2023-24

Learning in the Puffin Room - w/b 22.04.24

This week in the Puffin Room, we were engaged in multiple activities, exploring sand texture independently and then filling a mould with sand. Other activities included building blocks with the help of our adults. The highlight of our week was taking part in ‘Earth day’ activities by making our own flower crowns with the help of our adults.

Learning in the Butterfly Room - w/b 15.04.24

Every morning in the Butterfly class, children start the day off with a circle time session by singing the “Hello” song. We sign this to individual children and they respond by pressing the switch to communicate with. Afterwards, the children and adults sing and listen to the animal songs, such as; “Five little ducks” and “Old Macdonald had a farm” whilst holding the visual props up for each song.

Learning in the Hummingbird Room - w/b 25.03.24

This week has been a busy one for the pupils in the Hummingbird Room, participating in a range of exciting activities. Children attended a ‘Silly Science Workshop’, where they really enjoyed getting involved with each of the thrilling experiments! Later on in the week during RE lessons, children delved into the meaning of Ramadan as well as Easter. Children showed off their creativity when making their Easter bonnets!

Learning in the Beehive Room - w/b 18.03.24

The children at Sir John Heron were sent a batch of eggs recently. We observed, over time, what happened to these eggs. We are happy to report that we have finally met the chicks hatching from these eggs. Children from the Beehive Room paid the chicks a visit and enjoyed gently petting the chicks to feel their soft feathers and their little beaks.

Learning in the Puffin Room - w/b 11.03.24

This week, the children from Puffin Room visited the local library. During the visit they looked at a variety of books and enjoyed the story telling session. 

The school’s Reception classes are currently housing eggs and they will hatch into chicks! Puffin Room children were observing these eggs, something they found very interesting. 

Finally, the children enjoy playing in the playground and are using the climbing frame and slide safely. What an exciting week! 

Learning in the Butterfly Room - w/b 04.03.24

The children in the Butterfly Room were using a ramp for their P.E session and choosing one of the coloured balls to hold and push down the ramp, either with adult support or independently. Before they pushed the ball down the ramp, the adults and children said “Ready, Steady, Go!”

Learning in the Hummingbird Room - w/b 26.02.24

It has been a very creative week in the Hummingbird room! We read the book ‘Handa’s Surprise’ and used this as a stimulus to roleplay scenes, build sentences and retell the story. In mathematics, we made lava lamps by using our measuring skills. Have a look at our learning journey in the photographs below.

Learning in the Beehive Room - w/b 19.02.24

This week, the children in the Beehive Room worked on several arts and crafts projects. Some of them needed hand on hand support to finish their masterpieces. Have a look at the images below for a glimpse of the process!

Learning in the Puffin Room - w/b 05.02.24

This week, the children in the Puffin Room enjoyed a sensory session. They used their core boards to ask for more of the items they would like as well as any other requests. The children enjoyed painting and exploring the feeling of the texture of paint on their hands. During circle time the children are becoming more confident of saying how they feel.

Learning in the Butterfly Room - w/b 29.01.24

This week, pupils in Butterfly Class read the book ‘Farmer Duck’. They immersed themselves into the book by making use of their senses, such as touch and listening, to explore the different animals mentioned in the story.

Learning in the Hummingbird Room - w/b 22.01.24

The children in the Hummingbird room have been working on a very special project: creating mammals of different sizes and species. In order to do this, they conducted research and found a range of facts about animals during their Literacy lessons. After creating these mammals, they rounded the displayed work off by labelling the different body parts of these animals. Come and have a look in the year 5 and 6 practical area to see these magnificent beasts!

Learning in the Beehive Room - w/b 15.01.24

During the water play this week, the children explored how to make bubbles using a straw; they explored the texture, shape and feel of the bubbles using their hands. The children also arranged the stacking cups into piles.

Learning in the Puffin Room - w/b 08.01.24

This week, we enjoyed playing the parachute game. We put light objects inside the parachute and we sang songs. During the water play session we were able to ask for more water and the other items using our core boards. We also had an RWI session. We practised the letter 'm' sound and we practised writing the letter 'm' saying the rhyme to the letter.

