Category Archives: Education

May27

Memorial Day

Posted on May 27, 2013 by jd785

It was all about the red, white and blue as we learned about Memorial Day this week. Cara wrote a wonderful book that really helped our students understand the meaning behind the holiday.

Our Sensory Group had lots of exciting boxes to discover—and we got lots of adorable pictures of our students in sunglasses 🙂

The Fine Motor Group made 2 patriotic art projects, learning about shapes in the process.

And finally, our Language Group had fun playing a game and learning some action words.

All in all, a great week!

SENSORY GROUP—

As we said, it was all about the red, white, and blue this week. This first box was filled with soft red and white pompoms to contrast with hard blue beads. Our students loved sorting the items and its always interesting watching which items the students prefer—some love the pom poms while others always go for the bling beads 🙂

This activity addresses the science access points of recognizing common objects as the same and recognizing objects by one observable property such as color.

Our discovery bottle continued our red, white, and blue theme. A little corn syrup was added to our water to slow down the movement of the beads as the bottle was tilted back and forth. The colorful beads were very eye catching and the bottle was a hit!

This addresses the science access point of tracking objects in motion.

We also brought some auditory input with a recording of “America the Beautiful” on our voice output device (we found the music on Youtube). Our students are really drawn to music and the recording was no exception.

We love how this student is creating his own multi-sensory experience 🙂

These items address the science access point of recognizing and responding to common sounds.

We love the texture of our homemade playdough but we made it extra special this week by adding cherry koolaid to the mixture! Some of our students enjoyed the aroma while others had fun cutting out big and little stars with the cookie cutters.

For some extra fun, we used a patriotic themed placemat—thanks Ms. Kim!

This addresses the math access point of recognizing differences in sizes of objects and the science access point recognizing and responding to one type of sensory stimuli.

We also used big and little star shaped cookie cutters with the blue moonsand. It has a different texture than the playdough—soft but much drier and more crumbly.

We found the cookie cutters were better used to make impressions on the surface—of course it was also fun to just grab handfuls and squish between fingers 🙂

Our students looked for the letters U S A and a hidden flag picture taped to the bottom of our red, white, and blue box. Not only bright and colorful, the rice has a wonderful tactile feel which is an important feature as some of our students are also visually impaired.

This box addresses both visual and tactile discrimination.

It also addresses the social studies access point of recognizing the american flag.

Our next box was a HUGE hit!

We filled it with bright blue foil paper shred (thanks again Ms. Kim!), toy soldiers, chenille stems, beads, sunglasses, star garland, flags, and other assorted red, white, and blue items.

This box addresses the social studies access points of recognizing the american flag and recognizing a symbol or event that represents America.

Red and blue glitter made our oobleck super sparkly and pretty this week! Our students had fun practicing prewriting patterns, watching it drip off fingers…..

or just enjoying the FEEL of it 🙂

The science access point of recognizing a change in an object is addressed as the oobleck changes from solid to liquid and back again as it is touched.

Just wonderful, wonderful stuff!

Our water play scent is always a favorite with our students. This week we added the scent Country Apple from Bath and Bodyworks. We also vary the temperature from cold to warm (never hot, of course) each week.

Our measuring cups help address the science access point of recognizing different containers that hold liquids.

This activity also addresses the science access points of recognizing water as a liquid and recognizing the different ways people use water……

……in our case for FUN 🙂

The matching Country Apple lotion was rubbed on hand, arms or necks and left our students smelling like yummy apple pies—-and what could be more american than that!

The science access points of recognizing external body parts and recognizing and responding to one type of sensory stimuli are addressed here.

It also provides an opportunity to address the math access point of indicating a desire for more of an action or object.

FINE MOTOR GROUP—

On Tuesday we decorated some great big stars! We divided our markers into trays by color (red and blue) and asked the students to tell us what color was in each tray using communication symbols.

Our students are getting better and better at identifying their colors!

This addresses the science access point of recognizing objects by one observable property such as color.

It also addresses the language access point of identifying obvious differences between referent objects.

Then, of course, we used the markers to color our stars!

First we colored with blue markers—then with the red ones. There were a variety of markers to choose from. Some had rounded tops (from RoseArt) that are particularly easy for our students to hold and manipulate. We also really like the smaller Pipsqueak markers from Crayola. Some of our students are working on increasing the time they spend scribbling while others are working on making directional strokes.

They have all made such good progress this year!

This activity also addresses the math access point of recognizing objects with 2 dimensional shapes.

We finished with some gold glitter—-we never pass up the opportunity to add a little sparkle to our projects 🙂

TA DA!!!!

Didn’t they turn out cute!

On Thursday we continued our patriotic theme by making flags!

