Mar 28, 20222 min read

Jellyfish Newsletter - Spring Term 2

We are looking forward to better weather so we can get out into the environment. We have had some exciting additions to the Jellyfish and Seals playground. We now have a new heavy duty trampoline, a wheelchair trampoline, free standing musical instruments and a fabulous inclusive roundabout which is very popular with all pupils. These have made our playground accessible to all and have already been given the seal of approval by all the pupils.

Last term we had a great time with our topic “What is a shadow?”. We enjoyed the book “The Foggy Foggy Forest”, listening to the rhyming verse and identifying the shadows before they were revealed. We also read “Gruffalo’s Child” and explored the props and finding out what animal was it was from the sounds they made. We used the Sensory room to identify shapes and objects that made shadows on the wall and observed our own shadows and what we could make them do.

We visited Lichfield Cathedral which was a “wow” moment and looked at the stained glass windows and the shadows they cast. Then we made our own looking at the properties of different materials, using light boxes, torches and glasses. They look fabulous on our patio doors especially when the sunlight shines through and casts colourful shadows onto the floor. We spent time in the dark den and looked at the effects of different lighting and some of us drew around our shadow profile. We embedded our Maths and English into this and ran it alongside our focused Maths and English activities.

This term we are continuing to access the community and will be going to Cinebowl in Uttoxeter for bowling activities linked to P.E. On Wednesday’s we will be going to Morrisons to buy groceries for our topic “Why can’t I eat chocolate?”. This is all about healthy eating so we will be looking at good choices and buying ingredients for our life skills and cooking lessons. We will also send pupils creations home if they have not already been eaten. Once again, Maths and English will be embedded throughout the topic with matching number predominant. We have already learnt some new Makaton signs with pineapple and kiwi being our favourite signs.

Our books this term is are “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” and “Oliver’s Fruit Salad”, which both involve sampling lots of different food which I am sure will be popular with all of us.