Tag Archives: Bath and Body Works

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

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!

Jan27

Winter

Posted on January 27, 2014 by jd785

Winter

It is pretty chilly out there—-even in our part of the country 🙂 Perfect timing for this weeks winter theme! We explored a variety of wintery textures and scents in our sensory group. Our art projects were all about snowmen in our fine motor group, and in the language group we explored the concepts of warm and cold.

We also brought back our snowflake umbrella which was a hit in all the groups.

SENSORY GROUP

We made our snowflake umbrella by using packing tape to attach a variety of dollar store snowflakes to a clear umbrella. Then we strung silver and white beads, snowflake ornaments and white pompom yarn from the spokes and around the edge. It looks pretty fabulous—–if we do say so ourselves 🙂

Our students were quite entranced and loved watching the dancing snowflakes when the umbrella was slowly twisted back and forth.

The science access point tracking objects in motion is addressed here.

This artificial snow (a purchased powder with added water) is pretty fantastic, it looks and feels like the real thing—-especially when put into the fridge for a few minutes! It certainly had our students quite fascinated, they were not quite sure what to make of this interesting texture.

Just like the real thing, we were able to make small snowballs by grabbing a handful and squeezing it together—-FUN!

The science access point explore, observe, and recognize common objects in the natural world is addressed here.

We made more snowballs with our white Floam. This stuff with its’ slightly tacky texture is perfect for making snowballs because it molds and sticks together easily.

Of course, some of our students got even more creative 🙂

The science access point recognize a change in an object is addressed and the math access point recognize 3 dimensional shapes (sphere) are addressed in this activity.

More snow fun with our shaving cream and cornstarch mixture—-equal parts of both. This stuff is really just so COOL! It is squishy but can be molded and has such an interesting texture.

Recognizing that pushing an pulling an object makes it move is the science access point addressed here.

All that snow sure looks like fun BUT we don’t get many white winters around here. So as a nod to our Florida winters we HAD to include a box with sand!

We used our moonsand for this box. It is more dense than sandbox sand and more like the sand you would find on a beach. A round cookie cutter was included. Our students had fun using the cookie cutter to make circles in the sand. Some of them also went ahead and made some Florida “snowballs” 🙂

The science access point recognize a change in an object is addressed here. The math access points recognize a 2 and 3 dimensional objects is also addressed.

Brrr—-time to warm up by the fire! We made our “fire” by attaching colorful shiny ribbon strips to our switch operated fan. It was fun watching the smiles and giggles of our students as the ribbons fluttered and the breeze hit their faces.

Indicating awareness of air moving is the science access point addressed here.

We used the “chimney” scent from our Follow Your Nose Game to add to the sensory experience of this activity. We started by holding it near our students noses but then got the idea (thanks to Jimmy our new OT intern) to hold it behind the fan so the aroma really wafted around the room!

Recognize and respond to different types of sensory stimuli is another science access point addressed in this activity.

This pompom yarn would make a wonderful warm afghan to snuggle under on a cold winters day! Our students love its’ soft texture. Some of them like to drape it around their shoulders or heads while others just love to pull it apart or shake it around.

Then you have those who like to do BOTH 🙂

The science access points addressed here are use senses to recognize objects and recognize that pushing and pulling an object makes if move.

We made this discovery bottle by mixing a little bit of glitter glue, glitter, and snowflake confetti—-we were really pleased with the way it turned out. The snowflakes looked so pretty as they swirled and drifted around with the glitter.

Tracking objects in motion is the science access point addressed with this bottle.

Twisted peppermint from Bath and Bodyworks was our scent this week. Whether scooping water with our measuring cups (and addressing the math access point recognize differences in containers that hold liquids) or indicating which body part to rub the lotion on (addressing the science access point recognize external body parts)——it was the perfect cool aroma to help us remember our winter theme!

FINE MOTOR GROUP

On Tuesday we started our group by talking about snow globes. We brought out our snowflake umbrella so our students could experience what it felt like to be in a snow globe.

They really got so excited when it was their turn to be under the umbrella and were very good about just touching (rather than pulling at) the dangling items.

Our students got to work on the art project by using a small circle punch to cut out pictures of their faces. This was a little tricky and they did need some help with alignment. To make it easier to use the punch, we had the students push down on the lever rather than try to pinch it. Either the way, it is still a great hand strengthening activity.

After punching out their faces, they glued them onto a snowman. The snowman was made using heavy card stock and glued to a card stock circle—–thanks again to Jimmy the intern!

In addition to eye hand coordination, the math access point recognize a 2 dimensional shape (in this case circle) is addressed.

Then we instructed the students to scoop 3 spoonfuls of artificial snow into a small clear plastic cup. We used our number chart to help our students identify the number 3. Most of our students still need help in this area.

The math access points recognize quantities 1 to 3 using objects, pictures, or number names and solve problems involving joining or separating sets of objects to 3 are addressed in this activity.

The adults hot glued the cup to the snow man base and VOILA—–a snow globe!

Our students were pretty fascinated with their creations and kept turning them around to watch the snow move about. Tracking the movement of objects that are pushed or pulled is the science access point addressed here.

Such cute little snowmen!

On Thursday we made melted snowman pictures. We have seen this art project all over Pinterest and thought it would be perfect for our students.

We started by discussing the colors (blue and white) in our project and asking our students to point to the color using our communication symbols.

Identify common objects by one observable property, such as color is the science access point addressed here.

Recognizing a 2 dimensional shape—-the rectangle paper—-is a math access point.

Then we used paint sponges to paint our mixture of glue, shaving cream, and fake snow onto the paper. We saw the idea for adding the fake snow on the Growing a Jeweled Rose blog—-such a great blog with so many creative ideas!

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

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

Next we added paper hats, scarves, triangle noses, and googlie eyes onto our mixture. The beauty of this project is that is doesn’t matter where they go as long as they are on the glue! Thanks to our volunteer Courtney for cutting out all the little pieces!

We also added the words “my melted snowman” to increase the literacy component.

The math access point recognize when an object is added to a situation is addressed in this activity.

TA DA!

These pictures are super cute—-and when dry the shaving cream and glue mixture will feel just like puffy paint!

LANGUAGE GROUP

Today our focus was on teaching the concept of cold versus warm. We had 5 different objects that were found around the room, such as metal spoons, scissors, and jars. We used 2 of each object. One of the objects was left out and the other object was put in the freezer or the refrigerator (i.e., one spoon in the freezer, one left out and so on).

