learners!

In the morning we ventured out into the woodlands to explore some different memorials and trails this week. We began at the BLESMA Limbless Veterans Orchard where the apple trees grow smaller so those in wheelchairs can pick the apples from them. Renesmae loved picking the apples and snacking on them as we continued to explore! 😂🍎🌳

We then went to investigate the horse statue made from old tank parts! We loved feeling the different parts of the horse and the volunteers helped to point out different pieces to the children as they explored. 🐴

As the train went past, all the children stopped to wave ‘Hello!’ At the train driver and his passengers! Manraaj showed off his excellent Makaton signing of ‘train’. Well done ⭐️🚂

The volunteers then led us along a lovely trail through the woods to see the ‘Desert Rats’ memorial where we found a shaded spot to have a rest!

Then we found Stick Man!

After lunch in the Learning Centre, we went back outside to the Sensory Playground again. The children remembered this part from last week and were very excited to be here again.

It was then time to head back to the Learning Centre to get out of the sun and do some wonderful arts and crafts activities they had planned for us!

The children were able to decorate their own plant pot by mark making with colouring pencils and crayons. They then filled their pots with compost (homemade at the Arboretum of course!) and sprinkled in their poppy seeds! 🪴🌸

Sadly, it was then time for us to go back to school, although we really didn’t want to leave! But hopefully we can come back again soon!! ❤️

This week was our first visit to The National Memorial Arboretum! Over the week we have been watching lots of videos of the Arboretum so that the children had an idea of where we were going. We prepared transition photos of the different locations at the Arboretum so that the children all had a Now and Next board for the day. We had a very busy schedule and we needed to ensure the children were supported through each transition.

We started the day in the Learning Centre! The facilitators had set up some wonderful continuous provision activities for the children to explore while they settled in and we used this as our base for the day.

We then took the children to explore the Landscapes of Life Exhibition. We loved the ‘Street Party’ scene! Harrison enjoyed listening to the sound of trumpets through the headsets, Ramandeep loved the leaves on the floor and Christopher liked the small world figures!

After we had all settled into our new environment it was time to go to The Drum for our Sensory Story experience! Our storyteller, Kelly was amazing with the pupils and she had lots of exciting sensory items for the children to explore. Kelly read the story ‘Arbie and the magical lights’ on the big projector while handing out musical instruments, torches, colourful material and feathers for the pupils to engage with. It was a wonderful experience and the children had the best time! They didn’t want it to end!

The volunteers then took us on a lovely nature trail to spot all the different animal statues! We found the big Polar Bear, a lion, a tiger and a deer! We loved exploring the different memorials and the outdoor space. We were even able to watch the planes fly over! They were very noisy but the children coped well with this and watched intently as they flew over our heads!

After lunch in the Learning Centre, we went back outside to the Sensory Playground! This was an amazing space for the children to explore. Renesmae loved the hill and the tunnel, Manraaj relaxed in the basket swing, Mufit spent the entire time climbing, and both Oliver and Ramandeep loved sprinkling the bark! There was something for every pupil to engage with and it was lovely to see them enjoy the space so much.

We ended the day by walking up to the War Memorial and having a lovely group photo! But then unfortunately, it was time to get back on the bus and go back to school…

We can’t wait to go back again next week!

What a busy couple of weeks we’ve had!

Otters Class had a wonderful Forest School session in the sunshine and it was so great to have some of the parents join us! We had a lovely picnic snack in the woods, we climbed trees, played football and parachute games!

For our weekly ‘30 days wild’ session, we explored flowers frozen in ice cubes! The children were given different fine motor tools to problem solve how to get the flowers out of the ice. We really enjoyed trying to chop the ice up into little pieces and it was lots of fun to try and pick up the slippery ice cubes using tongs and tweezers!

Our Games session in PE was lots of fun! The children have been working on their coordination and gross motor skills to be able to throw and catch a ball, also kick a football in a particular direction. This is extra tricky as it requires the learners to be precise with their movements. They are working very hard and showing good progress!

It has been a very warm week but we have worked very hard to keep the children comfortable and ready for learning! Obviously this has meant, we have had lots of water play every day to cool us down! The children have loved the water guns and it’s even been a great opportunity to practise our communication skills! The children are getting very good at asking for ‘More’ using their preferred communication methods.

We had a lovely, calm PSE session this week. Working on the carpet to explore caring for baby. The children are getting very independent with feeding baby the bottle and some of the children are remembering how to do the tabs on the nappy!

Our Messy Maths session was fantastic again this week! All the children come to the table to engage in the session; they love singing 5 Currant Buns with the Makaton signing and are accepting the turn-taking very well! 1 pupil is picked to splat the last bun each session so we are learning to anticipate who will be picked and accept when we don’t always get a turn. This time, it was Mufits turn!

