'VIP Club' - Goldilocks

The theme for the VIP club this Friday was 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears'.

 

 

 The children began by taking turns acting out the story, and wearing the wig!

 

 Goldilocks arrives at the empty cottage to find three bowls of porridge....

 She tries each bowl and eats up Baby Bear's porridge.....

 Then she tries three chairs....

 ...and breaks Baby Bear's chair...

 ...so Goldilocks decides to have a lie down...in Baby Bear's bed!

 Then the Bears return and find someones been eating their porridge...

 ...and someone has broken Baby Bear's chair...

 ...and who is this in Baby Bear's bed?

...its Goldilocks...ohh!!! Off she runs!!!

 

Once we had taken our turn acting out the story the children then completed a number of learning activities linked to the story.

 

 Using tactile resources to help to sequence the main events of the story.

  Identifying and naming the material a spoon is made from, talking and describing its features.

 Ordering real objects (Teddies & bowls) by size.

 

Then to finish a lovely afternoon, time for VIP Club tea! Where all our 'VI buddies' from the week are invited along to say thank you for being 'VI buddies' at break or lunch time.

 

 

'VI awareness' in Key Stage 1

 

On Monday 10th June the children in Year 1 and Year 2 had a Visual Impairment awareness day.

The focus for the day was to give our fully sighted pupils a little understanding and empathy for their peers with a visual impairment.

 

The day was organised by the Oasis team in conjunction with Open Sight, a charity that works with the visually impaired.

 

 

 

The children had a braille workshop where they learnt about the system of raised dots that enable the blind to read and write without sight.

 



The children had a go at writing their names using braille code.

 

 

The iPad's were used to show the children simulations of the different effects of certain eye conditions as well as 'Sim-spec's'.

 

The children were asked to complete a number of tactile tasks while blindfolded.

 

 

They had to construct a 3D model of an insect...

 

...draw a picture with no vision...

 

...and complete tactile shape puzzles.

 

 

The children also had a special assembly presented by Open Sight who talked about 'eye health' and how we can protect our eyes.

 



 

Thank You Open Sight for your support and to all the Oasis staff for planning such an interesting day for all the children.

For more information and pictures please look to the Year 1 and Year 2 blogs.

'Musical' Inreach!

 

On Friday 7th June the focus for In-reach was Music.

We began the afternoon with an accompanied rendition of 'Amarillo' by Tony Christie, with full use of percussion!

We then went outside into the glorious summer sun (it had stopped raining at lunchtime!) to fully explore some of the outdoor instruments and to make some noise!

 

We finished our musical afternoon with some singing and some action songs.

 



Meanwhile back in the Oasis our pre-school group had the chance to meet and talk.

 

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.