Category Archives: Uncategorized

Mar16

Dr. Seuss

Posted on March 16, 2014 by jd785

We were a little belated with our Seuss celebrations but had a blast anyway! The book Cara wrote last year was so much fun that we decided to use it again and our sensory group also did many of the same activities. Our fine motor group made some Truffula trees and a Lorax. The language group played a fishing game with rhyming words. Silly and seussical—–read along to see all the fun we had!

SENSORY GROUP

This box represents our very favorite cat—-that ONE with a hat! There were red, white, and black pompoms and chenille stems. Both the pompoms and chenille stems were so soft and fluffy but with different colors and shapes—-great for sorting! Our students had a great time with the box, especially enjoying waving the chenille stems around like cat tails. Others creatively joined the chenille stems together to make circles.

The science access point recognize common objects as the same is related to the practice of science.

The math access point recognize 3 dimensional objects, such as spheres is also addressed.

The “ABC “book is one of our favorites so we put lots of alphabet letters to find in our blue and white rice. A picture of the cat in the hat was also taped to the bottom of the box for more fun.

We just love that cat in the hat!

Finding the letters promotes visual and tactile discrimination.

There were a lot of fun animals included in the “If I ran the Zoo” box. It was also a noisy box since some of the animals roared or neighed when a button on their tummies was pushed——great for finger isolation! We found them in the dollar section at Target. We also included some play food for the animals and a little Duplo zoo keeper. The students also had a great time with the binoculars that were included in the box.

The science access points recognize common objects related to science by name, such as an animal and recognize a model of a real object are addressed here. These access points are related to learning the terms that describe examples of scientific knowledge.

We used these cool fabric balls to represent Trufulla trees and our students LOVED them! They were great to run fingers through or to wave and shake. Since we included 3 balls, they could be shared with friends for even MORE fun!

The math access point recognize when 1 or 2 items have been added to or removed from sets of objects to 3 is addressed.

Sharing objects with a partner is a science access point also addressed 🙂

Around here we LIKE green eggs! Our play dough came out a really beautiful shade of green, perfect for making green eggs with the cookie cutter.

Recognizing that pushing and pulling an object makes it move is the science access point related to forces and changes in motion.

The math access point recognize 2 objects that are identical to each other can also be addressed.

Well it just wouldn’t be a Dr. Seuss unit without oobleck and we LOVE LOVE LOVE this stuff! It really is amazing how cool a mixture of plain cornstarch and water can be.

Besides the science access point recognize that pushing and pulling an object makes it move the motion of objects is explored in the science access point track objects in motion.

Again, always more fun when shared with a friend 🙂

We searched for 1 red fish and 2 blue fish in our water play bowl. The blue fish squirted water when squeezed making for a fun way to rinse the oobleck off hands—–or squirt friends across the table 🙂

Properties of matter are explored in the science access point identify common classroom objects by one observable property, such as color.

Math access points are also addressed including recognize 2 objects that are identical to each other and recognize differences in size of objects.

We finished with our 10 apples on top Bath and Bodyworks country apple scented lotion. It was a nice, light fruity scent—–perfect for remembering all the fun we had in group.

Recognize and respond to one type of sensory stimuli is a science access point.

FINE MOTOR GROUP

On Tuesday we made some super cute Truffula trees. We adapted an idea we got from the PreK and K Sharing pin on Pinterest and loved how it turned out!

First our students chose which color background they wanted using communication symbols. We discussed the shape of the paper and then counted how many were passed out.

The language access point effectively communicate wants, with prompting, to a familiar person is addressed.

The science access point identify objects by one observable property, such as color and the math access point recognize common objects with 2 dimensional shapes are also addressed.

Then the students tore green paper to make “hills” and glued them down onto their papers. Both of these are great activities for promoting bilateral coordination!

The students really enjoyed the paper tearing step 🙂

It also addresses the science access point recognize a change in an object which promotes understanding that matter can undergo a variety of changes.

Changes in matter and bilateral coordination are again explored in the next step! Tissue paper—-as always, collected from presents past—–was squished and crumpled into balls.

The tissue balls were then dipped into glue and glued onto the paper.

Pat, pat, pat!

We used these super cool striped paper straws (thanks Courtney!) for tree trunks! They were a little tricky to glue down and while some of our students were able to do it independently, most needed some help aligning them along the glue line.

Ta Da—–soooooo SEUSSICAL!

Our Thursday art project was a Lorax! We started by asking our students to identify the color orange using our communication symbols. Most of our students needed a little help find the correct color but that’s ok—-we just will continue to have fun practicing!