We started by cutting 4 strips of red paper with our paper cutter—-counting aloud as each strip was cut.

Applying a push or pull to move an object is a science access point and associating quantities with number names is a math access point.

Then we glued the strips to a large white rectangle piece of paper.

We used our colored glue (food coloring added to white glue) to help our students position their strips in a horizontal manner—

some students, of course, had their own artistic vision 🙂

This activity addresses spatial relations and eye hand coordination. Squeezing the glue helps hand strengthening.

It also addresses the math access point of recognizing objects with 2 dimensional shapes.

Then we stamped white stars onto a small blue rectangle. We made the stamp by cutting out stars from thick craft foam and using double stick tape to adhere them to a kitchen scrubber (our always handy adaptive art tool).

Instead of ink, we used white paint—-mixed with gold glitter 🙂

Our students really enjoyed this part of the activity and had a lot of fun stamping their stars

This activity addresses eye hand coordination and the math access points of recognizing objects with 2 dimensional shapes and recognizing differences in the size of objects.

It also addresses the science access point of recognizing objects by one observable property, in this case color.

TA DA!!!!

Our flags turned out super CUTE!

LANGUAGE GROUP—

To get the students into the spirit of Memorial Day, we had them following some patriotic directions. We got this idea from the Carrots are Orange blog. The directions we used were: flag waving, drum beating, bell ringing, stars twinkling, eagle soaring, and legs marching.

We put the directions on an All Turn It spinner which is operated by a switch. Our students used PIXON symbols to convey the message, “it’s my turn” before they pressed the switch to see what direction they had to carry out. They really seemed to like watching it spin. After it stopped, the students used PIXON symbols to convey the message, “I do it”.

This activity addresses the language access point of associating information or wants and needs with pictures, symbols, or words.

For “flag waving”, the students waved a flag, for “drum beating” the students beat on bongo drums, for “bell ringing” they shook a bell, for “stars twinkling” we turned on battery operated christmas lights, for “eagle soaring” they outstretched their arms to mimic a bird in flight, and for “legs marching” they marched their feet.

The students totally got into the activity and loved playing with our different props!

All sorts of access points are addressed while performing the various movements including the language access point of exploring and interacting with the functions of a selected object and the science access point of recognizing external body parts!

Well that is it for the week and our last group post of the school year! We plan to be back for more fun and learning in the fall. We hope you will be joining us—Group by Group!

For now we are “too cool for school” and ready for summer 🙂

May20

Earth Science book

Posted on May 20, 2013 by jd785

Earth Science book

This week, we chose our topic based on the Unique theme for the month. Teaching this topic to children of this demographic can be difficult because of the complexity of it and how abstract it can be, so simplicity is key! The book covers the make-up of the earth as well as a few things found on the earth such as volcanoes and rain. It was fun this week because we let our students experience “rain” by misting them with water. We’ve found that some of our students REALLY enjoy this! We would ask the students, “what do we know about the Earth” which would lead into the repetitive line, “Earth has many features”. We hope you have as much fun as we did!

Here is a link to the book: Earth Has Many Features

May20

Earth Science

Posted on May 20, 2013 by jd785

Earth Science

The theme for the Unique Curriculum is earth science this month so we tied our groups to go along with the theme. Cara wrote another great book and found some great pictures to go along with it.

Our students were AMAZED 🙂

When we got to the page about rain, we used our spray bottle to mist water up into the air to then fall gently down on the students. They LOVED this part and needless to say there were lots of giggles AND lots of opportunities for them to request “more”—-one of their math access and language points!!!

Do we make learning FUN or what???!!!! 🙂

Sensory Group—

The surface of our earth is covered by a variety of plant life. In this box we put in silk leaves, easter grass, plastic trees, flowers to represent all the different plants to be found. We loved these bright and colorful sunflowers!

We included yarn pieces and beads in the colors of green and brown. The sun and moon affect our planet so we also put in a moon shaped cookie cutter and little wooden sun.

Finally a little globe was included—our earth!

This box addresses the science access point of recognizing common objects related to science by name, such as a plant. It also addresses the science access point of recognizing a model of a real object.

Noting that the globe is a sphere addresses the math access point of recognizing a 3 dimensional shape!

Wind is one of the forces that affects the surface of our earth. We created our own windstorm using our little battery operated fans.

We had some different reactions to the tactile feel of the blowing air—-some of our students loved it and couldn’t wait to push the buttons themselves—-others had to think about it for a while 🙂

They were also pretty fascinated by the soft spinning blades!

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

Underneath all the plants and trees is soil.

