Making WWII accessible for learners with PMLD- Part two

Part Two: The  Sessions

I began each session by telling the pupils that we were playing. That the war did happen and that what we are doing today is not real.  Who knows what these special pupils think?  I didn’t want to give them extra worries.  The parents also knew what the topic was for this term.

Each session begins with Chamberlin speaking the first few words of his radio broadcast announcing war with Germany; this was followed by an air raid siren. I certainly felt a chill down my spine (and I have while writing this) so we don’t know what the pupils felt.

The sessions are cumulative, each week we repeat what we did the previous session and we add something extra.  This way we can reinforce the experience, build in some anticipation and expectation.

·         Tell the pupils we are going to start

·         Remind them it’s not real

·         Play the Chamberlin clip & air raid siren

·         Prepare for evacuation – pack a suitcase, have labels tied on etc

·         ‘Go to the station’ to catch a train – pupils moved to a line in 2’s with one as the ‘driver’. I usually put the giant scrunchie round them (Google giant scrunch PMLD to see what this is- they are brilliant for many things )

·         Play the song ‘We’re going to the country’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfixsGTjakk

Use a train whistle sound (one of the pupils has recently learned to blow a referee type whistle so we let them do this as part of the experience)

·         We arrive and disembark 

·         Read a letter from ‘home’ (written in Communicate in Print, a symbol writing programme)

·         Go to the ‘garden’ (we have planted seeds, dug up potatoes (I hid in compost), sensory soil (some real, a tray of dried black beans, a tray of black nonslip material, root vegetables). Sometimes we sit on the grass.  We have also made vegetable soup

·         The pupils go into the shelter – its a tight fit but we can squeeze in and ‘shut’ the door (which is a curtain)

·         We sing songs, play with our ‘musical instruments’

·         Smells & tastes – usually only 2 per session and we look for reactions

·         Our final session is returning ‘home’

·         Each session ends with song ‘Good night children everywhere’

 At the end of the session I play an old clip of Vera Lynn and Gracie Fields as the characters Gert and Daisy  singing the song ‘Good night children everywhere’.  I then say, ‘we are now back in our class’ to finish the session.

At the end of the term when we have finished with this theme we dismantle the sensory corner in front of the pupils.  In this way I feel that the children know that this experience is finished.

The following term, the pupils will ‘help’ put the next sensory experience together which is already well into the planning stage.

Watch this space for some photos of this in action in the coming weeks. 

We would like to thank Jane for sharing her amazing sensory lessons with us. Being a PMLD teacher is such a unique skill, and often there may only be one or two teachers in a school, so sharing is a great way to gain ideas and look at what others have done.

If you have any questions about this, or you would like to get in touch wearetheSENco@hotmail.com

Thanks and happy teaching, Kate