Tag Archives: Florida

Oct21

Florida Animals book

Posted on October 21, 2018 by jd785

This week, we are learning all about some of the animals that live in Florida. This goes hand-in-hand with the Unique theme for the month which is all about animal habitats. We have lots of really neat animals here–from alligators and manatees to black bears and panthers. The front cover features one of our students as a black bear while the 2 students on the The End page are dressed as a flamingo and alligator. Take a look to learn about some of our awesome animals!

Here is a link to the book: Look At The Animals In Florida

Oct21

Florida Animals

Posted on October 21, 2018 by jd785

Florida Animals

This week we learned about Florida animals and their habitats. This compliments the Unique Curriculum unit of our students this month. Each of the sensory group boxes was centered around a specific animal. The fine motor groups made animal themed art projects and the language group played animal sound Bingo.

SENSORY GROUP

This woodland box contained leaves, pine cones, and flowers that you might see while walking in the Florida woods. We also put in some plush and plastic animals that also wander those woods such as panthers, deer, raccoons, and squirrels

The students loved listening to the animal sounds we recorded on a voice output device.

Science access point: recognize objects related to science by name, such as animal, and plant.

Our black bear box contained some soft fake fur and two cute little plush bears.

Science access point: match animals that are the same.

There were pictures of seagulls and pelicans to find at the bottom of our sandy beach box. We included 2 different sized scoops and a funnel which were lots of fun!

Science access point: track objects in motion.

Florida has LOTS of squirrels! In our part of the state you sometimes get a glimpse of a white albino squirrel— how cool is that! The students used a squirrel shaped cookie cutter to cut squirrels out of moon sand.

Science access point: apply a push to move an object.

There are lots of different kinds of birds in Florida, including the mockingbird which is our state bird. We put models of some of these different birds in this box of bird seed.

Science access point: recognize a model of a real object.

Along with some leaves, bugs, and snakes, a couple of different alligators roamed around a green jello Everglades swamp this week.

Science access point: match living things with their habitats.

Our water play contained a shark and dolphin—marine animals that can be found in Florida waters. There were also 2 different sized measuring cups for scooping fun.

Science access point: Recognize different containers that hold liquids.

Oranges are a symbol of Florida and something that our animals might like to snack on, so we thought that Bath and Body Works orange lotion was the perfect scent to finish our group!

Science access point: recognize one or more external body parts.

FINE MOTOR GROUP

On Wednesday the students made zebra longing butterflies—our Florida state butterfly—using this: zebralongwing

First, we identified color of our butterfly.

Science access point: identify objects by one observable property, such as color.

Using white paint, the students were instructed to paint LINES across their butterflies.

Science access point: apply a push to move an object.

Then they glued their butterflies on to a sheet of blue paper.

Math access point: recognize when an object is added to a situation.

Ta DA!

Beautiful Florida butterflies!

On Thursday the students made manatee habitats using this: manatee

First, we identified the color of our paper.

Science access point: identify objects by one observable property, such as color.

The students used a glue stick to apply glue ACROSS the back of a manatee, turned it OVER, and glued it DOWN on their paper.

Math access point: recognize a movement that reflects a spatial relationship.

Then the students used scissors, adaptive scissors, and switch operated scissors to snip the green paper “sea grass”. After cutting, we crumpled it up a bit to give it more dimension.

Science access point: recognize a change in an object.

After they had finished snipping their sea grass, they added it to the paper.

Math access point: recognize when an object is added to a situation.

TA DA!!!

We love manatees!!!!!

LANGUAGE GROUP

We changed it up a little bit this week. Instead of making a tasty treat, we played a fun game of Florida animal BINGO!

Each student took a turn and listened to an animal sound. They started by using picture symbol supports to say/indicate “I listen”. The sounds of the different animals were recorded on a Go Talk.

After listening to the animal sound, the students had to locate the correct animal. If they did not know which animal it was, they had to use the picture symbol supports to say/indicate “I need help”.

They would then have to listen to a descriptor about the animal. “This animal is black” or “this animal lives in the water”.

