Learning Ideas for week 11/05/20

Did you guess Miss Willis’ top three favourite minibeasts? Drum Roll please………

1. Butterfly 2. Caterpillar 3. Ladybird

The two minibeasts Miss Willis doesn’t like are……..

1. Spider 2. Bee

Literacy

Story: The Cautious Caterpillar eBook

Attention Autism – Stage 2

Aim - To engage attention, improve joint attention, develop shared enjoyment in group activities, and to increase attention in adult-led activities

Part 1 resources: White board or piece of paper and pen, a container or box with a lid and three attention grabbing toys i.e. a squeaky toy, bubbles, a windmill which you can blow or a balloon which you can blow up slightly and then let go

Part 2 resources: an easily cleaned surface (outside, a wooden floor or a large plastic sheet, bin bag, plastic table cloth), shaving foam and plastic flower pots or any items with holes in them which can be placed inside the other (such as a plastic cup which you have placed hole in)

In a quite clam space with possibly your child sitting on a chair and you on the floor and your child doing ‘good sitting’

Part 1 -

1. First on a white board or plain piece of paper split in half – on the first half draw the container/box and write box *while doing so say ‘first box’*

2. On the second half draw a flower pot (or the item with holes you are using) *while doing so say ‘then flower pot*

3. Place the container or box in front of you and sing (to the tune of ‘Here we go round the Mulberry bush’) ‘I’ve got something in my box, in my box, in my box. I’ve got something in my box, I wonder what it could be?’ remove 1 item from your box – only you get to play/touch it and they should sit and watch attentively. Repeat for item 2 and 3. (should only take about 5 minutes)

Part 2 –

1. On an easily cleaned surface place three flower pots upside down beside each other, counting 1,2,3, as you do so

2. Then take the shaving foam and place some on top of each pot

Use the sequencing cards to discuss who comes next in the story

Aim - intermittently look at and respond to a shared text

When reading try and continue to use sings and noises – encourage your child to use them also

Try to extend the length of time your child can sit and listen to the shared story Continue to develop the use of eye/finger pointing when an animal is named in

the story See attached PDF for suggestions of other books which could be used – try and

encourage similar skills with alternative books – if you have a few why not allow your child to choose which one they prefer

Development – if using a physical book, support your child in holding the book and turning the pages. If using an ebook, allow your child to press the button to turn the page

3. Then place a second flower pot over the shaving foam and *ready, steady, squirt*, watch it squirt out through the holes in the bottom

4. Development - If you are feeling brave, allow your child to have a go – encouraging turn taking

Work Level Work/ Following Instruction

Aim – to follow basic instructions, direct attention to what an adult is talking about and to engage with an object of reference

Please see your child’s latest IEP and Report Form to see what level they are working on. Additionally, feel free to adapt the materials/items to those you have in your house or what suits your child’s preferences.

1 Word Level: Only one information word

- Place two known items in front of you and your child and say ‘Give me …… (teddy/ batman/blanket/spoon) – holding your hand out for them

- Support – you may need to model this activity a few times first - Development – increase the number of items to choose from- Additionally, say ‘Where is the ……. (Ball/spoon/cup/cat/) – encourage your child to point to the item or lift

and give you the item - Development – start with two or three items and then as your child becomes more confident increase the

number of options

2 Word Level (noun-noun): Two information words needing to be understood

- You will need a range of different items known by your child such as a few of their toys, jam, a table, apple, a bowl

- Start by only placing the required items in front of your child, as you child becomes more confident, add in one or two distractor items (i.e. items that are not needed for the instruction)

- Sitting with these items in front of you and your child give instructions such as the following - Put the jam on the table

Here are some ideas of attention-grabbing toys which could be placed in the container or box.

This is what you are hoping to achieve with part two. It does not need to be flower pots, it may be any items in your house that have holes in it and you can place one inside the other to create the squirting action.

- Put the apple in the bowl - Give the girl the doll

2 Word Level (Noun-adjectives): Two information words needing to be understood

- For this one you will need two balls and two different sized cups- Give a range of instructions such as - Put the ball in the big cup- Put the ball in the small cup- Give me the small cup- Give me the big cup

*See Word Level pintable’s for printable items which could be used to support this activity

PECS

Keep working on using the ‘I want’ symbol throughout the day – at snack time, when choosing an activity or even choosing a top to wear

For some foundation D pupils, we were working on using the toilet symbol to communicate when we need to go to the toilet. Print the symbol off (this can be found in the Space Place section of the website) and encourage your child to use this throughout the day. (Check your child’s IEP to see if this was one of their targets).

Fine Motor Skills

Aim – to develop fine motor skills (the ability to manipulate objects using their hands)

Threading is a great activity for developing fine motor skills. You could thread pipe cleaners through the holes in a colander, pasta onto pipe cleaners or string or beads onto pasta stuck in playdough. You could even thread leaves onto a stick. Adapt this activity to fit the items you have available.

