Tag Archives: literacy

Apr13

The Circus

Posted on April 13, 2014 by jd785

FSU High Flying Circus performs this month in Tallahassee and that inspired this weeks theme! We had a blast planning all our different groups—-with an emphasis on COLORFUL fun! Our book is fantastic and we are so grateful to all the people who helped us with the costumes (Ms. Kim and Ms. Robin), props (Mr. Noah, Ms. Harrison, and Ms. Christy), and painted backdrop (Ms. Judy).

SENSORY GROUP

We filled this box with popcorn kernels and some colorful cornstarch packing “peanuts”. We added a variety of animals you might see at the circus such as lions, horses, and elephants. Also included were some clown figures and a ringmaster puzzle piece (an amazing find on the giveaway table!). The big red pompoms——clown noses, of course!

It really was a fabulous box filled with fun! Our students had a great time discovering all the different items we had included.

Respond to new vocabulary that is introduced and taught directly is a language access point addressed here.

Apply a push to move an object is a science access point addressed when pushing the buttons on the animals.

Our next box was filled with our bright red moon sand. It has a great texture, soft yet firm enough to mold. Students used a cookie cutter to cut circle CLOWN noses in the moon sand. This was a nice big cookie cutter so they turned out really cool looking! Of course they also had fun just squishing it with their fingers.

Recognize common objects with two-dimensional shapes, such as a circle is a math access point addressed in this activity.

This fuzzy basket filler was so colorful and totally reminded us of cotton candy! Our students loved pulling it apart or waving and shaking it. We also put in two different size cups—-a “big” one and a “little” one for our students to fill up.

Solve problems involving small quantities of objects using language, such as enough, too much, or more.

Traditionally the floor of the circus tent is sawdust! We thought our yellow cornmeal looked a lot like sawdust—-especially when mixed with some potato flakes! It had a really cool tactile feel to which our students really responded. There was a letter C and a colorful clown picture to find as the sawdust was swept away. It’s always fun to see the smiles on the students faces when they discover the hidden picture.

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

Everybody loves the fabulous, colorful costumes that the circus performers wear. This box contained a piece of cool stretchy spandex that our students had a great time either wrapping around themselves……… or playing tug of war with a partner 🙂 This was a last minute addition and we were so glad we decided to include it!

Recognizing that pushing and pulling an object makes it move is again addressed in this activity.

We also included 4 of our discovery bottles filled with sequins, beads, and glitter—-just like the costumes. These were a huge hit——our students just LOVED them!

Track objects in motion is a science access point addressed in this activity.

Circus clowns do all sorts of silly things like throwing cream pies in each others faces 🙂 As usual, the students had a great time playing in the shaving cream. Whether practicing pre-writing designs or just rubbing it around it’s always a hit!

Track the movement of objects that are pushed or pulled is a science access point addressed in this activity.

Then we rinsed our hands in vanilla sugar scented water using bath gel from Bath and Bodyworks. A measuring cup and measuring spoon were included for scooping and pouring fun

Solve problems involving small quantities of objects or actions using language, such as enough, too much, or more is a math access point addressed here.

We finished with the yummy matching lotion, leaving our students smelling like delicious sweet circus treats! A fabulous way to remember all the fun we had!

The science access point recognize and respond to different types of sensory stimuli—-touch and smell—-is addressed as students smell the lotion and feel it rubbed on their skin.

FINE MOTOR GROUP

This week we decided to do a 2 part art project—–a fun clown costume! We started on Tuesday by making clown shoes out of shoe boxes.

First we discussed the color paint we were going to use and asked our students to show us the color “red” using communication symbols.

Identify objects by one observable property, such as color is addressed here.

Then, we used a circle shaped sponge to stamp on our 2 shoeboxes. This sponge has a little handle which made it easier for our students to hold. Our initial plan was to stamp polka dots but it turned out our sponge was a little to big for most of the shoeboxes so it became a paint tool instead—–and that worked out pretty well 🙂

Recognize a change in an object is a science access point addressed. The math access points recognize a common object with a two-dimensional shape and associate quantities 1 and 2 with number names are also addressed.

On Thursday we made a clown collar using the rim of a regular size paper paper plate. We found this idea at http://www.jugglingwithkids.com

The collar was decorated with colorful pompoms——lots of pincer grasp practice! We discussed the colors of the different pompoms and counted how many were put on each one.

Then, it was time to clown up!

First we put the silly clown shoes on our feet, the collar around our neck, and either a hat or wig on our head—–this addresses the science access point recognize one or more external body parts.

TA DA!

Let’s send in the clowns!!!!

LANGUAGE GROUP

We have found that this group of students does well when there is more movement involved, so we like to include that as much as we can. This week we set up some circus games focusing on taking turns—-sharing objects with a partner is also a science access point.

For our beanbag toss, Joy drew a circus scene on a large piece of paper, taped it to a piece of cardboard and cut a hole in the middle. When our students were at this game, we talked about throwing the beanbag IN the hole. Some of our students were able to do this independently while others required some hand-over-hand assistance.

Track objects that fall to the ground is a science access point that can be addressed in this activity.

Next, we got on the balance beam to practice tight-rope walking skills! We talked about walking ON the beam. Even our students in wheel chairs were able to participate in this game by an adult pushing them OVER the balance beam. We had them hold out their arms so they could maintain their balance 🙂

Another game the students played was bowling. We had to adapt this with some of our students by using a mat so the ball could roll DOWN to get to the pins. Our students had a blast with this, especially because the ball we used made noises when rolled—–perfect for our students with visual impairments.

The science access points track objects in motion and track the movement of objects that are pushed and pulled are addressed here.

Of course, we also counted all the pins and how many got knocked down!

For the last center, we pulled out a couple of the discovery bottles used in the sensory group as well as the stretchy material. Our students loved looking at all of the SHINY colors in the discovery bottles. They also enjoyed trying to see how LONG the material got when it was stretched—–recognize that pushing or pulling an object makes it move again addressed!

Although we didn’t get to see acrobats and gymnasts perform tricks, our students had lots of fun with the games.

Well, that wraps things up for this week! Be sure to join us again for more fun and learning—-Group by Group!

Feb16

Valentine’s Day

Posted on February 16, 2014 by jd785

Valentine’s Day

Love was in the air this week as we celebrated Valentine’s Day. It was all hearts, flowers, and chocolate in our sensory group! Our fine motor group made valentines and a box to put them in. A MadLib valentine was a fun project in the language group.

Throughout our groups we addressed the social studies access point associate an object with an event. Read along to see all activities.

SENSORY GROUP

Our first box was filled with a variety of red and white valentine themed objects. We had red paper shred, paper valentines, ribbons, garland, teddy bears, and a variety of hearts of all different textures and sizes. There were even some little valentine rubber duckies—-so cute!

Lots of things to look at, feel, and explore—-it was hard to pick a favorite item!

The science access point recognize common objects in the natural world through observation is addressed here.

Hearts are EVERYWHERE this time of year and we had a whole string of them! Ms. Kim found these fabulous felt hearts at Target and they were an instant hit with the students. They were so pretty and colorful. The hearts were strung on the string in such a fashion that they could be slid back and forth, which was pretty cool.