We made a small board with the Boardmaker symbols for “cold” and “warm” on it. Each student got to feel an object and indicate if it was cold or warm using either their words or indicating the picture symbol.If the student had difficulty correctly indicating, we would place a warm object and a cold object on their cheeks and ask them to show which one was cold/warm. This helped them to decipher the difference a little easier.

The science access point recognize the temperature of items as cool or warm is addressed in this activity.

The language access point communicate about a selected object using nonverbal expression, gestures/signs, pictures, symbols, or words is also addressed.

After going through each object, we decided it was time to warm up with some hot chocolate—-of course for safety it will actually be “warm” chocolate! First we opened the package and let our students smell the chocolaty goodness!

This addresses the science access point recognize and respond to one type of sensory stimuli. They definitely recognized and responded to this scent 🙂

We emptied the chocolate powder into a cup and added water. This addresses the math access point recognize when an object is added to a situation.

Each of the students took turns stirring the mixture, addressing the science access points apply a push or pull to move an object and sharing objects with a partner.

And what good is warm chocolate without marshmallows! We drew out a number board with 1, 2, and 3 written on it along with dots under the numbers. The students chose how many marshmallows they wanted in their drink and we counted them out as they were put on the number line. We counted them again as they were dropped into the student’s cups.

In addition to working on pincer grasp skills, the math access point match objects to marked spaces to show one-to-one correspondence for quantities 1 to 3.

And, of course, it also addresses the language access point communicate a preference for familiar objects.

After tasting its yummy goodness, our students again used the Boardmaker symbols to indicate if the chocolate was warm or cold.

That is all for this week, join us again for more fun and learning—–Group by Group!

Jan19

The Places I Go Around School

Posted on January 19, 2014 by jd785

The Places I Go Around School

It was literacy week at our school and the general theme was “all the places you go”. We decided to focus on the all the places you go around school. Cara’s book was a huge hit—-our students loved seeing themselves or their friends faces in the book. Our sensory boxes were a lot of fun to put together, the fine motor art projects turned out so well, and our language group scavenger hunt was a blast!

SENSORY GROUP

The cafeteria is one of the favorite places around school—-that’s where all the food is after all 🙂 We filled the cafeteria box with paper shred and then added lunch related items including straws, play food, an ID card, and little tray.

The students had a lot of fun picking out their favorite food items and of course this led to lots of language opportunities. The straws we included turned out to be quite popular also—-placed into the milk carton or just waved about, our students loved them!

The science access point recognizing a model of a real object is addressed here. As with all our activities and boxes this week, the social studies access point associating a place with an activity in the classroom or school is also addressed.

We are so lucky to have a large sensory room at our school and needless to say it is one of the most popular places at school. Our students LOVE the sensory room and one of the favorite pieces of the equipment is the colorful ball pit!

Our colorful pompoms are round spheres just like the balls. We included 2 different sized pompoms in this box to compare or match. The plan was to address the math access point recognizing similarities and differences in size of common objects and the science access point to identify objects by one observable property, such as color…..

BUT kids being kids, the science access point of tracking falling objects was usually the one that was addressed 🙂

Music is another area that our students love to visit. We recorded a music clip on our voice output device and gave the students a shaker bottle instrument to jam along with the beat. We made the shaker bottle using a plastic soda bottle, adding some colorful beads AND hot gluing the lid on—-to at least slow down busy little hands 🙂

The science access points to recognize and respond to different types of sensory stimuli and apply a push or pull to move an object are addressed with this activity.

One of the most exciting places to go at school is the bus ramp BECAUSE that means it is time to go out for community based instruction. Like kids everywhere, our students enjoy riding the bus to exciting places.

For this box we added 2 different colored school buses to drive along black bean roads. We asked our students to find the bus that was the same color as the buses they ride, addressing the science access point to identify objects by one observable property.

Our students love making clay projects in art. Instead of clay, we brought back our green play dough from a few weeks ago. It still had the wonderful peppermint scent we had added and our students really enjoyed the aroma. We included 2 letter A (A for Art) cookie cutters.

The science access points recognizing an object by one observable property, applying a push or pull to move an object, and recognizing a change in an object are all addressed in this activity.

There are 3 playgrounds at our school—-how cool is that! Going to the playground is probably the number one favorite place of most of our students. So many fun things to do from climbing, to swinging to digging in the sandbox!

For our mini sandbox we taped a picture of a play ground (cut from a catalog) to the bottom of the box for the students to find as the sand was pushed aside. We also included a small measuring cup and spoon to practice scooping skills, bilateral skills and eye hand coordination.

The math access point solving problems involving small quantities of objects or actions using language such as enough, too much, or more are explored in this activity. Another math access point, recognizing differences in sizes of containers that hold liquids (capacity) is also addressed.

Probably THE most favorite place at our school is the pool! Our PE teachers do such a great job and it is such a therapeutic place for our students.

We used Bath and Bodyworks Dancing Waters scent in our water—-it is kind of hard to find chlorine scented bath products 🙂 We also included 4 foam swim noodle pieces and a measuring spoon. The students practiced their scooping and eye hand coordination skills again as they tried to scoop water into the noodle holes.

Math access points addressed here include recognizing two dimensional shapes such as a circle and using one to one correspondence to identify sets of objects with the same amount to 2 can be addressed in this activity.

We finished with the Dancing Waters lotion to help us remember all the fun we had! Our students really liked the soft aroma of this scent and enjoyed indicating where they wanted the lotion on their bodies.

As usual this activity addresses the science access points of recognizing one or more external body parts and recognizing and responding to one type of sensory stimuli. It also addresses the language access point of adjusting body movements of nonverbal expressions to communicate desires or preferences.

FINE MOTOR GROUP

The playground was the theme for our Tuesday art project. We started by counting out rectangle shaped paper and using a sponge brush to paint on some glue.

The math access point recognizing a 2 dimensional shape is addressed. The science access point recognizing a change in an object is also addressed.

Then we scooped crushed yellow cereal “sand” onto the glue. This activity promotes scooping skills and eye hand coordination. We also counted how many scoops each student put on their paper.

The science access point recognize a change in an object is again addressed. The math access point solve problems involving small quantities of objects or actions using language, such as enough, too much, or more is also addressed.