I have also uploaded some pencil control activity cards for your child to try if they wish. (Tip, if you have a laminator, laminate the cards and then use a marker. This means it can be rubbed out and tried several times. This could also be tried using a Polly pocket)

Posting is another activity which supports the development of fine motor skills. Cut holes in the top of a shoe box and post bottle caps through the slots. Development – you could colour code it and see if your child can match the colours. Additionally, pierce holes in the bottom of an egg cartoon and post cheerio’s through the holes. Again, adapt the activity to suit the resources you have in your home.

Numeracy

Common 3D Shapes: cube, cuboid, sphere and cylinder.

Sorting: this week, try and move from matching from concrete to concrete, to matching to the picture, if you haven’t already done so. Get your child to sort their basket of 3D shapes by matching to a picture. You can draw on 4 separate pieces of paper a cube, cuboid, sphere and cylinder or use the 3D Shape Flash cards. Remember to emphasise and model the language as your child completes this task.

This week you could try introducing some questioning e.g. ‘Give me the cube’ or while building ‘put on the cylinder’- you could start off by giving them 1 or 2 options and build it up until they are choosing between all 4.

Why not make snack time fun too by making your own placemat like this one…

Continue a pattern

Continue to practice making and following a pattern. You start the pattern and encourage your child to continue it. Start with one or two colours/items and as your child gains more confidence, begin to add in more.

Below are a range of different ideas you could do. Remember you can also use activities and resources from previous weeks as well.

Using finger painting, begin the one- or two-colour patterned caterpillar and encourage child to continue it.

Use coloured pegs to create a pattern. Clip the pegs to the washing line, or a piece of card or paper.

Use coloured lollipop sticks. Place them on the floor, table or a white piece of paper.

Remember you can adapt this activity to suit the resources you have in your home. Additionally, I have uploaded two worksheets which can be used for this activity.

Ordering objects for length

With dough make 3 different sized worms and order them from longest to shortest Collet 3 sticks from outside, order them from longest to shortest This could be done with the following items

- Socks - String- Pasta- Pencils - Development – try having three different items i.e. the items do not need to all be of the same

object i.e. a pencil, a stick, and a rubber See the Caterpillar ordering activity pdf

Structured Play

Play ideas

Sensory Bin - Some children in foundation D love sensory play. Why not try some of the items below.

- Fill a container with soil and hid minibeast toys in it, can your child find them? If you have child friendly tweezers encourage your child the retrieve the minibeasts using the tweezers or kitchen tongs.

- Cook spaghetti and put it in a container. Then allow your child to paint the spaghetti. You could use a paintbrush or allow them to use their hands or kitchen tongs. Can you make it look like worms?

Water Play – water play is a key play activity for children and can lead to valuable learning opportunities.

- Fill a basin or large container with water - You can then put nearly anything in it that is safe for children to play with, for example you can put cups and

funnels, sponges, spoons, waterproof toys, small pots, bowls etc. - Fill the water container with minibeast toys (or minibeast pictures that have been laminated) and using a fish

splat, hit the minibeasts. - Go outside and using paintbrushes and water, paint pictures on the ground

Table Top – this includes play activities that can be completed on a table

- Jigsaws/insert puzzles - Lego- Small word play with toys - Playdough

Minibeast Hunt – use the minibeast hunt checklist and see how many you can find in your garden or on your walk.

Bug Hotel – continue to build/monitor your bug hotel. I wonder what bugs have moved in? https://supersimple.com/article/bug-hotel/

Topic Songs – This is our last week of our In the Garden topic so make the most of our topic songs this week. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-D4Un3CQx-keGjC9IGAfo64G4Ef6qEBn

Always remember, you can use play ideas or activities from previous weeks. It is ok to repeat activities, as it is only with practice and repetition that we learn.

Other

PDMU

CCEA- To Be Me: Home is where the heart is (‘What is a family/who do I live with?’) link below

https://ccea.org.uk/downloads/docs/ccea-asset/Curriculum/To%20Be%20Me%3A%20Home%20is%20Where%20The%20Heart%20Is.pdf

PE

Create an obstacle course with whatever toys and furniture you have. This is a great opportunity to revisit some of the positional language we had been working on e.g. go through the tunnel, go under the chair, go in the hoop.

Comsic Kids is a get YouTube channel which provide child friendly yoga. Try this one which is all about bugs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIT-9Nnlvn0

Additional Information

From this week on you will be able to communicate with me via the following email address foundationd268@c2ken.net. This is if you wish to share some of the great work you and your child have been doing at home (please bear in mind this work will not be marked), if you have any questions, or to let me know how you are finding the home learning activities set. I will check this at least once a day Monday-Friday.

That is all folks. Have a great week learning 😊

Miss Willis