This week our Fine Motor and Sensory Groups learned about Winter Holidays around the world. Our Language Group looked at words starting with the letter N. Sensory Group—-Winter Holidays Our first box was about Hanukkah. We put in a variety of blue and white items with different shapes and textures such as soft pom poms, […]
November is Native American Heritage month so we are celebrating different tribes of Native Americans. The repetitive line is not necessarily an answer to a question so the focus was more on turn taking and practicing having the students pass the voice output device to their peers once they had “read” the repetitive line. The book also went very well with the sensory group since I tried to put something from each box in the book. I hope you enjoy!
Here is a link to the book: There Are Many Different Tribes of Native Americans
October is Native American Heritage month and we enjoyed learning about a lot of different tribes in our Sensory and Fine Motor Groups. Our Language Group looked at words starting with the letter M.
Sensory Group—Native American Heritage
We started by reading Cara’s book and used the voice output device for the repetitive line. Our students really enjoyed all the pictures she found this week and they are getting so good at activating the voice output device.
This activity addresses the language access points of attending to familiar print forms and responding to a technology resource.
…..perfectly illustrated in this awesome picture—don’t you think!
Our Native American unit addresses the American History access point of recognizing characteristics of early native americans.
Different kinds of beans were a part of the diet of
the Apalachee, Cheyenne, and Cherokee tribes.
We used our mixed beans to represent some of
the different beans they ate.
We also put in the letters N and A.
Some of our students spent time examining
the letters—others dived in with both hands 🙂
Tactile discrimination skills are addressed
when sifting through the beans.
We learned that not all native american tribes wore feathers but the Sioux, Omaha, Comanchee, and Arapaho tribes are known for wearing them.
This box of colorful feathers was great fun to sift through. Our students also enjoyed picking them up and watching them drift down. Some also loved the feel of them stroking their face.
We had so much fun with this box….how can you go wrong with a box full of feathers after all! We have to admit they were a little messy and we did manage to leave a bunch of little pieces behind in each class 🙂
This box addresses the science access point of tracking a falling object. It also addresses the science access point of recognizing and responding to sensory stimuli.
Animals were very important for many native
americans. The Comanchee tribe hunted
buffalo. The Navaho raised sheep.
The Arapaho wore buckskin clothing.
We used our pieces of fake fur, sheepskin
and deerskin to represent these animals.
This addresses American History access
point of identifying practices of Native
Americans. It also addresses the
science access point of using senses
(touch) to recognize objects.
Lots of different tribes were represented in our next box. We put in some corn and play food squash which the Apalachee and Ponca ate. A piece of turquoise like Zuni jewelry was also included.
Some raffia became our “swamp grass” like baskets made by the Chinook. We put in some picture cards of sheep that the Navaho raised and horses that the Comanche rode.
There was a toy buffalo–they were hunted by the Blackfoot and Cheyenne tribes. We found a little tipi like the ones the Sioux and Arapaho used (and we learned that not all native americans lived in tipis). The Seminoles are known for their beautiful patchwork so we had to include a piece of patchwork fabric that resembled their work.
We loved watching our students reactions and
preferences to the different items. We were
really excited when the student in the above
picture correctly oriented the word “family”
demonstrating his awareness of the concept
of print and how it is organized.
Other students, such as the one on the right
loved the native american music we
recorded on a voice output device placed in
the box.
Our red playdough (made using cherry koolaid) looked just like the adobe that the Pueblo made into houses. There were some cookie cutters available but a lot of our students just loved to feel the playdough squish between their fingers 🙂
Playing with the playdough is great for strengthening hand intrinsics.
As we discuss the adobe houses of the Pueblo we are addressing the american history access point of recognizing that people live together in the same location (settlement).
The discovery bottles were filled with acorn
(eaten by the Yokuts) and beads (used by
the Wampanoag, Cherokee, and Kiowa
tribes).
Of course these were fun to shake and
roll around!
By comparing the different sounds the
bottles made when shaken we
addressed the science access point of
recognizing and responding to
common sounds.
