transition-to-secondary-workbook-for-students-oct-2011

Making friends page Here is my secondary school Stick photograph of your Secondary school here... In secondary school, I will have lots of different teachers... People in Secondary sch

Brothers of Charity, Autism Services (South Lee)

Workbook and materials

to support the Transition to Secondary

School

Preface:

The following resource book contains materials to support parents and/or teachers to prepare children for the transition to secondary school

This workbook was created to be a template to help create an

individualized resource to match each child’s transition needs The resource can be photocopied as is or that can be adapted for the child’s needs- example: changing the size of materials to fit into his diary, to include photographs rather than symbols, changing

wording etc There are examples of social stories and ideas on othermaterials and activities that may be useful in supporting the

children in learning skills for the transition at the end of each

section As this workbook is quite lengthy, it is best to only use the pages that would be of most benefit to the child, thus maximizing itsusefulness

It is hoped that each child will have an individualized

transition pack to support their understanding of secondary school, to reduce anxieties and increase their independence when they are in secondary school

My Move to

Secondary School Workbook

_

Contents

4 Making friends page

Here is my secondary school

Stick photograph of your Secondary school here

All about me

Stick a photograph/drawing

of yourself here

My name is

………

My birthday is on ………

I am good at: ………

………

………

………

………

………

My favourite sports are:

………

………

………

………

………

………

My favourite foods are: ………

………

………

………

………

………

My favourite TV programmes are:

………

………

………

………

………

Section 2: My new school

I will travel by car/bus/walk/bike/train (circle)

To get to school on time, I need to leave my

In secondary school, I will have lots of different teachers.

Some of my teacher’s names are:

………

………

………

………

………

What subjects might I be doing at secondary

school?

………

………

………

………

………

………

How long are the lessons at secondary

school?

………

………

………

How will I know when the lesson is finished? ………

………

………

People I will know at my new school: People I know (e.g brother, sister, neighbor?) ………

………

………

………

………

Children from my primary school: ………

………

………

………

………

………

Others: ………

………

………

………

………

………

People in Secondary school

Principal- is the most senior teacher and is in charge of a school

Vice-Principal-the vice principal helps the principal run the school If the principal is not in the school, the vice-principal is in charge A vice

principal can also be called DEPUTY-PRINCIAPAL

Year head: The year head looks after of a year group (e.g 1st year Year-head, 2nd year Year-head etc) so that the student is supported

The Year Head can:

Monitor when student being late and out of school

Ensure the students in the year behave well

Meet with Principal and Vice Principal of the school to discuss and review issues concerning the year group

Try and help if a student is worried about something or find something

difficult

Prefect: a prefect is a student who has special responsibilities in theschool Some schools have lots of prefects and some schools have none.Usually the student applies to a prefect and the teachers decide who willbecome a prefect from the applications they receive Some schools only haveprefects that are in 4th, 5th or 6th year There might be

Sports prefects: they might help organizing sports in the school

Class prefects: they bring your class issues to the year head

Fundraising prefects: help to raise money for the school or charity

School Uniform

Stick a photograph of Your new school uniform here

In secondary school, we will have lunchtime Lunchtime is usually at

1 o’ clock

At lunchtime, I can eat my lunch

o I might bring my own lunch to school

o We may have a canteen in school to buy lunch

o I might be able to go to a shop to buy lunch

At lunchtime, I can do lots of things:

I can talk to my friends

We might play soccer, basketball or tennis

What other things can I do at lunchtime:

I will have lots of classes in secondary school

Sometimes I will find it hard to work and I need a break in the

middle of a class

This is OK.I can put my hand up and say, “I need a break please”

The teacher will say OK I can go out of the classroom

I might go for a walk in the corridor

When I am ready to work, I can go back into the classroom

I will try to be quiet when I am going back into the classroom

I will sit down in my chair and do my work when my break is

finished

Activity ideas:

1 Take a tour of the new school and have the student take photos

2 The student interviews teachers/principal/student in the school

3 Student looks at the school’s website

4 Students making posters/presentation of their new schools to the class

Break

Section 3: Being organised Practice using timetables

When do you have

English?

Which days will you do P.E?

