Category Archives: Occupational Therapy

May28

Week 32—Birthdays

Posted on May 28, 2012 by jd785

We managed to squeeze in one last week of groups before summer and decided the theme Birthdays would be lots of fun for all our groups!

Sensory Group—Birthdays

As usual we started by reading Cara’s latest book and marveled, once again, at how good our students have gotten at pressing the voice output device to repeat the repetitive line.

Our first box contained an assortment of birthday related items. We had confetti (made from a shredded magazine), party horns and paper streamers—very interesting visually.

We put in the words Family and Friends (along with some play people) because that’s who come to our birthday parties! Toy cookies and a squeaky (a nice auditory component and also good for hand strengthening) cupcake reminded us of all the yummy food.

We also tucked in a voice output device with the “happy birthday” tune for our students to find. Again, lots of language opportunities along with interesting things to touch and look at in this box!

Our box of ribbon was a big hit! We filled the box with pieces of curled paper ribbon but also added some fabric ribbon for an interesting textural comparison.

Some of the students especially liked pulling the curled ribbon to watch in straighten out—-a nice way to practice bilateral skills!

Access points are addressed comparing the straight and curly properties of the different ribbons. In addition, relative lengths can be compared, addressing more math access points.

As always, colors are noted and discussed.

Birthday cakes always have candles—or at least at home they do 🙂

We aren’t allowed to have candles at school so we used our Wikki Stix to represent them. The Wikki Stix have that waxy feel, just like candles. They can be twisted into shapes, numbers and letters—or just crumpled into a ball all the while addressing hand intrinsic functions!

We are all huge fans of funfetti cake and thought our rainbow rice looked just like those colorful sprinkles.

Since birthdays are all about numbers, we put a few in for the students to find.

Speaking of cake, it starts with flour which we put in our next box. We also put in some laminated candles to count (addressing math access points) and a hidden surprise—-a birthday cake picture taped to the bottom.

Visual discrimination skills and fine motor skills are also addressed in this box.

…..and of course if you like messy play, this is totally the box for you—this stuff gets EVERYWHERE 🙂

We had to had some balloons! Since some of our students and staff have latex allergies we stuck with mylar balloons. Our students really enjoyed playing with them!

Visual tracking is, of course, addressed as they move about. Eye hand coordination skills are addressed when reaching for or hitting the balloons. There is also an auditory component as the slightly deflated ones are grasped and crumpled.

Literacy skills are addressed when reading the words on the balloons.

We let our students vote which color to make our shaving cream “icing” and then let them have a blast mixing it all in.

Great to practice prewriting patterns or just to engage arm movements.

Afterwards we got to rinse our hands in cake scented body wash (from philosophy) and rubbed on our vanilla sugar lotion to help us remember what a “sweet” time we had today!

Fine Motor Group—-Birthdays

On Thursday we read Cara’s book and proceeded to make party hats! We started by passing out and counting 8 red party hats. The hats were give aways—which we love 🙂

We discussed the hat’s shape (cone)—-addressing math access points.

We glued on pieces of tissue paper. Some of the students applied their glue by using brushes to reinforce tool use skills. Others dipped the paper into glue bowls (made from caps), addressing eye hand coordination and pincer grasp.

We discussed the colors of the various tissue paper squares and counted how many were put onto the cone.

Some fabulous foam glitter stickers gave us another opportunity to work on pincer grasp and bilateral coordination skills. Some of our students could peel them apart independently but most needed some help.

Alright, these are some pretty festive looking hats!

Time to get the party started 🙂

On Thursday we read Cara’s book again and had fun picking out different details in the pictures. Our art activity was making cupcake pictures.

First we gave the students an opportunity to make a choice regarding what color paper they wanted. When everyone was finished we counted the 8 rectangular pieces of paper, addressing math access points.

Everyone practiced “writing” their name on the bag of the paper.

Next we asked out students to decide if they were going to make 1, 2, or 3 cupcakes and handed them the corresponding amount of small brown rectangles.

In addition to addressing number identification, this also practices answering in the testing format our district uses.

We asked the students to draw vertical “down” lines using a marker.

Some really nice skills emerging with this student, we are so proud 🙂

After the rectangles were glued to the paper we added some colorful cotton ball frosting.

Lots of opportunities to work on pincer grasp and eye hand coordination here!

However, for some of our students just allowing their hand to be placed to help tap down the cotton balls is a huge leap in their participation.

Needless to say, we celebrate every students efforts 🙂

We added some glitter sprinkles and——Ta-Da—–some yummy cupcakes that look good enough to eat.

Language Group—Birthdays

We started by looking at the directions for making cupcakes that Cara had printed out. Lots of steps to keep track of and remembering what comes “next” and who’s turn it is!

Next we picked out a big mixing bowl.

And then we put in the cake mix. We discussed the concepts of in and out addressing language and access points.

Then we added water and oil. Comparing the different measures and cups addressed math access points.

In addition, graded motor control, bilateral skills, and eye hand coordination are practiced.

