Maple Class
Spring Term
Sian Peel (speel) on: Maple Class
Maple Class have had a fantastic start to the Spring Term, we’ve started our new topic ‘Express Yourself’.
We have been listening to different genres of music and then voicing our opinions on each piece. Some students have shown us how each genre has made them feel through dance.
In English we have been learning about the alphabet and sorting words into alphabetical order. Our sensory learners have been enjoying a sensory story called ‘Mr Big’.
We have explored 2D shapes and symmetry. The students are recognising names of shapes and their properties.
We have continued World Studies, learning about Australia and the Great Barrier Reef. Students have enjoyed learning about the animals that live in and around the reef as well as painting their own.
Maple Class have been busy preparing and baking different recipes in Cookery. To celebrate Chinese New Year, we made some delicious noodle recipes, using ingredients that some of the students have independently purchased whilst out in the community. We have also enjoyed making smoothies, crackers with cheese and fruit salads.
In Modern Foreign Languages we are focusing on Spain. We have been learning how to pronounce words in Spanish and even learnt our colours! Students have also been learning about Japan and created amazing fact files and flags. We will be having a Japanese tea ceremony in our next lesson.
IN PHSE we have been learning about first aid and the emergency services and have made emergency phone calls, so we know what information we need to give.
In the coming weeks some of our pupils are looking forward to accessing Runshaw College and beginning work experience placements.
Hope you enjoy looking at the photographs of some of the things we have been doing in class.
Autumn Term
Sian Peel (speel) on: Maple Class
Maple Class are really pleased to welcome all our pupils back to school after the summer holidays. We have welcomed one new pupil to our school and class this year, who has settled in very well. We extend our welcome to a new teaching assistant in Maple Class, Kelly, who also joined in September.
This term we are looking at the Victorians. We have already been working very hard on this topic by exploring some of the equipment, objects, photographs and documents from the Victorian era. We were very lucky to have visitors in school who demonstrated what it was like to attend a school during those times. We are looking forward to finding out how the Victorians celebrated Christmas.
Some of the pupils continue to learn life skills. They are developing their understanding of money at tuck time. They are also making their own toast, washing, drying and putting their dishes away. In addition to this Maple Class have been practising their weighing, chopping, grating and peeling skills in cookery. They have been preparing and cooking some delicious ‘dips and dippers’. Some of the pupils have even tried new foods! We have enjoyed guacamole with pitta bread, cous-cous and coleslaw. Our sensory learners have explored the ingredients and equipment.
In RE this term, we have been learning about Judaism. We have been looking at Shabbat and have been listening to some Jewish music, which all of us have thoroughly enjoyed! We continued to use and improve our cookery skills by making Jewish bread.
In Numeracy we have been looking at non-standard units of measurements. We have used cubes, trundle wheels and our hands and feet to measure parts of the school.
During English we have been looking at the story ‘Alice In Wonderland’. The children have been reading the story together and are working very hard on their sentence structure. Our sensory learners have been exploring and choosing different materials to create their own characters from the story.
The focus in World Studies this term is Australia. Maple Class have made their own passports, packing and exploring items and clothing they would need for a visit to Australia as well as experiencing a flight simulator.
We have all enjoyed our ‘World of Work Week’, where we have had fantastic and inspiring speeches, demonstrations and opportunities to explore and try activities from a mechanic, Visual Impairment Specialists, site manager, cook, hairdresser and a theatre nurses who told us all about their jobs, which we really enjoyed and would like to thank all the people who generously gave us their time.
It has been a very positive start to our school year and we are looking forward to sharing our progress in future blogs.
Summer Term
Sian Peel (speel) on: Maple Class
Maple Class have continued to work on their topic Healthy Heroes/Sporting Legends this term. We have visited a farm shop to buy produce to make a healthy fruit salad and our sensory learners did some fruit printing artwork with the fruit we purchased. We also visited an allotment where we learned a little about looking after plants and we erected a scarecrow. The pupils have been researching the artist Ben Mosley, who is famous for his individual style of sporting and architectural artwork. They have produced their own pieces of art in his style. We were lucky enough to be joined by Ben Mosley in a virtual meeting where the pupils were able to ask Ben about his work and show him some of the work they had made. The pupils were very excited about the meeting and we are very grateful to Ben for kindly showing an interest in our pupils and their work.
Some of the pupils in Maple Class are undertaking the Duke of Edinburgh Award. They have been going on walks each week in preparation for a whole day expedition to Roddlesworth Woods, which will take place on 13th July. They have been learning how to put up tents and have visited stores to see what equipment they would need for a safe camping trip. On the 14th July they will be erecting a tent on the school grounds and they will be supported to make their own barbeque lunch.
We held a Sing-a-Long in school this week which was attended by some of the pupil’s parents. The theme of the Sing-a-Long was musicals and each class chose to perform a song from a different musical. Maple Class chose Mama Mia. We have been rehearsing and learning the sign language and words of the song Dancing Queen. The pupils dressed up and helped to make props for their song. They gave an amazing performance and if you were able to come and watch we hope you enjoyed it.
