Nov6

Week 10—Going to the Fair and the Letter H

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Week 10—Going to the Fair and the Letter H

The Fair is coming to town so it was the perfect theme for our Sensory and Fine Motor Groups. We made a little change this week and have renamed our Alphabet Group. It is now called the Language Group, to more accurately reflect its emphasis. In our Language Group, we are on letter H.

Sensory Group—Fun at the Fair

While the sounds and aroma of popcorn (thanks Ms. B) wafted through the air, we read Cara’s book “We’re Going to the Fair”. Our students enjoyed munching the popcorn while listening to the story. In addition to our voice output device, we added some finger puppet props that Nancy made.

After we finished the story, we started to explore our sensory boxes. Our students sifted through yellow cornmeal to look for cow and sheep puzzle pieces as well as the letters S and C.

The cornmeal has the most lovely soft, silky feel and our students really enjoyed it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We looked for animals from the petting zoo in some hay. It had a really different texture from the cornmeal!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We turned off the lights while our students played with some of our lighted toys. There are lots of moving lights on the rides and booths at a fair.

The toy pictured here is activated by a little button that is helpful for working on isolated thumb movements.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This next one was a lot of fun. It is a spinning top that not only lights up but has siren like noises that are similar to those heard on the rides. As the top moved around the table, it allowed the students to work on visual tracking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The lights came back on and we talked about all the different booths you might see at the fair. In some of them, you might pick up rubber ducks or knock down bowling pins to win a prize. You might win a sparkly necklace or a cuddly teddy bear. You might go into a fun house and look at yourself in a mirror.

Our students really enjoyed sifting through the various objects to find their favorites. It also gave us the opportunity to discuss properties of the materials (a science access point).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Soft easter basket stuffing made for perfect cotton candy. It came in a variety of delicious colors and was so much fun to pull apart while working on bilateral skills.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of our students “made” cotton candy by squishing cotton balls, water and blue food coloring. This is a great activity for strengthening hand intrinsics. When finished, it really does resemble cotton candy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also double bagged samples of our sensory boxes for our students with problematic oral exploration issues to allow them to safely explore the materials.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, we rinsed our hands in water with a delicious vanilla sugar scent and finished with vanilla sugar scented lotion so we could all leave smelling like yummy funnel cakes and remember our visit to the fair!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fine Motor Group—Fun at the Fair

On Tuesday, we started by reading Cara’s book and using the adorable finger puppets Nancy made. Finger puppets are wonderful for working on finger individuation and placing them on/off addresses bilateral skills.

After we finished the story, it was time to make cotton candy!

We started with a poster board rectangle glued to a popsicle stick and some cotton balls. We discussed the shape of the poster board and cotton balls (math access points).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our students chose an ink color from a choice of 3 ( giving them practice for choosing from an array of 3 in our states alternate assessment)….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

then we dabbed our cotton balls onto the stamp pad. This step works on pincer grasp and eye hand coordination skills.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we glued the cotton balls onto the poster board. Counting the cotton balls as they are placed addresses math access points.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next we sprayed water and food coloring onto the cotton balls to make a stick of yummy cotton candy! It looks good enough to eat!

Squeezing the trigger works on hand strengthening and is a great pre-scissor activity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Thursday, after reading Cara’s book again and having more fun with the finger puppets, we made a ferris wheel.

First we used a paper cutter to cut rectangles. Our students really like using the paper cutters and it is exciting to see some of our students start to use them independently!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next we counted out 2 precut construction paper circles and glued them to the rectangle to make a ferris wheel gondola.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we turned it over and the students turned it over and glued a precut silhouette of themselves to the back, to “sit” in the gondola.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We handed out a big paper plate with small one attached (working on those math access points again!) to the back with a brad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our students were each given a set of pre-assembled gondolas of each of their classmates which they then glued, along with their gondola, to the large paper plate. Due to privacy concerns, the sample we have photographed was made with magazine cutouts but as you can see, it looks very cute and when the small plate is held it spins quite nicely—-and addresses bilateral skills!

