This week we had so much fun exploring  this traditional fairy tale! We made our wolf by adding some white felt teeth to a plush dog—-who admittedly looks more like a dog in need of an orthodontist rather than a big bad wolf……

Well, you have to work with what you’ve got after all, and our students didn’t see to mind a bit 🙂

SENSORY GROUP

Our students had so much fun exploring the first box filled with rafia (straw), popsicle sticks (wood), and duplo blocks (bricks) for the 3 little pigs houses!  There were 3 different pigs to find—a laminated picture symbol, a plush one, and a sound producing one (found in Target’s $ section). Brown pom poms and pieces of yarn reminded us of the wolf’s fur.

You need tools to build a house so we put in a ruler and some toy tools. And finally, the word “home”. This was a really great box and our students LOVED exploring all the different items.

So many access points were addressed with this box including the science access points of recognizing common objects in the natural world through observation, and recognizing a model of a real object.

 

 

 

 

We stamped bricks in our red moon sand with a duplo block—it made the perfect brick impression!

Of course, it was also fun to grab and squeeze a handful—making it a great activity for hand strengthening also!

Applying a push or pull to move an object and recognizing the appearance of an object or material has changed are the science access points addressed here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our pink rice seemed perfect for a story about 3 little PINK pigs 🙂 Hidden in the rice was the letter P and the number 3. Our students always get a kick out of finding  “hidden” things .

Tactile and visual discrimination are addressed here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Continuing with our exploration of the color pink we put in BIG and LITTLE pink beads. In addition to the hard beads we put some soft pink pom poms.

Great for texture and size comparisons! Recognizing similarities and differences in size of common objects is a math access point.

Recognizing two objects that are the same size or color is also a math access point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had to include a wolf box! We put in some brown “wolf” fur, a nice soft texture to rub and touch. A stretchy wolf (actually a stretchy dog that we gave some felt teeth). Excellent for working on bilateral coordination! Tracking the movement of  objects that are pushed or pulled is a science access point.

That wolf sure likes to huff and puff! We used our little hand held fan to get some air blowing like that wolf—-and it also addresses the science access point of indicating awareness of air moving.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We added some chocolate cake mix to our shaving cream to make some “mud”, we figured our students would like to play in it just as much as those 3 little piggies——–and they did 🙂

Recognizing and responding to different types of sensory stimuli is a science access point.

Of course as the shaving cream is smooshed around, our students also explored the science access point of applying a push to move an object.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The little pigs lived in the woods so Twilight Woods from Bath and Body Works seemed the perfect scent for this week.  Of course, by the time a few little hands rinsed the shaving cream off, it smelled like CHOCOLATE woods lol.

We put 2 different size measuring cups for scooping and pouring fun addressing the math access point of recognizing the different sizes of containers that hold liquids.

Its also a FUN way to practice eye hand coordination 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Twilight Woods scent was a hit with all the students and they so loved having the lotion rubbed on their hands or arms or necks to help them remember the story of the 3 little pigs!

It also encourages some nice social exchanges and the opportunity to communicate preferences and the desire for “more” of an action which is a math access point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FINE MOTOR GROUP

On Tuesday we built a brick house for our 3 pigs. We started by stamping red  bricks on a square piece of paper.

We’ve used this stamper before, made from a dish scrubber, its knobbed top makes it easier for our students to use. The stamp itself was made from thick craft foam.

Recognizing 2 dimensional shapes is a math access point.

Recognizing a repeated pattern of stimuli is also a math access point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we glued a big triangle to the TOP of the square.

We counted 3 small rectangles which made up the windows and door and after they were glued down we  put 3 pigs safely into their house!

More opportunities to address the math access point of recognizing 2 dimensional shapes!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TaDA

We get pretty excited about our art work—-can you tell 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Thursday, Joy drew a Big Bad Wolf for our students to color. First we wrote our names on our rectangle paper then used pipsqueak markers to color the wolf brown.

We completed our wolf by adding a googlie eye—OF COURSE 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TADA—all ready to blow your house down!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LANGUAGE GROUP

For this group, we wanted to see if certain objects were able to be huffed, puffed, and blown away.  We put together several different items such as feathers, straw, a weighted ball, twigs, paper, a Beanie Baby wolf, and a rock.

For each of the items, we had a corresponding real picture of them. Each student got to choose which item they wanted to “blow”.

Effectively communicating wants using referent objects, gestures/signs, pictures, symbols, or words is a science access point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The students enjoyed holding and touching the different objects. We encouraged them to make predications about what might happen when we turned the hair dryer on.

Exploring, observing, and selecting an object or picture to respond to a question about the natural consequence is a science access point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The students really got a kick out of using the  hair dryer to huff, puff, and BLOW the items to see if they would move.

They especially liked  watching the objects that were light enough to be blown away—-addressing the science access point of tracking objects in motion!

Indicating awareness of air moving is also a science access point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After each attempt, we put the picture of the object on a chart showing if that object was “light” or “heavy”. Charting really helped our students better visualize how things are grouped by weight.

Sorting objects by physical properties such as weight is a science access point.

Communicating about a selected object using nonverbal expression, gestures/signs, pictures, symbols, or words is a literacy access point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a blast this week and hope you did too! Join us again for more fun next week—-Group by Group.