Native americans have rich oral tradition and many of their tales are still told around campfires. By adding red and yellow food coloring to our shaving cream we made colors that looked like the flames in a campfire.
So much fun to squish around!
Looking at how the shaving cream changed as the colors are mixed addresses the science access point of recognizing that the appearance of an object or material has changed.
Nature is so important to Native American culture
that we thought the Juniper Breeze scent from
Bath and Body Works was the appropriate
scent in which to rinse our hands.
As students wash the shaving cream from
their hands and apply the lotion, they are building body
awareness and improving bilateral functions.
Fine Motor Group—Native American Heritage
On Tuesday, after reading Cara’s book and learning about Native American heritage, we discussed how drums are often used in native american music. So today, for our art project, we are going to make our own drums.
First we counted out 6 tan rectangles. We ran fingers down and counted each side to help reinforce the concept of the 4 sides of the rectangle.
This addresses the math access point of recognizing the sides of a rectangle.
Then we stamped a variety of animals and plants onto our rectangles, addressing eye hand coordination.
The paper was then taped, with help, around an
oatmeal container.
Hand intrinsic functions are addressed when
applying tape to the paper.
When the project was finished, Cara placed a short video of a native american drum circle—the students LOVED it!!! They couldn’t wait to start drumming their own drums!
So cute!
This was a GREAT activity!
On Thursday, after reading Cara’s book again we made totem poles, like the Tlinglit tribe.
We had a selection of prewrapped empty cereal boxes and
students made their choice from a selection 3 colors.
Our picture cards are so helpful for reinforcing color
concepts and also for building communication
of preferences.
After the boxes were passed around (and counted, of course, to address math access points) we decorated them with a variety of markers.
This is great for practicing manipulating writing utensils by scribbling or drawing (depending on skill level) with markers.
Then we began attaching premade eyes, noses, mouths and wings. We emphasized the placement of the different parts ex. the eyes go on top, the mouth at the bottom.
We helped our students squeeze the glue and encouraged them to place their pieces on the glue. This activity addresses eye hand coordination and spatial relations.
It also addresses the math access point of matching objects to a designated space to show one to one correspondence.
Ta Da!! Our students were so proud of their
totems.
We think they look awesome 🙂
And here is our totem all put together—doesn’t it just look amazing!!!
We had so much fun counting the boxes as we stacked them (using double stick tape). Everyone got excited as it got higher and
higher!
It really looks great outside of Jeannie’s classroom.
Language Group—Letter M
We started by playing with this cute little Monkey. He laughed and rolled around when our students made noise so it was perfect for everyone including our students with physical or visual impairments.
We loved seeing our students reactions, everyone ended up with a smile on their face 🙂
This activity addresses the science access point of recognizing and responding to sensory stimuli.
Then we put some Money in our piggy bank.
Eye hand coordination is addressed as
the students place the coins in the slot.
Math concepts are addressed as the
coins are counted.
Next we played Cara’s sound game.
Lots of cool sounds starting with the letter M!
We finished by having a party to say goodbye to
Ms. Thea who has finished her internship
in Robins room.
Of course we Munched on some yummy food,
including these crackers that have letters
of the alphabet—-so cool!
Goodbye Ms. Thea!
We will really Miss you 🙁
We had so Much fun today!
Join us again next time,
for lots more fun
Group by Group 🙂
It’s that time of year. The turkey is in the oven, family is all around, and we show our thanks to our loved ones. After the first line is read on each page, we asked the students “when does this happen?” and they answered, using a voice output device, “on Thanksgiving day”. Of course, the book ends talking about taking a nap because after all that food, what else are you able to do?! On the “the end” page there is a little bit of animation if the book is opened up in Slideshark on the ipad. Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving!
Here is a link to the book: On Thanksgiving Day
It was all about Thanksgiving in our Fine and Sensory Groups this week. In our Language Group we looked at words that started with Letter L.
Sensory Group—Thanksgiving
We filled this box with play food (squash and other vegetables), turkeys and corn (popcorn kernels)—things you might find at your Thanksgiving feast. We also put in some crochet squares—like the blanket you might snuggle under after the feast!