The yellow wheels are vinyl that the vision teacher prepared for our student with a visual impairment to make his gondola.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Language Group—letter J

We squeezed the bulb to make these spiders Jump across the table. These furry Jiggly, Jittery spiders sure elicited lots of laughs and squeals 🙂

Squeezing the bulb helps strengthen hand intrinsics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, we used our tongs to pick up Jungle animals and put them in a Jar.

This activity addresses bilateral functions and eye hand coordination.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then our students chose a piece of paper from an array of 3 (again, due to the alternate assessment, we like our students to have 3 choices when possible).

……Just wait and see what we are going to make!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We proceeded to fold the paper in half and then folded the corners down. We added dots to give our students visual cues.

Almost done…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

two more folds to make wings……

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…………….and here is our Jet!

Our students had so much fun launching their Jets and seeing whose flew the farthest (slipping a math access point into our language activity!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We finished by playing Cara’s listening game. Cara records the sounds on the computer and the students try to guess the sound and point to the correct picture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just a few of the words we put on our post its today. As usual, our students enjoyed picking up or pointing to the post its as we wrote down “J” words during our session.

We had so much fun this week! Please join us next week for more fun and learning Group by Group 🙂

Oct30

Week 9—Pumpkin Time and the Letter I

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Week 9—Pumpkin Time and the Letter I

Pumpkin Time was the theme for both the Sensory and Fine Motor Groups this week. For our Alphabet Group, the theme was the letter I. All the groups were so much fun—see what we did!

Sensory Group—Pumpkin Time

We started by reading Cara’s book Trick or Treat. In addition to using our voice output device, the students got to take turns with these goofy finger puppets. Great for working on finger individuation.

For our water play and lotion, we used Pumpkin Pie Paradise (from Bath and Body Works). It had a really strong aroma that wafted all around the room. Everyone enjoyed the yummy, sweet scent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We looked for the letter P in a mixture of orange colored rice and black beans. In addition to letter and color identification, we were able to discuss the concepts of big and little.

The picture really doesn’t do justice to how brightly colored the rice was. It was very eye catching.Here, one of our students who usually needs some assistance to engage with the materials, just dove on in with both hands.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also made some pumpkin pie scented playdough to use with our bat and pumpkin cookie cutters. Pushing down on the cookie cutters addresses hand strengthening in addition to working on tactile desensitization.

Despite its rather yummy aroma, almost all our students were very good about not trying to eat it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also put some eyeball rings to squish around and find in some plain playdough. As these rings were pretty small, we did put the mixture into a double ziplock bag before our students began playing with it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our shaving cream ghost was a hit. For some of our students it is easier to work on a more vertical surface—-shaving cream is a perfect choice!

After the ghost was rubbed away, we worked on making vertical, horizontal and circular motions to address prewriting skills.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This sensory box emphasized the contrasting properties of materials—a science access point. We had rough pumpkin scrubbers and a smooth piece of orange fabric,  hard beads and soft garland, big pumpkin bean bags and little black pompoms. We also put in black and orange yarn and a few halloween themed trinkets.

It was fun to see the items different students chose to interact with.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fine Motor Group—Pumpkin Time

We started by reading Cara’s book and taking turns with the finger puppets again. The we made the cutest mummies using an idea we found at crafts.kaboose.com/juice–box–mummy.html

We started by tearing  a piece of white paper into strips  and glueing them around a juice box. Tearing paper is a wonderful pre-scissor activity, great for improving bilateral coordination.

Before we started tearing the paper, we discussed its shape (rectangle) and color.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We tore a small piece of black paper and glued it near the top of the box.

And then, we counted out 2 googlie eyes and glued them on the black paper—great for pincer skill practice (Joy being an OT, just had to mention that of course!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our artists always “sign” their work but we were particularly excited to see students emerging independence using his adaptive writing utensil.