Once the student figured out the correct animal, they would use the picture symbol supports to say/indicate “I hear a ___” and would either say the animal or locate the picture of the animal on their BINGO board.

It was really neat watching our students listening to the sounds. They would get very quiet so they could hear. They enjoyed hearing the growls and squeaks and tweets.

Science access point: recognize and respond to common sounds.

When the game was over, each student got to take the Go Talk and press whichever animal sound they liked the MOST.

BINGO!!!!

The students really had fun learning about Florida animals! Join us again next time for more fun—–Group by Group!

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Mar12

Youth Art Month

Posted on March 12, 2017 by jd785

Youth Art Month

March is Youth Art Month and to celebrate we learned about some famous artists. Each of the sensory group boxes represented a different artist. The fine motor group drew inspiration from some of the styles of famous artists to make their art projects and the language group made food art! This week was lots of fun and our theme also compliments the Unique Curriculum unit our students are working on.

SENSORY GROUP

Salvador Dali has a very famous painting with some melting clocks in a desert landscape. We replicated it using kinetic sand and some craft foam clocks (drawn by Ms. Erika) so there were 3 “melting” clocks to find. It was a fun box and the students were pretty intrigued with the clocks!

Associate quantities with number names is a math access point.

The students cut different sized stars out of our Vincent Van Gogh starry night play dough! With the added blue and gold silver glitter, it sparkled quite nicely.

Recognize similarities and differences in size of common objects is a math access point.

Harold Newton was one of the Highway Men famous for their Florida landscape paintings. This Florida box was fun to put together and filled with symbols of our state such as flamingoes, dolphins, pine trees, flowers, and oranges. Lots of things to explore!

The science access point recognize a model of a real object is addressed here.

Olivia is a character in illustrator Ian Falconer’s book series. Since Olivia is a pig, we went all pink with this box. We pulled out our pink sand and included a cute little toy pig. This play sand is really fine and perfect for sifting—-our students LOVED watching it fall from the sifter back into the box!

Track a falling object is a science access point.

Piet Mondrian used primary colors for his grid paintings. We put blue, red, and yellow pompoms to sort into matching plates in this box. Some of the students could do this independently while others needed help.

Either way, this was a very bright, eye catching box!

Match objects by one observable properties, such as color, is a science access point.

Shaving cream was perfect for drawing geometric shapes—–like those used by Alexander Calder in his mobiles.

The science access point apply a push to move an object is addressed here.

Hands were rinsed in a seascape worthy of JMW Turner. There was a little sailing ship and octopus to find in the water. There were also 2 scoops, one of which had a hole in the bottom for some fun experimentation as well as scooping practice.

The science access point recognize differences in objects can be addressed here.

Flowers are the theme of some of Georgia O’Keefe’s famous paintings. She made one called Plumeria so we used that as our scent this week. We used Bath and Bodyworks plumeria and it was a light floral scent that the students really liked.

Recognize and respond to one type of sensory stimuli is a science access point.

FINE MOTOR GROUP

On Tuesday the students made “drip” paintings like Jackson Pollock.

First we discussed the shape of our paper and identified it using communication symbols.

Recognize objects with two-dimensional shapes is a math access point.

Then the students used more communication symbols to pick colors to use.

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

We used these kids eye droppers that we found at Walmart. They were fairly inexpensive and a nice size. Most of the students needed a little help with this part of the activity. They were all fascinated with the process!

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

Ta Da!!!!!!!!!!!!

So colorful!

On Wednesday the students made art projects inspired by Gustav Klimt.

We discussed the shape of our paper and identified it using communication symbols.

Recognize objects with two-dimensional shapes is a math access point.

Then the students used a variety of cutting tools—-paper cutters, adaptive scissors, and regular scissors—-to cut strips of colorful paper.

Recognize a change in an object is a science access point.

Next we mixed all the pieces together and shared them among the students to turn OVER and glue DOWN on to their paper.

Recognize a movement that reflects a spatial relationship, such as up and down, is a math access point.

