One of the main aims that we have for our new Turney School Green Class is to continue to improve their social skills. This is an incredibly able group of pupils and we have set high ambitions to help and support them with their development during the new school year. We will be using playing plenty of drama games to help further develop our social skills and conversation.

We have gained seven new pupils from previous classes around the school. The final few weeks of the summer term have been spent assessing the level of ability of each pupil, and then coming up with a plan to help continue our learning in the new school year. Many of our maths and counting games have produced wonderful results so far – a very encouraging start for the new Green Class!

We are working hard in Green Class this term on improving further our understanding and range of phonics. We have been encouraging independent thought and activity in this process, asking the children to organise their own work and to take responsibility for it. The main class resource that we use for this is the excellent jollyphonics learning pack. This is a fun way for the Green Class pupils to help improve their understanding of different sounds and letters.

The table work activities for these sessions are aimed at the individual attainment levels of each pupil. Some children have been concentrating on the alphabet and learning to identify each letter, and then name something around them which starts with a particular sound. Other Green Class pupils have progressed to using phonic sounds to spell out simple words.

Our main focus for the remainder of the spring term in Green class will be to learn all about many different animals. We are currently reading Dear Zoo as our main class reading book. This book contains some great characters, which we are finding out all about, as well as using the colour themes within the book to help us with our work. Green Class are also starting to plan a school assembly based around the brilliant Brown Bear book. We will be telling the story, as well as no doubt having some great fun in all getting dressed up!

Elsewhere around Green Class and the children are getting excited about a planned trip we have to the nearby Rosendale Allotments. We have been studying plant growth for most of the term. With spring finally upon us, this is the perfect opportunity in which to put the practical skills to the test. Green class will be having plenty of green fingers with a vegetable planting session.

Green Class is going all green this term with a study of parks and plants! This work will form our main topic for the weeks ahead, as we study all aspects of park and plant life. The children will be introduced to the life cycle of a plant, learning about what conditions a plant will need to grow. This will be very hands on experience as or pupils will be planting their own plants, and then observing and learning from the growing experience.

This theme will also continue in our literacy work, where we are reading the brilliant Shark in the Park book. Green Class are really enjoying finding out more about the character of the scary shark, as well as coming up with some monster characters of their own.

A final theme in Green Class for the spring term will be that of relaxation. This is an incredibly important part of the development process for our young pupils, in being able to understand and recognise when we need to relax. We will be introducing some new techniques during our P.E. sessions, and then monitoring how successful these are with each child on a one to one basis.

We are pleased to report that our new Green Class is settling in well at Turney School. We have welcomed some of the children from Key Stage 1 to make the step up, and they are handling this responsibility very well. Our dedicated Green Class staff have got the children settled in to their working routine. We have been enjoying our Circle Time by playing a game of What’s in the Box? Each class member is invited to explore our magical box of different sensory toys. These help to stimulate our sight, sound and touch. It also encourage the children to make choices and to communicate their needs. We use the school Communication in Print system to assist us.

Green Class are incredibly excited ahead of their Primary School assembly taking place later in the week. We are going to focus upon the theme of changing weather, and some of the activities that we associate with the different seasons. Green Class will start off their assembly by welcoming the other pupils with a weather song. We will then explain the difference between feeling hot or cold and how the seasons are continually changing throughout the year.

All of the children have been working incredibly hard on making their own weather props to proudly display during the assembly. We will be asking other children in the assembly to describe what the weather is like outside, and then think about a suitable activity to match the weather. With the summer now upon us, Green Class will conclude their weather assembly by talking about what we need to remember when we are out playing in the sun – wear sun cream, a hat and drink plenty of water!

Green class have been working on different ways that we can recognise letters. The pupils have been using a combination symbols on the class whiteboard, music, as well as remembering the different signs for each letters. We have used our class circle time to choose a letter each, and then to sound out the phonetic sound that we can hear. We then advanced this, by thinking of a word that starts with that letter.

Our main topic in Green Class for the summer term is to look at different weather conditions, and how this is related to geography around the world. We have used this topic to also help the children explore and stimulate their senses. Using a simple water spray, we replicated a rainstorm with some scented water during our class circle time. We asked the children to describe how this felt on their hands and faces. We contrasted this feeling by passing around a vibrating cuddly toy. This is a great for the pupils to recognise the power of their senses, as well as improving verbal skills.

Phonics have been the main focus during literacy lessons in Green class this week. Using the starting point of SAT, we have been exploring new sounds and words, by sounding out the basic letters that we can hear. The children have been thinking about which words or sounds may sound like SAT, and then using this to help with their spellings.

Following on from our maths work looking and recognising different shapes, Green class have been making some shape men during art lessons! We have been thinking about which parts of the body resemble certain shapes, and then using these to make up our characters.

Phonics have been the main focus during literacy lessons in Green class this week. Using the starting point of SAT, we have been exploring new sounds and words, by sounding out the basic letters that we can hear. The children have been thinking about which words or sounds may sound like SAT, and then using this to help with their spellings.

Following on from our maths work looking and recognising different shapes, Green class have been making some shape men during art lessons! We have been thinking about which parts of the body resemble certain shapes, and then using these to make up our characters.

We started the week in Green class with another wonderful singing session with Louie. We encourage all children to participate at a level in which they feel confident. Some children help their friends with singing; others are able to use our Communication in Print system to sign out the words in the songs. Louie decided to award a gold star to Jordan, who contributed to our session with some delightful singing, as well as helping and supporting his Green class friends.

Green class returned after the half term break, all refreshed and ready to continue with some fine singing! Louie led our musical session on the first morning back. Each class member was able to choose a song to sing. We encouraged the children to communicate their choices in both word, and signing. Popular songs were Under the Banyan Tree, Michael Row the Boat and First You Make Your Fingers Click. We use these musical sessions to help us express ourselves. All adults offer assistance with the signing of the songs, so that everyone in Green class can enjoy their morning of singing. You can listen to a short recording of our Green class singers in the podcast below.

Green class have been working incredibly well during their individual table work activities. Each day we set aside some quite time for the children to explore a range of numeracy and literacy skills that are aimed at their specific needs. Each child has their own tray containing work exercises specific to their learning abilities. These include animal jigsaws, counting patterns or an alphabet puzzle. You can watch a video featuring Green class table work above.

Our main topic in Green class for this term will be to learn about different animals. We will be learning how we can identify a selection of animals, and looking at how they move differently and make different sounds. Another major topic will be the celebration of the Chinese New Year next month. We are going to use this grand occasion to produce plenty of artwork. Chinese New Year lanterns are planned to help add some colour to our classroom. With most of the seasonal snow now hopefully behind us, there is still a wonderful reminder of the recent weather around Green class with a selection of our snowmen pictures.