The science access point track the movement of objects that are pushed or pulled is addressed here in addition to the science access point identify objects by one observable property, such as color.

Some people give their valentines roses and jewelry. Our next box was filled with red silk rose petals and beads of gold, silver, and pearls. Of course the beads were popular but we had great fun picking up handfuls of petals and watching them drop to the ground.

The science access points recognizing two objects that are identical to each other and track objects that fall to the ground are both addressed here.

Other people like to give their valentines chocolate! Our chocolate scented play dough looked and smelled like the real thing—–VERY tempting not only for our students but also the adults 🙂

Fortunately most of our “tasters” have learned all that salt in the recipe makes for a particularly yucky morsel!

We included some hugs and kisses cookie cutters which gave the students the opportunity to recognize differences in the shapes of objects and also to recognize objects as the same which are science access points.

Of course, the shapes can also be counted addressing math access points.

This box was filled with red and white beans. It was a really pretty box with a nice contrast between the colors, the photo doesn’t really do it justice! We included two fun heart shaped spoons in different sizes. As scooping skills were practiced the math access points recognize when an object is added to a situation and associate quantities with language, such as many, a lot, or a little are addressed.

Putting your whole arm in instead, addresses the science access point apply a push to move an object 🙂

We used a package of red velvet cake mix to make one ingredient cloud dough and it works quite well. There were 2 different sized heart cookie cutters with which to stamp impressions and to address the math access point recognize differences in size of objects.

Of course what our students really enjoyed doing was grabbing handfuls and squeezing—-it is kind of irresistible 🙂

In case you were wondering, YES that powder IS messy—–fortunately we had some cinnamon candy scented water with which to rinse it off! We got this scented bath gel at Target a couple of years ago and it is a great scent that smells just like cinnamon red hots!

Recognizing when something has been taken away from a situation—–in this case, the red powder—-is a math access point.

We used 2 discovery bottles with our group this week. One was filled with gold glitter and jewels and the other with a collection of hearts and beads in valentine colors.

Some of our students were able to turn the bottles around themselves—-addressing the science access point recognize that pushing or pulling an object makes it move.

Others enjoyed just watching the contents swirl around—- addressing the science access point track objects in motion.

We finished our session with a yummy chocolate scent to remember all the fun things we learned about Valentines Day. We used a chocolate scented lip balm (thanks for the donation Ms. Elaine )to apply the scent to wrists and hands—-letting the students smell the sweet aroma. For obvious reasons, it was not applied to lips 🙂

Some visitors from E.H.Miller school gave us the idea to use lip balm because it comes in such a variety of flavors—-genius!

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

FINE MOTOR GROUP

On Tuesday we made some fabulous valentines. This project has been all over Pinterest and we knew it would be perfect for our students.

We started by talking about the heart shape of our paper and its color. Then we asked our students to show us the color “red” using our communication symbols.

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

Then we glued puzzle pieces onto the heart—-a great way to work on pincer grasp skills and eye hand coordination!

We also glued a sentence strip with the words “I love you to pieces” onto the heart.

This addresses the science access point recognize a change in an object.

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

TA DA!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

On Thursday the students decorated coffee containers to hold all the valentines they received from their friends. We started by giving the students a choice of 3 paper colors. After they had chosen their paper, we asked them to identify the color using communication symbols.

Identifying an object by one observable property, in this case color, is a science access point.

We used our paper cutters to trim the strips of paper to fit the container. After the paper was trimmed we noted that we had turned the strip into a rectangle and a square. The students were asked to show us the “square” and they did a pretty good job!

Recognizing a change in an object (as the paper is cut) is a science access point.

Recognizing objects with 2 dimensional shapes is a math access point.

The rectangle was taped to the coffee container and then decorated with all sorts of heart shaped foam stickers. Holding onto those stickers is a great activity for promoting pincer grasp skills!

Before given another sticker, the students were asked if they wanted “more”. Indicating a desire for “more” or “no more” of an object is a math access point.

The students really loved their boxes!

We are ready for the big day 🙂

LANGUAGE GROUP

Since we were celebrating Valentine’s day, we decided to make make a Valentine for someone we love. To make it even more personal, we did them in a Mad Libs fashion!

Cara created a letter with some words missing. Here is the document: My Valentine mad lib. For each word missing, the students had the option of using 2 or 3 different words in place. Here are the words from which the students chose: My Valentine mad lib 2. Our students chose a piece of construction paper and then glued their letter template down.

Communicating a preference for an object is a language access point.

We then started choosing words to put in our Valentines. When going through the letter, we talked about what an adjective is, what a verb is, what kind of feelings people have.

Our students were given a choice of 3 words which we read to them and then asked to indicate which word they wanted. The students have a variety of ways they communicate, including eye gaze, pointing, and vocalizing. Our student with a visual impairment made his choice by pressing a voice output device to say “that’s the one I want” as we read his choices.

Using pictures, symbols, gestures/signs, or words to communicate meaning is a language access point.

Using technology resources to support learning is also a language access point.

The students then cut their chosen words using tabletop scissors and glued them onto their papers. It may be a language focused group but we never pass up an opportunity to incorporate some fine motor skill building 🙂

Using pictures, symbols, gestures/signs, or words to communicate meaning is a language access point.

Using the scissors addresses the science access point recognize that pushing and pulling an object makes it move.

When the students completed their Valentine, they each signed their name at the bottom.

For privacy we blurred this students signature but take it from us, he did an excellent job!

They were so proud——and rightly so 🙂

We loved all our activities this week and hope your Valentine’s Day was just as fun filled as ours was! Join us again next week for more smiles, fun, and learning.

Hugs and kisses from Group by Group xoxoxo

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!

Jan19

The Places I Go Around School

Posted on January 19, 2014 by jd785

The Places I Go Around School

It was literacy week at our school and the general theme was “all the places you go”. We decided to focus on the all the places you go around school. Cara’s book was a huge hit—-our students loved seeing themselves or their friends faces in the book. Our sensory boxes were a lot of fun to put together, the fine motor art projects turned out so well, and our language group scavenger hunt was a blast!

SENSORY GROUP

The cafeteria is one of the favorite places around school—-that’s where all the food is after all 🙂 We filled the cafeteria box with paper shred and then added lunch related items including straws, play food, an ID card, and little tray.

The students had a lot of fun picking out their favorite food items and of course this led to lots of language opportunities. The straws we included turned out to be quite popular also—-placed into the milk carton or just waved about, our students loved them!

The science access point recognizing a model of a real object is addressed here. As with all our activities and boxes this week, the social studies access point associating a place with an activity in the classroom or school is also addressed.

We are so lucky to have a large sensory room at our school and needless to say it is one of the most popular places at school. Our students LOVE the sensory room and one of the favorite pieces of the equipment is the colorful ball pit!

Our colorful pompoms are round spheres just like the balls. We included 2 different sized pompoms in this box to compare or match. The plan was to address the math access point recognizing similarities and differences in size of common objects and the science access point to identify objects by one observable property, such as color…..

