Tag Archives: math

Mar17

St.Patrick’s Day and Letter Y

Posted on March 17, 2013 by jd785

We celebrated St. Patrick’s Day in our Sensory and Fine Motor Groups and looked at words that start with letter Y in our Language Group.

Sensory Group—St. Patrick’s Day

After reading Cara’s book about St. Patrick’s Day, we got our celebration going with the sound of a rousing irish jig recorded on a voice output device.

Our little leprechauns are usually very responsive to music and this was no exception—- who can resist an irish jig after all! This upbeat music was very appealing to them and they got so excited when it was their turn to press the switch.

This activity gave the students lots of opportunities to gain practice with cause and effect skills. In addition, using technology resources to support learning and responding to rhythm in familiar songs are language access points.

As you can see, we couldn’t resist added a FEW select props to add to the fun 🙂

St. Patrick’s Day is all about the color green! We put in some easter grass, beads, leprechaun hats, curling ribbon, shamrock garland, silk shamrocks, kitchen scrubbers, green manipulatives and toys—-so many things to discover! Reaching for and grasping the different items helps build fine motor skills. In addition, since all the objects are the same color, visual discrimination skills are addressed.

With boxes like this, it is always fun to see what items are particularly appealing to the individual students. The shiny curling ribbons and strands of silk shamrocks were enticing to some of them. While others had fun with the little hats and silly glasses we put in the box

Exploring, observing, and recognizing common objects is a science access point. Recognizing objects by one observable property, such as color, is also a science access point.

Our next box contained our rainbow rice—-rainbows are a symbol associated with St.Patrick’s Day and our rice is just so colorful and pretty!

We put in a large letter I (for Ireland) and taped a picture of a shamrock to the bottom of the box. Two different sized measuring spoons were also placed in it. While some of our students like to sift through and pick up handfuls of rice—and yes occasionally toss it 🙂 —others prefer to use the spoons. We have found that many of our students especially seem to like covering and uncovering the objects we have put in our boxes.

In addition to object permanence, letter recognition, tactile and visual discrimination, this box addresses the math access point of solving simple problems involving putting together and taking apart small quantities of objects. It also addresses the math access point of recognizing differences in sizes of containers.

Our leprechaun box was totally fun—great for comparing colors and textures! First we put in some soft orange yarn just like a leprechaun beard. Then we added his pot of gold (aka shiny mardi gras beads).

Beads are always a favorite with our students. They love looking at them, shaking them—-wearing them 🙂

Others got quite creative with the yarn—making not just beards but wigs also. Our students are sure creative!

This box addresses the science access points of identifying objects by one observable property.

Super cute and lots of fun!

When you think of Irish food you can’t help but think of POTATOES!

In our case we used dried potatoes and we included 3 little snakes hidden among the flakes. St. Patrick was supposed to have driven all the snakes out of Ireland but apparently these little guys got overlooked 🙂

Potato flakes are soft and slightly crunchy. They have a very cool feel that is different and pretty irresistible! We also included a large measuring spoon which is helpful for practicing scooping skills but most of our students preferred to use their hands.

The math access points of associating quantities up to 3 with number names and solving simple problems involving joining or separating sets of objects up to 3 are addressed with this box.

To liven up our shaving cream and make it into “St. Patrick’s Day shaving cream”, we put green and gold glitter sparkles in it. Shaving cream is always such fun and our students love putting their hands into it and “scribbling” around. Some students had fun practicing their prewriting patterns of straight lines or circles.

Recognizing and responding to different types of sensory stimuli is a science access point. This activity also helps address tactile desensitization.

One of the reasons there is so much green in Ireland is all the RAIN! So when we found this Rain Kissed Leaves scent from Bath and Body Works we knew it was the perfect scent to tickle our olfactory sense and help us remember our St. Patrick’s Day fun.

We rinsed all the shaving cream off of our hands in Rainkissed Leaves (from Bath and Body Works) scented water. Our water started off pretty clear with some bubbles but soon turned white and soapy as hands were rinsed…..just a perfect opportunity to address the science access point of recognizing a change in an object—how cool is that!

After our hands were rinsed our students had the opportunity to explore the scent some more with the lotion.

Using their body movements or nonverbal expressions our students communicated their desires and preferences—its not hard to guess what he is communicating 🙂

This activity also addresses the science access point of recognizing and responding to one type of sensory stimuli.

Fine Motor Group—St. Patrick’s Day

We had too much fun painting with corn syrup last week —-so we HAD to do it again 🙂

We started by asking our students to show us the picture card with the color green. Our students are getting so good at choosing the correct color. We are so proud of them!

Communicating information about objects using non-verbal expressions, gestures, symbols or words and responding to referent pictures used in routines are language access points.

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

Then we painted our precut shamrocks with delightfully gooey corn syrup tinted with green food coloring.

We are so proud of the progress our students are making—learning to handle writing utensils and developing eye hand coordination.

Isn’t this student doing such a great job!

Then we glued the shamrocks onto a rectangular piece of paper, but not before adding some gold glitter—since we can never pass up the opportunity to add a little sparkle to our projects 🙂

Each student got to pick the color paper that they wanted which addressed the language access point of using nonverbal expression to communicate preferences.

This activity also addresses the math access point of recognizing 2 dimensional shapes.

Our shamrocks are so shiny and sparkly we love the way they turned out.

Of course, we couldn’t end the group without saying a big…….

…………..TA DA!!!!!

On Thursday we read Cara’s awesome book again. The students really enjoyed the bright colorful pictures and were excited when it was their turn to activate the voice output device.

Responding to a familiar person reading a book aloud, attending to print materials by touching, looking, or listening, and responding to a technology device are all language access points addressed EVERY week when we read our books!

Our art project was so much fun—making a leprechaun beard! We used our picture symbols again but this time asked our students to pick the color orange—then got to work!

First we painted some precut paper plate rim pieces (these were left over from a previous project, sometimes Joy’s hoarding pays off ha ha) with a mixture of orange paint and glue. On an added note, we also taped a popsicle stick to the back of the plate to make it easier for the students to hold.

Then we cut some pieces of orange yarn and sprinkled the pieces on top—addressing both fine motor and spatial relations skills.

The science access point of recognizing a change in an object is also addressed as the different items are added.

Top of the Mornin’ to you from some little leprechauns—–pretty darn cute!!!!

Language Group—the Letter Y

We started out by listening to Cara’s sound game. Towards the end of the alphabet, it gets harder to find different words and sounds—but we made it happen 🙂

As our students played the game, we told them “it is Your turn”.

Recognizing and responding to commons sounds is the science access point addressed here. In addition, the language access points of communicating recognition of familiar persons or objects and responding to familiar print media are also addressed.

After the sound game, we got out a bumpy Yellow ball. Some of our students requested the ball using their static communication boards—communicating their wants is a language access point!

We had so much fun tossing or rolling the ball back and forth Yelling ” Yay” each time it was caught. A totally fun way to work on eye hand coordination as well as turn taking skills—-is it my turn or Yours?

