Teaching Students with Learning Difficulties

Learning disability garden wins gold at Chelsea

noreply@blogger.com (Vienna) — Tue, 22 May 2012 12:22:49 PDT

It was Furzey Gardens first ever entry at the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show and they clinched the top prize. BBC NEWS

Furzey Gardens is part of a registered charitable organisation which provides training and residential care for young people with learning difficulties through the work of Minstead Training Project in the heart of the New Forest.

The Project is an award-winning Horticultural Training Centre where young adults with learning difficulties can live and learn and grow to their own full and unique potential.

L'Arche

noreply@blogger.com (Vienna) — Sun, 13 May 2012 14:16:01 PDT

This photo is from the L'Arche Bognor Flickr photostream

'L'Arche is an international movement which builds faith based communities, with people with learning disabilities, all over the world.'

L'Arche in the UK support people with learning disabilities to reach their full potential.

The Flickr photostream for L'Arche Bognor Regis is a wonderful example of their work.

An interesting website

noreply@blogger.com (Vienna) — Sun, 13 May 2012 01:11:59 PDT

www.john-paul.org.uk is a website 'for people who like science but find reading and writing difficult.'

It has lots of picture links (on more than science) and uses Widgit symbols.

The best find for me was the Makaton page and the link to the
Inclusive Communication page from Essex which has lots of Makaton videos.

Diamond Jubilee Resources

noreply@blogger.com (Vienna) — Wed, 23 May 2012 13:50:49 PDT

Free until June 30th 2012 ,the current edition of News-2-You is devoted to the Diamond jubilee.It has news stories,jokes,games and comprehension activities.

Makaton has a free set of Symbols and signs for Diamond Jubilee

Boardmaker Activities Mayer Johnson(log in to a free account first also requires Boardmaker to open resources)

Has a collection of 27 PCS ThinLine symbols relating to the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II. The collection includes symbols of members of the Royal Family, Buckingham Palace and other locations and various activities surrounding the Diamond Jubilee. The downloadable .zip file includes the library file for Boardmaker products (for English US, UK, Aus, and NZ), sample boards and installation instructions.

Widgit resource
A PDF contains a ready to print, fully symbolised information booklet. It has information about the Queen’s coronation and details of the central week of celebrations in June. This is accompanied by a set of Diamond Jubilee flash card.

By Royal Appointment...A free piece of clipart to use in your Jubilee projects

http://bevevans22.posterous.com/by-royal-appointment

The local elections

noreply@blogger.com (Vienna) — Tue, 08 May 2012 13:02:22 PDT

The Children's society has an article in easy to read symbol form reporting the recent local election results.
For other resources to support local government and politics see my blog entries on Politics

Entry 3 resource for Teaching Basic skills Gardening

noreply@blogger.com (Vienna) — Mon, 07 May 2012 00:00:53 PDT

Entry 3 resource for Teaching Basic skills through outdoor
occupations : Literacy language and Numeracy

Module 6 Outdoor and practical

News-2-You Free until 30th June

noreply@blogger.com (Vienna) — Sun, 06 May 2012 04:27:16 PDT

http://www.news-2-you.co.uk/

News-2.you is free until June 3oth June 2012

Every fortnight, News-2-You readers connect with the world through their very own currents events newspaper. They read the story of the week and work with the related activities – games, puzzles, recipes, jokes and worksheets. News-2-You is published fortnightly throughout the school year and monthly during the summer break.

Included Every Fortnight:

Newspapers
World News

Worksheets
Current Events

Vocabulary
Assessments

Skill Worksheets
Joke

Recipe
Holidays

Sports News
Puzzles / Games

News-2-You uses SymbolStix, a symbol set of over 12,000 symbols that has emerged as a world standard in picture-based communication.

Health and Safety in the Garden

noreply@blogger.com (Vienna) — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 08:37:18 PST

Here are some resources for teaching health and safety in the garden to students with a learning disability.

