Early development

Sensory story: 'A Christmas Carol'

Secondary

Communication and language

﻿Hi. My name is Emma, and I am your teacher. Today, we are looking at the story "A Christmas Carol." For this lesson, you will need a book to be used as an object of reference, so it doesn't have to be the book that we are studying. It can be any book. A notepad and pen for you to note down your observations. If you'd prefer to record this on an iPad, that's fine. An ice pack or some ice or something cold. Some chains or coins. I'll explain more about this resource in the video, but something like cutlery would also do if you don't have chains or coins. A torch or some fairy lights, or even a lamp. Some pale or sheer material. Some holly. You could make this out of cardboard, grab some holly from the garden, or just some leaves or a houseplant. Some cinnamon. If you don't have cinnamon, then anything kind of warm, wintery-smelling, such as oranges or ginger. A dark blanket, and a hot water bottle. You could use a wheat pad instead. Make sure that it's not too heavy. We're just using it to express warmth. Press pause while you get things ready. Let's get ready. Find a quiet space to work away from distractions. Ensure that your learner is comfortable and that you have your resources nearby. You may also want to darken the room during this lesson, so see if you've got access to a light switch or you're able to draw your curtains. Press pause while you get things ready. It's time to look, listen, learn. Today's story is "A Christmas Carol," the abridged version by Charles Dickens. Illustrations are by Lisa Jo Robinson from the Oak National Academy. Our lesson today is based on the story by Charles Dickens, "A Christmas Carol," and we're going to use this story to support our child in exploring and exploration. So what we mean by that is allowing them that time to explore different sensory resources in a manner of ways, and I will go through the resources that I've chosen and explain the sort of responses that we're looking for, and how you can encourage more exploration. And then at the end of this explanation, I will demonstrate a lesson for you to do alongside your child. So in "A Christmas Carol," we are going to focus on three aspects of Scrooge. So when we first meet Scrooge, he's really grumpy and very moody and selfish. And to represent that, you could do some mean sort of faces, angry faces. You could use the picture that's available on the slides, or as I suggested, you could use an ice pack to sort of represent that coldness, that meanness. And again, when we're presenting this to our child, we could ask them to touch, touch their hand, and then place it, place their hand on top of it, and note for their responses, then re-present it and allow them a little bit longer with that resource. See if you get anything apart from that initial sort of, "Ooh, that's quite cold," reaction. Are they going to move their hand themselves to explore it? Are they going to take their hand away? Do they come back? That sort of thing. So you're allowing them to engage with the resource. If you feel that your child needs more support, then by all means, bring their hand back, but what we're actually trying to encourage is for them to independently, where possible, explore that resource. Now, you will know your child best, so some resources, your child will be able to explore more independently than others. Another thing you can do with this is to present it to them, sort of use it as proprioception, and move it along their arm for them, or place it on their cheek so that they're able to feel that. So when we concentrate on Scrooge, this is for when he's really mean and angry. If you don't have an ice pack, then just something cold, or like I said, some facial expressions. When we have our happier Scrooge at the end of the story, we'll use contrasting sense. So we've got like a hot water bottle. Don't make it too hot. You could use a wheat pack, or again, you could just use happy, smiley faces, if you feel that that is going to be something that your child will engage with more. In addition, we've got a scared Scrooge. Now you could, depending on how you feel your child will respond, scare your child or sort of shock your child using scary music or scary sounds, if that is something that your child enjoys. I know I have a number of students who quite like that sort of little bit of a jump, but for those who are more sensitive, who don't like it, perhaps you could bring in a blanket and sort of like you're scared or that Scrooge is scared, and sort of do it in that manner. At the beginning of the story, Scrooge meets Jacob Marley. This resource I put down as chains. Now, not everybody has chains. These are from a punch bag, so the idea is that you can feel them and they make a really good sound. You can get the same sound with something like spoons in a box or coins. With this resource, I would present it as something for your child to listen to. So listen to those different sounds, and you could move it around and see if they are following it, if they are noticing it. And again, how do they interact with it? Do they start verbalising to you when to stop, showing that sort of initiation that they want some more? How do they respond to that particular resource? Then we have each of the ghosts. So for our first ghost, the Ghost of Christmas Past, I am going to be using a visual resource. Now, for my visual resource, I have got some fairy lights, the sort that change patterns of the way they light up, and I'm putting over, it's actually a white cardigan, over that. And this one, again, is really good for allowing your child that time to explore the resource. So you present the resource, and particularly with this one, because the lights are changing, it allows your learner to follow the lights, to look at it. So apart from that first noticing, what do they then look at? Are they looking at these lights? Are they reflecting off the wall? So if you darken your room, are they reflecting? So do they look at these lights first and then start to notice that maybe the room is also lighting up? Again, it's about giving your child that time to look around and to enjoy and to see if they are able to notice these things themselves. Again, this one is particularly good for building anticipation. So because it's timing, there's certain functions where you can turn it on and off. Do they, if it's in a pattern, do they know that it's coming next? Or if it's projecting patterns around the room, can they follow to where it's going next? If you don't have fairy lights, you could use something. I've got a table lamp here that we could just turn on. Again, just put my jumper over it, and again, you can turn it on and off in a pattern and see whether your learner notices or predicts where that pattern