Next we made some Yo Yo’s! We started with small circular paper plates (discussing the shape addresses the math access point of recognizing 2 dimensional shapes) and also counting them out aloud—we NEVER pass up a chance to practice counting 🙂

After coloring them with markers we taped a piece of Yarn to the back.

Ta Da! Here is a homemade Yo-yo!………. Yeah!!

Our students were really tickled with them and had a lot of fun moving them around—-addressing the science access point of tracking objects moving up and down as well as the science access point of recognizing an action as fast or slow.

We finished by looking at some of the Y words we found!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day from all of us here. Next week we’re off for spring break but we will be back soon for more fun and learning…..Group by Group 🙂

Mar11

Dr. Seuss and Letter X

Posted on March 11, 2013 by jd785

Dr. Seuss and Letter X

This week we celebrated Dr. Seuss in our Sensory and Fine Motor Groups. We looked at words that started with letter X in our Language Group.

Sensory Group—Dr. Seuss

We started with Cara’s latest book which was a pretty special one. We got the idea to make our own illustrations from Sharon (one of our followers)—-thanks so much! It was so much fun to see our students faces as they recognized some of the models!

The theme of our first box was “The Cat in the Hat”. It was filled with soft red, white, and black pom poms and chenille stems. We really liked these black and white ones! This was such a fun colorful box that was very eye catching for our students!

We asked our students to find pom poms that were the same, discussing their colors.

The math access points of recognizing a common 3 dimensional object and recognizing two objects that are identical to each other.

We filled our “If I Ran the Zoo” box with straw and a variety of animals you might find at the zoo—including our cool sound producing elephant and tiger found in the dollar section at Target last year. There was also a little duplo zoo keeper, fences, play food for the animals and houses. Our students enjoyed the animals and had a lot of fun waving and shaking the straw.

Pressing the buttons on the sound producing animals was an opportunity to address finger individuation skills as well as addressing the science access point of recognizing and responding to common sounds.

This box also gave the students an opportunity to respond to new vocabulary which is a language access point.

Everybody loves “Green Eggs and Ham” don’t they?! We brought back our green playdough and used our egg shaped cookie cutter to make some of our own green eggs—what could be more fun than that? 🙂

Playdough is such a great tactile medium and great for building fine motor skills as it is squeezed and pressed into shapes.

The science access point of recognizing a change in an object is addressed here. Also, the math access point of recognizing a 2 dimensional shape (oval) is addressed.

Dr. Seuss’s “A B C’s” is another one of our favorite books. Our students sifted through blue and white rice to find letters A B C.

We used our large alphabet cookie cutters and they really stood out in contrast to the rice.

Tactile and visual discrimination skills in addition to letter identification are addressed in this box.

We couldn’t forget “Bartholomew and the Oobleck”! Oobleck—only our most favorite substance EVER! We used neon green food coloring which made the perfect color.

These are such a great pictures, the student really enjoyed having it dripped on his hand—so much so that he used his PIXON communication board to request more.

He effectively communicated his needs using picture symbols which is a language access point—this made Cara VERY happy 🙂

Our Lorax box was filled with pom pom shakers (we got ours from the Oriental Trading catalog)—we thought they looked like truffula trees.

These were totally fun and the students had a blast shaking them—applying a push or pull to move an object is a science access point.

There were a lot of different colors helping address the science access point of identifying objects by one observable property.

“One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish” was the theme for our water play. The math access point of associating quantities 1 and 2 with number names in addition to the science access point of identifying objects by one observable property, such as color.

Our little blue fish squirts water when squeezed helping strengthen hands.

We finished with Country Apple scented lotion from Bath and Body works in honor of the book “10 Apples Up On Top”, to help us remember all the fun we had today.

Our students let us know whether they liked our choice by body gestures, vocalizations or in the case of the student pictured—facial expressions.

Guess you can’t please everyone 🙂

Fine Motor Skills—Dr. Seuss

On Tuesday we were lucky enough to have 3 of our “models” while we read our book and our students really enjoyed pointing them out—communicating recognition of familiar persons is a language access point!

For our art project we made Cat in the Hat masks, so much fun! We started by cutting a red rectangle into two pieces—cutting it in half.

Recognizing a change in an object is a science access point. Identifying 2 dimensional shapes, another math access point, is also addressed.

Then we took the 2 red pieces along with a precut white strip and glued them to the top, middle and bottom of a a white rectangle. It was actually 2 pieces of white cardstock stapled together to make it firmer—since we didn’t have any poster board 🙂

Matching 1 object to a designated space to show one-to-one correspondence and associating quantities 1 and 2 with number names are math access points.

These were then stapled to paper plates (circles!) with a smaller circle cut out of the middle. We practiced counting as we passed them out and some of our students are getting REALLY good at it!

TaDa!

How about that—-

a cat in a hat 🙂

On Thursday we continued with our seussical theme by reading Cara’s book again. We also showed the students the book One Fish Two Fish in preparation for our next art project which we found on Pinterest!

We started by painting construction paper fish bowls with a mixture of corn syrup and blue food coloring. This stuff is pretty sticky so paint shirts are a MUST.

Painting gives our students practice using writing tools and while we encourage “proper” grip patterns, it is more important to us that our students are actively INVOLVED in the process.

Then each student added 1 red fish and 1 blue fish precut from construction paper. Since the corn syrup is sticky already—you don’t need glue!

This activity addresses spatial relations and eye hand coordination.

Recognizing when an object is added to a situation is a math access point. Identifying objects by one observable property ( such as color) is a math access point

We finished by glueing our fish bowl to a rectangular piece of paper. One of our students was able to identify the two dimensional shape—-nailing another math access point 🙂

Ta Da!

Doesn’t it look great—you can’t really tell in the picture but the syrup dries shiny so it looks just like water. Totally cool!!!!

Language Group—Letter X

We started by playing Cara’s sound game. There aren’t many words that start with X so she used ones that have X in them—but still working on identifying common sounds.

Then we put siX eXtra-large beads on a string—working on bilateral coordination and counting skills! In addition, indicating the next step in a sequence can be addressed in this activity.

When all the beads were on the string we helped the students count them.

Then we found 2 foXes and 1 oX in a boX!

Our students had so much fun opening up the box and looking inside 🙂

Fine motor skills are addressed as the box is opened and the plush animals are pulled out.

Counting 1-3 objects is a math access point.

Next we glued 2 craft sticks together to make an X. We made it eXtraordinary by sprinkling on some glitter. This activity works on letter identification and prewriting skills in addition to fine motor skills.

The students had fun choosing which color glitter to choose. We gave them 3 choices—to practice for their alternate assessment.

We think they look eXtremely pretty around all the X words we found today!

That wraps up another really fun week, hope you will join us next time….. Group by Group.

Mar3

My Community and Letter W

Posted on March 3, 2013 by jd785

My Community and Letter W

The Unique Curriculum theme this month was My Community, so we took a trip around Tallahasse in our Sensory and Fine Motor Groups. The Language Group looked at words starting with the Letter W.

Sensory Group—My Community

Our city is built on red clay hills—the same color as our playdough! We used our big and little star shaped cookie cutters since they always use stars to represent capitols on maps.