Learning in the Hummingbird Room- w/b 11.12.23

This week has been a busy one in the Hummingbird Room! During our mathematics lessons, we explored measure; we compared the weight of our school shoes to apples. For this activity, we made use of weighing scales. Following on from this, we worked in teams to measure the length of our feet; for this we used a ruler, measuring in centimetres. During afternoon circle time, we went on a bear hunt around the school playground, inspired by the book ‘We’re going on a bear hunt’. We were definitely not scared!

Creative Work in the Beehive Room - w/b 04.12.23

Children in the Beehive Room were very creative this week. They used mark making skills to create Christmas prints, using stencils.

Learning in the Puffin Room - w/b 27.11.23

In the enchanting world of the Puffin Room, children have embarked on a delightful artistic journey, immersing themselves in Christmas-themed activities aimed at fostering sensory play. The young minds eagerly delved into the creative process, utilising an array of sensory items to craft unique decorations that will soon adorn the hall, infusing it with a festive feel. Cotton wool became the fluffy material of choice for Santa's beard, adding a tactile element to their imaginative creations. Vibrant festive colours painted a cheerful palette as the children translated their holiday spirit onto paper. This engaging exploration not only hones their artistic skills but also cultivates a rich sensory experience, allowing the children to connect with the magic of Christmas in a hands-on and vibrant way.

Creative work in the Butterfly Room - w/b 20.11.23

This term in the Butterfly Room the children have been studying different festivals and celebrations. Using a range of media, they created firework pictures for Diwali and Guy Fawkes night, made Pudsey Bear masks and ears for ‘Children in Need’ as well as  snowflakes for Christmas. Have a look at our wonderful work!

Language and Communication in the Hummingbird Room - w/b 13.11.23

This week, children in the Hummingbird Room have used a range of skills during their English lessons. Yousuf has ordered and put together sentences that have been cut up. Following this, he has started to copy the sentences by himself into his book. You might notice that Yousuf's pencil grip has improved; his grip is much firmer now! 

In Reading, Oahian has progressed onto Pink books. Well done Oahian; you are trying to read the book independently! Samir enjoys reading his ditty sheets in RWI.

Zahara has been using her phonics knowledge to read alien words, as well as her own written work. 

Well done, Puffin Room learners! 

Sensory learning in the Puffin Room - w/b 06.11.23

In the vibrant Puffin Room, a haven for budding minds and energetic spirits, children are immersed in a kaleidoscope of activities designed to nurture their fine and gross motor skills while fostering cognitive development. They were engaged in a host of activities in order to help develop their control of their bodies by climbing and going down the slide within the sensory circuit. 

The tactile delight of squishing through soft fabrics, the visual stimulation of vibrant hues, and the soothing melodies that accompany their play create an enriching environment that not only ignites their senses but also cultivates a foundation for cognitive growth. In the Puffin Room, every giggle, every curious glance, contributes to the holistic development, making it a playground where learning is an adventure and every moment is a step towards a brighter future.

Music in the Beehive Room - w/b 30.10.23

In the Beehive room, our little explorers have been delving into a world of musical instruments, and the advantages of music therapy are shining through. Through this musical journey, they are not only having fun but also enhancing their cognitive development, fostering emotional expression, and connecting with the world of sounds and rhythms in a profound way. Music is a universal language, and for these children, it's a gateway to a world of creativity and learning.

Learning in the Butterfly Room - w/b 16.10.23

The children in Butterfly Class have been working on a range of activities, such as listening to stories using different props to support the understanding of the story. They have also been exploring different textures through messy play and developed their coordination using nets to fish for ducks.

Language and Communication in the Hummingbird Room - w/b 09.10.23 

During circle time, we are using sentence strips to communicate our feelings and ask about our friend’s feelings. When doing this, we are encouraged to use full sentences.

