H is for Hydration, Heroes & Hats

This year my A to Z Challenge has a double theme.  The first focuses on the resources and teaching that may help children with special educational needs learn more effectively and the second is to do with my crafting likes and ideas.

Hydration - for many children being thirsty has an adverse affect on their ability to concentrate in class.  Allowing access to water during the day through the use of water bottles and especially at playtimes is a necessity.  Children with special needs sometimes have to reminded to stop and have a drink especially if they are going out to group work and might not be taking water bottles with them. And yes I know that some children will take to drinking so much that they then need the toilet but these children are few and far between.  Far better to have children hydrated and ready to learn.  More worrying though if a child appears to be thirsty a lot of the time it might signal diabetes so it is always worth relaying any concerns to a parent as soon as possible to have the child medically checked out.

Heroes - are always great motivators in the classroom.  They may be real men and women or the made up variety but they can always boost learning!!  In the past, children have written comics based on their superheroes, written letters to their superheroes, read stories about them, been involved in superhero reading schemes (footballing heroes as I recall) and sometimes heroes appear in lessons and inspire in ways we haven't even thought of.  I know when I was using an old interview video between Tanni Grey Thompson (the wheelchair athlete)

and Barnaby Bear in a geography lesson with children age 5 & 6 this led on to a discussion about how fast one of the children in the class would be able to go in her wheelchair.  Tanni Grey Thompson became an instant hero who inspired the child in question to take part in sport's day - something she had been dreading doing but Tanni Grey Thompson also became something of an instant hero for the whole class.  Because she found a different way to do something - she couldn't use her legs to run so instead she raced in her wheelchair - this seemed to inspire this particular class to have a go at doing lots of things differently and whenever they were asked why they were doing it that way the response was "I'm doing it like Tanni" whether it be trying out something different in design technology- mixing colours & mediums in art, learning spellings etc In the same vein, if a child found something hard I could often persuade them to try again simply by saying, "I'm sure Tanni would give it another go, don't you?"  Hurray for Heroes!!

Who have been your heroes that have inspired you to achieve things you wouldn't have otherwise done?

Hats - throughout my life I have made hats - either from paper, card, fun fur fabric and last but by no means least knitting.  So today I will be sharing my boating hat - perfect for being able to stay on my head as I leap on and off the boat, operate locks, have ropes thrown at me etc etc and for keeping my ears warm on cold mornings.  Made from lovely Jaeger pure wool (I actually took some pics at the time of knitting it more than three years ago) with my tried and trusted vintage hat pattern from which I have knitted several hats for various people.

and this is the finished product that will be coming with me on our next boating trip this coming weekend :)

As you can see in the daylight it looks a lot bluer - doesn't it?

I am also so Happy to announce that today I have my one Hundredth feedback comment on my TpT store.  Knowing that the activities and resources I share make enough of a difference to other teachers that they take time out to leave me feedback makes it all worthwhile :)

Today's freebie is: H is for Heroes (super heroes in reading that is!)  So head over to my TpT store to collect - remember that TpT is free to join for anyone to download products!!)