BUT kids being kids, the science access point of tracking falling objects was usually the one that was addressed 🙂

Music is another area that our students love to visit. We recorded a music clip on our voice output device and gave the students a shaker bottle instrument to jam along with the beat. We made the shaker bottle using a plastic soda bottle, adding some colorful beads AND hot gluing the lid on—-to at least slow down busy little hands 🙂

The science access points to recognize and respond to different types of sensory stimuli and apply a push or pull to move an object are addressed with this activity.

One of the most exciting places to go at school is the bus ramp BECAUSE that means it is time to go out for community based instruction. Like kids everywhere, our students enjoy riding the bus to exciting places.

For this box we added 2 different colored school buses to drive along black bean roads. We asked our students to find the bus that was the same color as the buses they ride, addressing the science access point to identify objects by one observable property.

Our students love making clay projects in art. Instead of clay, we brought back our green play dough from a few weeks ago. It still had the wonderful peppermint scent we had added and our students really enjoyed the aroma. We included 2 letter A (A for Art) cookie cutters.

The science access points recognizing an object by one observable property, applying a push or pull to move an object, and recognizing a change in an object are all addressed in this activity.

There are 3 playgrounds at our school—-how cool is that! Going to the playground is probably the number one favorite place of most of our students. So many fun things to do from climbing, to swinging to digging in the sandbox!

For our mini sandbox we taped a picture of a play ground (cut from a catalog) to the bottom of the box for the students to find as the sand was pushed aside. We also included a small measuring cup and spoon to practice scooping skills, bilateral skills and eye hand coordination.

The math access point solving problems involving small quantities of objects or actions using language such as enough, too much, or more are explored in this activity. Another math access point, recognizing differences in sizes of containers that hold liquids (capacity) is also addressed.

Probably THE most favorite place at our school is the pool! Our PE teachers do such a great job and it is such a therapeutic place for our students.

We used Bath and Bodyworks Dancing Waters scent in our water—-it is kind of hard to find chlorine scented bath products 🙂 We also included 4 foam swim noodle pieces and a measuring spoon. The students practiced their scooping and eye hand coordination skills again as they tried to scoop water into the noodle holes.

Math access points addressed here include recognizing two dimensional shapes such as a circle and using one to one correspondence to identify sets of objects with the same amount to 2 can be addressed in this activity.

We finished with the Dancing Waters lotion to help us remember all the fun we had! Our students really liked the soft aroma of this scent and enjoyed indicating where they wanted the lotion on their bodies.

As usual this activity addresses the science access points of recognizing one or more external body parts and recognizing and responding to one type of sensory stimuli. It also addresses the language access point of adjusting body movements of nonverbal expressions to communicate desires or preferences.

FINE MOTOR GROUP

The playground was the theme for our Tuesday art project. We started by counting out rectangle shaped paper and using a sponge brush to paint on some glue.

The math access point recognizing a 2 dimensional shape is addressed. The science access point recognizing a change in an object is also addressed.

Then we scooped crushed yellow cereal “sand” onto the glue. This activity promotes scooping skills and eye hand coordination. We also counted how many scoops each student put on their paper.

The science access point recognize a change in an object is again addressed. The math access point solve problems involving small quantities of objects or actions using language, such as enough, too much, or more is also addressed.

We precut a bunch of playground pictures from some old catalogs and let our students choose which one they wanted to add to their pictures.

Our students with physical challenges used eye gaze to indicate their preferences.

This activity addresses the language access points of responding to informational materials and using body movement or nonverbal expression to communicate preferences.

We love the way these turned out—–and so did our students!

TA DA!!!!!!!

On Thursday we chose the cafeteria as the theme for our art project.

We counted out rectangle pieces of paper and discussed the paint colors, red and yellow, that we were going to use with our big apple and small corn cob. A fork was stuck into the apple to make it easier for our students to handle—-it worked really well!

We started by stamping 1 red apple print.

Next 1 yellow corn cob print.

The math access point recognizing differences in sizes of objects is addressed, in addition to the math access point recognizing 2 dimensional shapes.

Then we asked our students ” what color comes next?”.

After we stamped another apple print, we again asked “what comes next?”.

We thought the students would need a lot of assistance with this BUT they did really well—-our students ROCK!

The math access point recognizing the next step in a simple pattern or sequence of activities is addressed in this activity.

TA Da!

So proud—-and rightly so!

LANGUAGE GROUP

Since we are talking about all the different places you go, we decided to have a scavenger hunt and find 3 different places around our school.

After reading Cara’s book, we looked at the directions for the scavenger hunt. We went over what we had to find FIRST, NEXT, and LAST. The directions had a picture of the places that we had to find.

The math access point to indicate the next step in a sequence of activities is addressed.

The social studies access point recognizing a picture of a location is also addressed.

FIRST we had to find the music room. On the way, we would stop and ask the students to show us the way to go. They would point in the direction we had to go.

NEXT we had to find the art room. Since our students go to art and music once a week, they were easily able to locate these rooms.

LAST we had to find the playground. Our students DEFINITELY know where the playground is! Once we got to the playground, we looked at the directions again and went over what places we had just found.

All done and time to play!

Another great week! Join us again, there is more fun and learning to come—-Group by Group.

Jan13

New Years Around the World

Posted on January 13, 2014 by jd785

New Years Around the World

Happy New Year! We all had a wonderful and restful winter break, coming back ready to greet the new year with some exciting and new group activities. For our first week back, we thought it would be fun to look at New Years traditions around the world—-there sure are a lot of different ones 🙂 Hope you enjoy seeing all the fun we had learning about them!

SENSORY GROUP

At the stroke of midnight around the world, confetti is tossed into the air! Our first box was filled with paper confetti, a clock, crazy glasses, and noise makers. We also included a glitter tube—-we thought the glitter looked like falling confetti. The voice output device in the box contained a clip of the countdown and people singing Auld Lang Syne. A peace sign was included to remind us that world peace is one of the things people hope for in the new year.

Also in the box was a toy suitcase because in Mexico people take a piece of luggage and run around the block; round play fruit—people in the Philippines eat round fruit for luck, and a toy plate because people throw plates at doors in Denmark—-all fun new years traditions!

There were so many different items to discover! It was fun seeing which items turned out to be favorites as little hands dug in and pulled out contents—-leaving trails of confetti across the table….and laps….and floor. We like to leave memories of our visit 🙂

Our students loved trying on the glasses, grabbing handfuls of confetti, and OF COURSE the noise makers! This was a really fun box!

The social studies access point of associating a celebration with an event is addressed in this and all our other boxes.

The science access point of applying a push or pull to move an object is also addressed.

Here in the South, eating black eyed peas on New Years day is an annual tradition. Our students loved running their hands through the peas or seeing how many scoops it took to fill their hands.

In addition to practicing scooping skills, the math access point recognizing when an object is added is addressed.

The math access point of solving problems involving small quantities of objects or action using language, such as enough, too much, or more is also addressed.

Don’t you just love the intent look of concentration on this students face 🙂

Our soft, crumbly cloud dough reminded us of the Armenian bread that is baked for good luck. Now that sounds like a very yummy tradition!