During messy play, we use full sentences to ask and answer questions. We also use colourful semantics to read and write sentences during English lessons.  We are continuing to develop our writing, working through cut up sentences.

Week beginning 02.10.23

This week, the children in the Beehive room participated in a range of exciting activities. During the 'attention bucket' session, Mohammed played with the rainbow ribbon and even tried to place his hand in the middle of the rainbow circle! 

Sumayya shook the parachute whilst playing parachute games and Akash played the tambourine during the music lesson. 

Week beginning 25.09.23

This week the children have been engaged in a delightful journey of messy play, discovering new textures, and using their communication tools to choose the activities they wish to explore. One of the highlights of our messy play sessions has been the enchanting world of bubbles. Bubbles are not only mesmerising but also a fantastic way for children to practise their fine motor skills. 

As the children blow bubbles, they learn about cause and effect while giggling with joy as they chase and pop them. This activity encourages them to communicate their excitement and share the fun with their peers. Another messy play adventure that has captivated our young explorers is playing with shaving foam. The squishy and fluffy texture of shaving foam is a sensory delight, engaging their tactile senses as they squish, mould, and explore. This activity encourages communication as children express their preferences and delight in the sensations they experience.

Week beginning 18.09.23

In the Butterfly Room, the children have been engaged in an exciting and interactive activity using a parachute as a tool to improve their ability to follow instructions. With the guidance and support of adults, the children have been actively shaking and moving the parachute up and down. This fun and cooperative exercise not only enhances their listening skills but also fosters teamwork and coordination among the young learners. Through this hands-on experience, the children not only develop their capacity to follow directions but also cultivate important social and physical skills, making learning an engaging and enjoyable adventure in the Butterfly Room.

2022-23

June 2023

We loved our end of year visit to Barleylands Farm Park! We enjoyed seeing and feeding the farm animals!

Week beginning 06/03/2023

What an exciting week! We were so lucky to have a petting zoo visit us, and all our children enjoyed meeting and petting a variety of animals, from goats and lambs to a donkey! There were lots of gentle hands and very big smiles!

Week beginning 27/02/2023

We’re moving closer to the Spring and we can’t wait! This week we have started some of our Spring activities, making flowers, bugs and birds for our lovely classrooms. We continue to spend time with our classmates and enjoy taking turns playing games, reading together and having a good old chinwag.

Week beginning 20/02/2023

We love to read! This week we are preparing for the very exciting world book day by reading with our classmates. We love to read together, sequence events of a story and even recreate stories through messy play. How are you preparing for world book day? What will you read?

Week beginning 13/02/2023

We love water play! Across the bubble we all have individual communication methods. Recently, we have focused on using coreboards and fringes to structure full sentences in order to make requests. This can include asking Miss Slocombe to add more soap for us to make bubbles with! Or extra water beads which we love to scrunch with our hands as they’re so squishy!

Week beginning 23.01.2023

Butterfly have had such a busy week! The children have been focusing on making clear choices in the sessions with Ms Slocombe, taking turns and continuing their fantastic maths work. The children in Puffin room continue to use their communication methods to make choices and the Beehive room children are enjoying using colourful semantics to extend their vocabulary.

Week beginning 16.01.2023

It’s week three and we are not afraid to get messy! The children have been using their communication boards to request items for their messy play activities. In the Beehive room the children have enjoyed working with their friends in year 4 and 5 to make little snowmen ornaments and engage in some role play games.

Week beginning 09.01.2023

This week in the provision we are back for our first full week of exciting activities and learning! It might be a bit chilly, but that doesn’t stop us from getting outside and having fun with the leftover snow. Butterfly class has enjoyed learning more music action words and using these with the parachute to tell our teacher what to do! Beehive class have been busy with lots of reading to each other to focus on blending their sounds.

Week beginning 31.10.2023

What a rainy week we’ve had! But the rain hasn’t stopped us all from having lots of fun. In the Butterfly room the children have been practising using their switches to communicate decisions. They’ve also really enjoyed reading with children from their classes. Out in the practical area the children from Beehive and Puffin room have enjoyed building sandcastles, making long necklaces out of pasta and painting different shapes using a range of brushes.

