Hilliers - Reception & Year One

On Monday Year R and Year One visited The Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, Romsey.

 

http://www3.hants.gov.uk/hilliergardens/hillier-gardens.htm

 

This was part of their topic work on Living and Growing.

 

 

Both classes have a pupil with a visual impairment; one partially sighted and one registered blind.

 

This kind of first hand experience, where the children can use all of their senses in a rich learning

 

environment is an essential element to our provision at Kings Copse.

 

 

 

Close-up inspection of fern leaves.

 

 

Hands-on a Giant Sequoia - the worlds largest tree, with amazing bark!

 

 

Swaying on a bamboo rope bridge.

 

 

Some striking art work, both visual and tactile!

 

 

An nothing makes a boy's day better than a good bug hunt!!

 

 

Finally...you can only begin to understand what a tree is when you meet one...

 



 

...and touch it's dry rough bark, walk around the fat trunk and listen to the leaves rustling in the wind....

 



...but no climbing today! I think we've had enough fun.

 

Thank You to all the staff at Hillier's for making the children feel so welcome and giving them a wonderful insight into the wonders of Mother Nature.

Spring In-reach: Flowers

The focus this month for our In-reach session was 'Flowers!'
With Spring finally arriving we thought it would be nice to have an up-close look at flowers.

The children had the opportunity to study a number of different flowers from Roses to Carnations. The used lit lenses to provide greater magnification and were encouraged to use their senses of touch and smell. Some children even 'disassembled' some flowers and used their petals for their collage.

All of the children were asked to make a button collage. This was an interesting medium which would provide tactile as well as visual stimulation.

 

The children worked well on their pictures and helped each other.

 

All the children from Year 4 to pre-school were really focused on the art activity!

 

 

Thank you to all of this months participants, we had a productive afternoon with plenty of fun and chat, and the Oasis has a new mural!

 

 

 

Pond dipping in Y4

As part of their Science work, the children in Year 4 did some pond dipping at the end of last week.

Our VI children enjoyed this hands-on experience, searching for all the different life forms in our wildlife area.

The pupils were able to use assistive lenses to study pond life close up.

 

However, nothing quite beats close-up handling!

 

For the Visually Impaired, first hand experiences are so important, providing opportunities for close inspection as well as real life interactions.