Cookie cutters with the numbers 2014 were included for the students to stamp impressions into the cloud dough.

In addition to number recognition, the science access point recognizing a change in an object is addressed.

In Spain they eat 12 grapes to celebrate the new year—one for each stroke of the clock at midnight.

We filled our “grape” box with big, soft, purple pom poms and small, hard purple beads. This box was so vibrant and colorful, really quite pretty!

The science access point of recognizing 2 objects that are identical to each other can be addressed with this box—-that is if you can pull the students attention away from those fabulous purple beads 🙂

Our light up toys flashed bright colorful lights just like fireworks that light up the skies during new year celebrations. We included 2 different kinds of light toys. Some of them were activated when struck, others when a button was pushed.

Some of our students preferred one toy over the other, others like this student here demonstrated some nice bilateral coordination using both at the same time!

Applying a push to move an object and recognizing sources of light are science access points addressed in this activity.

Speaking of fireworks—what could be more fun than firecracker oobleck! We added pop rocks to our oobleck for super popping fun. Ok, this is totally cool and fascinating—-a must try!

Tracking the movement of objects that are pushed or pulled is a science access point addressed here.

The science access point recognizing and responding to different types of sensory stimuli is also addressed.

In Scotland they waft the scent of juniper around the house to rid it of any germs! Lucky for us we found some Juniper Breeze bath gel at Bath and Bodyworks! Made it pretty easy to decide the scent for this week 🙂

We included a couple of measuring cups with our water play to address the math access point recognizing differences in sizes of containers that hold liquids.

The Juniper Breeze scent had a nice soft aroma and our students all seemed to really like it. They all anticipated their turn to smell the lotion and the students are getting very good at indicating on which body part they want the lotion.

The science access points recognizing and responding to one type of sensory stimuli and recognizing one or more external body parts are addressed with this activity.

We finished the group with fireworks—-of the bubble wrap kind that is! This is a great time of year to find scraps of bubble wrap and our coworkers gave us plenty of donations. We just laid pieces on the floor and had our students run, stomp, or roll over it. It really does sound like firecrackers, especially when the wheelchairs rolled over it.

The kids totally had a blast and yes——- so did the adults 🙂

FINE MOTOR GROUP

On Tuesday we made fireworks pictures! We started by discussing the different colors of paint we were going to use and asked the students to identify the colors using the communication symbols. The students have been doing so well when given a choice of 2, that we decided to make it a little harder by giving them 3 choices. This also helps prepare them for the alternate assessment which is in a 3 answer choice format.

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

We counted out pieces of black paper, noting that it was a rectangle and also counting how many sides it had. Recognizing objects with 2 dimensional shapes and identifying the sides of a rectangle are math access points.

Then we began stamping our fireworks. The stamper is a toilet paper roll with slits cut into it (we saw this idea on Pinterest). The paint colors popped on the black paper and our students really got into it!

Applying a push or pull to move an object is a science access point.

LANGUAGE GROUP

After reading Cara’s book, we worked on putting the months of the year in the correct order. The chart that we used had a picture for each month in case the student needed a visual prompt to match the word to.

Each student was given 3 different months to choose from when it was their turn. The months presented were read aloud to the student and they chose which month was the correct month. If they were unable to find the correct month with just auditory feedback, they could use the picture signifying the month as a visual prompt.

We had such a high success rate with this activity! The students in Mrs. Robin’s class know their months of the year well. Rote learning had taught them the order of the months and since Mrs. Robin goes over the months of the year each day in her class, these students were able to put the months in order with minimal prompting. So cool!

After putting the months of the year together, we got the number chart out and began the New Years countdown. We gave our students noise makers, crazy glasses, party hats and…..of course we pulled out the bubble wrap again!!!!

10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1…HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

This week was so much fun, keep following us, there are so many more exciting things to learn and discover—-Group by Group!

Nov4

Things that go Bump in the Night

Posted on November 4, 2013 by jd785

Things that go Bump in the Night

This week we explored things we imagine might be out there to scare us when its dark at night! It seemed an appropriate topic for this time of year 🙂 Our sensory items had a really high contrast of light and dark which was very visually appealing to our students. The fine motor group had a great time making some spooky art projects. The language group students used adjectives to compare items. We also made it fun by turning off the lights while reading our book in all our groups.

SENSORY GROUP

This first box was filled with black paper shred and assorted creepy crawlies! Some of the critters were black so they were hidden really well. Others were brightly colored and could be easily spotted. We also threw in some fun fur for an added textural component.

Our students explored the box in different ways, some sifted through the paper while others……..

had a different approach…….. 🙂

The most popular item in the box was the little vibrating spider toy. Pulling it’s string was perfect for addressing bilateral coordination!

Visual and tactile discrimination skills are also addressed here.

The science access point of recognizing common objects related to science by name was addressed.

Battery operated orange lights (found at Walmart) made for perfect glowing eyes peeking out from garland. We kept these in the box to add to the effect—our students were fascinated!

Recognizing sources of light is the science access point addressed here.

We used our green Floam and some Mr. Potato Head features to make our own aliens. This purchased Floam has a wonderful easily moldable texture that made it perfect for making silly alien creatures while working on bilateral coordination and hand intrinsic functions!

The science access point recognizing external body parts is addressed with this activity.

The letters B O O could be found in our black bean and orange rice box. This is one of our favorite rice boxes—-so colorful and eye catching! So much fun to sift and run fingers through.

For added interest, we taped a picture of a jack o lantern to the bottom of the box.

Visual and tactile discrimination is again addressed as well as literacy skills.

Black shadows can certainly make you jump! We made ours by bringing back our pirate playdough from a few weeks ago along with bat and cat cookie cutters. The black glitter we added to the playdough gave it an added shimmer which we loved and it really contrasted with the bright orange cookie cutters. Again, a terrific substance to squish and pound.

Recognizing that the appearance of an object or material has changed is the science access point addressed here.

Glowing purple ooze (oobleck with purple tinted tonic water) looked pretty fabulous under our black light!

We added some pop rocks candy (we were inspired by the folks on the Growing a Jeweled Rose blog who added it to finger paint) and our ooze became pretty spectacular—-think rice krispie cereal on steroids! Not sure who was more impressed, the students or the adults 🙂

Recognizing that pulling or pushing an object makes it move is the science access point addressed in this activity.

We used Bath and Bodyworks Twilight woods scent to finish. In our water play we had 2 different size measuring cups for scooping and pouring fun—-and addressing the math access point of recognizing differences in sizes of containers that hold liquids.

The lotion has a light soft scent—not scary at all 🙂 and our students really liked it.

The science access point recognizing and responding to different types of sensory stimuli is addressed with both these activities.

FINE MOTOR

On Tuesday we made some mummies! We started by talking about the color of out mummy (black) and the color of our paint (white). All of our students correctly picked the colors we asked them to identify. Oh yes we were proud!!

The science access point recognizing common objects by one observable property, such as color is addressed here.

The language access point communicating information about objects using non-verbal expressions, gestures/signs, pictures, symbols, or words is also addressed.

