In honor of National Croissant Day (January 30), we are taking a look back at some of the famous French people in history. We had lots of help from some of our students who dressed up like the famous French people we found, such as Napoleon Bonaparte, Joan of Arc, and Jacques Cousteau, just to name few of them. You’ll have to check out the book to see which other famous French we learned about.
Here’s a link to the book: Let’s Learn About Famous People From France
January 30 is National Croissant Day and to celebrate, we decided to learn about famous people in French History! Our sensory groups explored boxes dedicated to some of the different people we learned about. The fine motor groups crafted art projects inspired by some creative French geniuses and the language group made a tasty French snack!
SENSORY GROUP
We used red, white, and blue rice to represent the colors of the French flag.
There were pictures of Napoleon both in and underneath the box as well as letter N’s to find.
Science access point: recognize objects as the same.
Marquis de Lafayette helped us win the Revolutionary War so we made a patriotic box for him!
The students explored pasta in different patriotic shapes including the Liberty Bell, flag, and star.
Science access point: match objects with similar observable properties, such as shape.
For Marie Curie we used colorful discovery bottles that looked like they contained science experiments!
Their whirling, swirling contents were all pretty mesmerizing!
Science access point: track objects in motion.
The students made castles out of sand and wooden blocks in this box dedicated to Joan of Arc.
We found some plastic knights in the dollar store and included some of them too.
Science access point: recognize that objects can stick together.
Coco Chanel was a famous designer. We filled her box with a variety of items including beads, fabric, sunglasses, and some fashion model dolls.
There were lots of different textures to explore!
Our fashionistas had a blast 🙂
Science access point: recognize and respond to different types of sensory stimuli.
We made royal oobleck using bright food coloring and LOTS of gold glitter for King Louis the XIV!
Colorful, shiny and very eye catching.
Science access point: recognize that pushing and pulling an object makes it move.
Jacques Cousteau’s ocean was filled with ocean animals, different sized measuring cups, and a large “net”.
One of the fish squirted water when squeezed—-so much fun 🙂
Science access point: match living things with their habitats.
If Nostradamus had predicted we would use Bath and Body Works french lavender this week he would have been right 🙂
Put on arms, necks, hands, or ears—-the perfect scent to go with a French unit!
Science access point: recognize one or more external body parts.
FINE MOTOR GROUP
On Tuesday we made some Degas ballerinas using coffee filters!
First, we identified the shape of the coffee filter.
Math access point: recognize objects with two-dimensional shapes.
We also identified the color of our markers.
Science access point: identify objects by one observable property, such as color.
Then each student colored 2 coffee filters.
Science access point: apply a push to move an object.
Next, we folded the coffee filters in HALF and then into QUARTERS.
Math access point: recognize a half of an object as part of the whole object.
We glued them onto a ballerina coloring page—-to make the ballerina’s tutu! The coloring page was an internet freebie.
Math access point: recognize when an object is added to a situation.
TA—let’s dance— DA!!
Beautiful Degas worthy ballerinas!
On Wednesday, the students became fashion designers like Coco Chanel!
First, the students identified the shape of the fabric swatches.
Math access point: recognize objects with two-dimensional shapes.
They chose a variety of fabric squares and began gluing them down on to a shirt shaped poster board. We used food coloring to tint the glue a little bit to make it easier for the students to see.
Math access point: recognize when an object is added to a situation.
TA—-runway—- DA!!!
Our students are fashion designers….
…..and ready for the show!
LANGUAGE GROUP
We celebrated National Croissant day by making some croissant sandwiches! Here is the recipe that we used: Let’s Make Croissant Sandwiches
We started out by measuring 3 cups of chicken. Since our measuring cup only holds 2 cups, we measured out the 2 cups and then our students indicated that we needed MORE. After measuring out the chicken, we PUT it in the BOWL.
Math access point: solve problems involving small quantities of objects or actions using language such as enough, too much, or more.
Next, we had to measure out a cup of chopped pickles. Students HELPED to measure and PUT the pickles in the BOWL.
We added some chopped celery next.
After the celery, we had to measure out 1 cup of mayonnaise and a 1/4 cup of mustard. Students had to indicate which measuring cup was SMALLER to show which one was the 1/4 cup.
Math access point: identify parts of a whole.
Once we added all of the ingredients to the bowl, students had to HELP STIR them all up.
Each student had to request a plate and a croissant. Once they had each item, they had to request some chicken salad. If they were not given as much as they wanted, they had to request MORE.