Week beginning 10/10/2022:

We are another week into our Autumn term and are as busy as ever! The children in Puffin room have enjoyed floating in the water at their swimming lessons and lots of singing and communication in class. In the Butterfly room, the children have been working on asking for a variety of messy play options during their music and communication sessions. Beehive room have continued their excellent work on multiplication, learning to make egg on toast and creating lots of slimy potions.

Week beginning 03/10/2022:

What a lovely week we’ve all had! We were back at Forest School this week, exploring the natural world around us and taking in some sunshine whilst relaxing in a wheelbarrow! Beehive room have continued to work on subtraction and multiplication, using colourful semantics and recreating characters from Rapunzel. In Puffin room the children were very excited to be back to making a big splash in their swimming lessons. Butterfly room have continued to work with Ms Slocombe focusing on communication through music, some relaxing massages and lots of messy play.

Week beginning 19/09/2022

It's nearing the end of September and the cold weather is beginning to creep in.  The children in the Butterfly room have continued to learn about people who help us, especially fire fighters! They’ve enjoyed making a big splash with water during messy play. It's been a really exciting start to the term with Ms Slocombe in the room.  In the Beehive room, the children have been working on Maths and Literacy with Mr. Davies.  The children this week have been working to subtract numbers using counters or dienes.  In Literacy, we have been exploring messy play games to practise making verbal requests.  Over in the Puffin room, the children have been practising to make requests using their core boards or choosing boards.

Week beginning 12/09/2022

We have had another very exciting and wonderfully messy week! Our children have been learning all about the Rapunzel story through dressing up role-play and creating some ooey gooey potions for the witch character, using vocabulary to request the items they would like to add to their cauldrons. In the Butterfly room, the children have been working with Ms Slocombe to explore music through sensory play and choosing the best shakers to make the loudest sounds!  The puffin room have been working to use their communication supports to ask for item’s they want.

We welcomed the children back to school this week after the summer holiday, and the weather was sure to let us know it's September!  The rain has poured down all week!  The children settled back into their groups and spent some time visiting their classes.  Many of our children have familiar adults, but some children are getting to know some new faces.  The children have been cooking all week, building on the skills they learnt last term with buttering bread.  They are now learning to make scrambled egg on toast.  This week, we broke the skills down into smaller steps.  The children learnt to butter toast, and in other sessions they learnt to crack an egg and whisk it.  In the Butterfly room, Ms Slocombe has been getting to know the children.  She has been leading sessions, lending our SEN provision her wonderful musical talents and joining in with the children in some messy play sessions.

2021-22

This week, two of our groups headed to Barleyland.  The children were able to feed the goats and the sheep (no feeding the pigs!).  Before lunch, the children took a tractor ride round the farm.  It was a bumpy journey but we were able to see some majestic horses.  After lunch, the children explored the reptile enclosure, filled with phythons and iguanas!  We will be heading back this Tuesday with another set of children.  Keep your eyes peeled for more photos!

This week the children had a visit from the Silly Science education group.  The children had a great time sharing attention and watching the exciting activities.  Throughout the week, the children continued to work together through their music and craft lessons.  We learned to play the shakers and the tambourines in time to the rhythm.

We are back for a new half term.  The sun is shining every day and the children are making good use of the outside space.  Our children in the Beehive are working on Little Red Riding Hood.  This week they have been reading the text and developing their understanding - sequencing the story and identifying the main characters.  In the puffin room, the children have been exploring parachute games in the afternoon and continuing to develop their skills with spreading butter onto bread.

The children are now in full spring with the new term.  They are working to build sandcastles with our beach topic, using buckets and a wide range of shape forms.  They've been spending the afternoon exploring soil and seeds.  The past two weeks has been spent making sure that our flowers that needed to be planted by April were in their pots and carefully tended to with regular water and sunshine.  The children have continued to explore clay, using the clay to practice their rolling and cutting skills.  In addition to this, the children have been using the shells collected from the beach to make shell imprints in the clay.