We precut a bunch of playground pictures from some old catalogs and let our students choose which one they wanted to add to their pictures.

Our students with physical challenges used eye gaze to indicate their preferences.

This activity addresses the language access points of responding to informational materials and using body movement or nonverbal expression to communicate preferences.

We love the way these turned out—–and so did our students!

TA DA!!!!!!!

On Thursday we chose the cafeteria as the theme for our art project.

We counted out rectangle pieces of paper and discussed the paint colors, red and yellow, that we were going to use with our big apple and small corn cob. A fork was stuck into the apple to make it easier for our students to handle—-it worked really well!

We started by stamping 1 red apple print.

Next 1 yellow corn cob print.

The math access point recognizing differences in sizes of objects is addressed, in addition to the math access point recognizing 2 dimensional shapes.

Then we asked our students ” what color comes next?”.

After we stamped another apple print, we again asked “what comes next?”.

We thought the students would need a lot of assistance with this BUT they did really well—-our students ROCK!

The math access point recognizing the next step in a simple pattern or sequence of activities is addressed in this activity.

TA Da!

So proud—-and rightly so!

LANGUAGE GROUP

Since we are talking about all the different places you go, we decided to have a scavenger hunt and find 3 different places around our school.

After reading Cara’s book, we looked at the directions for the scavenger hunt. We went over what we had to find FIRST, NEXT, and LAST. The directions had a picture of the places that we had to find.

The math access point to indicate the next step in a sequence of activities is addressed.

The social studies access point recognizing a picture of a location is also addressed.

FIRST we had to find the music room. On the way, we would stop and ask the students to show us the way to go. They would point in the direction we had to go.

NEXT we had to find the art room. Since our students go to art and music once a week, they were easily able to locate these rooms.

LAST we had to find the playground. Our students DEFINITELY know where the playground is! Once we got to the playground, we looked at the directions again and went over what places we had just found.

All done and time to play!

Another great week! Join us again, there is more fun and learning to come—-Group by Group.

Jan13

New Years Around the World

Posted on January 13, 2014 by jd785

New Years Around the World

Happy New Year! We all had a wonderful and restful winter break, coming back ready to greet the new year with some exciting and new group activities. For our first week back, we thought it would be fun to look at New Years traditions around the world—-there sure are a lot of different ones 🙂 Hope you enjoy seeing all the fun we had learning about them!

SENSORY GROUP

At the stroke of midnight around the world, confetti is tossed into the air! Our first box was filled with paper confetti, a clock, crazy glasses, and noise makers. We also included a glitter tube—-we thought the glitter looked like falling confetti. The voice output device in the box contained a clip of the countdown and people singing Auld Lang Syne. A peace sign was included to remind us that world peace is one of the things people hope for in the new year.

Also in the box was a toy suitcase because in Mexico people take a piece of luggage and run around the block; round play fruit—people in the Philippines eat round fruit for luck, and a toy plate because people throw plates at doors in Denmark—-all fun new years traditions!

There were so many different items to discover! It was fun seeing which items turned out to be favorites as little hands dug in and pulled out contents—-leaving trails of confetti across the table….and laps….and floor. We like to leave memories of our visit 🙂

Our students loved trying on the glasses, grabbing handfuls of confetti, and OF COURSE the noise makers! This was a really fun box!

The social studies access point of associating a celebration with an event is addressed in this and all our other boxes.

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

Here in the South, eating black eyed peas on New Years day is an annual tradition. Our students loved running their hands through the peas or seeing how many scoops it took to fill their hands.

In addition to practicing scooping skills, the math access point recognizing when an object is added is addressed.

The math access point of solving problems involving small quantities of objects or action using language, such as enough, too much, or more is also addressed.

Don’t you just love the intent look of concentration on this students face 🙂

Our soft, crumbly cloud dough reminded us of the Armenian bread that is baked for good luck. Now that sounds like a very yummy tradition!

Cookie cutters with the numbers 2014 were included for the students to stamp impressions into the cloud dough.

In addition to number recognition, the science access point recognizing a change in an object is addressed.

In Spain they eat 12 grapes to celebrate the new year—one for each stroke of the clock at midnight.

We filled our “grape” box with big, soft, purple pom poms and small, hard purple beads. This box was so vibrant and colorful, really quite pretty!

The science access point of recognizing 2 objects that are identical to each other can be addressed with this box—-that is if you can pull the students attention away from those fabulous purple beads 🙂

Our light up toys flashed bright colorful lights just like fireworks that light up the skies during new year celebrations. We included 2 different kinds of light toys. Some of them were activated when struck, others when a button was pushed.

Some of our students preferred one toy over the other, others like this student here demonstrated some nice bilateral coordination using both at the same time!

Applying a push to move an object and recognizing sources of light are science access points addressed in this activity.

Speaking of fireworks—what could be more fun than firecracker oobleck! We added pop rocks to our oobleck for super popping fun. Ok, this is totally cool and fascinating—-a must try!

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

The science access point recognizing and responding to different types of sensory stimuli is also addressed.

In Scotland they waft the scent of juniper around the house to rid it of any germs! Lucky for us we found some Juniper Breeze bath gel at Bath and Bodyworks! Made it pretty easy to decide the scent for this week 🙂

We included a couple of measuring cups with our water play to address the math access point recognizing differences in sizes of containers that hold liquids.

The Juniper Breeze scent had a nice soft aroma and our students all seemed to really like it. They all anticipated their turn to smell the lotion and the students are getting very good at indicating on which body part they want the lotion.

The science access points recognizing and responding to one type of sensory stimuli and recognizing one or more external body parts are addressed with this activity.

We finished the group with fireworks—-of the bubble wrap kind that is! This is a great time of year to find scraps of bubble wrap and our coworkers gave us plenty of donations. We just laid pieces on the floor and had our students run, stomp, or roll over it. It really does sound like firecrackers, especially when the wheelchairs rolled over it.

The kids totally had a blast and yes——- so did the adults 🙂

FINE MOTOR GROUP

On Tuesday we made fireworks pictures! We started by discussing the different colors of paint we were going to use and asked the students to identify the colors using the communication symbols. The students have been doing so well when given a choice of 2, that we decided to make it a little harder by giving them 3 choices. This also helps prepare them for the alternate assessment which is in a 3 answer choice format.

