Dolphin

Module Six - Week One

The year has flown by and we are in Module Six already! We have had an amazing, fun filled year so far and I have no doubt that our final Module will be the same. 

We are continuing to explore our third line of inquiry this Module, 'the world is full of different cultures'. Our foundation subject topics include summer recipes in D&T, the human body in Science, the works of Dale Chihuly in Art, and seaside's past and present in History! 

Week One has been lots of fun and filled with opportunities for us to work on our communication and interpersonal skills. Dolphin class spent our morning session on the first day back using a range of AAC devices, photos, symbols and objects of reference to communicate our 'half term news'! We enjoyed sharing photographs of our half terms with all our friends. Our topic focus this week has been the human body; we have sung lots of 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes' and explored the human body through matching activities, sensory tasks and songs. We have also planted our own seeds this week which we will be growing and watering throughout the Module. 

Module Six - Week Two

Week Two has been lots of fun in Dolphins! We have continued to embed our learning about the human body, extending this to explore healthy living and mental health. We have tasted a rainbow fruit platter, completed sensory obstacle courses and used 'Mr Potato Head' to discuss our emotions. We finished this week with our 'Stay and Learn' session, inviting our parents to come and engage in our learning with us. 

We have also spent this week working on our functional play skills, including turn taking, communication and problem solving. This has involved our students visiting the Phase 1 resource cupboard to make choices as to which toys they would like to play with, using our switch adapter to make general items switch activated to encourage problem solving, and extending our learning from our specialist lessons, such as music, to develop our turn taking and communication. 

Module Six - Week Three

This week in class, we have been learning about British Values, and what these mean to us. This has involved making choices and developing our autonomy, exploring how we care for others, and understanding the 'rule of law' by revisiting our learning about people who help us, including Police Officers. We also learnt about the summer solstice, and created our own sunshine paintings, as well as making fruit kebabs in our sensory cooking lesson!

Module Six - Week Four

We are halfway through the final term already, and what a busy term it has been so far! This week we have introduced our D&T topic for the term, 'Summer Recipes', which we have really enjoyed! We made Eton Mess and other summer snacks, which we shared with our friends in Penguin class at a summer picnic party! We have developed our communication and role play skills by having a teddy bear's picnic in class as well. This week we have also enjoyed learning all about the Euro's, through a sensory story where we felt the football and the turf, explored football kit and celebrated a win with a trophy and some cake.

Module Six - Week Five

This week, Dolphin class have joined all of our Brook pathway classes across the school for our annual PMLD celebration morning. We loved inviting our parents in to school to explore a wide range of sensory learning activities, showing off our fantastic engagement and willingness to partake in new activities. It was a wonderful morning and a great way to celebrate all our achievements this academic year!

Module Six - Week Six

Our penultimate week of this academic year has been filled with lots of fun activities! Our inquiry lessons this week have centred around our history topic, 'Seaside's Past and Present', which has facilitated a wide range of exciting sensory sessions, craft activities and immersive experiences. In our inquiry session with Penguin class, we explored sand trays and built sandcastles, used shaving foam and sprinkles to make ice cream sundaes and engaged with an 'under the sea' themed sensory tray! This week we have also enjoyed visiting Wimbledon in a sensory story, where we tasted strawberries and cream and then decorated our own tennis racquets to play a game of balloon tennis. We were visited by 'In a Nutshell Theatre', who performed an Olympics Sensory Story for us as well which we loved. We have continued to work hard on our gross motor skills by accessing the playground and local community, and developed our fine motor skills through our cooking session this week where we made fruit salad. Through our number songs sessions and class story time, we have worked on our communication targets to make clear choices and express our likes and dislikes. It has been a very busy week in Dolphin Class, but the students have continued to amaze us with their engagement and willingness to 'have a go' at everything they encounter.

Module Six - Week Seven

What an absolutely joy it has been to be a Dolphin this academic year. As a class team, we are immensely proud of our students and the incredible progress they have made academically, socially and emotionally, and feel very lucky to have been a part of their journeys. Dolphins, we wish you and your families a wonderful summer and the very best of luck in your new classes - we know you will continue to shine as you always do! 

Lauren and the Dolphin team 🐬💙

Module Five - Week One

Welcome back to Module Five - we hope you had a wonderful Easter with your families. 

This Module, we will begin to explore our third line of inquiry, 'the world is full of different cultures'. We have a range of activities planned to support and embed our learning in this topic, including meeting with other classes for inclusion sessions, accessing the wider community through the use of our school minibus, and lots of sensory activities to expose our students to different cultures, religions and beliefs. 

In Week 1, we have enjoyed welcoming our students back to school and they have really impressed us by settling back in to routine in no time! This week our topic focus has been 'caring friendships and emotions'; we have explored turn taking games, looked at how we care for people and explored our emotions through different sensory activities. We made cards for our friends, and sorted pictures in to 'friendly' and 'unfriendly'. We have also enjoyed visiting our local library!

We will be sharing weekly updates of our learning and celebrations of student achievements throughout this Module, so be sure to check back to see! As always, we regularly upload to tapestry as well. We are looking forward to all of our exciting learning this Module and seeing more progress from our amazing students. 