We buried 3 circular puzzle pieces for our students to find and they loved pushing aside the coffee ground soil to find them—-and then pushing the grounds back to cover them back up 🙂

This box addresses the math access point of recognizing a 2 dimensional shape.

Digging down deep enough into the earth’s crust and you will find layers and layers of different rocks—-just like our mixed beans!

E is for Earth! We put in some letter E’s to find and match—-and then bury again!

We included a measuring spoon for some scooping fun, although most students prefer to run their hands through the beans for that wonderful tactile feel that they have.

Now we do try to keep a close eye on students when they have the bean box—to make sure there is no “sampling” but also to watch for our little scientists who want to see if gravity REALLY works with handfuls of beans 🙂

We used this grey floam to represent our earths mantle which is one of the many layers that form our planet. By squishing it together, our students could form it into a hard ball, kind of like the hard rock that makes up the mantle.

This floam is pretty cool stuff and everyone, adults included, is pretty fascinated by it.

Forming the ball is great for building hand strength, bilateral coordination, and palmer arches.

Of course our ball of floam can also be called a “sphere” and recognizing 3 dimensional shapes is one of our math access points!

Digging down still deeper we will get to earth’s liquid core! We mixed yellow and red food coloring with our shaving cream to make our lava. What fun to mix it all together and come out with this fabulous orange lava!

This addresses the science access point of recognizing a change in an object.

Its also a great opportunity to practice prewriting skills with a wonderful tactile experience.

The earth has a magnetic field. We used a magnet discovery bottle to help our students learn about magnetism……it really is pretty fascinating to watch the magnetic wand “capture” the little metal pieces inside the bottle!

Its also a great activity for bilateral coordination.

The science access point of tracking the movement of objects that are pushed or pulled is addressed here.

Finally we rinsed our hands in Ocean scented water from Bath and Bodyworks and then used the matching lotion to help us remember all the cool things we learned about our planet today!

Our little ocean had 2 different sized measuring cups to address the math access point of recognizing differences in sizes of containers that hold liquids.

Exploring the aroma of the lotion addresses the science access point of recognizing and responding to one type of sensory stimuli.

Fine Motor—

On Tuesday we thought making a volcano would be a great art project for our students. We started by turning our brown rectangle into a triangle by using our paper cutter to cut the 3 sides—counting each side as we cut.

Then we glued in onto our blue rectangle paper.

Recognizing 2 dimensional shapes is a math access point.

Now for the really fun bit—the lava! We mixed glue, shaving cream, and orange paint to make our lava. We wanted a three dimensional tactile texture and this stuff turns out just like puffy paint when it dries—-if you haven’t tried this concoction you really should!

Our students did a great job using their brushes to spread the mixture. They are spending more time painting and visually attending to their projects—we are so proud 🙂

This activity addresses spatial relations and eye hand coordination.

We had lots of Ta Da’s as usual.

Don’t these volcanos look SO COOL!!!!!!

Some of them were so proud of themselves they asked for hugs also—

needless to say we obliged 🙂

On Thursday we continued our explorations of earth science with our next art project. We started with a blue circle—addressing the math access point of recognizing a 2 dimensional shape again! We are going to make a picture of our earth.

Tissue paper was then torn and crumpled and glued onto the blue circle—to make some continents.

Tearing and crumpling the paper promotes bilateral coordination and addresses the science access point of recognizing a change in an object.

We asked the students to identify the colors of the paper we used today. Identifying an object by one observable property (in this case color) is a science access point.

Are students are just so smart!!!!

TA DA!!!!

Language Group—

We decided to make a visual of the Earth’s different layers. We found this idea on www.birdandlittlebird.com and thought it would be PERFECT, as well as lots of fun. The students had to follow the directions which consisted of PIXON symbols, Boardmaker symbols, and real pictures.

Since the pictures depicting the Earth’s layers are color coded, we decided to base our visual support off of some of the pictures we found. We started with 1/4 cup of liquid dish soap. The dish soap was pink and we added a little red food coloring to it to show how hot the Earth’s inner core is.

Graded motor control and eye hand coordination are needed to pour the liquid from the measuring cup into the jar.

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

Throughout this activity we are also addressing the math access point of solving problems involving small quantities of objects or actions using language, such as enough, too much, or more.

For the next layer, the outer core, we used 1/4 cup of water. We dropped red and yellow food coloring in the water in order to make orange. Since our visually impaired students could not see the color changes they participated by being in charge of shaking the liquid (we used a lidded juice bottle).

They really enjoyed this bit 🙂

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

Now, as scientists conducting experiments, sometimes things don’t go QUITE like you had planned——- after putting the water in, we did not see any distinct layers! We couldn’t figure out what we did wrong—- so we decided to start over and use karo syrup at the bottom instead of the dish soap.

