For National Hobby Month we let staff take center stage in our book this week. The sensory groups explored boxes related to specific hobbies. The fine motor groups made art projects using techniques from some of our hobbyists and the language group made a tasty treat!

 

 

 

 

 

SENSORY GROUP

Ms. Trenisha collects elephants—-how cool is that! There were lots of different elephant items in this box including a hat, plush toys, and a discovery bottle with floating elephant beads.

 

 

 

There was also an accordion tube the students could use to form their own elephant trunks.

The accordion tube was a hit!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Science access point: recognize a model of a real object.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ms. Laurie loves to cross stitch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Students stamped letter X’s into purple Bubber——our version of cross stitching 🙂

Science access point: apply a push to move an object.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mr. Noah and Ms. Betsy enjoy gardening. We put a variety of vegetables in our play dirt this week and let the students dig their own gardens.

 

 

 

 

We also included a small rake.

Science access point: recognize pushing and pulling an object makes it move.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coach Kevin likes to golf in his spare time!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The students made golf balls with white Floam.

Math access point: recognize three-dimensional objects, such as balls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ms. Kim enjoys reading.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since animals are always fun to read about, we put some cool magnets that spelled the animal words into a box of beans.

Science access point: match objects by an observable property, such as shape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ms. Brenda loves to bake! For her box we brought out some chocolate cloud dough.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A variety of different sized scoops and spoons were used to fill up a small cupcake tin.

Math access point: recognize differences in size of objects.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In her spare time, Ms. Thea  likes to go kayaking and fishing.

 

 

 

 

 

The students had fun seeing how many fish they could catch in our pond.

Math access point: associate quantities with number names.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To go along with our gardeners, we chose a fruity scent this week.

 

 

 

 

 

Strawberry guava was a perfect choice!

Science access point: recognize one or more external body parts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FINE MOTOR GROUP

On Tuesday the students made a tissue paper collage on a paper plate!

First, they identified the shape of their paper plate.

Math access point: recognize an object with a two-dimensional shape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, they tore colorful tissue paper into smaller pieces and glued them down on to their plates.

Science access point: recognize a change in the external appearance of an object.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TA DA!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We made collages like Ms. Jessica!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Wednesday the students practiced their painting skills by painting with water! Thank you Ms. Jeannie for donating “paint with water” coloring books!

First, they identified the shape of of their paper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Math access point: recognize an object with a two-dimensional shape.

 

 

 

 

 

Next, the students dampened their paint brushes with water and began painting. It was so cool watching the paint appear!

 

 

 

Science access point: recognize a change in the external appearance of an object.

 

 

 

 

 

Glue was added to the back of the picture—-we followed the shape of the paper reminding the students that it was a RECTANGLE.

Then they glued their picture on to a BIGGER rectangle!

 

 

 

Math access point: recognize when an object is added to a situation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

TA DA!!

We are artists like Ms. Judy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a great hobby!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LANGUAGE GROUP

We made yummy banana pudding parfaits this week in the language group.  Here’s the recipe that we used: Let’s Make Banana Pudding Parfaits

We started out by PUTTING instant vanilla pudding mix into a BOWL.  The student who HELPED was given the box of pudding mix.  If they were unable to open it, they requested HELP.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once the pudding mix was in the bowl, we measured out 2 cups of milk.  We poured one carton of milk into the measuring cup and found that we needed MORE.  We found that 2 cartons of milk from the cafeteria equals 2 cups!

 

 

Math access point: solve problems involving small quantities of objects or actions, using language, such as enough, too much, or more.

 

 

 

 

Each student had a change to HELP MIX the ingredients up.  Since each student helped out, they were asked “who’s next” after their turn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, we crushed up some vanilla wafers.  Each time a student was finished HELPING, we observed the bag to see if they needed to be crushed up MORE or if we were ALL DONE.

 

 

 

We adapted our glitter song and sang “crush your cookies instead of shake your glitter 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

Each student had to request a CUP.  Then they had to request the ingredients to build the parfait.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First, they requested the crushed cookies.  We PUT some pudding on top of that and then added 3 slices of banana.  Each student counted out 3 slices.

 

 

 

 

Math access point: associate quantities with number names.

 

 

 

 

Finally, we PUT some whipped cream on top.  Each student was only given a small amount, so they had to indicate whether they wanted MORE or they were ALL DONE.  When the parfait was all ready, they had to request a SPOON.

 

 

 

 

I think we can all agree with Ms. Brenda that cooking can be a very fun hobby 🙂

 

 

Join us again next time for more fun and learning—–Group by Group!

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