This week the children returned to Forest Schools.   There were lots of changes over the Easter holiday.  Spring as now sprung, and our Forest was awash with trees of all shades of green.  The children were particularly curious to explore the flowers that were growing in the forest.  In the classes this week, the children have begun our new topic "A Seaside Summer".  They spent the week making sand castles using the buckets and spades, creating artwork with clay and shells and learning to pot plants.  Some of our children joined the other classes this week for a maths problem solving session.

Last Friday, the children had a visit from Ark Farms.  The farm brought lots of different and exciting animals, from tortoises, to owls, to guinea pigs and dogs.  The children were excited to see the animals up close, as you can see from the photos we've added.  Unfortunately this week, sickness and absence meant the children had to postpone this weeks swimming and Forest school, but the children did find time on Friday afternoon to make some cards for Mother's Day.  The children used hand prints to make their own personalised Mother's Day cards.

This week, the children started their Forest Schools work.  This meant we spent Monday morning squeezing ourselves into the van to set of to a local park.  Once we were there, we were met by the county's course leader, Katie, who had set out a range of activities for the children.  There was digging, bubbles, mud painting, clay and other shorter activities for the children to try.  Mostly, the children were just curious to explore the area.  We will be attending the Forest School every Monday until the end of term, and we're sure to add some more photos showing the exciting work we're getting up to.

Yesterday we celebrated World Book Day across the school.  So many of the staff and children came to school in costumes to represent their favourite stories and books. Ms McLuckie came in her Merrida-inspired 'Brave' outfit whilst our other children came dressed as some of their favourite stories.  We've tried to capture all of them here for you, but some of our children were camera shy!

It's the final week of work before a well deserved break at half term.  The sun is finally starting to peek out from the clouds after a cold and dark winter and the children in the SEN provision are continuing to work hard.  In the Butterfly room, the children are continuing to explore songs themed around transport but they are beginning to make more choices within those songs, for example, chosing whether the second verse of the Wheels on the Bus will be 'the horns' or 'the babies'.  In the Puffin room we are continuing to develop our independence across a wider range of craft activities, whilst the children in the Beehive have been working hard on their Maths and Literacy.

Another busy week in the Butterfly Room!  We've been swimming twice this week and are now fully back in the swing of things.  In the Beehive Room we have been working to create group interpretation of our Language Enirchment Groups (LEG) run by Miss McLuckie.  The children have been working to respond to a variety of one and two step instructions.  The Butterfly Room have been continuing to work on their transport topic, working with Speech and Language therapists and the Complex Needs and Dyslexia team, who have both been offering their valuable input as always.  We are still practicing our xylophones in the Puffin Room (and getting a lot better at it!).  We are all learning to play along to the song The Wheel's on the Bus, using the coloured xylophones and Mr Davies' handy coloured prompts!

It has been another busy week in the Butterfly room.  We have been working hard on our Literacy in the Beehive, practicing our handwriting and continuing to develop our ability to construct sentences with colourful semantics.  We have spent our afternoons painting, making choices about which tools we would like to use and developing our independence.  In the butterfly room, we are spending more time with our classes.  The children in each class have been brilliant, spending time reading with our children every day when they arrive.

Happy New Year!  We have started a brand new term, and a brand new topic - Transport!  The children are using this as the foundation to explore a range of learning opportunities.  We are thinking about how we travel around school - several of our children in the Puffin room are using transition cards to move from one room to the next.  We are thinking about different types of transport - the children in the Butterfly room have been using objects of reference for the different modes of transport and linking these to songs they know and we are beginning to sort items by a given characteristic in the Beehive room.

We are getting closer and closer to Christmas time.  Advent calendars are being opened and Santa is working his way through his long naughty and nice list.  To begin our celebrations, we had a whole-school Christmas disco.  Our children attended with their year groups and particularly enjoyed the snow machine.  This Friday, we celebrated with Christmas jumpers.  It was so exciting to see you all come to school in your Christmas jumpers of all colours and designs!