The science access point identify objects by one observable property is addressed in addition to the language access point communicate information about familiar objects using non-verbal expressions, gestures/signs, pictures, symbols, or words.

Then we counted out small paper plates—–discussing the circle shape to address the math access point recognize common objects with 2 dimensional shapes.

It’s so much fun to paint and our students are getting so good at using painting utensils! For our students with physical challenges, we taped a brush to a paint stick to make it easier for them to manage—-it works great! As they move their paintbrushes around the plate they are learning about changes in matter and addressing the science access point recognize a change in an object.

After we finished painting, it was time to add the features to the Lorax’s face. We discussed each body part before gluing it down and asked the students to find the same body part on themselves. Since our students do not have mustaches 🙂 we said it was supposed to go UNDER the eyes.

We used googlie eyes and an orange pompom nose. Joy drew the eyebrows and mustache (here is the pattern: lorax )which were cut out prior to the art activity.

This activity addresses the science access point recognize one or more external body parts.

It also addresses the science access point recognize a movement that reflects a spatial relationship.

Ta Da—-so cute!

LANGUAGE GROUP

Because we are talking about Dr. Seuss this week, what would be more appropriate than targeting rhyming words during our language group!

Our students got to play a fishing game to go with the Dr. Seuss book, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. The game has different colored fish that can be “caught” with a Velcro fishing pole.

Each student had a turn to catch a fish—–a great way to work on eye hand coordination!

Whatever color fish they caught, they had to identify a word that rhymed with it!

The students were given a choice of 2 different words to choose from. For example, if they caught the red fish, they would have to choose what “red” rhymed with: “bed” or “clean”.

Our students did pretty well with this task! If they were unable to figure out the correct rhyming word, the rest of the class helped them out.

Responding to patterns of language in read-aloud rhymes is a language access point.

For our students with a visual impairment students, Joy brought in a big fish that vibrates when it’s squeezed. This vibrating fish was just so much fun—–everyone wanted a chance to play with it 🙂

The science access point recognize and respond to one type of sensory stimuli is addressed here.

At the end of the game, we practiced putting all the fish back IN the fish bowl.

Well that is that for the cat in the hat! We are off for spring break next week——oh the places we are going to go 🙂

See you soon for more fun…..Group by Group!

Mar9

The Oscars book

Posted on March 9, 2014 by jd785

The Oscars book

Oh my goodness! We have had SO much fun creating this book. It really is a must-see. We haven’t done an Oscars theme before and thought that it would be fun to talk about movies and awards. But the BEST part was dressing our students up to act the parts of some of the movies that have won Oscars in the past. And boy did our students love it! Some of the movies featured in our book are Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Shrek, The Music Man, and Aladdin, to name a few. Joy was definitely the creative mind for the book this week. The repetitive line was “an Oscar winner” and was heard after the first line on the page named a movie that had won. Not only did the students get a kick out of seeing their friends in a book, but the adults were crazy about the pictures too! You have GOT to check it out!

Here is a link to the book: An Oscar Winner

Mar9

The Oscars

Posted on March 9, 2014 by jd785

The Oscars

With the Academy Awards all over the news these past couple of weeks, the Oscars seemed like a perfect theme for us! Cara’s book was a huge hit and as usual, our groups were tons of fun! In our sensory group each of our sensory boxes represented a different Oscar winning movie. In the fine motor group our students made some movie star art themed art projects. For our language group it was all about the red carpet experience! Read along to see all the fun we had.

SENSORY GROUP

Popcorn—-gotta have some at the movies! Our first box was filled with popcorn kernels and items related to our theme including: Disney princess figures, a pirate ship wreck, pirate beads, and an Indiana Jones duck! There was a “Music Man” maraca to shake and an Alice in Wonderland cupcake that squeaked. Since the Academy Awards take place in California, we tossed in a state magnet and finally—–a mini Oscar statue (thanks Ms. Caressa!) This was a great box—-something for everyone!

In addition to lots of opportunities for vocabulary building, science concepts of forces and changes in motion were explored with some of the items. Specifically the science access point recognize that pushing or pulling an object makes it move is addressed.

The world in spatial terms is also explored and the social studies access point associate an object, picture, or symbol with a location is addressed.

The students got to make their own Shrek ogres using our green Floam, some potato head features and 2 plastic pegboard pegs—–perfect ogre ears :). Floam has an interesting texture and while you can mold it, it doesn’t “feel” sticky. Pretty cool stuff!

It’s great for working on bilateral coordination as it is squished and molded into roundish heads.

We explored organization and development of living organisms addressing the science access point recognize one or more external body parts.