Although the colors were very similar in appearance when in the jar, you could see a little more layering than before.

The third layer, or the mantle, consisted of 1/4 cup vegetable oil. We did not add any coloring since it was already yellow.

On an added note, it is important to pour the liquids SLOWLY—a funnel helps.

For the last layer which is the crust, we used 1/4 cup rubbing alcohol which we colored blue. The students seemed to LOVE watching the liquids separate into different layers, and the adults enjoyed it too!

All in all, the experiment was a success AND we learned some new words!

We turned off the lights and held a flashlight behind the jar to really see the layers.

Science experiments are just so FUN!!!

Join us again next week for our final groups of this school year—

Its going to be filled with more fun things to learn and discover—–Group by Group 🙂

May12

Mother Goose book

Posted on May 12, 2013 by jd785

Mother Goose book

We are celebrating Children’s Book Week this week! We were so lucky to have some of our very own models pose for the pictures in the book. The book takes a short peek at some of Mother Goose’s famous nursery rhymes, like Humpty Dumpty and Old King Cole. Our students get so excited when they are able to identify people in the pictures. To get ready for the repetitive line, we would ask the students, “what time is it?” which the repetitive line answered, “it’s Mother Goose time, get ready to rhyme!” We had so much fun making and reading this book and we hope that you enjoy it as well!

Here is a link to the book:It’s Mother Goose Time, Get Ready to Rhyme

May12

Mother Goose

Posted on May 12, 2013 by jd785

Mother Goose

It’s Children’s Book Week and we decided to go with the classic Mother Goose as our theme—-everyone loves a good rhyme after all 🙂 Hope you enjoy reading about all our activities.

Sensory Group—

The Mother Goose box was filled with a variety of items representing different nursery rhymes.

There were some white feathers—-lost by Mother Goose herself no doubt—– Contrary Mary silk flower petals (as well as a cockle shell and silver jingle bell), Rock a Bye Baby leaves, London Bridge bricks (duplos), Jack and Jill’s pail, a mouse to run up a clock, a craft foam moon and….. a cow to jump over it.

The cow made a mooing sound when a button was pressed making it quite popular. Other students enjoyed filling up the little pail with the feathers and leaves. With all the different objects and textures, there was something for everyone!

The language access point of recognizing and responding to familiar objects is one of the access points addressed here.

Mary had a little lamb whose fleece was WHITE as snow! This box was filled with an assortment of items all colored white.

We put in beads, pompoms, a plush seal, plastic dog, pearls, a snowflake ornament, faux lambswool, hair scrunchies, and a dusting mitt—this was especially popular. Our students loved putting it on their hands.

In addition to lots of textures to compare and contrast, this box addresses the science access point of recognizing common objects in the natural world.

Our Little Boy BLUE box was filled with all things blue—blocks, beads, dusters, shakers, pompoms etc.

Like our white box this was filled with a variety of textures and shapes to explore. Especially popular were the shakers and the accordion tube.

The science access point of applying a push or pull to move an object is addressed here.

Students had fun using our dog and bone cookie cutters with the “Cow jumped over the Moon” sand.

Our students used the cookie cutters in different ways. Some of them pressed them into the sand to make impressions, while others used them like mini little shovels. Moon sand is a lot denser than regular sand so either way—–a great activity for hand strengthening!

As the moon sand gets dug up or smashed down into the cookie cutter the science access point of recognizing a change in an object is addressed.

In addition the language access point of communicating recognition of familiar objects is addressed when discussing the cookie cutter shapes.

Our Itsy Bitsy Spider bottle was also a huge hit, our students were really fascinated by it. We made the discovery bottle by putting some toy spiders in a bottle with water, cornsyrup, and some green glitter.

The students loved watching the little spiders scuttle back and forth as the bottle was tilted.

A totally fun bottle, one of our best ever!

This addresses the science access points of applying a push or pull to move an object and tracking objects in motion.

You can also count the spiders and discuss their colors for additional learning fun 🙂

Peas Porridge hot? Cold?…..Ok we were not sure what exactly “peas porridge” was but lentils are a type of “pea” so figured they would work for this box 🙂

They really have a wonderful soft texture as you run your hands through them, very relaxing—this box was a hit with the students AND the adults!

Hidden amongst the lentils were 2 sets of Mother Goose’s initials for our students to find.

Matching the letters addresses the math access point of recognizing 2 objects that are identical to each other—-in addition to letter recognition of course!

We also including 2 different sized measuring spoons for scooping practice and to address the math access point of recognizing similarities and differences in the size of common objects.