To begin our art activity we put our mummy IN a clear lidded box. Then we scooped out marbles covered in white paint, counting as we dropped them 1 at a time into the box.

This is a fun way to work on eye hand coordination and scooping skills!

This also addresses the math access points of associating quantities with number names AND recognizing common three-dimensional objects, such as balls (spheres).

Then we closed the lid and…..shake shake shake!

Totally fun way to address the science access points of applying a push or pull to move an object and tracking objects in motion.

We opened the lid and took our mummy OUT of the box and added 2 googlie eyes—giving us a chance to practice pincer grasp skills.

This activity addresses the math access point associating quantities 1 and 2 with number names.

It also addresses the science access point recognizing a change in the appearance of an object or material.

Hmm, lets check this out——-

—yep, he’s pretty cool!

For our art activity on Thursday we made great big eyeballs! We started by comparing the different size circles and asked our students to show us the big one.

Recognizing common objects with 2 dimensional shapes, such as a circle is a math access point.

Recognizing the larger of two objects is a science access point.

We used assorted markers to color red veins on the big circle (dessert size paper plates). Of course we counted the plates and discussed their size and color as we passed them out.

Our students then chose which color they wanted their eye to be using our communication symbols. Some of our students touch the symbols, while others used eye gaze.

Using body movement or nonverbal expression to communicate desires or preferences is the language access point addressed here.

Next we used a circle punch to cut out a small black circle.

The science access point applying a push or pull to move an object is addressed here.

We compared the different sized circles again and began assembling our eyeballs.

This activity works on eye hand coordination and graded motor control—you don’t want to crumple up your circles!

The math access point of recognizing the next step in a sequence of activities is also addressed.

Somebody is watching you….

…..spooky!

LANGUAGE GROUP

After we finished Cara’s book we stayed with the spooky theme using the iPad app Spooky Box (it was free)—just for fun! Our students enjoyed listening to the different sounds and we had fun watching their reactions 🙂 We do need to note that some of the sounds are a little intense, so be sure to prescreen them!

For our ACTUAL learning activity—– we focused on using adjectives to describe two different objects. The students used Boardmaker pictures and put the adjectives in the appropriate column to describe the objects. They did need a little bit of help with this, but over all, they did well.

Communicating information about familiar objects using pictures or symbols is a language access point.

The first object we explored was some mystery green play dough that Joy had made using a recipe from the Growing a Jeweled Rose blog (this is a great site filled with all sorts of ideas and recipes, we love it!).

The other object was a yellow and blue ball with fringes all over it.

Identifying objects by one observable property and recognizing and responding to different types of sensory stimuli are science access points addressed with this activity.

Some of the adjectives used were: hard/soft, heavy/light, cold/warm. Mrs. Robin got out a scale for us to use when working on heavy/light so the students could see which one was heavier.

So neat!

Recognizing objects as warm or cold and sorting objects by weight (heavy and light) are science access points.

We also used vinegar and sprayed each of the objects. We smelled the vinegar first.

Some of students found the aroma intriguing—-others let us know by their gestures, not so much 🙂

Communicating preferences for objects is a language access point.

The play dough reacted with the vinegar because of the baking soda in it and that made it bubble up, while the vinegar made the ball wet (and STINKY!). We then asked the students to choose an adjective (bubbly/wet) to describe the objects after vinegar had been sprayed on them.

Recognizing a change in an object and assisting with investigations with a partner are science access points addressed here.

Hope your week was as great as ours—- filled with treats not tricks 🙂

Join us again next week for more fun and learning—-Group by Group!

Oct27

Seasons

Posted on October 27, 2013 by jd785

Seasons

This week our theme followed the Unique Curriculum unit some of our classes were learning about this month. Lets dive right in and explore all our fun activities……

SENSORY GROUP

We started with winter—and a wish for snow! We don’t get a lot of that stuff down here in Florida but we can still dream…..

Assorted snowflakes (paper, ornaments, etc), white pompom yarn, white and silver beads along with twist ties and clear packing tape turned a clear umbrella into a winter wonderland—-pretty darn magical, if we do say so ourselves 🙂

This really was a great experience for our students, they really loved it!

Exploring, observing, and recognizing objects in the natural world is the science access point addressed in this activity.

No winter wonderland is complete without snow! We made ours using cornstarch and shaving cream. Adding the cornstarch gave the shaving cream some texture and allowed it to be shaped into small “snowballs” if desired.

This was totally fun messy play, with MESSY being the operative word—–our students dived in and this stuff got everywhere 🙂

Bilateral coordination is addressed when making snowballs.

Applying a push to move an object and recognizing and responding to different stimuli are the science access points addressed with this activity.

Spring is such a colorful time of year with plants growing and flowers blooming. In this box, we sprinkled some dried bean “seeds” into our colorful green rice—and taped a hidden surprise of pictures of colorful plants just waiting to bloom as the rice was swept away. The picture was actually a piece of wallpaper from one of those wallpaper sample books that someone always seems to be giving away

We also put in the letters W (winter), F (fall), and S (spring, summer)

This box helps address visual and tactile discrimination as well as fine motor skills for picking up the little “seeds”.

Recognizing that pushing or pulling an object to make it move is a science access point addressed here. In addition, the science access points of recognizing the leaf and flower of a plant and recognizing that plants grow can be addressed.

Our second box was filled with our caterpillar and butterfly pasta—-now this is one COLORFUL box! It’s also a wonderful box for sorting concepts of same/different and counting activities—-lots of math access points covered, including:

Solving problems involving small quantities of objects using language such as “more”, recognizing objects that are identical to each other, recognizing when an object is added to (addition) or taken away (subtraction) from a situation, recognizing two objects that are the same size or color……

It’s amazing all the learning you can fit into one little box!

Fall has so many pretty colors with the changing leaves and colorful gourds and pumpkins that are seen everywhere.

Our students loved picking up and shaking the leaves as well as watching handfuls of them drift down. Others found a couple of scarecrow friends.

This was another great box for visual and tactile discrimination, so many things to explore!

The science access point of exploring, observing, and recognizing common objects in the natural world is addressed here.

Recognizing models of real objects is another science access point addressed.

Fall also means colorful warm sweaters and blankets—at least to look at in the stores, NO WAY is it cold enough to need them here yet 🙂

This soft pompom yarn has such pretty fall colors and is just so touchable—-wouldn’t it make a fabulous blanket or poncho!?

Our students had a great time with this yarn, draping it around themselves or just shaking it. Pulling it apart is a great way to work on bilateral coordination!

Recognizing and responding to different types of sensory stimuli is a science access point addressed here.

The science access point of recognizing clothing worn by humans in different seasons can also be addressed.

In the same box, we also included a shaker bottle filled with acorns. Our students love shaker bottles—-it’s always fun to make noise!

The science access points recognizing and responding to common sounds, recognizing and responding to one type of sensory stimuli AND applying a push to move an object are all addressed here.

Discussing that acorns turn into oak trees also helps relate to the science access point recognizing that plants grow.

That’s a lot of science in one bottle!!!

Summer means going to the beach! We put in 3 seashells and 1 starfish for our students to find in our summer fun sand box. We used fine soft play sand that our students really loved touching.