A garden safety picture from the ScoutsHealth and safety signs in outdoor occupations Entry 3
( starts at page 43) PDF

Dangers in the garden online activity from Staywise

Garden safety picture and other resources from Home Safety Game

Electrical safety in the garden on Switched on Kids

Bsquared have a range of garden based resources including health and safety which can be purchased on CD

Gardening

noreply@blogger.com (Vienna) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 13:11:57 PDT

Here are a collection of links for teaching gardening,learning about plants and delivering basic skills through gardening for students with a learning disability

Lots of helpful tips for gardening from CK Grows on the Common Knowledge website presented in a format suitable for students with a learning disability.

Including What to wear in the garden

Good resources on plants and growth from communication 4 all including posters,worksheets,PowerPoint and word searches

A PowerPoint on Flowers find it in the Science: Life processes and living things section of the Whiteboard room

How a plant grows from Greenwing

NGFL Wales

Plants need light and water to grow

including
Label the parts of a plant. interactive activity and work sheets to print out

Discover what helps a plant grow

Put the plant where it will grow best.

Growing a bean plant from Sparklebox

Garden tool posters from Sparklebox

also Key words from Sparklebox

Flowers to colour online

Gardening is fun a book to read on Tar Heel Reader

Wheelchair gardening a book to read from Tarheel reader.

from TES I board
'listen-and-read' explanation books. Learn about the life cycle of a sunflower

Growing a bean sequencer from TES iboard

Review the instructions and drag them into the timeline

Growing a bean from TES i board
listen and watch the instructions for growing a bean then write your own instruction

Dottie's garden A story to read from Primary Games

Entry 3 resource for Teaching Basic skills through outdoor occupations :

Literacy language and Numeracy

Module 6 Outdoor and practical

See my other blog entries on gardening

World War 2

noreply@blogger.com (Vienna) — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 11:51:11 PST

For this half term some of my students have chosen History Club for their enrichment activity. Later in the term they will go to the local museum for a workshop on home life in 2nd world war. I've been looking for suitable resources and I've listed some below:

Woodland Junior school Introduction to 2nd World War

Sparklebox has some good WW2 resources.

Their are a series of timeline pictures. Pick out the important ones to create a simple visual timeline to the main events for World War 2.

Use the World War 2 topic words to make a bingo game or for display

A Boardmaker share activity

A simplified view of the Axis and Allied powers in World W ar 2

Sounds of war from BBC school radio including war time songs
The story of Anne Frank from Priory Wood school

Rationing

Two 3 minute films originally from teachers TV now on Scho ol's World

Food Rationing

Living with Rationing

Primary Resources WW2 resources section has a basic PDF Ration book

or you can buy a replica book from Amazon for £1.99

An online activity Rationing: shop for a meal in 1943 from BBC Primary History on the Daily Life page
Woodland Junior School Introduction to rationing

Purim

noreply@blogger.com (Vienna) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 14:01:19 PST

The Jewish festival of Purim is celebrated every year in late winter/early spring and this year it is

March 7-8th 2012

Talk Sense has prepared a set of symbols suitable for students with a learning disability for Purim which you can request by email from their website.

Valentine's day

noreply@blogger.com (Vienna) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 02:51:06 PST

This months E Live from Symbol world has an article on Valentine's Day suitable for students with a learning disability.

See my other blog entries on Valentine's Day for further symbols from

Makaton and Talk sense

Using Mobile phones safely

noreply@blogger.com (Vienna) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:59:14 PST

A scenario based resource that allows students to discuss safe and appropriate use of mobile phones .

There are fifteen scenarios that can be worked through as a class or individually. When all of the selections have been made, a printable form will give the students feedback on their suggestions.
from NGFL Wales .Also has accompanying teacher material explaining the resource materials.

Mobile phone dilemmas worksheet part of a series on E safety from Teach ICT

Three short films about mobile phone safety and other tips about mobile phone from Kidsmart. Includes information about the IMEI Number (International Mobile Equipment Identity.)The number which can be used to block your phone if it is lost or stolen.