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

We counted out pieces of black paper, noting that it was a rectangle and also counting how many sides it had. Recognizing objects with 2 dimensional shapes and identifying the sides of a rectangle are math access points.

Then we began stamping our fireworks. The stamper is a toilet paper roll with slits cut into it (we saw this idea on Pinterest). The paint colors popped on the black paper and our students really got into it!

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

LANGUAGE GROUP

After reading Cara’s book, we worked on putting the months of the year in the correct order. The chart that we used had a picture for each month in case the student needed a visual prompt to match the word to.

Each student was given 3 different months to choose from when it was their turn. The months presented were read aloud to the student and they chose which month was the correct month. If they were unable to find the correct month with just auditory feedback, they could use the picture signifying the month as a visual prompt.

We had such a high success rate with this activity! The students in Mrs. Robin’s class know their months of the year well. Rote learning had taught them the order of the months and since Mrs. Robin goes over the months of the year each day in her class, these students were able to put the months in order with minimal prompting. So cool!

After putting the months of the year together, we got the number chart out and began the New Years countdown. We gave our students noise makers, crazy glasses, party hats and…..of course we pulled out the bubble wrap again!!!!

10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1…HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

This week was so much fun, keep following us, there are so many more exciting things to learn and discover—-Group by Group!

Nov24

Thanksgiving

Posted on November 24, 2013 by jd785

Thanksgiving

It’s turkey time around here! Cara’s book explored directional concepts and our students had fun putting a stuffed turkey in the different positions from the book. We explored a variety of Thanksgiving related items in our sensory groups. We made cute little turkeys in the fine motor group and our language group went on a turkey hunt!

The social studies access points recognizing a past event and recognizing an activity associated with a national celebration are both addressed in all our groups this week.

Sensory Group

This first box was filled with Thanksgiving related items nestled in the silk fall leaves, gourds and pine cones. There were some dimensional felt pilgrims and a discovery bottle with beads to remind us of the Wampanoag tribe of native americans who feasted at the first Thanksgiving.

A toy car and toy airplane remind us that some people travel to their Thanksgiving feasts. A toy Tweety Bird and clown puzzle piece are like the big balloons and people on parade floats. A little football was included because that’s something people like to watch on tv after the big feast. It’s usually chilly this time of year so there was a tiny scarf and pieces of yarn!

Speaking of feasts—we had to include some play food and a grocery store “gift card”! And finally a cute plush turkey—-the symbol of Thanksgiving, along with the words HOME and FAMILY.

This box was filled with opportunities to address the language access point respond to new vocabulary that is introduced and taught directly. It also addresses the science access point recognizing a model of a real object.

Corn was one of the items on the first Thanksgiving menu! We put in some play food to find and hide again in the popcorn kernels. One of the cobs actually could be broken apart into 2 pieces and then put back together—-great for bilateral coordination!

Whether running fingers through it or exploring the play food, our students really enjoyed exploring the contents of this box.

The math access point recognizing parts of whole objects and parts of sets of objects is addressed here. Solving simple problems involving putting together and taking apart small quantities of objects is another math access point addressed.

Our next box contained turkey feathers (a brown feather boa). This was fun to wrap around, wave in the air or just TOUCH—oh so soft!

Using senses to recognize objects is a science access point addressed here.

Of course, some of our students got quite creative—deciding our little stuffed turkey needed some more feathers 🙂

Just too cute!!!

The science access point: explore, observe, and recognize common objects in the natural world is addressed with this activity.

There are lots of big football games coming up around Thanksgiving and we have lots of fans around here! We included a variety of colors in this pom pom shaker box so everyone could cheer for their favorite team!

Our students LOVE the pom pom shakers and had the best time with them as you can see!

The science access points recognizing that pushing and pulling an object makes it move and identifying objects by one observable property, such as color are addressed here.

We made some pumpkin pie scented playdough this week. Hmmm, it had such a wonderful aroma!

This turkey cookie cutter is very versatile—for either cutting out shapes in the playdough…….

OR being stuffed with it 🙂

This is a great activity for addressing hand intrinsic functions—strengthening, finger individuation, pincer grasp etc.

The math access point solving simple problems involving putting together and taking apart small quantities of objects is addressed in this activity.

The science access point recognizing that the appearance of an object or material has changed is also addressed.

Pumpkin pie needs some whipped cream! Shaving cream made a perfect stand in and as usual, our students had a great time squishing, smooshing—technical terms 🙂 —it about.

Recognizing that pushing or pulling an object makes it move is the science access point addressed in this activity.

Cinnamon pumpkin scented bath gel from Bath and Bodyworks made our rinsing water smell just delicious! Our students had fun playing with the different sized measuring cups.

Recognizing differences in sizes of containers that hold liquids (capacity) is the science access point addressed here.

The cinnamon pumpkin scented lotion left our students smelling like yummy pumpkin pies!

Recognizing one or more external body parts is the science access point addressed with this activity.

Recognizing and responding to one type of sensory stimuli is another science access point addressed.

Fine Motor Group

On Tuesday we made some cute little turkeys. We started by discussing how we cut a circle plate into 2 pieces to make semi-circles.

Then we decorated the feathers using a variety of colorful markers. These fat markers are nice because they can be gripped at the top which is easier for some of our students. For our students with physical disabilities we used Joy’s adapted switch toy—-always a huge hit!

The science access points recognizing that the appearance of an object has changed and sharing objects with a partner are addressed with this activity.

The switch toy addresses the science access points tracking objects in motion and applying a push or pull to move an object. It also addresses the math access point of indicating a desire for more of an action.

Next we glued down a toilet paper roll…..

and attached a pre-made turkey face with googlie eyes. We discussed the different parts of the turkeys face and pointed out those parts on ourselves—-recognizing external body parts is a science access point!

TA gobble, gobble DA!

Our Thursday art project was a pilgrim ship! This was constructed with cardboard, paper, and a wooden dowel—a true trash to treasure project!

We started by showing our students a bottle of brown paint and asking them to show us the color brown on the communication board. They did a great job!

Identifying an object by one observable property, such a color is a science access point.

Then we proceeded to paint the ship. We mostly used a variety of fat handled brushes to get the job done. A brush taped to a paint stick made for an excellent adaptation.

The science access points recognizing that pushing or pulling moves an object and recognizing a change in an object are addressed in this activity.