Klimt liked to add gold leaf to his paintings. We didn’t have any gold leaf but we did have gold paint and that worked pretty well!

The science access point recognize a change in an object is again addressed here.

Ta Da!

Just fabulous!

LANGUAGE GROUP

Since you know that we like to incorporate food into our language groups, it was a great excuse to use food to make art!

Each of our students got a piece of white bread which served as their blank canvas. We started out talking about the primary colors: RED, BLUE, and YELLOW.

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

We poured some sweetened condensed milk into 5 small cups. We put RED food coloring into one cup, BLUE food coloring into another cup, and YELLOW food coloring into a third cup (we put 10 drops of each coloring into each cup). Then the students got to stir the colors using brand new paint brushes!

Recognize a change in an object is a science access point.

We the talked about mixing the primary colors to make new colors. First we showed our students RED and BLUE and asked them to PREDICT what color it would make. We did the same with BLUE and YELLOW.

Then the students mixed up the colors again—–they thought it was really neat to see the colors changing!

Observe and recognize a predictable cause-effect relationship related to a science topic is a science access point.

Next, each of our students used communication symbols to indicate what color they wanted to paint with.

The colors ended up being so vibrant on the bread—-they really popped!

We found that we have some pretty good artists in our group!

Finally, after their edible art was complete, they got to eat their masterpieces.

YUM!

We will be gone next week for spring break but will back in a couple of weeks with 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!

Sep2

Florida Vacation Book

Posted on September 2, 2013 by jd785

Florida Vacation Book

We are all back from summer vacation and ready to start the school year. This week focuses on vacations people can take in Florida. We used some of our OWN vacation pictures in addition to internet pictures in this book. We decided to “take a trip” to places like Sea World, Disney World, the beach, and Cape Canaveral. While reading the book, we asked our students, “where should we go?” before they pressed the voice output device to “read” the repetitive line. Enjoy reading about some of the sites you could see if you went on a Florida vacation!

Here is a link to the book: Let’s Take a Vacation in Florida

Sep2

Florida Vacation

Posted on September 2, 2013 by jd785

Florida Vacation

We’re BACK!

While its great to be back at school, we can’t help but think about all the fun times we had this summer. We love living in Florida and just like the rest of the world, we love Florida vacations—-the perfect theme for our first post of the year.

Cara wrote another terrific book that we read in each of our groups and our students did a great job of using the voice output device to “read” the repetitive line!

So put on your sunglasses and join us for a tour of sunny Florida 🙂

Sensory Group

Our beautiful sandy beaches are one of the many reasons to visit Florida. We made our sand from wheat flour and oil (we found the recipe on Pinterest). Its basically cloud dough made with wheat instead of white flour.

We liked the texture it made—a little firmer than regular sand but not as firm as moon sand. Supremely touchable stuff! Three sea shells were hidden to find and make impressions…..

….And also perfect for scooping!

This activity addresses the science access points of recognizing common objects in the natural world through observations and recognizing common objects as the same.

It also addresses the math access point of recognizing quantities 1 to 3 using sets of objects.

Situated on the east coast of Florida, St. Augustine is the oldest city in the United States! How cool is THAT!

We colored our rice red and yellow, the colors of the Spanish flag, in honor of the first European settlers.

We have made some pretty colorful rice combinations in the past but this has got to be one of the most vibrant—really eye catching stuff that you can’t stop reaching out to touch 🙂

F is for Florida and we hid 3 letters in the rice!

Visual and tactile discrimination skills are addressed in this activity.

If you love learning about the space program, Cape Canaveral is the place to visit. You can see all sorts of rocket ships and pretend to be an astronaut!

We used our black beans to represent the night sky and put in some glow in the dark stars and crescent moons in addition to a little astronaut.

Tactile and visual discrimination skills are addressed as students discover the items hidden among the beans.

This activity also addresses the science access point of associating stars with the night sky and the math access point of recognizing common objects with two-dimensional shapes.

