It’s been a lovely first week back here in 7B. With some new additions to the class settling in so well – this week has been a pleasure for everyone. We took some time to assess how we were all feeling about the current situation and looked at the UK’s road-map out of lockdown. After the boys were curious to learn more about the UK Census and why it so important to help the government – we had a go at completing our very own census.
Home Learning
Blythdale – Bubble 3
Dear Parents / Carers,
As you are aware, The Dales School is having to limit the number of children attending school each day to ensure the necessary health and safety measures are in place for both children and staff to keep everyone as safe as possible. As a result, we are supporting our children at home by providing access to high quality virtual teaching, support and learning.
This will take place on the following platforms:
- Google classroom
- Tapestry
- Classroom 360
- Education City
- Oxford Owl
- Posted resources (at families request)
There are six key elements of our home learning offer:
- Home learning packs
- Personalised targets linked to EHCP, basic skills and life skills
- Activity suggestions
- Whole group and 1:1 face to face Google Classroom sessions
- OT and SaLT resources and activities – where required.
- Online learning sessions
Home learning will be used to support the transition between school and home and will encourage a healthy routine when the children are not in school. We will support this transition with visual resources and daily zones of regulation check-ins.
Virtual home learning:
Home learning days will begin at 9 o’clock where the children will be invited to join a whole class Google Classroom with a member of the Bubble 3 team. This session will last 15 – 20 minutes and will include a weather/story massage routine, zones of regulation check in and a makaton sign of the day, topic or themed discussion.
The children will then be invited to join various subject specific learning sessions throughout the day (a timetable outlining this is attached to this letter).
The day will end with a show and tell session with a member of the home learning team, during this children will be encouraged to talk about something they have learned/made or done that day. The Google Classroom call will end for the day with a ‘zones of regulation’ check in and a story or discussion time.
We ask that you ensure that an adult is in the same room as your child whilst they are on the call, this is to safeguard both staff and children.
Tapestry/ Google Classroom
The home learning team will also upload various ‘World Around us’’ activities which you can use at home. These will be updated regularly, and you will also be able to gain access to Education City and Oxford Owl through the login details which will be posted on Tapestry and Google Classroom.
Teachers have created life skills documents which include a range of targets that we aimed to work on with your children in school this half term. Teachers have added suggested activities to these targets for you to work on at home.
Tapestry can also be used as a way for you to communicate with staff at school and show us the lovely activities that your children have been doing at home.
If you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us at school on 01670 352556 or by emailing rachel.hepburn@thedales.northumberland.sch.uk and your email will be forwarded to the relevant member of the home learning team. When emailing can you please give your child’s name, so we can direct you to the correct member of staff.
All children will need to be able to log in using their School360 pupil account to use the learning platforms. See the attached document. If you need any help with this please contact us.
Thank you for your continued support – we very much appreciate it at this very difficult time.
Timetable
A visual timetable copy of this is available on the below page to print for your child. If you need a copy printed off and sent to you, please inform your class team via Tapestry.
| Time | Learning Platform | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
| 9 am | Google Classroom | Check-In & Focus Activity | ||||
| 10 am | Google Classroom | Core Subjects (Basic skills) – English, Maths, Reading or Phonics | Friday Challenge | |||
| 11 am | Google Classroom | Topic Activities | ||||
| 1 pm | Google Classroom | Music | Science | Art | P.E. | |
| 2.30pm | Google Classroom | Check-In and Show & Tell of the Activities Children have completed throughout the day. | ||||
This week in 7B, we have been following the news closely in the US election, to discover who will be the eventual winner. We learned more about each of the candidates and their policies and used our Math skills to determine how many votes each candidate would need to get enough electoral points to claim victory. We also learned about 24 hour and how to convert the time we had learned previous into this format.