We loved the way our Wizard of Oz discovery bottle turned out! We mixed some green tinted hair gel with water and green glitter. Then we put in 3 red Barbie shoes—–they looked just like ruby slippers!

The Unique Curriculum intermediate unit this month explores the theme of movement so this bottle, along with other items in our boxes compliments it.

Science concepts of forces and motion are explored. In addition motion of objects is explored with the science access point track objects in motion.

Our Wizard of Oz box also included a slinky rainbow and this was a HUGE hit with our students! Some of them loved SLOWLY pulling it apart. Others pulled it as wide as they could make it and then shook it to see it vibrate. Either way——–fun was had!

Of course forces and changes in motion were explored with the science access point recognize that pushing and pulling an object makes it move. Forms of energy are explored with the access point recognize the change in motion of an object.

The students had so much fun with our Pirates of the Caribbean box! Along with tons of sparkly gold beads were an eye patch and hook so they could get into character if they wanted.

Again the science access point recognize external body parts is explored. In addition tool use is practiced as the hook plunders for beads—-arrgg!

The number 3 and 3 plastic snakes were buried in the sand of our Indiana Jones box—–guess he probably wouldn’t like this box very much 🙂

The science access point match animals that are the same can be addressed with this activity. This access point is related to the concept of diversity and evolution of living organisms.

Recognizing when 1 or 2 items have been added to or removed from sets of objects to 3 is a math access point addressed. This access point is related to developing understandings of multiplication and division and strategies for basic multiplication facts and related division facts.

Blue “genie” oobleck——for Aladdin of course!!!! We sprinkled blue raspberry Koolaid onto our oobleck observing as it changed from white to blue!

As usual, fun was had as our little scientists pushed, pulled, and grabbed handfuls of this gloppy goo 🙂

Recognizing that the appearance of a material has changed is a science access point related to the concept of changes in matter.

For our nod to Snow White we washed the oobleck off hands and arms using an apple sponge. The water was scented with lavender vanilla scented bath gel from Bath and Bodyworks chosen because when Snow White ate the apple she fell asleep…….and lavender makes you feel relaxed…… Ok, kind of a stretch but we went with it 🙂

Properties of matter are addressed with the science access point recognize water as a liquid.

The matching lotion was used to send our students off with memories of all the things they learned. Recognize and respond to different types of sensory stimuli is the science access point addressed and is related to the organization and development of living organisms concepts.

FINE MOTOR GROUP

Our Tuesday art project had the students putting their own stars on the Hollywood walk of fame! The students counted the sides of our grey rectangular piece of paper—-and then we counted out one for each student. After they “wrote” their names, we painted their hands with dark grey paint and stamped them onto the paper.

Using appropriate vocabulary to compare shapes according to attributes and properties is promoted as the math access point recognize common objects with 2 dimensional shapes is addressed in this activity.

The students chose which glittery star they wanted and then glued a picture of their face onto the star.

Squeezing the glue is great for hand strengthening of course! Pincer grasp skills and eye hand coordination are promoted when placing the picture.

Effectively communicating wants and needs to a familiar person using gestures is a language access point.

The star was then glued down onto the paper and——–

TA DA!!!!!

A few new stars on the Hollywood walk of fame!

On Thursday we made our own little Oscar statues!

Joy drew an outline of an Oscar onto gold colored paper. You can print out the outline here: oscar award. It was then glued onto a toilet roll so it could stand up.

Glue was diluted with water and the students used a paint brush to apply it to the paper.

Recognizing that pushing and pulling an object makes it move is a science access point addressed as the students paint with their brushes.

Gold glitter was then added for that authentic look 🙂

While some of our students were able to able the glitter independently, most of them needed a little help.

We stopped periodically to ask them “do we need more?”. They used a Go Talk to communicate whether they needed to add more glitter or if they were all done.

Solving problems involving small quantities of objects or actions using language such as enough, too much, or more is a math access point related to understandings of addition and subtraction.

Using technology resources to support learning is a language access point.

The finished product looked fabulous!

We’d like to thank the Academy………..

LANGUAGE GROUP

We’ve talked about some movies that have won Oscars. We’ve earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and received an Oscar. Now it’s time to walk down the red carpet! But of course, before getting near the red carpet, we need to be dressed for the occasion.

We printed out pictures of all of the different things we could wear and bring to the red carpet, such as sunglasses, sports coats, feather boas, top hats, and earrings. The pictures were put on an All-Turn-It Spinner which was activated using a switch.

Our students took turns activating the switch and seeing what they would be wearing. A couple of our students were able to verbalize what they landed on.

Using an input device, such as a switch to interact with a technology resource is a language access point.

