Welcome to Chestnut

Teacher - Chestnut Samantha Webster
Photo of Samantha Webster

Chestnut is a class of 6 students with diverse needs and abilities whom are supported by 4 members of staff, we largely use symbols and signalong in order to communicate our needs, choices and feelings.

Chestnut class take a holistic approach to learning by following a topic based curriculum, where each subject is tailored to the individuals learning needs, thriving on routine and consistency, this approach enables learning to be teacher-led as well as child initiated.

Class activities are differentiated for each individual, ensuring that they are engaging and motivating to the individual child. Students particularly enjoy activities that are ‘hands on’ which relate to everyday life skills and promoting independence.

Autumn Term 1 2021 Timetable

Curriculum Info for Parents: Autumn Term 1 2021 TimetableChestnut topic this half term will be Friendship. Each week we will explore a new story related to Friendship and pro social behaviours. During the week we will engage in a number of activities that are topic related. Your child will be encouraged and supported to explore and engage in each of these activities. Your child will regularly bring home information on their individual learning targets, individual targets may change weekly or in line with the topic, as and when experienced or consolidated. Please do feel free to explore these at home, it would be great to hear about your child’s experiences via their home School book. The holistic approach to learning in Chestnut class will allow your child to progress at a pace that is suitable to their individual needs and abilities within a rich and enabling environment. Below is an outline of some of the activities on offer.
Subject
FriendshipsHere is a list of stories we will explore this half term- - Lost and Found- Oliver Jeffers - The smartest Giant in town- Axel Scheffler and Julia Donaldson - Carrot club-Twinkl Ebook - We are All different- Twinkl Ebook - Starry eyed Stan- Twinkl Ebook - The rainbow fish- Marcus Pfister If you have any suggestions for books involving Friendship we would love to hear about them. Activities will be as follows, each activity linked to our topic or directly to the book/story of the week.
MathsWe will be exploring Lists and sequencing-including ordering the days of the week and months of the year by taking part in activities that include - Team games - Number games - Number songs - Recognising and discussing terms such as lots, more, one. - Awareness of quantity - 1;1 correspondence-matching item to activity - Making sets/matching sets to quantity. - Relating places to activities. - Placement-where things belong. - Ordering moths of year/days of the week. - Matching items/symbols-recogninsing similarities
EnglishWe will be exploring Fiction with a message, lesson or moral. This will include Daily story time. Reading comprehension, exploring what we have heard/read, discussing characters, and phonic recognition. We will be taking part in activities based around the stories mentioned above to explore Friendship.
Phonic ProgrammeWe will follow the read write Inc. and Jolly phonics programmes, as this will enable us to explore our previous phonic knowledge-recognition and formation, our pencil control, listening and speaking skills as well as our signalong.
Focussed Exploration and InvestigationWe will be exploring our own environment and the way in which we use and care for it and others. We will take part in activities that include cooking and sharing, exploring our scientific enquiry-changes and anticipation, cause and effect, adding and mixing. We will explore our school environment-linking what we do to where-for example becoming familiar with the dinner hall for eating, the Hydro pool is for swimming etc.
Motor Skills DevelopmentWe will largely be exploring personal hygiene this term, such as teeth cleaning, hand washing and taking care of our bodies to stay healthy. However other motor skills activities will include-Pencil control, shoebox tasks, hand eye co-ordination activities, puzzles, which are topic related-we will be exploring life skills during this time such as cleaning, tidying away, laying the table, locating objects in their place. These activities will be closely linked to our independence skills and our creative activities.
Creative (Art, Craft and DT)We will be exploring Colour, texture and pattern by designing and making - Friendship handprint wreaths - Friendship bracelets - Tie-dye t-shirts - Friendship plaques/posters - Badges - Weaving Friendship quilts - Making collages with photos of our friends and shared activities
Communication/Intensive InteractionWe will be learning topic related words/signs and symbols such as seasons, Autumn, Winter, Spring, Summer, holiday, weather, sunny, rain, cloudy, plane, train, boat .-working alongside children’s individual Communication plans.
We will be taking part in 4 themed days during the half term to explore our learning in the following topics- RE • Hinduism MFL • Italy Music • RAP Music History/Geography • History-Change over time-living memory