Poor Humpty Dumpty 🙂 We put a little yellow toy flying saucer in our oobleck and it looked just like an egg—pretty cool!

This addresses the science access point of recognizing and responding to different types of sensory stimuli—exploring the tactile aspects of the oobleck while observing the visual aspect of the yellow disc.

Of course, oobleck is always just flat FUN 🙂

After rinsing our hands in water from Jack and Jill’s well, we rubbed Ring Round the Rosies rose scented lotion on hands and arms to help us remember all the fun and learning of todays group.

This rose lotion had a pretty strong aroma—it brought back a lot of memories for the adults—-and our students loved it!

Rubbing the lotion on various body parts helps address the science access point of recognizing external body parts.

Fine Motor Group—

On Tuesday we made a picture of Humpty Dumpty. After writing our names on our BIG, rectangular piece of paper……we stamped LITTLE, red rectangles to make a wall. The stamp was made using thick craft foam attached to a kitchen scrubber using double stick tape.

We counted the paper as we passed it out and also counted as the students stamped their small rectangles. We also encouraged our students to stamp from left to right across the page—the same direction you take when reading or writing.

This activity addresses the math access points of recognizing a 2 dimensional shape and recognizing the differences in size of objects.

We cut oval eggs out of craft foam and let our students choose their color using picture cards.

Then we used our circle cutter to make Humpty’s face. Some of our students drew their own faces while others needed some help.

The circle was glued onto the oval and then Humpty was glued onto the wall.

Again, we are addressing the math access point of recognizing 2 dimensional shapes but we are also addressing the math access point of recognizing a movement that reflects a spatial relationship.

The language access point of effectively communicating wants to a familiar person using symbols is also addressed.

Eye hand coordination is addressed as the various pieces are assembled to make the final product.

Ta DA!!!

A very happy Humpty Dumpty on his wall before his fall—-hey its Mother Goose time and we are ready to rhyme 🙂

On Thursday in preparation for our art project Ms Barrett’s class had watched a video of nursery rhymes including Hickory Dickory Dock in preparation for our second art project which is all about shapes again!

We started our activity by counting the sides of our BIG rectangular piece of paper and then practiced writing our names on it. A LITTLE rectangle was glued to the BOTTOM.

This addresses a lot of math access points including recognizing a 2 dimensional shape, recognizing the sides of a square or rectangle, and recognizing the length of real objects, such as big, little etc.

Then we glued a circle clock face onto a square piece of paper—that was then glued to the top of our little rectangle.

This addresses the math access points of recognizing 2 dimensional shape and recognizing a movement that reflects a spatial relationship.

Next we used our paper cutter to change our square into 2 triangles—addressing the science access point of recognizing a change in an object.

We glued the square onto the rectangle at the top and put the triangle on top.

Pat pat pat!

Again addressing the math access point of recognizing a movement that reflects a spatial relationship.

Add one cute little pink craft foam mouse (complete with purple yarn tail) and our clocks are complete——

TA! DA!

Language Group—

Our language group especially enjoyed Cara’s book this week because 2 of the models in the book are instructional assistants in the class! The students had so much fun pointing them out.

One of the things we focused on today was sequencing. We picked 4 different nursery rhymes; Jack and Jill, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, Humpty Dumpty, and Little Miss Muffet, and printed out sequencing cards found on EnchantedLearning.com. Using the PIXON picture symbols for “first”, “second” and “last”, we had our students put the cards into order.

We said the nursery rhymes line by line so the students could find the card that matched with the line read. They would then have to place the card under the correct PIXON to show first, second, and last.

This activity addresses the language access point of effectively communicating information using referent objects, gestures/signs, pictures, symbols, or words.

It also addresses the math access point of recognizing the next step in a simple pattern or sequence of activities.

For our students with visual impairments, we adapted the activity by using a voice output device. The phrase “that’s the one” was recorded on it for our students to press as we read the choices aloud.

After completing this task, we turned off the lights and brought out our light up moon—-so cool, we love it!

We then presented 3 different cows to our students. One was plush, another was a large inset puzzle piece, the third was a small plastic model. We deliberately chose these to make them very easy for our students with visual impairments to differentiate. The students got to pick which cow they wanted and practiced having the cow jump over the moon.

The students again used their Pixon symbols to say “I want” and then pointed to the desired cow. Addressing the language access point of effectively communicating wants using referent objects, gestures/signs, pictures, symbols, or words.

This activity is great for promoting shoulder stability and crossing midline as the cow jumps from one side of the moon to the other.

It also addresses the science access point of recognizing a model of a real object and the language access point of listening for informative purposes.

This was such a great week, all our groups were so fun and our students are making so much progress—-we are so proud! Join us again next time—-Group by Group!