Squeezing the playdough between fingers or pushing one of the cutters into it helps strengthen hands. In addition, picking up the cutout stars addresses graded fine motor control.

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

Math access points are also addressed: counting the stars, recognizing two dimensional shapes, and recognizing similarities and differences in size.

Tallahassee is the capitol of our state. We searched for letter T’s and a picture of the Capitol in our red, white and blue rice.

Sifting through the rice helps build tactile discrimination skills, especially important for our students who have visual impairments.

This box also addresses the social studies access point of associating a picture with a place.

Two universities make their home in Tallahassee and these boxes represent them. FAMU’s colors are orange and green while FSU’s colors are garnet and gold. Our pom poms and mardi gras beads are perfect for contrasting textures (hard and soft) and colors.

Lots of science access points can be addressed here, including recognizing objects that are identical to each other, identifying objects by one observable property, and tracking the movement of objects that are pushed or pulled—–as you can imagine, sometimes beads and pompoms go flying all over the place 🙂

Visiting the Tallahassee Museum of History and Natural Science is so much fun. It is especially fun to visit the farm and see all of the animals.

We put some matching sets of farm animal pictures for our students to find in the oatmeal. Matching animals that are the same is a science access point.

Small measuring spoons were also included in this box to give our students an opportunity to practice scooping, however many of them improvised and used the animals cards to scoop instead!

Either way, they had a great time with this box 🙂

It is also fun to visit the Challenger Learning Center to look at the stars! We made our own version of a planetarium by attaching some battery operated lights to a black umbrella. It was really easy to do using some velcro for the battery packs and twist ties to attach the lights to the spokes of the umbrella.

We think it turned out pretty cool and to say our students were fascinated would be an understatement!

This activity helps address the science access points of associating stars with the night sky and recognizing sources of light.

Everybody loves to go to Lake Ella to see the fountains and the ducks—perfect for our water play activity! Water play is always a favorite activity for our students and they had fun finding the little rubber ducks floating around. Picking up the bobbing ducks addresses eye hand coordination. We used Bath and Body Works Dancing Waters—for the fountains, of course :)—-scent in the water and lotion.

Both of these activities are great for working on the math access point of indicating a desire for more of an action or object.

Fine Motor Group—My Community

On Tuesday, we read Cara’s book and had a quick visit to the planetarium before beginning our art project.

Our planetarium was so much fun and we just loved watching our student’s reactions so much that we had to bring it out at any opportunity we got 🙂

For our art project we made a map of Florida. We started by painting our students LEFT hands with green paint and pressing them onto blue paper (its shape discussed as it was counted and passed out 🙂 ). We made sure the thumb was abducted as we pressed hands onto the paper.

This activity really helps build awareness of the hands helping to address the science access point of recognizing one or more external body parts.

For our students that are especially aversive to touch, we allowed them to use paint brushes instead and helped them make an approximation of our state’s shape.

A star sticker was added to mark the location of Tallahassee—perfect for working on a pincer grasp and addressing the social studies access point of locating symbols on a map!

TA DA!!!!!

We always make sure each student gets their Ta Da after they finish their project—some of our students REALLY get in to it 🙂

After the paint dried we did a quick outline around the handprint and we have a pretty cute rendition of our state.

This activity also addresses the social studies access point of recognizing Florida as our student’s state.

Majestic oak trees are found all over our city and there are some beautiful ones around the capitol building. On Thursday we showcased these trees for our art project.

Large blue rectangular pieces of paper were counted out—-guess we were really into blue paper this week :). A sketch of the capitol building (luckily our capitol building is another rectangle so VERY easy to duplicate using a ruler) cut out by the adults was already attached.

Our students crumpled and tore pieces of green tissue paper onto the tree outline. We had some Elmer’s glue poured into containers so the students could dip the “leaves” into the glue and put them on their tree (addressing spatial relations skills).

We are addressing the science access points of recognizing the leaf of a plant and recognizing a model of a real object with this activity.

More Ta Da’s—-some deserving of standing ovations!

Didn’t these turn out great! They look fabulous hanging on the wall outside of Jeannie’s classroom.

Language Group–The letter W

We started out playing Cara’s sound game. Our Wonderful students are getting so good at finding the right picture and pointing to Where it is on the paper (addressing eye hand coordination)!

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

After our sound game We got a Wiggly Water animal. The students are able to activate it by making a sound, either with their voice, Whistling, clapping,…..Whatever!

The Wiggling crab tickled our students, producing lots of giggles 🙂

Our little crab helped us address the science access points of tracking objects in motion and recognizing and responding to one type of sensory stimuli, in this case touch.

Next, We passed around a Wand that lights up when you Whack it. This was a fun item for our students that we found in the $3 bins at Target.

Some students activated it by Whacking it on the table, While other students Whacked it on their hand. What a blast!

Applying a push to move an object is a science access point. In addition, as the lights come on, the students can observe that the appearance of an object has changed—another science access point.

Next, we made Wrist Watches! The Watch bands were made from toilet paper rolls first cut open (by the adults) lengthwise and then width wise to make 3 cuffs from each roll).

Our students decorated their cuff from a selection of foam stickers. We presented the stickers and asked them to make a choice, addressing the language access point of communicating preferences.

Pincer grasp skills and eye hand coordination are addressed as the cuffs are decorated.

We googled “free printable watch faces” and thought they these were pretty perfect as the finishing touch to our project.

Don’t you Wish you had one!

As usual, we finished by looking at some of the W words found today—-Whoa, quite a lot of them!

We hope you join us as we share all the fun and learning we are having here at Group by Group 🙂

Dec16

Winter Holidays part 2 and the Letter O

Posted on December 16, 2012 by jd785

Winter Holidays part 2 and the Letter O

Winter holidays are so much fun that we had to spend another week learning about them! We kept our same book but added different sensory boxes for and art activities for our Sensory and Fine Motor Groups. Our Language Group looked at words that start with the letter O.

Sensory Group—Winter Holidays Around the World

Our first box was filled with all things Christmas. We included jingle bells, Santa and Nutcracker figures, reindeer, christmas trees (felt and plastic), stars, garland, a doll sweater, and the word “HOME” all in some red paper shred …..to remind us of all those exciting packages !

Some of the items made noise, like the jingle bells and squeaky toys. The squeaky toys were VERY popular!

The students were able to explore different ways to apply force either by shaking or squeezing the items to make noise. This addresses the science access point of identifying objects that create specific sounds.

In Mexico, they celebrate Las Posadas as part of their Christmas celebrations with processions, carols, and PINATAS! At the bottom of our red, white and green rice we placed a picture of a pinata which could be uncovered as the rice was moved aside.

It was so pretty and festive looking…..

quite irresistible 🙂

Visual discrimination skills are addressed when differentiating the hidden picture from the colored rice.

We also put in 2 different sizes of measuring spoons. While playing with them our students have the opportunity to learn about capacity—differences in sizes of containers which is a math access point.

Lights, lights lights—–Hanukkah, Diwali, Las Posadas all festivals of light.

We can’t get enough of them! This week we put them in a box which reminded us of the luminaries used during Las Posadas.

This addresses the science access point of recognizing sources of light.