Module Five - Week Two

It has been a busy week in Dolphin class this week. We have enjoyed celebrating St George's Day with a carousel of sensory activities and crafts, and on Thursday we had our first Community Participation session with the minibus! We took a trip to Bluewater Nature Trail and enjoyed walking around the lake, seeing the baby ducks and playing at the park. 

Module Five - Week Three

This week in Dolphins, we have been exploring our line of inquiry, 'the world is full of different cultures', by learning about different religious beliefs, with a key focus on Hinduism. We engaged with a virtual tour of a Hindu temple which the students really enjoyed watching, using switches to move the cameras around, and then created our own mosaic pictures inspired by the art and colours we saw in the temples, using a range of sensory medium. 

We have continued to work hard on our ILP targets and key development targets, with a focus on our fine motor skills this week. We also worked on our communication skills by using symbols and object cues to support us to decorate cupcakes. Dolphin class continue to amaze us with their skills!

Module Five - Week Four

Another fantastic week in Dolphin class has come to an end, and with the weather warming up our students have really enjoyed engaging with a lot of their learning outside. Our community trip this week saw us take an adventure to Shorne Country Park, where Dolphin class enjoyed exploring the sensory garden and then playing in the park, making new friends and experiencing new activities. We have also enjoyed watching the film 'Pocahontas' as part of our History learning, and then exploring Native American patterns and crafts, further developing our understanding of different cultures.

Module Five - Week Five

This week in Dolphins, we have been focusing on Pointillism as part of our Art topic this term. We have linked this to our other inquiry learning, by using bright colours to make prints with duplo blocks like the colours we saw in the Hindu temples, and painting different animals in a Pointillism style after learning about Native Americans and Pocahontas last week! We have also enjoyed learning in the forest area this week, exploring a water tray and using our chatting sheets to discuss what we could see, hear and smell. The delivery of some new ECT toys has also been a big celebration in Dolphins, with our students especially loving the switch activated bubble machine!

Module Five - Week Six

Another Module has come to an end, and we continue to be amazed by the wonderful Dolphin students every day. We have finished this Module with another trip to Shorne Country Park, which the students loved! Our inquiry learning has been focusing on 'everyday materials', and we have enjoyed exploring different patterns and textures through sensory trays. In cooking this week we made cheese scones and the students loved smelling and tasting these.

Have a wonderful half term, Dolphin class, and we will see you soon for our last ever Module of the academic year!

Module Four

Welcome to Module Four! This Module we are continuing to explore our line of inquiry, 'our senses tell us about the world', and our key concepts this term are 'change' and 'connection'; we are exploring how the world around us changes, and how we are all connected and can make a difference.

We have lots of exciting topics coming up in our wider curriculum subjects, including learning about the Great Fire of London, seasonal changes and Vincent Van Gogh! We are also looking forward to some lovely Easter crafts and activities at the end of the Module. As the weather gets warmer we are also hoping to extend our learning through our community participation visits! We look forward to continuing to share all of our exciting learning with you.

Red Nose Day

Today we celebrated Red Nose Day, and Phase One enjoyed a sponsored dance to raise money for Comic Relief! Our Dolphins were fantastic and showed so much enthusiasm and joy in all of the activities they engaged with today. We are, as always, so proud of them!

Module Four Reflection

The end of Module four is nearing and we are just amazed at the progress we have seen this term. The Dolphin students impress us every single day with their achievements, perseverance and genuine joy, and it is such a pleasure to work with our students. 

This Module we have enjoyed learning all about the Great Fire of London in our History sessions; exploring seasonal changes in Science; recreating paintings by Vincent Van Gogh in Art; and finishing the Module with lots of Easter celebrations! Dolphin class have shown a secure understanding of their learning and embedded their skills and knowledge in a range of environments. They have worked really hard on their individual targets and always enjoy engaging with new and familiar learning tasks. Well done Dolphin class!

From all of the Dolphin team - have a wonderful Easter, and we look forward to seeing you all for the Summer Module!

Module Three - Welcome back

Happy New Year to all our Dolphins and their families, and welcome to Module Three. This module, we will be moving on to exploring our second line of inquiry - 'our senses tell us about the world'. The Dolphins have returned from the Christmas break in fantastic spirits and with a real interest in and eagerness to engage with their learning, which has enabled us to facilitate some wonderful learning opportunities! We are continuing to join our peers from Penguin class for our Monday afternoon inquiry lessons, which are a fantastic extension of our classroom-based learning and a chance for us to develop our social interaction, communication and regulation skills. We have enjoyed sharing our class text for the term, Rainbow Fish, and have extended and embedded our learning through a range of sensory activities, including making rainbow pizza's and exploring sensory tuff trays. We have also been using our SMILE room more to work on our gross motor targets and meet our proprioceptive and vestibular needs. Dolphin class have had an amazing start to the module and we are excited to see what else they enjoy in the coming weeks!