Whether addressing the science access point of tracking objects in motion or the math access point of associating quantities with number names—–this is a great box!

Other access points addressed include for math: recognizing objects that are the same size or color and for science: recognizing common objects related to science by name.

Finishing up summer, our scent this week was Bath and Bodyworks aruba coconut. It was a wonderful summer aroma for our warm water play which included 2 colorful squirter fish. You would be hard pressed to find a more fun way to work on strengthening grip skills 🙂

Identifying objects by one observable property such as color and recognizing materials as warm or cold are science access points addressed here.

We finished with a little lotion, addressing the science access point of recognizing external body parts. This scent was a real favorite with the students and they left smelling like they had spent a day at the beach!

FINE MOTOR GROUP

For our art activity this week we made seasonal trees using torn tissue paper (our usual stash from presents past). Our tree trunk came from a reproducible in the book Apples, Apples Everywhere by Peggy Hundley Spitz OTR which can be purchased from Flaghouse.

On Tuesday we made our spring and summer trees. We used pink and purple paper for spring and green paper for our summer trees. On Thursday we used brown and orange for the fall trees and white paper with silver swirls for the winter trees.

We started by asking the students to match the communication symbols with the different paper colors. You may have observed that the literacy component for this student might have been improved if we had actually presented the words right side up 🙂

Recognizing two objects that are the same color is a science access point.

Responding accurately and consistently to referent objects or pictures used in routines is a language access point.

For each tree, we tore and crumpled up the paper. This is a great activity for addressing bilateral coordination and the students really had fun with it!

Recognizing that the appearance of an object or material has changed is a science access point.

The crumpled paper pieces were then dipped in glue………

and placed on the tree. This activity addresses pincer grasp skills and eye hand coordination.

We also counted the pieces as they were applied—-of course!

Recognizing that the appearance of some plants in the environment changes throughout the year is a science access point.

TA DA!!!!

Our students were pretty pleased with the way their trees turned out—–can you tell 🙂

LANGUAGE GROUP

We started off the group by reading Cara’s book and asking the students to point to the picture of their favorite season.

Communicating preferences using non-verbal gestures is a language access point.

After the students had indicated their favorite season, we used some of the boxes and objects from the sensory group as props.

For summer we used the sand, autumn we used the box of leaves, spring we used the green rice, and for winter we used the umbrella. What a hit!

This activity addresses the language access point of exploring and interacting with the functions of selected objects.

Next we played a memory game. We made cards using Boardmaker symbols and laminated them.

The pictures on the cards were: summer, autumn, winter, spring, beach, rake, mittens, and bird. They were presented with 4 pictures at a time which were turned over, face down. Each student took a turn and flipped over 2 cards at a time.

Using referent objects or pictures from a familiar read-aloud story is a language access point.

PIXON picture symbols for “same” and “different” were presented to the students and they were asked if the cards they flipped over were the same or different. Some of our students required some assistance figuring it out, but for the most part, they did pretty well.

Using pictures, symbols, gestures/signs, or words to communicate meaning is a language access point

This week turned out to be so much fun! We hope you enjoy seeing what we did as much as we enjoyed experiencing it! Please join us again, Group by Group.

Oct20

Alice in Wonderland

Posted on October 20, 2013 by jd785

Alice in Wonderland

We had such a great time this week exploring the classic story of Alice in Wonderland. Cara’s book was wonderful and it was so exciting for our students to see themselves in her book! Hope you enjoy seeing how we made Alice’s adventures a multi-sensory learning experience!

SENSORY GROUP

Our first box was filled with paper shred since most books are made from paper—or at least they used to be 🙂

Nestled among the paper were some playing cards (hearts of course), some Mad Hatter party hats, rose petals, heart garland and ribbon, caterpillars, a variety of white rabbits…..

AND a cute fluffy “dormouse” that makes a crinkly sound when squeezed! We found it at the dollar store—-score!

We also included a play food cupcake with the label “eat me” and a plastic bottle with the word “drink me”.

It was so fun to see what the different students gravitated towards—-everyone had their favorites!

Exploring and interacting with a selected object is a language access point addressed in this box.

Visual discrimination in addition to reach and grasp skills are also addressed while exploring the fun contents of this fun box!

A is for Alice and we hid 4 letter A’s in this box of tea leaves. The tea leaves have an interesting texture, kind of crunchy and mild aroma—–a different sensory experience!

The students also had fun using the small scoop to cover them up again.

The math access point recognizing when items have been added to or removed from sets of objects to 4 is addressed here.

Picking up the letters is an opportunity to work on pincer grasp skills—–most beautifully illustrated by this picture—and eye hand coordination.

Chenille stems make for great caterpillars! This box was filled with regular size and giant size ones for some size comparisons. Soft and colorful—-you just HAVE to reach out for one!

These are perfect for twisting together (and promoting bilateral coordination) to make some new creations—-sensory group meets fine motor group 🙂

This also addresses the science access point of recognizing a change in a object.

All the different colors and sizes help address the science access point of identifying common objects by one observable property, such as size or color.

Pink and purple are the theme of this next box—-for the Cheshire Cat, of course! All that was left was his grin!

We used a Mr. Potato head mouth for the grin and hid it in the hard beads and soft pompoms 🙂

This box addresses the science access point of identifying common objects by one observable property such as size or color.

Recognizing common 3-dimensional objects, such as balls (spheres) and two objects that are the same size or color are math access points addressed here.

We used black cherry kool-aid to make the perfect red for our Queen of Hearts playdough. It turned out really well, a perfect squishy texture! Not only did it look pretty but it smelled wonderful also!

We used our heart shaped cookie cutter to cut out lots of pretty hearts.

Counting how many hearts were cut out addresses math skills and one to one correspondence.

It also addresses the math access point of recognizing 2 dimensional shapes that are the same shape and size (congruent).

The science access point of recognizing a change in an object is also addressed.

These flowers didn’t sing but our students sure had fun making them dance in the air!

Tracking objects that fall to the ground and indicating that an object has fallen are the science access points addressed here.

Continuing with our floral theme, the students had fun with our sweet pea scented water. We put 2 different size measuring cups for scooping fun…….but sometimes it’s just more fun to play with the bubbles!

Recognizing water as a liquid is the science access point addressed here.

We finished with some Crabtree and Evelyn rose scented lotion. Wow this stuff really had a strong aroma. Some of our students really like it…………

Others not so much 🙂

Either way, it made for a memorable experience—–and an opportunity to address the science access point of recognizing and responding to one type of sensory stimuli.

FINE MOTOR GROUP

On Tuesday we made some Mad Hatter hats! These were assembled by gluing a paper bowl onto a paper plate. We cut a hole in the plate to help it fit onto our students heads.

We had one of our students decide what color to start with and began painting. Jeannie’s favorite color is purple—-hmm, I think someone is looking for extra brownie points from his teacher 🙂

The different colors were then passed around so that everyone ended up with a very colorful hat.

Adjusting nonverbal expression, referent objects to communicate wants and needs to familiar persons is a language access point.

Everybody had a great time painting their hats.

