For National Hobby Month we let staff take center stage in our book this week. The sensory groups explored boxes related to specific hobbies. The fine motor groups made art projects using techniques from some of our hobbyists and the language group made a tasty treat!
SENSORY GROUP
Ms. Trenisha collects elephants—-how cool is that! There were lots of different elephant items in this box including a hat, plush toys, and a discovery bottle with floating elephant beads.
There was also an accordion tube the students could use to form their own elephant trunks.
The accordion tube was a hit!
Science access point: recognize a model of a real object.
Ms. Laurie loves to cross stitch.
Students stamped letter X’s into purple Bubber——our version of cross stitching 🙂
Science access point: apply a push to move an object.
Mr. Noah and Ms. Betsy enjoy gardening. We put a variety of vegetables in our play dirt this week and let the students dig their own gardens.
We also included a small rake.
Science access point: recognize pushing and pulling an object makes it move.
Coach Kevin likes to golf in his spare time!
The students made golf balls with white Floam.
Math access point: recognize three-dimensional objects, such as balls.
Ms. Kim enjoys reading.
Since animals are always fun to read about, we put some cool magnets that spelled the animal words into a box of beans.
Science access point: match objects by an observable property, such as shape.
Ms. Brenda loves to bake! For her box we brought out some chocolate cloud dough.
A variety of different sized scoops and spoons were used to fill up a small cupcake tin.
Math access point: recognize differences in size of objects.
In her spare time, Ms. Thea  likes to go kayaking and fishing.
The students had fun seeing how many fish they could catch in our pond.
Math access point: associate quantities with number names.
To go along with our gardeners, we chose a fruity scent this week.
Strawberry guava was a perfect choice!
Science access point: recognize one or more external body parts.
FINE MOTOR GROUP
On Tuesday the students made a tissue paper collage on a paper plate!
First, they identified the shape of their paper plate.
Math access point: recognize an object with a two-dimensional shape.
Next, they tore colorful tissue paper into smaller pieces and glued them down on to their plates.
Science access point: recognize a change in the external appearance of an object.
TA DA!!
We made collages like Ms. Jessica!
On Wednesday the students practiced their painting skills by painting with water! Thank you Ms. Jeannie for donating “paint with water” coloring books!
First, they identified the shape of of their paper.
Math access point: recognize an object with a two-dimensional shape.
Next, the students dampened their paint brushes with water and began painting. It was so cool watching the paint appear!
Science access point: recognize a change in the external appearance of an object.
Glue was added to the back of the picture—-we followed the shape of the paper reminding the students that it was a RECTANGLE.
Then they glued their picture on to a BIGGER rectangle!
Math access point: recognize when an object is added to a situation.
TA DA!!
We are artists like Ms. Judy!
What a great hobby!!!!
LANGUAGE GROUP
We made yummy banana pudding parfaits this week in the language group. Here’s the recipe that we used: Let’s Make Banana Pudding Parfaits
We started out by PUTTING instant vanilla pudding mix into a BOWL. The student who HELPED was given the box of pudding mix. If they were unable to open it, they requested HELP.
Once the pudding mix was in the bowl, we measured out 2 cups of milk. We poured one carton of milk into the measuring cup and found that we needed MORE. We found that 2 cartons of milk from the cafeteria equals 2 cups!
Math access point: solve problems involving small quantities of objects or actions, using language, such as enough, too much, or more.
Each student had a change to HELP MIX the ingredients up. Since each student helped out, they were asked “who’s next” after their turn.
Next, we crushed up some vanilla wafers. Each time a student was finished HELPING, we observed the bag to see if they needed to be crushed up MORE or if we were ALL DONE.
We adapted our glitter song and sang “crush your cookies instead of shake your glitter 🙂
Each student had to request a CUP. Then they had to request the ingredients to build the parfait.
First, they requested the crushed cookies. We PUT some pudding on top of that and then added 3 slices of banana. Each student counted out 3 slices.
Math access point: associate quantities with number names.