On line Shop

noreply@blogger.com (Vienna) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:30:24 PST

Entry 1 students at Newham College have opened an on line shop as part of their enterprise project.They have a shop on the website etsy.com where they sell greetings cards.

www.etsy.com/shop/newhamteamspirit

Learners design cards and then add them to their shop on the site.The learners pay a small fees and then wait for their orders. Items are then packed and posted out .
The project has been a good way to improve ICT and communication skills.

Early Addition

noreply@blogger.com (Vienna) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:34:49 PST

Bugabaloo Shoes

Practice additon using single digit numbers from Sheppard Software

Knowing how to use ICT safely

noreply@blogger.com (Vienna) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:39:32 PST

Here are some resources for teaching about keeping personal information safe everyday and on the internet.

Safe
A widgit resource from Childnet about Personal Information.

Two short films from BBC Learning Zone which can be used to discuss the information given out and the consequence

online safety part 1

online safety part 2

Personal Information Powerpoints and workbook about information we should share from Communication 4 all ( look under ICT)

Behaving appropriately at Work

noreply@blogger.com (Vienna) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:00:37 PST

Here are some resources for teaching about behaviour and attitude at work for
OCR Life and Living Entry 3 unit Behaving appropriately at Work.

Northern Ireland Curriculum

Key stage 3 Education for Employability Book 4 page 4.
A work sheet which can be used to record appropriate behaviour and attitudes at work

Thematic unit : Nothing stays the Sam e
Employability .Its up to me Resource 20 : Things to remember page 50,51
2 pages of scenarios to discuss attitude and behaviour at work.

Buses

noreply@blogger.com (Vienna) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:46:37 PST

TES I board
Phase 2 Tricky wo rds

Count us in
Tar heel Reader: We Love buses

A bus joke

A website about buses

Keyboard games

noreply@blogger.com (Vienna) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:15:27 PST

Splat the Clown from Help Kidz Learn
Unfortunately you now need to register before you can play this free games on Help Kidz learn.

Frog Game

Balloon Bang! from Shiny learning

Coin recognition

noreply@blogger.com (Vienna) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:54:41 PST

Some coin recognition activities
from Crickweb

Money snap level 1 from BBC

Art Competition theme: world music festival

noreply@blogger.com (Vienna) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 07:26:12 PST

The brief is to come up with an image to use on The Wild Things website. The image will help to launch the next Wild Things compilation featuring new music made by musicians with learning disabilities from around the world.
The image needs to be of an imaginary ‘world music festival’ and will be the main feature of the project on the website, along with a compilation CD.

Further Information here

and Easy read here

Relationships

noreply@blogger.com (Vienna) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 09:35:54 PST

Jump Cuts have a new film:

Moving On (Relationships & Sexuality training DVD)

5 real life stories about relationships and sexuality from people with a learning difficulty. The stories cover different issues in relationships:

Michael wants a girlfriend but is stuck in the grey zone.

Phil and Ali are moving in together.

Jo has never talked about it, since it happened.

Anton says it’s just a label.

Dan thinks they’re ready but Sue is not so sure.

Includes a menu of specially devised questions to accompany each story and promote discussion.

Review of the year 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Vienna) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 09:22:33 PST

Zeitgeist 2011: Year in Review

It was great. Oh yes it was !

noreply@blogger.com (Vienna) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 14:09:36 PST

image: ARASAAC PICTOGRAMS
My colleague Phil and the Entry 2/1 students have just performed Cinderella as part of their Wednesday afternoon enrichment . There were no lights,scenery, stage or parents and in parts the performance was a little shaky but overall it was a triumph.The students have so enjoyed preparing the performance. It has been the highlight of the term and a fine example of embedding learning into a meaningful context. We have seen students writing cast lists, writing out the story, script reading, memorising lines, talking in sentences, contributing ideas, actively listening, working with others,learning about story structure and the tradition of pantomime. All done with lots of laughter. Thank you Phil !

Christmas Very fast mouse skills !

noreply@blogger.com (Vienna) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:19:49 PST

Christmas games for those with fast mouse skills.

TES i board
sort the presents by shape colour or number

Click on the reindeer noses to play a tune.