And now here they are………

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MUMMIES!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Thursday we used punches to cut out 1 square and 2 circles (working on math access points and hand strengthening).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We cut the square into 2 triangles….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and glued them onto an orange paper plate (using our home made colored glue to help our students see where to place their pieces).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we added our circle and some rectangles—more math access points

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…………………Let the trick or treating begin!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alphabet Group—letter I

We started by putting an Iguana In and out of a jar. Unscrewing the jar works on bilateral coordination, palmer arches, and grasp patterns.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
We then played the game “Whats in Ned’s Head”….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and found some really Icky things! On side note, this class is made up of all boys and needless to say, they absolutely loved this game. What can you say, boys will be boys 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then moved on to something a little more appetizing—Ice cream!

First we practiced cutting along lines to make our triangle cone. This student is using an adaptive squeeze scissors (available from a variety of catalogs).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The cone and a small paper plate were glued onto a piece of paper. Our students colored their plates with markers.

For our students with significant physical differences, Joy used velcro to attach a marker to a switch toy. By pressing a switch, the students were able to color also. Their classmates also enjoyed taking their turn, of course.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We finished by adding a few sequins for sprinkles.

I like It!! !!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are some of the I words we found today.

It was certainly another fun week, join us next time Group by Group!

Oct24

Week 8—Nocturnal Animals and the letter H

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Week 8—Nocturnal Animals and the letter H

Our theme this week was Nocturnal Animals for our sensory and fine motor groups.

For both of these groups we started by turning off the lights and closing the blinds to darken the classroom. This illuminated moon was pulled from the schools science kit. Our students were very attentive to the light and loved running their hands over the bumpy surface. It was a huge hit.

We then read Cara’s book “Creatures of the Night” using a flashlight to additionally highlight the pages. We also used it to highlight the voice output device as each student took their turn activating the device—-or holding the light for a friend!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sensory Group—Nocturnal Animals

After reading Cara’s book we put some Tonic Water in a cup and held a portable black light (purchased from Wal Mart in their Halloween section). It has an amazing glow! Our students poured the water onto cornstarch…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 amazing, glowing oobleck—-WOW! Our students were absolutely enrapt (and so were the adults).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we finally tore ourselves away from the oobleck, we rinsed our hands in some scented water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We searched in some black beans to find the letters O and B to match with our owl and bat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We explored fur (a strip of fun fur cut into pieces) and feathers (a feather boa picked up at Joann Fabrics). This box also contained some black pompoms (another soft texture) and some black mardi gras beads (a hard texture) in addition to a plush owl and some rubber bats. Discussing all the different properties of these items addresses a variety of access points.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fine Motor Group—Nocturnal Animals

We started our fine motor activity with some precut bat wings (drawn by Joy). We counted them as we passed one to each student. (Math access point).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Then we put some glue (colored with food coloring) in the middle of the wings. This student worked very hard to squeeze the glue all by himself (demonstrating improving shoulder stability and hand strength) and was very proud of his efforts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Each student was given half of a precut styrofoam ball which they then placed on top of their glue dot. Prior to handing the balls out, we demonstrated how two halves make a whole. Addressing math access points again.

Then—lots of black paint and two googlie eyes later—some very awesome bats…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ta Da!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Thursday we made an owl. We started by giving our students a choice of 3 strips of paper. Since our state Alternate Assessment is given in a 3 choice format we try to give our students lots of practice.

 This paper was from a give away wallpaper sample book. Sorry for the blurry picture—those little hands move quite fast 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then flipped the paper over and trimmed it using our adaptive scissors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The paper was glued and taped around a prepared toilet paper roll (notice the dimpled end).The precut wings (we counted 2 for each student) were taped on. We used tape because our glue needed a little help on the wallpaper. The students really enjoyed using tape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We counted out 2 googlie eyes and 1 triangle nose (more access points). We really got a chance to work on pincer grasps while completing these finishing touches.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These owls are just so super cute!

