We had a lot of fun with this week’s theme. Our book is just fantastic and we have to thank Ms. Lois, Ms. Jen, and Ms. Kim who were a huge help with costumes for our students. Be sure to check it out!
Our sensory group explored boxes filled with color and texture. The fine motor groups made fairy tale themed art projects and the language group made a snack the Grimm brothers would love!
SENSORY GROUP
We filled this box with play figures and props representing different characters from Grimm Brothers stories. There were lots of things to explore and find but the magic wand with flashing lights was a real favorite!
The social studies access point recognize a person in a story, can be addressed with this activity.
Pink “princess” sand and letter P’s were sifted with a little sieve. The sand is such a pretty color and very enticing to the students. They really enjoyed watching it cascade down!
Track a falling object is a science access point.
Yellow rice, red and black beans, represented the colors of the German flag—-the Grimm brothers came from that country! In addition to letter “G”‘s to find, there was a picture of the actual brothers to find at the bottom of the box.
The science access point track the movement of objects that are pushed or pulled, is addressed with this activity.
The students had lots of fun with our Big Bad Wolf box. The wolf mask (from Target) wasn’t TOO scary and the students had fun trying it on. We also included some grandma glasses, a little plush wolf, and some fun fake wolf fur to complete the look.
The science access point recognize one or more external body parts can be addressed with this activity.
Ok, so we had a few more photos that were too cute to leave out!
How could we resist 🙂
In the story, Jack sold his cow for those magic beans he planted.
In our box of mixed beans, there were 3 little cows for our students to find and count.
Associate quantities with number names is a math access point.
We put some colorful confetti in our oobleck this week to make it look like the icing that decorated the gingerbread house from Hansel and Gretel. As usual, it was gooey, messy fun!
Recognize that pushing and pulling an object makes it move is a science access point.
There was a little pond for our frog “prince” to play in. We also included a measuring cup for scooping and pouring.
Recognize a model of a real object is a science access point.
We scented our water with Snow White approved Bath and Body Works country apple scented lotion. The students really liked the yummy scent of the matching lotion.
Recognize and respond to one type of sensory stimuli is a science access point.
FINE MOTOR GROUP
On Tuesday our students made some pretty cute Cinderella carriages.
First we discussed the shape our paper punch would cut out and asked our students to identify a circle using communication symbols. The students either used eye gaze or pointed to the circle.
Recognize an object with a two-dimensional shape is a math access point.
The students glued their pumpkins down onto construction paper. Then they glued their photos onto their pumpkins.
The science access point recognize a change in an object is addressed with this activity.
Next the students punched out 2 circles. Our paper punch is a difficult to press, so the students did need help with this step.
Associate quantities with number names is a math access point.
The circle “wheels” were then glued to the bottom of the carriage.
Match one object to a designated space to show one-to-one correspondence is a math access point.
Ta DA!
Let’s go to the ball!
On Wednesday the students made a dwarf forest using tree stamps! The dwarves were made by gluing the photos of the students faces on this: dwarf-template
First we discussed the shape and color of our poster board.
The math access point recognize an object with a two-dimensional shape, and the science access point identify objects by one observable property, such as color are addressed here.
Next we asked the students to identify the number 5 on a number line.
Associate quantities with number names is a math access point.
We glued thread spools onto our tree stamps to make them easier for our students to grasp as each stamped 5 trees onto the poster board. We emphasized stamping UP and DOWN!
Recognize a moment that reflects a spatial relationship, such as up and down, is a math access point.
Then the students picked out their dwarves and put them into the forest. It turned out pretty cute!
Recognize a change in an object is a science access point.
Ta Da!
So…..kind of like herding cats but we did get a group shot 🙂
LANGUAGE GROUP
Our language group had fun making “Jack’s Magic Bean Dip” in honor of Jack and the Beanstalk. We used pixon symbols throughout the group to model how our students can use symbols during activities.
We started out by putting a can of cannellini beans that had been drained and rinsed into a food processor. Next, we passed around the 2 cloves of garlic that had been chopped up. Each of our students took turns smelling the garlic.
They had to indicate whether or not they liked it by pointing to the symbol for “I like this” or “I don’t like this”. It turned out to be about half and half for our students.
After we put the garlic in the food processor we let each of our students taste a little bit of lemon juice, which was the next ingredient to put in. We talked about how lemons are SOUR. Again, they got to convey if they liked it or not and again it was split down the middle.
We put 2 tablespoons of lemon juice into the food processor.
Next, we added some fresh parsley.
We also used some dried oregano which our students got to smell and tell us if they liked or not.
Finally, our students got to use a switch to activate the food processor so the ingredients could be chopped. Our students used symbols to tell us if we needed to chop up the ingredients MORE or if we were ALL DONE.
The students really liked using the food processor 🙂
Once we were finished, we counted out bowls and put some of the magic bean dip in each of them. We sprinkled a bit of salt and pepper on the dip and added some cut up tortillas.
YUM!
Hope you enjoyed our unit on the Grimm Brothers! Join us again next time for more fun and learning Group by Group!
We came up with our own original book this year due to a confusion about the themes that we had gone over. We are celebrating Cinderella Monkey’s Birthday this week! We have several of our students in this book dressed up as all different kinds of animals–from alligators to bats to ladybugs. They are all coming to help their friend, Cinderella Monkey, celebrate her Birthday. Check it out to see what everyone brought their friend!
Here is a link to the book: It_s Cinderella Monkey’s Birthday!