When the ship was painted we added a sail and some pilgrims and native americans (thanks to Sarah, our volunteer, for making them for us)! We added both students and staff faces to the figures—our students were pretty tickled with them.

For our Ta Da shot, our plan was to take a group shot of all our happy little pilgrims…..

Yes, lets try to get 5 little kids ALL looking at the camera and smiling at the same time—-yep, GOOD PLAN lol 🙂

Language Group

After reading Cara’s book we had our own turkey hunt! Cara made clues and hid laminated pictures of turkeys around the room.

Our students acted like pilgrims on the first Thanksgiving and searched for the turkeys using the clues they were given. Some examples of the clues were, “look UNDER the table; look ON the chair; look IN the box”. Our pilgrims did well with following the clues to find the turkeys. Way to go!

The last turkey was outside the door and BESIDE a tree located in the hallway. Lo and behold, the turkey brought a snack with him so that he wouldn’t be eaten!

This activity addressed the language access point respond purposefully to referent objects or pictures of objects or actions in a familiar read-aloud text.

The students enjoyed the cheeseballs and didn’t seem to mind that they weren’t getting a turkey dinner. We let the students request how many they wanted to eat by indicating on a number board if they wanted 1, 2, or 3. Our student with a visual impairment used a number stick to select his choice.

This addresses the language access point of effectively communicating wants, and needs using referent objects, gestures, signs, pictures, symbols, or words.

Yum! Even our turkey joined the feast 🙂

We won’t be having groups next week because of the holiday. We hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Nov17

Rainbow

Posted on November 17, 2013 by jd785

Rainbow

It was all about COLOR with our rainbow theme this week! Our sensory boxes were so vibrant—just beautiful. Due to a special school activity our fine motor group only had one art project but it turned out pretty fabulous. Our language group had a blast making rainbow toast! All the students enjoyed Cara’s book, in each classroom we discussed the colorful objects on each page and looked around the room to find people wearing the different colors.

SENSORY GROUP

Our primary color boxes were filled with a variety of textures and objects. Lots of things to look at and touch!

There were things to shake….

Pull apart…..

Explore and discover!

All our boxes addressed the science access point identifying objects by one observable property—-color 🙂

Individual items addressed the science access points applying a push or pull to move an object, tracking objects in motion, and recognizing common objects in the natural world through observation.

Purple Bubber filled this box. We have extolled the virtues of this stuff before but we can’t sing its praises enough. It’s so soft and squishy but dry—you just have to keep touching it!

We included a letter R (for rainbow) cookie cutter. While making letters the science access point applying a push to move an object is addressed.

It took a couple of hours to dye our pasta this nice vibrant orange but it was totally worth it. There was also a definite auditory component as the pasta trickled off fingers or was swirled around.

We included 3 orange items to find in the pasta. The items differed in size and shape from the pasta making it especially interesting to our students with visual impairments.

This box addresses both visual and tactile discrimination.

The science access point using senses to recognize objects is addressed here.

The math access point associating quantities with number names is also addressed.

We used dried split peas for our green box with a little scoop and also 3 green items to find—-including a Yoda figure which our students found pretty intriguing!

These peas feel so soft as fingers are run through them—very relaxing!

Responding to new vocabulary that is introduced is a language access point that can be addressed here. After all, it’s important that our students know their Star Wars characters 🙂

Finally, what do you get when you put all the colors together? A rainbow of course 🙂 We had to include our rainbow rice in this unit!

There were 3 letter R’s to find and a colorful rainbow picture taped to the bottom of the box.

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

We finished with Rain kissed Leaves lotion from Bath and Bodyworks—without rain you wouldn’t have any rainbows 🙂

A nice soft aroma and a fitting scent to remember all the colorful fun we had!

It also addressed the science access point recognizing and responding to one type of sensory stimuli.

Fine Motor Group

These book dividers were cast offs from the media center—-score! We hot glued them to some dollar store sponges to adapt them for our students. Sometimes it does pay to be a hoarder 🙂

We used them to make sponge painted rainbows seen on the Teaching 2 and 3 year olds blog.

First we counted out pieces of rectangular paper (counting all four sides) and then practiced writing our names.

Recognizing the sides of a rectangle and recognizing objects with 2 dimensional shapes are math access points.

We pressed our sponges onto the paint trays and then slid them across the paper.

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

It was kind of magical how the rainbows appeared. Our students were pretty excited about their projects—

Ta DA!

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

Language Group

This week, we decided that it would be fun to make something edible—-food is always fun 🙂 Cara typed out directions for making rainbow bread, using a recipe found on food.com.

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

We started out by pouring sweetened condensed milk into 6 clear plastic cups. Then, we went around the table and the let students pick out which color they wanted to add to the milk using a color board made with Boardmaker symbols. They used food coloring to add the colors. We discussed the fact that 2 colors were needed to make purple or orange.

Effectively communicating information, wants, and needs using pictures, symbols, or gestures is a language access point addressed here.

Next, we mixed the colors into the sweetened condensed milk. This was fun! Each student got their own cup and watched how the colors changed.

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

We counted out the bread and the plates. The students then used the paintbrushes to “paint” the colors onto their bread. The colors looked so vibrant on the bread! Very cool.

After painting the bread, we toasted it and then got to enjoy the goodness! YUM!

Such a fun, colorful week we had! Be sure to join us again next week where there will be more fun things to discover and learn about—-Group by Group!

Nov4

Things that go Bump in the Night

Posted on November 4, 2013 by jd785

Things that go Bump in the Night

This week we explored things we imagine might be out there to scare us when its dark at night! It seemed an appropriate topic for this time of year 🙂 Our sensory items had a really high contrast of light and dark which was very visually appealing to our students. The fine motor group had a great time making some spooky art projects. The language group students used adjectives to compare items. We also made it fun by turning off the lights while reading our book in all our groups.

SENSORY GROUP

This first box was filled with black paper shred and assorted creepy crawlies! Some of the critters were black so they were hidden really well. Others were brightly colored and could be easily spotted. We also threw in some fun fur for an added textural component.

Our students explored the box in different ways, some sifted through the paper while others……..

had a different approach…….. 🙂

The most popular item in the box was the little vibrating spider toy. Pulling it’s string was perfect for addressing bilateral coordination!

Visual and tactile discrimination skills are also addressed here.

The science access point of recognizing common objects related to science by name was addressed.