We talked about putting the clothes/objects ON. It was neat to see how many of our students got so excited to dress up! Such a fun way to practice dressing skills!

But really, who doesn’t get a LITTLE excited about getting all fancy 🙂

Communicating recognition of familiar objects and communicating about a selected object are language access points.

Time for a quick interview with Entertainment News…….

then off to the red carpet!

We had taped down some red paper to act as our red carpet. One by one our little movie stars walked the red carpet and were photographed in their fancy attire. They had fun with that!

After the red carpet they were treated to a movie on the smart board. Our version of the Oscars was a success! So much so that a couple of our students didn’t want to give back their costumes 🙂 Sadly, they had to and we talked about taking things OFF.

Hope you enjoyed seeing all the fun we had with the Oscars. Be sure and come back next week—–there will be more fun and learning Group by Group!

Mar2

The Colors of my Country Book

Posted on March 2, 2014 by jd785

The Colors of my Country Book

In lieu of President’s day, we wanted to focus on something patriotic, so we chose to talk about the colors of our country. Each object we talk about has the colors red, white, and blue on it and has something to do with our country. After reading the line on the page, we asked our students, “what are those colors?” and the repetitive line would answer, “colors of my country.” Some of our students labeled the colors they saw on their own. Take a look at the colors of our country, and happy belated President’s day!

Here is a link to the book: Colors of my Country

Mar2

The Colors of my Country

Posted on March 2, 2014 by jd785

The Colors of my Country

We celebrated the colors of our country this week—–between the Winter Olympics and Presidents Day we were in a patriotic frame of mind and thought this theme would be a fun way to finish out the month! Our sensory group boxes were filled with items that were either red, white, or blue. The fine motor group combined the colors to make fun art projects. The language group had fun sorting the colors.

SENSORY GROUP

So many fabulous things to discover in our red box! All sorts of shapes, textures, and things that made NOISE—-especially important for our students with visual impairments. There was paper shred, chenille ribbon, accordion tubes, stuffed animals, and a squeaky toy that was by far the favorite!

As with all our color boxes our students are engaging in the practice of science by exploring, observing, and recognizing common objects in the natural world. They are also exploring properties of matter and addressing the science access point identify common objects by one observable property, such as color.

Our white box had some wonderful textures including feathers, a dusting mitt, and some imitation sheepskin. A lovely soft box to run fingers through. We also put in some pompom yarn that was perfect for shaking and draping!

The practice of science is again addressed as the access point use senses to recognize objects.

This blue box was also filled with more wonderful textures and items to explore. We included some shiny curling ribbon, basket filler, some kitchen scrubbers, and an accordion tube.

As students pulled the accordion tube apart and pushed it back together they worked on bilateral coordination.

Forces and changes in motion were explored while addressing the science access point recognize that pushing and pulling an object makes it move.

LOOK at the concentration on the students faces—–fabulous!!!!!!

This red moon sand had a great tactile feel and is very moldable. A melon baller helped make it even more fun to explore. Discussing the little spheres that were made addresses the math access point recognize 3 dimensional shapes. Of course, even though it looked like a ball it didn’t quite act the same way——some of the students were quite intrigued when the balls didn’t bounce when dropped!

Exploring, observing, and recognizing common objects in the natural world is an access point related to the practice of science.

White flour filled our next box and it is pretty messy stuff—–we LOVE it! Spoons and scoops of different sizes were included for filling and measuring.

Develop understandings of addition and subtraction strategies are addressed as students solve problems involving small quantities of objects or actions using language, such as enough, too much, or more.

We dyed some navy beans blue for our next box and they turned out really cool! We found the instructions on the Fun and Home with Kids website. Everyone, including the adults, was pretty fascinated by the blue hue! To also go along with this weeks theme, the letters U S A were hidden in the box for our students to find.

Finding the hidden letters addresses visual and tactile discrimination skills.

Forces and changes in motion are explored and the science access point recognize that pushing and pulling an object makes it move was addressed when playing with the white shaving cream. Since the shaving cream is naturally white, we had to include it as part of this unit!

As usual, our students made a mess and had a blast 🙂

We rinsed our hands in cherry scented water—-cherries are RED after all 🙂 We also put 2 foam puzzle dinosaurs in the water. Since one dinosaur was blue and one was red, colors could be discussed and the science access point identify objects by one observable property is again addressed.

Our students also enjoyed exploring our discovery bottles. One was filled with blue beads and glitter while the other was filled with assorted red, white and blue beads.

As the bottles are turned the motion of objects is explored as the science access point track objects in motion is addressed.