The recipe called for 3 eggs so this gave us an opportunity to practice number identification.

Due to concerns regarding possible salmonella issues, the adults handled the eggs.

Time to stir—-some students used a switch to operate the mixer. We used an Ablenet Power Link device to accomplish this—-a very useful assistive technology device!

Everybody got a turn to put the cupcake liners in the pan—counting them to address more math access points.

Then students filled the liners with the cake batter (working on more fine motor skills) and put them in the oven for 15 minutes while the class went to music class. If they had been staying in the room we would have used a visual timer to help reinforce time concepts.

After the cupcakes cooled, it was time to decorate!

We counted out spoons and each student scooped a spoonful of icing to spread on their cupcake. A few needed to be reminded to spread the icing—not to eat it straight from the spoon—kids will be kids 🙂

Then they got an opportunity to choose which color sprinkles they wanted. Again, practicing choice making from an array of 3 which is related to our alternate testing format.

Time to enjoy—-effort should always be rewarded!

YUM YUM YUM

And finally, a quick look at our cupcake words. Wow, there are a lot of words associated with making cupcakes!

Well, that really was our last group for the year! We will continue to do some posts about our school and classrooms this summer so be check them out. Hope everyone has a great summer and hope to see you again in the fall for more fun Group by Group!

May15

Sensory Group—beginnings

Posted on May 15, 2012 by jd785

Sensory Group—beginnings

People often ask how we got started with our groups and so we thought we might run a few posts describing “our history”, so to speak!

I (Joy the OT) came up with the idea for the sensory group a couple of years ago in Danni’s classroom. She had two students that had significant physical and intellectual challenges. In addition, one of them was also visually impaired. We just felt like there was something more we could be doing to better engage them in the learning process. We’ve all been there——————-you KNOW there HAS to be a better way!

Thinking from a developmental perspective, I came up with the idea of bringing in a “fluid play” activity and Danni was all for it. I found some pumpkin scented body wash and hand lotion, then picked up a couple of cans of pumpkin pie filling and we were ready to go.

I showed up on Thursday morning and we gathered her students around the table and together with Nita and Metra (classroom assistants), we helped the students finger paint in the pie filling, splash around in the scented water and finally rub their hands and arms with lotion. Danni and I continued in a similar fashion week after week finding new items to explore from chocolate pudding to grape jelly we dove in—the MESSIER the better!!!!!

After the winter holidays, Cara (speech therapist) came on board and switched her schedule to be there during the group time. She thought it would be a great idea to include a book related to our theme and we started looking for books to use. Very shortly we discovered that many of the books were “too wordy” or the pictures “too busy” to engage our students interest, so Cara started writing her own books. Each book was made with a repetitive line so the students could help “read” the book. Having a repetitive line also helps with expanding language as well as turn-taking as the voice output device is passed around.

Our group really started to come together—everyone was enthusiastic, having fun and the students were ENGAGED. Cara and I even got stopped in the hallway one day by another teacher who had heard about what we were doing and wanted to know what she had to do to get us to start doing a group in her classroom!!!! When I excitedly shared that information with Danni, Nita and Metra to thank them for their endorsement I learned a secret…..

Metra told me that initially she and Nita would dread OT day because of the mess I created—in case you didn’t know, fluid play tends to be a tad messy, ha ha!

The ladies went along with the chaos anyway and as they saw the changes in the students and how engaged they were, well ——–

the mess just didn’t matter anymore! In fact, they realized not only were the students having fun but THEY were also 🙂

So there it is, we started small and have gradually evolved to where the sensory group is today. Thanks to Danni, Metra, and Nita (a little too camera shy for the blog) for being willing to try something different and for their continuing support and great ideas.

P.S. did you notice all the cool colorful rice they made 🙂

May8

Week 31—Mexico and Measuring Time

Posted on May 8, 2012 by jd785

Week 31—Mexico and Measuring Time

Our Fine Motor and Sensory Groups learned about Mexico this week in preparation for Cinco de Mayo! The theme for our Language Group was Telling Time.

Sensory Group—Mexico

Our students really enjoyed Cara’s book. We had fun discussing what we saw in all the bright colorful pictures and took turns wearing this awesome hat—thanks Ms. Dani!

Our first box contained a variety of items related to our theme to give lots of language opportunities. We put in straw which is what traditionally is used to make baskets and sandals and paper streamers like the ones on pinatas.

Hidden amongst this were sea shells (for the beautiful beaches), a Mexican flag, a toy taco (yum), butterflies and a colorful bird. We put in the word “Friends” because the people of Mexico are our friends.

We also recorded some traditional Mexican music on a voice output device that was tucked into the straw and activated by both accidental and deliberate touches.

The colors on the Mexican flag are red, white and green. This box filled with soft round pompoms and long hard beads addresses color identification in addition to math access points when counting items or comparing shapes.

More red, white and green with our box of rice.

A great tactile feel as it sifts through the fingers and as the rice is shifted a surprise picture of a cactus (there are lots of cacti in Mexico) taped to the bottom of the bottom of the box.