Of course there is always a game on TV, so we had to put in a small football!
Some pilgrim and native american stickers, and feathers to remind us of the first Thanksgiving. A gift card and small box reminded us of all the shopping we might do after the big day 🙂
And finally, the words Home and Family to remind us what the holiday is all about.
We just loved the different ways our students interacted with the items in the box. In this picture, this little girl is making her turkey eat the corn—-so CUTE!!!
This student, after examining the other items,
became really intrigued by the words
—-working on his literacy, gotta love it 🙂
This box addresses a variety of access
points related to language including
attending to print materials by looking
and touching, and
communicating recognition of familiar
objects.
Our brown feather boa looked just like turkey feathers. As we discuss the fact that birds (like turkeys) have feathers, we address the science access point related to sorting animals by observable characteristics.
Of course, we are also addressing the science access point of responding to sensory stimuli! Our students love to touch and rub the feathers or watch them move about.
Draping the feathers around your neck is kind of fun also 🙂
We thought of pilgrims with our black and white box.
Big soft pompoms and small, hard beads gave us
materials to contrast, compare and count.
This addresses the science access point of
identifying objects by observable properties.
It also addresses the math access points of
recognizing a three-dimensional object (sphere),
differences in size of objects, recognizing two
objects that are the same size and/or color and
as seen in this picture—comparing quantities to 3.
The two discovery bottles reminded us of the first Thanksgiving participants. Beads for the native americans (Wampanoag) and a blue one like the ocean the pilgrims sailed across.
As the students interact with the bottles they are exploring the science access points of applying a push or pull to move an object and tracking objects as they move.
Some of our students loved shaking the bead bottle really hard to hear them rattle, others (as seen in this picture) turned them slowly, watching the beads move around.
Wrist rotation is addressed while turning the bottles in this manner.
Our next box reminded us of more yummy Thanksgiving
food! We filled it with some potato flakes.
A turkey was taped to the bottom of our next box and
could be seen when the potato flakes were
pushed aside.
We also put in the letter T for Thanksgiving—
and turkeys!
The potato flakes have an interesting texture—
soft yet slightly crunchy—-very intriguing.
Locating the letters amongst the flakes
addresses tactile discrimination.
We pushed a turkey cookie cutter into ooey gooey cranberry sauce in our next box.
And just like the response “what is this stuff” given at the Thanksgiving table to canned cranberry sauce—our students weren’t quite sure what to make of it 🙂
Interacting with the cranberry sauce addresses the science access point of responding to sensory stimuli.
Handling and manipulating the cookie cutter addresses grasp skills.
Hands were cleaned in Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin
from Bath and Body Works.
And then we rubbed the lotion on our hands to
leave the group smelling like delicious
pumpkin pies.
Rubbing the lotion on the different extremities
helps build body awareness. Of course, the
lovely aroma is there to help them build
memories of all the wonderful things we
learned today!
Fine Motor Group—Thanksgiving
On Tuesday, after reading Cara’s awesome book, we passed out these cute craft foam turkeys we found in the dollar section at target—10 for a dollar, thats a pretty good deal!
We counted our turkeys as we passed them out, addressing math access points.
Then our students picked out “gobble” sticker from a choice of 3 colors. It will be alternate assessment time before we know it so we are really trying to get as much practice as we can, choosing from an array of 3.
We decorated the turkeys with foam stickers.
Foam stickers are a little thicker than
paper ones, making them easier to grasp
for our students.
We further adapted the activity by
partially peeling off the backing. This
allowed them to work on their pincer
grasp skills.
A few feathers and a fun googlie eye completes a rather fabulous turkey….
TA DA!!!
These turkeys are almost as cute as our students 🙂
On Thursday, for our art activity we made
some pilgrim hats!
We started by cutting a small rectangle
off a strip of paper using our
adaptive scissors.
This addresses the math access point of
recognizing a 2 dimensional shape.
Then we cut out a yellow rectangle—bigger than the white one!
We glued the small rectangle onto the large rectangle.