We finished our session with some cherry scented lotion—-yummy! Our students loved the aroma and loved when it was applied to hands, arms, or ears 🙂

Concepts related to the organization and development of living organisms are explored while addressing the science access points recognize and respond to one type of sensory stimuli AND recognize one or more external body parts.

FINE MOTOR GROUP

On Tuesday we started by counting out some grey rectangular paper—–counting the pieces of course! We always ask to the students to sign their names by first identifying theirs from a choice of two. Our students are emergent writers and we encourage them to “write” as we say the letters of their names out loud. Some of them are starting to say their letters along with us and stop writing after we say the last letter!

Using pictures, symbols, gestures/signs, or words to communicate meaning is a language access point related to the writing process.

Next we counted out 3 shapes, asking the students to point to the number 3 using our communication symbols. Then we asked them to point to or touch the circle (all our shapes came from a shape sorter toy).

Recognizing a common object with a two dimensional shape is a math access point. Recognize quantities 1 to 3 using sets of objects or number names is also a math access point.

To complete our art project we stamped blue squares, red circles, and white triangles. We asked our students to identify the paint colors we were using, again using our communication symbols.

The students did a great job stamping the shapes, showing really nice eye hand coordination!

As they stamped, we counted to 3 aloud. We were really excited when some of them stopped stamping when we got to the number 3!

TaDa!!!!

On Thursday we made a color collage. We love doing collages——they are so much fun AND a great way to use up all those odds and ends hanging around the art closet!

In addition to eye hand coordination, pincer grasp skills are also addressed in this activity.

As items are added to the collage changes in matter are explored addressing the science access point recognize a change in an object.

Here’s to the RED, WHITE and BLUE!

TA DA!!!!!!

LANGUAGE GROUP

For our language group, we focused on sorting and answering the question, “what color is it?” Each of our students had a turn putting their hand inside the bag of goodies Joy put together.

There was a lot of reinforcement to not peek 🙂

Once an object had been pulled out, the student had to say what color it was——either red, white, or blue. They could do this either verbally or by pointing to a communication symbol with the different colors.

Communicating information that tells about an object is a language access point related writing applications.

After labeling the color, the student then had to put it in the matching colored basket.

For some of our visually impaired students, we talked about how the object felt. We used adjectives such as bumpy, smooth, soft, and hard.

Our students did a pretty great job with the sorting and identification of colors. They sure do know the colors of their country!

Thanks for joining us again this week, it’s been a lot of fun—–hope you smiled along with us! Join us again next week for more fun and learning Group by Group.

Feb23

Famous African Americans at My School Book

Posted on February 23, 2014 by jd785

Famous African Americans at My School Book

To celebrate Black History Month, we wanted to showcase a few of the famous African Americans we have working at our school. We had done this last year as well with different people, so this is the second edition. We asked some of our coworkers about things that they liked, and from that we wrote the book and formed the sensory, fine motor, and language groups. After reading the first line on each page, we would ask our students, “who is this?”. The voice output would respond “this is a famous African American at my school,” the repetitive line. Again, our students labeled the people they knew and would point them out if it was someone from their own room. Such fun!

Here is a link to the book: Famous African Americans at my School (2)

Feb23

Famous African Americans at my School

Posted on February 23, 2014 by jd785

Famous African Americans at my School

We celebrated Black History month by spotlighting some very special members of our staff. Our students loved reading Cara’s book about some of the special people in their lives. In our sensory group each of the boxes were filled with items representing a staff member. Our fine motor and language groups honored staff members in their classes with special treats. Here is what we did:

SENSORY GROUP

Ms. Regina is one of our newest owls and when she is not helping keep our school clean, taking care of her children, OR studying she likes to go on nature walks.

We filled her box with leaves, flowers, vines, and spanish moss—–things you always see on a walk in Florida. We put in some wildlife you might see including ducks, butterflies, birds, frogs, lizards. Bird sounds were also recorded on a voice output device to add to that outdoors feeling. It was a very attractive box which definitely invited exploration!

The science access point distinguishing between a plant and an animal is addressed here, helping our students learn about the organization and development of living organisms.

Recognize and respond to common sounds is the science access point related to the understanding of forms of energy.

Coach Brown helps our owls gain new athletic skills. In this blue and yellow rice (our school colors) we put in 3 different sport ball erasers. Since the erasers were a little small we encased them in some photo pockets sealed with packing tape. That kept them visible and able to be handled but avoided any safety issues. It worked really well and our students enjoyed discovering them in the rice—-and of course, burying them back in it 🙂

2 of the balls were round and 1 was oval shaped. Recognizing a common object with a 2 dimensional shape is a math access point.