We love eating refried beans, burritos and other Mexican foods that contain beans—yum yum 🙂 With the addition of a spoon, scooping skills are addressed. The beans are also a wonderful tactile sensation as they trickle through fingers….

…. or when in a bottle, fun to

shake!

Corn tortilla’s are also a part of Mexican cuisine and were represented here with our cornmeal. Students searched for the letter M for Mexico and the number 5 for Cinco de Mayo.

Of course, its also fun to scoop and catch as it spills down—-just plain wonderful stuff!

Monarch butterflies migrate to Mexico each year, so we brought back our pasta butterflies and put in some laminated pictures of monarch butterflies.

The green caterpillars and orangey red butterflies had both shape and color comparisons.

And they are just so bright and colorful 🙂

We added green food coloring to our shaving cream and made guacamole (unfortunately not edible though!). Before we added the green food coloring we hypothesized “what will happen” to address science access points.

Shaving cream is always popular and a fun medium to practice pre-writing strokes.

We rinsed our hands in lime scented water and then rubbed some lime scented lotion on our hands to help us remember all the wonderful things we learned about Mexico.

Fine Motor Group—Mexico

On Tuesday, we had a great time reading Cara’s book and had fun discussing what we saw in all the bright colorful pictures. For our art activity we made some Papel Picado banners which are colorful paper fiesta decorations.

First gave our students a choice of 3 colorful rectangles of tissue paper (recycled from presents past).

Then we folded it over twice and made sure that the folds were pressed really flat. We had pre-folded and then opened the paper back up as we anticipated most of our students would need help with this step.

We used either hole punches or our table top scissors to make cut outs in the tissue paper.

Counting the cutouts in the paper addresses math access points.

This is how it ends up looking when

unfolded, pretty terrific!

And look at how bright and colorful they look decorating the hallway.

On Thursday, we read Cara’s book again and proceeded to make some maracas for our fiesta!

First we used our paper cutters and adaptive scissors to cut a strip of bulletin boarder trim (it was a give away and therefore free, and we like that!)

We gave each student a recycled water bottle, counting as we passed them out, of course. The strip of boarder trim was then taped around the bottle.

Manipulating the tape promotes thumb finger opposition in addition to eye hand coordination.

Then we placed 8 cups filled with different items onto the table.

We discussed what each cup contained and then gave 1 to each student.

The students were instructed to put their items into their bottles. This activity promotes bilateral coordination and pincer grasp skills.

We adapted this activity by using a funnel for those students whose grasp and release patterns were not as precise.

The cap was screwed on (working on wrist rotation) and Ta Da—-a fabulous maraca!

As each student got their Ta Da and shook their maraca, we discussed the different sounds they each made (addressing science access points, differing properties of materials).

Everyone LOVED shaking their maracas 🙂

Language Group—Measuring Time

We talked about different ways to measure time and then had each student begin putting together their own Friday schedule. Using a completed schedule for reference, they were given 3 choices as to what came next on the schedule.

We also referenced time of day, addressing math access points.

Breakfast being first was easy but choosing “what comes next” was more difficult.

Some of our students needed us to give them some assistance by pointing to the model’s visual cue.

And here is the final product!

Continuing with our look at time measurement, we discussed the end of the school year and began making a summer countdown paper chain.

We started by using our paper cutters to cut strips of paper.

Don’t you just love the teamwork in this picture 🙂

Next we used the stapler to fasten a strip into a circle.

And took turns putting another strip

of paper into the chain.

We counted the loops periodically and discussed how many more we needed—addressing math access points. Its getting bigger!

Wow, 18 loops in the chain. It will be so much fun to take a loop off day by day as we countdown to summer 🙂

We finished as usual by looking at some of the time related words we discussed today.

Its been a great week but things are getting a little crazy around here with IEP’s, field trips, special programs and some unexpected surgeries! We may not be posting regular groups for a while but we are planning some alternate posts such as how we organize all our “stuff” and other logistical information. We are also planning to upload some of Joy’s original drawings as templates for you to download. And we will DEFINITELY be back in the fall with new ideas and activities Group by Group!

Apr30

Week 29—Earth Day

Posted on April 30, 2012 by jd785

Week 29—Earth Day

This week out theme was Earth Day for our Fine Motor and Sensory Groups. Unfortunately we had to cancel our Language group this week.

Sensory Group—Earth Day

Cara’s latest book gave us lots of ideas on how to save the earth. We passed around a stuffed globe as a prop while reading the repetitive line.

We filled our first box with shredded paper (something we can recycle!). Scattered about were some toy cans and bottles, cardboard, and plastic toys—-all things we can recycle. We also put in the word “home” to remind us that earth is our home and we need to keep it clean. A little energy saver sign, reminding us to turn out the lights when we leave the room. We put little people in the box to discuss that it is people who are responsible for keeping our earth clean.

As you can imagine, our students loved the paper shred, so much fun to shake and wave around!

From space, our planet looks like a big blue and green ball. In our next box we put a variety of green and blue items. From hard beads and blocks to soft pompoms and chenille strings.