We have been working hard in the Butterfly Room as we draw closer to the end of term.  The children have continued working towards their personal targets, with our children in the Butterfly Room working closely this week with our speech and language profesisonals.  They have been working closely with our staff to develop the children's ability to make choices within our learning sessions.  All the groups took part in Eco-week, with some children making bunting out of old newspaper and our children in the Beehive and Puffin rooms making paper mache globes.  Our Christmas trees have been put up and the children will start some Christmas activities next week.

We have been working hard in the Butterfly Room this week.  The children working in the Beehive Room have been practicing their phonics and working on the story of the Three Little Pigs.  We have been exploring the vocabulary in the story and sequencing the main events.  Later in the week, we worked to retell parts of the story with Colourful Semantics.  In the Butterfly group, we welcomed the parents on Thursday morning.  It was lovely to see you all again and to be able to model some of the strategies we have been using when working with your children!

We have had another busy week in the Butterfly Room.  The children have been finishing up the last couple of weeks of their Under The Sea topic, as we keep half and eye on Christmas!  The weather is getting colder and wetter, so we have planned lots of fun activities for those days that we're stuck inside.  In the Beehive room, we have started our new Literacy group, and we've been working very hard on our traditional tales.  The children work together on their phonics, spelling, handwriting with Mr Davies!

We have had a very busy and interesting week!  On Wednesday, the school invited John, owner of a wide variety of native and exotic birds!  The children were treated to experiences with British animals like owls and more exotic birds like the kookaburra.  In addition to this, it was also parliament week.   Across the school, there were a range of activities designed to develop the children's understanding of democracy and goverment.  Our children responded to this by working together to build a model of Big Ben out of lollypop sticks. 

We are continuing our Under The Sea topic across all three rooms this term.  In the Butterfly Room, we are continuing to make choices using our switches and coreboards.  The children have started a new fishing activitiy where we can practice our reaching and grasping skills with fishing rods, in addition to getting some counting practice in with our toy ducks!  In the Puffin room, the children have been getting very messy taking part in a wide range of sensory activities and crafts.  The children have also been learning actions to familiar songs such as 'Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes' and 'One Little Finger'.  In the Beehive, we have been using within-task timetables to help us complete our crafts, looking at the pictures to help guide us as we work with increasing independence.  Around this, the children have also been completing their independent targets, continuing to learn to count with concrete objects and construct phrases and sentences using colourful semantics!

Celebration time!  It was the school's 20th anniversary last Friday and Sir John Heron celebrated in style.  The children experienced a range of exciting activities, from clowns and jesters, to music with a snow machine and face painting.  The most exciting of these for our children was definitely the petting zoo.  The children had fun watching the goats, donkeys, ducks and one very excited dog.  Some of our children were even brave enough to stroke the animals.  We were blessed with some fantastic sunshine, and the children enjoyed an afternoon of ice cream and carnival games.  What a fantastic way to celebrate 20 years!

We are settling well into our new term.  We have all been working hard in music, learning the song 'A sailor went to see...'.  Our support staff have been busy setting up our outside provision.  We worked with Ms Kumar on this area, and have had great fun exploring our new sensory trays.  We have worked hard in Literacy and Maths, learning to use colourful semantics to make sentences and finding lots of different ways to practice our counting around the resource provision.

Welcome back!

We are so excited to be back for a new school year.  We have been blessed with some excellent sun at the start of this term, so the children in the Butterfly room have been out and enjoying themselves.  In class, we have been getting set up for a new year.  We have said goodbye to many familiar faces, and welcomed some new ones.  This term, our topic is 'Under The Sea'.  We've been getting involved in lots of sea-themed craft activities, music and stories. It's going to be an exciting term!