Ms. Frankie loves the Denver Broncos! Her box had 3 pompom shakers in the Bronco colors of blue, orange, and white. We also put in a “bronco” that neighed when it’s button was pushed.

Our students love the shakers. Not only do they love shaking and waving them around but they also love the rustling sound they make.

Identifying objects by one observable property, such as color is the science access point related to learning properties of matter. Applying a push to move an object is related to learning about forces and changes in motion.

Ms. Jackie loves the colors hot pink and black. We filled her box with colorful hard beads and soft pompoms in different sizes. A great way to explore the properties of matter and the access point match objects by one observable property such as size or color. Working on the concepts “same” and “different” addresses the math access point recognizing similarities and differences in sizes of common objects. This relates to the understanding of geometry and measurement.

Of course, it’s also a great way to work on the science access point identify of external body parts—–as in, let’s put the beads over our heads 🙂

Ms. Metra likes to ride motorcycles with her husband. We put in 2 different motorcycles (one a toy and the other a puzzle piece) on our black bean highway.

The toy was a lot of fun because it was one of the kind that could be pulled back and released to drive along the table. Our students also enjoyed both submerging the motorcycles and their hands/arms in the beans—-they really do have a wonderful tactile feel.

Forces and changes in motion are explored as the science access point apply a push to move an object is addressed.

Grandma Daisy loves to eat sherbet ice cream! We made sherbet play dough by mixing lime gelatin and cornstarch then putting it in the refrigerator. Find the recipe here: http://blogmemom.com. It really looked like the real thing especially when it was scooped. Since it had been refrigerated it was a little hard and some force needed to be applied!

We discussed whether the sherbet was “warm” or “cold” which is a science access point related to properties of matter.

Ms. Shakelia’s favorite color is blue! We mixed blue food coloring with our oobleck this week AND added some blue glitter—–we thought she would appreciate that 🙂 The glitter also adds a nice visual element as it get swirled around with the oobleck as it moves.

As the oobleck goes from a solid to a liquid and back again our students explore changes in matter: addressing the science access point recognize that the appearance of a material has changed.

Ms. Sonya loves when things AND her students are sparkly clean 🙂 so to clean up after our messy play we used Crystal Waters scent that we found at the local pharmacy. Ms. Sonya also loves to cook so we thought an apple shaped sponge would be a fun addition and give the students an opportunity to work on hand strengthening by squeezing water out of the sponge.

Recognizing the water as a liquid is a science access point related to learning properties of matter.

The matching lotion had a light pleasant aroma which our students liked. Recognize and respond to one type of sensory stimuli (in this case olfactory) is a science access point related to the understanding of the organization and development of living organisms.

FINE MOTOR GROUP

On Tuesday we made a handprint peace dove. We started by showing the students the different colors of paper we had available and then asking them which color paper they would like to use for today’s project. They used communication symbols to make their choices.

The students either used eye gaze or pointed to the symbol to indicate their preference.

As we passed out the paper, we discussed its shape (rectangle) and how many sides it had. This addresses the math access point recognize common objects with 2 dimensional shapes.

Then we painted one of their hands with white paint. None of these students are particularly tactile defensive so this was not a problem. In the past we have had students with tactile issues and we adapted the activity by letting them paint a staff members hand instead.

Then we pressed our hands down onto the paper. Some of the students were able to do this part independently but most of them needed a little assistance.

The students were pretty excited to see their hand print appear on the paper! Recognizing a change in an object is a science access point related to the understanding of changes in matter.

Adults added a beak, legs and eye with a permanent marker and our dove was ready to carry its olive branch!

TA DA!

On Thursday we painted a picture frame for Ms. Celeste! She can use it to frame the beautiful picture she took for out book this week. We decided to paint it with her favorite colors of brown and rust!

We started by showing the students the brown paint bottle. We presented the communication symbols and asked them “which one says brown”. Almost all the students answered correctly!

Identifying objects by one observable property such as color—–yep, we’ve got that one!

Then we got out the paint brushes and started painting. They all manipulated their painting tools well! The students did a great job but the hole in the middle of the frame was a little confusing for them and so they needed a little redirection at times.

As the frame is painted, the students track the movement of the brush as it is pushed or pulled——this is a science access point related to the understanding of forces and changes in motion.

The we shook on some rust colored glitter for a little additional sparkle 🙂

As the glitter was applied, it changed the appearance of the frame. Recognizing a change in an object is a science access point related to the understanding of changes in matter.

It turned out really fabulous and Ms. Celeste loved her picture frame!

LANGUAGE GROUP

Since Grandma Daisy works in the room where we do our language group, we based our activity on her favorite food: SHERBET ICE CREAM! In her honor, we decided to make sherbet sundaes.