Thanks to Nancy for finding this idea on the happy hooligans website. http://happyhooligans.wordpress.com/2011/10/06/adorable-owls/

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alphabet Group—letter H

We started by Holding a Heavy Hound with our Hands and Heaving Him around the group. This activity worked on upper extremity strengthening, trunk rotation, and social skills.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We used our tongs to pick up Halloween colored pompoms out of a House.  We counted each students Haul to see How many pompoms they picked up. Tongs are wonderful for building eye hand coordination and pre scissor skills. Counting out the pompoms also addresses math skills.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next we placed Happy face stickers on our House (drawn by Joy). Peeling and placing the stickers is great for promoting pincer grasp skills. We gave our students directions on where to place the stickers, for example “on top” of the roof to work on spatial concepts and following directions. Of course, we counted all the stickers when we finished.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a Happy Haunted House 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We finished by playing Cara’s listening game and looking at all the words we placed on our post its. Joy forgot to take a picture of the words this week, but we really did find lots of H words!

We had so much fun this week! Join us again for more fun Group by Group.

Oct16

Book for Week 7

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Book for Week 7

Cara decided to put a little rhyme to the book this week.  We asked the question “Where are bugs?” to which the repetitive line answered: “bugs are everywhere”.  The students liked looking at all the different kinds of bugs in the book.  Cara would ask the students to point to the bug on each page to target following a one-step simple direction as well as targeting receptive language skills.  All the pictures in the book were found on Google images.

Bugs Are Everywhere

Oct16

Week 7—Bugs and the letter G

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Week 7—Bugs and the letter G

Our themes this week were Bugs for our sensory and fine motor groups and the letter G for our alphabet group.

Sensory Group—Bugs

We started our group by reading Cara’s book “Bugs are Everywhere” using our voice output devices to answer the question “where can we find bugs?” We also passed around a canister of mushroom scent from the Follow your Nose game. That unusual scent really fit our theme.

Nancy found this cool black light flashlight which we used to make the centipedes glow in our bin of spaghetti worms. It was very eye catching in addition to targeting some of the science access points.

The cold spaghetti worms had an interesting texture. Some of our students reveled in the texture while others were very hesitant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The black light also made our green spider web glow. Our students had fun pulling apart the web to find the spiders. Pulling apart the spider web promotes bilateral coordination and strengthening while picking out the spiders helps the students work on their pincer grasp.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We made dirt out of dried coffee grounds (thank you Joi B and other teachers for saving yours for us). Our students looked for the letters B U G and all sorts of bugs. Identifying the bugs addresses science access points while counting the number of bugs found addresses math access points.

The coffee grounds have a soft, dry feel and were very popular. The grounds do retain their coffee aroma but it is not very strong or overwhelming.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next we finger painted directional lines in our green and glittery oobleck. Practicing the motor movements of lines, letters, and numbers in the oobleck  helps build motor memory.

The glitter was also very eye catching as it got swirled around the oobleck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our vibrating ladybug pillow (purchased from the Beyond Play catalog) was a huge hit. By squeezing or pushing down on the pillow, our students could activate the vibration component. We targeted more math access points by describing the lady bugs shape (round) and size (big).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For our water play and lotion we used the Juniper Breeze scent. Its woodsy kind of scent reminded us of the outdoors—-where we might see lots of bugs. We also used the mushroom scent from the Follow you Nose game (from Flaghouse catalog). It also reminded us of places we might find bugs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fine Motor Group—Bugs

We read Cara’s book “Bugs are Everywhere” and used our voice output device to answer the question “where are bugs?” Our students loved identifying their favorites!

Before we started our fine motor activity, we used some 3 dimensional overlays of bugs with our light box. These were in our schools science kit. These were especially useful for our students with visual impairments, but all the students enjoyed them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now to begin making our own spider web! Our students began by scooping 3 marbles out of black paint and placing them on a piece of white paper we had placed in a plastic box with a lid. A nice eye hand coordination activity.

We also discussed what color paint we used and counted the marbles (one to one correspondence, a math access point).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our next step was to close the lid and SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE! Students were so excited when it was their turn to shake the box—great for bilateral coordination and improving shoulder stability.

We feel that the clear box made the activity especially engaging.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next we added some glitter! Bilateral skills are called for to turn the container so the holes are on the bottom. Holding and shaking the glitter addresses grasp skills and shoulder stability.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the final touch—a black foam spider sticker to crawl around the web!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Thursday we read Cara’s book again and began making some more bugs!