This addresses the math access point of recognizing similarities and differences in size of common objects.
It also addresses grasp and release skills in addition to spatial relationships.
This was then glued onto the white paper strip.
Placing the pieces addresses spatial
relationships and eye hand coordination.
It always helpful to get a second opinion on
placement—to make sure you got it just
right 🙂
We set aside our paper strips and then counted out our paper plates and after writing our names, turned them over and painted them black.
The shape of the paper plates was discussed addressing the math access point of recognizing a 2 dimensional shape.
While the students were painting, their paper strips
were taped to some black cups (found in a
Halloween clearance section).
An adult made a circle of colored glue on the
plate and asked the students to put the cup on
“top” of it.
This addresses spatial concepts and eye hand
coordination.
This cute little pilgrim hat deserves a pretty big…..
TA DA!!!!!!
Language Group—Letter L
We started by Listening for L words in Cara’s sound game.
It was Lots of fun.
Then we Listened to a Little Lion roar. This toy was found
in Target’s dollar section—our favorite part of
the store 🙂
It has a button on the stomach that you push so
it is also great for addressing finger individuation
skills.
Then we strung some Large beads…a great activity for promoting bilateral skills.
For our students who are more physically impaired, we adapted the activity by putting the bead on the string and letting them pull the string “up”—-addressing spatial concepts.
After the beads were all strung we counted them, targeting math skills.
Of course we also talked about the different colors of the beads—so much learning in one little activity 🙂
Next we Lit some Lights using our Powerlink and a
switch to enable all our students to participate.
We Loved Looking at the Lights!
This activity addresses the science access
point of recognizing and responding to
sensory stimuli and the access point of
recognizing a change in an object—the lights
come on when the switch is pressed.
After Listening and Looking, we moved to smell and touch with some Lavender Lotion.
Most of our students really Loved it!
This activity also addresses the science access point of recognizing and responding to sensory stimuli.
We finished by stamping some spots on a Leopard!
Our stamper was made by wrapping a dish
scrubber with bubble wrap (using a twist tie to
secure it).
This activity addresses eye hand coordination
and visual discrimination as students stamp
on the leopard—not the table 🙂
He’s so cute you just have to roar—Loudly!
That was our Last activity, we did a Lot more than usual today!
There was a Lot of fun and Laughter in our Language group today! Here are some of
the L words we found.
We had a great week and hope you join us again after Thanksgiving for more fun, Group by Group!
Gobble gobble 🙂
Cara and Joy had to cancel groups this week due to unforeseen circumstances. However, some of the teachers sent us photos of their activities in our absence. Looks like they had a lot of fun!
In Ms. Barrett’s class the students crumpled up some dried leaves. As you can see from this picture they really enjoyed themselves.
Crunching up the leaves addresses grasp skills in addition to tactile desensitization.
The adults drew leaf shapes with glue and then the students sprinkled the leaves on top.
This activity addresses eye hand coordination. It also gives the students an opportunity to explore the properties of materials—the leaves stick to the glue NOT the paper.
Happy Fall!
In Ms. Garland’s class they put popsicle sticks together……
to make the letter K.
Then they put stickers on a Kite—great for addressing pincer grasp skills.
Threading the yarn through the hole to make a tail addresses eye hand coordination.
Don’t they look pretty!
They also taped letter K’s to a ball and went outside to…
Kick it 🙂
Eye foot coordination is addressed in this activity.
Well that’s it for this week. We will be back next week with our usual activities—-Group by Group!
The leaves are changing colors, the temperature is getting a little cooler, and fall is here! (Unless you live in Florida where the leaves don’t quite turn a different color 🙂 ) The repetitive line for this book is actually a question that is the first line on each page. The students took turns asking the question, “What do we see during fall?” Although we don’t necessarily have the typical autumn, the students enjoyed looking at the pictures of the seasonal change. They also enjoyed feeling the cool breeze from a hair dryer set on cool as well as the plastic fall leaves we had them hold.