Lots to material properties to contrast addressing science access points.

Our next box continued our blue and green theme. We recycled our playdough from our under the sea week!

We added some green glitter which gave it a nice sparkle and had car and tree cookie cutters to remind us to plant trees and combine car trips to save gas.

We love using playdoh to improve fine motor skills but math access points can also be addressed when counting the shapes cut out. In addition, prewriting skills can be addressed when making letters with the playdough.

More blue and green! We added some green split peas to our blue rice and it turned out so pretty and eye catching. Our students looked for big and little letter E’s hidden in the rice.

How about a box of aluminum foil!

Something we can recycle and ever so much fun to crumple and wave around.

It also makes noise as it is played with, adding a nice auditory component!

Our sensory bottles helped us discuss global warming. One bottle was filled with clear hair gel and some foam shapes. The foam shapes don’t move around the gel—it looks just like solid ice, and thats how we want our ice caps to remain! The other bottle was filled with hand sanitizer, clear marbles, and some more foam shapes. The foam shapes and marbles move around in the hand sanitizer, just like melting ice.

They made a really cool visual comparison.

Next we made some clean mud. We tore up a roll of toilet paper (from the dollar store) and sprinkled in a bar of grated soap (from the dollar store). Tearing up the paper help address bilateral coordination.

We added a cup of warm water—eye hand coordination and measurement!

Then squished and squeezed until we ended up with mud! Its got a really cool consistency which some of our students

liked—-and

others absolutely did not!

Fortunately, we had a bowl of Juniper Breeze (from Bath and Body Works) scented water in which to wash hands 🙂

We finished with our Juniper

Breeze lotion to remind us of

our beautiful earth.

Fine Motor Group—Earth Day

We read Cara’s book, again using the stuffed globe as a prop.

Then we counted out 8 large blue construction paper blue circles and used a communication board to find the number 8.

Green paint was added to a mixture of glue and shaving cream and we asked our students to guess what was going to happen.

Everybody got a chance to stir the mixture—-and we watched as the glue and shaving cream mixture turned green!

A fun way to address science access points.

We put the mixture on one hand and counted out loud as we printed on the paper 2 times.

For our students who were unable to tolerate the paint on their palms (tactile defensiveness), Joy adapted the activity by painting her own hand and placed the students hand on top to help make the print.

Ta Da! Doesn’t this just like the earth!

It will be even cooler when it dries because our mixture dries just like puffy paint. The raised texture will also make it perfect for our student with a visual impairment to explore.

On Thursday, after reading Cara’s book again, we made Recycle Man!

We used an aluminum pie plate for the head and counted out 2 bottle cap eyes. 1 yogurt container became a nose and can tabs made teeth.

Of course we counted everything as we put it on but we also described the position (ex. on top, under) to address more access points and spatial relationships.

As our Recycle Man is on a vertical surface, shoulder stability is addressed items are placed.

We chose which cap to use as a

belly button…

….and added it to our aluminum roasting pan body!

Perfect!

Then we counted out 8 cans (1 for

each student.

And used them to make arms and legs

for…..

Recycle Man!!!

Isn’t he awesome!

Hope you had fun celebrating Earth Day with us this week. Join us again Group by Group!.

Apr23

Book for Week 29

Posted on April 23, 2012 by jd785

Book for Week 29

Spring is in the air! There are so many things to enjoy now that the weather is more permitting. The book this week covers different things that we see during Spring such as colorful flowers, leaves growing back on the trees, and baby animals. While Cara read the story, Joy used some of the objects we had to show the students when they were being talked about such as big leaf placemats when we mentioned the leaves on the trees growing back, and also a mist bottle which was used to emulate the April showers we experience.

Here is a link to the book–

Spring Has Sprung

Apr23

Week 29—Spring and Summer Safety

Posted on April 23, 2012 by jd785

Week 29—Spring and Summer Safety

The theme for our Fine Motor and Sensory Groups was Spring. Our Language Group learned about Summer Safety.

Sensory Group—Spring

We read Cara’s book “Spring has Sprung” and looked at all the colorful pictures while using the voice output device to read the repetitive line. When we got to the page discussing rain, we told the students to get ready for the rain and we used our spray bottle to spray water into the air. As the fine mist came down we loved watching the students reactions!

The leaf placemats we put on the table were give aways (we do love free!) and perfect for our theme.

Our boxes this week focused on things we

see growing in the spring.We looked for seeds (dry beans) in our dirt (coffee grounds). There were 2 wormsto find and we discussed how helpful they are for the soil.

We also put in pictures of some vegetables that might grow from the seeds (science access points).

Our next box was filled with silk flower petals and leaves, toy and felt vegetables and some yarn “roots”. We also included a wooden sun (plants need sun to grow) and some craft foam bees (to help pollinate our plants).

Lots of opportunities for building language skills in this box!

Pompom’s come in a variety of colors just like flowers.

We discussed the texture (soft) and shape (round). Counting and matching address math access points. Grasp skills are addressed while reaching for and holding them.