The paintbrushes were taped to paint stirring sticks to adapt them for our students with physical disabilities.

The science access points sharing objects with a partner and recognizing a change in an object are addressed with this activity.

Ta DA!

Love it!!!! This Mad Hatter is ready for the tea party!

On Thursday we made some card soldier puppets. We pulled some of the heart (of course!) cards from a deck. 4 holes were punched and a popsicle stick was glued to the back.

The rectangle shaped cards were counted as they were passed out and then we counted out 2 chenille stems for each student.

We also counted the number of hearts on each card.

Recognizing common objects with two dimensional shapes and associating quantities with number names are math access points.

Chenille stems were threaded through the holes to make the arms and legs. Pincer grasp, eye hand coordination, bilateral coordination—–a PERFECT fine motor activity!

These were a huge hit, our students loved their puppets!

Recognizing that the appearance of an object has changed and recognizing one or more external body parts are science access points addressed here.

Did we mention our students LOVED their puppets 🙂

LANGUAGE GROUP

We placed pictures from our book on the All Turn it Spinner. With each turn, our students got to try on a costume prop that matched the character.

Using nonverbal expression, gestures/signs, pictures, symbols, or words to responds to familiar read-aloud stories by identifying characters, objects, or events is a language access point addressed here.

Responding to a technology resource is another language access point addressed here.

Some of the props we used were the Queen of Hearts scepter, Dormouse ears, Cheshire Cat mask, Mad Hatter hat, a Singing Flower hood……………………..

AND some White Rabbit ears! This student really got into character, making sure we took a picture of his rabbit impersonation 🙂

We held up a mirror for our students to be able to see themselves, and BOY what a hit that was! The students who were verbal expressed WHAT they had on and WHO they were while the nonverbal students followed directions with prepositions such as “hold it UP”, “put it ON”.

Selecting a familiar object to explore and communicating about the selected object using nonverbal expression, gestures/signs, pictures, symbols, or words is the language access point addressed with this activity.

The students had a great time and the adults in the room definitely enjoyed themselves as well.

REALLY—–who doesn’t love to dress up!?

That’s it for this week, we had so much fun going down the rabbit hole with Alice and making a wonderland of experiences for our students!

If you are looking for some more traditional October themes—be sure to check out what we did last year—–BUT don’t forget to join us again next week for more Group by Group fun!

Oct13

Look Up in the Sky

Posted on October 13, 2013 by jd785

Look Up in the Sky

This week our groups complimented the Unique Curriculum theme which explores things you see when you look up in the sky.

The students really loved all our activities and we got more than the usual super cute pictures—-our students really are quite adorable 🙂

SENSORY GROUP

After reading Cara’s book, we turned off the lights and looked up into the starry sky!

We made it by using twist ties to attach battery operated lights, beads, and some glow in the dark planets to a black umbrella—— SUPER easy! The battery operated lights were from Target and are usually on the shelves around holiday time.

Our students were all quite enchanted!

Associating stars with the night sky is a science access point. This activity also helps address the science access point of recognizing sources of light.

They also enjoy exploring this lighted moon. It had a rough surface as well as this fabulous glow–very mesmerizing.

Thanks Ms. Pam for letting us borrow it!

Associating the moon with night is a science access point.

Distinguishing light and dark is also a science access point that can be addressed with this activity.

When the lights came back on we began exploring our sensory boxes. This first one was filled with blue basket filler “sky” and lots of things found in the sky to discover.

We put in feathers, toy birds, bats, and butterflies for some of the animals you see in the sky. We also put in some toy airplanes .

Of course, we also included some cookie cutter stars and a crescent moon.

Weather related items included soft white pom pom clouds, grey craft foam storm clouds….

AND…….a fabulous stretchy rainbow slinky which ended up being the big hit of this box!

Exploring, observing, and recognizing common objects in the natural world is a science access point.

Recognizing models of real objects is also a science access point.

And yet more science access points….tracking the movement of objects that are pushed or pulled AND recognizing that pushing and pulling an object makes it move!

Speaking of rainbows, our students really loved both looking at and touching our rainbow mat (found yet again at Target!).

As well as encouraging our students to touch the mat, we also discussed all the different colors that could be found in the rainbow.

Using senses to recognize objects is the science access point addressed here.

Our next box of Bubber reminded us of a beautiful blue sky! We love it’s soft tactile feel and it comes in so many cool colors, although we don’t have all of them—–YET 🙂

We included an airplane cookie cutter which helps build hand strength when pushed down into the Bubber. While fairly soft it does take some pressure to cut out a shape.

Recognizing that the appearance of an object or material has changed and applying a push to move an object are the science access points addressed in this activity.

We went from the blue daytime sky to the black night time sky with our next box. Lots of yellow craft foam stars were hidden for our students to find in the black beans.

The stars not only look different but feel different from the beans, making this a good activity for both visual and tactile discrimination.

Associating stars with the night sky is again addressed with this box.

Recognizing objects (the stars) that are identical to each other is another science access point addressed here.

We must admit the science access point of tracking objects in motion, as watching a few beans tossed into the air, was also addressed in each of our classrooms.

We have VERY understanding teachers 🙂

What’s a day without sunshine! This box was filled with sunglasses, yellow paper shred, a wooden sun, sun shaped manipulatives and yellow pom poms.

Whether shaking the paper shred, squeezing the pom poms or pushing and pulling apart the manipulatives ——-our students had a great time with this box!

The pom poms can be used to address the math access point of recognizing two objects that are identical to each other.

Applying a push to move an object and identifying objects by one observable property, such as color are the science access points addressed.

The science access point of recognizing that the sun is bright can also be addressed with this activity.

These sunglasses were the favorite item in this box. As you can see, our students had a lot of fun getting their cool on 🙂

Next we made our own fluffy clouds with shaving cream. Wonderful fun to dive into with both hands and squish around!

Using senses to recognize objects is the science access point addressed with this activity.

The language access point of communicating about a selected object using nonverbal expression is beautifully demonstrated in this picture—-pure joy!

After rinsing our hands in “rain kissed leaves” (from Bath and Bodyworks) scented water, the students took turns smelling the lotion and showing us where they wanted it applied.

The science access points of recognizing and responding to one type of sensory stimuli and recognizing external body parts are addressed here.

This had a nice soft scent that our students really seemed to like and to help them remember all the fun things we learned about today!

FINE MOTOR GROUP

On Tuesday, for our art project we made a starry night time sky. We started by counting out 6 pieces of black rectangular paper. Some glue was poured onto the paper and then the students used paint brushes to spread the glue around.

The math access points of recognizing a two dimensional shape (rectangle) and recognizing differences in the length of the sides of rectangles are addressed.

Identifying objects by one observable property and applying a push to move an object are also the science access points addressed.

We added some sparkly silver glitter——our students LOVED shaking the glitter out!

What fun 🙂

Recognizing that the appearance of an object or material has changed is a science access point.

Next we let our students choose how many stars to glue onto their picture. We used these plastic glow in the dark stars we found at the dollar store.

These little stars were perfect for promoting pincer grasp skills.

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

Counting up to 5 objects is also a math access point.

Look at the milky way—-

TA DA!

