One of our families recently took a trip to Greece—–how cool is that! Our sensory groups explored boxes related to Greek history and culture. The fine motor groups practiced cutting skills while making their art projects. The language group celebrated Apokries, a Greek carnival, by having a parade and street dance!

 

 

 

 

SENSORY GROUP

The ancient Greeks gave us zodiac constellations, some of which could be found on our starry night sky umbrella.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The twinkling lights, dangling planets, and colorful pictures were all so eye catching!

 

 

 

 

 

Science access point: recognize a space related object.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Touring ancient Greek ruins is a must for any tourist!

 

 

 

 

 

The students made their own buildings using some wooden blocks. We also included a small rake so they could look for any hidden ancient relics!

Science access point: recognize that pushing or pulling makes an object move.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blue and white are the colors of the Greek flag.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beads, whether worn, grabbed by handfuls, or sorted—-so much fun!

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The ancient Greeks invented the Olympic games!

The students twisted colorful chenille stems into olympic rings—–or other pretty inventive sculptures 🙂

 

 

 

 

Science access point: recognize that pushing and pulling an object makes it move.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Letter G’s could be found in blue and white rice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a map of the Greek islands at the bottom of the box.

Science access point: match objects with similar observable properties, such as shape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This box contained symbols of Greece, including an owl, laurel leaves, and foods grown there. We also put in some things that you might need while touring around—-such as a backpack, sunglasses, and camera.

 

 

 

 

There was even recorded some traditional Greek music on a voice output device.

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The students swirled shaving cream clouds around Mount Olympus.

 

 

 

 

 

Messy play is so much fun!

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since Greece has so many islands, we put in a small fishing boat in our water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was also a dolphin which is a symbol of Greece and 2 small fish to catch.

Science access point: match common living things with their habitats.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We chose Bath and Body Works juniper for the scent this week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Junipers are shrubs that grow in Greece!

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FINE MOTOR GROUP

On Tuesday, the students made their own ancient Greek temple!

First, the students identified triangle and rectangle shapes.

Math access point: recognize a common object with a two-dimensional shape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then, they used cutting tools to cut out their “building blocks”.

Science access point: recognize a change in the external appearance of an object.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The students glued their blocks down on a background paper to assemble their temples.

It didn’t matter how the temples were assembled—-they were supposed to by ancient ruins anyway 🙂

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

TA DA!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let’s visit Greece!

 

 

 

 

 

On Wednesday we made some Greek flags to use as decoration for our upcoming Apokries festival.

First, they identified the color blue and a rectangle—there are lots of rectangles in the Greek flag.

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

 

Math access point: recognize an object with a two-dimensional shape.

 

 

 

 

Next, the students cut 4 strips of white paper. They used regular scissors, switch operated scissors, or paper cutters depending on their ability.

 

 

 

 

 

Math access point: associate quantities with number names.

 

 

 

 

 

They glued their long white stripes on to the blue background paper.

Math access point: recognize length of objects, such as long or short.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then, a pre-made cross was placed at the TOP LEFT corner of their flag.

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TA DA!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is festival time—–kales yiortes (happy feasts!

 

We love Greece!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LANGUAGE GROUP

We love our parties here at school and this one was no exception!

The Greek festival Apokries is celebrated at this time of year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our language group students dressed up in togas and we paraded through the halls with traditional Greek music and the students playing tambourines.

 

 

 

 

 

They all looked so cute!

 

 

 

 

 

The parade goers had a great time watching their friends parade in their Greek attire.

 

 

 

 

 

Everyone had so much fun!

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, after the parade everyone was invited to a “street” dance in the hall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We made our own version of the Parthenon and our students and staff got to dance and socialize.

 

 

 

 

We had treats set out with sentence strips so that our students could request what they wanted.

The sentence strips were modeled and our students imitated.  They got to choose from cookies, applesauce, chips, and blue Gatorade.

Not very Greek, but preferred by our students 🙂

 

 

We had so much fun!  Took lots of pictures and danced the day away.  Opa!

 

 

 

 

Join us again next time for more fun and learning—–Group by Group!

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