Earlier in the term we had a weeklong celebration of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. The children enjoyed themselves participating in all the different events and as promised in our last blog, we have included some pictures of them, along with some of the things we have been doing over the course of this term.
It has been a very busy year in Maple Class and we are very proud of the effort and work all the pupils have put into everything they have participated in. They are an inspiration to us all.
Healthy Heroes - Sporting Legends
Sian Peel (speel) on: Maple Class
Maple Class have been working hard since returning to school after the Easter break. We are now working on our topic for this term-Healthy Heroes/Sporting Legends.
We are having our own mini Olympic Games. We are competing against another class in school in games such as the Javelin and Boccia. The pupils are really enjoying getting out in the fresh air and playing the games with their friends. We have produced banners which they take out to the games to help cheer each side on.
The focus for this term is History and Design and Technology with will be linked to our topic theme. In History the class have produced individual Greek vases using different types of medium to decorate them. These were chosen to represent the fact that the first Olympic Games were held in Athens in Greece.
In Design and Technology the pupils have designed their own Olympic torches which we are busy making at the moment. Each pupil explored a range of materials and demonstrated their own choices.
Some of our pupils will be selecting a sporting hero to learn about. They will then produce a fact file containing the information they have researched. One pupil has already chosen Freddie Flintoff to base his file on as he is local to this area.
For our weekly class community visit we have been visiting a number of garden centres to look at seeds and fruit/vegetable plants and trees as part of the healthy eating aspect of our topic. We will also be visiting an allotment, owned by a member of staff in school, to learn how fruits and vegetables are sown and grown.
In Numeracy we have been leaning about 3D shapes, time and money. The pupils are working well and are developing skills in these areas.
Our sensory learners have been experiencing a disco Music and Movement session. They really enjoy participating in the different physical movements of the session and moving along to the disco music.
As you can see the pupils have been very busy and are working hard in all areas of the curriculum. They are looking forward to participating in the schools Platinum Jubilee celebrations that will be held in school week commencing 23rd May. We are having a number of activities and celebrations including a Jubilee Lunch, Street Party and a Bake Off – designing a cake with a Jubilee theme. Hopefully we will have some lovely photographs to show you in our next blog.
Busy Busy
Sian Peel (speel) on: Maple Class
Maple Class have continued to work on their topic 'People and Places / Capital Cities'. Over the past few weeks, we have been looking at the country of Scotland. We have taken part in the Highland Games, where we did the shot put, weightlifting and tossed the caber. We used a large cardboard tube instead of a log so the pupils were able to lift and throw it. All the children enjoyed participating in the games and some even dressed up in kilts and “Jimmy” hats for the occasion.
We have also been learning facts and listening to a story about the Loch Ness Monster and have made models of the monster using clay which we will be painting when they are dry.
Some of our children have developed an appreciation for bagpipe music and enjoy playing along to it on different instruments.
We are looking forward to learning about Wales and Ireland over the coming weeks.
The topic for next term is 'Healthy Heroes / Sporting Legends'. Maple Class will be learning about Paralympians together with how to keep themselves fit and healthy, so plenty of exercise and good food to eat!!
In Modern Foreign Languages we are focusing on the country of Poland. We have made some Polish dishes in cookery and have learned the song 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes' in Polish.
We have been making cakes and flowers which we will display in our ‘Warsaw outdoor market’ we will be holding just before we break up for Easter.
In Numeracy we have been looking at 2D shapes. We now know the names of most of the shapes and their properties and have been using shapes to make pictures of houses and different modes of transportation. We will soon be moving on to learning about capacity and directions. We will be using BeeBots, which are an IT resource that can be programmed to move in different directions. The children really enjoy using these and will be learning how to program them themselves.
Class 6
Music Mosiac
Sian Peel (speel) on: Class 6
Class 6 has changed quite a lot this academic year. Seven new pupils have joined us from Classes 4 and 5 and we have a new pupil, Laura, who has come to us from another school. She has settled in really well and we hope she will be very happy here at the Coppice.
Steph is the new class teacher and we have a new teaching assistant, Celeste, who along with Ashleigh, Moira and Josie make up the staff team.
Our topic for this term is Music Mosiac. We are looking at music across the decades from the 1950’s to the present day. For the 1950’s we have focused on Elvis Presley. We have looked at the costumes he used to wear on stage and we made our own white sparkly material like the one used to make his famous white suits.
We have also been listening to a lot of his songs. One of our favourites is 'Bossa Nova Baby' which Elvis sang in the film 'Fun in Acapulco'. We have watched Elvis singing this song and have then made a video of ourselves playing along and dancing to it. Each of the students chose a musical instrument to play and they dressed up in sunglasses and flower garlands similar to the ones Elvis used to wear. We had great fun making the video and are hoping to show it to everyone in school when it is our class assembly.