We searched for the letter S in our rainbow rice box. We picked the rainbow rice for all the different colors, just like flowers. Great for practicing scooping as well!

For olfactory stimulation we brought out our

“Follow your Nose” game. We had fun

smelling the flower, fruit and plant

scents.

Ms Metra really liked this one!

Plants and flowers all come from seeds (our box of mixed beans). We also placed some puzzle pieces with pictures of flowers.

The beans make a very busy background for the puzzle pieces, challenging some figure-ground discrimination.

As usual we adapted our sensory items for

some of our students by placing them in

ziplock bags. We were really excited to

see this student start visually attending

to and exploring these bags, something

he has not been doing!

Our pink cloud dough(made with flour, oil, strawberry koolaid, and glitter) was perfect for making shapes with our flower cookie cutters.

Holding the edges of the cookie cutters and pushing them down into the cloud dough helps build palmer arches.

We scented our water with sweet pea body

wash!

And finished by giving the students a choice to 2 different scented lotions (one citrus and one floral). The student pictured was able to independently squeeze the lotion onto his own hands but most of our students need assistance.

After everyone had made their choice and gotten their lotion, we counted the votes for each one and discussed which one received more votes—addressing math access points.

Fine Motor Group—Spring

On Tuesday we read Cara’s book and used our spray bottle to make it “rain”. This group loved the rain and asked for more, lots of smiles all around! For our art activity we made flowers using a variety of plastic bottles—we saw this idea on Pinterest.

First we counted out our paper (addressing math access points). Our students practice writing their names. This student is working on connecting dots to form the first letter of her name. For others, their name might just be a scribble.

After turning their papers over, the students used markers to make

“down” lines. They all really did a great job, of course some of

them needed a little help but we are still really excited to see

their progress.

Then we dipped the bottom of our bottles into paint and stamped onto the paper.

On a cute note, this student added “ooh’s” every time she stamped her flour—-adorable!

We counted the flowers and helped our students find the number on

the communication board.

Ta Da!

For our student with a visual impairment, the vision teacher added some

pompom’s to the centers of the flowers.

On Thursday, after reading Cara’s book again, we did another stamping activity—but this time with fresh vegetables!

Before starting, we put on “paint shirts”.

A great opportunity to practice dressing skills.

We passed out our paper and discussed its

shape as we counted it out—we never

forget our math access points!

Then the fun began!

We used potatoes…

And carrots!

and…..

…………………………..corn!

This was totally one of our best activities! Our

students had so much fun and nobody ate the

vegetables 🙂

Here this our first TaDa!

Love it!!!

And one more Ta Da

we just couldn’t

resist!

Language Group—Summer Safety

We started by making our pledge for Summer Safety. Cara wrote out the pledge with fill in the blank sentences. Then the students were asked to choose the correct answer (made with BoardMaker symbols) from a selection of 3 (alternate assessment format).

Some of the students need fewer choices and we adapted the activity accordingly.

Gluing the squares onto the poster addresses fine motor and visual

spatial skills.

After completing the poster, we read all the sentences aloud.

We are going to be safe this summer!

Going along with our summer safety theme, we started making a sun hat. It gets quite sunny here in Florida and a hat can come in pretty handy on a summer day!

We started by placing a large piece of colored paper (you could also use wrapping or newspaper) over the students head and taping it around brow level.

Not all our students could tolerate this part of the activity but fortunately we had others who were glad to help out 🙂

Then we rolled up the sides all around.

This was a lot of fun and everyone was able to participate.

Crumpling and rolling the paper addresses finger and

wrist movements.

What a fabulous hat!

We went outside to see if the hats work

—-and they do!

We finished up by looking at some of the Summer Safety words we found today.

This week was so awesome, we hope you come back next time to share more fun Group by Group!

Apr16

Week 28—Under the Sea and the Sun

Posted on April 16, 2012 by jd785

Week 28—Under the Sea and the Sun

This week our Sensory and Fine Motor Groups explored the ocean Under the Sea. Our Language Group learned about the Sun.

Sensory Group—Under the Sea

We started by reading Cara’s book and answering questions about whether different animals are found in the ocean.

Our students used a yes/ no visual support or verbalized their responses.

While we read the story, Ms. Bennet blew some bubbles around to help give the effect of being underwater.

The students really loved watching the bubbles drift around.

Visual tracking is addressed in this activity.

Then we began exploring our sensory boxes starting with our moon sand box. Just like the bottom of the ocean!

We used cookie cutters shaped like starfish or round bubbles.

Comparing the different shapes addresses math access points.

Fine motor skills are addressed when manipulating the cookie cutters.

Our ocean sensory box turned out really great, although our picture doesn’t do it justice.

We put in some blue easter grass and some green chenille stems that reminded us of seaweed. We also included a variety of beads—white like the pearls that you might find, green and blue like the ocean colors. Green and blue pompoms added a contrasting textural component. Different koosh balls and kitchen scrubbers reminded us of sea urchin and other marine life. There were also some plastic fish and sea shells to discover.