………

What equipment will you need to pack for

Thursday’s lessons?

………

What time is lunch?

What time is snack?

When is your favourite class?

Small lunch Room 14

Small lunch Room 14

Small lunch Room 14

Room 11

Homework Room 11

Homework

Room 11 HomeworkRoom 11

Examples of Colour system to be used when preparing timetables

Home economics/cookery White

What does “double class” mean?

Double class means that you have 2 classes

of the subject one after the other This means that you do not leave the class when the bell rings

Sometimes doubles can be fun:

o Usually double science is for experiments

o Usually double woodwork is for making something

o Usually double art is for making

I do not need to bring all my books to school This will make my bagtoo heavy I can leave these books at home in my bedroom

Packing my bag to go home

In school, I will have lots of books for different subjects I will need some of these books to do my homework at home in the evening

I will not need all of the books

I can look at my homework journal to check which books I need to bring home to do my homework

Doing homework

I will have different classes everyday in secondary school I might get homework from the teachers in these classes

Homework means I do work at home for school

Doing homework is a good thing to do It will help me to learn

Homework – ugh! No one likes it but its just one of those things thatyou have to do and the more organised you are, the less amount of time you’ll have to spend doing it

In 1st year, you may start to get a lot more homework than you are used to Teachers will be stricter about getting it done and handed

in on time too

To help you do this, you will probably be given a homework diary where you or the subject teacher can write down what you have to do and when it has to be finished by

Why is homework important?

Homework is really important because it shows the teacher whetheryou’ve understood the work or not It also means that you can cover more work than the time allowed by a lesson in school This means you learn more!

Forgotten homework

I will get homework in secondary school

It is important that I do my homework every night.

This will make Mum, Dad and the teachers in my school happy

Sometimes when I am packing my bag, I might forget to put my homework in my bag

Equipment

In primary school, most of the equipment you need

is kept in the classroom But at secondary school, you will be expected to have your own pencils and pens and you will have to carry them all around with you There are lots of other things you might need too.

When this happens I will:

Put up my hand, and wait for the teacher to tell me to speak

Tell the teacher that I did my homework but I forgot it

Tell the teacher that I am sorry for forgetting my homework

Tell the teacher that I will bring my homework to school tomorrow

Circle the equipment that you will need and draw

in any others you can think of:

How to use a dictionary?

When you read or hear a word you don't recognize or don’t know themeaning of, you can use a dictionary to help you understand what the word means

1 Go to the letter of the alphabet that your word

begins with

For example, "dog" begins with "d" Don't forget some spellings might be tricky, like "gnome" begins with a "g", or "knock" begins with a "k", etc

2 Check for the guide words

These are on the upper corner of each page and show you the

spellings of the words at the start and end of the pages This helps you know if your word is on that page

3 When you are close, use the second letter of your

word to find your word.

For example, if you were looking for the word "futile", "u" is the second letter Perhaps you will see "furrow/futtock" in the upper corner on one page and "futtock plate/gaberlunzie" in the upper corner of the other page Now you know that "futile" is going to be

on one of these two pages

4 Look down the list of words.

Since the example word begins with "Fut", go past all the "Fur" and all the "Fus" words alphabetically until you reach the "FUT" area of the page In this example, move right down through "Fut" and

"Futhark" and this is at last, where you will find "futile"

Finding your way around

My new school will be bigger than my primary

school I might feel worried about getting lost or being late for a lesson.

A map can help because it shows where all the different rooms are.

Stick a map of your Secondary school here!

Can you find?

The science lab?

The art room?

The music room?

The assembly hall?

The PE hall?

The canteen?

The pitch?