Module Three - National Storytelling Week

This week at Milestone we have been celebrating National Storytelling Week. In Dolphin class, we have focused on the traditional tale 'Hansel and Gretel'. We enjoyed a sensory story and then explored lots of lovely activities to extend our learning! We engaged in some mark making and fine motor activities related to Hansel and Gretel, decorated a gingerbread house as a class, and explored some sensory tuff trays and activities! We ended the week by dressing up as characters from traditional tales, and enjoyed watching a sensory performance of Jack and the Beanstalk with our peers from across the Brook pathway.

Module Three - End of term celebration

Dolphin class have had a fantastic module and we cannot believe we are already halfway through the year! This module we have continued to work on our social interaction and communication skills, as well as enjoying our specialist lessons such as aqua learn and the interactive room. We have restarted our community participation sessions now it is a little bit warmer and the students have loved going in to the shops and choosing different snacks, as well as developing their understanding of money and exchange by paying for their objects. In cooking, we have made rainbow fruit kebabs, explored pancakes and different toppings for our inquiry sessions and tasted different fruits and vegetables to develop our understanding of healthy eating. We have finished the term this week with some Valentines day crafts, which has been a really lovely end to the term. 

From all of us, we wish you a lovely half term and look forward to seeing everyone after the break! 

Module Two - Hello!

Welcome back to Module 2! It has been lovely to welcome the children back and to see their recognition of familiar routines, even after two weeks off. The Dolphins have enjoyed a range of activities this week to re-establish relationships, routines and expectation. We have been learning about Remembrance Day, painting our own poppies and making poppy biscuits. We have explored our playground and visited the local community, and at the end of the week we received our new fibre optic lights which the children have absolutely loved having in class!

This term we are continuing our line of enquiry, 'different people help us live and grow', this time with a focus on different celebrations and how we have grown as time has passed. We will be learning about Diwali and Christmas past and present, as well as exploring pictures of ourselves since we were born! We look forward to sharing more learning with you.

Module Two - Halfway!

Dolphins have continued to thrive and amaze us as the first half of Module 2 has passed. They are showing a great enjoyment in being at school and engaging fantastically with our learning. We celebrated Children in Need by creating some beautiful Pudsey bear faces on paper plates. Our inquiry sessions with our friends in Penguin class continue to be a highlight of the week and the children are building strong, caring relationships with their peers and the staff. We celebrated Diwali with a wide range of creative and sensory activities, and this week have enjoyed exploring our Science topic of the module, 'How we grow', by looking at pictures of ourselves since we were born! With week 3 coming to an end, we are looking forward to starting rehearsals for our Christmas Nativity and getting in to the Christmas spirit with lots of lovely activities lined up.

Module Two - Snow!

Today at Milestone we had the first snowfall of the academic year. Dolphin class were amazed and expressed pure joy and excitement when exploring the snow. We took the children out to feel the snow on their faces and hands and to see the snow falling. Some children chose to feel the snow from inside where it was still lovely and warm! This was an amazing sensory experience for our children and we hope there is more to come!

Module Two - Celebrations

We have had a wonderful term in Dolphin class and it has been amazing as always to see the progression in the children's communication, social skills and routine recognition. We have finished the term with our Phase 1 Nativity, which the Dolphins really enjoyed and especially loved dancing to! We have also had our Christmas jumper day and engaged in lots of wonderful Christmas activities, including decorating our Christmas tree, sharing a sensory story, stacking 'presents' to work on our gross motor skills, and painting our own Christmas cards.

From all of the Dolphin team, we wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We look forward to seeing you all in January 🎄

Module One - Welcome!

This term in Dolphin class we have had lots of fun getting to know all of the children and introducing new activities, resources and learning opportunities. Much of our learning has been focusing on 'People Who Help Us', supporting us to develop our understanding of our line of inquiry for Terms 1 and 2. Our learning has involved a range of sensory trays and cooking, role play and dress up, practical experiences and creative art. We have enjoyed visiting our local community to learn more about the different people who help us in our local area. A particular favourite of the students involved creating our own postcards in the style of our artist this term, Piet Mondrian, and then walking to the local village to post these to learn more about the postal service! 

Our class read this term has been 'Owl Babies', which has been a clear favourite of many of the children and inspired lots of wonderful learning opportunities. We have explored this story through sensory story opportunities, making our own Owl rice cakes and painting snowy owls, and building an owl nest. We have also enjoyed weekly visits to the school Library and daily opportunities to share stories with adults and peers - recently we celebrated Roald Dahl day through a BFG sensory story, and a follow up activity painting our own dream bottles.

It has been a wonderful and busy term, and we are very excited to share more of our learning with you and see what our Dolphins achieve next!

Module One - Celebrations of learning this term

Dolphin class have continued to have a fantastic term and make some wonderful progress.  This week we have celebrated all of our hard work and learning throughout the term through a visit to Spadework Pumpkin Patch! The Dolphins were amazing and had the best time exploring and navigating a new environment, engaging with new textures and embracing new experiences. We are so proud of them and it was a beautiful end to the term. Have a wonderful half term, and we can't wait to see how you all grow and change next term!