Battery operated orange lights (found at Walmart) made for perfect glowing eyes peeking out from garland. We kept these in the box to add to the effect—our students were fascinated!

Recognizing sources of light is the science access point addressed here.

We used our green Floam and some Mr. Potato Head features to make our own aliens. This purchased Floam has a wonderful easily moldable texture that made it perfect for making silly alien creatures while working on bilateral coordination and hand intrinsic functions!

The science access point recognizing external body parts is addressed with this activity.

The letters B O O could be found in our black bean and orange rice box. This is one of our favorite rice boxes—-so colorful and eye catching! So much fun to sift and run fingers through.

For added interest, we taped a picture of a jack o lantern to the bottom of the box.

Visual and tactile discrimination is again addressed as well as literacy skills.

Black shadows can certainly make you jump! We made ours by bringing back our pirate playdough from a few weeks ago along with bat and cat cookie cutters. The black glitter we added to the playdough gave it an added shimmer which we loved and it really contrasted with the bright orange cookie cutters. Again, a terrific substance to squish and pound.

Recognizing that the appearance of an object or material has changed is the science access point addressed here.

Glowing purple ooze (oobleck with purple tinted tonic water) looked pretty fabulous under our black light!

We added some pop rocks candy (we were inspired by the folks on the Growing a Jeweled Rose blog who added it to finger paint) and our ooze became pretty spectacular—-think rice krispie cereal on steroids! Not sure who was more impressed, the students or the adults 🙂

Recognizing that pulling or pushing an object makes it move is the science access point addressed in this activity.

We used Bath and Bodyworks Twilight woods scent to finish. In our water play we had 2 different size measuring cups for scooping and pouring fun—-and addressing the math access point of recognizing differences in sizes of containers that hold liquids.

The lotion has a light soft scent—not scary at all 🙂 and our students really liked it.

The science access point recognizing and responding to different types of sensory stimuli is addressed with both these activities.

FINE MOTOR

On Tuesday we made some mummies! We started by talking about the color of out mummy (black) and the color of our paint (white). All of our students correctly picked the colors we asked them to identify. Oh yes we were proud!!

The science access point recognizing common objects by one observable property, such as color is addressed here.

The language access point communicating information about objects using non-verbal expressions, gestures/signs, pictures, symbols, or words is also addressed.

To begin our art activity we put our mummy IN a clear lidded box. Then we scooped out marbles covered in white paint, counting as we dropped them 1 at a time into the box.

This is a fun way to work on eye hand coordination and scooping skills!

This also addresses the math access points of associating quantities with number names AND recognizing common three-dimensional objects, such as balls (spheres).

Then we closed the lid and…..shake shake shake!

Totally fun way to address the science access points of applying a push or pull to move an object and tracking objects in motion.

We opened the lid and took our mummy OUT of the box and added 2 googlie eyes—giving us a chance to practice pincer grasp skills.

This activity addresses the math access point associating quantities 1 and 2 with number names.

It also addresses the science access point recognizing a change in the appearance of an object or material.

Hmm, lets check this out——-

—yep, he’s pretty cool!

For our art activity on Thursday we made great big eyeballs! We started by comparing the different size circles and asked our students to show us the big one.

Recognizing common objects with 2 dimensional shapes, such as a circle is a math access point.

Recognizing the larger of two objects is a science access point.

We used assorted markers to color red veins on the big circle (dessert size paper plates). Of course we counted the plates and discussed their size and color as we passed them out.

Our students then chose which color they wanted their eye to be using our communication symbols. Some of our students touch the symbols, while others used eye gaze.

Using body movement or nonverbal expression to communicate desires or preferences is the language access point addressed here.

Next we used a circle punch to cut out a small black circle.

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

We compared the different sized circles again and began assembling our eyeballs.

This activity works on eye hand coordination and graded motor control—you don’t want to crumple up your circles!

The math access point of recognizing the next step in a sequence of activities is also addressed.

Somebody is watching you….

…..spooky!

LANGUAGE GROUP

After we finished Cara’s book we stayed with the spooky theme using the iPad app Spooky Box (it was free)—just for fun! Our students enjoyed listening to the different sounds and we had fun watching their reactions 🙂 We do need to note that some of the sounds are a little intense, so be sure to prescreen them!

For our ACTUAL learning activity—– we focused on using adjectives to describe two different objects. The students used Boardmaker pictures and put the adjectives in the appropriate column to describe the objects. They did need a little bit of help with this, but over all, they did well.

Communicating information about familiar objects using pictures or symbols is a language access point.

The first object we explored was some mystery green play dough that Joy had made using a recipe from the Growing a Jeweled Rose blog (this is a great site filled with all sorts of ideas and recipes, we love it!).

The other object was a yellow and blue ball with fringes all over it.

Identifying objects by one observable property and recognizing and responding to different types of sensory stimuli are science access points addressed with this activity.

Some of the adjectives used were: hard/soft, heavy/light, cold/warm. Mrs. Robin got out a scale for us to use when working on heavy/light so the students could see which one was heavier.

So neat!

Recognizing objects as warm or cold and sorting objects by weight (heavy and light) are science access points.

We also used vinegar and sprayed each of the objects. We smelled the vinegar first.

Some of students found the aroma intriguing—-others let us know by their gestures, not so much 🙂

Communicating preferences for objects is a language access point.

The play dough reacted with the vinegar because of the baking soda in it and that made it bubble up, while the vinegar made the ball wet (and STINKY!). We then asked the students to choose an adjective (bubbly/wet) to describe the objects after vinegar had been sprayed on them.

Recognizing a change in an object and assisting with investigations with a partner are science access points addressed here.

Hope your week was as great as ours—- filled with treats not tricks 🙂

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

Oct27

Seasons

Posted on October 27, 2013 by jd785

Seasons

This week our theme followed the Unique Curriculum unit some of our classes were learning about this month. Lets dive right in and explore all our fun activities……

SENSORY GROUP

We started with winter—and a wish for snow! We don’t get a lot of that stuff down here in Florida but we can still dream…..

Assorted snowflakes (paper, ornaments, etc), white pompom yarn, white and silver beads along with twist ties and clear packing tape turned a clear umbrella into a winter wonderland—-pretty darn magical, if we do say so ourselves 🙂

This really was a great experience for our students, they really loved it!

Exploring, observing, and recognizing objects in the natural world is the science access point addressed in this activity.