Straw mats, and fruits of the harvest are part of the Kwanza celebration. We used raffia in place of straw and included some ribbon printed with fruit in addition to our play food.

The ribbon was soft as compared to the rough feel of the raffia. Finding the pieces of fruit hidden amongst the ribbon and raffia addresses visual and tactile discrimination skills.

Comparing the texture of the ribbon and raffia addresses the science access point of comparing the different properties of materials.

Dropping the raffia onto the floor allowed them to address the science access point of tracking objects that fall to the ground.

If they let us know what they did…..

it addresses the science access point of indicating that an object has fallen 🙂

Bodhi celebrations often involve decorating trees with colorful beads. In this box we added lots of colorful beads and pompoms.

Sorting these objects addresses the science access point of recognizing objects by one observable property.

…….NAILED IT 🙂

Our students are just so

awesome!!!!

Our last box was filled with winter snow—at least our Florida version 🙂

We mixed some cornstarch, shaving cream and fake snow. Its about 2 boxes of cornstarch to 1 can of shaving cream. We found the idea at this website http://growingajeweledrose.com.

This stuff was so much fun, similar to cloud dough but with a little wetter feel. Totally cool— the students just loved running their fingers through it, squishing it, pushing a letter W for winter into it, or watching it as it fell down (addressing the science access point of tracking a falling object).

When molded into little “snow balls”, the math access point of recognizing a common three dimensional object.

Hands were rinsed in twisted peppermint scented body wash from Bath and Body Works. It has a really strong scent which really draws our students attention.

Measuring cups allow our students to practice scooping while addressing the math access point addressing capacity.

This student is addressing the math access point of indicating a desire for more of an action by reaching out his hands as the water is poured on them.

As this student is cupping his hands, he is also working on developing his palmer arches—nice!

The matching lotion was rubbed on hands, arms—-or the back of the neck for students who engage in a lot of oral exploration.

We present the lotion and give the students an opportunity to indicate their desire for more by facial expression, gestures, body movements or vocalizations.

Our students left the group smelling like delicious peppermint candies to help them remember all the different winter celebrations we have learned about the last 2 weeks.

Fine Motor Group—Winter Holidays Around the World

On Tuesday we started by reading Cara’s book again before starting our art project—–turning into Christmas Santa’s!

First we used our paper cutter to turn a red rectangle into a triangle. This addresses the science access point recognizing a change in an object. It also addresses the math access point of recognizing an object with a 2 dimensional shape.

To do this we had to make 2 cuts with our paper cutter. We counted the cuts—-addressing math access points again!

Then we passed out some white plates—-they were circles with the center cut out. Again, addressing the math access point of recognizing a 2 dimensional shape.

We glued the triangle hats onto the circle.

We pulled apart some fiber fill and glued a big piece onto the circle and then a smaller piece at the top of the hat.

This activity addresses spatial relationships as pieces are placed down. In addition, fine motor skills are addressed as the pieces of fiber fill are pulled apart.

Merry Christmas

HO HO HO

On Thursday we celebrated Hanukkah by making menorahs.

First we chose yellow paper for the flames.

As our students point to the color and word “yellow”, they are addressing the language access point of attending to print materials by touching, looking, or listening.

By picking up the card and handing it to an adult, they are building communication skills.

Then we tore the yellow paper into small pieces and placed them in a bowl.

Tearing the paper helps build bilateral coordination and pincer grasp skills. It also addresses the science access point of recognizing a change in an object.

Placing the pieces into the bowl addresses eye hand coordination. Deciding when we have enough addressed the math access point of solving problems involving small quantities of objects using language, such as enough, too much, or more.

We colored 8 popsicle sticks. We adapted this activity for our students by taping the sticks to a piece of cardboard (a cut up cereal box). Taping the sticks down helps to stabilize them and is easy to remove when done.

The sticks were counted……

……….Of Course!

We also used some rounded animal markers from Roseart which are easy for our students to grasp.

This activity addresses math as the sticks are counted and helps our students practice with writing tools.

We removed the tape and glued our little yellow flames to the top of our candles and placed them in our base.

The base was made from a section of a pool noodle cut in half. We also cut a slit across the top to make it easier to insert the popsicle sticks.

Fine motor skills such as eye hand coordination and pincer grasp are addressed as the “candles” are placed into the menorah.

We then added our 9th candle (pre-made by gluing 2 popsicle sticks together). This addresses the math access point recognizing when 1 item has been added to a set.

Happy Hanukkah 🙂

Language Group—Letter O

First we played Cara’s sound game and listened for some Cool O words!

Then we put put the blocks On top of each other.

This addresses the math access point of recognizing a movement that reflects a spatial relationship. Counting the blocks also addresses math concepts.

Eye hand coordination is also addressed in this activity.

Then we knocked the tower Over!

……Of course!

This addresses the science access point of applying a push or pull to move an object.

Needless to say, some of our students REALLY enjoyed this part of the

activity 🙂

Next we Opened a jar….

….and pulled Out One Orange pom pom.

We used a plastic peanut butter jar because it has a nice wide opening making it easier for our students hands to fit.

We adapted this activity for some of our students by pulling out the pom pom for them and then encouraging them to visually track the pom pom, addressing the science access point of tracking a moving object.

We also adapted this activity for our students who have visual impairments by encouraging them to explore the pom pom with their hands.

This addresses the science access point of recognizing and responding to one type of sensory stimuli.

We finished by making a creature found in the Ocean!

To start, we crumpled 5 pieces of scrap paper and put them into a bag which we closed it with a rubber band. We found these blue lunch bags at Target.

We noted that the number 5 is an ODD number.

Bilateral coordination skills are addressed when crumpling the paper and placing it in the bag.

We used decorative scissors to cut some strips at the bottom of the bag.

A couple of googlie eyes added….great for working on pincer grasp skills,

and a happy smile drawn with a marker!

Ta Da—-a cute little Octopus

On a cute little student’s head 🙂

Wow, we found a lot of O words today

in our Language group.

Hope you enjoyed learning about all these winter holidays and whichever one you celebrate…

……it is filled with light and laughter.

Dec8

Winter Holidays and Letter N

Posted on December 8, 2012 by jd785

Winter Holidays and Letter N

This week our Fine Motor and Sensory Groups learned about Winter Holidays around the world. Our Language Group looked at words starting with the letter N. Sensory Group—-Winter Holidays Our first box was about Hanukkah. We put in a variety of blue and white items with different shapes and textures such as soft pom poms, […]

Dec2

Native American Heritage and Letter M

Posted on December 2, 2012 by jd785

Native American Heritage and Letter M

October is Native American Heritage month and we enjoyed learning about a lot of different tribes in our Sensory and Fine Motor Groups. Our Language Group looked at words starting with the letter M.

Sensory Group—Native American Heritage

We started by reading Cara’s book and used the voice output device for the repetitive line. Our students really enjoyed all the pictures she found this week and they are getting so good at activating the voice output device.

This activity addresses the language access points of attending to familiar print forms and responding to a technology resource.

…..perfectly illustrated in this awesome picture—don’t you think!

Our Native American unit addresses the American History access point of recognizing characteristics of early native americans.