Everglades National Park is located in the southern part of our state and riding on an airboat is an exciting way to explore it!

We used our vibrating massager and battery operated fan to simulate what it would feel like to ride in one.

Our students really loved the feel of the fan and the massager.

Some of our students were able to work on thumb strengthening while turning the fan on/off.

This activity addresses the science access points of recognizing and responding to one type of sensory stimuli and indicating awareness of air moving.

We have so many fun theme parks to visit and Sea World is one of our favorites—everybody loves Shamu!

Toy sharks and whales swam in our water this week and as always, our students love to splash in the water……

….especially with friends 🙂

This activity addresses the science access point of distinguishing between items that are wet and items that are dry, as well as the science access point of sharing objects with a partner!

And finally, one of the biggest tourist attractions—Disney World!

We put colorful, soft pompoms in the colors of Mickey Mouse—-red, yellow, white and black—great for sorting and counting.

Lots of math access points can be targeted here, including solving simple real-world problems involving joining or separating small quantities of objects and recognizing the next step in a simple pattern or sequence of activities.

We also recorded the Mickey’s club house theme song on our voice output device. This was a total favorite that had some of our students getting up to dance, what FUN!

Recognizing and responding to common sounds is a science access point 🙂

When you visit sunny Florida you have to wear sunscreen! We thought Bath and Body Aruba coconut was the perfect scent for this week…

It smelled really yummy 🙂

This is a super fun way to work on the science access point of identifying external body parts.

Fine Motor Group

We had two really fun art projects this week! On Tuesday after reading our book, we talked about all the animals we could see while visiting Sea World, painting blue corn syrup water.

We started by showing the bottle of blue corn syrup and then asking our students to show us “blue”.

The students then used their brushes to spread the mixture all over the paper.

This is a great way to practice using writing tools.

We then gave the students a choice between a precut dolphin or orca to put in their water. The corn syrup, being naturally sticky, means you don’t need to use glue!

Eye hand coordination is addressed when placing them onto the paper.

This activity also addresses the math access point of recognizing when an object is added to a situation.

Ta Da—we just love how it dries but still looks shiny and wet!

………….Don’t they look terrific 🙂

On Thursday our art project was all about the mouse 🙂 We started by stapling 2 smaller black plates to a large white plate.

We used an oval hole punch to cut out a nose. The hole punch was a little hard to push so our students needed assistance.

Then we put the nose in the middle of the white circle.

As we put together our mouse we discussed the different facial body parts.

We also discussed the similarities and differences in sizes of the paper plates which addressed math access points.

Then we used the paper cutter to cut a red square into 2 triangles to make a bow and placed it either at the top or bottom of the face……to make Mickey or Minnie!

As a final flourish we added 2 googlie eyes—-you know how much we love them!

Circular eyes, triangle bows and an oval nose—-more math access points.

Super cute!

Language Group

In the past, we have focused on working with the alphabet each week for the language group. However, since things went so well at the end of the year when we changed the language group to coincide with the theme of the other two groups, we decided to keep it that way.

Next, we used a drawn outline of Florida (drawn by our very talented Art teacher, Judy). We used the pictures of the different places from our book and glued them to where they would be located on the map.

Then, we went around to each student, one at a time, and had them match the given picture to where it was located on the map. We used the PIXONs “where” to ask the question “where is it?”, “match” in order to reinforce that we were matching photographs, and “find” to have them find it on the map. After each photo was matched correctly, we had the PIXONs “I put it here” in a row and each student had to read the sentence by pointing to each PIXON while verbalizing the word if they were able to.

Some required a little more help than others, but they all took their time to look at the pictures to see if they could match the correct ones!

When we were all done matching, we asked each of the students where they would like to take a trip.

