To celebrate Women’s History month we decided to learn about some amazing women of the past. Each of the sensory group boxes was dedicated to a different woman and the fine motor groups made art projects that were also dedicated to one of them. The language group became French chefs—-like Julia Child!
So let’s hear it for the girls!!!
SENSORY GROUP
Sacagawea was a member of the Shoshone tribe. We put in lots of beads—–necklaces and a shaker bottle—– in this box because members of the tribe wear clothing decorated with colorful beadwork.
The science access point track the movement of objects that are pushed or pulled is addressed in this activity.
Emmeline Pankhurst was a British suffragette. Not only did her box contain a British flag banner, but it also contained a fellow suffragette—–of the teddy bear kind 🙂
Recognize a characteristic of national identity is a social studies access point.
Maria Montessori was born in Italy and developed methods for teaching children with intellectual disabilities. This box contained rice in the colors of the Italian flag red, white, and green.
There were letters and numbers for the students to find as well as a picture of a teacher at the bottom of the box.
Recognize that pushing or pulling an object makes it move is a science access point.
Edith “Jackie” Ronne was the first women to explore Antarctica. We used shaving cream and cornstarch to make a fun snow box in her honor! The snow could be squished or scooped into little snow balls and the students had so much fun playing in it 🙂
Apply a push to move an object is a science access point.
Bessie Coleman was the first African American to become a pilot. Not only did she fly planes but she performed stunts with them too—–how cool is that!
We recorded the sounds of a propellor plane on a voice output device and added a hand held fan so the students could get the feel of riding in one of those old planes.
Goggles, toy plane and cute little co-pilot added to the fun. There were LOTS of giggles with this box 🙂
Recognize a model of a real object is a science access point.
Edith Flanigen was a scientist who invented a molecular sieve used to make oil refining cleaner and more efficient. In our water play, the students got to see how sieves work—-what fun!
Recognize a way to stop an object from moving is a science access point.
Rachel Carson started the modern environmental movement when she wrote the book Silent Spring which highlighted the misuse of pesticides. Her box contained leaves, flowers, insects and birds. The box was not so silent though——our little blue bird chirped when squeezed 🙂
Recognize common objects related to science by name, such as ice, animal, and plant.
Our scent this week was cucumber melon from Bath and Body Works. We chose it because we thought Julia Child might have like it’s yummy aroma. The students liked the scent and are really doing a great job of letting us know where they want the scent applied.
Recognize one or more external body parts is a science access point.
FINE MOTOR GROUP
On Tuesday our students used watercolors to make a “secret” picture appear. Our secret picture represented the nickname of World War II spy hero Nancy Wake and was made by using a white crayon and this: mouse template
We started by asking the students to identify the shape of the paper we were using—–a rectangle!
Recognize objects with 2-dimensional shapes is a math access point.
Then they applied watercolor paint to the paper using paintbrushes or a switch operated vibrating massager.
Recognize a change in an object is a science access point.
Ta DA
It’s the White Mouse!
On Wednesday our students made their own representations of the flag of Benazir Bhutto’s country of Pakistan. We used this to complete the project:moon and star template
First we talked about the shape of the flag and the students used communication symbols to identify a rectangle.
The math access point recognize objects with 2-dimensional shapes is again addressed here.
Then we talked about the colors used in the flag and used a paper cutter to trim a green rectangle piece of paper into a SQUARE!
The science access point recognize a change in an object is addressed here. Identify objects by one observable property, such a color is also addressed.
Ta DA—–let’s celebrate Benazir Bhutto!
LANGUAGE GROUP
We channeled Julia Child for our language group this week (you know we can’t pass up a time to cook!). Since Julia Child wrote a cookbook bringing French cuisine to America, we decided to try out a (modified) French recipe——we made crescent rolls filled with brie cheese.
We passed around the container of crescent rolls so that our students could FEEL if it was hot or COLD. Then, we passed around small bites of the brie cheese so they could TASTE it. Brie cheese is definitely an acquired taste to some, so there were some funny faces 🙂
Recognize objects or materials as warm or cold is a science access point.
Cara rolled up the cheese in the crescent rolls and we counted out how many were on the tray. Then we placed them in a toaster oven to cook!
Associate quantities with number names is a math access point.
We read that kids in France drink water or fruit juice, so we decided to combine the 2 and make flavored water!
We brought plastic fruits depicting the different flavors and each of our students indicated the one they wanted.
We ended up with 4 votes for grape and 2 votes for peach. Our students indicated that there were MORE grape votes.
The flavored water was a HIT!
Finally, once our crescent rolls were finished, we cut them up and enjoyed our version of French cuisine!
Delicieux 🙂
We really enjoyed learning about all these amazing women this week! Our spring break is starting so it will be 2 weeks until we are back with more fun and learning——Group by Group!