The focus for the group today was requesting and informing. The students were provided with visuals of the numbers 1-5. They had to tell us how many scoops they wanted in their bowl. As Cara scooped the sherbet out, we all counted.

Counting from 1 to 5 using objects of pictures is a math access point related to geometry and measurement.

Because we were making sundaes, of COURSE we needed some toppings. First we discussed the different toppings and discovered that one of them made NOISE!

Our students with visual impairments were very good at recognizing that the items were nearby—–a science access point related to the understanding of earth in space and time.

Cara made a board that showed the pictures of each topping that was provided: magic shell sauce, whipped cream, and sprinkles. The student whose turn it was would point to the picture of the topping they wanted, verbalizing what it was if they were able to. Cara then put just a little bit of the topping in the bowl.

The PIXON pictures “more” and “all done” were located on the page as well. Our students were able to convey if they wanted more of the topping or if they were all done with it. For the most part, they wanted MORE!

In addition to language/communication aspects of indicating “more” and “all done”, these concepts are also math access points related to representation of quantities.

Everyone seemed to really enjoy their sundae!

YUM!!!

Another great week—-thanks to all the staff members who allowed us to put their photograph in our book! And a great big thank you for all they do to make our school such a great place to be.

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

Feb16

Valentine’s Day book

Posted on February 16, 2014 by jd785

Valentine’s Day book

Love is in the air! We are celebrating Valentine’s day this week. We have brought back a Valentine’s day book that was written for a group in previous years but continues to be applicable today. We always like to be able to re-introduce a familiar book to our students. The book covers some of the things that you might see or hear on Valentine’s day. After the first line is read aloud, we asked our students, “when do we do/see/hear this?” to which the repetitive line answers, “on Valentine’s day.” When reading about how people say “I love you,” some of our students were able to imitate the sign for “I love you.” We hope you have a lovely Valentine’s day!

Here is a link to the book: On Valentine’s Day

Feb16

Valentine’s Day

Posted on February 16, 2014 by jd785

Valentine’s Day

Love was in the air this week as we celebrated Valentine’s Day. It was all hearts, flowers, and chocolate in our sensory group! Our fine motor group made valentines and a box to put them in. A MadLib valentine was a fun project in the language group.

Throughout our groups we addressed the social studies access point associate an object with an event. Read along to see all activities.

SENSORY GROUP

Our first box was filled with a variety of red and white valentine themed objects. We had red paper shred, paper valentines, ribbons, garland, teddy bears, and a variety of hearts of all different textures and sizes. There were even some little valentine rubber duckies—-so cute!

Lots of things to look at, feel, and explore—-it was hard to pick a favorite item!

The science access point recognize common objects in the natural world through observation is addressed here.

Hearts are EVERYWHERE this time of year and we had a whole string of them! Ms. Kim found these fabulous felt hearts at Target and they were an instant hit with the students. They were so pretty and colorful. The hearts were strung on the string in such a fashion that they could be slid back and forth, which was pretty cool.

The science access point track the movement of objects that are pushed or pulled is addressed here in addition to the science access point identify objects by one observable property, such as color.

Some people give their valentines roses and jewelry. Our next box was filled with red silk rose petals and beads of gold, silver, and pearls. Of course the beads were popular but we had great fun picking up handfuls of petals and watching them drop to the ground.

The science access points recognizing two objects that are identical to each other and track objects that fall to the ground are both addressed here.

Other people like to give their valentines chocolate! Our chocolate scented play dough looked and smelled like the real thing—–VERY tempting not only for our students but also the adults 🙂

Fortunately most of our “tasters” have learned all that salt in the recipe makes for a particularly yucky morsel!

We included some hugs and kisses cookie cutters which gave the students the opportunity to recognize differences in the shapes of objects and also to recognize objects as the same which are science access points.

Of course, the shapes can also be counted addressing math access points.

This box was filled with red and white beans. It was a really pretty box with a nice contrast between the colors, the photo doesn’t really do it justice! We included two fun heart shaped spoons in different sizes. As scooping skills were practiced the math access points recognize when an object is added to a situation and associate quantities with language, such as many, a lot, or a little are addressed.

Putting your whole arm in instead, addresses the science access point apply a push to move an object 🙂

We used a package of red velvet cake mix to make one ingredient cloud dough and it works quite well. There were 2 different sized heart cookie cutters with which to stamp impressions and to address the math access point recognize differences in size of objects.

Of course what our students really enjoyed doing was grabbing handfuls and squeezing—-it is kind of irresistible 🙂

In case you were wondering, YES that powder IS messy—–fortunately we had some cinnamon candy scented water with which to rinse it off! We got this scented bath gel at Target a couple of years ago and it is a great scent that smells just like cinnamon red hots!

