1st week of school

As I mentioned a week ago, jubilee house have just started lessons for the children who are unable to attend mainstream school. I have now been teaching four classes for one week so I thourght you should know how it was going.

My first class is probably my most challenging class in terms of knowing what to do with them. 4 out of the 5 are immobile due to cerebral palsy and there is a huge range of abilities. 2 are bright, alert and keen to learn new things. I've been working on colour sorting with them. The other 3 do not respond to much I do with them. When they do respond they only do it in a one-to-one setting, never when I'm doing something with them as a class. We sing some songs and I read Dr seus books to them wich they seem to enjoy. I've been trying to remember how the children with profound learning difficulties were taught when I did work experience in a special needs school but I can't remember much about it.

My next class is my phonics class. They are doing really well. Hey could already recognise all the letters but have no idea what sounds they make or what words start with wich letters. So far we've done A, B and C and they can all tell me things starting with those letters. I have also been getting them to point to letters/words when I read them stories which they're getting the hang of. 

My next class is my most challenging in terms of behaviour. They all have autism and a lot have very difficult behaviour such as hitting and spitting. Their behaviour in class is actually very good compared to usual but it is a constant battle getting some of them to stay in their chair. They can all now sort two colours and I plan to move on to more next week. I only realised on Friday that one of the children can sign all her colours. All the children have been learning ASL for some time but I didn't realise she could do it because she has her own version of all the signs. Now I can recognise them, I realise what she is saying to me more. I also want to find out if she is trying to sign other things to me. 

My final class is doing really well. I started teaching them colour sorting on Monday and by Thursday they could all do it perfectly with 4 colours. I have now moved on to shapes and am planning on playing shape and colour dominos with them next week. I always read to them at the end of the lesson. Their favourite book is 'mr brown can moo' by Dr seus and they all do the sounds with me!

I'm really enjoying teaching. There are still issues that need to be resolved with regards to the school but it's great that the kids are learning. They have all achieved so much in a week, I can't wait to see what they do by the time I leave.

In other news, the princess castle is coming along nicely. I work on it every day with Molly and she loves it. She can also now spell the colours blue, yellow, green, red and orange! Here are some pictures of the castle so far, wih Molly's choice of colours!