No winter wonderland is complete without snow! We made ours using cornstarch and shaving cream. Adding the cornstarch gave the shaving cream some texture and allowed it to be shaped into small “snowballs” if desired.

This was totally fun messy play, with MESSY being the operative word—–our students dived in and this stuff got everywhere 🙂

Bilateral coordination is addressed when making snowballs.

Applying a push to move an object and recognizing and responding to different stimuli are the science access points addressed with this activity.

Spring is such a colorful time of year with plants growing and flowers blooming. In this box, we sprinkled some dried bean “seeds” into our colorful green rice—and taped a hidden surprise of pictures of colorful plants just waiting to bloom as the rice was swept away. The picture was actually a piece of wallpaper from one of those wallpaper sample books that someone always seems to be giving away

We also put in the letters W (winter), F (fall), and S (spring, summer)

This box helps address visual and tactile discrimination as well as fine motor skills for picking up the little “seeds”.

Recognizing that pushing or pulling an object to make it move is a science access point addressed here. In addition, the science access points of recognizing the leaf and flower of a plant and recognizing that plants grow can be addressed.

Our second box was filled with our caterpillar and butterfly pasta—-now this is one COLORFUL box! It’s also a wonderful box for sorting concepts of same/different and counting activities—-lots of math access points covered, including:

Solving problems involving small quantities of objects using language such as “more”, recognizing objects that are identical to each other, recognizing when an object is added to (addition) or taken away (subtraction) from a situation, recognizing two objects that are the same size or color……

It’s amazing all the learning you can fit into one little box!

Fall has so many pretty colors with the changing leaves and colorful gourds and pumpkins that are seen everywhere.

Our students loved picking up and shaking the leaves as well as watching handfuls of them drift down. Others found a couple of scarecrow friends.

This was another great box for visual and tactile discrimination, so many things to explore!

The science access point of exploring, observing, and recognizing common objects in the natural world is addressed here.

Recognizing models of real objects is another science access point addressed.

Fall also means colorful warm sweaters and blankets—at least to look at in the stores, NO WAY is it cold enough to need them here yet 🙂

This soft pompom yarn has such pretty fall colors and is just so touchable—-wouldn’t it make a fabulous blanket or poncho!?

Our students had a great time with this yarn, draping it around themselves or just shaking it. Pulling it apart is a great way to work on bilateral coordination!

Recognizing and responding to different types of sensory stimuli is a science access point addressed here.

The science access point of recognizing clothing worn by humans in different seasons can also be addressed.

In the same box, we also included a shaker bottle filled with acorns. Our students love shaker bottles—-it’s always fun to make noise!

The science access points recognizing and responding to common sounds, recognizing and responding to one type of sensory stimuli AND applying a push to move an object are all addressed here.

Discussing that acorns turn into oak trees also helps relate to the science access point recognizing that plants grow.

That’s a lot of science in one bottle!!!

Summer means going to the beach! We put in 3 seashells and 1 starfish for our students to find in our summer fun sand box. We used fine soft play sand that our students really loved touching.

Whether addressing the science access point of tracking objects in motion or the math access point of associating quantities with number names—–this is a great box!

Other access points addressed include for math: recognizing objects that are the same size or color and for science: recognizing common objects related to science by name.

Finishing up summer, our scent this week was Bath and Bodyworks aruba coconut. It was a wonderful summer aroma for our warm water play which included 2 colorful squirter fish. You would be hard pressed to find a more fun way to work on strengthening grip skills 🙂

Identifying objects by one observable property such as color and recognizing materials as warm or cold are science access points addressed here.

We finished with a little lotion, addressing the science access point of recognizing external body parts. This scent was a real favorite with the students and they left smelling like they had spent a day at the beach!

FINE MOTOR GROUP

For our art activity this week we made seasonal trees using torn tissue paper (our usual stash from presents past). Our tree trunk came from a reproducible in the book Apples, Apples Everywhere by Peggy Hundley Spitz OTR which can be purchased from Flaghouse.

On Tuesday we made our spring and summer trees. We used pink and purple paper for spring and green paper for our summer trees. On Thursday we used brown and orange for the fall trees and white paper with silver swirls for the winter trees.

We started by asking the students to match the communication symbols with the different paper colors. You may have observed that the literacy component for this student might have been improved if we had actually presented the words right side up 🙂

Recognizing two objects that are the same color is a science access point.

Responding accurately and consistently to referent objects or pictures used in routines is a language access point.

For each tree, we tore and crumpled up the paper. This is a great activity for addressing bilateral coordination and the students really had fun with it!

Recognizing that the appearance of an object or material has changed is a science access point.

The crumpled paper pieces were then dipped in glue………

and placed on the tree. This activity addresses pincer grasp skills and eye hand coordination.

We also counted the pieces as they were applied—-of course!

Recognizing that the appearance of some plants in the environment changes throughout the year is a science access point.

TA DA!!!!

Our students were pretty pleased with the way their trees turned out—–can you tell 🙂

LANGUAGE GROUP

We started off the group by reading Cara’s book and asking the students to point to the picture of their favorite season.

Communicating preferences using non-verbal gestures is a language access point.

After the students had indicated their favorite season, we used some of the boxes and objects from the sensory group as props.

For summer we used the sand, autumn we used the box of leaves, spring we used the green rice, and for winter we used the umbrella. What a hit!

This activity addresses the language access point of exploring and interacting with the functions of selected objects.

Next we played a memory game. We made cards using Boardmaker symbols and laminated them.

The pictures on the cards were: summer, autumn, winter, spring, beach, rake, mittens, and bird. They were presented with 4 pictures at a time which were turned over, face down. Each student took a turn and flipped over 2 cards at a time.

Using referent objects or pictures from a familiar read-aloud story is a language access point.

PIXON picture symbols for “same” and “different” were presented to the students and they were asked if the cards they flipped over were the same or different. Some of our students required some assistance figuring it out, but for the most part, they did pretty well.

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

This week turned out to be so much fun! We hope you enjoy seeing what we did as much as we enjoyed experiencing it! Please join us again, Group by Group.

Oct13

Look Up in the Sky

Posted on October 13, 2013 by jd785

Look Up in the Sky

This week our groups complimented the Unique Curriculum theme which explores things you see when you look up in the sky.