This week we introduced our new story, ‘Arbie and the Magical Lights’. This story links with our trip to the National Memorial Arboretum because it is all about an Owl called Arbie that lives at the Arboretum. It’s Arbie’s first time experiencing the Illuminations and he wonders why light is so important. In the story, Arbie explores the different uses of light and what makes light so magical. The children will then get to experience this sensory story in ‘The Drum’ at the Arboretum, during our school trip! We are all very excited!

We did the story in small groups in the Sensory room so the children got a more immersive experience of how magical light can be. We really enjoyed the light up bricks, the infinity mirror and the pebbles. We also painted our own pictures of Arbie during a creative session, to introduce the story to the children.

This week, the children also made their Father’s Day cards. We used our fingertips to make beautiful patterns on our pictures and then signed our cards by practising our mark making skills. They all turned out wonderful!

Last week the children enjoyed getting back into routine after the holiday. We had lots of fun in our continuous provision. Each day is a different play theme and our tuff tray toys focus around these themes – this photo is from our Communication and Language day, with all our toys beginning with the letter ‘m’.

Its been lovely to watch the children build an awareness of their peers and begin to make friends. It’s so important for our children to learn sharing and turn-taking skills.

We really enjoyed our first ‘Messy Maths’ session! The adults sang ‘Five Currant Buns’ and we took it in turns to splat the shaving foam cupcake. On the last cupcake, the children were waiting beautifully in anticipation to see who would get to splat the last one! It was all very exciting and the children are learning about turn-taking alongside engaging in rote counting and number songs.

We’ve had some wonderfully messy sessions over the past couple of weeks! The children have loved exploring the materials with their hands and feet!

Every Tuesday we do a lovely fine motor skills session using all the messy ingredients that the children love! This week we used shaving foam and the adults had lots of fun modelling mark making and letter formation with their fingers.

In our ‘The World Around Us’ session, the children enjoyed a barefoot sensory walk! Each tray was filled with different natural materials for the children to walk through and explore with their toes! We explored hay and straw, flowers, soil and water!

Last week the pupils in Otters Class enjoyed focusing on their reading and writing skills!
We engaged in a lovely foundation skills session, focusing on phonological awareness and mark making skills.

We started to see some progress during our story sessions. The children were able to remain seated and attend to the entire story! As a whole class group! It was amazing, we are so proud of them! After the story, the children engaged in 1:1 sessions labelling a sunflower using symbols. They also had fun exploring the soil, stems and leaves to deepen their understanding of the story.

The learners have been getting on really well with their problem solving and workbox sessions. This week we have been investigating Pattern through puzzles, coloured beads and threading, also Numicon tiles and building blocks.

Last week we had to extend our Appreciation Station as we had too many amazing moments to celebrate! Harrison was our Star of the Week for showing lots of wonderful independence skills throughout the week. Well done!

This week our little Otters have been very busy! We started the week by getting ready for VE Day. We painted some bunting in red, white and blue – getting VERY messy in the process! The children were able to use the paint brushes effectively; practising their fine motor skills and sensory exploration.

In our new classroom, we have started an ‘Appreciation Station’, celebrating all the amazing things our children do throughout the week. Whoever gets the most celebrations on the board, gets Star of the Week on Friday!

Last week, Manraaj was our Star of the Week!

This week, Renesmae has been awarded Star of the Week!

We also wanted to show off how much the children are enjoying the new Breakfast Club initiative.

The children have been working on their communication skills and independence in requesting and preparing their own breakfast.

On Thursday we celebrated VE Day! The Otters staff came to school dressed in their fabulous 1940’s inspired outfits and the children all arrived at school in red, white and blue!

We enjoyed a wonderful British Tea Party! Listening to some 1940’s music and trying some scones with cream and jam. Christopher and Mufit particularly enjoyed pouring themselves a cup of tea!

In the afternoon on Thursday, the children had another lovely sweet treat! We had lots of fun decorating cupcakes with red or blue icing.

The children have also been engaging in their new music sessions for this term. Exploring the growth of a flower through music and movement. Ramandeep really enjoyed exploring the rain stick while her peers pretended to be seeds growing into beautiful flowers!

This week we started in our new classroom on the Pelsall Lane Site! It has been a big change for both pupils and staff but we have all worked together and we are so proud of how well the children have settled into their new environment and routine.

This week we have had some lovely fine motor sessions; rolling clay and mark making in shaving foam. We wanted to ensure the children felt the security of a strict class routine, without any unnecessary demands that would cause anxiety. These fine motor sessions have provided the perfect balance for this; allowing the children some ownership of their learning and autonomy over their own sensory regulation.

We started our new PSE topic this week; focusing on transitions in life and, growing and changing. For this term, the children will be learning about Babies’ basic needs. Learning how to feed baby, hold baby gently and put baby’s nappy on.

Our story for this half term is ‘Sam plants a sunflower’. In these sessions, the children listen to the story and explore planting their own sunflower. This week the children were able to engage in an adult led seed planting activity and then explored seeds in different fruits and vegetables at the tuff tray. Each week we will look closely at symbol recognition by labelling the stages of growth for a sunflower.