It was all about COLOR with our rainbow theme this week! Our sensory boxes were so vibrant—just beautiful. Due to a special school activity our fine motor group only had one art project but it turned out pretty fabulous. Our language group had a blast making rainbow toast! All the students enjoyed Cara’s book, in each classroom we discussed the colorful objects on each page and looked around the room to find people wearing the different colors.

 

 

SENSORY GROUP

Our primary color boxes were filled with a variety of textures and objects. Lots of things to look at and touch!

There were things to shake….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pull apart…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Explore and discover!

All our boxes addressed the science access point identifying objects by one observable property—-color 🙂

Individual items addressed the science access points applying a push or pull to move an object, tracking objects in motion, and recognizing common objects in the natural world through observation.

Purple Bubber filled this box. We have extolled the virtues of this stuff before but we can’t sing its praises enough. It’s so soft and squishy but dry—you just have to keep touching it!

We included a letter R (for rainbow) cookie cutter. While making letters the science access point applying a push to move an object is addressed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It took a couple of hours to dye our pasta this nice vibrant orange but it was totally worth it. There was also a definite auditory component as the pasta trickled off fingers or was swirled around.

We included 3 orange items to find in the pasta. The items differed in size and shape from the pasta making it especially interesting to our students with visual impairments.

This box addresses both visual and tactile discrimination.

The science access point using senses to recognize objects is addressed here.

The math access point associating quantities with number names is also addressed.

 

 

 

We used dried split peas for our green box with a little scoop and also 3 green items to find—-including a Yoda figure which our students found pretty intriguing!

These peas feel so soft as fingers are run through them—very relaxing!

Responding to new vocabulary that is introduced is a language access point that can be addressed here. After all, it’s important that our students know their Star Wars characters 🙂

 

 

 

Finally, what do you get when you put all the colors together? A rainbow of course 🙂 We had to include our rainbow rice in this unit!

There were 3 letter R’s to find and a colorful rainbow picture taped to the bottom of the box.

Applying a push or pull to move an object is the science access point addressed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We finished with Rain kissed Leaves lotion from Bath and Bodyworks—without rain you wouldn’t have any rainbows 🙂

A nice soft aroma and a fitting scent to remember  all the colorful fun we had!

It also addressed the science access point recognizing and responding to one type of sensory stimuli.

 

 

 

 

 

Fine Motor Group

These book dividers were cast offs from the media center—-score! We hot glued them to some dollar store sponges to adapt them for our students. Sometimes it does pay to be a hoarder 🙂

We used them to make sponge painted rainbows seen on the Teaching 2 and 3 year olds blog.

 

 

First we counted out pieces of rectangular paper (counting all four sides) and then practiced writing our names.

Recognizing the sides of a rectangle and recognizing objects with 2 dimensional shapes are math access points.

We pressed our sponges onto the paint trays and then slid them across the paper.

Applying a push or pull to move an object is a science access point.

 

 

It was kind of magical how the rainbows appeared. Our students were pretty excited about their projects—

Ta DA!

Recognizing a change in an object is a science access point addressed here.

 

 

 

 

Language Group

This week, we decided that it would be fun to make something edible—-food is always fun 🙂  Cara typed out directions for making rainbow bread, using a recipe found on food.com.

Recognizing the next step in a simple pattern or sequence of activities is a math access point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We started out by pouring sweetened condensed milk into 6 clear plastic cups.  Then, we went around the table and the let students pick out which color they wanted to add to the milk using a color board made with Boardmaker symbols.  They used food coloring  to add the colors.  We discussed the fact that 2 colors were needed  to make purple or orange.

Effectively communicating information, wants, and needs using pictures, symbols, or gestures is a language access point addressed here.

 

 

 

Next, we mixed the colors into the sweetened condensed milk.  This was fun!  Each student got their own cup and watched how the colors changed.

The science access points applying a push or pull to move an object and recognizing a change in an object are addressed in this activity.

We counted out the bread and the plates.  The students then used the paintbrushes to “paint” the colors onto their bread.  The colors looked so vibrant on the bread!  Very cool.

 

 

 

After painting the bread, we toasted it and then got to enjoy the goodness!  YUM!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Such a fun, colorful week we had! Be sure to join us again next week where there will be more fun things to discover and learn about—-Group by Group!