These turned out really quite cool and looked striking in Jeannie’s hallway.

On Thursday we turned from night to day and constructed our wonderful sun!

We started by asking our students to show us the color orange using our communication symbols.

Then we asked the students to glue an orange circle onto their white rectangular paper.

Bulls eye—-nice eye hand coordination!

Again, the math access point of recognizing 2 dimensional shapes (rectangles and circles) is addressed.

Recognizing objects by one observable property (color) is the science access point addressed in this activity.

The rays of the sun were made by stamping hand prints using yellow ink. Fortunately none of our students have tactile sensitivity so we did not have to adapt this for anyone. All of them did a really great job of keeping their hands open so we could help them make their prints.

We counted the hand prints out loud as they were pressed onto the paper.

Recognizing the appearance of an object has changed is the science access point addressed here.

Yep, this looks pretty good 🙂

LANGUAGE GROUP

In this group, we talked about things that go UP in the air and things that go DOWN on the ground.

Using Boardmaker, we made 9 different pictures of objects: rainbow, sun, clouds, bird, airplane, moon and stars, person, car, and house. We had real objects to go along with the pictures as well, which seemed to be a hit with the students!

Each student was given a picture and asked if it was UP in the sky……….

or…….. DOWN on the ground.

One of our students used the arrow as a road for a car—-too cute 🙂

Effectively communicating information using referent objects, pictures is the language access point addressed in this activity.

After they told us or showed us if the object was something seen UP or DOWN, they glued the picture onto a piece of paper with grass and sky drawn on it.

Our students did so well with this activity……we were SO proud!

Communicating about selected objects using pictures is a language access point.

That is it for this week. We had so much fun and learned a lot about things that we can see when we look up!

Join us again next week, you KNOW it’s going to be fun—–Group by Group 🙂

Oct6

3 Little Pigs

Posted on October 6, 2013 by jd785

3 Little Pigs

This week we had so much fun exploring this traditional fairy tale! We made our wolf by adding some white felt teeth to a plush dog—-who admittedly looks more like a dog in need of an orthodontist rather than a big bad wolf……

Well, you have to work with what you’ve got after all, and our students didn’t see to mind a bit 🙂

SENSORY GROUP

Our students had so much fun exploring the first box filled with rafia (straw), popsicle sticks (wood), and duplo blocks (bricks) for the 3 little pigs houses! There were 3 different pigs to find—a laminated picture symbol, a plush one, and a sound producing one (found in Target’s $ section). Brown pom poms and pieces of yarn reminded us of the wolf’s fur.

You need tools to build a house so we put in a ruler and some toy tools. And finally, the word “home”. This was a really great box and our students LOVED exploring all the different items.

So many access points were addressed with this box including the science access points of recognizing common objects in the natural world through observation, and recognizing a model of a real object.

We stamped bricks in our red moon sand with a duplo block—it made the perfect brick impression!

Of course, it was also fun to grab and squeeze a handful—making it a great activity for hand strengthening also!

Applying a push or pull to move an object and recognizing the appearance of an object or material has changed are the science access points addressed here.

Our pink rice seemed perfect for a story about 3 little PINK pigs 🙂 Hidden in the rice was the letter P and the number 3. Our students always get a kick out of finding “hidden” things .

Tactile and visual discrimination are addressed here.

Continuing with our exploration of the color pink we put in BIG and LITTLE pink beads. In addition to the hard beads we put some soft pink pom poms.

Great for texture and size comparisons! Recognizing similarities and differences in size of common objects is a math access point.

Recognizing two objects that are the same size or color is also a math access point.

We had to include a wolf box! We put in some brown “wolf” fur, a nice soft texture to rub and touch. A stretchy wolf (actually a stretchy dog that we gave some felt teeth). Excellent for working on bilateral coordination! Tracking the movement of objects that are pushed or pulled is a science access point.

That wolf sure likes to huff and puff! We used our little hand held fan to get some air blowing like that wolf—-and it also addresses the science access point of indicating awareness of air moving.

We added some chocolate cake mix to our shaving cream to make some “mud”, we figured our students would like to play in it just as much as those 3 little piggies——–and they did 🙂

Recognizing and responding to different types of sensory stimuli is a science access point.

Of course as the shaving cream is smooshed around, our students also explored the science access point of applying a push to move an object.

The little pigs lived in the woods so Twilight Woods from Bath and Body Works seemed the perfect scent for this week. Of course, by the time a few little hands rinsed the shaving cream off, it smelled like CHOCOLATE woods lol.

We put 2 different size measuring cups for scooping and pouring fun addressing the math access point of recognizing the different sizes of containers that hold liquids.

Its also a FUN way to practice eye hand coordination 🙂

The Twilight Woods scent was a hit with all the students and they so loved having the lotion rubbed on their hands or arms or necks to help them remember the story of the 3 little pigs!

It also encourages some nice social exchanges and the opportunity to communicate preferences and the desire for “more” of an action which is a math access point.

FINE MOTOR GROUP

On Tuesday we built a brick house for our 3 pigs. We started by stamping red bricks on a square piece of paper.

We’ve used this stamper before, made from a dish scrubber, its knobbed top makes it easier for our students to use. The stamp itself was made from thick craft foam.

Recognizing 2 dimensional shapes is a math access point.

Recognizing a repeated pattern of stimuli is also a math access point.

Then we glued a big triangle to the TOP of the square.

We counted 3 small rectangles which made up the windows and door and after they were glued down we put 3 pigs safely into their house!

More opportunities to address the math access point of recognizing 2 dimensional shapes!

TaDA

We get pretty excited about our art work—-can you tell 🙂

On Thursday, Joy drew a Big Bad Wolf for our students to color. First we wrote our names on our rectangle paper then used pipsqueak markers to color the wolf brown.

We completed our wolf by adding a googlie eye—OF COURSE 🙂

TADA—all ready to blow your house down!

LANGUAGE GROUP

For this group, we wanted to see if certain objects were able to be huffed, puffed, and blown away. We put together several different items such as feathers, straw, a weighted ball, twigs, paper, a Beanie Baby wolf, and a rock.

For each of the items, we had a corresponding real picture of them. Each student got to choose which item they wanted to “blow”.

Effectively communicating wants using referent objects, gestures/signs, pictures, symbols, or words is a science access point.

The students enjoyed holding and touching the different objects. We encouraged them to make predications about what might happen when we turned the hair dryer on.

Exploring, observing, and selecting an object or picture to respond to a question about the natural consequence is a science access point.

The students really got a kick out of using the hair dryer to huff, puff, and BLOW the items to see if they would move.

They especially liked watching the objects that were light enough to be blown away—-addressing the science access point of tracking objects in motion!

Indicating awareness of air moving is also a science access point.

After each attempt, we put the picture of the object on a chart showing if that object was “light” or “heavy”. Charting really helped our students better visualize how things are grouped by weight.

Sorting objects by physical properties such as weight is a science access point.

Communicating about a selected object using nonverbal expression, gestures/signs, pictures, symbols, or words is a literacy access point.

We had a blast this week and hope you did too! Join us again for more fun next week—-Group by Group.