Here is a link to the book: What Do We See During Fall
It got a little chilly this week, perfect for talking about Fall in our Sensory and Fine Motor Groups! In our Language Group we learned about words starting with Ms. Joy’s favorite letter—J. We hope you are enjoying seeing our students—we think they are awfully cute 🙂 One of our teachers, Ms. Bennett, has been projecting the blog onto a big screen and her students have been having so much fun looking for their pictures.
Sensory Group—Fall
Jumping into a pile of leaves…….AKA the sensory room ball pit!
Is this fun or what!
Our students love both jumping into and burying themselves in the colorful balls. So much wonderful vestibular and proprioceptive input to help build body awareness!
This also helps address the science access point of recognizing one or more external body parts as we discuss which parts of their body are covered by the balls.
Now, back to the classroom…..
We started with Cara’s book, as usual, and
when we got to the page about the wind
blowing the leaves we turned on the hair
dryer (on “cool” setting of course). Each
student got a chance to hold the leaves
and feel the “wind”. They all loved it!
Lots of smiles all around 🙂
This activity addresses the science
access point of indicating awareness of
air moving.
More leaves in our next box, along with a variety of fall related items. We put in a small football, scarecrows, squirrels, playfood apples and hamburgers (for tailgating at those football games), pine cones, pieces of yarn in fall colors, and LOTS of silk leaves. A lovely assortment of textures to feel and examine.
Finding objects in the box involves both visual and tactile discrimination skills.
This box also addresses the science access point of recognizing that plants have leaves.
Our colorful pom pom yarn was so much fun.
It reminds us of nice warm sweaters that we
wear when it starts to get chilly outside!
We found this yarn at Michaels.
Its wonderfully soft and fun to pull apart
addressing bilateral skills.
It also addresses the science access point
of recognizing clothing worn by humans
in different weather (seasons)
Of course, its so great for draping over
and around you like a scarf or hat.
This, of course, addresses the access point of giggling at least once daily 🙂
A box of assorted dried beans made us think
of some yummy warm soup on a cool
autumn evening. Our students love to bury
their hands into the beans as well as
empty and fill the different containers.
You have to love the two fisted approach
shown here 🙂
This addresses the math access point of
recognizing differences in sizes of
containers (capacity).
Here in the south, fall means FOOTBALL! We put in some pom poms, mardi gras beads and shakers in the colors of our favorite teams. Our students LOVED the shakers—they were a huge hit.
Most of them even ignored the mardi gras beads in favor of the the shakers—and the beads are usually a favorite!
This box addresses the science access point of recognizing an action as fast or slow.
Our cornflakes sounded just like dried leaves.
Wonderfully noisy, our students had a great
time with this box.
A few did try to sample
the “leaves’ but for the most part they just
enjoyed smashing and crunching them.
This activity addresses the science access
point of recognizing and responding to
common sounds.
Cool weather means warm breakfasts…like oatmeal!
We searched for the letter F as we sifted through it. A delightful tactile experience.
You can’t really see it in this picture, but a piece of paper with leaves was taped to the bottom of the box to be found as the oatmeal is cleared away. With these boxes being clear, we can tape pictures to the bottom of the box thus being seen without getting torn up as students explore the contents.
Our own little genius moment 🙂
Fall means camping and campfires—and
that means s’mores! Yum Yum!
Our oobleck looks
just like melted marshmallow don’t
you think?
As the oobleck changes from a solid
to a liquid this addresses the science
access point of recognizing that the
appearance of an object or material
has changed.
Always fascinating!
Fall is also apple picking time and our Country Apple scent from Bath, and Body Works was the perfect scent to help us remember all the wonderful things we did today.
Smell is an important memory trigger, so we always end our group with some aromatic water and lotion activities.
Fine Motor Group—Fall
Fall is our theme so OF COURSE on Tuesday
we had to make a colorful tree! First we
passed our our rectangular pieces of paper
and practiced writing our names on the
back. Then we used our assorted
adaptive scissors to snip colorful pieces
of paper. What a great way to practice our
emergent cutting skills.
This also addresses the math access point
of recognizing a common object with a
two-dimensional shape.