Getting Lost

Soon I will be going to my new secondary school

Secondary school will be bigger than my old primary school

In secondary school I will have to go to different classrooms during the day

It would be a good idea to keep a map of the school in my pocket

If I am late for class because I could not find my way, I can tell the teacher this when I get to class

I can say

My plan Things I can do to be organised:

Have a home journal

Stick my timetable in my journal

Colour code my books, equipment and timetable

Have a copy of my timetable on the fridge to check

Ask my mum/dad to check my bag each day

Have my helper check my bag to make sure I have all my books

Stick a map of the school in my journal

Put a sticker on my locker so I know which is mine

Activity ideas

1 Practice using sample timetables- show the child examples of different timetables (e.g coloured coded, full word, abbreviationsetc) and see which they like best

2 Colour code books (using colored dot stickers) with the timetableand practice getting books and equipment from a press (i.e the locker!) It may be useful to write the number of the books

needed on the sticker For example there are 3 English books and

1 copy- they each have a green sticker with 4 on them That maythe child knows they need 4 books for that class

3 Role play situations- e.g being lost, forgetting homework etc It may be useful to have a script of what to say

Section 4: Making friends

Making friends

I will meet lots of new people in my new school

It is a good idea to say hello to the new people in my class I do not know

I could say, “hello, my name is ……… What is your

name?”

I could ask the person what their hobbies are I could ask them,

“What do you like to do?”

Talking about the same things is a good way to get to know

drawing amazing life-like pictures whilst others

It’s the same with making friends Some pupils

love meeting new people, are very chatty and

make lots of friends easily Others don’t know how

to begin to make even one new friend

Three things I can do to make a friend in my new school:

 Find out what they are interested in.

 Talk about shared interests – you both might like computers.

 Ask them if they want to do something at

break-time.

What is bullying?

Bullying is something that can hurt you on the

inside or on the outside

- bullying that hurts you on the outside:

punching, kicking

- Bullying that hurts you n the inside:

calling you names, playing tricks on you

Can you think of bullying that hurts you on the

inside and outside:

Bullying that hurts you

Bullying versus teasing/being a friend

by accident, tackles you during

a football game to get the ball

Happens more than

once

Example: Pushes you in

the corridor 3 times

Doesn’t happen a lot Example: pushes you in the games

Bullying is mean You

don’t like it Done as a joke or for fun- YOU ARE HAVING FUN TOO

-e.g play wrestling Bullying is being too

rough Part of the rules of the

game-E.g tackling in soccer or basketball, wrestling

What can I do if I am bullied?

Having to deal with bullies is scary for everyone It’s ok to feel scared Nobody has the right to hurt anyone else You have the right to feel safe Here are some things you can do to feel safe:

1 Try and stay away from bullies

2 Stay with other pupils or friends when you don’t feel safe

3 Ask for a friend or someone you trust to look out for you

4 Practise fogging- this is when you answer something nasty a bully may say to you-e.g

Bully: your shoes are horrible

You: that’s your opinion They are comfortable

5 Tell an adult The adult I might tell at school

is _

Bullying and teasing

Examples

What I can do

Section 5: Staying calm

Fight or Flight response

Years ago, human beings lived very different lives to the lives that

we live today Men and women, boys and girls had to hunt for their dinner People lived amongst wild animals and had to be able to defend themselves

Our bodies are very clever things that want to keep us safe.

When cave girls your age were startled by an angry bear or lion years ago, their body would get ready to fight the bear or run away from the bear This is called the Fight or Flight reaction and worked

to keep them safe

Question – How did cave girls bodies get ready to fight or flee?

Answer – Easy! Their bodies would get a quick rush of energy

so they could run away quickly or fight the bear This was a very clever way for their bodies to protect them and keep them from harm in the olden days

But, these days we live very different lives We don’t have to hunt bears and lions for our dinner We can call Four Star Pizza or go to the supermarket! The world around humans has changed, but our bodies have stayed the same

These days, there are very different things that make us feel the fight or flight response – it could be:

• Someone changing your plans without telling you

• Feeling confused and that you don’t know what to do

• Preparing for exams and worrying about doing well

• Having to speak in front of other people

• Trying to make new friends

• When somebody is annoying you or telling you bad news

These are just some things that we might find difficult in the modernworld of 2010 Because we find them difficult, or a little scary, our bodies think that we have been scared by something and that we’re

That’s why our bodies might feel a little different when we are

stressed – because we are experiencing a rush of energy This rush

of energy can be seen in different ways in different people It might:

• Make our heart beat faster

• Make us start to sweat

• Make us feel dizzy

• Our head might start to pound

• Our mouth might go dry