Good morning to our An Choill Bheag Families!
It is Saint Valentine’s Week!
‘Is that really a thing?’, I hear you ask…. It is now! 😊
This week we will be celebrating what I believe to be the two most important types of love –
the love of our family members and the love of our friends!
Síona, Edyta, Amy and I were delighted, once again, to see such fantastic work coming in last week!
Keep up the great work everyone! 😊
Below you will find a menu of suggested activities for the week ahead.
As ever, do whatever you can and whatever suits your home situation and please do not forget to have a look at the work allocated by your child’s mainstream class teacher for this week.
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Morning Routine:
Every morning we are going to practise some breathing exercises –
Rainbow Breathing and Jellyfish Breathing.
Now that you have practised your breathing exercises, let’s kick off the day with a little bit of yoga…
Cosmic Kids Yoga
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Action Song of the Week:
Are you feeling silly?
This week’s Action Song of the Week is
‘Shake your sillies out’
by the Learning Station.
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Screen Free Learning Activities:
I am including the link again this week to the Middletown Centre for Autism’s
Screen Free Learning Activities.
To download the full resource please click here!
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Activity Sheets
Please continue to dip in and out of this wonderful resource.
Orchard Toys Activity Sheets
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Listening to Stories:
Here are the stories that the infant classes are listening to this week.
There is a different story/video for each school day…
‘Mum Bug’s Bag’ by Julia Donaldson
‘Harry the Dirty Dog’ by Gene Zion
‘Cat Naps’ by Julia Donaldson
‘Mice Twice’ by Joseph Low
‘A Squash and a Squeeze’ by Julia Donaldson
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Sensory Break:
I hope that you enjoyed making Stretchy Oobleck last week!
This week we are going to make a Sensory Bottle!
How to Make a Sensory Bottle
Thank you to Amy for creating and sharing this lovely video!
Or you could try making some Cloud Playdough…
Here is a simple recipe for cloud playdough that will keep your child busy for hours!
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Fine Motor Skills Development:
Fine Motor Skills Man
Here is a nice cutting activity where you can be as creative as you like with the face and the colouring.
You can even make curls by wrapping the cut ‘strands of hair’ around a pencil!
Click here for full details.
Or log in again to the picklebums.com website -
Loose Parts and Pattern Pages
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Get Creative:
Heart Family Portrait
Make your very own Heart Family Portrait!
You can make your own family or create one from your imagination.
You can add in grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins too… the more the merrier!
Click here for more details.
Pop Up Bear Valentine’s Card
Visit the Red Ted Art website for full instructions.
And don’t forget to send me on some photos!
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Science Experiments
Baking Soda Hearts
This experiment puts a new spin on the old volcanic eruption experiment. Using hearts to keep it Valentine-themed, it is a fantastic way to get your kids interested in science and art. Fuel their imagination, creativity and love of science with a colourful baking soda heart eruption. This experiment is fun for parents and kids and will fuel their love of learning and curiosity.
⭕ MATERIALS:⠀
- Baking soda⠀
- Different shades of food colouring
- Water
- Heart-shaped ice tray (or regular ice tray)
- Vinegar
- Hand wash
⭕ INSTRUCTIONS:⠀
(1) Add a few drops of food colouring to baking soda, add a little bit water and mix
(2) Repeat with different colours.⠀
(3) Add the mixtures to a heart ice tray⠀
(4) Freeze until solid
(5) Lay them out in a deep bowl
(6) Add hand wash to vinegar and mix
(7) Pour the mixture over the hearts and watch them fizz
(8) Mix up the foam to create colourful art
⭕ SCIENCE EXPLANATION
When we mix vinegar and baking soda, they react and produce a gas - carbon dioxide. We added soap into the mix. So the gas blows bubbles, creating a lot of foam.
Click here to see the baking soda heart eruption!
Dancing Love Hearts
Here’s a fun twist on the dancing grapes experiment (you might remember that one from Lockdown 1 last year) that’s perfect for Valentine’s Day!
