We are traveling again this week—-all the way to South Africa! Cara recently got to visit her sister who lives there and brought back amazing photos, some of which we used in the book this week. The sensory groups explored boxes related to facts about South Africa. The fine motor groups crafted symbols of the country and the language group made a South African inspired treat.

SENSORY GROUP

It takes a VERY long plane ride to get to South Africa! Our students got to get a little of the airplane experience with our vibrating tube and jet sounds recorded on a voice output device.

Recognize and respond to different types of sensory stimuli is a science access point.

This vibrating tube was really popular!

The students LOVED it!!!

South Africa is known as the “Rainbow Nation” due to the variety of cultures and languages spoken there. We included fluffy chenille stems and sparkly beads in the rainbow of colors found in the South African flag.

Match objects with similar observable properties, such as color, is a science access point.

Gold is one of the countries natural resources. We included S and A cookie cutters in this box of gold kinetic sand. While stamping the letters was fun, nothing beats watching the kinetic sand ooze and move through fingers. We still love this stuff 🙂

Recognize that pushing and pulling an object makes it move is a science access point.

Going on a safari is one of the highlights of a South African vacation. We included a variety of animals you might see while on safari—-and some binoculars to see them better! There was also a play camera, some sunglasses, a cheetah headband, and a fun lion visor. Lots of fun with this box!

Recognize a model of a real object is a science access point.

You can see penguins on the beach there—-how cool is that!!! We put a couple of cool penguins and a fun sifting spoon in this box. There was also a picture of a penguin to find at the bottom of the box.

Match living things with their habitats is a science access point.

We learned that kids in South Africa like to eat candy called Fizzers. We decided to make our own—— SORT OF! We added pop rocks to our oobleck to make it sound “fizzy”, kind of a stretch but the students thought it was fun 🙂

Use senses to recognize objects is a science access point.

There are lots of different animals to see along the coast including whales and sharks like the ones we put in our water play this week. Our little whale was extra special because it lit up when placed in the water—-very eye catching!

Match living things with their habitats is a science access point.

Citrus crops are grown in South Africa so we chose Bath and Body Works orange scent for this week. The students thought the scent was pretty yummy!

Recognize one or more external body parts is a science access point.

FINE MOTOR GROUP

On Tuesday the students used this for their art project: springbok

First, they identified the color of our paper.

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

Then they used adaptive tabletop scissors to fringe the edge of their paper into “grass”.

Recognize a change in the appearance of an object is a science access point.

Some of the students used  switch operated scissors to make their “grass”.

                                                                    It is kind of fun 🙂

Glue was applied and the “grass” was rolled on to a paper tube.  We found that using a piece of tape helped the paper stay in place.

Apply a push to move an object is a science access point.

A beautiful springbok antelope (colored by our great volunteers—-thanks Lauren and Madison) was added to the scene.

Some of the students needed a little help with this part.

TA DA!

                                                               Let’s go on safari!!!!

On Wednesday the students made another symbol of South Africa—- the Protea flower. It is a pretty intriguing looking flower and we think our project turned out equally so!

First, they identified the shape of the paper plate we were using. Thanks Ms. Kim for the fabulous pink plates!

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

Then they used a variety of cutting tools to snip the edges of the paper plate into points.

Recognize a change in the appearance of an object is a science access point.

After they had finished cutting their flower petals, the students applied glue to the plate and added some yellow paper shred.

Recognize when an object is added to a situation is a math access point.

To finish the inside of the flower and get the rounded look it has, we used a styrofoam ball that had been cut in half and glued it to the center. To give it a little color and sparkle we painted it with some red glitter glue.

Recognize parts of whole objects is a math access point that can be addressed here.

The Protea was hot glued to a paper towel  tube and….. TA DA!!!!!

                                                               Let’s visit South Africa!

LANGUAGE GROUP

In South Africa, people eat a lot of meat.  Since we don’t typically make anything that has meat in it since we try and find recipes that don’t involve cooking, we had to find some other popular foods.  Cara’s sister said that people in South Africa like to also eat lots of citrus.  After a lot of deliberation on what recipe to make to represent South Africa, we decided to make a smoothie.  Here is a link to the recipe: Let_s Make A South African Mango Tangerine Smoothie

The first ingredient of the recipe was frozen mangoes.  Each of our students felt the bag of the frozen mangoes.  They had to indicate on their board whether the mangoes felt HOT or COLD.

Recognize objects as warm or cold is a science access point.

Then they had to locate the common core vocabulary word PUT on their boards to indicate that we had to put the mangoes into the blender.  We had a volunteer to help us by indicating HELP.

Recognize when an object is added to a situation is a math access point.

Next, we added some sliced up tangerine.  Again, we talked about how the tangerine slices were COLD.  Again, we reinforced the word PUT and also located the picture of the blender to show where the slices needed to be put.

We had another student locate HELP in order to help put the frozen banana slices into the blender.

Then, we added some vanilla Greek yogurt.  We located the measuring cup to show that we needed to use it to measure out how much yogurt we needed and a student helped PUT it into the blender.

Finally, we measured out some honey.  We talked about using measuring spoons because we needed a SMALL amount.  Each student got to taste some of the honey.

Students had to indicate whether it tasted SWEET or SOUR.

Once all the ingredients were in the blender, each student got to use a switch to turn on the blender.  Students had to indicate MORE on their communication boards to keep the blender going until the ingredients were all mixed up and smooth.

Operating the blender is always lots of fun 🙂

Finally, we got to sample our smoothie!

It looked and tasted pretty yummy!

The students used their communication boards and devices to let us know if they wanted MORE.

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