Tag Archives: Mexico

May5

Cinco de Mayo

Posted on May 5, 2013 by jd785

We had a really great week here at Group by Group. First we found out we had been nominated for the Liebster Award (selected by our fellow blogger over at I Teach Speech) which was pretty exciting for us. Second—-its Cinco de Mayo—-time for a fiesta full of bright colors, music, food and fun! Cara wrote another great book which our students loved and we had a blast with all our different activities. Here is what we did—

Sensory Group—

Red, green and white are the colors of the Mexican flag. Our colorful pompoms and beads, great for comparing and contrasting, were a hit as always. Our students love to sort the pompoms or shake the beads—such fun! This box was so bright and colorful, who could resist 🙂

This activity addresses the science access points of recognizing common objects as the same and identifying objects by one observable property, such as color. It also addresses the math access point of recognizing two objects that are the same size and color and the math access point of recognizing common objects with three dimensional shapes (spheres).

We put a great big letter M (Mexico) into our red, green and white rice. A map of Mexico was hidden at the bottom, waiting to be discovered as the rice is pushed aside.

The social studies access point of associating a picture or symbol with a location is addressed here.

Our fiesta box was filled with lots of fun things. We included colorful paper streamers and garland, a Mexican flag, a piece of serape fabric, a large shell (for the beautiful beaches), and a sun.

Also fun to find were some lizards, snakes and colorful birds—some native wildlife you might see there.

Finally, we put in the word “friends” because the people of Mexico are our friends 🙂

In addition to lots of language opportunities, this activity addresses the social studies access point of recognizing a cultural characteristic of a population.

Tacos, tortillas, empanadas—all made from cornmeal! One of our more popular textures and we love its silky tactile feel. Our students used their hands or a small measuring spoon to explore.

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

We recorded some traditional Mexican music on our voice output device. Our students love music and this was no exception. With the addition of our homemade maracas they had a rocking good time 🙂

Lots of science access points were addressed here including applying a push or pull to move an object, tracking moving objects and recognizing an action as fast or slow.

Monarch butterflies migrate to Mexico every year so we included our butterfly and caterpillar box. We dyed farfalle and rotini pastas to make our little insects and they turned out so bright and colorful—very eye catching for our students. The contrasting shapes and colors and great for working on sorting skills. Thumb finger grasps are promoted as students pick up the pieces of pasta.

This activity addresses the science access point of identifying objects by one observable property.

Our version of guacamole—-yellow and blue food coloring were added to our shaving cream and we discussed what we thought might happen when the colors were mixed together.

We did discover from class to class that we needed to add a lot of yellow or we ended up with something closer to aqua rather than green 🙂

This addresses the science access point of recognizing that the appearance of an object or material has changed. It also addresses the science access point of exploring, observing, and recognizing common objects in the natural world.

We rinsed our hands in Coconut Lime scented water from Bath and Body Works. As usual, we included different sizes cups to allow them to practice scooping and filling.

The different sizes of the cups help address the math access point of recognizing differences in sizes of containers that hold liquids.

Our students all loved the matching lotion. What a yummy aroma to help them remember all the fun we had today!

Fine Motor Group—

On Tuesday we made some Guiros. We got the idea on Pinterest. This art project was all about the number 3—putting 3 of each item into our plastic water bottles. The items we added to our bottles included pieces of red, green and white chenille stems, macaroni, colorful beads AND……

3 scoops of glittery confetti! Needless to say, this stuff got everywhere and it certainly looked like a fiesta in the classroom 🙂

The math access point of recognizing quantities 1 to 3 using sets of objects, pictures, or number names was addressed in this activity.

TA DA!

Our guiros are finished, time to grab a popsicle stick and begin making music……

Ok, these were truly a hit—-the students LOVED them!!!!!

On Thursday we had a great time in the sensory room pretending we were riding some burros! Then we went back to the classroom to make our own! We cut the silhouettes from cereal boxes. We used the cereal boxes because we wanted something stiffer than construction paper and the boxes were FREE 🙂

We mixed black and white paint to make grey and our students started painting.

We are just so proud of how independent some of our students are getting—-PURE AWESOMENESS!!!

Eye hand coordination, tool use, and spatial relations skills are addressed here.

In addition, the science access point of recognizing that the appearance of a material has changed is addressed.

After they had finished painting they glued on square blankets (cut from an old purse—we were totally into trash to treasure art this week!).

The math access point of recognizing a 2 dimensional shape is addressed in this activity.

A googly eye finished the little burro.

TA DA!!

Super cute 🙂

Language Group—

We took turns wearing traditional Mexican clothing including a sombrero and serape. As you can see, we got some super cute pictures.

This activity addresses the language access point of responding to new vocabulary that is introduced and taught directly.

It also addresses the science access point of recognizing external body parts.

We also took turns playing with some maracas which our students absolutely loved.

What a great way to work on the science access point of applying a push or pull to move an object!

You can’t have a fiesta without some yummy food—-time for tacos!

We put a soft taco on a plate and the students used their communication symbols to tell us what toppings they wanted.

This addresses the language access point of effectively communicating wants and needs with prompting of familiar persons.

They had such a great time building their tacos—and, of course, EATING them 🙂

All our activities addressed the social studies access point of recognizing differences in food or clothing from other cultures.

With tummies full we looked at some of the words we learned today.

Its adios for now…….but don’t forget to drop by next week and share some more fun with us at Group by Group!

