Long-term thematic planning To ensure cross-curricular learning and engagement, Chris’ school adapts a thematic approach in planning. The themes Themes Among the themes for Irish are; myself, at home, school, food, television, shopping, pastimes, clothes, the weather and special occasions. The teacher can select lots of topics from the themes. These topics could be extended to also include subjects that the child finds interesting. are differentiated for the primary and post-primary classes across the school, with post-primary themes Themes Among the themes for Irish are; myself, at home, school, food, television, shopping, pastimes, clothes, the weather and special occasions. The teacher can select lots of topics from the themes. These topics could be extended to also include subjects that the child finds interesting. selected to incorporate junior cycle topics. This allows for shared learning between classes during mixed activities. At a class level, all students can enjoy and experience many of the same lessons as a group while working at an individual progression pathway with personalised targets. Each theme lasts for half a term, allowing adequate time for learners to become familiar with the theme and demonstrate potential progression in their learning. When relevant learning outcomes have been selected for Chris, the class teacher allocates these to the most relevant half-term according to progression, need and relevance to the theme. For example, LO 3.18 ‘Participate in making healthy snacks’ fits well with the school theme ‘Healthy living’ in January. The following table shows a snapshot example of thematic planning for Chris from January-June. PLU 3: Personal care and wellbeing January-February February-March April-May May-June Theme: Healthy living Celebrations This is me Summer holidays Self-awareness LO Demonstrate awareness of their own abilities and skills such as self-help skills or kindness to others 3.1 Demonstrate awareness of their own body Recognise their own features as being unique to them Show awareness of self in the immediate and/or wider environment PM Responding Responding Attending Responding/Initiating EA Encouragement of self-help skills: hygiene sensory trays Exploring music and dance from different cultural celebrations 1:1 partner mirror-play Sensory exploration of environments on visits to parks, beach and local area Personal care and hygiene LO Participate in personal care routines 3.9 Make choices related to personal care 3.9 Make choices related to personal care Co-operate with adults who provide daily support PM Responding Responding Responding/Initiating Generalising EA Supported participation in toothbrushing, hair brushing and face washing during hygiene sensory tray activity Demonstrating consistent preference for a flavour of toothpaste—lots of visual exposure to each tube Begin to express preference for toothpaste flavour with eye pointing Co-operating with adults during personal care tasks in various environments during class visits Food and nutrition LO Participate in making healthy snacks Use the senses to explore different types of foods Show preferences for foods Participate in preparing food PM Attending Responding Responding Attending/Responding EA Weekly cooking lessons: smoothies, soup, stir fries, fruit salads, porridge bars etc. Feeling, smelling, tasting, making foods related to themed cultural celebrations Explore and record favourite foods as part of creating ‘This is me’ book Participate in preparing picnic foods to take on class visits Key: LO—Learning outcome PM—Progression pathway EA—Example
