Children every where will be drawn to playing with the earth, sand, pebbles or dirt. The mud kitchen allows children in their on time and in their own way to explore and learn. It is cheap and easy to set up and provides hours of learning through play. Children of all ages and abilities will enjoy being in a mud kitchen giving the teacher ample opportunities to interact, assess and record!…

Everyone needs a light, maybe the light at the end of a dark tunnel, maybe a bright shining light, maybe a slow steady light with a warm glow. Reflecting on how the mood in a room can be lifted.

How a simple lesson of making soup can be developed into a community project with cross curricular links in reading, maths, social skills, independence skills, real life skills of shopping. In addition providing a great link for parents to work with them at home.

Unfortunately when living or working with some students with severe learning difficulties with challenging behaviours it is likely that you may get assaulted. In this episode I reflect on this and look at ways to reduce the risk and then look at how recovery can be helped.

How my love for Monet lead to a term of beautiful art work with my mixed ability SEND class. With the added bonus of beautiful displays, cards and gifts not to mention all the other skills and great behaviour.

A simple bespoke card for students and their supporters, or independent people with SEND to carry. These cards should immediately tell a member of the public or services how best to help when someone is in crisis or has had an accident.

Another idea for making Maths a fun activity whilst teaching other valuable life skills. Easy to adapt to age appropriate groups and easy to differentiate for individual students.

An idea for series of maths lessons that can be easily adapted and differentiated. The students have fun and their learning crosses into important areas of the curriculum including literacy, life skills and motor skills.

The last episode of Series 2! When there just seems to be so many things that need to be done and taught, how do you decide what to prioritise and what is important to the students and parents! Have a wonderful Christmas break and make sure you rest!

How working collaboratively with TA's can produce a fabulous term long project with lots of important learning outcomes beyond baking skills.

When you work together with parents you get the best outcomes for their children. They can be an incredible resource and no one knows their child like they do. In this episode I look at developing those relationships.

How making pancakes weekly became a highly successful motivating lesson. Involving multi disciplinary work, lots of cross curricular links and real life skills that parents could practise with them at home.

Working with a difficult class using a highly motivating carrot! Running a tuck shop had many learning objectives in life skills, social skills, working collaboratively, fine motor skills and maths skills. All the students showed very steady progress. It became a stepping stone to going into the community to shop.…

The magic and joy of Christmas, following traditions and making them special for your students and their parents. So many learning opportunities to be found in these activities.

Music is universal in it's appeal, simple percussion instruments are very accessible making drumming a very inclusive activity and a way of teaching new skills and creating great memories.