We started by giving our students their choice of tissue paper— saved from presents past 🙂

The brightly colored paper was very engaging for our students and it was fun to see their choices.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, we tore the tissue into small pieces. This is a great bilateral coordination activity.

Our vision teacher helped her student learn to crumple his paper by cupping her hands around his.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next we got out the pre-made bug skeleton. Notice the indentation at one end.

We were able to count six legs!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After crumpling their paper, our students dipped the pieces in glue and placed them onto the paper roll (working on eye hand coordination and following directions).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the addition of googlie eyes and antenna (great for working on pincer grasp skills) our bugs came alive.

Wow—-look at this bunch of colorful bugs!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alphabet Group—letter G

We started this Great day by stringing Gigantic beads. The super large openings and long tip make this bilateral coordination activity much easier for our students.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we used our Green Grabbers to Gobble Green Globs! Manipulating the trigger of the grabber calls for the same hand movements used to manipulate scissors. While picking up the pompoms and placing them in the bowl works on shoulder stabilization and eye hand coordination. Counting how many pompoms are gobbled addresses math skills.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We started our next activity by snipping Green paper Grass. We had to Go slowly along the line and remember to stop at the dot. In the photo, the student is using an adaptive squeeze scissors. These are available from a variety of catalogs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After setting the Grass aside, our students colored a billy Goat Gruff head that Joy drew. In this photo you can see how this student has nicely progressed to coloring the details of his picture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We Glued down the Goats head and Grass (working on finger intrinsics to manipulate the glue stick, visual spatial skills and following directions) on to a lunch bag.

And here is our billy Goat Gruff Grazing on his Green Grass. Isn’t he Gorgeous!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We ended our session by playing our Guess the sound Game. Our students always look forward to seeing what Cara has come up with this week!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lots of G words this week. We do go through quite a lot of post-its but our students really love picking up the individual words and its so easy for us to pick up the word while we are speaking or attach it to an object

Hope you join us again next week for more fun Group by Group!


Oct9

Week 6—Washington DC and the letter F.

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Week 6—Washington DC and the letter F.

This week Cara did not write a book, our Sensory and Fine motor groups read the book “Let’s Visit the President” from the Unique Curriculum.                                                                         

Sensory Group—Visiting Washington DC

We recorded the sounds of a jet taking off and marine band playing “Hail to the Chief” on our voice output device to add an auditory component while reading our book. Other props included a dog house (from a line in the book). We used scratch and sniff cards with scents of oil and gas which might be associated with travels in a plane or car. We added the scent of cherry blossoms for our water play and lotion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a collection of lighted toys to remind us of the varieties of flashing lights seen in a city. These were especially attractive to some of our students with a visual impairment and great for visual tracking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We searched for big and little W’s in white rice and lima beans. We noted that the grains of rice were little, while the lima beans were big. These are all access points.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We finger painted the letter W in white shaving cream. The shaving cream (or any of our sensory box items) can be placed in a ziplock bags if oral exploration is an issue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our box of cherry blossoms was made by pulling the petals off dollar store silk flowers. Hidden among the blossoms were small people figures (there are lots of people in Washington) and inset puzzle pieces of cars, houses and airplanes. In addition to searching for the hidden treasures, our students loved picking up handfuls of the petals and watching them drift down (another great visual tracking activity). We got some lovely smiles as the soft petals drifted down over them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fine Motor Group—-Visiting Washington DC

We read “Let’s Visit the President” from the Unique curriculum and our students especially enjoyed the “jet” sounds made by the voice output device. Then we proceeded to make a map of the United States, identifying Washington DC and our state capitol.

First we used our adaptive scissors to cut our paper strips (with the words Washington DC and Tallahassee) and set them aside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our students chose which color paint they wanted to use by pointing to a communication board we made with some construction paper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We counted out sheets of yellow construction paper and discussed its shape (rectangle) targeting math access points. We then painted (go fairly goopy on the paint) our students RIGHT hands with the paint color of their choice. Its important to paint the right hand. If you don’t, you quickly realize your mistake (as a couple of us did) when you proceed to the next step! We also found it helpful to assist our students with thumb abduction.