Different kinds of beans were a part of the diet of

the Apalachee, Cheyenne, and Cherokee tribes.

We used our mixed beans to represent some of

the different beans they ate.

We also put in the letters N and A.

Some of our students spent time examining

the letters—others dived in with both hands 🙂

Tactile discrimination skills are addressed

when sifting through the beans.

We learned that not all native american tribes wore feathers but the Sioux, Omaha, Comanchee, and Arapaho tribes are known for wearing them.

This box of colorful feathers was great fun to sift through. Our students also enjoyed picking them up and watching them drift down. Some also loved the feel of them stroking their face.

We had so much fun with this box….how can you go wrong with a box full of feathers after all! We have to admit they were a little messy and we did manage to leave a bunch of little pieces behind in each class 🙂

This box addresses the science access point of tracking a falling object. It also addresses the science access point of recognizing and responding to sensory stimuli.

Animals were very important for many native

americans. The Comanchee tribe hunted

buffalo. The Navaho raised sheep.

The Arapaho wore buckskin clothing.

We used our pieces of fake fur, sheepskin

and deerskin to represent these animals.

This addresses American History access

point of identifying practices of Native

Americans. It also addresses the

science access point of using senses

(touch) to recognize objects.

Lots of different tribes were represented in our next box. We put in some corn and play food squash which the Apalachee and Ponca ate. A piece of turquoise like Zuni jewelry was also included.

Some raffia became our “swamp grass” like baskets made by the Chinook. We put in some picture cards of sheep that the Navaho raised and horses that the Comanche rode.

There was a toy buffalo–they were hunted by the Blackfoot and Cheyenne tribes. We found a little tipi like the ones the Sioux and Arapaho used (and we learned that not all native americans lived in tipis). The Seminoles are known for their beautiful patchwork so we had to include a piece of patchwork fabric that resembled their work.

We loved watching our students reactions and

preferences to the different items. We were

really excited when the student in the above

picture correctly oriented the word “family”

demonstrating his awareness of the concept

of print and how it is organized.

Other students, such as the one on the right

loved the native american music we

recorded on a voice output device placed in

the box.

Our red playdough (made using cherry koolaid) looked just like the adobe that the Pueblo made into houses. There were some cookie cutters available but a lot of our students just loved to feel the playdough squish between their fingers 🙂

Playing with the playdough is great for strengthening hand intrinsics.

As we discuss the adobe houses of the Pueblo we are addressing the american history access point of recognizing that people live together in the same location (settlement).

The discovery bottles were filled with acorn

(eaten by the Yokuts) and beads (used by

the Wampanoag, Cherokee, and Kiowa

tribes).

Of course these were fun to shake and

roll around!

By comparing the different sounds the

bottles made when shaken we

addressed the science access point of

recognizing and responding to

common sounds.

Native americans have rich oral tradition and many of their tales are still told around campfires. By adding red and yellow food coloring to our shaving cream we made colors that looked like the flames in a campfire.

So much fun to squish around!

Looking at how the shaving cream changed as the colors are mixed addresses the science access point of recognizing that the appearance of an object or material has changed.

Nature is so important to Native American culture

that we thought the Juniper Breeze scent from

Bath and Body Works was the appropriate

scent in which to rinse our hands.

As students wash the shaving cream from

their hands and apply the lotion, they are building body

awareness and improving bilateral functions.

Fine Motor Group—Native American Heritage

On Tuesday, after reading Cara’s book and learning about Native American heritage, we discussed how drums are often used in native american music. So today, for our art project, we are going to make our own drums.

First we counted out 6 tan rectangles. We ran fingers down and counted each side to help reinforce the concept of the 4 sides of the rectangle.

This addresses the math access point of recognizing the sides of a rectangle.

Then we stamped a variety of animals and plants onto our rectangles, addressing eye hand coordination.

The paper was then taped, with help, around an

oatmeal container.

Hand intrinsic functions are addressed when

applying tape to the paper.

When the project was finished, Cara placed a short video of a native american drum circle—the students LOVED it!!! They couldn’t wait to start drumming their own drums!

So cute!

This was a GREAT activity!

On Thursday, after reading Cara’s book again we made totem poles, like the Tlinglit tribe.

We had a selection of prewrapped empty cereal boxes and

students made their choice from a selection 3 colors.

Our picture cards are so helpful for reinforcing color

concepts and also for building communication

of preferences.

After the boxes were passed around (and counted, of course, to address math access points) we decorated them with a variety of markers.

This is great for practicing manipulating writing utensils by scribbling or drawing (depending on skill level) with markers.

Then we began attaching premade eyes, noses, mouths and wings. We emphasized the placement of the different parts ex. the eyes go on top, the mouth at the bottom.

We helped our students squeeze the glue and encouraged them to place their pieces on the glue. This activity addresses eye hand coordination and spatial relations.

It also addresses the math access point of matching objects to a designated space to show one to one correspondence.

Ta Da!! Our students were so proud of their

totems.

We think they look awesome 🙂

And here is our totem all put together—doesn’t it just look amazing!!!

We had so much fun counting the boxes as we stacked them (using double stick tape). Everyone got excited as it got higher and

higher!

It really looks great outside of Jeannie’s classroom.

Language Group—Letter M

We started by playing with this cute little Monkey. He laughed and rolled around when our students made noise so it was perfect for everyone including our students with physical or visual impairments.

We loved seeing our students reactions, everyone ended up with a smile on their face 🙂

This activity addresses the science access point of recognizing and responding to sensory stimuli.

Then we put some Money in our piggy bank.

Eye hand coordination is addressed as

the students place the coins in the slot.

Math concepts are addressed as the

coins are counted.

Next we played Cara’s sound game.

Lots of cool sounds starting with the letter M!

We finished by having a party to say goodbye to

Ms. Thea who has finished her internship

in Robins room.

Of course we Munched on some yummy food,

including these crackers that have letters

of the alphabet—-so cool!

Goodbye Ms. Thea!

We will really Miss you 🙁

We had so Much fun today!

Join us again next time,

for lots more fun

Group by Group 🙂

Nov19

Thanksgiving and Letter L

Posted on November 19, 2012 by jd785

Thanksgiving and Letter L

It was all about Thanksgiving in our Fine and Sensory Groups this week. In our Language Group we looked at words that started with Letter L.

Sensory Group—Thanksgiving

We filled this box with play food (squash and other vegetables), turkeys and corn (popcorn kernels)—things you might find at your Thanksgiving feast. We also put in some crochet squares—like the blanket you might snuggle under after the feast!

Of course there is always a game on TV, so we had to put in a small football!

Some pilgrim and native american stickers, and feathers to remind us of the first Thanksgiving. A gift card and small box reminded us of all the shopping we might do after the big day 🙂

And finally, the words Home and Family to remind us what the holiday is all about.

We just loved the different ways our students interacted with the items in the box. In this picture, this little girl is making her turkey eat the corn—-so CUTE!!!

This student, after examining the other items,

became really intrigued by the words

—-working on his literacy, gotta love it 🙂

This box addresses a variety of access

points related to language including

attending to print materials by looking

and touching, and

communicating recognition of familiar

objects.