May5

Cinco de Mayo Book

Posted on May 5, 2013 by jd785

Cinco de Mayo Book

We’re celebrating Cinco de Mayo a little bit early here at school and we decided to have a fiesta this week! When reading the book, we would ask the students “what should we do?” after each of the first lines on the pages. The repetitive line would reply “let’s have a fiesta”. The pictures in the book are so colorful and fun. Our students have really been focusing more on the book when it’s being read and are understanding turn taking more as well. We’ve been having fun at our fiesta, so we hope you have fun at yours!

Here is a link to the book: Let’s Have a Fiesta!

May5

Cinco de Mayo

Posted on May 5, 2013 by jd785

Cinco de Mayo

We had a really great week here at Group by Group. First we found out we had been nominated for the Liebster Award (selected by our fellow blogger over at I Teach Speech) which was pretty exciting for us. Second—-its Cinco de Mayo—-time for a fiesta full of bright colors, music, food and fun! Cara wrote another great book which our students loved and we had a blast with all our different activities. Here is what we did—

Sensory Group—

Red, green and white are the colors of the Mexican flag. Our colorful pompoms and beads, great for comparing and contrasting, were a hit as always. Our students love to sort the pompoms or shake the beads—such fun! This box was so bright and colorful, who could resist 🙂

This activity addresses the science access points of recognizing common objects as the same and identifying objects by one observable property, such as color. It also addresses the math access point of recognizing two objects that are the same size and color and the math access point of recognizing common objects with three dimensional shapes (spheres).

We put a great big letter M (Mexico) into our red, green and white rice. A map of Mexico was hidden at the bottom, waiting to be discovered as the rice is pushed aside.

The social studies access point of associating a picture or symbol with a location is addressed here.

Our fiesta box was filled with lots of fun things. We included colorful paper streamers and garland, a Mexican flag, a piece of serape fabric, a large shell (for the beautiful beaches), and a sun.

Also fun to find were some lizards, snakes and colorful birds—some native wildlife you might see there.

Finally, we put in the word “friends” because the people of Mexico are our friends 🙂

In addition to lots of language opportunities, this activity addresses the social studies access point of recognizing a cultural characteristic of a population.

Tacos, tortillas, empanadas—all made from cornmeal! One of our more popular textures and we love its silky tactile feel. Our students used their hands or a small measuring spoon to explore.

This addresses the science access point of applying a push or pull to move an object.

We recorded some traditional Mexican music on our voice output device. Our students love music and this was no exception. With the addition of our homemade maracas they had a rocking good time 🙂

Lots of science access points were addressed here including applying a push or pull to move an object, tracking moving objects and recognizing an action as fast or slow.

Monarch butterflies migrate to Mexico every year so we included our butterfly and caterpillar box. We dyed farfalle and rotini pastas to make our little insects and they turned out so bright and colorful—very eye catching for our students. The contrasting shapes and colors and great for working on sorting skills. Thumb finger grasps are promoted as students pick up the pieces of pasta.

This activity addresses the science access point of identifying objects by one observable property.

Our version of guacamole—-yellow and blue food coloring were added to our shaving cream and we discussed what we thought might happen when the colors were mixed together.

We did discover from class to class that we needed to add a lot of yellow or we ended up with something closer to aqua rather than green 🙂

This addresses the science access point of recognizing that the appearance of an object or material has changed. It also addresses the science access point of exploring, observing, and recognizing common objects in the natural world.

We rinsed our hands in Coconut Lime scented water from Bath and Body Works. As usual, we included different sizes cups to allow them to practice scooping and filling.

The different sizes of the cups help address the math access point of recognizing differences in sizes of containers that hold liquids.

Our students all loved the matching lotion. What a yummy aroma to help them remember all the fun we had today!

Fine Motor Group—

On Tuesday we made some Guiros. We got the idea on Pinterest. This art project was all about the number 3—putting 3 of each item into our plastic water bottles. The items we added to our bottles included pieces of red, green and white chenille stems, macaroni, colorful beads AND……

3 scoops of glittery confetti! Needless to say, this stuff got everywhere and it certainly looked like a fiesta in the classroom 🙂

The math access point of recognizing quantities 1 to 3 using sets of objects, pictures, or number names was addressed in this activity.

TA DA!

Our guiros are finished, time to grab a popsicle stick and begin making music……

Ok, these were truly a hit—-the students LOVED them!!!!!

On Thursday we had a great time in the sensory room pretending we were riding some burros! Then we went back to the classroom to make our own! We cut the silhouettes from cereal boxes. We used the cereal boxes because we wanted something stiffer than construction paper and the boxes were FREE 🙂

We mixed black and white paint to make grey and our students started painting.

