Our school recently had the annual fall festival, so we decided to keep the celebration going by dedicating our theme to fall festivals. Our book contains pictures from the festival. There were lots of fun activities like face painting, hay rides, fun games, and yummy food. Take a look at the fun we had!
Here is a link to the book: Let_s Go To The Fall Festival!
It is that time of year when the leaves start changing color and the days are cooler—-everywhere else but here lol. Despite the fact that it still feels like summer, our school had a fabulous fall festival and we are using it as our theme this week. The sensory groups explored lots colorful boxes. The fine motor groups made some leafy crafts and the language group led a costume parade inviting all their elementary friends to a mini fall festival.
SENSORY GROUP
We filled this box with items associated with fall and things you might see at a fall festival such as silk fall leaves, pumpkins, play food, and scarecrows. We even included a little tractor to pull a hay ride!
Recognize a model of a real object is a science access point.
There was a chili cook-off at our festival and since chili usually contains beans, we brought out our dried mixed beans for this box.
We added some Bingo Game numbers for the students to find.
Associate quantities with number names is a math access point.
This orange rice with black beans was also a perfect box for this unit. The students searched for letter F’s and there was a colorful fall picture to find at the bottom of the box.
Recognize objects that are identical to each other is a science access point.
Instead of 1 color of play dough, this week we had 2! The students had fun using a leaf shaped cookie cutter to cut out yellow and red leaves. When mixed together we even get a third color—-orange!
Apply a push to move an object is science access point.
This fall umbrella is one of our favorites. The yellow umbrella with the colorful craft foam and silk leaves was very eye catching and a big hit with the students. To add to the fun we included some eye-catching bubbles—-just like the bubbles we had at our festival!
Track objects in motion is a science access point.
There are always lots of yummy treats to be had at a fall festival. To represent all the yumminess, we made some chocolate cloud dough. Fun for molding or scooping, the students had a blast!
Recognize that pushing and pulling an object makes it move, is a science access point.
The students used a sieve to scoop up craft foam leaves or a little orange dish scrubber floating in the water.
Match objects by one observable property, such as shape, is a science access point.
Bath and BodyWorks made the perfect scent for this week—–pumpkin pie paradise! A yummy scent that left our students smelling delicious 🙂
Recognize one or more external body parts is a science access point.
FINE MOTOR GROUP
On Tuesday we made a fall collage.
First, we identified the color of our fall leaves using communication symbols.
Identify objects by one observable property, such as color, is a science access point.
Then we made some branches and twigs using brown markers. Some of the students used one of our switch operated writers we made using a switch toy and some velcro.
Apply a push to move an object is a science access point.
After they finished drawing, the students glued some leaves onto their branches. They also glued on a little scarecrow that they colored earlier in the day.
Recognize a movement that reflects a spatial relationship, such as up and down, is a math access point.
TA DA!
We are having some fall fun!
On Wednesday we made a tree with colorful fall leaves using this:tree template
The students identified the color of the leaves and the shape of our paper using communication symbols.
Match objects by one observable property such, such as color, is a science access point. Recognize objects with two-dimensional shapes, such as circle or square, is a math access point.
We used a crayon resist technique by painting watered down orange paint over brown crayon.
Recognize that pushing and pulling an object makes it move is a science access point.
Then the students placed a paper towel on top to soak up the extra paint.
Recognize a change in an object is a science access point.
Next, they glued some colorful silk leaves on to their trees.
Recognize when an object is added to a situation is a math access point.
TaDa!
Happy Fall Ya’ll!
LANGUAGE GROUP
This week our students led their friends on a costume parade around the elementary building to the multi-use room we had set up for a fall festival.
First everyone had to pick our their costumes. Ms. Robin’s class decided on a pirates theme!
Adjust body movement or nonverbal expression with prompting as necessary to communicate wants and needs, is a language access point.
The students were pretty pleased with their selections and we think they looked pretty grrrrrreat!
Ahoy mateys!
The students set sail, inviting all their friends to join the fun!!
Other classes dressed up too—–we had some dwarves, good witches, and……..
……….a pack of dalmatians!
We recently got this really cool wheelchair tunnel which we brought out for the first time! To give it a kind of “fun house” feel, we attached a rope light to the top—–very eye catching to our students.
We talked about going IN the tunnel and coming OUT of the tunnel.
This was a hit!!!
It wouldn’t be a fall festival without some yummy treats!
To tell us what they wanted, our students used communication symbols. They formed sentences by indicating “I want ___ please” . There was a communication strip at each different food or drink so that they could request what they wanted. Adults helped, as needed, pointing to the symbols to model the use of them or providing hand over had help for those who need a bit more assistance.
The photo booth was a hit!
Our little pirates sure put on a fabulous fall festival!