The count at the end was 1 student for Sea World and the rest of them for the Everglades to ride on an air boat:)

Let us know if you have traveled to any of these places 🙂

Well that is it for the first week! We have so many more fun groups planned for the rest of the year, so be sure to join us—-Group by Group 🙂

Mar4

Book for Week 23

Posted on March 4, 2012 by jd785

Book for Week 23

This week we talked all about where we live: Florida! Our book went over different things that we see in Florida. We had someone “read” the title which is the same as the repetitive line. The students were asked “where do we see this?” to which they answered “we see this in Florida” with a voice output device. We love our Sunshine State! Click on the link to check out our latest book.

We See This in Florida

Mar4

Week 23—Florida and Letter W

Posted on March 4, 2012 by jd785

Week 23—Florida and Letter W

Our theme for our Sensory and Fine Motor groups was Florida and our theme for our Language group was Letter W.

Sensory Group—Florida

The Unique Curriculum topic this month explored home, family and where you live, so we we chose our home state as our theme this week. We hope you enjoy exploring our wonderful state with us 🙂

We started our session by looking at a map of Florida. We pointed out where we live and where we might like to visit.

Then we read Cara’s book. Our students took turns activating the voice output device to comment on things we might see in Florida. We were quite excited when one of our students started kicking his feet (he activates the switch with his foot) as soon as we told him it was his turn.

Looking at maps and identifying places on maps is a social studies access point. Reaching for the map, since we held it vertically, helps strengthen shoulder stability.

Florida is the Sunshine State!

Our box of sunshine contained soft, round, yellow pom poms and some hard, rayed yellow shapes (from a set of manipulatives).

These bright and cheery items let us compare properties of materials: a science access point.

The next box contained some dried moss, just like the spanish moss that hangs from oak trees in Florida. It had a dry crinkly texture which was very different from the soft black bear “fur”. Again, exploring contrasting properties of materials is a science access point.

We put in a plastic orange and orange slice. This let us compare part to whole concepts which is a math access point.

There were lots of other cool Florida symbols that our students enjoyed pulling out which gave us lots of opportunities to explore language and literacy skills!

Seminole Indians are native to Florida.

They are known for the bead work on their clothing. We put our colorful beads in some sealed bottles.

We also put in a few shells to encourage visual discrimination as the bottles are turned.

Of course they are also lots of fun to shake, adding an auditory component!

In our next box we learned about alligators—we have lots of them in Florida!

Our alligator puppet had a zipper mouth which gave our students the opportunity to practice some activities of daily living skills. Feeling the open zipper was a safe way to touch a gators sharp teeth 🙂

We found a toy that reminded us of an alligators bumpy, rough skin. Also included was in the box, was a gator puzzle piece and a little rubber one. Comparing the sizes of the large gator puppet and a small rubber alligator targets a math access point.

Cape Canaveral, where men were first launched into space!

Black beans look like the dark night sky and are so nice to scoop or pick up with fingers to practice pincer grasp skills. Lots of tactile input is given when burying/digging out the astronaut and moon.

We also put in a small star shaped cookie cutter, can you find it?

Discussing the star shape and the sphere shaped moon addresses math access points.

Yikes, we are also known for hurricanes! Put a hair dryer on a high, cool setting and you have WIND.

Lots of giggles and smiles erupted as hair was blown or the wind touched their hands. Our students loved this so much, we ended up bringing the “wind” into the Fine Motor and Language groups also!

Exploring the effects of wind/weather is a science access point and the tactile effects increase body awareness.

Ok, we finally got to the beach! We have miles of it here to walk along barefoot (we found this plastic foot on a halloween clearance rack). The foot was a HUGE hit—no pun intended 🙂

We looked for the letter F and made seashell impressions in the sand.

Other students enjoyed trying to catch the sand as it as it was spilled from the shell—-so much fun in one little box!

Next we practiced our prewriting strokes in “key lime pie”, our state pie. Its actually vanilla pudding but its a similar color to REAL key lime pie—and a lot cheaper 🙂

The tactile aspect of finger painting helps reinforce motor memory patterns and is a great way to encourage hand and arm movements.

We rinsed our hands in orange scented water and took a little time out for some fishing, sometimes with a little help from our friends 🙂

Using the fishing pole to catch the fish promotes shoulder stability and eye hand coordination. The opening in the fish tails also makes them easy to grasp with hands.