We placed some blue aloe lotion in a freezer bag along with some sea shells. It was SO pretty!

…. and great fun to run fingers across to “squish” the gel in different directions practicing prewriting patterns.

Isn’t our blue play dough awesome!

We love the way it turned out, perfect for our fish shaped cookie cutter.

Counting the fish as they were cut addresses math access points.

Fine motor skills are also addressed when using the cookie cutter.

This adorable vibrating fish, purchased from the Special Needs Toys catalog, was great for body awareness.

Vibration can be a pretty intense input and we made sure to respect our students responses to it.

Our pompom yarn has a variety of shades of blue—-

just like ocean waters!

This yarn is soft and easy to grasp, our students just love the way it feels.

We filled a plastic bottle with water, dishwashing liquid and blue food coloring.

When shaken you get foam—just like waves in the ocean—so much fun!

We discussed the photo luminescent animals at the bottom of the ocean. Mixing our cornstarch with tonic water to make it glow under the black light—very cool stuff!

Really, oobleck that glows in the dark—-how could you possibly make exploring science access points more fun 🙂

We rinsed our hands in Bath and Body Works Ocean scent.

The outdoorsy scent reminding us of a day at the ocean.

Fine Motor Group—Under the Sea

After reading Cara’s book, we began our art activity.

We used our paper cutters to cut out fish. Counting the fish addresses math access points.

The fish were set aside and a staff member taped short strands of fishing line to them and to the inside of a tennis ball container lid.

Then we squeezed glue into a tennis ball

container.

We tore blue tissue paper into little pieces (saved from birthday presents past, of course!), crumpled them and dropped them into the tennis ball container.

Bilateral and grasp skills are addressed.

We put the lid on and our little fish aquarium is finished—

TaDa!!!

On Thursday we made an aquarium for a jelly fish! We got the idea from bhoomplay.wordpress.com just brilliant!

First we cut strips of some scrap bulletin board trim. Then squeezed on some glue.

Squeezing the glue along the strip addresses visual spatial skills and hand strengthening.

Then we brushed the glue to make

sure the strip was fully covered.

Colorful aquarium gravel was sprinkled on top—Jeannie had some lying around 🙂

Picking up the gravel promotes pincer grasp skills.

We set this aside to dry.

Blue food coloring was squeezed into a gatorade bottle filled with water— practicing those pincer grasp skills again!

We had pre-made the jelly fish by cutting a square from a plastic grocery bag, gathering it up in the middle, and wrapping a rubber band about 1 inch from the middle–making a head. We snipped some “legs” along the bottom part. Then we held the “head” open under a faucet, leaving room for a little bit of air.

Then we put our jelly fish into his habitat!

Eye hand coordination is addressed when placing the the jelly fish into the bottle.

Wrist rotation is addressed when tightening the lid—-

make sure its really tight!

Isn’t this just awesome! When shaken the jelly fish moves around and looks just like the real thing. Our students LOVED watching it…. well not just the students 🙂

You really have to try this!

Language Group—The Sun

Now that we have finished the alphabet, we are trying some new things with our Language Group so things may change from week to week—but always fun 🙂

We first looked at a stuffed sun and talked about what it looked like: what color it was, what shape it was, how it felt (hot or cold). Then we took turns making it rise and set.

This activity addresses math and science access points!

We used our tongs to pick up yellow pompoms.

Counting the pompoms and comparing their shape and size to our stuffed sun addressed math access points.

Next we play Cara’s latest language game. We went over things we do when the sun is out during the day and things we do during the night. Then we categorized them. Each student looked at a picture like “eat breakfast” and pointed to a picture of day or night.

We glued on the pictures and discussed that we do more things during the day when the sun is out than at night.

We had to have an art activity 🙂 so we made our own sun picture!

The students chose either a light or dark blue sky.

We then passed out a yellow circle to each student and discussed its shape, then glued it to the paper.

Of course, we counted them as they were passed out— addressing math access points.

Then we passed out a strip of yellow paper and cut them along lines to make sun rays.

Lining up the rays with the sun addresses spatial relationships.

We also counted the rays….

never passing up an opportunity to address math access points!

But wait—there’s more!

We counted out 4 cotton balls (our non-verbal students used a voice output device) and added some clouds to our sky.

Awesome!

And to finish off—some of the fantastic sun related words we found today!

Wow, this week was fantastic—we had so much fun!

Come back next week for more fun and learning Group by Group!

Apr9

Book for Week 27

Posted on April 9, 2012 by jd785

Book for Week 27

Easter time is here! It’s spring and baby animals are in abundance. Candy is filling up in the stores and Easter baskets are being filled with grass for the Easter bunny to fill up. The repetitive line “Easter time is here” is in response to the question “why?” after each line is read.

Here is the link to the book—

Easter Time is Here!

Apr9

Week 27—Easter Time

Posted on April 9, 2012 by jd785

Week 27—Easter Time

This week the theme for our Sensory and Fine Motor Groups was Easter. We did not have a Language Group this week because the class went on a field trip.