We are just so proud of how independent some of our students are getting—-PURE AWESOMENESS!!!

Eye hand coordination, tool use, and spatial relations skills are addressed here.

In addition, the science access point of recognizing that the appearance of a material has changed is addressed.

After they had finished painting they glued on square blankets (cut from an old purse—we were totally into trash to treasure art this week!).

The math access point of recognizing a 2 dimensional shape is addressed in this activity.

A googly eye finished the little burro.

TA DA!!

Super cute 🙂

Language Group—

We took turns wearing traditional Mexican clothing including a sombrero and serape. As you can see, we got some super cute pictures.

This activity addresses the language access point of responding to new vocabulary that is introduced and taught directly.

It also addresses the science access point of recognizing external body parts.

We also took turns playing with some maracas which our students absolutely loved.

What a great way to work on the science access point of applying a push or pull to move an object!

You can’t have a fiesta without some yummy food—-time for tacos!

We put a soft taco on a plate and the students used their communication symbols to tell us what toppings they wanted.

This addresses the language access point of effectively communicating wants and needs with prompting of familiar persons.

They had such a great time building their tacos—and, of course, EATING them 🙂

All our activities addressed the social studies access point of recognizing differences in food or clothing from other cultures.

With tummies full we looked at some of the words we learned today.

Its adios for now…….but don’t forget to drop by next week and share some more fun with us at Group by Group!

Apr28

Safari book

Posted on April 28, 2013 by jd785

Safari book

We are taking the students on a safari this week. The pictures in the book are special ones as they were taken by my sister when she was on a real African safari! Thank you, Katie, for sharing your pictures with us! The students appeared to enjoy looking at what all of the different animals were doing in the pictures. Some of our students named the animals along with us. We asked the question “where are we going?” to which the repetitive line answered, “we are going on a safari”. The last page in the book is my personal favorite because it’s an animal looking right at us! Check out the book to find out which animal it is.

Here is a link to the book: We Are Going on a Safari

Apr28

Safari

Posted on April 28, 2013 by jd785

Safari

Our groups went on Safari this week! Cara’s sister, who lives in Africa, sent us her actual safari pictures for our book—-how cool is that!

Sensory Group

If you are going on safari you are probably going to have to ride on an airplane to get there and when you ride on an airplane you can hear engine sounds and feel the engine vibrate.

Our vibrating tube gave us those same sensations. The tube is bendable and soft—-nice to cuddle with or wrap around your neck!

Our students loved it!

This addresses the science access point of recognizing and responding to one type of sensory stimuli.

When you are on safari you want to SEE the animals, not have them see you—-that’s why you might want to wear camo clothing!

We mixed brown, green, red and white dried beans and peas to make our camo box. It turned out pretty cool! Beans are always popular with our students, they particularly like burying and uncovering things in them. This week we put in a large letter S for “safari” for them to find.

2 different sized scoops were also included to add to the fun.

This activity helps build tactile discrimination and visual figure ground skills. It also addresses the math access point of recognizing differences in the sizes of containers.

It is especially fun if you are also wearing a camo hat 🙂

Our jungle box was filled with green shredded paper, raffia, chenille yarn vines, and green silk leaves. We put in a globe, wooden sun cut out, a little jeep, a variety of toy zoo animals you might see on safari and an old camera—-perfect for taking pictures of all those cool animals.

So much to talk about and vocabulary to learn!

Speaking of animals, some of them had buttons that when pushed made the animals growl. We have used these before and they are always very popular—-great for promoting finger individuation!

For our students who have significant physical disabilities—its always great to have a friend help you out 🙂

This activity addresses the language access point of responding to new vocabulary that is introduced and taught directly.

It also addresses the science access point of recognizing and responding to common sounds AND the science access point of sharing objects with a partner—-so sweet!

Our tiger pom poms are so bright and so very eye catching. Different colors and sizes—perfect for comparing and contrasting!

Lots of access points can be addressed with these colorful spheres including the science access point of recognizing 2 objects that are identical to each other …..and the math access points recognizing a common 3 dimensional objects and recognizing similarities and differences in the size of objects.

Is this a great box or what!!!!!

Colorful feathered birds are always a part of any safari! This box contained a variety of feather boas—-perfect for wrapping around you or shaking—-so soft and fluffy! We got these at the dollar store around halloween and totally got our money’s worth of fun out of them 🙂

The science access point of identifying common objects by one observable property—in this case color.

Uh oh—-beware of quick sand!!!!!

We added water to some cornmeal mix to make our quick sand and were pretty happy with the results.