Math access point: indicate desire for more an action or object.
For the most part, our students enjoyed making and eating their croissant sandwich! It was a pretty good croissant celebration 🙂
Join us again next time for more fun and learning—–Group by Group!
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March Madness is here!! Lots of people get hyped up around this time of year due to all of the basketball games being played, so we decided to do a some research and find out a little more about the game of basketball. The book talks about WHO invented basketball, what the first pro game was, and how March Madness originated in the first place. We learned so many interesting things about the game of basketball! We do have one student featured in our book on our “THE END” page, so make sure to check it out!
Here is a link to the book: The History of Basketball
With March Madness going on we thought it would be fun to learn a little bit about the history of the sport. The sensory group explored boxes related to different facts about the sport. The fine motor groups made basketball themed art projects and the language group played an adapted version of the game.
SENSORY GROUP
James Naismith invented the game of basketball. This box was dedicated to him and had lots of Canadian symbols since that is where he was born. We included a toy stethoscope because not only was he a PE teacher but he was also a physician—-how cool is that!
Recognize a model of a real object is a science access point that can be addressed with this activity.
Using Koolaid we made our play dough a nice bright basketball orange. The students could make balls, stamp letter B’s, or just squish and squeeze the play dough. They throughly had a good time.
Recognize that pushing and pulling an object makes it move is a science access point.
Basketball is played with 2 teams consisting of 5 players each.We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to reinforce some math facts with this box! There were 5 blue and 5 red items for the students to explore and sort——-or shake 🙂
The math access point solve simple problems involving joining or separating small quantities of objects can be addressed here.
There were more opportunities for sorting with this box filled with beads in the colors of the NBA—-red, white, and blue! Of course, it was mostly an opportunity to wear or shake the beads!
Identify objects by one observable property, such as color, is a science access point.
In 1936 basketball became an Olympic sport. Using giant fluffy chenille stems the students had fun making circles, joining them together, and taking them apart. The chenille stems also provided another opportunity to discuss colors.
Recognize when an object is added to or taken away from a situation is a math access point.
The students were encouraged to draw circles/balls in this orange tinted shaving cream.
Recognize an object with a two-dimensional shape is a math access point.
We put some foam numbers in our water play this week. The students got to “score” by scooping up either 2 or 3 points!
Associate quantities with number names is a math access point.
Since the original hoops were actually peach baskets, peach was the obvious scent to use this week for our water play and lotion! Our students are getting pretty good at using the Pixon board to tell us where they want the lotion.
Recognize one or more external body parts is a science access point.
FINE MOTOR GROUP
On Tuesday the students made their own basketball playbooks!
We started with a rectangular piece of paper with a basketball court sketch and some X’s and O’s drawn on it by Ms. Zenia the fabulous OT intern!
Then the fun began! The students got to operate a switch activated drawing tool to illustrate their play calling. There were certainly some interesting strategies planned 🙂
Distinguish between objects in motion and objects at rest is a science access point.
TA Da—-game on!
On Wednesday the students made paper plate basketballs!
We started by identifying the shape of our plates and color of our paint using communication symbols.
Recognize an object with a two-dimensional shape is a math access point. Identify objects by one observable property, such as color, is a science access point.
Then the students stamped their plates with a dish scrubber. We emphasized stamping UP and DOWN.
Recognize a movement that reflects a spatial relationship is a math access point.
TA DA—-time to play!
LANGUAGE GROUP
We had our own tournament today in honor of March Madness. We used an All-Turn-It spinner that had 2’s and 3’s all around it to signify the points that basketball players make during a game.
Both adults and students got to be in the tournament. We started out by picking 2 names out of a bag. These 2 people would play against each other.
We had communication boards in front of each student so that they could convey “my turn”. The 2 “players” took turns and had 3 times each to press the switch and see what points they got.
We used a white board to write down the points that each player made. Once they each went 3 times, we added up the scores and talked about who had MORE points.
Once we figured out who the winner was, the next 2 players competed and so on until we finally had an overall winner.
This group was so great today because it gave the adults a great chance to model the use of the communication boards while they were playing the game. Everyone got so excited, too, when we had to go into overtime if the players tied.
Finally, we had a winner!
Of course, we can’t NOT have a little snack in this group so we summed it all up with some basketball shaped Vanilla Wafers 🙂
Join us next time for more fun and learning——-Group by Group!