is going to go. But again, just give them that time to follow it. For the Ghost of Christmas Present, I put down holly. These are my cardboard holly leaves. It's greenery. This ghost is jolly and fun, and he's meant to represent lots of Christmasy fun things. So if you have some cardboard holly, or some actual holly or lots of greenery, you can present that as a resource. Your child can touch it or they can look at it and explore that how they would like, again, giving them that time to explore it themselves. Or alternatively, you could use something like cinnamon for your child to smell. You could smell that, or you could put it in a pot. And again, it's about exploring. So if you've put it in a pot, do they obviously go in to smell it? Do they move away from it because they dislike it? Do their eyes widen? Do their lips smack because they want to taste it? When you present it again, is the reaction the same, or do they sort of do a bit more? So explore it a bit more or, you know, if you've put it in a tub, do they try and explore it with their hands or bring their hands, if they've got it on their fingers, to their face? Obviously be aware of allergies and sneezing, but you know, allow your child to explore that themselves. Give them that chance for independence to move it around. Again, if they need a bit more support, then put that in there. And for our Ghost of Christmas Past, Future, sorry, I've just got a dark blanket, and you could put that, depending again on how you think your child will respond, you can put that over your own head and be the sort of that ghost yourself and see if they follow you, if they respond to you, if they're watching you. You can move the edges of the blanket across the face of your child or across the arms of your child, and see if they're noticing that, if they're moving to explore it, or you could put the blanket over your child, either around them, if you feel that's more appropriate, or put it over their heads to present that sort of dark feeling and see if they respond. It's a great one for peekaboo, to build that anticipation. But again, go with your child. So let them lead. Let them explore. So we're going to have our example lesson now. We have a cue where we count up from one to five, and if you want to massage your child's fingers as you do so, that's a really good cue to cue them into their learning. And again, when you're presenting a resource, just make sure that you use consistent cues to allow your child to know how or which way you would like them to explore, if you're doing it in that way. If you're allowing them to just explore themselves, then you don't need to use a cue necessarily. And have fun. Example lesson. One, two, three, four, five. Let's start. Hi. You've caught me getting ready for our story, but it was a little bit scary. Got my nightcap on, just like Scrooge in our story, and I'm hiding a bit behind my duvet, 'cause it's a little bit scary. Have you got your story ready? Let's learn a bit more about Scrooge. The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, made his eyes red, his lips blue, and he spoke shrewdly in a grating voice. Bah, humbug! Explore the mean, cruel Scrooge and how cold he is. Ask your adult to pause the video while you complete your task, and resume once you're finished. Did you meet Scrooge? Was he cold and mean? Scrooge is ready for bed when he hears a sound. Listen. What could that be? Let's listen again. And then Scrooge saw something really frightening. He saw the ghost of his old friend Marley, and Marley had a chain that was drew around his middle, and it was long and it wound around him like a tail. It was made of cash boxes and keys, padlocks and heavy purses wrought in steel. Why don't you explore Jacob Marley? Listen. Your adult can help you. Pause the video while you complete your task and resume once you're finished. Phew! I'm glad he's gone. He was a little scary. The next visitor that Scrooge had was the ghost of Christmas Past. What was light one instant, and another time was dark. Explore the ghost of Christmas Past. Pause the video while you do so. You can resume once you're finished. The next time Scrooge woke, he could smell something really nice. Ooh! This is cinnamon. It smells lovely. The walls and the ceiling of his chamber were hung with living green. Crisp leaves of holly, mistletoe, and ivy reflected back the light, and there, in the middle of his chamber, was the ghost of Christmas Present. Its dark brown curls were long and free, free as his genial face, its sparkling eyes, its open hand, and its cheery voice. The ghost of Christmas Present is very jolly. You can explore the ghost yourself. Pause the video while you complete your task. Resume once you're finished. It's got very dark in here. A very dark phantom came to visit Scrooge, too, draped and hooded, coming like a mist on the ground towards him. It was shrouded in a black garment, which concealed its head, its face, its form. Explore the ghost of Christmas Future. Pause the video while you do so, and you can resume once you've finished. Well, I didn't like him at all, and nor did Scrooge. Scrooge was scared. Scrooge is a little scared. Why don't you explore Scrooge being scared? You can pause the video while you do so, and resume once you're finished. All the visitors that Scrooge had helped him realise that he'd been really very, very mean, and he needed to be nicer. He became a changed man, much warmer and kinder. He said, "I am as happy as an angel." Look how happy Scrooge is. He's very warm and friendly. Why don't you explore happy Scrooge? Pause the video to complete your task and resume once you're finished. That was a good story. What was your favourite part? Mine was the Ghost of Christmas Past. I liked watching the twinkly lights. You can explore the story again, but for now, we are finished. Five, four, three, two, one. If you'd like to make this lesson easier, use resources that your child is already familiar with. If you'd like to make it harder, you could add additional characters from the story, such as Tiny Tim and Bob Cratchit, or you could use symbols or photos of faces, which represent mean Scrooge, scared Scrooge, and happy Scrooge, and then use these when exploring the associated resource. For more ideas, you could create a sensory bin or a sensory bottle to represent each of the ghosts in this story, or you could explore different festivals as sensory stories. For example, Christmas, Hanukkah, and Diwali. If you have photos or video of your child taking part in today's lesson that you'd like to share with us, please do. You can do so on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, tagging @OakNational and #LearnwithOak.

Sensory story: 'A Christmas Carol'

Sensory story: 'A Christmas Carol'

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