Our brown feather boa looked just like turkey feathers. As we discuss the fact that birds (like turkeys) have feathers, we address the science access point related to sorting animals by observable characteristics.

Of course, we are also addressing the science access point of responding to sensory stimuli! Our students love to touch and rub the feathers or watch them move about.

Draping the feathers around your neck is kind of fun also 🙂

We thought of pilgrims with our black and white box.

Big soft pompoms and small, hard beads gave us

materials to contrast, compare and count.

This addresses the science access point of

identifying objects by observable properties.

It also addresses the math access points of

recognizing a three-dimensional object (sphere),

differences in size of objects, recognizing two

objects that are the same size and/or color and

as seen in this picture—comparing quantities to 3.

The two discovery bottles reminded us of the first Thanksgiving participants. Beads for the native americans (Wampanoag) and a blue one like the ocean the pilgrims sailed across.

As the students interact with the bottles they are exploring the science access points of applying a push or pull to move an object and tracking objects as they move.

Some of our students loved shaking the bead bottle really hard to hear them rattle, others (as seen in this picture) turned them slowly, watching the beads move around.

Wrist rotation is addressed while turning the bottles in this manner.

Our next box reminded us of more yummy Thanksgiving

food! We filled it with some potato flakes.

A turkey was taped to the bottom of our next box and

could be seen when the potato flakes were

pushed aside.

We also put in the letter T for Thanksgiving—

and turkeys!

The potato flakes have an interesting texture—

soft yet slightly crunchy—-very intriguing.

Locating the letters amongst the flakes

addresses tactile discrimination.

We pushed a turkey cookie cutter into ooey gooey cranberry sauce in our next box.

And just like the response “what is this stuff” given at the Thanksgiving table to canned cranberry sauce—our students weren’t quite sure what to make of it 🙂

Interacting with the cranberry sauce addresses the science access point of responding to sensory stimuli.

Handling and manipulating the cookie cutter addresses grasp skills.

Hands were cleaned in Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin

from Bath and Body Works.

And then we rubbed the lotion on our hands to

leave the group smelling like delicious

pumpkin pies.

Rubbing the lotion on the different extremities

helps build body awareness. Of course, the

lovely aroma is there to help them build

memories of all the wonderful things we

learned today!

Fine Motor Group—Thanksgiving

On Tuesday, after reading Cara’s awesome book, we passed out these cute craft foam turkeys we found in the dollar section at target—10 for a dollar, thats a pretty good deal!

We counted our turkeys as we passed them out, addressing math access points.

Then our students picked out “gobble” sticker from a choice of 3 colors. It will be alternate assessment time before we know it so we are really trying to get as much practice as we can, choosing from an array of 3.

We decorated the turkeys with foam stickers.

Foam stickers are a little thicker than

paper ones, making them easier to grasp

for our students.

We further adapted the activity by

partially peeling off the backing. This

allowed them to work on their pincer

grasp skills.

A few feathers and a fun googlie eye completes a rather fabulous turkey….

TA DA!!!

These turkeys are almost as cute as our students 🙂

On Thursday, for our art activity we made

some pilgrim hats!

We started by cutting a small rectangle

off a strip of paper using our

adaptive scissors.

This addresses the math access point of

recognizing a 2 dimensional shape.

Then we cut out a yellow rectangle—bigger than the white one!

We glued the small rectangle onto the large rectangle.

This addresses the math access point of recognizing similarities and differences in size of common objects.

It also addresses grasp and release skills in addition to spatial relationships.

This was then glued onto the white paper strip.

Placing the pieces addresses spatial

relationships and eye hand coordination.

It always helpful to get a second opinion on

placement—to make sure you got it just

right 🙂

We set aside our paper strips and then counted out our paper plates and after writing our names, turned them over and painted them black.

The shape of the paper plates was discussed addressing the math access point of recognizing a 2 dimensional shape.

While the students were painting, their paper strips

were taped to some black cups (found in a

Halloween clearance section).

An adult made a circle of colored glue on the

plate and asked the students to put the cup on

“top” of it.

This addresses spatial concepts and eye hand

coordination.

This cute little pilgrim hat deserves a pretty big…..

TA DA!!!!!!

Language Group—Letter L

We started by Listening for L words in Cara’s sound game.

It was Lots of fun.

Then we Listened to a Little Lion roar. This toy was found

in Target’s dollar section—our favorite part of

the store 🙂

It has a button on the stomach that you push so

it is also great for addressing finger individuation

skills.

Then we strung some Large beads…a great activity for promoting bilateral skills.

For our students who are more physically impaired, we adapted the activity by putting the bead on the string and letting them pull the string “up”—-addressing spatial concepts.

After the beads were all strung we counted them, targeting math skills.

Of course we also talked about the different colors of the beads—so much learning in one little activity 🙂

Next we Lit some Lights using our Powerlink and a

switch to enable all our students to participate.

We Loved Looking at the Lights!

This activity addresses the science access

point of recognizing and responding to

sensory stimuli and the access point of

recognizing a change in an object—the lights

come on when the switch is pressed.

After Listening and Looking, we moved to smell and touch with some Lavender Lotion.

Most of our students really Loved it!

This activity also addresses the science access point of recognizing and responding to sensory stimuli.

We finished by stamping some spots on a Leopard!

Our stamper was made by wrapping a dish

scrubber with bubble wrap (using a twist tie to

secure it).

This activity addresses eye hand coordination

and visual discrimination as students stamp

on the leopard—not the table 🙂

He’s so cute you just have to roar—Loudly!

That was our Last activity, we did a Lot more than usual today!

There was a Lot of fun and Laughter in our Language group today! Here are some of

the L words we found.

We had a great week and hope you join us again after Thanksgiving for more fun, Group by Group!

Gobble gobble 🙂

Oct28

Pumpkin Time and Letter I

Posted on October 28, 2012 by jd785

Pumpkin Time and Letter I

Pumpkin Time was the theme for this weeks Sensory and Fine Motor Groups. Our Language Group learned about words starting with the letter I.

Sensory Group—Pumpkin Time

Our orange themed box was a huge hit, our students loved it!

We filled it with a variety of textures such as yarn, tulle, and fabric scraps. We also put in some play food oranges, carrots, and a variety of pumpkins including bean bag and kitchen scrubber ones.!

Shiny beads, soft pompoms and chenille stems added some more contrasting textures. Plastic stretchy tubes were fun to pull apart and added a fun auditory component. And finally some beads, puzzle pieces, toys—

——all with that lovely bright ORANGE color.

So much fun to grab and shake!

Did we say our students LOVED this box? 🙂

‘

This box addresses the Language access

point of responding to familiar objects

and the science access point of

comparing and contrasting

properties of materials.

This little fish shoots puffs of air

when squeezed—–fun 🙂

Of course if you have an orange box, you have to contrast it with a black one. Lots of textured items from headbands, toy bats and furry fabric to window screening and Mr. Potato Head pieces (like his black hat and mustache).

There were a lot of opportunities for promoting bilateral coordination with our stretchy tubes and slinky spirals.

When pulling these items, the science access point of recognizing that pushing or pulling an object makes it move is addressed.