Finally, we PUT some whipped cream on top. Each student was only given a small amount, so they had to indicate whether they wanted MORE or they were ALL DONE. When the parfait was all ready, they had to request a SPOON.
I think we can all agree with Ms. Brenda that cooking can be a very fun hobby 🙂
Join us again next time for more fun and learning—–Group by Group!
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Happy 2016 everyone! To welcome the new year we thought it would be fun to take a look BACK at some things that happened in past “new” years.
The marriage of Prince Ferdinand and Queen Isabella united the country of Spain. The red and yellow of this colorful box were a nod to the colors of the Spanish flag. In addition to sorting by color, the students were able to sort by texture since we included soft pompoms and hard beads.
Identify objects by one observable property, such as color is a science access point.
In 1776 the Declaration of Independence was signed and in celebration of that historic event we made some red, white and blue play dough! We added snipped pieces of an old star garland and some glitter to give the play dough a patriotic sparkle 🙂
At the turn of the century, people were thrilled with the construction of the Statue of Liberty. We thought our green Bubber looked pretty similar to the color of the statue as we see it today.
 We also included a souvenir  hat just for fun——thanks Kira!
In 1955 the hit song Rock Around the Clock was released. Our students used finger drums and a maraca to rock out to the song we recorded on a voice output device.
The science access points recognize an action as fast or slow and recognize objects that create sounds are addressed here.
The movie Footloose was hugely popular in 1984 and we thought this neon rice perfectly represented the decade!
The psychedelic 1960’s rang out with the Woodstock concert held in the summer of 1969. In homage to the fashion of the day, we made some tie dye oobleck! Watching the colors swirl around was just GROOVY 🙂
We got the tie dye effect by mixing the different colors in separate bowls and then pouring them onto a tray.
Another musician made history in 1977 with his concert in Hawaii—–the king himself, Elvis! Since lei’s are made from plumeria flowers we used that scent from Bath and Bodyworks for our water play scent this week. There was a “plumeria” blossom floating in the water and a bulb syringe to “water” it with.
Recognize that pushing and pulling an object makes it move is addressed here.
The students really liked the aroma of the matching lotion rubbed on their arms and hands.
Recognize and respond to one type of sensory stimuli is a science access point.
We started by discussing the shape of plate and asking the students to identify it using communication symbols.
Then they painted the plate with GOLD paint—-this looked so cool!!! By having the students hold onto the popsicle stick handle we also addressed bilateral coordination with this activity.
We added even more sparkle with some glitter confetti and topped off the sign with a piece of paper with “2016” printed on it.
TA DA—–Happy 2016!
We started by identifying the number 6 on a number line—-the students did a really great job with this!
Then we got out some BIG brushes and painted the shields with silver paint. Some of the students are still learning to use paint brushes but most of them  got to work without any help from us!
We used the Ellison machine to cut out the numbers 2-0-1-6 and the students placed them on their shields.
                                Time for a 2016 royal TA DA
We started by counting out the cupcake liners while placing them in the cupcake tin. We used a visual of the number 6 to help reinforce number recognition.
Then, we followed the directions on the Jiffy cornbread mix box and put all of the ingredients in a bowl.  We made sure to talk about the COLOR of the cornbread mix and also how it was DRY. When we cracked the egg in, we talked about how the mixture was now WET.
When it was time to pour in the milk, noting that it was a LIQUID, our students got to feel the temperature—-it was COLD!
Recognize the temperature of items, such as food, as cool or warm is a science access point.
We mixed up the ingredients and counted out how many spoonfuls we needed to put into the cupcake tin. Once finished, we put them in the oven to bake.
While we were waiting, we had a small New Years party of our own. We got out party hats, boas, and princess crowns. Our students then got to make some “fireworks” by walking or rolling over bubblewrap-
                                —they had a BLAST!
Finally, we got to eat our “gold”. Cheers to a lucky 2016!!
Well, it was back to school with a blast and we had tons of fun welcoming in the new year! Join us again next week for more fun and learning——Group by Group!
