An Choill Bheag - Week 7 of Home Learning 2021 | St. Joseph's N.S. Ballymitty

Good morning to our An Choill Bheag Families!

The doors to An Choill will finally re-open later this morning and Síona, Edyta, Amy and I couldn’t be more excited to welcome the pupils of An Choill Bheag back to the school building once again!!!

We have lots of fun activities planned for on-site learning this week! 😊

We would also like to wish Larry a very happy birthday today!

We will see you very soon Larry… and there might even be a little surprise waiting for you in the An Choill Bheag classroom this morning!

Below you will find suggested activities for the days when pupils are staying at home and for those of you who are not returning to school just yet.

As ever, do whatever you can, and whatever suits your home situation and please do not forget to have a look also at the work allocated by your child’s mainstream class teacher.

************

Morning Routine:

Please continue to practise your breathing exercises every morning this week –

Rainbow Breathing, Jellyfish Breathing and Square Breathing.

Square Breathing.jpg

And you might also like to try out

Little Red Riding Hood Yoga

(as recommended this week by Ms. Franey)

************

Return to School:

Some of our pupils are returning to school this week and others will be back with us again in the coming weeks.

Here is an excellent resource from the NCSE (National Council for Special Education) which may be useful in preparing your child for this change in routine.

To download the full resource please visit the link below

NCSE Return to School Resource

************

Action Song of the Week:

This week’s Action Song of the Week is

Let’s Go Walking

by Sticky Kids

Week 1: Every Little Cell in my Body is Happy
Week 2: If you’re Happy and You Know It
Week 3: Penguin Dance
Week 4: Chicken Dance
Week 5: ‘Shake your sillies out’
Week 6: ‘Get Funky’

************

Listening to Stories:

Here are the stories/videos that the infant classes are listening to/watching this week.

************

Egg in a Bottle Experiment:

This cool little science experiment demonstrates air pressure!

Egg in Bottle.jpg

Click on this link to see the experiment in action!

And for detailed instructions please click here!

************

Fine Motor Skills Development:

************

Get Creative:

For Handprint Art ideas please click here!

************

Gross Motor Skills:

Pick and choose your favourite Gross Motor Activities from the following options…

Dinosaur Movement

I know that we have a few dinosaur fans in An Choill Bheag!

You guys might like to try out some of these fun Dinosaur Movement Activities!

Dinosaur Movement .jpg

************

Scheduled Play:

Don’t forget to add Playtime to your daily schedule.

************

Fresh Air:

************

Lámh Signs:

Please continue to practise your Lámh signs every day!

************

Cooking/Baking Ideas:

Below you will find a couple of nice ideas to try out this week…

Healthy ‘Dolphin’ Snack

https://www.craftymorning.com/banana-dolphins-snack-kids/

Fun with Food!

Here is session 3 from the 4-week ‘Fun with Food’ programme.

This week, it is all about Angel Delight!

Fun with Food 1.jpg

The programme aims to familiarise children with the sensory aspects of food (smells, textures, colours) and to reduce sensitivities. There is no pressure or expectation for the child to eat the food and this does not need to be encouraged. Simply touching, smelling and engaging in the activity in a positive manner is developing the sensory experience of food for the child. If they do wish to eat it, that is of course fine!

This programme will be useful for children who have limited diets due to sensory sensitivities. Please note that if the child or young person becomes upset during the activity or shows strong aversive responses, stop the activity.

Fun with Food 2.jpg