These boxes also address the science access point of exploring, observing, and recognizing common objects in the natural world.

And, of course, if there are sunglasses and

beads in a box, they HAVE to be put on!

Our students can totally rock a

pair of glasses, don’t you think 🙂

As students place objects on and off

themselves they are building body

awareness and spatial concepts.

Continuing our orange and black theme we brought back our black playdoh for one more time!

Its just so sparkly and squishable.

Our cat cookie cutter let us make a bunch of cute black cats.

In addition to addressing the fine motor skills playing with playdough also addresses the science access point of of recognizing a change in an object.

Pumpkin pie spice was added to our orange playdough

and made it smell wonderful.

It was perfect for our pumpkin cookie cutter.

We had a few students who tried to sample the

playdough but for the most part, everyone played

with it appropriately.

The shapes cut out can also be counted as

addressing math access points.

Our orange rice with black beans is just so eye catching—you can’t help putting your hands into it! Fun to practice scooping and also to search for the letter P…..

and a little wooden pumpkin.

Scooping and filling using measuring cups and spoons helps address the math access point of recognizing differences in sizes of containers (capacity).

Fine motor skills of grasp and eye hand coordination are also addressed.

We filled our discovery bottles with karo syrup,

orange food coloring, orange beads, black

glitter and some black cat confetti. Hot

glue does a great job of making sure

they can’t be opened—-some of the

students have very busy little hands 🙂

Following the moving objects addresses

the science access point of tracking

objects in motion.

Finger painting in canned pumpkin puree (decorated with black icing)—what could be more gooey, squishy fun in which to practice prewriting patterns 🙂

Still, it was also wet and a little cold so some of our students who are more tactile defensive dove in a little more slowly.

We rinsed our hands and finished with pumpkin

scented lotion from Bath and Bodyworks.

Everybody left smelling just like yummy

pumpkin pies!

A nice strong scent to help everyone

remember all the wonderful things we

learned today.

Fine Motor Group—Pumpkin Time

Body Sox in the sensory room—-OR an alien visitor? Hmmm

The body sox are so much fun and great for getting some nice proprioceptive input from their stretchy resistance.

On Tuesday after returning to the classroom and listening to Cara’s book we let our students choose a mask. Joy found the masks in a $2 grab bag at Michaels—what a deal! Our students chose from a selection of 3 masks—giving them an opportunity to make choices out of a array of 3 which compares to the format of our state alternate assessment.

Taking the markers out of the bags gave us an opportunity to practice working with zippers. A chenille stem (sturdier than a piece of yarn) makes it easier for some of our students to pull.

Putting the markers in and out of the bag addresses the math access point of recognizing a movement that reflects a spatial relationship.

We used markers to color the masks. Scribbling and coloring are important steps in the prewriting continuum. During the activity we made sure to discuss the colors students chose and the different facial features.

Then we tried them on for size….

On Thursday we read Cara’s book again. Our students had just worn costumes and gone trick or treating at our community health department so it was a real opportunity to address the language access point of communicating recognition of familiar objects.

On to our art project!

We counted out 7 pieces of rectangular, black paper and then 7 potatoes carved to look like little jack-o-lanterns. Each time we count out our materials we are helping develop one to one correspondence.

We took time to look at the potatoes and discuss the face carved into them.

This activity helps build hand grasp skills and eye hand coordination. This potatoes have a little weight to them which gives some nice additional proprioceptive feedback.

How many pumpkins did you stamp? We used our number flip chart to help our students address the math access point of one to one correspondence.

Ta-Da!

Language Group—Letter I

We listened for some I words in

Cara’s sound game.

Next we Inserted legs………Into our Insect.

We used the little bugs from the Cootie game for this activity.

This is a great activity for building bilateral coordination!

Our little Insect Isn’t Icky at all…..

Is he 🙂

We picked up Iguanas with our tongs and put them In a bowl.

Manipulating tongs helps build graded motor control which is necessary to manipulate scissors.

In addition, placing the objects into the bowl addresses eye hand coordination and spatial relationships.

Ivan helped out our students who were unable to manipulate

the tongs.

We adapted him using velcro and a shower curtain ring!

We finished by making down lines (just like the

initial stroke of a letter I) on our Iglo0.

We used our adapted toy for our students who

needed switch access

to participate.

It wasn’t so easy finding I words today but we managed to come up with quite a few of them, didn’t we?

Join us again next week its going to be fun…..

Group by Group 🙂

Oct22

Space and Letter H

Posted on October 22, 2012 by jd785

Space and Letter H

This week we blasted off into space with our Sensory and Fine Motor groups. Our Language Group looked at the letter H. It was an extra-special week for us with visitors who came from Jackson County to tour our school and see our groups.

Sensory Group—Space

We practiced throwing and catching our planet spheres in the sensory room. These soft balls came from a science kit and were wonderful fun for throwing around as well as comparing sizes.

After coming back to the classroom we read Cara’s book about space and got started on our sensory boxes.

We brought back our black playdough with additional blue and silver glitter to make our galaxy. It was sooo cool looking. The picture just doesn’t do it justice!

We cut crescent and star shapes with our cookie cutters.

This addresses the math access point of recognizing objects with two dimensional shapes.

This box was filled with black beans which looked just like deep dark space. We put in an astronaut, spaceship puzzle piece, a strand of tinsel stars, star cookie cutters and a small globe. For some zodiac symbols we included a toy goat, little plush crab, bull puzzle piece—well ok, a cow, but it had horns 🙂

And how about the big footprint—almost like Neil Armstrong’s!

This box gave us lots of things to discuss, addressing the language arts access point of responding to new vocabulary.

These battery operated lights looked just like twinkling little stars and students were really fascinated.

This addresses the science access point of recognizing and responding to one type of stimuli.

Our galaxy in a bottle was also intriguing to our students. We borrowed it from Ms. Bennett.

She made it with karo syrup, food coloring, glitter and beads. The beads move around as the bottle is tilted back and forth giving opportunities for visual tracking, addressing the science access point of tracking objects in motion.

Planets are sphere shaped and that’s what we explored in this box. The beads are cube shaped so it gave us a chance to contrast them with our sphere shaped pom poms. Also the beads are hard and the pompoms are soft—other properties to compare and identify by one observable property.

Red and yellow food coloring was added to shaving cream to make it look just like the flames from rocket ships.

One nice benefit of the foam is that it will

stick to vertical surfaces while

practicing pre-writing patterns!

Astronaut food! Who can forget that weird dehydrated stuff in the foil packets 🙂 We thought our Bubber looked just like it. Bubber is REALLY cool stuff, crumbly but moldable but sticky.

We’re not sure who liked it better—the students or the staff 🙂

If you look closely you can see a picture of the planet Mars we taped to the bottom of our box.

We used lavender scent in our water and lotion this week. Since the best time to see space is late at night when its time for bed, we thought it was appropriate 🙂

Lavender is a fairly strong distinctive scent and was especially aromatic in the lotion.

Our students really responded to it.

Thanks Ms. Jen for the donation!

Our blue rice and green split peas represented our planet earth—- for lots of scooping and sifting fun.!