Sensory Group—Easter Time

We read Cara’s book and used our voice output device to read the repetitive line.

Some of our students use their hands or their heads and a few even use their feet!

Then we started exploring our sensory boxes. Our first box had a variety of easter related items including easter grass, plastic eggs and carrots, easter cookie cutters, purple/pink/yellow pompom’s, a little plush chick and duck.

The Easter grass was a huge hit and pulling apart the strands promotes bilateral coordination in addition to fine motor skills.

Counting pompoms or carrots addresses math access points. Discussing size, shape, color and texture addresses science points.

It’s amazing how much you can fit into one little box!

Next we explored bright yellow feathers and big white pompoms—-our version of chicks and bunnies! These items let us compare and contrast the various properties of these materials, addressing science access points.

We loved these fluffy feathers. It was so much fun to pick up a handful and watch as they drifted down. There were so many feathers, that some of the students ended up looking a little like Big Bird 🙂

Visual tracking is addressed as the feathers drift down and pincer grasp skills are addressed as the students pick up the feathers. Tactile discrimination is also addressed.

We also had fun with our easter garland. We draped on or wrapped it around our students. It was also fun to grab it and shake it.

The little egg decorations really fluttered around, very visually interesting and soft to the touch.

We looked for the letter E in our green rice. Its bright green color looked just like grass with tiny little white easter eggs (navy beans). We also taped some easter egg pictures to the bottom of our box which could be found as the rice was brushed aside.

It was really eye catching and our students loved sifting it through their fingers.

This activity addresses visual and tactile discrimination in addition to literacy.

We also addressed visual skills with our sensory bottle filled with jelly beans. Our students loved shaking it and listening to the rattle as it was shook.

We did have to carefully watch the bottle as a few of the staff really wanted a sample 🙂

Our bunny and sheep fake fur was fun to rub and touch. Soft and cuddly just like little bunnies and lambs.

While it was the same color the textures were different (science access points).

We made our own version of marshmallow peeps by mixing cornstarch, shaving cream and yellow food coloring.

Soft and squishy just like marshmallows! This is the same stuff we made last week (minus the food coloring) and it was just as much fun this week—awesome stuff you HAVE to try it 🙂

We discussed how the materials changed as we mixed them, addressing science access points.

Finger painting in chocolate pudding, practicing prewriting strokes and the letter E.

It doesn’t get much messier than this!

Our students were pretty good about not sampling but as you can see in the picture, our hands needed to stay pretty close!

We rinsed off in vanilla sugar scented water and rubbed our hands in vanilla sugar scented lotion—to remind us of all the yummy candy we hope to find in our easter baskets, YUM!!!

Fine Motor Group—Easter Time

We read Cara’s book and students took turns using our bunny puppet.

It was so cute to watch as they waved it around or made it hop.

For our art activity we started by passing out 8 pieces of blue paper.

We counted the papers as we handed them out and discussed their rectangular shape addressing math access points.

Of course they have to “sign” their names!

Then we used our hole punches to cut out circle shapes and compared them to larger circles we had previously cut on the ellison machine addressing more math access points.

Squeezing the hole punch helps with hand strengthening.

We squeezed glue onto our blue paper.

Also great for hand strengthening and bilateral coordination.

We put some green easter grass and the big yellow circle onto the glue.

We found we probably should have put the easter grass on last instead of this early in the process—it was very entrancing to our students, making it hard to move onto the next step 🙂

Then we glued on our small circle and a precut orange triangle—more math access points 🙂

Spatial relationships are also addressed.

Our little chick is starting to come together!

We added a yellow feather—the finishing touch 🙂

Spatial relations and fine motor skills are addressed when completing this activity.

Ta-Da—a cute little chick

complete with googlie eye!

Don’t they look awesome hanging outside Jeannie’s classroom!

Love it! Love it!

On Thursday, we read Cara’s book again

and all had fun pointing to our

favorite candy—although it was kind of

hard to make a choice 🙂

Then we gave our students a choice of 3 craft foam eggs.

We discussed their oval shape addressing math access points.

We got these eggs (10 in a package) in the dollar section at Target—we love a bargain!

We decorated the eggs using craft foam stickers—so cute.

We helped the students peel the backing off of the stickers, practicing pincer grasp skills.

Then we counted the stickers, addressing math access points.

Our students are also working on being able to identify numerals.

Super cute!

What a colorful bright egg!

Hippity Hoppity!

We had a great time this week, join us again next week —-our Language Group will be back—for more fun and learning Group by Group!

Apr1

Week 26—Butterflies and the Letter Z

Posted on April 1, 2012 by jd785

Week 26—Butterflies and the Letter Z

This week are theme was Butterflies for our Sensory and Fine Motor Groups. We are finishing the alphabet with Letter Z in our Language Group.

Sensory Group—Butterflies

Cara’s book explored the life cycle of the butterfly with our students asking the question “what happens next” using the voice output device.

In addition to literacy and math access points, we are going to be addressing science access points today!