As you can tell by our students expressions, this was some weird feeling concoction but they couldn’t resist sticking their hands right back in again and again—trying to figure it out—what inquisitive little scientists we have!

This activity addresses the science access point of exploring, observing and recognizing objects in the natural world.

The language access point of using body movement or nonverbal expressions to communicate preferences—-NAILED 🙂

We finished by rinsing our hands using Into the Wild by Bath and Body Works scented water—it had a really nice aroma but we suspect nothing like what the “wild” actually smells like ha ha.

Banana scented lotion that we found at World Market was the perfect finishing touch to help us remember our safari fun!

This activity addresses the science access points of recognizing one way people use water and recognizing and responding to one type of sensory stimuli.

Fine Motor Group

On Tuesday for our art activity we made tiger masks!

We started by cutting, using our adaptive scissors, 3 strips of paper in half—to make 6 tiger stripes.

Cutting the paper addresses the science access point of recognizing a change in an object.

The stripes were glued onto our tiger mask. Prior to the activity, staff cut out eye holes in an orange paper plate (found on clearance after halloween—-score!) and glued a paint stick to the back. As we passed the masks out, we discussed their circular shape, of course 🙂

We asked the students to touch their noses and then gave them 1 black triangle nose to glue onto their masks. Then 2 orange ears were glued onto the head.

Eye hand coordination and spatial relations are addressed with this activity. Lots of math access points are addressed including recognizing common objects with 2 dimensional shapes and associating quantities with number names.

The science access point of recognizing one or more external body parts was also addressed.

Better watch out for tigers—-

GRRRRRR!!!!

On Thursday we read Cara’s book again, practicing passing the voice output to our neighbor for their turn. This addresses the science access point of sharing objects with a partner. For our art project, we continued our safari theme by making some monkey puppets.

First we passed 1 large brown circle to each student. They used our paper cutters to cut them in half—making semi circles!

These were then glued onto a paper lunch bag.

This activity addresses the science access point of recognizing a change in an object. It also addresses the math access points of recognizing a 2 dimensional shape and recognizing parts of whole objects.

Of course, it also promotes eye hand coordination and spatial relations.

We used our large hole punch to cut 2 brown circles for our monkey ears, which were glued to the top of the bag.

Then the finishing touch—2 big googlie eyes!

This activity addresses the science access point of recognizing a change in an object (as the circles are punched) and recognizing external body parts.

It also addresses math access points including matching one object to a designated space to show one to one correspondence and associating quantities 1 and 2 with number names.

Putting on those little googlie eyes also gives our students an opportunity to practice their pincer grasp skills.

Ta Da—-what cute little monkey puppets!

Language Group

We started out this week with Cara’s book. Although reading the book is new to this group, our students have been doing an EXCELLENT job of pressing the voice output device and sharing it with their friends.

As we read the book and use the voice output device (in all our groups) we address the language access point of listening for informative purposes (ex. following prompts, cues).

The book led us into our own safari. We put 7 different animals (a combination of plush and plastic ones) on the table. We asked the students to use their binoculars to find the different animals—-while wearing a super cool safari hat!

This activity addresses the science access point of recognizing a familiar objects enlarged by magnification.

It also addresses the language access point of responding to new vocabulary that is introduced and taught directly.

After finding an animal, they had to match the animal up with a picture symbol of the animal. We used the carrier phrase “I see a ___” so the students could fill in the blank with the animal that they had seen. We used the PIXON communication board symbols for “I” and “see” to work on identifying different PIXON picture symbols.

This addresses the language access point of communicating about a selected object using pictures/symbols/words.

Pretty cool!

With our safari over, it was feeding time to feed the monkeys 🙂

We gave each student 3 bananas and counted as they were put into the monkey’s mouth one at a time—physically assisting our students as needed.

The activity promotes grasp skills and eye hand coordination.

In addition the math access points of recognizing when an object is added to a situation and recognizing quantities 1 to 3 using sets of objects.

What a great week, we had so much fun going on safari! Join us again next week—-we promise to bring lots to discover plus smiles, fun and learning—-Group by Group!

Apr21

Dinosaurs book

Posted on April 21, 2013 by jd785

Dinosaurs book

This week, we’re going prehistoric! We are learning about dinosaurs through sensory, fine motor, and language activities. They all LOVED the pictures in the book this week, taken by our very own OT, Joy! Each page has a different dinosaur and tells something about it. The students were asked, “when did dinosaurs live?” to which they answered, “dinosaurs lived long ago”. We are working on having the students pass the voice output device to the person who is next. It is still a hand over hand process, but the students are doing very well with it. Maybe in the next few weeks they’ll have it down! Enjoy the book.

Here is a link to the book: Dinosaurs Lived Long Ago