It was a wonderful time to socialize and practice our communication skills! The costumes were a major perk 🙂
We had such a fun week! Join us next time for more fun and learning——Group by Group!
We just had the fall festival at our school recently, so we thought it would be fun to do our theme on fall festivals this week. There are SO many things to do at a fall festival and our book touches on a few of the different activities.
We used real pictures of our students participating in the activities and you can tell that they had a pretty good time 🙂
Here is a link to the book: We Have Fun at the Fall Festival
It is getting a little cooler (in our case, emphasis on LITTLE) and that means it is the time of year for fall festivals. Ours’ was just so much fun we decided that it would be a perfect theme for us—-and a way to relive all the fun!
Our sensory groups explored boxes filled with a variety of textures and scents of fall fun. The fine motor group painted a fall tree and the language group made some yummy festival food.
SENSORY GROUP
This box had lots of textures and objects related to a fall festival. There was hay and a truck for the hayride, colorful fall leaves, and some little “students” to enjoy the fun. We also included a football, pie, scarecrows, and pumpkins!
Recognize a model of a real object is a science access point.
Everyone had fun playing Bingo while eating yummy chili! So,we combined the two for this box—–adding numbers to our dried bean mix.
In addition to number identification and sequencing, both visual and tactile discrimination skills are also addressed!
Associate quantities with number names is a math access point.
Popcorn was another fun treat that we enjoyed at the festival. There were 3 upper case and 1 lowercase letter “f”s to find in our popcorn box.
Recognize quantities 1 to 3 using sets of objects is a math access point.
At our fall festival, we had a big bubble machine blowing bubbles everywhere—–there is something about bubbles that always make you smile 🙂 Instead of the machine during group, the students had to blow their own bubbles.
Of course, not all the students could blow the bubbles themselves but they sure had fun watching them drift by or trying to catch them!
Track objects in motion is a science access point.
One of the highlights of this group was our fall fun umbrella—-it is one of our favorites! The students loved looking at and touching the colorful leaves. They also had fun watching them waft to and fro as we slowly twirled the umbrella.
The science access point track objects in motion can be addressed with this activity.
The dessert booth is always a favorite at any festival. We made some chocolate cloud dough to remind us of all the yummy treats to be found there! A cookie cutter and large scoop added to the fun.
Recognize and respond to different types of sensory stimuli is a science access point.
We turned our water play into a fishing booth—–complete with fishing pole! The students really had a blast with this one and operating the fishing pole really works on bilateral coordination!
In addition to being counted, since the fish were different colors the science access point identify objects by one observable property such as color, can be addressed.
Bath and Bodyworks pumpkin was the perfect scent for our water play and lotion this week. The students REALLY liked this one 🙂
Recognize one or more external body parts is a science access point.
FINE MOTOR GROUP
Due to Veterans Day holiday we only had one fine motor group this week but it was a really fun and colorful one! For our tree painting project we used the super cool stampers made from fringed craft foam rolled and secured with rubber bands——thank you for the idea Ms. Kim! Here is the template for the tree:tree template
We started by discussing the 3 different colors of paint for our project—–red, yellow, and orange—and asking the students to identify the number 3.
Associate quantities with number names is a math access point.
The students were encouraged to stamp with UP and DOWN motions but of course, they all had their own techniques—-whether using 1 or 2 hands 🙂
Recognize a change in an object is a science access point.
TA DA——
fabulous fall foliage!
LANGUAGE GROUP
We had a very special visitor help us out with the language group this week! Our very own Jeannie! She came in to help the class make a sweet dessert that could be sold in the bake sale at a fall festival.
We made edible haystacks using this recipe: Let’s Make Edible Haystacks
First, our student helped pour some chow mein noodles into a medium sized bowl.
We then poured an entire bag of butterscotch chips into a smaller, microwaveable bowl. We talked about the different sizes of the bowls; which bowl was BIGGER and which was SMALLER. Then we heated the butterscotch up so it would melt.
Recognize differences in size of objects is a math access point.
While we were waiting, we brought the fall umbrella around so our students could look at it—-it was a HIT!!!
Once the butterscotch was melted, Jeannie poured it into the chow mein noodle bowl. Each of our students got a turn to stir it up until the noodles were all coated with butterscotch.
This was a great opportunity to address the math access point solve problems involving small quantities of actions using language, such as enough, too much, or more.
Finally, each of our students got to spoon out ONE sponful of the mix onto a piece of wax paper. We found that if we waited a little bit longer for the mixture to cool, it would form more easily into a “haystack”.
Match one object to a designated space to show one-to-one correspondence is a math access point.
Once they were all nice and cooled off, our students ate their haystacks. YUM!
Join us again next week for more fun and learning—–Group by Group!