Before proceeding to the next step, turn the paper into a horizontal orientation with the thumb portion pointing downward.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We used our purple glue (made by adding food coloring to regular white glue) to help our students locate the approximate geographical locations of Tallahassee and Washington DC.  Working on pincer grasps to pick up the paper, our students placed them on the glue. We continued to work on pincer grasp by counting and peeling off star stickers (one to one correspondence–a math access point).

The final product——TA DA!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Thursday we read our book again and talked about who lives in the White House.

We cut out our sentence strips using a paper cutter and set them aside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next we counted out 2 white card stock rectangles (working on math access points). Then we glued a picture to each rectangle. We used glue that we colored with food coloring. The colored glue helps our students see where they have placed the glue and to identify where to place their paper. Squeezing the glue also helps build hand strength.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We glued our sentence strips to the appropriate photo. We added a highlighted “Who” to the White House photo. “Who” is a new word from our Meville to Weville reading curriculum.

We then glued the rectangles back to back onto a paint stick.

And the answer to the question is……….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

President Barack Obama!

Our students really loved lifting their signs overhead and getting lots of Ta-Da’s for their efforts. Just so much fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alphabet Group—letter F

We Fanned our Faces with battery operated Fans. Operating the fan addresses isolating thumb movements.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next we went Fishing. We asked the students to Find Four or Five Fish. This activity works on shoulder stability, eye hand coordination, and graded motor control. It also addresses math access points and color identification.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For our students with motor differences we used a fishing set that had a soft, easily grasped rod with a velcro tip. By swiping their rod across the pile of fish, our students were easily able to catch their share.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For our Final activity our students Found Four pink dots and drew vertical lines From each dot. We like using markers because of their vivid colors, low friction which makes it easier to make marks, and the larger diameter allows for an easier grasp. This activity addresses math access points and handwriting skills.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, our students stamped Four Fragrant Flowers. Joy made the stamp by cutting a flower shape out of some leftover foam and used double stick tape to attach it to a dish scrubber purchased at the dollar store. The rounded handle of the dish scrubber makes it very easy to grasp. Our students had to remember to place their flowers at the top of the “stem” (working on spatial concepts) and to stamp just one flower on each stem, counting to 4 again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                Fabulous Fragrant Flowers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For our students with significant motor difficulties, Joy attached a marker (using velcro) to a battery operated toy they could access via a pressure switch placed by their temples. As the toy moved around, our students were able to scribble along with their classmates.

This was a huge hit, and needless to say, everyone got a turn (or more than one) to join in the fun as seen in the picture here 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the Fantastic, Fabulous F words we Found this Friday—-so many we couldn’t Fit them all into the picture!

Join us next week as we make learning fun Group by Group.

Oct5

Week 5 book

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Week 5 book

This week, we read “Goldilocks and the 3 Bears”.  Cara wrote a modified version of the story that included the repetitive line “Did she follow the rules?”  The children would then answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ using a communication board.  The rules we went over were:

  • Are we supposed to go into a strangers house without permission?
  • Are we allowed to eat someone else’s food?
  • Is it okay if we break something that someone else owns?
  • Are we supposed to sleep during school?  (Although Goldilocks falls asleep in Baby Bear’s bed in his house, we wanted to tie in rules that would apply to the children.)

Goldilocks and the 3 Bears

 

 

 

Oct3

Week 5

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Week 5

Our themes this week were Following the Rules from the Unique Curriculum for our Sensory and Fine motor groups and the letter E for our Alphabet group.

Sensory Group—Following the Rules

We read Goldilocks and the 3 bears asking “did she follow the rules”? We used a communication board to let the students answer yes/no during selected parts of the story where we changed our wording slightly from the original. For example, Goldilocks pushed  her bowl off the table, knocked the chair down, walked in to a stranger’s house, and ran instead of walked, etc. One of our teachers (Alice) came up with this great idea.