Our first sensory box was filled with colorful flowers, leaves, a variety of butterflies, caterpillars made from chenille stems and a body scrubber—its that long pink and white thing in the picture—doesn’t it look like a giant caterpillar :).

This box was so colorful with lots of contrasting colors and textures.

Discussing how these items relate to each other in the life cycle of the butterfly addresses science access points.

Our next box was filled with caterpillar eggs, AKA lentils. Our students hunted for the letter C and found a cute little caterpillar peeking out as well.

The students grasped these lentils by the handfuls—they loved them! Even our students who are quite tactile sensitive, couldn’t resist these tiny beans 🙂

This box addresses visual and tactile discrimination skills.

We used a cookie cutter to cut letter B’s in our purple Bubber (available from Amazon in addition to a variety of catalogs).

We chose the Bubber because its soft powdery texture reminded us of butterfly wings. Its pretty purple color also a lot like that of a butterfly.

Of course, we also just love the way it feels–not just our students but the adults couldn’t put it down 🙂

The white fiberfil in our next box reminded us of the silky strands of the butterfly cocoon.

Its just so much fun to grab this stuff and shake it around or pull it apart!

Pulling apart the strands addresses bilateral and fine motor skills.

Contrasting smaller pieces from larger pieces addresses math access points.

Our next box contained some colorful red butterflies (bow tie pasta) and green caterpillars (celletani pasta). Very eye catching with the bright colors. You dye it in basically the same way you do rice but it takes a LOT longer—so be patient!

Pincer grasp skills are promoted when picking up individual pieces. Counting them and comparing the contrasting shapes addresses math access points.

Making one of the caterpillars crawl up a students arm promotes giggles 🙂

These fuzzy colorful caterpillars (some pencil covers!) filled our next box. Very eye catching also and our students dived in. They loved grabbing handfuls and watching as they dropped back into the box—or the floor 🙂

Tracking falling objects is a science access point.

Counting caterpillars is an opportunity to work on math access points.

We mixed shaving cream and cornstarch which turned into this really cool texture—sort of a cross between playdough and Bubber. It was so much fun to squeeze and mold into cocoons.

We just loved this stuff, its just really hard to resist!

Science access points are addressed in addition to fine motor skills during this fun activity!

We rinsed our hands in plumeria scented water and then rubbed on the lotion, its floral scent reminding us of the flowers the butterflies go to for their food.

Recognizing water as a liquid and whether it is warm or cold addresses science access points.

Fine Motor Group—Butterflies

On Tuesday we started by reading Cara’s book. We also practiced making the butterfly sign with our hands.

Butterflies start out as caterpillars and that is what we made in our art activity. We started by dipping pom pom’s into glue then placing them on a clothespin.

This is a great activity for practicing pincer grasp skills and eye hand coordination.

We counted the pom pom’s using our multi-message voice output device, addressing math access points.

We finished by adding some chenille stem antenna and googlie eyes.

Aren’t these caterpillars just so cute 🙂

On Thursday after we read our book again—- we turned our caterpillar into a butterfly!

First we placed a 3 dimensional butterfly (found in one of the schools science kits) on a light board for our student with a visual impairment.

Of course, all the students enjoyed running their hands over the contours.

Then we began our art activity by counting out our coffee filters (addressing math access points).

Then we colored them using markers. Some of our students made just a few marks but others enjoyed using a variety of colors.

After they were finished coloring, we sprayed the coffee filters with water.The water makes the colors run, kind of like tie dye—pretty cool.

Squeezing the spray bottle is great for hand strengthening and spraying water is always fun!

We let them dry for a few minutes and then scrunched them up—working on thumb/finger grasping patterns.

We placed it between the clothespin from Tuesday and…….

Ta Da—the caterpillar has turned into a butterfly!

This student really enjoyed making hers “flutter” around—so cute!

Our butterflies look so beautiful clipped to these branches…..

aren’t they just fabulous!

Language Group—Letter Z

We started by unZipping bags and taking Zoo animals out (we used Beanie Babies).

The students had fun seeing what animal ended up coming out of their bags.

A chenille stem loop made a great

adaptive Zipper pull for some of

our students.

Then we squeeZed scrap paper to make matZo balls to “feed” our animals a Zesty meal.

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

Then we tore black paper into strips—some of them in a Zig Zag pattern.

We glued them onto a white lunch bag.

Tearing the paper addresses bilateral hand functions.

Squeezing the glue addresses hand strengthening

Placing the black paper on the bag addresses visual spatial skills.

We adapted this for our students with physical challenges by letting them color their Zebra instead. Our students love pressing the switch to make the airplane color their picture.

Then we glued on 2 ears and a snout.

And added some googlie eyes—we love googlie eyes 🙂

Look another Zany Zebra!

Our students had so much fun playing with their puppets.

Everybody had a turn playing Cara’s

sound game.

And we looked at all the fun Z words we found today.

Whew! We made it to the end of the alphabet but there is still more fun ahead so join us again next week Group by Group!