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Butterfly Class

2020-21

We have been continuing to enjoy the wonderful warm weather.  We have been trying not to complain about how hot it has got and make the most of it.  Some of us went outside to continue or learning beside the water trays, where it is much cooler, while some of us went to learn on the machines in the sensory room, one of our cooler inside rooms!

We have been very busy with our multi-sensory learning opportunities.  Many of us have been making to make requests with our coreboards and our switches.  Fun, multi-sensory learning such as playing with foam is a far more enjoyable way to learn these skills.

We have been working very hard to build our space displays.  Some of us have worked to finish the background of our display, while in the Puffin room we have been working to make space crafts by using in-task timetables.  These are shorter timetables that show us in pictures the steps we need to take to complete a craft.  We we are older, we hope we can use these for a wider range of activities.

We have been making the most of the good weather and keeping active.  We have been spending as much time as possible learning outside.  Mr Mason has also been visiting us every Friday to teach us how to ride a scooter.  We have all had so much fun.

In the butterfly room this term, we have been working on our Space topic.  This has meant that all of us have been learning about the same topic in different ways.  In the butterfly room, we have taken a more sensory approach, with sensory story, whilst in the Beehive, we have been reading the book Back to Earth with a Bump.  We have also been exploring a range of space-themed crafts.

Balloon painting!

We have been exploring new ideas for artwork in the puffin room.  We often try to use a range of different tools for our artwork - from paintbrushes, to scrapers and dabbers.  This week, we have been using balloons to paint.  We dipped them into a mixture of colours and bounced the balloon off the large sheet of paper.  Our children are all fascinated with balloons and enjoyed this activity immensely.

A whole new term!

We have been very busy settling back into our school routine.  The children have settled in very well, and are making fantastic use of the extra inside space.  This term, we have been using Autumn as our topic and using the colours as a starting point for a wide range of art.  We have been exploring rhythm and drumming in music and learning to cook.  In the butterfly room, we have started a new topic - Witches and Wizards - and we are using this to help us explore different textures and develop our sensory awareness.

2019-2020

Sensory Exploration!

We have done a lot of work this week exploring a range of different textures.  We have set up sensory trays in the afternoon where the children can explore a range of textures from jelly to foam and dry foods such as rice.  We have also made good use of our water tray.  Our children have been learning to grasp and reach, so have been putting this skill to use by fishing!

Happy New Term!

This new term we have started warming up.  The children have been learning to use a range of utensils when cooking.  They've used spoons, whisks, rolling pins and dough cutters to help make their food.  They all enjoyed the wide range of textures and smells.

Sensory Afternoons!

This week in the Butterfly Room we have been exploring a range of sensory arts.  These have included potato stamping and using our PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System) to request motivating items like Jelly!  We also finished off our family trees topic.  This meant that some of siblings came to visit us to help us complete our work.  It was a really nice opportunity for our brothers and sisters to come and see what we do with our day.

Choices!

This week, we have been continuing to work on making choices.  For some of us in the Butterfly Room, this can mean using our switch to request more of an activity, or using one of switches to request out preferred item.  In the mornings, the children often engage in messy play.  This allows them the opportunity to explore a range of textures and to make choices between things they like and they don't like.  We try to embed choice making into everything we do, from arts, to craft and messy play.

Family Trees!

This week, as part of our All About Me topic, the children made family trees.  We used scrunched up coloured pieces of crepe paper to stick down and make a tree.  Then we stuck pictures of our family members.  As part of this topic, siblings from around the school joined our children in helping to work on their projects.

It's Spring!

To celebrate the new term, we created some spring themed artwork.  The children used a range of tools from paintbrushes to rollers and stampers.  We selected some colours that best conjoured up that spring feeling (the warm bit, not the cold one!) and set about creating our abstract artwork.  The children used a range of techniques the adults had modelled to them.  These included rolling, stamping and using the paintbrush to flick paint.  Once the work had dried, we put them up on display!

All about us!

This term we are exploring what it means to be ourselves.  This week, the children took photos using the iPads and helped each other to take photos.  They explored what it meant to be them by dressing up in a range of different outfits.  We tried on princess costumes, pirate hats and superhero capes.  We took lots of pictures.  Some of our children really enjoyed twirling in the mirror!