Counting the fish as they are caught addresses math access points.

We had some other fish that were squirters! Fun to squeeze, working on grasp skills. Also fun to have the water squirt on your hand! We were really excited to see this student actively moving her fingers and smiling during this activity.

After drying our hands, we rubbed on some orange scented lotion. A wonderful citrus scent to help us remember all the things we learned about our state today!

Thank you Ms. Metra for donating that yummy scent!

Fine Motor Group—Florida

On Tuesday, we read Cara’s book about Florida. The students got excited as they recognized some of the familiar places and things pictured.

Talking about the different things they point out allows for lots of language and literacy opportunities.

Then we proceeded to make a palm tree—one of the most recognizable symbols of Florida!

We started by counting out rectangular pieces of white paper, working on math access points, of course!

Then we made a “down” stroke using a foam brush and brown paint.

We helped our students with the initiation point but they did a really nice job of completing the stroke. we were so proud!

Then we painted one of their hands with green paint and counted as we pressed it at the top of the brown line 2 times.

We told you we were making a “palm” tree 🙂

Some of our students could do this step independently but most of them needed some assistance.

WOW, doesn’t this make

you think of Florida 🙂

On Thursday we read Cara’s book again. Once again our students did a great job helping us read the repeating line. We didn’t talk about them in our book but Manatees are some of the wonderful animals that are native to Florida and we wanted to do a project that included them.

To get started on our activity, we counted out rectangular pieces of blue paper (addressing math access points).

Then we tore pieces of blue and green tissue paper. Tearing the paper helps promote bilateral coordination and fine motor skills.

We are making an underwater habitat for a manatee!

Our students dipped the tissue into glue and glued it onto the paper. Crumpling the paper was encouraged!

Grasping the paper encourages pincer grasp skills and eye hand coordination.

This student needed a lot of help with his pincer grasp skills last year, but look at him now! Joy (the OT) is very pleased.

Then we painted our manatee. Joy drew the outline on some white craft foam. Its texture really resembles that of a manatee, just perfect for our project!

We added a googlie eye, OF COURSE, and glued our manatee into its habitat.

TA-DA!

Jeannie’s hallway looks so cute with the palm trees and manatees hanging on the wall!

Language Group—Letter W

We started by Wadding up some scrap paper.

This activity is great for encouraging bilateral coordination and palmer arching.

And its really fun!

Then We took out the hair dryer again and made some Wind!

The students had so much fun Watching the hair dryer blow the paper Wads down the table. It was also fun to Watch our post-its Wave.

Most of the students could hardly Wait for their turn with the hair dryer 🙂

This activity addresses shoulder stability and eye hand coordination.

Discussing the effects of Wind addresses science access points.

Next We Wiped out a W on the dry erase board.

Following the strokes promotes Motor Memory for letter formation and Working on a vertical surface promotes shoulder stability.

We also made it big enough to sneak in a crossing midline component.

Now We are going to make a Walrus!

For our project, some of our students cut strips of White paper using our paper cutters.

These are going to be some Walrus tusks!

Other students practiced cutting on curved lines (this is going to be the muzzle). They needed a little help but really did a nice job.

As usual, we had a variety of scissors, both adaptive and regular on hand to suit our students needs.

We used our hole punches to cut 2 large White circles and 2 small black circles using our hole punches. We love these because they make it easy for our students to cut circles and they help with hand strengthening.

Comparing the relative sizes and counting the circles addresses math access points.

We glued all the pieces onto a brown paper lunch bag.

Assembling this addresses following directions, fine motor skills and visual spatial concepts.

Wow! A Wonderful Walrus!

Isn’t he just so super cute 🙂

What fun to play Cara’s latest sound game. Lots of cool W sounds to listen for this Week.

Watch out for that Wasp!

Whew—what a lot of W words we found today. There were so many and scattered all around the table—-here are just a few of them!

It was just an awesome week, we had a blast! We hope you join us again for more fun Group by Group.