We also had some props, including velcro pieces attached to our book pages and 3 bear finger puppets that Nancy made.

 

 

 

 

100_0449After our story, we began our sensory play. Students searched for the letters B (bears) and G (Goldilocks) as well as the number 3 in dry oatmeal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

100_0451We mixed some of the oatmeal with water of a “just right temperature” and tried finger painting the letters G and B and the number 3. Practicing the movement patterns helps build motor memory for the letters and numbers. In addition, it was a different texture for our students who are tactile defensive to explore.

For our students who could tolerate oral tastings we made a separate bowl of oatmeal and encouraged them to communicate by facial expression, vocalization or voice output device if it tasted “just right”. One of our students who rarely verbalizes stated her opinion loud and clear saying “I like it”—-her class got to keep the box of oatmeal 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

100_0448Yellow easter grass became Goldilocks hair. Our students really loved pulling apart the shredded paper and we helped some of them put it on their heads so they could have “golden” hair.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

100_0452We used some fake fur yardage which we touched and compared its softness to the hard table (comparing properties of materials such as hard/soft is a science access point).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fine Motor Group— Following  The Rules

First, we counted the 3 bear puppets and our students took turns wearing them, working on finger isolation skills. The puppets were a huge hit. After we finished our book we began our Goldilocks art project.

100_0455We used yellow ribbon to lace through the precut holes of our paper plate. We pointed out that the plate was a circle. Lacing works on bilateral coordination, eye hand coordination and sequencing skills. In addition, our students practiced their pincer grasps when pulling the ribbon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

100_0453Our students used a communication board to identify facial features that had been precut from magazine adds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We counted 2 eyes, 1 nose and 1 mouth while discussing the the concepts of over/under as our students glued them to the plate.

Doesn’t Goldilocks look beautiful!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Thursday, after reading Goldilocks and the Three Bears, we made bear faces from paper plates.

100_0463We counted out 2 plates and discussed which one was big and which one was little. Our students used built up handle brushes to paint both plates brown.  Some of our students are very enthusiastic painters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

dscn2156While the paint dried, we cut a pink square in half to make 2 triangles for noses using an adaptive scissors. These squeeze scissors are excellent for students with beginning scissor skills. They can be purchased from a variety of catalogs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

100_0464We used a hole punch to cut out 2 yellow circles. Squeezing or pushing down on the punch is a great strengthening activity.

dscn2161Our Finished Product—what a cute little bear!

 WOW! We covered a lot of access points: shapes, colors, fractions, numbers, etc. We Followed The Rules!

The Alphabet Group—letter E

100_0483We revved our car Engines (purchased from Meyer Johnson catalog) to Erase an Eight shaped race track. We took it Easy, rather than going fast. Slowly tracing  the line is great visual tracking, the large size it facilitated crossing midline and its vertical placement helps address shoulder stability.

All the students enjoyed the activity and really concentrated on “staying on the road”.

100_0471Next we counted out Eight (sneaking in a math access point into our literacy activity) Eggs and used a dinosaur grabber to pick them up and fill the Empty bowl. This activity works on pre scissor skills, eye hand coordination, shoulder stability and graded motor control—and its a lot of fun!

100_0475Our students chose Elegant colors to color their 2 paper plates. We noted that all the plates were the same size but we all chose different colors.

100_0476Joy drew a line across the plate to let the students practice cutting along a line. Since the paper plates are a heavier cardstock they are actually easier to cut  than lighter weight paper.

100_0481We cut 2 brown circles with the hole punch then glued the eyes, the paper plate halves (snuck in another math access point), and the precut trunk (cut from the rim of another plate).

Assembling the Elephant let us work on sequencing, following directions, and spatial concepts.

Our students just loved them and some pretended they were masks!

100_0453We finished our session with another fun listening game that Cara made. This is always just so much fun.

100_0473And here are some of the words we found today!

Thats all for now, join us again next week for more fun Group by Group!