There are some number 8 (there are 8 planets in our solar system) puzzles pieces hidden in there also.

Fine Motor Group—Space

On Tuesday, after reading Cara’s book we passed out our pre-made rocket bases (made with poster board feet placed into slits in the bottom of a toilet paper roll). Besides counting them out, as we usually do, we pointed out that their shape was a cylinder addressing the math access point of recognizing a 3 dimensional shape.

Next we counted out our cones and asked our students to “put the cone on top of the cylinder”.

EVERYBODY did such a fantastic job, we were so proud of them!

This activity addresses the math access point of recognizing a movement that reflects a spatial relationship.

We put on our paint shirts while an adult hot glued the rocket pieces together.

Then we chose which color to paint the rocket.

We gave our students 3 choices to give them practice making choices in the format of our alternate assessment.

Everyone had a great time painting their rockets, giving them practice controlling writing utensils.

As the students hold onto the rocket, bilateral skills are also addressed.

images Our rocket needs a captain! A little

glue in just the right spot…

their picture added……

10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1,………..

……………..Blast off!!!

To infinity and beyond 🙂

On Thursday we looked at this really

cool lighted moon while we

listened to Cara’s book and then

made our own full moon!

First we poured glue into shaving

cream ……

and took turns stirring it…….

………until it was all

mixed together.

Then we counted out a

round paper plate for

each student making sure

to point out the shape of the plate.

We used our hands to paint our mixture onto the paper plates.

Our students loved this stuff, its so wonderfully goopy!

TA DA—-our full moon.

The glue and shaving cream mixture dries just like puffy paint–

—-so COOL!

The science access point of recognizing

a change in an object is

addressed here.

Language Group—Letter H

We switched things up a bit this week and STARTED with Cara’s sound game. Lots of fun sounds to listen for!

Then we Harpooned some sea creatures.

Our Harpoon was a little Heavy, so some of our students needed Help to Hoist their catch.

We found lots of animals—- but no Hammerhead sharks.

This activity is great for building shoulder stability and eye hand coordination.

Next we used our Hands to hold some

Halloween finger puppets.

When placed on fingers, these puppets help address finger individuation.

We finished by cutting some strips

of brown construction paper.

We drew some lines as a guide

to cut along.

Some students used scissors and

others used our paper cutters.

Our strips became spikes for our

Happy Hedgehog.

Placing the strips addresses eye hand coordination in addition to spatial

relations.

A lot of fun H words!

Between our visitors and

our groups—

what a fabulous week!

Hope you come back,

Group by Group 🙂

On a final note, please take a look at our comments section. Peggy Hundley Spitz OTR has offered a discount if you mention Group by Group when you place an order at her site OTtoGo.

Oct14

Italian Heritage Month and the Letter G

Posted on October 14, 2012 by jd785

Italian Heritage Month and the Letter G

It was all about red, white, and green—the colors of the Italian flag— in our Sensory and Fine Motor Groups! In our Language Group we looked at words that start with the letter G.

Sensory Group—Italian Heritage

Cara’s book helped us learn about Italian heritage. Our students did such a great job activating the voice output device to read the repetitive line. With the switch we are working on timing of the hit and activating it just one time.

This addresses the access point of responding to familiar print media.

Our color boxes were filled with assorted red things Joy collected around the OT room.

We included beads (large ones to avoid choking hazards, of course), chenille stems, pom poms, a big bow from a valentine wreath, package ties, finger puppets etc.

You name it—if it was the right color, it went into the box 🙂

Hmmm—-this looks interesting 🙂

The main idea of these boxes is to encourage exploration to compare and contrast the differing properties of materials and our students were definitely intrigued!

Most students dove into every box exploring the contents with equal enthusiasm. A few students, however, either did not engage or became overly excited with one of the color boxes. It appeared that the particular color was either over or under stimulating to them.

Beads are always a favorite……and, of course, if beads are in a box—you have to put them on!

These boxes address a number of science access points, including identifying objects by one observable property and recognizing objects as the same.

We practiced scooping with our mix of red, white, and green beans. They were so pretty and colorful.

As the cup is filled, the math access point of recognizing the differences in the capacity of containers is addressed.

A large letter I was placed in our rice mix —-more red, white, and green of course!

We also taped an Italian flag to the bottom of the box—a little

surprise to find.

We added red pepper flakes and green oregano to our playdough to continue our colorful theme. It also had the added bonus of adding an interesting aroma.

We used our heart shaped cookie cutter—-because we LOVE Italy 🙂

This addresses the math access point of recognizing two-dimensional shapes.

Red and green glitter made our oobleck sparkle!

We practiced our pre-writing designs making

vertical strokes.

Most excellently done in

this picture, as you can see 🙂

We rinsed our hands in grape scented lotion. They grow lots of yummy grapes in Italy!

Then we finished with some vanilla sugar lotion so we could leave the group smelling like delicious cannolis—yum yum 🙂

This activity addresses the science access point of recognizing and responding to different types of sensory stimuli.

Fine Motor Group—Italian Heritage

We rode on some “gondolas” in the sensory room.

Our bolster swing is a huge favorite with our students and a really fun way to work on sitting balance!

After the sensory room we returned to the classroom to read Cara’s book and begin our art project.

We counted out 8 pieces of paper and wrote our names on the back.

Each time we count out our pieces of paper we are working on the math access point of identifying quantities.

Today we are doing spaghetti (well actually string, ha ha) painting.

We asked our students to choose which color they wanted to paint with first…..

…..sometimes its hard to make that choice 🙂

Then we dipped our strings into the paint

and got to work!

This activity addresses eye hand

coordination.

Ta Da!

…….Red,

……………white,

…………………and green!

Gotta love that smile 🙂

On Thursday we made some pizza pies!

We counted out our paper plates and then used red markers to color some

red pizza sauce. A variety of markers were used including these

pipsqueak markers from Crayola.

Our students are spending more time engaged with scribbling and

we are very excited about their progress!

Time to add the cheese—-some shredded yellow paper which looked pretty realistic so we did have to remind some of them that it was paper :).

Eye hand coordination skills are addressed during this activity. Also, strengthening is addressed while squeezing the glue onto the plate.

The math access point of indicating a desire for more of an object is addressed.

Can’t forget the pepperoni!

Our circle cutters work great for making perfect pepperoni pieces and our students really like using them.

Identifying a 2-dimensional shape is a math access point.

Each student counted how many pieces of pepperoni they put on their pizza.

This addressed the math access point of showing one-to-one correspondence.

Time for some pizza.

YUM! YUM!

Language Group—-Letter G

We used our thumbs to Guide our dog.

Go dog Go!

Then we Gathered some Green Grapes using our tongs to

Grab them.

Got to count them as well, to address math access

points:)

Next we Glued 2 black foam circle eyes and 1 black oval mouth on a paper plate.

The texture of the foam was very helpful for our student with a visual impairment.

Then we tore some paper streamers,

Glued them on to the back of the plate to make a……

Ghost!

Good job!

We played Cara’s sound game and listened for some G sounds.

Great fun!

And we finished by looking at some of the

G words we found today.

What an awesome week! Please come

back again, Group by Group.