The colorful paper pieces were dipped into glue and placed onto the tree.
Those tiny pieces of paper are just perfect for facilitating a pincer grasp. In addition, eye hand coordination and spatial relationships are addressed in this activity.
What a fabulous colorful fall tree!
TA DA!!!
Love how the artist added his
own touch by crumpling
some of the pieces to add
more dimension.
Pure genius!
On Thursday, after reading Cara’s book again, we made some cute little scarecrows.
First we used our adaptive scissors or paper cutters to cut 4 strips of yellow paper.
This addresses the math access point of using quantities to 4.
As the paper cutters are shared with classmates, the students address the science access point of sharing objects with a partner—-sharing and taking turns is a very important skill!
We said we needed 4 strips…
Here is 1!
They need to look just
like this 🙂
The science access
point of recognizing a
change in an object is
addressed here.
We glued them to a round white paper plate and……
…..added a precut brown hat.
This addresses the math access point of recognizing common objects with two-dimensional shapes.
Next came an orange triangle nose and 2 googlie eyes!
More math access points!
TA DA—done without any assistance…..
pure AWESOMENESS!!!!!!!!
These little scarecrows are ready for duty….
…..you crows out there better watch out 🙂
Language Group—-Letter J
We started with Cara’s sound game.
It had some really cute sounds this week.
This activity addresses the science access point of recognizing and responding to common sounds.
We helped Tigger…..
Jump!
This addresses the
math access point of
recognizing a
movement that reflects
a spatial relationship.
Then we unscrewed a Jar…….
……to find a Jungle animal.
Unscrewing the jar addresses bilateral coordination and wrist rotation.
We finished by making Jingle bell Jewelry!
Threading the pipe cleaner through the bell addresses bilateral skills.
Counting the bells also allows for the opportunity to address more math access points—-and we love that.
Jazzy and Jingly….totally fun don’t you think! These were a total hit with our students, they really loved shaking their arms and listening to the bells.
We loved finding all those cool J words today!
Join us again next week for more fun and learning—–Group by Group 🙂
It’s that time again…Pumpkin time! Our book goes over October 31st and all of the things that we see and do. The students were asked “what time is it?” when it was their turn to read the repetitive line with the pre-programmed voice output device. They loved looking at the different costumes that are seen as well as all of the different jack o’lanterns.
Here is a link to the book: It’s Pumpkin Time!
Pumpkin Time was the theme for this weeks Sensory and Fine Motor Groups. Our Language Group learned about words starting with the letter I.
Sensory Group—Pumpkin Time
Our orange themed box was a huge hit, our students loved it!
We filled it with a variety of textures such as yarn, tulle, and fabric scraps. We also put in some play food oranges, carrots, and a variety of pumpkins including bean bag and kitchen scrubber ones.!
Shiny beads, soft pompoms and chenille stems added some more contrasting textures. Plastic stretchy tubes were fun to pull apart and added a fun auditory component. And finally some beads, puzzle pieces, toys—
——all with that lovely bright ORANGE color.
So much fun to grab and shake!
Did we say our students LOVED this box? 🙂
‘
This box addresses the Language access
point of responding to familiar objects
and the science access point of
comparing and contrasting
properties of materials.
This little fish shoots puffs of air
when squeezed—–fun 🙂
Of course if you have an orange box, you have to contrast it with a black one. Lots of textured items from headbands, toy bats and furry fabric to window screening and Mr. Potato Head pieces (like his black hat and mustache).
There were a lot of opportunities for promoting bilateral coordination with our stretchy tubes and slinky spirals.
When pulling these items, the science access point of recognizing that pushing or pulling an object makes it move is addressed.
These boxes also address the science access point of exploring, observing, and recognizing common objects in the natural world.
And, of course, if there are sunglasses and
beads in a box, they HAVE to be put on!
Our students can totally rock a
pair of glasses, don’t you think 🙂
As students place objects on and off
themselves they are building body
awareness and spatial concepts.
Continuing our orange and black theme we brought back our black playdoh for one more time!
Its just so sparkly and squishable.
