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Inviting parents is a nice touch and they always appreciate it. Last year we got permission from the local library to exhibit some of our art and it was a great success. It is definitely something we will continue to do.
Like the previous assignment I was thinking of my current students when writing this answer. They all have an interest in art, so a visual art project is the area that would best suit them right now. I think we would begin by collecting local items like ferns, reeds, smooth stones, dry twigs, leaves and wildflowers, for the art project. We could collect these items in the local park. We could do pressing with these using soft clay or dough and make rubbings using bark and heavy wax crayons. We could use these as a display in the school or in the local library which is just a short walk away.
If I was to concentrate on another area outside visual art it would be music. In terms of music or an aural angle to the project we could use recorded sounds from the local area such as rain, wind and birdsong. We could use twigs or stones we’ve found as simple rhythm instruments.
Great idea and as you mention in your post it caters for all abilities which can be difficult to do at times.
When writing an answer for this assignment I was thinking about my students and trying to make this as practical and ‘real’ for them as possible. So I thought it best to concentrate on areas or places around town that we visit on a regular basis. I decided that the local park in Mullingar might provide some inspiration. Inspired by the central pond layout of Mullingar Town Park, I decided that we could design a secure, sensory-friendly school pond. We could make a (very!!) small looped walking path and quiet sensory break spots such as a bench for our ASD students and we could include tactile elements like smooth stepping stones, metal chimes, or grasses that make gentle sounds. Like the pond in the town park we would like wild-life to use our water feature. For us that would mean attracting frogs, dragonflies, birds and other pollinators using log piles, native wildflowers, bird boxes and bird feeders.
I think like you mentioned we will look at setting up a no mow area too. There’s a handy little poster on the biodiversity website which gives ideas for each month of the year. I was surprised how many of these we were covering from the bird feeders to the bubs and the bug motel. It is nice to right, for a change !!
To register my school in the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan, I would visit the Actions for Pollinators platform managed by the National Biodiversity Data Centre. There I would create a free account using your school email address. Throughout the year I would log the specific pollinator-friendly actions the school is taking part in. There is a very helpful A4 poster linked on the website which gives ideas on how to help pollinators on a month by month basis. Some of these are ideas we have already been working on such as the bug motel and bird feeders, while others such as creating solitary bee nests are something we will work towards. Two activities which would particularly suit my class are sowing a sensory garden; This would provide students with a chance to experience highly tactile, non-toxic, and fragrant herbs and flowers like lavender, mint, and rosemary. This in turn would obviously help our pollinator friends.
And secondly we could make seed Seed bombs by mixing clay, compost, and native flower seeds. Rolling the mud balls offers a highly tactile, proprioceptive activity. Then we could get the students to throw them into certain areas in the garden.
Yes I think it is very important to begin with a place that is familiar to the students, and being able to walk around the school makes it an obvious choice. I would do something similar with my class and concentrate on the language used while trying to explain where something is.
For younger classes, describe how you would plan and conduct a lesson on map making and explain how you might incorporate some online tools such as Google maps or Geohive
I think with the students in my class I would begin by creating a map of the classroom, school or school grounds. For my Students this might take the shape of them placing pre-cut areas or rooms onto a blank map of the school or playground. They would be completing a partially finished map essentially. Throughout the activity I would concentrate on essential vocabulary such as “next to,” “behind,” “left,” “right,” and “near”, etc; Any opportunity to work on vocabulary with ASD students is welcome. I think if this was successful I would zoom out a little and use google maps to show the schools position in the local area. The street view feature on google maps would be quite helpful here I feel. We could then look at how we find local amenities such as the shop, library, park or the bottle bank, all of which we visit during the week.
Caterpillars is a lovely idea, I might try that too. Some of the ideas around the garden tied in with our students completing the L1LP program, so this meant we spent some time in the garden sowing vegetables. We sowed potatoes, onions, broadbeans, pumpkins, sunflowers and tomatoes. The students seemed to enjoy the different surroundings and also the sensory nature of the garden. A sensory garden is my next objective.
Having looked at the paper ‘Unravelling STEM…’, I identified the following ways that STEM is being taught in my class. As we got a new garden area and greenhouse recently I am going to concentrate on it as the area where I have covered a lot of STEM teaching throughout the year.
Also gardening provides hands-on, sensory experiences for my SEN pupils. Activities can be adapted for different learning needs while promoting communication, independence, and problem-solving. It is also a great opportunity to incorporate a movement break into the students day.
In class we used a physical timeline to track a plant’s life cycle. We looked at its growth on time lapse videos. We grew a bean inside a clear plastic bag with a wet paper towel taped to a window so the root system is completely visible. We recorded it’s growth in our logbook. This allows the students to see the life-cycle of the plant rather than just read about it. We built a bug motel during the year. The students gathered natural materials like twigs, pinecones, bamboo stalks, and willow taken from the willow arch in school. This helps teach structural stability and structural arrangement. This links the areas of Science, technology, engineering and maths.