The students really loved all our activities and we got more than the usual super cute pictures—-our students really are quite adorable 🙂

SENSORY GROUP

After reading Cara’s book, we turned off the lights and looked up into the starry sky!

We made it by using twist ties to attach battery operated lights, beads, and some glow in the dark planets to a black umbrella—— SUPER easy! The battery operated lights were from Target and are usually on the shelves around holiday time.

Our students were all quite enchanted!

Associating stars with the night sky is a science access point. This activity also helps address the science access point of recognizing sources of light.

They also enjoy exploring this lighted moon. It had a rough surface as well as this fabulous glow–very mesmerizing.

Thanks Ms. Pam for letting us borrow it!

Associating the moon with night is a science access point.

Distinguishing light and dark is also a science access point that can be addressed with this activity.

When the lights came back on we began exploring our sensory boxes. This first one was filled with blue basket filler “sky” and lots of things found in the sky to discover.

We put in feathers, toy birds, bats, and butterflies for some of the animals you see in the sky. We also put in some toy airplanes .

Of course, we also included some cookie cutter stars and a crescent moon.

Weather related items included soft white pom pom clouds, grey craft foam storm clouds….

AND…….a fabulous stretchy rainbow slinky which ended up being the big hit of this box!

Exploring, observing, and recognizing common objects in the natural world is a science access point.

Recognizing models of real objects is also a science access point.

And yet more science access points….tracking the movement of objects that are pushed or pulled AND recognizing that pushing and pulling an object makes it move!

Speaking of rainbows, our students really loved both looking at and touching our rainbow mat (found yet again at Target!).

As well as encouraging our students to touch the mat, we also discussed all the different colors that could be found in the rainbow.

Using senses to recognize objects is the science access point addressed here.

Our next box of Bubber reminded us of a beautiful blue sky! We love it’s soft tactile feel and it comes in so many cool colors, although we don’t have all of them—–YET 🙂

We included an airplane cookie cutter which helps build hand strength when pushed down into the Bubber. While fairly soft it does take some pressure to cut out a shape.

Recognizing that the appearance of an object or material has changed and applying a push to move an object are the science access points addressed in this activity.

We went from the blue daytime sky to the black night time sky with our next box. Lots of yellow craft foam stars were hidden for our students to find in the black beans.

The stars not only look different but feel different from the beans, making this a good activity for both visual and tactile discrimination.

Associating stars with the night sky is again addressed with this box.

Recognizing objects (the stars) that are identical to each other is another science access point addressed here.

We must admit the science access point of tracking objects in motion, as watching a few beans tossed into the air, was also addressed in each of our classrooms.

We have VERY understanding teachers 🙂

What’s a day without sunshine! This box was filled with sunglasses, yellow paper shred, a wooden sun, sun shaped manipulatives and yellow pom poms.

Whether shaking the paper shred, squeezing the pom poms or pushing and pulling apart the manipulatives ——-our students had a great time with this box!

The pom poms can be used to address the math access point of recognizing two objects that are identical to each other.

Applying a push to move an object and identifying objects by one observable property, such as color are the science access points addressed.

The science access point of recognizing that the sun is bright can also be addressed with this activity.

These sunglasses were the favorite item in this box. As you can see, our students had a lot of fun getting their cool on 🙂

Next we made our own fluffy clouds with shaving cream. Wonderful fun to dive into with both hands and squish around!

Using senses to recognize objects is the science access point addressed with this activity.

The language access point of communicating about a selected object using nonverbal expression is beautifully demonstrated in this picture—-pure joy!

After rinsing our hands in “rain kissed leaves” (from Bath and Bodyworks) scented water, the students took turns smelling the lotion and showing us where they wanted it applied.

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

This had a nice soft scent that our students really seemed to like and to help them remember all the fun things we learned about today!

FINE MOTOR GROUP

On Tuesday, for our art project we made a starry night time sky. We started by counting out 6 pieces of black rectangular paper. Some glue was poured onto the paper and then the students used paint brushes to spread the glue around.

The math access points of recognizing a two dimensional shape (rectangle) and recognizing differences in the length of the sides of rectangles are addressed.

Identifying objects by one observable property and applying a push to move an object are also the science access points addressed.

We added some sparkly silver glitter——our students LOVED shaking the glitter out!

What fun 🙂

Recognizing that the appearance of an object or material has changed is a science access point.

Next we let our students choose how many stars to glue onto their picture. We used these plastic glow in the dark stars we found at the dollar store.

These little stars were perfect for promoting pincer grasp skills.

Recognizing when an object is added to situation is a math access point.

Counting up to 5 objects is also a math access point.

Look at the milky way—-

TA DA!

These turned out really quite cool and looked striking in Jeannie’s hallway.

On Thursday we turned from night to day and constructed our wonderful sun!

We started by asking our students to show us the color orange using our communication symbols.

Then we asked the students to glue an orange circle onto their white rectangular paper.

Bulls eye—-nice eye hand coordination!

Again, the math access point of recognizing 2 dimensional shapes (rectangles and circles) is addressed.

Recognizing objects by one observable property (color) is the science access point addressed in this activity.

The rays of the sun were made by stamping hand prints using yellow ink. Fortunately none of our students have tactile sensitivity so we did not have to adapt this for anyone. All of them did a really great job of keeping their hands open so we could help them make their prints.

We counted the hand prints out loud as they were pressed onto the paper.

Recognizing the appearance of an object has changed is the science access point addressed here.

Yep, this looks pretty good 🙂

LANGUAGE GROUP

In this group, we talked about things that go UP in the air and things that go DOWN on the ground.

Using Boardmaker, we made 9 different pictures of objects: rainbow, sun, clouds, bird, airplane, moon and stars, person, car, and house. We had real objects to go along with the pictures as well, which seemed to be a hit with the students!

Each student was given a picture and asked if it was UP in the sky……….

or…….. DOWN on the ground.

One of our students used the arrow as a road for a car—-too cute 🙂

Effectively communicating information using referent objects, pictures is the language access point addressed in this activity.

After they told us or showed us if the object was something seen UP or DOWN, they glued the picture onto a piece of paper with grass and sky drawn on it.

Our students did so well with this activity……we were SO proud!

Communicating about selected objects using pictures is a language access point.

That is it for this week. We had so much fun and learned a lot about things that we can see when we look up!

Join us again next week, you KNOW it’s going to be fun—–Group by Group 🙂