LifeSkills

Whilst LifeSkills are actually a part of the taught crriculum at the school, many of the activities are actually the same as would be available at an after school or out of school club. LifeSkills sessions give all the children in the school the opportunity to learn with a different group of children from across their year group and also children from another year group. Year 3 and 5 share LifeSkill groups and years 4 and 6 share groups.

The complete list of LifeSkills currently available is shown below.

Aikido

Aikido is a Japanese martial art, based on ancient samurai techniques. It is non-competitive and purely defensive. Students learn about aspects of self-defence and achieve increased self-respect, discipline, confidence and focus. The sessions are game based in order to enhance teamwork skills, co-ordination and fitness. In addition to this, incentives have been introduced during the lesson to promote good behaviour. These include badges and chore cheques, which encourages children to behave well at home.

Cookery

Our aim is to give a brief introduction to cookery, in a fun and relaxed atmosphere. Each child will have the opportunity to cook 4 recipes using healthy ingredients. Food hygiene, safety in the kitchen and nutritional values are discussed throughout the 40-minute session.

We feel the children's social skills have improved by coming together and sharing with others. Their self-esteem has increased and they have enjoyed cooking so much that they are cooking again at home independently.

Healthy Lifestyles

Healthy lifestyle teaching in our school includes the following topics:

• healthy eating
• taking physical exercise
• resisting peer pressure
• keeping safe
• making and keeping good relationships

The knowledge our pupils gain about subjects such as the dangers of smoking needs to be supplemented by learning skills that will help them make decisions for themselves later in life.

ICT

During our ICT life skills we have been looking at the Internet. We showed how the Internet is a massive resource which has an amazing array of intersting and useful sites. The children have been learning how to use:

• hyperlinks
• home and back buttons
• text indicator and pointer
• search engine
• search the UK and the whole of the web
• save the web page to the favourites list

We also looked at the importance of:

• keeping anti-virus software up to date
• why you should not respond to pop ups
• why you should not give personal details over the Internet
• why, even with the best protection and site blocking software we cannot stop all unsuitable sites and therefore the children have to act responsibly when using the Internet.

In addition, we have been looking at HTML which is the coding used to create web pages.

Indoor games

The aim of 'Indoor Games' is to get children playing and enjoying traditional and modern games such as Dominoes, Chess, Mastermind, Boxes and Connect 4. The first part of the session is spent as a whole group. Each week two different games are introduced and played, the children who are familiar with these games teaching those who are not. They then break up into pairs and small groups and are able to play games of their own choice. This is a very relaxed time with background music being played.

Japanese Culture

In Japanese Culture the children get a taster of what it means to live in Japan. They will learn to understand, speak and even write some Japanese language, and learn some of the etiquette that goes with it; try Japanese food; create origami artwork; investigate Japanese artefacts. They will also get the chance to see - and wear - traditional Japanese dress.

Library Skills

This is what we have been doing in Library Life Skills:

• Library skills in general - Categorisation ie The Dewey system for non- fiction and authors' surname for fiction.
• We have done some research with fiction and non-fiction.
• We also looked at individual authors/poets. The children created their own booklets on a subject /author of their own choice. We have worked in groups, pairs and individually.
• Some of the children had the chance to write a book review (when there was time!)
• We have also enjoyed telling, reading and listening to stories read/told by our Librarian, Mrs Thorne, and her helpers, and the children have had the opportunity to read to the others if they want to. They have also had the chance to listen to story tapes.

Music

During the program we cover aspects of pulse, rhythm, tempo, pitch, dynamics and composition. The children have enjoyed singing action songs and playing rhythm games. They have read and performed rhythm notation in groups and created their own using untuned percussion instruments. In pairs the children have made up their own actions to fit the words and rhythm of songs and taught the rest in the group. An extension to this is 'internalising' some, then all of the words in songs where the rhythm can be heard through body actions only.

Playground Games

In Playground Games Life Skills sessions children are encouraged to interact socially through positive play. It is a valuable part of their lives to be team players and to take on responsibilities. This teaches them patience and understanding towards others while having fun. With encouragement they are supported to extend their abilities which boosts confidence and helps them recognize the talents of others.

Recorders

Seventeen or eighteen enthusiastic children playing recorders simultaneously make a lot of noise, some of which is pleasant! In life skills we try and persuade them all to play the same thing at the same time, and enjoy doing it! On the way they learn how to play several different notes and how to read the music for those notes, as well as reading basic rhythms. By the end of four weeks some of them will be playing simple tunes, and the really keen ones will have learnt enough to find out more and learn new songs for themselves. Recorders are provided, but we also have recorders for sale in school at £5 each.

Singing

Singing is a great way of improving self-esteem and gaining a sense of personal achievement - children of all academic abilities can excel and feel good about themselves. In this Life Skill class I teach vocal warm- ups, give tips on improving technique, give children the opportunity to sing as part of a group and to lead as an individual if they chose. We also learn a beautiful song called 'Drop In The Ocean' and look into its meaning. We use this discussion to express the words more
emphatically through the music.

Storytelling and Roleplaying

Storytelling and Roleplaying is run by Mr Chapman, an established author in the field. The children are engaged in cooperative, group storytelling, relying strongly on, and developing, elements of quick thinking, communication skills,
confidence and imagination. By placing themselves in the roles of distinct characters in unusual fictional settings, they learn the value of other viewpoints and the consequences of actions and decisions, acting and reacting to develop the story as the weeks progress. In order to represent the vagaries of luck and skill, mechanistic game elements are also used, encouraging the development of basic arithmetical skills, while the creation of a distinct character relies on skills inherent in Literacy.