Recognizing when something has been taken away from a situation—–in this case, the red powder—-is a math access point.

We used 2 discovery bottles with our group this week. One was filled with gold glitter and jewels and the other with a collection of hearts and beads in valentine colors.

Some of our students were able to turn the bottles around themselves—-addressing the science access point recognize that pushing or pulling an object makes it move.

Others enjoyed just watching the contents swirl around—- addressing the science access point track objects in motion.

We finished our session with a yummy chocolate scent to remember all the fun things we learned about Valentines Day. We used a chocolate scented lip balm (thanks for the donation Ms. Elaine )to apply the scent to wrists and hands—-letting the students smell the sweet aroma. For obvious reasons, it was not applied to lips 🙂

Some visitors from E.H.Miller school gave us the idea to use lip balm because it comes in such a variety of flavors—-genius!

Recognize and respond to one type of sensory stimuli is a science access point.

FINE MOTOR GROUP

On Tuesday we made some fabulous valentines. This project has been all over Pinterest and we knew it would be perfect for our students.

We started by talking about the heart shape of our paper and its color. Then we asked our students to show us the color “red” using our communication symbols.

Identify objects by one observable property, such as color, is a science access point.

Then we glued puzzle pieces onto the heart—-a great way to work on pincer grasp skills and eye hand coordination!

We also glued a sentence strip with the words “I love you to pieces” onto the heart.

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

It also addresses the math access point recognize quantities 1 to 3 using sets of objects.

TA DA!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

On Thursday the students decorated coffee containers to hold all the valentines they received from their friends. We started by giving the students a choice of 3 paper colors. After they had chosen their paper, we asked them to identify the color using communication symbols.

Identifying an object by one observable property, in this case color, is a science access point.

We used our paper cutters to trim the strips of paper to fit the container. After the paper was trimmed we noted that we had turned the strip into a rectangle and a square. The students were asked to show us the “square” and they did a pretty good job!

Recognizing a change in an object (as the paper is cut) is a science access point.

Recognizing objects with 2 dimensional shapes is a math access point.

The rectangle was taped to the coffee container and then decorated with all sorts of heart shaped foam stickers. Holding onto those stickers is a great activity for promoting pincer grasp skills!

Before given another sticker, the students were asked if they wanted “more”. Indicating a desire for “more” or “no more” of an object is a math access point.

The students really loved their boxes!

We are ready for the big day 🙂

LANGUAGE GROUP

Since we were celebrating Valentine’s day, we decided to make make a Valentine for someone we love. To make it even more personal, we did them in a Mad Libs fashion!

Cara created a letter with some words missing. Here is the document: My Valentine mad lib. For each word missing, the students had the option of using 2 or 3 different words in place. Here are the words from which the students chose: My Valentine mad lib 2. Our students chose a piece of construction paper and then glued their letter template down.

Communicating a preference for an object is a language access point.

We then started choosing words to put in our Valentines. When going through the letter, we talked about what an adjective is, what a verb is, what kind of feelings people have.

Our students were given a choice of 3 words which we read to them and then asked to indicate which word they wanted. The students have a variety of ways they communicate, including eye gaze, pointing, and vocalizing. Our student with a visual impairment made his choice by pressing a voice output device to say “that’s the one I want” as we read his choices.

Using pictures, symbols, gestures/signs, or words to communicate meaning is a language access point.

Using technology resources to support learning is also a language access point.

The students then cut their chosen words using tabletop scissors and glued them onto their papers. It may be a language focused group but we never pass up an opportunity to incorporate some fine motor skill building 🙂

Using pictures, symbols, gestures/signs, or words to communicate meaning is a language access point.

Using the scissors addresses the science access point recognize that pushing and pulling an object makes it move.

When the students completed their Valentine, they each signed their name at the bottom.

For privacy we blurred this students signature but take it from us, he did an excellent job!

They were so proud——and rightly so 🙂

We loved all our activities this week and hope your Valentine’s Day was just as fun filled as ours was! Join us again next week for more smiles, fun, and learning.

Hugs and kisses from Group by Group xoxoxo

Feb9

Winter Olympics book

Posted on February 9, 2014 by jd785

Winter Olympics book

We brought the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics to our school this week! Our book, I Can Be in the Winter Olympics showcases some of our students participating in some of the events. Joy’s intern, Jimmy, helped photoshop the kids into some pretty wonderful pictures. You just have to see them! Enjoy this wonderful book and happy Winter Olympics!

Here is a link to the book: I Can Be in the Winter Olympics