May8

Week 31—Mexico and Measuring Time

Posted on May 8, 2012 by jd785

Week 31—Mexico and Measuring Time

Our Fine Motor and Sensory Groups learned about Mexico this week in preparation for Cinco de Mayo! The theme for our Language Group was Telling Time.

Sensory Group—Mexico

Our students really enjoyed Cara’s book. We had fun discussing what we saw in all the bright colorful pictures and took turns wearing this awesome hat—thanks Ms. Dani!

Our first box contained a variety of items related to our theme to give lots of language opportunities. We put in straw which is what traditionally is used to make baskets and sandals and paper streamers like the ones on pinatas.

Hidden amongst this were sea shells (for the beautiful beaches), a Mexican flag, a toy taco (yum), butterflies and a colorful bird. We put in the word “Friends” because the people of Mexico are our friends.

We also recorded some traditional Mexican music on a voice output device that was tucked into the straw and activated by both accidental and deliberate touches.

The colors on the Mexican flag are red, white and green. This box filled with soft round pompoms and long hard beads addresses color identification in addition to math access points when counting items or comparing shapes.

More red, white and green with our box of rice.

A great tactile feel as it sifts through the fingers and as the rice is shifted a surprise picture of a cactus (there are lots of cacti in Mexico) taped to the bottom of the bottom of the box.

We love eating refried beans, burritos and other Mexican foods that contain beans—yum yum 🙂 With the addition of a spoon, scooping skills are addressed. The beans are also a wonderful tactile sensation as they trickle through fingers….

…. or when in a bottle, fun to

shake!

Corn tortilla’s are also a part of Mexican cuisine and were represented here with our cornmeal. Students searched for the letter M for Mexico and the number 5 for Cinco de Mayo.

Of course, its also fun to scoop and catch as it spills down—-just plain wonderful stuff!

Monarch butterflies migrate to Mexico each year, so we brought back our pasta butterflies and put in some laminated pictures of monarch butterflies.

The green caterpillars and orangey red butterflies had both shape and color comparisons.

And they are just so bright and colorful 🙂

We added green food coloring to our shaving cream and made guacamole (unfortunately not edible though!). Before we added the green food coloring we hypothesized “what will happen” to address science access points.

Shaving cream is always popular and a fun medium to practice pre-writing strokes.

We rinsed our hands in lime scented water and then rubbed some lime scented lotion on our hands to help us remember all the wonderful things we learned about Mexico.

Fine Motor Group—Mexico

On Tuesday, we had a great time reading Cara’s book and had fun discussing what we saw in all the bright colorful pictures. For our art activity we made some Papel Picado banners which are colorful paper fiesta decorations.

First gave our students a choice of 3 colorful rectangles of tissue paper (recycled from presents past).

Then we folded it over twice and made sure that the folds were pressed really flat. We had pre-folded and then opened the paper back up as we anticipated most of our students would need help with this step.

We used either hole punches or our table top scissors to make cut outs in the tissue paper.

Counting the cutouts in the paper addresses math access points.

This is how it ends up looking when

unfolded, pretty terrific!

And look at how bright and colorful they look decorating the hallway.

On Thursday, we read Cara’s book again and proceeded to make some maracas for our fiesta!

First we used our paper cutters and adaptive scissors to cut a strip of bulletin boarder trim (it was a give away and therefore free, and we like that!)

We gave each student a recycled water bottle, counting as we passed them out, of course. The strip of boarder trim was then taped around the bottle.

Manipulating the tape promotes thumb finger opposition in addition to eye hand coordination.

Then we placed 8 cups filled with different items onto the table.

We discussed what each cup contained and then gave 1 to each student.

The students were instructed to put their items into their bottles. This activity promotes bilateral coordination and pincer grasp skills.

We adapted this activity by using a funnel for those students whose grasp and release patterns were not as precise.

The cap was screwed on (working on wrist rotation) and Ta Da—-a fabulous maraca!

As each student got their Ta Da and shook their maraca, we discussed the different sounds they each made (addressing science access points, differing properties of materials).

Everyone LOVED shaking their maracas 🙂

Language Group—Measuring Time

We talked about different ways to measure time and then had each student begin putting together their own Friday schedule. Using a completed schedule for reference, they were given 3 choices as to what came next on the schedule.

We also referenced time of day, addressing math access points.

Breakfast being first was easy but choosing “what comes next” was more difficult.

Some of our students needed us to give them some assistance by pointing to the model’s visual cue.

And here is the final product!

Continuing with our look at time measurement, we discussed the end of the school year and began making a summer countdown paper chain.

We started by using our paper cutters to cut strips of paper.

Don’t you just love the teamwork in this picture 🙂

Next we used the stapler to fasten a strip into a circle.

And took turns putting another strip

of paper into the chain.

We counted the loops periodically and discussed how many more we needed—addressing math access points. Its getting bigger!

Wow, 18 loops in the chain. It will be so much fun to take a loop off day by day as we countdown to summer 🙂

We finished as usual by looking at some of the time related words we discussed today.

Its been a great week but things are getting a little crazy around here with IEP’s, field trips, special programs and some unexpected surgeries! We may not be posting regular groups for a while but we are planning some alternate posts such as how we organize all our “stuff” and other logistical information. We are also planning to upload some of Joy’s original drawings as templates for you to download. And we will DEFINITELY be back in the fall with new ideas and activities Group by Group!