All you need for this experiment is soda water and a packet of love heart sweets. Simply add the hearts to a glass of soda water and watch them rise, fall & dance in the water!
The hearts are slightly heavier than the water so they naturally sink to the bottom, but the carbon dioxide bubbles attach to the hearts causing them to rise to the top. Once the hearts reach the top, the bubbles pop and the hearts sink back to the bottom where more bubbles attach to them and the process repeats. So cool!
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Gross Motor Skills:
Exercise with Emer
Have you been watching Home School Hub on RTE?
It has a great segment called ‘Exercise with Emer’!
If you've missed any classes you can catch up on YouTube by following the link below!
Exercise with Emer – 10 Videos
Keep Well Campaign
The Keep Well campaign is encouraging people to mind their physical and mental health and wellbeing by adding healthy habits to their routines.
As part of the Keep Well campaign, Sport Ireland has produced the below series of exercise videos.
KEEP WELL PROGRAMME FOR CHILDREN WITH AUTISM AND THEIR PARENTS/GUARDIANS/CARERS:
✅Led by Fiona and Paul Oppermann this 6-part series is designed to focus in on movement patterns that are beneficial for development, combined with low and higher intensity exercises that use a similar pattern to aid learning.
✅The key focus is the development of gross motor skills to improve co-ordinated movement, core strength and balance.
✅The sessions can be done as week by week progressions or standalone sessions. You can do the exercises in your own space and at your own pace, by pausing and restarting the videos at a pace that works for you.
Keep Well Campaign Videos
Gym INC
Or, alternatively, you can continue with the ‘Gym INC’ video sessions!
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Scheduled Play
The importance of play can sometimes be underrated by us, as adults.
I really love the poem below, as it is a lovely reminder of the invaluable learning that takes place during play time.
I tried to teach my child with words
They passed him by, often unheard.
Despairingly I turned aside
‘How shall I teach this child? I cried
Into my hands he placed the key
‘Come’ he said, ‘play with me'
- Author Unknown
Please add ‘Free Play’ to your daily schedule.
There are two rules of Free Play...
- Allow your child to take the lead
- Have fun!
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Fresh Air
As always, please add this to your daily schedule.
Breathe in the love!
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Lámh Signs:
Our Lámh Song of the Week is
‘Old Mac Donald’s Farm’
Please continue to practise your Lámh signs every day.
Week 4: 20 Beginner Lámh School Signs
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Aquarium Lessons on YouTube
Online Aquarium Lessons continue every Friday.
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Cooking/Baking Ideas
Below you will find a couple of nice ideas to try out this week…
Pepperoni Pizza
Learn how to make your very own
Pepperoni Pizza
with Chef Ben Wilson
Fun with Food!
One of Middletown Centre for Autism’s specialists from their Learning Support and Assessment Team recently delivered a 4-week programme encouraging a playful exploration of food. Throughout the month of February, they will be sharing the ideas and visual supports from this programme.
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.
To download the resource please visit the link below
https://www.middletownautism.com/files/shares/Resources/Tues_2_Feb_Fun_with_Food-_Jelly.pdf
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Evening Routine:
To get your body and mind nice and calm for bedtime, choose from the list of calming activities below.
Please listen to this song before you go to sleep every evening this week.
The Frog Chorus & Paul McCartney – ‘We all Stand Together’
It is a lovely reminder that, although we cannot be physically with all of our family members and friends at the moment, that ‘we all stand together’ regardless!
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Don’t forget to check your email inboxes on Wednesday and Friday again this week, as I will be sending on storytime videos from Síona and Geraldine, as usual.
Parents, please email me if you have any questions - ballymittybcasey@gmail.com, - and I will get back to you as promptly as I possibly can.
To Jake, Larry, Harley, Ben, Conn and Tommy – Happy Valentine’s Week!
I hope that you all have a great week celebrating the love of your family members and the love of your friends!
Kindest regards,
Ms. Casey