Wishing You A Merry Christmas!

It's nearly the end of the year.  The children were visited by Santa Claus who gave them all a special present. We have been working hard on arts and craft to make decorations for our tree.  We are looking forward to an exciting 2020 and lots of new opportunities in the new year.

Tis the season!

This week, we have bee continuing our festive crafts - the children made a nativity scene out of lollypop sticks and a special Christmas wreath.  We also found time in our busy schedule to put our Christmas tree up.  The children helped to decorate it and wrap tinsel around it.  They were all very excited when the lights came on!

Christmas Time!

It's Christmas time and we've been preparing by making our decorations for the Christmas hoop.  The children made snowmen by sticking down cotton buds onto their snowman outline.  Other children made Christmas trees out of lollypop sticks they had stuck into the shape of a tree.

Falconry

This week, the children were visited by Falconry UK who came to show us a range of British and exotic birds.  The children were really excited to see the birds up close.  Some of our children also got to hold the birds.  We saw owls and Kookaburra's.  It was a wonderful opportunity for the children to experience the wonders of wildlife.

We are artists!

This week we all worked together to create a display for the walls of the school.  We cut up triangles of different colours and stuck them down onto our large artwork.  Once this had dried, we used a range of different tools - paintbrushes, sponges and rollers - to cover the canvass with paint.  We explored how the colours mixed and we tried to find new ways to apply paint onto the canvas.  Some of us even tried drip painting in a Jackson Pollock style.

Free Flow afternoons!

We have been adopting a more free flow approach to our afternoons this term, providing children with a range of opportunities to make requests, explore art with paint and texture, some physical exercise and some sensory exploration.

Switchwork Skills!

This week in the Butterfly room we have been exploring a range of switchwork skills software.  Our new games allow us to practice our switch skills whilst playing a range of sporting games, navigating the pages of stories and to control electronic toys.  The children were very excited to explore the new possibilities!

Autumn in the Butterfly Room!

This week we worked hard to make a series of Autumn-inspired artworks for the walls of our rooms.  Using large sheets of paper, we chose between red, yellow and orange to create our autumnal scene.  Some of the children experimented with a range of different tools, whilst others preferred to explore the range of textures we have on offer.  The end result was some fabulous pieces of artwork that would rival any Jackson Pollock!

Another exciting week in the Butterfly Room!

We've been very busy getting back into the swing of things in the Butterfly Room.  Here's a few pictures of us enjoying our music and story lessons.

Welcome Back from the Butterfly Room!

We have been working very hard this week, getting settled back into a school routine.  We have had some time to explore new areas in Nursery and practice our PE skills.  We are looking forward to a very exciting year!

2018-19

Sports Day in the Butterfly Room

Today, Monday 15th of July, Mr Mason joined us in the Butterfly room for our Sports Day.  We had a circuit of events and parents arrived to join in and support their children.  At the end of the session, the children were handed their medals!

Our Trip To Barleylands!

This July, the children in the Butterfly room joined Year 1 and 2 to take a trip to Barleylands in Essex.  We boarded the bus in the morning and headed out to meet a wide variety of hungry animals.  Some of us were more scared than others to touch the animals at first, but we were all brave enough to feed them in the end.  We saw goats, pigs, llamas, horses, hens, ducks and many more!  We explored the outside playgrounds, enjoying ourselves on the bouncy castle and the big slides.  Before lunch, we took a tractor ride around the farm.   We enjoyed the bumps and the sights as we went round.  In the afternoon, we wandered around the reptile enclosure, looking at Boa Constrictors, locusts and Mr Davies' pet hate - cockroaches.  

Welcome to the Butterfly classroom!

We have been working hard all year on a wide range of topics, from cooking to PE and art and design.  We will be updating the class page in greater depth very soon but, for now, here are some photos to give you a brief glimpse into what we've been up to.