Our cat cookie cutter let us make a bunch of cute black cats.
In addition to addressing the fine motor skills playing with playdough also addresses the science access point of of recognizing a change in an object.
Pumpkin pie spice was added to our orange playdough
and made it smell wonderful.
It was perfect for our pumpkin cookie cutter.
We had a few students who tried to sample the
playdough but for the most part, everyone played
with it appropriately.
The shapes cut out can also be counted as
addressing math access points.
Our orange rice with black beans is just so eye catching—you can’t help putting your hands into it! Fun to practice scooping and also to search for the letter P…..
and a little wooden pumpkin.
Scooping and filling using measuring cups and spoons helps address the math access point of recognizing differences in sizes of containers (capacity).
Fine motor skills of grasp and eye hand coordination are also addressed.
We filled our discovery bottles with karo syrup,
orange food coloring, orange beads, black
glitter and some black cat confetti. Hot
glue does a great job of making sure
they can’t be opened—-some of the
students have very busy little hands 🙂
Following the moving objects addresses
the science access point of tracking
objects in motion.
Finger painting in canned pumpkin puree (decorated with black icing)—what could be more gooey, squishy fun in which to practice prewriting patterns 🙂
Still, it was also wet and a little cold so some of our students who are more tactile defensive dove in a little more slowly.
We rinsed our hands and finished with pumpkin
scented lotion from Bath and Bodyworks.
Everybody left smelling just like yummy
pumpkin pies!
A nice strong scent to help everyone
remember all the wonderful things we
learned today.
Fine Motor Group—Pumpkin Time
Body Sox in the sensory room—-OR an alien visitor? Hmmm
The body sox are so much fun and great for getting some nice proprioceptive input from their stretchy resistance.
On Tuesday after returning to the classroom and listening to Cara’s book we let our students choose a mask. Joy found the masks in a $2 grab bag at Michaels—what a deal! Our students chose from a selection of 3 masks—giving them an opportunity to make choices out of a array of 3 which compares to the format of our state alternate assessment.
Taking the markers out of the bags gave us an opportunity to practice working with zippers. A chenille stem (sturdier than a piece of yarn) makes it easier for some of our students to pull.
Putting the markers in and out of the bag addresses the math access point of recognizing a movement that reflects a spatial relationship.
We used markers to color the masks. Scribbling and coloring are important steps in the prewriting continuum. During the activity we made sure to discuss the colors students chose and the different facial features.
Then we tried them on for size….
On Thursday we read Cara’s book again. Our students had just worn costumes and gone trick or treating at our community health department so it was a real opportunity to address the language access point of communicating recognition of familiar objects.
On to our art project!
We counted out 7 pieces of rectangular, black paper and then 7 potatoes carved to look like little jack-o-lanterns. Each time we count out our materials we are helping develop one to one correspondence.
We took time to look at the potatoes and discuss the face carved into them.
This activity helps build hand grasp skills and eye hand coordination. This potatoes have a little weight to them which gives some nice additional proprioceptive feedback.
How many pumpkins did you stamp? We used our number flip chart to help our students address the math access point of one to one correspondence.
Ta-Da!
Language Group—Letter I
We listened for some I words in
Cara’s sound game.
Next we Inserted legs………Into our Insect.
We used the little bugs from the Cootie game for this activity.
This is a great activity for building bilateral coordination!
Our little Insect Isn’t Icky at all…..
Is he 🙂
We picked up Iguanas with our tongs and put them In a bowl.
Manipulating tongs helps build graded motor control which is necessary to manipulate scissors.
In addition, placing the objects into the bowl addresses eye hand coordination and spatial relationships.
Ivan helped out our students who were unable to manipulate
the tongs.
We adapted him using velcro and a shower curtain ring!
We finished by making down lines (just like the
initial stroke of a letter I) on our Iglo0.
We used our adapted toy for our students who
needed switch access
to participate.
It wasn’t so easy finding I words today but we managed to come up with quite a few of them, didn’t we?
Join us again next week its going to be fun…..
Group by Group 🙂