A Guide for Parents
Spring Term 2017 – Part 1
Topic –
‘Something Old, Something
New’
Woodpeckers
General Information
The Woodpeckers’ class is a mixed group of children who have both ‘emergent
skills’ and ‘learning to learn’ skills. All teaching and learning is differentiated to
help each child develop the skills they need through 1 to 1 sessions, small
group sessions and whole class sessions.
The Woodpeckers’ class uses a ‘Total Communication’ approach, which
ensures that the children receive as many cues as possible to help them gain
an understanding of what is happening throughout the day. This involves
aiding communication by the use of Signalong, real objects, photographs,
symbols and speech. The children are all encouraged to use and develop
communication methods that are appropriate to their individual needs, so they
may use a combination of these methods to communicate.
All children have access to all aspects of the National Curriculum, modified to
meet their specific learning needs. All lessons are structured and supported in
a way that helps your child build on experiences and develop new skills.
The Woodpeckers’ class enjoy developing their Spiritual, Moral, Social and
Cultural learning. These are addressed through a number of subjects and are
taken in to consideration when planning lessons. The children will be
participating in PALS sessions with the Skylarks’ class which will help them to
develop new friendship and social skills with other pupils from different areas
around school.
The teacher, Fran Scholes, along with teaching assistants Katie Robson, Ayesha
Hussain and Alex Lambert work closely together to support your child
throughout the day. We have a lunchtime supervisor Natasha Gordon who
supports the class over the lunchtime period.
This half term our topic is ‘Something Old, Something New’.
We use our outdoor spaces to aid the children’s learning through all aspects of
the curriculum. This half term we will be using our class outdoor space in the
mornings to further develop our ‘getting ready for learning’ strategies. We will
be using cooking utensils alongside sand and water to learn different calming
techniques to prepare us for our day. In our Science sessions we will be
extending our learning in our outdoor space by exploring and experimenting
with different types of materials. We will be using different materials such as
flour, sand, chalks, paints, water, food colouring, rice and pasta to observe and
experiment on how they can be changed. We will also be using P.E. equipment
in different spaces around school to further extend our physical development
as well as our fine motor skills. We will also be going into the Woods to go on
our very own treasure hunt! Can we find our treasure using symbols and
photographs?
Timetable
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
9.309.45
Communication in register
Communication
game
Maths
Communication
game
Maths
R.E.
P.E in the Main Hall
10.3010.45
Snacks and personal care
10.5011.10
Play time
11.1512
English
English
Cookery
Science
P.E.
Swimming
Shared play and
Role play
Whole school
Assembly
Science
1212.30
Computing – PSHE games/activities
12.301.30
Dinner time then play time
1.402.00
Friday
Getting ready for learning- DMP inside, sensory activities in outdoor space
9-9.30
9.45-10
Thursday
Whole school
assembly
Class SEAL
PALS with the
Skylarks
Communication
games
Soft Play
Music
Studio
Jabadao
2.152.55
Art
Geography in the
Woods
History in Soft Play
2.453.00
Rewards and choosing
3.003.15
Personal care, prayer then home time
Intensive interaction
English

Using our Art sessions to make marks
and overwriting different shapes and
letters using different paints, chalks and
pens

Use snack, choosing and lesson time to
request foods/resources using symbols
and photographs

Play speaking and listening games using
the class computer – What makes a
certain sound? Can we listen to a sound?

Maths
R.E.

Cookery
.
 We will be visiting a different time period each week.
What foods did they eat? Children to taste and explore
the different foods. What did we like? What foods
don’t we like?
Explore props, look at different pictures
from our topic book ‘toys’
Art and Design Technology



Explore different colours using
paints, chalk, materials linking to
the colours in the ‘Holi’ festival
Use junk modelling to create,
construct and build, with help
Develop our mark making, cutting
skills, drawing, writing and painting
skills at the workstation on a 1:1
basis to create different images
History


Can we recognise specific areas
around school? Do we know what we
do there?
Can we recognise photos of ourselves
and friends?

We will be looking at the Hindu colour festival called ‘Holi’
– we will have a colour theme each week – How can we
explore and use these colours differently?
ICT

Exploring switch equipment

Use the class computer/touch screen to select/choose
onscreen objects when answering questions

Use plasma touch screen to draw/play a game with a friend

Using the class iPad as part of 1:1 to further develop
independent learning throughout the curriculum
P. E.

Swimming

Using different outdoor areas and our class outdoor space
to share and play games with a partner

Using the Main Hall to focus on our team building skills –
turn taking, waiting and sharing – play boccia and skittles
We will begin to look at weight. What is heavy?
What is light? Can we make/find heavy and light
objects?
Counting using jelly number, counting cans and
Numicon
In Geometry we will continue to look at shapes.
Can we find and recognise the different shapes?
Can we create different shapes using materials?


PSHE

Sharing toys and taking turns during choosing time

Waiting for turns and sharing P.E. equipment

PALS sessions with the Skylarks

Using the different areas in Shared Play

Using class outdoor space and class DMP space to
develop getting ready for learning strategies
Science

Use our class outdoor space to conduct different
experiments using different materials. How can
we explore/change different materials?

Using small group and one to one activities – how
can we use different materials? Which materials
do we like/dislike? How can we change different
materials?
Music



Exploring different instruments
Listening to and recognising different instrumental
sounds
Starting and stopping different instruments –
making loud/quiet sounds
How You Can Help:
The following activities are suggested as appropriate homework
activities which you can enjoy with your child and reinforce the
learning we are focussing on this half term –
 Discuss and explore different colours
 Read a story book with your child, if possible stories that look at
different colours, different types of toys, their own
heritage/cultural past
 Encourage your child to taste, try and explore different cuisines
 Look at photos of friends and family. Do they recognise familiar
people? Can they recognise themselves?
 Help your child to further develop their counting skills in the
home. Can they lay the table by counting? How many
cups/plates/knives/forks do you need? Can they help you count
them?
 Talk to your child about their day
 Encourage your child to dress and undress themselves
 Encourage your child to help you prepare meals and set the table
ready for meal times
 Practise the key Signalong signs
Lunchtime
If your child has a school dinner, the school menus are included for
you to discuss healthy food choices with your child. For children who
bring a packed lunch, please remember to provide healthy and
balanced options. We are a Healthy School and will be focussing on
healthy eating and how children can make healthy lifestyle choices.